9 And here is the mind

whose names were written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, should wonder when they beheld the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. Here is the enigma again. But does not this repetition help us to solve it with still more confidence? The worshippers of the beast would wonder, but the Christians would not wonder. The worshippers of the beast, believing that Nero was destined to be assassinated, and to revive from the dead, would wonder to behold him. Reference seems to be made to this in xiii. 3: "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 ;" i. e., all the heathen world. If the revelator referred to the popular superstition in regard to Nero, he did not mean that the head was actually wounded to death, but merely as if it were so, a supposition. And when they believed that the deadly wound was to be healed, that is, that the emperor should die and come to life again, they all wondered after him; and he would naturally have been a subject of wonder under such circumstances. But the Christians, whose names were written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, wondered not, because they had no belief in the popular superstition. Let us pass

on.

9. Here is the mind which hath wisdom. - Referring to what had preceded. Here, in what has been said, is a mind, or manifestation of a mind, that has wisdom. It will require wisdom to understand it. A similar expression occurs xiii. 18. And certainly this is the most difficult part of the chapter to comprehend; and

10 And there are seven kings five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet

The

to

requires the most wisdom. seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.—Rome was the seven-hilled city; and for this she was famous all the world over. There cannot remain a doubt that Rome, therefore, was intended by the woman who sat on the scarlet-colored beast. Lowman says: "The interpretation of the angel leaves no room doubt, that the persecuting power here prophesied of was to be some empire of which the city of Rome was to be the capital, or seat. Rome was as well known by its situation on seven hills, or mountains, as by the name of Rome itself. Urbs septicollis was never mistaken for any other city, Roman authors have so fully determined the sense of it."

10. There are seven kings. The seven heads of the beast, it is seen, may have a twofold application, for they may signify not only the seven mountains on which the city was built, but also a succession of seven kings, or emperors. Of this succession of seven, we are told, 1st. That five are fallen, i. e., have passed away. 2d. That one is, viz., the sixth, who was then in power. 3d. The other, or the seventh, is not yet come; he is yet to reign. And 4th. When he cometh, he will continue a short space only, or will have a very short reign. All these circumstances put together seem to us to point very directly to the Roman emperors, the word Basileus, (Greek, for king,) being usual among the Greeks for a Roman emperor. We commence with Julius, the first of the Cæsars, who, although not by name an emperor, still exercised all the power of that potentate; and it was because he adopted Augustus as his son, that the latter came to

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,

the throne. Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius. These are the five who had fallen. ONE IS, viz., NERO, who was the successor of Claudius; and the other, who had not "yet come," was Galba, who had a very short reign, agreeing with the declaration, "he must continue a short space." Or even if we begin at Augustus, we then have Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, as the five who were fallen; Galba was the sixth, and Otho the seventh, who reigned even a less time than Galba, viz., only three months. The beast represented the Roman secular power; but when he is spoken of as "the beast that was, and is not, and yet is," the enigma refers, as we have shown, to the popular superstition in regard to Nero. The Apocalypse seems to have been written in the time of the sixth emperor, which was Nero, if we begin with Julius Cæsar, or Galba, if we begin with Augustus. But that Nero was the sixth, seems to be evident from the succeeding

verse.

11. The beast that was, and is not. The beast that "was and is not," he is the eighth, but he had been one of the seven. Is not a double reign here referred to? To whom then can this refer but Nero? Not that he actually reigned twice, but there was a popular impression that he would do so.

He then would be the eighth, having been the sixth. Because, when cut off, his successor would have been appointed, and he, at his return, would have taken rank next after his successor. How true is it, then, if we consider the prevalent expectation in regard to Nero, that the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and yet he was of the seven. He was "the beast that was, and is not, and VET IS." The return

of this emperor to the throne is spoken of agreeably to the public expectation; and this shows that the Apocalypse must have been written while that expectation existed, and before subsequent facts showed that it was fallacious. ¶ Goeth into perdition. — Perdition, in the Scriptures, is synonymous with destruction. The Greek word that we find in this place is translated both these ways in the New Testament. Judas was called the "son of perdition," because he was utterly lost to the church. Goeth into perdition signifieth, goeth into destruction. The being referred to in the verse before us was entirely cast out from power, and destroyed. When Napoleon, for instance, was thrown down from his high power, driven out of France by the forces of Europe, obliged to give himself up a prisoner to the commander of a British vessel of war, and was sent to St. Helena to spend the rest of his days, he went "into perdition;" he was destroyed root and branch, so that not a vestige of his former glory remained.

12. Ten horns. · Having finished what he had to say upon the seven heads, the revelator next proceeded to explain the ten horns. They represented ten kings, i. e., ten lesser rulers, who had not been exalted to imperial power, but who received power for a short time with the aid and coöperation of the beast, the highest secular authority. The revelator drew this metaphor of the ten horns from Dan. vii. 7, 20, 24. In the last quoted verse it is said: "And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that arise." Zechariah uses the figure of the horn to signify earthly potentates; chap. i. 18, 21. As to what particular ten kings are intended by the revelator in the pas

which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with 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

sage before us, we shall not undertake to say; but there seems to be no room to doubt, that they were cotemporaneous rulers, who had submitted to the imperial power of Rome. The empire consisted of many nations, or, in the words of the revelator, of "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." The rulers of these different nations, called kings in the Greek, having submitted to Rome, were permitted to reign, under subjection to the empire, and hence it is said: "they receive power as kings for one hour (i. e., for a short time) with the beast." They were for a time united in their devotion to the empire, and gave their power and strength unto the beast. But this would not long continue. Great changes were soon to take place.

13. These have me mind. They were at this time united in maintaining the power of the beast, that is, the secular power of the empire. They consented to be tributary. But this was not long to remain, as is evident from ver. 16.

14. These shall make war with the Lamb. These kings being for the time united with the beast, and reigning under his concurrence and observation, should like him oppose and persecute the Christians. Herod, Pilate, Festus, Felix and Agrippa, were all opposed to Christianity. Jesus forewarned his disciples that they should be brought before governors and kings for his sake; Matt. x. 18; Mark xiii. 9; Luke xxi. 12. Paul was a chosen vessel to bear the name of Christ before the Gentiles and kings, &c.; Acts ix. 15. These kings opposed Christianity, and persecuted the disciples of Jesus, and

faithful.

hence are said "to make war with the Lamb," war being put in this place, as it is in many others, for spiritual contests. ¶ The Lamb shall overcome them. - Jesus was the Lamb of God; John i. 29; and there is no character in which he appears in the Apocalypse more frequently than in this; and as it was in this sacrificial character that war was made upon him, so in this character he defends his cause, and overcomes his enemies. For with the meekness of the Lamb, he combines great power; "he is Lord of lords and King of kings;" and his possession, his subjects, his spiritual warriors, are called and chosen and faithful. Jesus was not an earthly king; he was not "king of the Jews" in the sense in which they accused him of a design to usurp the power over them. His kingdom was not of this world; but it was the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, - an everlasting kingdom. Jesus had power over the hearts of men, for "all power in heaven and on earth was committed unto him;" Matt. xxviii. 18. Jesus received his power from the original source of all power, from the "God of gods and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible;" Deut. x. 17; from "the blessed and only potentate," the primitive "King of kings and Lord of lords:" 1 Tim. vi. 15. See, also, Rev. xix. 16. This is the reason why he must overcome; and second, there is the additional reason that his forces are not promiscuous, but called and chosen and faithful.. Called, see Rom. viii. 30-37. Chosen, Mark xiii. 20; Acts ix. 15; 1 Peter ii. 9. Faithful, Col. i. 2, and 2 Tim. ii. 2.

15. The waters which thou sawest,

&c.

It was said in verse 1, that the woman sat "upon many waters.' This is the metaphor now to be explained. She sat upon many waters, and she also sat upon the beast. The beast, as we have shown, denoted the secular power of the empire, by which the strength and grandeur of the city of Rome were sustained. By the waters are intended "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." In the language of the prophets "waters" denote a great multitude of people. See Isaiah viii. 7, 8: "Now, therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over his banks. And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel." These waters undoubtedly represented the forces of the king of Assyria. Once more. Jer. li. 12, 13: Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the Lord hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon. O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness." Babylon, like Rome, is said to dwell upon many waters, i. e., to be sustained by great multitudes of people. Beyond all doubt, the author of the Apocalypse was well instructed in the style of the sacred prophets. Jesus described the commotions among the people at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by "the sea and the waves roaring." This, then, is the understanding we are to form of this

verse. The woman (Rome) was said, in the first place, to sit upon the scarlet-colored beast, ver. 3, because she was sustained by the empire; and she was the directing power, and one of the chief glories of that empire. But she was said to sit on "many waters," ver. 1, because she was sustained by immense multitudes of people. Persons from all parts of the then known world flocked to her; and hence, as the revelator has said, in explaining his own metaphor, "The waters are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."

16. And the ten horns shall hate.These ten horns are mentioned in ver. 3 of this chapter, where it is said, the scarlet-colored beast had seven heads and ten horns. Beyond all doubt this is the same beast mentioned in xiii. 1, and he is there said to have had "seven heads and ten horns." These ten horns represented ten kings; xvii. 12; and hence we are told that upon each horn there was a crown, the sign of royalty; xiii. 1. These ten were heathen kings, and hence they made war with the Lamb. But it could not be supposed that Rome could always maintain her power over these subordinate kingdoms, without difficulty. process of time, therefore, they begun to hate her; they begun to be suspicious of the influence of the city; and it is a well-known matter of fact, that afterwards the capital was removed almost to the bounds of Asia. The subordinate kings for some time hated the city of Rome; and we must therefore regard this verse as a prediction of the calamities that would soon befall Rome. Her glory would depart. She would be burned with fire; she would become comparatively a miserable and desolate place; xviii. 2; the imperial countenance and protee

In

shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

17 For God hath put in their

tion would be taken away; she would be left to decline and fall; and would in time sink until she became the mere shadow of her former greatness. All this did happen shortly after the Apocalypse was published. The tributary kings, designated by the ten horns, became embittered against the city; they came to "hate the woman whom they once loved; and they made her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh, and burned her with fire. The revelator evidently gets this figure from Ezekiel's description of the wickedness and punishments of Jerusalem. The following long quotation leads us to think so: "Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord God; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them; behold, therefore, I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness. And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare. They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords. And they shall burn thy

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

houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more. So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry;" Ezk. xvi. 35-42. The revelator says, they shall "devour her flesh." This is also a figure for war and destruction. "I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain, and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy;" Deut. xxxii. 42. Rome was also to be burned with fire. This may be understood either with or without metaphor. If the former, the fire stands for the fierceness of the divine judgments. If the latter, we know that Rome suffered severely from actual conflagration. See chapter xviii. 8, 10.

17. Put in their hearts. - God had a purpose in all this, and an overruling agency. He put it into the hearts of these tributary kings to fulfil his will; and his will was fulfilled, in the first place, by their giving their kingdom unto the beast for a time. Not that such a thing could be his ultimate purpose, as though he might rest in it as an end; but it was a means whereby he accomplished his will, in the same manner as the enmity of Joseph's brethren accomplished the exaltation of Joseph, and the enmity of the rebellious Jews to the Lord Jesus caused his religion to spread throughout the world. Hence it is said, that Jesus was delivered into wicked hands "by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God." The kings were to give their