Notes on the Apocalypse Part 12

14. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place; where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

15. And the serpent cast out of his mouth, water as a flood, after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

16. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

Vs. 14-16.--To guard against the _second_ attack of the dragon, the woman flees a _second_ time to the place of safety, which had been mercifully prepared for her preservation before the war began, (v. 6.) And she is in no less peril from her deadly enemy than before.

The "two wings of a great eagle" have furnished occasion to many fertile minds for indulging in fanciful conjectures. To such persons nothing occurs answerable to the symbol but some emblem of imperial power or national sovereignty. And because the eagle was the visible symbol on the military banner of Rome, it is conjectured that "the eastern and western empires afforded protection to the church!" Why, the empire, in both its wings, was the deadly enemy of the church, as we have already seen! (ch. xi. 7.) Alas! what absurdities result from political bias!

The unlettered Christian will readily perceive under the emblem in the text, a plain allusion to the gracious interposition of the church's Redeemer in the days of old. "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on _eagles' wings_, and brought you unto myself." (Exod. xix. 4.) Thus the Lord delivered his people and brought them into a literal wilderness on their way to the promised land of liberty. And now in a time of equal danger, he will "set his hand again the second time" to deliver his people. He who delivered them from so great a death as Pharaoh threatened, doth still deliver: in whom his saints have ground to trust that he will still deliver them, (2 Cor. i.

10) The great and beneficial change accomplished among the nations by the reformation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, whereby the dragon was hurled from seats of ecclesiastical and civil power, did not materially change the position of the "two witnesses." The time had not yet come when they were to be called up into the symbolic heaven. They must continue to prophesy till the close of the appointed period of 1260 years. Till the expiration of that definite period the true church of Christ is not to be permanently established in any nation of the earth.

The actual condition of the church and of the nations among whom she dwells, is delineated in these verses during the time subsequent to the Protestant Reformation,--consequently in our own time. The "time, times and half a time" of the 14th verse, are an obvious reference to Daniel vii. 25: xii. 7; and are the same period as 42 months, or 1260 days, "a day for a year." During this whole time the woman is nourished in the wilderness "from the face of the serpent." Safety is secured for her only "in her place."

"Water," as a symbol or metaphor, is of frequent occurrence and varied import in Scripture. Among its diversified significations, perhaps that of a destructive element is most common. (Ps. xviii. 4; x.x.xii. 6.) It is indeed often used to denote gospel blessings, (as Is. lv. 1; John vii.

38; Rev. xxii. 17.) As here used, the "water as a flood," represents something intended by the dragon for the destruction of the woman. If he cannot destroy her by fire, he aims to overwhelm her with water. This water comes out of the dragon's "mouth." So of the "unclean spirits,"

(ch. xvi. 13.) Soul-destroying errors,--heresies,--are undoubtedly intended. If he cannot devour as a roaring lion, he will endeavour to deceive and seduce as a cunning serpent. We are therefore instructed hereby to look for "d.a.m.nable heresies" to prevail, accompanied and followed by popular commotions and licentiousness. The age in which we live is remarkably characterized by false systems and impious theories.

Speculative atheism caused the French revolution, and led to the erection of the United States government; which, having openly declared independence of England, soon after virtually declared independence of G.o.d. France, Germany, England and the United States, have all been pervaded with infidel and atheistical sentiments; and these, whether propagated under the name of _solid science_ or _polite literature_, have corrupted the public mind for generations. In the name of science, treating of the material or moral world, the agents of the dragon have been exceedingly successful. Metaphysicians and geologists have constructed systems which would exclude the Almighty from the heavens and the earth. But however active and zealous these laborers in the service of the dragon, they do not reach the popular ear but in part.

Those sons of Belial who devise false systems of religion under the name of Christianity, have been still more pernicious to the nations, and dangerous to the church. If the church of Rome cannot prevail with kings as before, to execute her cruel sentences of death upon heretics, she is not less active in disseminating her idolatrous and superst.i.tious dogmas among the nations. By freemasonry, odd-fellows.h.i.+p, temperance a.s.sociations, and a countless number of affiliated societies,--the offshoots of popery and infidelity, the dragon still a.s.sails the woman.

Reason, toleration, humanity, charity and liberality are terms which have been selected and abused by the servants of the devil "to deceive the hearts of the simple." These are alike the watchwords of the spiritual seducer and the political agitator. What dogma or heresy so absurd,--what conduct so immoral, as not to find patronage in the journals of the day? or not to find tolerance or protection under the fostering wings of church or state? What is impiously called "free love," as well as avowed infidelity and polygamy, are patronized by const.i.tuted authorities in Christendom. When taking a survey of the errors and systems of error, hostile to the honor of Messiah and the free grace of his gospel, how few can be found in the different nations of the earth, who "overcame by the blood of the Lamb!" The religions established by the nations of the world are all more or less tainted with the errors, and disfigured by the ceremonies of the church of Rome.

Surely we have before our eyes a constant fulfilment of the prophecy under consideration. To all outward appearance the woman is in the wilderness. She is in fact so obscure that some of her sons begin to question her visibility. They are ready to cry in despondency,--"The witnesses are slain."--They are mistaken. This is their infirmity. The 1260 years are not yet expired, nor the testimony finished. "When the enemy shall come in _like a flood_, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." (Isa. lix. 19.) The mystic woman is yet in the wilderness, and there she is nourished with the hidden manna "a time, times and half a time," "forty and two months, or twelve hundred and sixty days,"--that is, years; for, as formerly noticed, all these expressions mean the same period of time; the period during which the witnesses prophesy, on the one side, and the gentiles tread the outer court, on the other. The profanation of the holy city,--the church nominal, and the testimony of the witnesses against that conduct, is the same contest which in this chapter is represented under other symbols.

The waters of the symbolic flood have spread over all the nations of Christendom, corrupting the very fountains of natural and moral science, literature, politics and religion; so that hardly any principle is accepted by the human mind as settled, but all is thrown into debate.

Man's intellect, craving substantial nourishment, and thirsting for refreshment which nothing but the water of life can supply, vibrates between ritualism and skepticism in our day. The flood from the dragon's mouth, consisting of truth and error, a combination of Christianity, refined idolatry and speculative atheism, fails to satisfy the necessary cravings of the immortal soul. "There be many that say, Who will show us any good?" (Ps. iv. 6.)

In this state of the popular mind, there is a general sentiment which discountenances penalties inflicted for mere opinion. The cry of toleration,--"freedom of speech and of the press," resounds in the public ear among most communities since the dragon was cast down from the mystic heaven. This popular sentiment is not an expression of the law of charity, actuating hearts influenced by divine grace; but rather originates from indifference alike to the claims of Messiah and the destinies of mankind. Thus "the earth helps the woman." Indeed, the nations of Christendom, contrary to their former policy, are now much more tolerant of ecclesiastical than of _political_ heresies. With few exceptions, the policy of the nations at the present time is to discriminate, not among _churches_, but among _religions_. The popular voice is obviously in favor of dissevering that alliance between church and state, from which mankind have suffered in past generations. While every earthly potentate, usurping the place and prerogatives of the Mediator, a.s.sumed to dictate the faith and wors.h.i.+p of his subjects, all dissenters and recusants must necessarily be subjected to penalties.

Such was the policy of the dragon for centuries, while in the heavens of ecclesiastical and civil power. The nominal church established by the state, _defined heresy_; and the heresy found by the church became rebellion against the civil authority. Of course the saints were then executed as _traitors_. Even a superficial view of the signs of the times will result in the conviction, that a great change has taken place in the policy of nations and churches. The dragon has now prevailed with most politicians and statesmen, as well as with most professing Christians, to demand a total "separation of church and state;" by which demand they do not mean a divorce of the unscriptural and _antichristian_ alliance only or chiefly, but a simple and absolute rejection of religion, and especially the _Christian_ religion, from any connexion with or influence upon _civil_ affairs. This is undeniably the avowed aim and declared desire of the great body of the population of Christendom at the present time, (1870.) And what is this but an open denial of the authority of the Mediator as he is the "Prince of the kings of the earth?" Thus has the dragon, since his ejection from heaven become a terrible "woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea!"

And thus has the "earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood;" so that the woman remains comparatively safe "from the face of the serpent"

in the very obscurity of her position. Some of her sons, from time to time, venturing abroad from their secluded place in the wilderness, becoming weary of sackcloth and aspiring to worldly distinction, have been borne along by the waters of the flood, and _drowned in the general deluge_. Against the force of this strong current of popular errors, nothing will avail the seed of the woman but the "living water" which Jesus imparted to the woman of Samaria. To him who partakes of this water, those of the dragon will be distasteful; for "it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John iv. 14.) Since the middle of the seventeenth century, when by the reformation in Europe and the British Isles, the dragon was cast down from the symbolic heaven, he has been a.s.sailing in "great wrath" all ranks and degrees of men, not, as before, with fire and sword, with scaffolds, gibbets, thumb-screws,--torturing and destroying their mortal bodies, that he might reach their immortal souls: but by bringing them together in _voluntary a.s.sociations_ on principles of the covenant of works, subversive of the covenant of grace, and consequently aiming at the drowning of the mystic woman. This the enemy of all righteousness has been attempting, and with too much success, by public and professed ecclesiastical and Christian a.s.sociations; such as Jesuits, Socinians and other self-styled Unitarians, Latter-day Saints, Mormons,--or by combinations in secret and sworn confederacies; such as Odd Fellows, Freemasons, Sons and Daughters of Temperance, with other affiliated fellows.h.i.+ps innumerable. The special subtlety of the serpent consists in blending these two kinds of communions, so that under the name of reform, moral and spiritual, those who fear G.o.d may be unconsciously drawn into the snare. And alas! how many simple ones have been thus carried away by the waters of the flood! And many strong men have been thus cast down from their excellency. We are not to be surprised if we find the witnesses few in our time,--the seed of the woman diminished when the dragon makes his final attack.

17. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of G.o.d, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

V. 17.--In this verse we have the last effort of the enemy, to destroy the woman's offspring. It is the _third_ attempt, and, as we suppose, is yet future. We cannot therefore, of course, be so exact or certain as to the nature of this contest. Some things, however, are plain enough. The dragon, disappointed in his efforts. .h.i.therto against the woman, so far from ceasing the warfare, is only thereby the more exasperated. "The dragon was wroth with the woman." Malice overcomes reason. He knows that he cannot finally prevail,--that "no weapon formed against her shall prosper;" yet he continues to vent his rage. The mode of attack is to be different from what it was in the second struggle. He is said to "make war,"--to resort to open violence, to employ the agency of the civil power, the beast of the bottomless pit, (ch. xi. 7;) for this third and last war, waged by the dragon agrees in time with the _slaying of the witnesses_. This third onset agrees also with the "third woe-trumpet,"

the "vintage" and the last "vial;" and immediately precedes the introduction of the millennium. "The remnant of the woman's seed" are so called with reference to those of her offspring who had suffered death under pagan and papal Rome, (ch. vi. 9.) Perhaps also we may suppose the number to be comparatively few at the time of the last war with the dragon; as during the whole period of the 1260 years, it was the aim of the dragon, through his instruments, to wear out the saints of the Most High. (Dan. vii. 25.) The character which the Holy Spirit gives of these sufferers proves them to be the woman's seed. They "keep the commandments of G.o.d, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." This is the special ground of the devil's hostility towards them. A more comprehensive and definite description of true believers is not to be found in the whole Bible. In matters of religion they adhere strictly to the commandments of G.o.d. They will not introduce, nor permit to be introduced, any corruptions into the doctrines of grace or into the matter of G.o.d's wors.h.i.+p. The temple, altar and wors.h.i.+ppers must stand the measurement of G.o.d's word in their fellows.h.i.+p. No human traditions or innovations are to be tolerated. But besides their conscientious care to have all the laws of the house of G.o.d duly observed, these remaining witnesses sustain and propagate the testimony of their predecessors, with such additional facts as they may have collected in their own time, for the personal glory, the offices and work of Jesus Christ. This testimony will necessarily bring them into collision with the children of those who killed their fathers in the same quarrel. Like their fathers, "they have the sentence of death in themselves, that they should not trust in themselves, but in G.o.d which raiseth the dead,--not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection." (2 Cor. i. 9; Heb. xi. 35.) For as already hinted, this remnant is to "overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony,"

as others did; and in death to gain the final victory over death by vital union to their living Lord, "being made conformable to his death."

(Heb. ii. 14, 15.)

CHAPTER XIII.

1. 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 crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

2. 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 gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

3. 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.

4. And they wors.h.i.+pped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they wors.h.i.+pped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?

5. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

6. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against G.o.d, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

8. And all that dwell upon the earth shall wors.h.i.+p him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

9. If any man have an ear, let him hear.

10. He that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity; he that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

Vs. 1-10.--This chapter may be considered as an explication or commentary upon the seventh chapter of Daniel's prophecy, and a farther elucidation of what is revealed under different symbols in the two preceding chapters; and no one can have an intelligent understanding of its contents without a competent knowledge of the symbols employed in those chapters. Here the Holy Spirit has given a most graphic, intelligible and comprehensive exhibition of the complex power which the dragon employs, to persecute and slay the witnessing servants of Christ.

Hitherto the devil has conducted the war against the saints through the agency of the beast of the pit, (ch. xi. 7,) and those allies called "his angels:" (ch. xii. 7:) but there has been a vail of obscurity hanging over these agencies. Who the beast and other allies of the dragon are, it is the very _design_ of this chapter to disclose, with greater precision and clearness than heretofore. In a word, we have here the _full portrait_ of THE GREAT ANTICHRIST. The distinct features and component parts of this complex and diabolical system of hostility to the Lord and his Anointed, are presented in detail for our inspection.

And it is a fact, that by a competent knowledge of this hostile combination, the suffering saints of G.o.d have been hitherto enabled to direct their testimony with intelligence and efficacy against their appropriate objects. And although the developments of providence in past centuries, and those transpiring in our own generation, are calculated to shed light upon this and collateral prophecies; yet the gross conceptions of the illiterate in the contemplation of prophetic symbols on the one hand, and the reckless disregard of scripture rules and usage by the learned on the other, have greatly contributed to the present lamentable ignorance and culpable indifference of most Christians. For people cannot feel an interest in that of which they are ignorant. But to be "willingly ignorant" of that which may and ought to be known, is one of the characteristic sins of a generation of impenitent and profane "scoffers." (2 Pet. iii. 3, 5.) On the other hand, all who humbly and earnestly desire to know the mind of G.o.d for their direction in faith and holiness, shall a.s.suredly obtain the necessary instruction. (Dan.

vii. 16: viii. 15; John xvi. 13; 1 Cor. xiv. 38.)

In these first ten verses are contained the characteristics of that beast whose origin is given, ch. xi. 7. There we had no particular description of this personage; only he was the agent by whom the witnesses were opposed in open warfare, and by whom they were finally killed. Now we have a more full account of his origin, character, achievements and duration. This personage is denominated a "beast." So are designated other characters, who are very different from this, (ch.

iv. 6.) In that place we intimated that the authorized version is imperfect; and that either "living creatures" or simply "animals," which latter we prefer, is that which the reader is to understand from the original word. Not only are the "four animals" different in origin, nature and agency from the "beast;" but in all these respects they are morally opposite. This is a ravenous beast; a beast of prey. Elsewhere the word is translated a "wild beast," a "venomous beast," a "viper."

(Acts x. 12; xxviii. 4.) This beast is the same which appeared in vision to the prophet Daniel, (ch. vii. 3.) Of the four great beasts which that prophet saw, this is the last. All the preceding are described by their resemblance to some known animals, but each is ferocious,--"a lion, bear, leopard." The fourth is a _nondescript_; there is no species in the animal kingdom that can represent it; only it was "diverse from all the beasts that were before it," (v. 7.) These four beasts represent "four kings," (v. 17,) that is, "kingdoms," (v. 23,) or _dynasties_. Now all interpreters agree that these four dynasties are the same as those symbolized in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, (ch. ii. 31-43.) The different parts of the "image" answer to the four beasts; and these again are the symbols of the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian and Roman empires. Thus far, all sober expositors are agreed. Also, there is a like agreement that John's _first_ beast identifies with Daniel's _fourth_,--the Roman empire. This is obvious from the general description by both prophets,--"having seven heads and ten horns." (Dan. vii. 7; Rev. xiii.

1.)

The origin of this beast is threefold,--"out of the sea," (v. 1,) "out of the bottomless pit," (ch. xi. 7; xvii. 8,) and "out of the earth."

(Dan. vii. 17.) Out of the sea of the commotions arising from the incursions of the northern barbarians, by whom the Roman empire was dismembered. "The ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise." (Dan. vii. 24.) This is the result of revolution,--"the sea."

The Roman empire, especially as nominally Christian, is thus characterized as being "earthly, sensual, devilish," a suitable agent of the dragon.

The fact of the ten horns of the beast, _now wearing crowns_, proves that the time to which the prophecy refers, is that which followed the division of the empire into ten kingdoms. The seven heads of the beast have a double significance,--seven different forms of government, and seven mountains, afterwards to be more fully explained, (ch. xvii. 9, 10.) The "name of blasphemy" may indicate "eternal city, mistress of the world."--Of this characteristic of the beast, other examples will be discovered hereafter.

Daniel was solicitous to "know the truth (interpretation) of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others," (ch. vii. 19.) Although "diverse from all the others" in geographical extent and destructive power, this fourth beast combined in one all the ravenous propensities of the three predecessors, but in _reverse order_. The "leopard, bear and lion of Daniel," by which Grecian, Persian and Chaldean dynasties were symbolized, are all comprised in John's beast of the sea,--the antichristian Roman empire. Since this beast of the sea embodies all the voracious properties of the three persecuting powers which went before it; this may be a suitable place briefly to review the sufferings inflicted by them upon the saints, that we may know what the witnesses were taught to expect at the hands of this monstrous enemy.--"Israel is a scattered sheep, the lions have driven him away: first, the king of a.s.syria hath devoured him, and last, this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.--The violence done to me and to my flesh, be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say." (Jer. 1. 17; li.

35.)--"Haman, the son Hammedatha, the Agagite, the Jews' enemy,--thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone."--"If it please the king, let it be written that they (the whole people) may be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver,--to bring it into the king's treasuries."--"Behold also the gallows, fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon." (Esth. iii. 1, 9; vii. 9.) Such were the crimes and such the punishments of the enemies of G.o.d's people in Babylon and Persia, as already matter of inspired history: and had we equally full and authentic records of the punishments as we have of the cruelties of Antiochus and other successors of Alexander the Great, the king of Greece, we would see, as in the other cases, "the just reward of the wicked." Of all these idolatrous, tyrannical and persecuting powers, which the Divine Spirit represented by beasts of prey, it was foretold that they were to be removed in succession and with violence. This fourth beast, "dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly, was to devour and break in pieces, and stamp the residue with the feet of it." (Dan. vii. 7.) Moreover, while it is predicted of them that "they had their dominion taken away,"

it is also added,--"yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time," (v. 12.) That is, though their distinct and successive _dominions_ were severally swept from the earth, yet their _lives_,--the diabolical principles by which they had been actuated survived; and these pa.s.sed, by a kind of transmigration, into the body of the fourth beast. This transition of animating principles or imperial policy of inveterate hostility to the kingdom of G.o.d, we think, is plainly indicated by the three features of this beast of the sea, the "leopard, bear and lion." If these three "slew their thousands," this monster has "slain his ten thousands" of the saints; and the remnant of the woman's seed are yet to be "slain as they were," (ch. vi. 11.)

"The dragon gave him his power,"--physical force, "his seat" or _throne_,--his right to reign, "and great authority"--dominion--by the voice of the people. Thus, it is obvious that the seven-headed, ten-horned beast is the first, and the oldest, among the combined enemies of the Christian church; all of whose origin is from the dragon, the abyss or bottomless pit. The writers of the church of Rome, while forced to acknowledge that this beast is emblematical of the Roman empire, still insist that _pagan_ Rome is intended. It is sufficient in opposition to this false interpretation to observe, that the beast appears to John with crowns, not upon his _heads_, but upon his _horns_, denoting the actual division of the empire into ten kingdoms: an event which did not transpire till after the empire had become nominally Christian under the reign of Constantine the Great. The reign of this emperor and his successors, by their largesses fostered the luxurious propensities of the Christian ministry, and so contributed to prepare the way for the rise of the next enemy in this antichristian confederacy against the witnesses.--The "head wounded unto death is the _sixth_.

John says expressly, elsewhere, "five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come," (ch. xvii. 10.) The "five fallen" were, kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, and military tribunes. All these forms of civil government had pa.s.sed before the time of the apostle. The one existing in his time, was the sixth head,--the emperors; by one of whom the apostle was now subjected to banishment in the desert isle of Patmos. This wound is supposed by some to be the change from paganism to Christianity in the empire. No; this view is many ways erroneous: but it is enough to remark that the Roman empire, according to both prophets, Daniel and John, is to continue _b.e.s.t.i.a.l_ under all changes, during the whole period of 1260 years. The deadly wound was inflicted by the northern invaders who overturned the empire, and, for the time, extinguished the very name of emperor in the person of Augustulus. After the division of the western member of the empire had been subdivided among the victorious leaders of the invaders from the north, and the people of that section supposed the beast slain, the throne of Constantinople continued to be occupied by the representative of the empire. In the popular apprehension the imperial head of the beast seemed to be utterly cut off by the sword of Odoacer,--"wounded by a sword:" but the several kingdoms into which the empire was divided, in process of time became united in the bonds of an apostate faith. The imperial name and dignity were revived in the person of the emperor of Germany, Charlemagne, in 800; and by the wars among the horns of the beast, the t.i.tle of emperor has been claimed alternately by Germany, Austria and France, down to our own time. These dissensions and rivalries among the sovereigns of Europe,--the mystic horns of the beast, were foreshadowed in the Babylonish monarch's dream:--"the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken,--they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay," (Dan. ii. 42, 43.) And doubtless these internal commotions among the common enemies of the saints of G.o.d, have tended, in divine mercy, to divert their attention occasionally from the witnesses. While they have been made the instruments of mutual punishment, the Lord's people have been "hid in the day of his fierce anger." (Zeph. ii. 3.)

At what time the sixth head of the beast disappeared and the seventh became developed, is not clearly marked in the Apocalypse, and it is of comparatively little importance, since the latter is to "continue a short s.p.a.ce" (ch. xvii. 10.) The _central fact_ is the continuance of the beast a definite time under _all the heads_,--1260 years. Under all the forms of government through which the empire pa.s.sed, it continued b.e.s.t.i.a.l and was the object of popular admiration. "All the world wondered after the beast." The populace made court to, fawned upon, followed in the train, or formed the retinue of the beast. We are to limit the phrase,--"all the world," for not all the inhabitants are to be understood, but such only as professed allegiance to the existing imperial dominion; and among those within the beast's territorial jurisdiction, the witnesses still stood to their protest against his impious claims.--But from admiration and loyalty, the servile mult.i.tude break forth into adoration, addressing the dragon and the beast in such language as is proper to G.o.d only. (Ps. lx.x.xix. 6.) The shouts of the rabble on Herod's birth-day may ill.u.s.trate the conduct of these votaries of the beast and dragon. (Acts xii. 22.) The poor ignorant and deluded subject, in rendering homage to the beast, did homage to the devil, from whom the power was derived. Such is the degradation to which man is reduced by blind obedience to despotic power, whether civil or ecclesiastical. He glories in the chains which bind him!--And this is the actual and voluntary condition of the great majority of the population of Christendom at the present hour. There has been, indeed, within the current century, an effort by the ma.s.ses of the people to a.s.sert their natural and civil rights, to regain the exercise of the elective franchise; but in selecting candidates to bear rule over them, they generally prefer such as are, like the majority of themselves,--"aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise." Hence, "vile men are exalted, the wicked bear rule, and the people mourn." (Ps. xii. 8; Prov. xxix. 2.)--The "blasphemies" uttered by this beast are all those _royal prerogatives_ claimed by the several crowned horns or civil sovereigns who have established idolatry and superst.i.tion within their respective dominions.

The "blasphemous heads.h.i.+p" over the church of Christ, as viewed and designated by his persecuted disciples in the British empire, may tend to ill.u.s.trate this part of the beast's history. King Henry VIII. of England, upon renouncing the civil and ecclesiastical heads.h.i.+p of the Pope, proceeded to usurp an ecclesiastical heads.h.i.+p within his own dominions; and all his royal successors till the present day have a.s.serted a similar dominion over the faith of the Lord's people. As an "inherent right of the crown," the sovereign of Britain, male or female, is declared to be "supreme judge in all causes, as well ecclesiastical as civil!" The rest of the horns are no less blasphemous in their haughty pretensions. History attests that the martyrs of Jesus denounced these encroachments on the prerogatives of Christ, and the intrinsic power of his church, as "Erastian supremacies,--blasphemous supremacies." Most expositors tell us that the blasphemies are chargeable to the Pope or to the Romish church. But this interpretation confounds this beast of the sea with the apostate church of Rome; and indeed this confounding of symbols and consequent mistaking of objects in actual history, are the primary errors of expositors in nearly all their attempts at expounding the Apocalypse. This first beast of John, and fourth of Daniel, however, is _wholly secular or civil_; and clearly distinguished by both inspired prophets, from the other agents of the dragon, as we shall find in the subsequent part of this chapter. This beast "blasphemes the name of G.o.d" by compelling men to wors.h.i.+p idols and images, enacting penal statutes and issuing b.l.o.o.d.y edicts to force their consciences. He "blasphemes his tabernacle," when stigmatizing the a.s.semblies of G.o.d's wors.h.i.+pping people as "traitorous conspiracies, rendevouses of rebellion"--"and them that dwell in heaven," he blasphemes by calling them "incendiaries, fanatics, enthusiasts, rebels and traitors;" for all these terms of reproach are well authenticated in history, as heaped upon the faithful and heroic servants of Christ.

Those who suppose that the phrase "them that dwell in heaven," means saints departed and angels as wors.h.i.+pped by papists in obedience to the Romish church, make two mistakes,--the one, that _ecclesiastical_ power is here intended, whereas we have already shown that the power is _civil_; the other, that the word "heaven" is to be taken in a literal sense, contrary to the symbolic structure of the whole context. All history, so far as authentic, teaches that the civil powers throughout Christendom, attempt to coerce by penal inflictions the consciences of all who refuse obedience to their commands, no less than the church of Rome. Even _const.i.tutional guarantees of liberty_ of _conscience_ have never secured the witnesses from the savage rage of the beast or any of his infuriated horns. Witness the history of the b.l.o.o.d.y house of the Stuarts of Britain. In vain did the victims of papal and prelatic cruelty plead, in their just defence in the seventeenth century, the const.i.tution and laws of their native land! Those who have done violence to the law of G.o.d, will always disregard human enactments which stand in the way of their ambitious schemes. Their own laws will be treated as ropes of sand, as Samson's withs, and the blood of saints as water. Such is persecution.--The seventh verse, expressing the beast's victory over the saints and the extent of his power, is explanatory of ch. xi. 7, 9; and the time of his continuance, (v. 5,) is the same as the treading under foot of the city; (ch. xi. 2:) so that we are a.s.sured of the agreement in time between the events here and those of the first part of the eleventh chapter. Also, the parties here presented are the same as in the two preceding chapters, only they are exhibited in different aspects by appropriate symbols.--The wors.h.i.+ppers of the beast include all under his dominion except those "whose names were written in the book of life."--This book is different both from the sealed book, (ch.

5;) and also from the open book, (ch. 10.) It is the register, as it were, of the names of all whom the Father gave to the Son, to be by him brought to glory. (John xvii. 2; Heb. ii. 10; Rev. xx. 12, 15.) During the whole reign of the beast, these are preserved, having been "sealed unto the day of redemption." In the seventh chapter we had the angels employed in holding the four winds of the earth, till these servants of G.o.d were sealed in their foreheads, before the first alarm should be given by the trumpets. The book of life contained their names from the foundation,--before the foundation of the world. (Eph. i. 4.) They were in time "sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise," so that it was impossible to deceive them, either by lying wonders or the serpent's sophistry. (Eph. i. 13; Matt. xxiv. 24.)--The Lamb may be said to be "slain from the foundation of the world" in the purpose of G.o.d, (2 Tim.

i. 9;) in sacrifice, (Gen. iv. 4;) in the ceremonial law and prophecy.

(Matt. xi. 13;) and in the efficacy of his satisfaction rendered to divine justice, for which the Father gave him credit from the fall of man. (Rom. iii. 25.)--So many erroneous views have been taken, and false interpretations given of this chapter in particular, as of the Apocalypse in general, that the Divine Spirit calls special attention here to the rise, reign and ruin of the beast of the sea. The prophetic description of this beast in an especial manner is of such importance to instruct, and thereby sustain and comfort, the suffering disciples of Christ, that he causes his servant John to pause, as it were, and allow the reader to reflect. Indeed, wherever a note of attention is thus given, we may be sure that something "hid from the wise and prudent" is intended. Accordingly, it were endless to follow the vagaries of even learned men dealing out their "private interpretations" of this chapter.

Yet the understanding of its general outlines was at the bottom of the Reformation by Luther, his colleagues and successors. Elsewhere, however, we may take occasion to notice how vague, and inadequate, and bold, were some of their conceptions; all going to show the seasonableness of the solemn admonition,--"If any man have an ear, let him hear."--The beast is to be treated as he dealt with the victims of his cruelty. He is justly doomed to captivity and death. "The beast was taken and--cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone," (ch.

xix. 20.) "Tophet is ordained of old." It was used by the prophets as a figure of h.e.l.l. (Is. x.x.x. 33.) To this place, whence there is no redemption, this monstrous beast was to be consigned, as predicted by the prophet Daniel, (vii. 11,)--"The beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame."--In the protracted contest of 1260 years with this imperial power, "the patience and the faith of the saints" were exemplified. Faith and patience would be more severely tried in this case than in any other; as the period of persecution was to be of much longer continuance than any that had preceded since the beginning of the world. (Heb. vi. 12.)

11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

V. 11.--John "beheld another beast,"--therefore not the _same_, as many expositors strangely suppose. No one can have an intelligent understanding of this chapter unless he views the beast of the sea and the beast of the earth as _perfectly distinct_. As the former arose out of a revolutionary state of society, and was consequently more clearly marked in history, so the latter grew "up out of the earth" more quietly and gradually, like a spear of gra.s.s,--we "know not how." As this second beast of the Apocalypse is to act a prominent part in the scenery afterwards presented in vision to the apostle, and a correspondent part in actual history, and as it is called by different names and appears under different aspects, it is necessary that its character be closely inspected, so that its ident.i.ty may be clearly ascertained. The description here given is very minute. One thing is very obvious,--that this beast of the earth is the confederate, the ally, and the accomplice of the beast of the sea. They act in concert. They had been thus represented in vision to Daniel. In the seventh chapter of that prophecy we have the beast of the sea, as here, with his "ten horns," (v. 7.) While the prophet narrowly "considered the horns, behold, there came up among them another little horn," (v. 8.) It has been already shown that these horns represent the kingdoms into which the Roman empire was divided, (v. 24.) Among these horns, kings, (v. 24,) or kingdoms, "another shall rise after them,"--"among them," yet in the order of time,--"after them." Thus it appears that Daniel's fourth beast had _eleven_ horns; but the eleventh is called "another which came up," to distinguish it from the ten, (v. 20.) "He shall be diverse from the first," (v. 24.) It is thus evident that the last horn,--the eleventh, is as really a horn of the beast, as the other ten; and of course this horn,--"little" at its rise, but in time becoming "more stout than his fellows," is the willing accomplice in crime of that beast whose horn it is. "The same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them," (v. 21.)--"He had two horns like a lamb." He professed to be gentle and innocent as a lamb,--to be the vicegerent of the "Lamb of G.o.d." He claimed only a _spiritual_ jurisdiction. As it is natural that a lamb should have only two horns, so the symbol is agreeable to nature.

But this lamb "spake as a dragon;" and that was contrary to nature. No two animals in creation are in their respective natures more diverse or opposite than a lamb and a beast of prey. These two antagonistic natures combined, indicate the crafty and cruel policy of this beast of the earth. Daniel mentions the "little horn" of the civil beast; but says nothing of the "two-horned beast." On the other hand, John speaks plainly of this beast of the earth, but omits any mention of the "little horn." But the "beast of the earth" and the "little horn" sustain the same relation to the first beast, the "beast of the sea"--the Roman empire; therefore the "two-horned beast of the earth" and the "little horn" are identical; and this ident.i.ty is confirmed by the additional name "false prophet," given to the beast of the earth in ch. xix, 20.