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any religious principle, or from an enthusiastic de. sire to ruin the cause of Christianity: it was merely by the instigations of the Pagans who remained yet in the Empire, that they were excited to treat with such severity and violence the followers of Christ."*

From the sixth to the ninth centuries the Church suffered much from similar events. The conquest of England by the Anglo-Saxons, of Italy by the Lombards, the invasion of the empire by the Saracens, and the ravages and conquests of the Danes and Normans, may be considered as the continuation of the efforts of Satan to overwhelm the mystic Woman by successive torrents of symbolical waters. But all his enterprises proved abortive. "The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the "waters."-The barbarous hordes which invaded the Roman empire settled at length within its territories; they began to imbibe the principles of civilization, and, with the exception of the Saracens, they all embraced the Christian faith. Thus did the earth, which is a symbol of the Roman empire, help the Woman by receiving its barbarian invaders into its bosom, and their gradual commixtion and amalgamation with the ancient subjects of the Empire.

"And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and "went to make war with the remnant of her seed "which keep the commandments of God, and have "the testimony of Jesus Christ."+

The efforts of the Dragon to destroy the Woman having proved ineffectual, we are informed in this verse, that he still continued to feel the most ran

Mosheim, Cent. V., p. i.

+ Rev. xii. 17.

corous hatred against her, and he sought out with the most anxious and malignant activity the remnant of her seed, or all true Christians, whom he continued to persecute during the whole prophetical period of the Woman's abode in the wilderness. In the vision which follows, we shall learn what were the means adopted by the Dragon for this nefarious purpose.

CHAPTER XII.

THE TEN HORNED BEAST OF THE SEA.

"AND I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw "a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads "and ten horns, and upon his horns ten diadems, "and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And "the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, "and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his "mouth as the mouth of a lion and the dragon

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gave him his power, and his seat, and great autho"rity. And I saw one of his heads, as it were "wounded to death; and his deadly wound was "healed: and all the world wondered after the "beast. And they worshipped the dragon which

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gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped "the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? "Who is able to make war with him? And there "was given unto him a mouth speaking great things, "and blasphemies; and power was given unto him "to continue (or practise prosperously) forty and "two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and "his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven."*

Having in the preceding chapter described the enterprises of Satan to destroy the Woman and her seed, the Holy Spirit now proceeds to show us the instruments through which Satan was to act in all

*Rev. xiii. 1—6.

his endeavours against the Church, during the period of twelve hundred and sixty years. The first of these is the Beast above-mentioned.

It is one of the first principles which I take for granted in the discussions which occupy these pages, that the fourth Beast of Daniel represents the Roman empire. This indeed is so evident a truth, that it has been acknowledged by nearly all the writers on prophecy, whether Jewish or Christian; and if the reader desire further satisfaction on the subject, I must refer him to the works of Mede and Bishop Newton.*

The ten horned Beast seen by the apostle John to rise out of the sea, is plainly the same with the fourth Beast of Daniel, though with one important point of difference; the Apocalyptic Beast not having the little horn, which forms so conspicuous a part of the Beast of Daniel. But it will be seen afterwards,

* As this position has lately been questioned, by the Rev. S. R. Maitland of Gloucester, I must here refer to my "Strictures on Maitland's four Pamphlets on Prophecy, and Vindication of the Protestant Principles of Prophetic Interpretation." for a refutation of his reasoning. I shall also just mention, that the authorities from the ancient Jewish and Christian Churches which are cited by Bishop Newton, in confirmation of this interpretation of Daniel's fourth Beast, include the names of Jonathan Ben Uzziel, and Josephus, of the Jewish Church, and of Irenæus, Chrysostom, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Jerome, among the Christian fathers: See his 13th and 14th Dissertations. Mede says, "The Roman Empire to be the Fourth kingdom of Daniel, was believed by the Church of Israel, both before and in our Saviour's time; received by the disciples of the Apostles, and the whole Christian Church for the first 400 years, without any known contradiction." Works, B. iv. Epist. v.

† Dan. vii. 7, 8, 19—26.

that the place of this little horn is supplied in the Apocalypse by a distinct symbol, a second Beast having horns like a lamb, but speaking like a dragon, which arises out of the earth.*

If then the Beast with seven heads and ten horns be the same with Daniel's fourth Beast, he must represent the secular Roman empire; and the ten diadems upon his horns denote, that when the Apostle first saw the Beast, his territories had been already divided into ten kingdoms by the invasions of the Goths and Vandals.

Before I proceed to vindicate this opinion respecting the Apocalyptic Beast, I shall mention what are the sentiments of some celebrated commentators with regard to this symbol. Mede and Bishop Newton both maintain that the Beast is the secular Roman empire, though they very inconsistently suppose that his eighth form of sovereignty, which is not mentioned till the seventeenth chapter of the Apocalypse, is the Pope. This error with respect to the last or eighth form, has been very generally, though not universally, adopted by Protestant commentators.t "The beast that arose out of the sea," says the learned Jesuit, Alcaser, "evidently relates to the fourth beast in Daniel, chap. vii."‡ "It is,"

* Rev. xiii. 11.

Dr. Cressener, and Dr. H. More, are both free from this charge. The former thinks that the Roman imperial power, restored by Justinian, and perpetuated in the line of the French and German emperors of the West, are the eighth form. Dr. H. More affirms the eighth form to be the whole Empire or Beast relapsed into idolatry.

Quoted by the author of the illustrations of Prophecy, p. 51.

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