the description was applicable: or, the event was still future. The sixth head continued till the days of Constantine. Then it received its wound, and died. There was now no beast, till the Papal hierarchy arose. But this was not the revival of the Roman beast, as has been shown. Whenever the Roman beast revives in his seventh head, which continues a short space, it must be in his heathen, or Infidel nature, of avowed, as well as real opposition to the cause of Christ. Otherwise he is not the real Roman beast. For whatever wickedness, cruelty, or real idolatry was attached to the Papal imposture, that was only the image of the Roman beast; but not the beast himself. Whenever this beast himself shall revive, it must be with the characteristic of direct opposition to the cause of Christ. And that he was thus to revive, as distinct from Popery, is evident from the passages relative to the Roman beast, which have been noted;* and from what we shall find in this chapter. Also that his revival was to be but a short space before the battle of the great day, is clearly ascertained, as will appear. This revival of the Roman beast, in his seventh head, has I believe never taken place, till of late. · And, if I am not deceived, this head has recently appeared under an Atheistico-republican form of government; reducing the principal nations of the old western Roman empire under its power; and continuing the short space of several years; which was longer than some of the former heads of this beast continued. The seventh head then gave way to the eighth, which is symbolized in this chapter by a new beast, ascending out of the bottomless pit, great and terrible. Verse 11, And the beast, which was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

Here we find that the beast in this chapter, who is bearing the Papal harlot to her execution, is the eighth head of the old Roman beast. This last head of the old beast, is symbolized by a new beast of peculiar, and terrible features. And yet there is a uniting of this

See Dan. vii, 11, and Rev. xiii, 3, and onward.

symbol with that of the old Roman empire, to evince, that it is mystically the same Power. The beast, which was: He was in his ancient heathen form: and is not. He was slain; his sixth head was wounded to death, in the revolution under the reign of Constantine, and has ever since lain dead, only as he has existed in his image in the hands of the Romish hierarchy, till he began to recover his life in his seventh head; which was to continue a short space; and has his deadly wound completely healed in the eighth. Now he recovers his own nature, independently of an officious, ecclesiastical hierarch. And this new Power, in his turn, takes the Papal hierarchy into his grasp, and makes it a mere tool of his own ambitious policy; and he is, in the course of Divine providence, bearing this Mother of harlots to her execution.

This Roman beast revives, under the immediate agency of the devil. And shall ascend out of the bot tomless pit. The same idea, which we have seen in Rev. xiith chapter; and in chapter xiii, 4; where the dragon gave power to the beast, after his deadly wound was healed. And the event is but just before the battle of the great day:-and goeth into perdition: Twice expressed in the same words. His exit is thus as it were immediately connected with his rise, in verses 8, and 11: As says the Apostle, of this very Power, And shall bring upon themselves swift destruction:* And, Whose damnation slumbereth not.

But how is this new beast the eighth head; and of the seven? The Roman beast has but seven heads!

Answer. He is the eighth numerically; and in point of chronology. The Imperial form of government, existing when John had his vision, was the sixth. Five are fallen; and one is; (verse 10.) This was Imperial. The Atheistico-republican form was the seventh. After a short space, this gave way to the last head under consideration. This came under an Imperial form. And this Imperial head, now healed from its deadly wound, is chronologically and numerically

* 2 Pet. ii, 1.

the eighth. It is the next after the seventh. But still it must be of the seven, or must belong to one of the seven. For the beast has but seven specifically different heads. It must be specifically the same with one of the former heads. And it is specifically the same with the sixth, the Imperial. It is then mystically the sixth, the Imperial head, recovered from its deadly wound, given in the reign of Constantine.

The greatness of this event is hinted both in the 17th, and in the 13th chapters, after the deadly wounded head is healed. I will give the two passages relative to this idea, collaterally.

Chapter xiii. The Revived
Head.

Verse 3; "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: -and they worshipped the dragon, which gave power to 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 he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome

Chapter xvii. The Antichristian Beast.

"The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition.

And I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet colored beast, full of the names of blasphemy,

These (the horns of the beast) shall make war with the Lamb,

The sym

Thus we find, that the accounts given of the healed head of the Roman beast; and those given of the beast from the bottomless pit, which is also the eighth head, and of the seven, are essentially the same. The two subjects described are one and the same. bol, or the first beast in chapter xiii, contains the beast in chapter xvii. The latter is that head of the former, which had been wounded to death, and was healed. In chapter xvii, this head is symbolized by a new beast; which yet, to shew that it is but the healed head

of the old Roman beast in chapter xiii, is described with seven heads, as well as ten horns. It is called both the beast, and a head of the beast. It is a new beast; and at the same time it is a head of the old Roman beast.

It is remarkable that the Imperial head of the Roman beast, that, under which the greatest mischief has been done to the Church of Christ, is thus represented as twice existing; and its two reigns, which mystically constitute but one, are represented as existing at distant periods. Under the first reign of this head, and before it received its deadly wound,Jesus Christ was crucified. Under the second reign of the same head, Christ will terribly destroy this beast. In the first reign, the head persecuted the primitive Christians in ten successive, bloody persecutions. The great object of the beast, in the second reign, is war against the same cause. These shall make war with the Lamb. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints. In the first reign, this Imperial head destroyed the Jews, according to the prediction of Christ, with respect to his coming in judgment upon that generation: And it thus furnished a lively type of the destruction of Antichrist, at the battle of the great day. At the close of the second reign, the same Imperial head will experience all the terrors of this latter event. At the close of the first reign, this head experienced the tremendous scene of the great day of God's wrath, under the sixth seal, (Rev. vi, from the 12th verse to the end,) in the revolution under Constantine; when the sixth head received its deadly wound. And the same head, at the close of his last reign will sink into perdition, under that awful appearing of the day of the Lord, to which that former event may be viewed but as a prelude. These reigns of the sixth head of the Roman beast are numerically two. In this sense the last is the eighth head. But they are specifically one; and mystically represented as one. In this sense the last head is of the seven; being the sixth, healed of its deadly wound.*

*The idea of a late author, that the last head of the Roman beast arose in Charlemagne, or was in a measure, fulfilled in the