17. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

18. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

19. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

20. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

21. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

The application of this vial to the judgments of the last great day is so plain that but little comment is here necessary. It was poured "into the air," a region of vast extent, not confined to a given locality, but embracing the whole earth. Hence this plague is universal. When the seventh angel emptied his vial, "There came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done." All is now fulfilled. The work of wrath is finished. The description of the plague follows, but it follows only as a description. As actually accomplished, it preceded that great voice, which was uttered in view of the thing already brought to pass.

The dissolution of the earth itself upon which we live is not here described, although according to the teaching of other scriptures it occurs at this time; but the symbols, being drawn from the department of the operations both of humanity and of nature, show the complete and final overthrow of all the great powers civil and ecclesiastical. The dominancy of these great powers has been the chief burden of Apocalyptic vision, and here their utter destruction at last is set forth under various symbols. The weight of the Jewish talent is said to have been one hundred and fourteen pounds. Such a mass of ice descending from heaven would beat down everything in its resistless, desolating fury. There is no intimation, however, of men being killed under this or the accompanying symbols; therefore as individuals they survive, while the storm of wrath falls upon the civil and ecclesiastical institutions of society, resulting in their utter annihilation. This is the "great day of his wrath" described under the sixth seal, to the symbols of which this description bears a striking resemblance, as any one can see at a glance. Well may the oppressors of earth say to the mountains and hills, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Chap. 6:16, 17.

And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

2. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

3. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

5. And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Here again the narrative returns to take up another series of the history. A number of times we have been taken over the same ground. It is this feature of the Apocalypse more than any other that has misled and perplexed commentators. Attempting to explain it as one continuous narrative from beginning to end, they have been compelled to consider numerous passages as "digressions," "parentheses," or "episodes," etc. As already observed, however, the prophecy is not arranged after the ordinary plan of histories, narrating all the contemporaneous events in a given period, whether civil, religious, literary, scientific, or biographical, thus finishing up the history of that period; but it consists of a number of distinct themes running over the same ground.

In this chapter a more particular description of the church of Rome, "that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth" (verse 18), is given under the symbol of a drunken harlot. With this vile prostitute "the kings of the earth have committed fornication"—they have encouraged her in her corruption and idolatries—"and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." This latter symbol is doubtless taken from the cup of drugged wine with which lewd women were accustomed to inflame their lovers. So had this apostate church made "the inhabitants of the earth"—of the ten kingdoms—drunken with her wine-cup and thus rendered them willing partakers in her abominable idolatries. She is described in two positions—first, as "sitting upon many waters," which the angel informs us "are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" (verse 15); and second, "upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns." The first position denotes her wide supremacy in the world over distant peoples and nations; the second, the close relationship that she sustained to the civil power. That beast carried her in royal state. The civil powers of Europe have usually lent themselves as a caparisoned hack for this great whore to ride upon and have considered themselves highly honored thereby. This beast was full of the names of blasphemy, which were the same as the blasphemous assumptions of the Papacy, as explained in chapter XIII, showing that he agreed perfectly with this apostate church in her impious claims and supported her in them, making himself equally guilty and deserving of the same name. What is intended exactly by his scarlet color I do not know. The same power under its Pagan form was represented as a red dragon.

The appearance of this woman was that of the most splendid character, nor are we to suppose the contrary because she was such an infamous prostitute. She may have been, and according to the description was, all that, but still her appearance was such as to bewitch her admirers and votaries. Robes of purple and scarlet, with the most costly profusion of gold and diamonds, were superb adorning, even regal splendor. All that skill and wealth could do in magnificence of attire was bestowed upon her to set forth her charms. The "golden cup in her hand" was as to richness in harmony with her dress, while as to contents it set forth her character, for it was "full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication." This cup was an appropriate symbol of her atrocious wickedness and idolatries.

This woman had also a name written on her forehead. It was not, indeed, placed there by herself nor by her admirers; but He who drew this symbolic picture placed it there that all might know her true character. "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." Although this apostate church was only in embryo in the apostles' day, yet the apostle who gave us a careful delineation of its terrible characteristics declared that it was then developing and denominated it a mystery. "The mystery of iniquity doth already work." 2 Thes. 2:7. The same apostle regarded as an unquestionable fact that godliness was a mystery (1 Tim. 3:16); but he who peruses the history of the Papacy will be forced to declare with emphasis, "Without controversy great is the mystery of Romanism." She is also styled Babylon the Great. This name is derived from ancient Babylon. This city was the center of the earth's idolatry and stood first of all as the direct enemy of God's people. So, likewise, this church is the center of earth's spiritual idolatry. There are other harlots, or corrupt churches, in the world beside her; but she is the mother of them all. They are all children by her side. Some of them greatly honor her and in deep veneration call her "our holy mother church;" but God brands her as the "mother of harlots and abominations of the earth."

But the statement that she was a harlot merely, does not entirely describe her character. She was a drunken harlot. Drunken with what—wine? No indeed; that were a very small sin for her. She was "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." Romanists positively declare that their church never persecutes; but with the picture of this drunken prostitute before our eyes, we shall be hard to convince. To illustrate this point fully would be to write a book of martyrs much larger than the present work; so, for lack of space only, we shall have to content ourselves with merely bringing forward a few of many historical proofs showing that they themselves claim the right to exterminate heretics.

Innumerable provincial and national councils have issued the most cruel and bloody laws for the extermination of the Waldenses and other so-called heretics; such as the Councils of Oxford, Toledo, Avignon, Tours, Lavaur, Albi, Narbonne, Beziers, Tolosa, etc. Since Papists will assert that these had no authority to establish a doctrine of the church (although they clearly reflect its spirit), I remind the reader that some of their General Councils have by their decrees pronounced the punishment of death for heresy. At least six of these highest judicial assemblies of the Romish church, with the Pope at their head, have authoritatively enjoined the persecution and extermination of heretics. Extracts from the Acts of these Councils could be given if space permitted. 1. The second General Council of Lateran (1139), in its twenty-third canon. 2. The third General Council of Lateran (1179), under Pope Alexander III. 3. The fourth General Council of Lateran (1215), under the inhuman Pope Innocent III., which exceeded in ferocity all similar decrees that had preceded it. 4. The sixteenth General Council, held at Constance in 1414. This Council, with Pope Martin present in person, condemned the reformers Huss and Jerome to be burned at the stake and then prevailed on the emperor Sigismund to violate the safe-conduct that he had given Huss, signed by his own hand, in which he guaranteed the reformer a safe return to Bohemia; and the inhuman sentence was carried out, with the haughty prelates standing by to satiate their eyes on the sight of human agony. This council also condemned the writings of Wickliffe and ordered his bones to be dug up and burnt, which savage sentence was afterwards carried into effect; and after lying in their grave for forty years, the remains of this first translator of the English Bible were reduced to ashes and thrown into the brook Swift. Well has the historian Fuller said, in reference to this subject, "The brook Swift did convey his ashes into Avon, the Avon into Severn, the Severn into the narrow seas, and they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wickliffe are the emblem of his doctrie, which is now dispersed all over the world." 5. The Council of Sienna (1423), which was afterwards continued at Basil. 6. The fifth General Council of the Lateran (1514). The laws enacted in each succeeding Council were generally marked, if possible, with augmented barbarity.

Says the learned Edgar, in his Variations of Popery: "The principle of persecution, being sanctioned not only by theologians, Popes and provincial synods but also by General Councils, is a necessary and integral part of Romanism. The Romish communion has, by its representatives, declared its right to compel men to renounce heterodoxy and embrace Catholicism, and to consign the obstinate to the civil power to be banished, tortured, or killed." St. Aquinas, whom Romanists call the "angelic Doctor," says, "Heretics are to be compelled by corporeal punishments, that they may adhere to the faith." Again, "Heretics may not only be excommunicated, but justly killed." He says that "the church consigns such to the secular judges to be exterminated from the world by death."

Cardinal Bellarmine is the great champion of Romanism and expounder of its doctrines. He was the nephew of Pope Marcellus, and he is acknowledged to be a standard writer with Romanists. In the twenty-first and twenty-second chapters of the third book of his work entitled De Laicis, he enters into a regular argument to prove that the church has the right, and should exercise it, of punishing heretics with death. The heading is his, together with what follows.

"Chapter XXI. That heretics, condemned by the church, may be punished with temporal penalties and even death. We will briefly show that the church has the power and ought to cast off incorrigible heretics, especially those who have elapsed, and that the secular power ought to inflict on such temporal punishments and even death itself. 1. This may be proved from the Scripture. 2. It is proved from the opinions and laws of the emperors, which the church has always approved. 3. It is proved by the laws of the church ... experience proves that there is no other remedy; for the church has tried step by step all remedies—first excommunication alone; then pecuniary penalties; afterward banishment; and lastly has been forced to put them to death; to send them to their own place.... There are three grounds on which reason shows that heretics should be put to death: the first is, Lest the wicked should injure the righteous; second, That by the punishment of a few many may be reformed. For many who were made torpid by impunity, are roused by the fear of punishment; AND THIS WE DAILY SEE IS THE RESULT WHERE THE INQUISITION FLOURISHES," etc.

"Chapter XXII. Objections answered. It remains to answer the objections of Luther and other heretics. Argument 1. From the history of the church at large. 'The church,' says Luther, 'from the beginning even to this time, has never burned a heretic. Therefore it does not seem to be the mind of the Holy Spirit that they should be burnt!' [He surely misunderstood Luther.] I reply that this argument proves not the sentiment, but the ignorance, or impudence of Luther; FOR AS ALMOST AN INFINITE NUMBER WERE EITHER BURNED OR OTHERWISE PUT TO DEATH, Luther either did not know it, and was therefore ignorant; or if he knew it, he is convicted of impudence and falsehood,—for that heretics were often burnt BY THE CHURCH may be proved by adducing a few from many examples. Argument 2. 'Experience shows that terror is not useful.' I reply EXPERIENCE PROVES THE CONTRARY—for the Donatists, Manicheans, and Albigenses WERE ROUTED AND ANNIHILATED BY ARMS," etc.

So this high dignitary of the Catholic church, a cardinal, a nephew of one Pope and the special favorite of others, freely admits the charge so often laid to Popery by creditable historians—the butchering of an "infinite number" of people that differed from them—and here labors hard to uphold it as a principle of righteousness. Their bloody crusades against the innocent, unoffending Waldenses, Albigenses, and other peoples, in which thousands, and in the aggregate millions, were slaughtered like venomous reptiles, stand out on the page of history with a prominence that can not be mistaken; and they themselves can not deny it. Dowling has well said that their "history is written in lines of blood. Compared with the butcheries of holy men and women by the Papal Antichrist, the persecutions of the Pagan emperors of the first three centuries sink into comparative insignificance. For not a tithe of the blood of martyrs was shed by Paganism, that has been poured forth by Popery; and the persecutors of Pagan Rome never dreamed of the thousand ingenious contrivances of torture which the malignity of Popish inquisitors succeeded in inventing." P. 541.

If any of my readers suppose that the character of Popery has changed with the lapse of ages, I must tell you that such is not the ease. Popery is unchangeable and this her ablest advocates declare. Chas. Butler, in the work he wrote in reply to Southey's book of the church, says, "It is most true that the Roman Catholics believe the doctrines of their church to be unchangeable; and that it is a tenet of their creed, that what their faith ever has been, such it was from the beginning, such it is now, and SUCH IT EVER WILL BE." A copy of the eleventh edition of The Faith of Our Fathers, published in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1883, lies before me. It was written by Archbishop (now Cardinal) James Gibbons, the highest authority of the Roman Catholic church in this country. In page 95 he says: "It is a marvelous fact, worthy of record, that in the whole history of the church, from the nineteenth century to the first, no solitary example can be adduced to show that any Pope or General Council ever revoked a decree of faith or morals enacted by any preceding pontiff or council. Her record in the past ought to be a sufficient warrant that she will tolerate no doctrinal variations in the future." So the doctrine of her inherent right to persecute and slay every one who disagrees with her, which has been enacted by Pontiffs and General Councils and so carried out in the past, is still in vogue and would now be enforced were it in her power to do so.

While this statement of Gibbons' shows the unchangeable spirit of Popery, still it is the basest presumption upon the historical knowledge of the reader. The facts are that the official acts of some of their Popes and General Councils have been so far wrong that Romanists themselves have been compelled to admit it. Thus the sixth General Council, which was held at Constantinople in 680, and which every Catholic accepts as Ecumenical, condemned, in the strongest terms, Pope Honorius as a Monothelite heretic. Let them attempt to deny it, and we will bring forward our proof. Romish authors themselves admit it, the well-known Dupin with the rest, as appears by the following extract from his writings: "The Council had as much reason to censure him as Sergius, Paulus, Peter, and the other Patriarchs o£ Constantinople." He adds in language yet more emphatic, "This will stand for certain, then, that Honorius was condemned, AND JUSTLY TOO, AS A HERETIC, by the sixth General Council." Dupin's Eccl. History, Vol. II, p. 16.

The Decretals of Isodore furnish another example of Papal infallibility (?). For ages these documents were the chief instrument of the Popes in extending their power and the proof of the righteousness of their assumptions to excessive temporal authority. Wickliffe declared them false and apocryphal. For this he was condemned by the sixteenth General Council, held at Constance in 1414, and his bones ordered dug up and burnt because of his daring impudence. The spurious character of these false decretals have since been proved beyond the shadow of a doubt; and since it is impossible to deny it longer, it is admitted even by Romanists. So, after all, this infallible Council was wrong, the Papists themselves being the judges.

Pope Benedict IX. was guilty of such flagitious crimes that he became an object of public abhorrence, and he finally sold the Popedom. One of his infallible (?) successors in the Papal chair, Pope Victor III., pronounced this infallible (?) profligate a person "abandoned to all manner of vice. A successor of SIMON THE SORCERER, and NOT OF SIMON THE APOSTLE." I do not question the truth of this assertion, but what becomes of their boasted uninterrupted apostolical succession? Baronius, the Popish annalist, confesses that Pope Sergius III. was "the slave of every vice, and the most wicked of men." Among other horrid acts Platina relates that he rescinded the acts of Pope Formosus, compelled those whom he had ordained to be re-ordained, dragged his dead body from the sepulchre, beheaded him as though he were alive, and then threw him into the Tiber! This Pope cohabited with an infamous prostitute named Marozia and by her had a son named John, who afterwards ascended the Papal throne, through the influence of his licentious mother, under the name of John XI. So the unlawful amours of Sergius produced this infallible, necessary link in the holy chain of uninterrupted apostolical succession! It must be remembered, also, that the Popes have for ages laid claim themselves to infallibility; and in the last General Council of that body, held at the Vatican in 1870, it was declared a dogma of the church. Romanists will tell us that this decree refers only to his official acts, and not to his personal character; but official acts have been the main thing under consideration in the case of Sergius, Honorius, and Benedict. But if such monsters of vice can produce good, holy, infallible acts, as Papists declare, then Jesus Christ is mistaken; for he declared positively that "a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit ... neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." Mat. 7:17, 18. "God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar." Rom. 3:4. During these dark ages thousands of priests, who were by the laws of the church denied their Scriptural right of possessing a wife (1 Cor. 7:9, etc.), lived openly with concubines; and the Council of Toledo decreed that they should not be condemned therefor, provided they were content with one.

But the devil produced his master-piece of iniquity in the person of Roderic Borgia, who ascended the Papal throne in 1492 under the name of Alexander VI. The utmost limits assigned to Papal depravity were realized in him, so that the very name Borgia has come to be used as a designation of any person unusually wicked. Says Waddington: "The ecclesiastical records of fifteen centuries ... contain no name so loathsome, no crimes so foul as his.... Not one among the many zealous annalists of the Roman church has breathed a whisper in his praise.... He publicly cohabited with a Roman matron named Vanozia, by whom he had five acknowledged children. Neither in his manners nor in his language did he affect any regard for morality or decency; and one of the earliest acts of his pontificate was, to celebrate, with scandalous magnificence, in his own palace, the marriage of his daughter Lucretia. On one occasion this prodigy of vice gave a splendid entertainment, within the walls of the Vatican, to no less than fifty public prostitutes at once, and that in the presence of his daughter Lucretia, at which entertainment deeds of darkness were done, over which decency must throw a veil; and yet this monster of vice was, according to Papist ... the vicar of God upon earth, and was addressed by the title of HIS HOLINESS!!" But why stir this cesspool of filth any longer? Is not that church of which Alexander VI. was for eleven years the crowned and anointed head—a necessary link in the boasted chain of holy apostolical succession, the pretended vicar of Christ upon earth—is it not, I ask, fitly described by the pen of inspiration "MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH," as she reeled onward in the career of ages, "drunken with the blood of the saints"?

7. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carriest her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

8. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

9. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

10. And there are seven kings; five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

11. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

12. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

13. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

14. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

The angel promises to explain "the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carried her." The beast is the same as the secular beast with seven heads and ten horns, described in chapter 13. An explanation of its heads and horns has already been given. The expression "the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth, and there are seven kings," requires further explanation. Many have understood the mountains to signify the seven mountains on which the city of Rome is said to be built; but that is adopting the literal mode of interpretation, and is contrary to the laws of symbolic language. The more obvious meaning is that the seven heads represent seven mountains and also seven kings; but this probably is not the idea intended. The heads of a beast are not the proper symbol of mountains. The fact, too, that the woman is represented as sitting upon these mountains, shows that they are to be taken as a symbol, as well as the woman, and not the object symbolized. They are, then, the same as the heads and denote the seven kings or seven forms of government under which the Roman empire subsisted.

The seventh and last head has not yet been identified. Before considering it, however, I wish to call attention to another point that has already been referred to. The beast that John here saw, with the seven heads and ten horns, was Rome under the Papal power. Did new Rome in reality have the seven heads? No. The dragon John saw in chapter 12 is represented as having seven heads and ten horns, and signified Rome under the Pagan power. Did old Rome really possess the ten horns? No. According to verse 12 in this chapter, they were to arise future of John's time. But notice carefully that the seven heads, which according to this description, belonged to the beast sustaining the Papal power in after years, are here explained by the angel as signifying the very forms of government by which Pagan Rome subsisted. "Five are fallen [a past event], one is [exists at this present time], and the other is not yet come." So according to divine interpretation, the same heads and horns serve for both the dragon and the beast. This could not possibly be a true representation unless they were both in reality the same beast, they being represented as two only for the purpose of describing the two phases of Roman history—Pagan and Papal.

With this point established, that these two forms of Roman history are the same beast, we are now prepared to understand the statement that the beast "was and is not, and yet is." This is equivalent to saying that the beast existed, it ceased to exist, and then it came into existence again. This was exactly the history of Rome. Its downfall under the Pagan form was described under the fourth trumpet as an eclipse of the sun, moon and stars, so that they shone not for a third part of the day and night. For a time it seemed not to exist. A little later the eclipse is lifted; the beast exists again under the Papal form. In this is set forth clearly the wounding and the healing of the beast. The wound was inflicted on its sixth, or Imperial, head (for the first five had already fallen, according to the historical facts just related), being accomplished by the hordes of Northern barbarians overturning the empire of the West. It appeared for a time that the beast was indeed wounded unto death; but not so: to the surprise of all, he survived under the form of the seventh head. At this point the question is sure to be asked, How could the beast continue to live if its seventh head was to continue but "a short space"? This is accounted for by the fact that there was what might be appropriately called an eighth head, but which was in reality of the seven. "And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven." Verse 11.

The identification of the seventh head will now make the matter complete. The facts all meet in the Carlovingian empire, or the empire of Charlemagne. In the year 774 Charlemagne completed the work begun by Pepin twenty years before and overthrew the kingdom of the Lombards in Italy, which was the last of the three horns plucked up before the little horn of Daniel. By this victory he became complete master of Italy, and he received the title Patrician of Rome. This was not merely an honorary title, such as had for ages been conferred upon certain individuals; but it was a distinct form of civil government and supreme, taking the same rank with that of the Consular, the Decemvirate, the Triumvirate, etc., in the earlier history of the nation. It lasted, however, only "a short space," or twenty-six years, when Charlemagne, having extended his conquests over all the western part of Europe, assumed the Imperial title and thus revived the empire of Rome in the West under its Gothic form. In his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbon says: "In the twenty-six years that elapsed between the conquest of Lombardy and his Imperial coronation, Rome, which had been delivered by the sword, was subject, as his own, to the scepter, of Charlemagne. The people swore allegiance to his person and family; in his name, money was coined, and justice was administered, and the election of Popes was examined and confirmed by his authority—except an original and self-inherent claim of sovereignity, there was not any prerogative remaining which the title of emperor could add to the Patrician of Rome." This decisive testimony by the highest authority on the subject shows conclusively that all the power of sovereignty resided in Charlemagne as the Patrician of Rome, and that this, therefore, is a proper head to be ranked with the other six that preceded it.¹⁴

Footnote 14: (return)

Commentators frequently identify the seventh head with the Exarchate of Ravenna. After the overthrow of the kingdom of the Ostrogoths in Italy by Belisarius, the general of Justinian, about the middle of the sixth century, the territory became subject to the emperor of the Eastern empire and was ruled by him through an Exarch whose place of residence was Ravenna. This Exarchate (sometimes called Patriciate) continued until about the middle of the eighth century, when it was terminated by Astolphus, king of the Lombards, who made Ravenna the capital of the Lombardic kingdom in 752. Three years later the Lombards were defeated by Pepin, who made the Holy See a present of the lands he conquered from them—the origin of the temporal power of the Popes. Pepin was succeeded by his son Charlemagne, who was appointed Patrician of Rome, by the Pope, in 774. During the last half century that the Exarchate of Ravenna remained its existence was but little more than a name, the real power of government being usurped by the Papacy. It could hardly be considered an inconsistency were we to interpret the seventh head as signifying both the Patriciate of Ravenna and the Patriciate of Charlemagne that closely followed it; but in the present work I have restricted its application to the latter form because of its distinctive characteristic as constituting a supreme civil power entirely independent of the empire of the East, and because of its importance in the revival of the empire of the West.

This head, however, continued only "a short space"; and an eighth arose on Christmas, the first day of the year 800 (as time was then reckoned), when Charlemagne was crowned emperor of Rome, and thus revived the empire of the West. This eighth head, however, was "of the seven"; for it was the same as the sixth, both being Imperial—the first being in the Augustan line, and the other in the Carlovingian, and separated from each other by the seventh, or Patriciate. Considered one way, there were eight heads, but two of them were alike, hence only seven; for the eighth was of the seven. According to verse 11 it was under the eighth head that the beast subsisted at the time he was carrying the woman of this chapter, which exactly accords with the historical facts in the case; and the same was continued in a line of emperors reaching down to the time of the French Revolution.

The ten horns had "received no kingdom as yet." This signifies that at the time when the Revelation was given they had not yet arisen. When they did come into existence they were to receive power as kings with the beast and were to give to it their power and strength. It is a singular fact that a distinct head should continue to exist after these horns had arisen and developed into powerful kingdoms; but herein the remarkable accuracy of prophecy is clearly shown. It is said that they should make war with the Lamb and that the Lamb should overcome them. Some think that this has reference to the persecution of the saints during the Dark Ages; but it seems to me that it would have been stated differently if such were its meaning. It may be a prophetical reference to the battle of Armageddon, which will be terminated by the coming of the Son of God himself to overthrow completely all the powers of wickedness.

15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

16. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

17. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

18. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

The special thoughts contained in these verses have been so far explained already that it is unnecessary to go over the same ground again. Already the civil powers of Europe are beginning to cast this woman aside as an old, wrinkled, haggard prostitute is cast off by her lovers. Already they have deprived her of all temporal authority such as she possessed in guiding this beast of chapter 17, as explained under the fifth plague in the preceding chapter. Whether they are destined to become a still greater enemy to her, the future will determine.

And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

2. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

3. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

A movement of mighty power is symbolized in these verses. The chronology of the events described in the preceding chapter brings us down to the time when the ten horns turn against the Papacy by depriving her of her temporal authority. This, as we have already seen, was completely fulfilled in 1870 and constituted the fifth plague. In the description of the sixth plague which followed, it was shown that the great city which was invaded was composed of three parts—Paganism (the modern form of the dragon power), Catholicism, and Protestantism. The same great city is here brought to view, and the angel from heaven, with a mighty voice, cries, "Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen." This fall of Babylon can not signify a literal destruction; for there are certain events to take place in Babylon after her fall which entirely precludes that idea; for instance, the calling of God's people out of her, in order that they may not receive of her plagues. In these plagues is embraced her literal destruction, or complete overthrow. The fall is therefore a moral one; for the result of it is that Babylon becomes "the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird."

Protestants who make any attempt to interpret these prophecies usually limit the designation "Babylon the Great" in these verses to the church of Rome, because the woman symbolizing the apostate church in the preceding chapter is denominated "Babylon the Great." Ver. 5. But the same verse also declares her to be the "Mother of harlots;" and if she as a degraded woman stands as the representative of a corrupt church, her unchaste daughters, also, must symbolize churches that are her descendants; and if the real name of the mother is Babylon, as stated, the proper name of her harlot daughters must be Babylon also. Whether, therefore, the mother or the daughters are referred to, it is all "Babylon the Great," because it is all the same family and is a part of that "GREAT CITY which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Chap. 17:18. We must, therefore, have something besides the mere title "Babylon the Great" to determine which division of the great city is referred to in a given instance—whether Pagan, Papal, or Protestant.

A careful study of the prophecy now under consideration will show that it has particular reference to the Protestant division of Babylon. It contained many of God's children; whereas Paganism was always a false religion and never held any of God's saints. Under the reign of Catholicism, the people of God are represented in all the symbols of this book relating thereto as existing entirely separate from that communion. The description of this apostate church given in the preceding chapter shows clearly that instead of being partly composed of God's saints, she was their most bitter and relentless persecutor, yea, was "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." This is definite proof that the present phase of Babylon under consideration is the Protestant division; and her moral fall is the grand signal for the escape of God's people who have partly composed her number, as the fall of ancient Babylon was for the escape of the Israelites. In their younger days the Protestant organizations (symbolized by the daughters) were of much better character than the mother church from whom they descended. Many of them started out on reform. While a spiritual people, God worked with them; but when they made their image to the beast, they suddenly declined, and this voice from heaven finally declares them to be in a fallen condition—entirely void of salvation, except a very few chosen saints that have not defiled their garments, contained therein.

That this application of the term Babylon is correct, and also, the fallen condition ascribed to her in accordance with the facts, I will prove by the following testimonies of Protestants themselves. The first is from Vision of the Ages; or, Lectures on the Apocalypse, by B.W. Johnson, member of the Christian sect.

"It is needful to inquire what the term Babylon means. It occurs several times in the New Testament. Here (in the Apocalypse) it is spoken of as 'that great city,' and her fall is doomed 'because she hath made all nations drunk with the wine of her fornication.' In Rev. 17:5, a scarlet harlot is seen sitting upon the seven-headed and ten-horned monster, and upon her forehead is written, 'Mystery, Babylon the Great.' With this woman the kings of the earth are said to have committed fornication. In chapter 18 the fall of the great city, Babylon is detailed at length, and it is again said that all the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. The harlot with Babylon stamped on her brow, and the great city of fornication styled Babylon, in chapters 14 and 18, are one and the same existence.

"There is an ancient city of Babylon often mentioned in the Old Testament, but ages before John wrote, it had ceased to be inhabited, the only dwellers among its lonely ruins were howling beasts and hissing serpents. It has never been rebuilt to this day and has passed away forever. John refers therefore not to old Babylon, but to some power yet unseen (when he was upon the earth), that should be revealed in due time, and of which old Babylon was a symbol. Let us notice some of the features of ancient Babylon.

"1. On that site took place the confusion of tongues which divided those who before had been of one speech and one family, into various tribes and schisms at variance with each other and of various tongues. The word Babylon, a memorial of this event, means confusion, and is derived from Babel.

"2. Old Babylon persecuted the people of God and destroyed the temple in Jerusalem.

"3. It carried the people of God into captivity.

"4. It was a mighty, resistless universal empire. The antitype, the spiritual Babylon, must correspond. There is a power that exhibits all these characteristics. By apostasy from the truth it originated the schism which has divided the family of God into different sects and parties which speak a different spiritual language. It has carried the church into a long captivity by binding upon it the thralldom of superstition. It has been a constant persecutor of the saints, and has enjoyed an almost universal dominion. That power is the woman that sits upon the seven-headed beast ... the false woman, symbolical of a false church, the great apostate spiritual dominion of Rome. And we may add, out of which have come—directly or indirectly—all the religious sects of the present day."

Dr. Barnes says: "The word Babylon became the emblem of all that was haughty and oppressive, and especially of all that persecuted the church of God. The word here (Rev. 18:4) must be used to denote some power that resembled the ancient and literal Babylon in these characteristics. The literal Babylon was no more; but the name might be used properly to denote a similar power."

Wm. Kinkade, in Bible Doctrine, page 249, says, "I think Christ has a true church on earth, but its members are scattered among the various denominations, and are more or less under the influence of mystery Babylon and her daughters."

Alexander Campbell says: "A reformation of Popery was attempted in Europe full three centuries ago. It ended in a Protestant hierarchy, and swarms of dissenters. Protestantism has been reformed into Presbyterianism, that into Congregationalism, and that into Baptistism, etc., etc. Methodism has attempted to reform all, but has reformed itself into many forms of Wesleyanism. All of them retain in their bosom—in their ecclesiastical organizations, worship, doctrines, and observances—various relics of Popery. They are at best a reformation of Popery, and only reformations in part. The doctrines and traditions of men yet impair the power and progress of the gospel in their hands." On Baptism, p.15.

Again, he says: "The worshiping establishments now in operation throughout Christendom, increased and cemented by their respective voluminous confessions of faith, and their ecclesiastical constitutions, are not churches of Jesus Christ, but the legitimate daughters of that mother of harlots, the church of Rome." How any man could possess as much light on this subject as did Mr. Campbell, and then build a sect himself, is more than I can understand.

Lorenzo Dow says of the Romish Church: "If she be the mother, who are the daughters? It must be the corrupt, national, established churches that came out of her." Dow's Life, p. 542.

In the Religious Encyclopaedia, Article Antichrist, we read: "The writer of the book of Revelation tells us he heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, that ye partake not of her sins, and receive not of her plagues.' If such persons are to be found in the 'mother of harlots,' with much less hesitation may it be inferred that they are connected with her unchaste daughters, those national churches which are founded upon what are called Protestant principles."

In the Encyclopædia of Religious Knowledge we read: "An important question, however, says Mr. Jones, stills remains for inquiry: Is Antichrist confined to the church of Rome? The answer is readily returned in the affirmative by Protestants in general; and happy had it been for the world had that been the case. But although we are fully warranted to consider that church as 'the mother of harlots,' the truth is that by whatsoever arguments we succeed in fixing that odius charge upon her, we shall, by parity of reasoning, be obliged to allow other national churches to be her unchaste daughters, and for this plain reason, among others, because in their very constitution and tendency they are hostile to the nature of the kingdom of Christ."

One of Martin Luther's guests remarked that the world might continue fifty years, and he replied: "Pray God that it may not exist so long; matters would be even worse than they have been. There would rise up infinite sects and schisms, which are at present hidden in men's hearts and nature. No; may the Lord come at once, for there is no amendment to be expected."

Mr. Hartly, a learned churchman, has remarked as follows: "There are many prophecies which declare the fall of the ecclesiastical powers of the Christian world, and though each church seems to flatter itself with the hope of being exempted, yet it is very plain that the prophetical characters belong to all. They all have left the true, pure, simple religion, and teach for doctrines the commandments of men."