APOCALYPSE 17

1 And there came one of the 7 angels which had the 7 vials, and talked with me, saying to me, Come <along>; I will show unto thee the judgment of the Great <Harlot> that sitteth upon <the> many waters:

John was in Patmos nearly eighteen hundred years ago. Why are we informed that he was visited by one of the angels of the vial? Why was he not visited by one of the angels of the trumpets? Because the subject of this chapter is "the judgment of the Great Harlot;" and this judgment belongs to the vials. And which of the seven angels was he visited by? By the Seventh; because, "the judgment of the Great Harlot" is the grand catastrophe of the seventh vial (ch. 16:19) and therefore the seventh only of all the seven could show the judgment to John!

...John who was stationary, so the angel came to him, and invited him to accompany him, and he would show him the judgment of the Great Harlot.

John was stationary. The seals, and trumpet, and vial, periods, as so many succeeding and passing scenes, had all to revolve until the sixth vial-period of the seventh seal and last trumpet, came before him. He would then be visited by the Sixth Angel, and feel his power in being "caused to exist incorruptible," for the dead are immortalized in the sixth vial-period.

The judgment of the Great Harlot could not be shown to him by the sixth angel. He will have to wait until visited by the seventh angel. Then, being a living apostle, and one of those to whom it is given to execute the judgment written against the Great Harlot in the seventh vial-period, when that period arrives, he will go along with the Lamb, that is, with the Omnipotent and Omniscient Spirit, and not only see the judgment, but take part in it, and rejoice over her catastrophe and fall (ch. 18:6,20). This is the import ofthe wordy

"I will show thee the judgement of the Great Harlot"

What John saw in Patmos, he saw "in Spirit". In his day, the Great Harlot to be judged under the seventh vial, had not been developed. Hence, he saw her "sitting upon the many waters" only in prophetic vision. In this sense, he was "in spirit", as he will be, in the highest sense, when he is incorruptible and immortal; and as a constituent of the seventh angel, rejoices over the Harlot-Mother and all her adulterous progeny, whom he contributes to destroy.

Eureka 17.0.0.

The Great Harlot

The most disgusting of womankind is chosen by the Spirit, as representative of the Ecclesiastical System in doctrine, institutions, and practice, approved and cherished by the peoples of Europe. It is compared to a drunken murderess and prostitute intoxicated with the blood of the holy and the faithful; whom she has destroyed by thousands and tens of thousands, for what she blasphemously styles 'Heresy".

Her doctrine is represented by "a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornications," which "all nations have drunk of;" and have consequently all been "made drunk".

Such is the Apocalyptic view of "Christendom," so called its spiritual guides, its rulers, its politicians, and its peoples, all made drunk by blasphemous and filthy doctrine and superstition.

The Ecclesiastical Polity of Europe represented by this strumpet is imperial. This characteristic is indicated by the purple and scarlet with which she is arrayed; and the gold and precious stones, and pearls, with which she is bedecked.

These colours and baubles are the decorations with which her officials, styled the "princes of the church," are distinguished and bedizzened. This Body of Antichrist essentially opposed to, and destructive of the Body of Christ, is apocalyptically labelled upon her shameless forehead,

"Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and the Abominations of the Earth".

"MYSTERY" is the inscription that used to be worn as engraved upon the Pope's tiara, or triple crown; but removed by Julius III., when it came to attract Protestant attention as evidence that the wearer was no other than Antichrist - the Name of Blasphemy upon the Seven Heads.

... The words of the Tridentine Council are "Romana Ecciesia, quw omnium Ecciesiarum Mater est et Magistra"

- "the Roman Church which is the Mother and Mistress of all the Churches". Whence the common phrase "Our Holy Mother the Church".

Such is the Name Apocalyptically inscribed on the forefront of the Ecclesiastical Polity of Europe in allusion to the practice of some notorious prostitutes, who had their names written on a label upon their foreheads, as may be collected from ancient authors. The Great Harlot is notorious, and recognized as the Ecclesiastical Mother by all the world.

But, she being the Mother, who are her Daughters? These are as easily discerned as the Mother herself. The Protestant State Churches are "the Harlots;" and the Dissenting, or Nonconformist, "Names and Denominations," are "the Abominations of the Earth".

The genealogy of all of them is traceable to Rome; with whose dogmas they have more accord than with the principles of the doctrine of Christ. The Harlots and the Abominations are "the Names of Blasphemy," of which the Beast is said to be "full". They are all injurious to, and subversive of, "the truth as it is in Jesus

Eureka 17.2.

2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and <they who inhabit> the earth have been < intoxicated by> the wine of her fornication.

The Wine of the Harlot's Fornication

The goblet presented to the lips of the people by their spiritual cup-bearers contains the following intoxicating ingredients, styled by an apostle "Damnable Heresies".

That the priests and parsons of "Christendom," so called are the"divinely called and sent ambassadors of Jesus Christ".

These "Ministers of Satan," or "Spirituals of Wickedness", styling themselves "Successors of the Apostles" (2 Cor. 11:14-15; Rev. 2:2) unscripturally affirm, that men are all born into the world with "souls" in their mortal bodies; and that these souls are incorruptible and deathless particles of the Divine Essence.

That these "immortal souls" are the subjects of spiritual cure; and that the clergy of all orders have been "called of the Deity as Aaron was," to cure the souls with the "divinity" they preach.

That "immortal souls" of every age, at death, go, according to "the Mother of the Harlots," to purgatory, over which she has control; but according to the ''Harlots'' and ''the "Abominations" to ''hell,'' the locality of which they know nothing about: or, if pious or repentant, direct to "heaven beyond the realms of time and space;" which is equivalent to nowhere!

In its practical application in the "cure of souls", their "divinity" teaches, that a man may be the most disgusting wretch that ever cursed society, yet he may be saved in "kingdoms beyond the skies," by the "consolations of religion" ministered by them in the article of death! (1 John 3:15). They hang men because society will not tolerate them; and send them to "heaven" from the scaffold to associate with saints and angels!

In speaking of the death of the soul, which they term a "never-dying soul," they teach that death is not death; but only a change in the mode of said "soul's" existence!

These "Grinders of Divinity" absurdly affirm, that when new-born babes and children die, their "precious immortal souls" become winged angels in heaven, and guardian spirits to their friends on earth!

They teach, that, when sprinkled, or poured upon at the font by a priest or parson, and signed with "the Sign of the Cross" (which is "the Sign of the Beast" Rev. 13:16; 14:9,10), an infant is "regenerated by the Holy Spirit. and incorporated into his Holy Church!"

These traders in souls (Rev. 18:13) lyingly affirm that sprinkling or pouring is baptism.

To affirm this is either the grossest ignorance, or inveterate untruthfulness. They ought to know that there is but "ONE BAPTISM;" and that nothing else is that baptism, but the immersion in water of an intelligent believer of "the truth as it is in Jesus".

These "Names of Blasphemy" affirm that sinners are "justified by faith alone;" that is, by faith in what they approve. Justification by faith alone is the dogma of "the Harlots" in opposition to the theory of their Mother Rome; but, in view of James 2:24,26, which declares the contrary, it is manifestly false.

Some of them say, that "all men will be saved," not omitting Judas; others, only "the elect of the Calvinian type.

Nearly all the Great Harlot's Family teach, and profess to believe, that there is a personal, black, IMMORTAL DEVIL, with horns, hoofs, and tail, who is omnipresent, and almost omnipotent; and the tormentor of "never-dying souls" eternally in hell, where he resides, and is enthroned; and that wherever it may be, it is a furnace of material fire burning with brimstone; and that, at the last day, said "never-dying souls" will be raised from death to judgment!

The drunken winebibbers of the Great Harlot's cup in their intoxication, send "immortal souls" to heaven or hell, and thousands of years after bring them back to be invested with bodies, and judged therein, and then send them whence they came, there to remain for ever! This they call resurrection and judgment!

Other theorists, intoxicated with the Babylonian wine, say, that there is no judgment for what they term "the saints," after death (Heb. 9:27); that they are giving account of themselves at the Judgment Seat of Christ now, and that at death the account closes; and that the decision of their case consists in their projection from the grave immortal!

The "divines" of the Harlot Family teach that the first day of the week, called Sunday, is the Sabbath, and hallowed by the Mosaic Law! - a tradition worthy of the blind leaders of the blind.

Instead of preaching "good will among men," they set them by the ears, and excite them to mutual destruction by war, in the name of "patriotism" and religion.

These ingredients of Rome's golden cup, imbibed by all alike, being their premises, the State and Nonconformist Spirituals inculcate "a spirit," and preach "a Jesus" and "a gospel" which the apostles of Christ did not preach, and which therefore convicts them of being the ACCURSED HIERARCHY OF SATAN - the manifested officials of Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of the Harlots, and of the Abominations of the Earth" (2 Cor. 11:4; Gal. 1:6-9; Rev. 17:5).

Eureka 17.3.

3 So he <conducted> me away in the spirit [caused to exist in immortal nature] into <a> wilderness: and I saw a woman < sitting> upon a scarlet beast, full of names of Blasphemy, having 7 heads and 10 horns [ 1, Regal; 2, Consular; 3, Dictatorial; 4, Decemviral; 5, Tribunitial; 6, Imperial; 7, Gothic, kingly (8, Papal- wounded 6th head healed)] and 10 horns [the body politic of Europe in its Roman constitution].

The Wilderness

Hence, in a vision, John was conducted away into a wilderness. The angel invited him to "come along," and he went. They travelled together, so to speak, until they came into a wilderness - into what was a wilderness in his day, inhabited by wild and ferocious peoples, not at that time included within the limits of the Roman Habitable.

It is no longer an untamed forest, peopled by roving savages; but a highly cultivated region, abounding in cities, towns, and villages, full of riches, and people of education and polish. Nevertheless, in a Scriptural sense, it continues to be a wilderness. Its educated and refined peoples of all classes, from prince to peasant, are wonderers after the Beast, and

"intoxicated with the wine of the fornication of the Great Harlot".

This is the great German, or Magogian, Wilderness, which in after ages came to be subject to the spiritual empire of the Harlot of the Seven Hills; and known in history as "THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE". The wilderness is coextensive with this dominion. Wherever the authority of the Great Harlot is recognized and supported by the States of Europe, there is the Wilderness in the largest sense of the word.

In this wilderness, uncultivated by gospel truth, John saw the heads, horns, and body of the Scarlet Beast; full of Names of Blasphemy: and an intoxicated prostitute sitting upon it. All this was seen in the wilderness; therefore the Wilderness, the Beast, and the Woman, may be regarded as parts of a great whole, the western, or Latin, section of the Laodicean Apostasy, Apocalyptically styled, "the Great City".

Eureka 17.1.

The Roman beast, at the crisis of its destruction, is the Papal phase of the beast; and therefore the eighth in the history of the changes in the forms of government that the Roman system has passed through....

13 Lectures on the Apocalypes - Lecture 11

The conflict waged will be furious; for the Northern Power, symbolized by John's Scarlet-coloured Beast, will go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.

Eureka 13.11

The apostle John in Rev. 17:3, informs us, that he was borne off in spirit into a wilderness. "Personally, he was in the isle called Patmos, under guard, as the prisoner of the Lord in the hand of the Romans. But while thus guarded, he had a vision,—that is, he saw mentally things which did not actually exist at the time he saw them; and things which he could not have so seen, if they had not been daguerreotyped upon his sensorium by the spirit of the Deity.

This is what he means by saying of the angel, απηνεγκε με εν πνευματι "he bore me off in spirit." He was "in spirit" away off in the nineteenth century, while personally a prisoner in Patmos at the closing of the first; for what he saw in spirit, and recorded in the seventeenth and eighteenth chapters of the apocalypse, belongs to our present and near future.

He tells us, that he was translated "into a wilderness" Rιζ Rρημον. The Hebrews give the name of wilderness to all places not cultivated, but which are chiefly destined to the feeding of cattle, and on which trees grow wild. So that when wilderness is mentioned in scripture, we are not always to imagine it to be a place forsaken, abandoned, void of cities or inhabitants; as this word, in Hebrew midbar, often represents the soil near a city or village which was appointed for pasture, and where the plough never came. Thus in scripture, there are few cities which had not their wilderness, that is, uncultivated places for woods and pastures.

Peoples are styled trees, grass, forests, waters, and so forth; hence there is a wilderness especially denominated

"the wilderness of the peoples"—midbar hahammim—Ezek. 20:35.

The house of Israel is now in this wilderness. Adonai Yahweh has brought them there, and there he will

"plead with them face to face, as he pleaded with their fathers in the wilderness of the land of Israel."

Into this wilderness of the peoples John was translated in spirit or vision.

He saw there "many waters," verse 1; which, in verse 15, are declared to mean,

"peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."

Hence it was a wilderness of peoples, and so called because the multitudes and nationalities inhabiting it, or rather, composing it, are aggregations of wild and uncultivated races—uncultivated by that

"wisdom which is from above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy"—James 3:17.

The races, by whatever name designated, are strangers to this wisdom. The wisdom of which they glory is "earthly, psychical, and demoniac;" and all emanates from "the flesh in which dwelleth no good thing." It is the wisdom of the clergy, styled in the apocalyptical epistles, "the depths of the Satan as they speak," with which both the clergy, and the peoples guided by them, have prostituted and debauched themselves.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Sept 1859

4 And <I saw> the woman <who had been> arrayed in purple and scarlet [ sins be as Isa. 1:18], and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, < holding> a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

European society, which, considers itself Christian and holy, is steeped in wickedness. The "names of blasphemy", with which the body is said to be full, are the great and swelling titles, ecclesiastical, military, and civil (from the "Holy Father" down to the meanest "Rev.") with which the system abounds, which gratify the carnal ambitions of the wearers and rob God of His due, for God only is great, and His name only to be had in reverence

13 Lectures on the Apocalypse - Lecture 11

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

"Mystery, BABYLON ..." This shows the name is not used plainly. It is used in "mystery", with a hidden and not a plain meaning; and it is in the first instance applied to a woman, and not a city. But this woman stood for a city. So John was told (verse 18):

"The woman which thou sawest is that great city that reigneth over the kings of the earth"

What great city reigned over the kings of the earth in the days of John? When this is answered, Babylon is identified, and the woman's name becomes the name of the city. There is only one answer. One city was "great", reigning over the kings of the earth, and that city was ROME.

...add the fact that Rome, in her political and ecclesiastical relations, has been the one eclipsing figure on the historic stage in all the eighteen centuries that have elapsed since Christ's departure, the conclusion is established beyond the reach of objection or doubt.

Babylon, apocalyptically, is Rome, just as France is "the street of" Sodom (chap. 11:8). It is impossible to go forward in the understanding of the Apocalypse without having that conclusion forced on conviction. The woman named Babylon was seen

"sitting upon many waters" v1

What is signified by the "many waters"? Verse 15 answers:

"The waters thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."

Literal Babylon has sustained no such relation to the population of the world since Christ went away. Literal Babylon has ceased to exist at all, in accordance with the prophecy of her downfall, which said:

"Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be dwelt in from generation to generation" (Isa. 13:19-20). "It shall no more be inhabited ... from generation to generation". (Jer. 50:39).

But Rome has answered to the prophecy exactly. She has brooded upon all nations: she has sat on the many waters.

Thirteen Lectures on the Apocalypse - Lecture 11.

...the image-vision of Nebuchadnezzar, divinely interpreted by Daniel (Dan. 2), taken in connection with the vision of the four beasts shown to Daniel himself (Dan. 7), shows that Babylon, the destroyer of the saints, corrupter of the earth, the queen of many waters, must be Roman; for, by these visions, it is shown that it is the Roman iron and clay that receives the shattering blow of the stone; and that it is the Roman, or fourth beast, with Papal little horn and companion kings, that is given to the burning flame by the Lord at his coming.

The Apocalyptic Babylon must be in the feet of iron and clay, and in the Roman monster of the night visions. We look at Europe as it is now, in the light of these symbols; and it requires no dogmatism to say that Babylon is there. The Roman habitable is sub-divided, as Daniel's visions require: it is cut up into a number of separate, yet connected sovereignties; and prominent among the elements constituting this fourth beast dominion is to be seen an ecclesiastical Babylon -- an ecclesiastical woman -- MOTHER CHURCH -- focused in the city of the seven hills, borne on the back of the political system subsisting in all the kingdoms of Europe.

Thirteen Lectures on the Apocalypse - Lecture 11.

It is spiritually styled Babylon; for it is as much a city of confusion as was the original Babylon when the language of mankind was confounded in the days of Nimrod.

...She is styled "Mystery," because she is the embodiment of that "Mystery of Iniquity," which Paul says, was working at the time he was writing (2 Thess. ii. 7).

Scaliger testifies that "Mystery" was once worn as an inscription on the Pope's tiara; but afterwards removed by Julius III. The term "Mother," as applied to the Great City in its ecclesiastical relations is recognized by all. As Jerusalem is the Mother of all the Saints; so Rome is the Mother of all their enemies -- "Romana Ecclesia," says the Council of Trent, "quae, omnium Ecclesiarum Mater est et Magistra" -- The Roman Church, which is the MOTHER and MISTRESS of all churches.

The Popes themselves seem determined that there shall be no lack of evidence to prove the identity of the ecclesiastical polity of which they are the deified head, with the apocalyptical Great City Babylon.

On occasion of the last Jubilee a medal was struck, a copy of which is given in Elliott. It is the size of a quarter of a dollar; on one face, is the effigy of Leo XII; and on the obverse, a Woman, symbolizing the Roman Church, sitting on a globe, with rays of glory on her head, a cross in the left hand, and a cup, signed with a cross in its mouth, in her extended right hand, as if presenting it to be drunk. Beneath her is the date, and around her face the legend "Sedet super Universam. Anno Iubi. MDCCCXXV." -- She sits upon the world.

In the year of Jubilee, 1825 -- (Apoc. xvii. 4,15). Yes, she sits upon the world, or "upon many waters," the shameless strumpet of the unmeasured court; and like certain notorious prostitutes of pagan times, bears her ignoble name upon her forehead.*

[* "In allusion," says Bp. Newton, of whose church she is Mother, "to the practice of some notorious prostitutes who had their names written on a label upon their foreheads, as we may collect from ancient authors. Thus Seneca says, Nomen tuum pepenit in fronte: pretia stupri accepisti -- 'Thy name hath hung upon thy forehead: thou hast received the reward of thy dishonour.'"]

But the Great City is not only spiritually styled Babylon because of the confusion of spiritual speech that obtains among all the "Names and Denominations" of which it is ecclesiastically constituted; but because it is the modern development of the same power that existed in the days of the Chaldean Babylon; whose golden head, for the time being, was the Dynasty of Nebuchadnezzar: and because a similar fate awaits her.

It is, I say, the same power, only modified by time and circumstances. I do not say by place as well as by time and circumstances; for, when the Gogue of Ezekiel shall have attained to the full extent of his latter day dominion, much of Babylonia, even more than he now possesses, will be his. He will be, in the full manifestation of his power, the very apex of the Little Horn of the Goat -- the Hellenistic Horn of the Great City, which even now includes the site of Babylon in its domain.

Eureka 11.3.3.

6 And I saw the woman <intoxicated by> the blood of the saints, and <by> the blood of the <witnesses> of Jesus: and <beholding her, I marvelled with great astonishment! >

John saw the clergy of the mother Church, and the clergies of her Harlot-Daughters, and the clergies of the abominable names and denominations of the Western habitable, or wilderness; or

"court which is without the temple given unto the Gentiles," (Rev. 11:2);

and he saw them "sitting upon the many waters," or peoples of "Christendom;" and sustained by their imperial and kingly governments.

He saw this, and he represents to us what he saw, by a drunken murderess and prostitute, sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast with eight heads and ten horns, as described in the chapter. He says, she was drunk with blood, and the nationalities upon which she rode, were drunk with the wine with which she drugged them. When he saw this representation of the ecclesiastical and civil constitution of what is styled Latin Christendom, he says,

"I wondered with great astonishment."

And well he might. Acquainted as he was with original and genuine Christianity in precept and practice, he must indeed have been astonished when he contemplated what the clergy now term christianity in its civil, ecclesiastical, and doctrinal constitution, under the aspect of the symbols presented to his view in the wilderness.

The mind of the Spirit concerning our Clerical Christendom or Jezebel, is discerned in the label he has placed upon her forehead, which is descriptive of her name or character. The original ecclesiastical institution of the apostacy he styles,

"Mystery, Babylon the Great Mother:"

that is,

"the mystery of iniquity,"

Paul said was already working, and predicted would overshadow everything; in its ecclesiastical organization, would be a system of strong delusion and doctrinal confusion, and therefore "Babylon the Great:" that it would be the mother-system of spiritual iniquity in a multitude of forms; which forms would be "names of blasphemy" abounding in the scarlet-coloured beast, the symbol of the "many waters" in their political constitution.

"I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast full of names of blasphemy."

The beast was full of the names, not the woman, as the construction of the original shows. These names of blasphemy which abound among the scarlet-beast peoples are classified by the spirit into two categories,—"the Harlots," and then, "the abominations of the earth;" so that the label upon Jezebel's forefront designates the three grand divisions of the mystery of iniquity; and which for the sake of clearness may be specified as,

1. The great Babylonish Mother, with Rome for its ecclesiastical capital and throne;

2. The Harlots, or State Churches of the West; and,

3. The abominations of the earth; or all the other names and denominations known as "the Sects."

It is a remarkable fact that all the State Churches and Gentile Sects style the Roman or Latin Church "the Mother Church."

They admit that she is a true church, and the most ancient of them all; and that there is salvation in her pale. They all acknowledge that they obtained their "baptism," as they absurdly enough term their baby-sprinkling, from her; while she declares that she did not get it from the scriptures.

She, however, is not so "charitable" as they; for she denies salvation to all who die out of her communion. Thus "the mother of all churches" stands confessed; while those same churches, endorsing the opinion of Martin Luther and his contemporary reformers, proclaim their mother to be no other than "the Mother of the Harlots!"

To this protestant opinion we have no objection. The Roman Church, the spiritual system of Daniel's Fourth Beast in its western development, is unquestionably the ecclesiastical mother John saw in the wilderness. But, then, we contend, that this universal admission must be carried out to its logical conclusion, which is this: namely, that the Roman Church being the "mother of the Harlots," and "the mother of all churches," those churches must of necessity be "the Harlots" and "the Abominations."

There is no evading this conclusion which is sustained by reason and doctrinal likeness. Thus the mother Jezebel teaches the congenital existence of an immortal soul in sin's flesh; so do all her Harlot daughters;—she teaches, that holy souls go to Heaven at death, where they enter upon the reward; so do they;—she teaches, that the wicked souls go immediately to punishment in material fire, so do they; she invented baby-sprinkling, or rather established it by law, and they accept her invention as their only baptism.

But there is no end to the parallel. They have repudiated some of their mother's practices, and are more "charitable" in their theories; but in substance they are the same—children of the flesh, walking in the flesh, and glorying in its principles, which are the mystery of iniquity, and death to all that hold them.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Sept 1859

7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou <wonder?> I will <explain to> thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, < having> the seven heads and <the > ten horns [or Toes in Dan 2:41. part iron, part clay].

The seven heads cover the whole period of time in which the beast having the heads appears in various forms.

... in John's day, the sub-division of Rome into separate royalties had not taken place. In due course, it came to pass: when imperial Rome fell, Rome divided into kingdoms rose; and in this condition she has continued for many centuries.

The ten horns on the head of Daniel's fourth beast (Dan. 7:7), with the eleventh with eyes (Papacy), that afterwards rose in their midst, were the prophetic forecast of this state of things which has prevailed over twelve centuries.

The ten-horned, scarlet-coloured beast of Rev. 17, while embracing the history of that time, represents more particularly the constitution of Roman Europe at the crisis of its destruction.

Consequently, the ten kings of verse 12 are the powers that will confederate with Rome in the hour of her retribution. The cause of the unity of mind with which they

"give their power and strength unto the beast for one hour"

is evidently the Lord's presence in the earth -- (though they know not he is the Lord, but imagine him an anti-Christ).

Thirteen Lectures on the Apocalypse - Lecture 11.

8 The <BEAST which> thou sawest was [the Beast of the Sea with seven heads and ten horns, but with certain additional particulars. The Beast of the Sea in ch. 13, was the polity it represents, in its origin; but the Beast of the Abyss of ch. 17, is the same polity in the last thirty years, or "one hour," of its existence],

and is not; [In John's Day - the ten horns upon it had then received no kingdom.]

<but is hereafter to> ascend out of the <abyss>, and < to> go <away> into perdition: and they <who> dwell <upon> the earth < of whom there hath not been written the names upon> the book of life from the foundation of the world, <shall wonder> when they behold the beast that was, <but> is not , <although it> is [When this perdition is consummated, it will then be "the beast that was;" and then also, "the beast that is not, although it is" to be when John saw].

.

The Great Harlot was seen to sit upon this Beast; and she was seen to Sit "upon many waters," which are interpreted in verse 15, to signify peoples and multitudes, and nations and tongues"; subjects of the debauched kings, or rulers, of the earth, who are all drunk with her wine; and have no part in the life and glory of the blessed.

Sitting upon these peoples and the Beast is equivalent to saying, that this Beast is the symbolic representative of the political society they constitute. They are the peoples of the ten horns and of the imperial head giving countenance, veneration, and support to the Great Harlot, as the ecclesiastical system of their several States by law established.

The Beast of the Sea in its origin could reckon up only seven heads upon the seven mountains; but this Beast of the Abyss can count the same seven with an additional head, which is styled "THE EIGHTH" -"the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth; and he is of the seven, and goeth away into perdition".

The Eighth Head is the "Holy Roman Empire,'' under ''His Holiness'' and ''His Apostolic Majesty," forming a conjoint dynasty, as symbolized by Daniel's Little Horn with Eyes of a man and Mouth of blasphemy.

This Eighth Head, with its spiritual emperor in Rome, and its secular emperor in Vienna [At the time in 1866], has ruled in the midst of the Ten Horns, during many centuries; but the time has not yet quite come when these deliver their power and authority to the Beast's eighth head for "one hour".

When this event transpires, it will be consequent upon the operation of the Frog-Power causing the gathering of "the kings of the earth and of the whole habitable" against the Lamb and his forces. "I saw," says John,

"the Beast, and the Kings of the Earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against Him sitting upon the horse, and against his army" (ch. 19:19).

This is the same hostile gathering referred to inch. 17:14- these (the Ten Horns)

"shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall conquer them for he is Lord of lords and King of kings; and they that are with him (Jesus and his Brethren, the Saints with the Spirit ch. 14:13) are called, and chosen, and faithful".

The conquest of the Eighth Head and these Horns, which represent the Latin Catholic Europe, is the third angel judgment of the Seventh Vial; and results in these island-kingdoms fleeing away, and their mountain-empires being found no more (ch. 14:10,11; 16:20).

The perdition of the Eighth Head and its Horn-Allies will also be the destruction of the False Prophet Power; or, under another figure, the Drunken Prostitute that rides the Beast, or sits upon the peoples of divers tongues.

Wonder when they behold [admire] the beast

What is this but a declaration that the sympathizers with the Roman system, in all its ramifications, are outside the pale of divine regard. The cry of uncharitableness will not scare away an earnest mind from the recognition of divine truth so plainly enunciated. It is either true or not true, that all who admire Papalism and its offshoots are unwritten in the book of life.

If true, should we not be very careful to recognize and proclaim the fact?

Thirteen Lectures on the Apocalypse - Lecture 11.

9 <The mind having wisdom is this.> The 7 heads [the heads have a 2 fold symbolism - literal mountains and also ruling constitions elevated high above and dominating the populace ] [ 1, Regal; 2, Consular; 3, Dictatorial; 4, Decemviral; 5, Tribunitial; 6, Imperial; 7, Gothic, kingly (8, Papal- wounded 6th head healed)] and 10 horns [the body politic of Europe in its Roman constitution] are 7 mountains, [1.Mount Cœlius; 2.—Viminal; 3.—Aventine; 4.—Esquiline; 5.—Quirinal; 6.—Capitoline; 7.—Palatine. < where >  the woman < is sitting upon them:>

The seven heads are seven mountains

Rome is undoubtedly the seven-hilled city of the Apocalypse. It is true that Constantinople-(originally the second capital of the Roman Empire)-is also built on seven hills. It is said that the site of Jerusalem was also originally seven hills, and some other cities have been mentioned with the same peculiarity, but this does not obscure the truth in the case.

If the identity of Rome with the seven-hilled city of the Apocalypse depended only on that topographical feature, there might be some doubt; but it does not do so. It results from several lines of evidence. One is conclusive by itself if there were no other:

"that great city that reigneth over the kings of the earth."

Rome did this at the time the Apocalypse was given and for centuries before and after. Constantinople never did so, nor Jerusalem, nor any other city since the days of the vision.

The Christadelphian, Aug 1898

The beast is thus interpreted, "Its seven heads are seven mountains," on which the woman (or city) is seated (katheetai.)

"It is universally known," says Dr. Bryce Johnson, that the city of Rome is built on seven mountains. The following are their names, viz: the Palatine. Cœlian, Capitoline, Aventine, Quirinal, Viminal and Esquinal mountains. By this very uncommon situation Rome was so perfectly distinguished from every other city in the world, that both the Greek and Latin writers call her the city on the seven hills-by which name every reader understood as perfectly that Rome was meant, as if they had heard the word Rome itself.

Ovid a Roman Poet, says-Rome the seat of the gods and of empire, which surveys the whole world from her seven mountains." That it is the city of Rome, literally and locally which is meant, is evident not only from the description of its situation, by the seven mountains, but also from the very uncommon mode of expression in the original language, which literally translated, reads, "in the place where the woman sits upon them: by which expression the locality of the city is fixed in as plain and strong terms as language can afford.

And there are seven kings; five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he comes he must endure for a little time.

THE WHEN this chapter was written, must be kept constantly in view, or it cannot be understood.

It was written by the Apostle John, about A.D. 96 or 100, under the Roman emperor, Domitian-Rome was founded 753 before Christ; from which period, down to that contemplated under the last of the "seven kings" or seven forms of government 1297 years are included.

Tacitus, a very eminent Roman historian tells us, that in his day, there had been five distinct forms of government in Rome; and it is well known that there have been just two more since his time to the year of our Lord 544.

In his annals, he says, "Rome was first governed by kings, then by consuls, by dictators, by decemvirs, by military tribunes with consular authority"; since that time to the date aforesaid, there have been emperors; under whom Jesus Christ was born, the Apostles lived, and the Kingdom of Heaven or the congregation of the Lord was fairly established among all nations of the earth: and after the subversion of the imperial authority, kings of the Gothic race constituted the seventh form of government in Rome.

In the days of the Apostle, five of these forms of government had fallen, one existed, namely, the imperial or sixth form, but the seventh had not yet come. When the seventh arose it was to continue for a short time compared with the forms which preceded and followed it. The imperial or sixth had existed upwards of 500 years, and the Pontifical or eighth form has continued upwards of 1000 years

Unknown

10 <they are also seven governments: the> five <have> fallen, and < the > one is, and the other is not yet come; <but when it may have come, it is necessary that it > continue a short <time>.

One IS

The city of the seven hills had passed through five forms of government, viz., 1, the Regal; 2, the Consular; 3, the Dictatorial; 4, the Decemviral; 5, the Tribunitial. The sixth was the IMPERIAL, which was in the fulness of its power when the Apocalypse was angelically communicated to John. This was the political structure upholding the Babylon of the Apocalypse in her place in history. We look at history, and literal Babylon is nowhere to be seen; while Rome is, in all the exact relations prefigured by the symbolism.

Thirteen Lectures on the Apocalypse - Lecture 11

short space

This "short space" was a period of great events. In the course of it, and during the nine decades that ushered it in, the Ten-Horn Sovereignties established themselves upon the western imperial third of the Roman Orb; Rome's imperial dominion was abolished, and, in place thereof, a regal sovereignty was developed upon the seven mountains known in history as the GOTHIC KINGDOM OF ITALY.

This was the Seventh Head, which was only to continue "a short space," or sixty years. This passing away of the Sixth Head from Old Rome at the time of its successor, the Seventh Head's inauguration, is thus symbolized in Apoc. 8:12,

"and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened."

The other two thirds were still unsmitten and left to shine in their proper spheres - two thirds of the sun, two thirds of the moon, and two thirds of the stars: that is, the imperial Sixth Head retained its position in Constantinople, from whence it continued to exercise rule and authority, in all matters, civil and ecclesiastical, over the other unsubdued two thirds of the Roman world.

Eureka 13.14.

11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the EIGHTH, and is of the seven, and goeth < away> into perdition.

The Papacy is, in reality, the ancient Pagan constitution of Rome revived and reproduced with Christian names and superstitions. Therefore, although the eighth, he is

"of the seven and goeth into perdition."

Thirteen Lectures on the Apocalypse - Lecture 11

It Was, and Is Not, yet Is

The Beast which John saw arise out of "the Sea," or Roman Nations of the Mediterranean, had "Seven Heads." These seven heads, he informs us, have a twofold signification; one is, that they represent the Seven Mountains on which the Roman Jezebel, or, "that Great City which reigneth over the kings of the earth sitteth," or is enthroned; the other, that they symbolize "Seven Kings," or forms of government that have prevailed there.

As to the seven mountains or hills, topography presents us with their names as, Aventinus, Capitolinus, Coelius, Esquilinus, Palatinus, Quirinalis, and Viminalis. Over these hills was the city Rome extended when John saw it in vision; and so notably was this the fact, that this Imperial Queen of Nations acquired the familiar designation of the City of the Seven Hills.

On these seven hills, seven forms of government were to obtain in ordinal succession. John tells us that he was living under the dominion of the sixth head; for speaking of the heads as representative of "kings," or sovereignties, he says, "five are fallen, and one is."

The fallen sovereignties are thus named by historians, viz., the Regal, the Consular, the Dictatorial, the Decemviral, and Tribunitial with consular authority. These had all passed away before John's exile to Patmos. He was banished to that island by the sixth, or imperial, which was in effect established in the Seven Hilled City by Augustus Cæsar twenty-nine years before the true era of the birth of Jesus, and consequent upon the battle of Actium, U. C. 723. It continued till A. D. 476, a period of 508 years, when it was abolished from Rome and Italy, (but not from Constantinople and the East) by the seventh.

The setting aside of the sixth to make way for the seventh sovereignty of the Beast, is signified in these words-

"And I saw one of its heads slain as if unto death". 

The blow appeared to be mortal, or one from which it would never recover. But both the prophecy and the history instruct the reader, that the abolition of imperial sovereignty from the Seven Hills was only for a time, at the expiration of which it should revive as the Eighth Head or sovereignty in Rome. This is indicated in the words,

"And the plague of its (seeming) death was healed."

The head with a scar upon it is styled "the beast that was, and is not, yet is;" and to show that the beast here signifies a sovereignty connected with the Seven-Hilled City, the revelator adds,

"And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the Eighth, and is of the seven;"

that is, it is an eighth Roman sovereignty, and imperial like the sixth.

As John lived under the sixth, he might truly and fitly say of the eighth, in relation to those contemporary with its overthrow, "it was," and in relation to himself, "it is not, yet is." A time shall come when they shall say "it was, and is not;" because it is written concerning it, "it goeth into perdition."

We can say of the dominion of Alexander the Great, "it was, and is not;" because it once existed, but is not now in being: but John could not say that the Eighth "was" in the sense of its having passed away into perdition.

There is a sense, however, in which he might say "it is not, yet is," even in reference to his own time. "it is not;" that is, it did not ordinarily exist as "the eighth," because the seventh had not then yet appeared; it might nevertheless be said of it, "it yet is," because it is constitutionally "of the seven," being like the head under which John lived, imperio-pontifical.

This is the true sense of "it is not, yet is." We can say "it is," because it exists; therefore we cannot say "it was," because that would imply that it had gone into perdition; neither can we say "it is not," for there being no other sovereignty like it, that would be to deny that "it is:" but the Sixth and the Eighth heads of the Seven-Hilled City being both imperio-pontifical, John could say "it is not, yet is."

Editor.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, July 1855

The beast which you saw, says the angel, was and is not. That is, a time was coming when it would be said, the beast did once exist, but is not now in being. The phrase must be considered as indicating its destruction, as indeed the angel immediately declares; "he will" says he "ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go to destruction;" and the inhabitants of the earth shall wonder, seeing the beast who was, and is not, yet is.

It may naturally be inquired, how can a thing be and not be in the present tense? This would certainly be inexplicable if we suppose the being and not being to relate to one and the same instant of time. We have hinted that the "was and is not" relates to a period posterior to the age of the Apostle; and we presume the "yet is" implies its existence at the time when the angel and the Apostle were conversing together, A.D. 100. This solves the difficulty as will be seen hereafter more particularly.

Unknown

This was an outlying dynasty, thrusting itself in among the horns from a country lying beyond the geographical limits of the old Roman territory. It was a dynasty growing out of a foreign country, and therefore styled "another Beast." Hence, the reason why it is written in the text referred to,

"the Beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition."

This is also affirmed of the Ten-horned Beast, as well as of the Two-horned Beast, or Eighth Head; because there is the same intimate connection between these two Beasts, or dominions, as that which exists between the Little Horn, and seven horns of the Greco-Roman Dragon.

John was favoured with a vision of " the wilderness," or territory of the Holy Roman Empire as it is styled. He saw it as it was in the first century after Christ. Then, the dominion which now exists there had no being.

In spirit he viewed it as it would appear several centuries after when the dominion had arisen. It was then "the Beast that is;" again, he saw the wilderness after the power had passed away; he then speaks of the dominion as "the Beast that WAS," and "the Beast that is NOT," because it will then have gone into perdition.

We can now say of the holy Roman Beast "it is;" and from present appearances, shall be able to say in a few years, "it was and is not," because it is destroyed by "the burning flame."

Elpis Israel 3.1

Now, this Germano-Italian dominion [1859], whose Emperors, as well as Pontiffs, were formerly elective, but now hereditary in the house of Hapsburg, of which Francis Joseph of Austria is the representative, is symbolized in Rev. 17:11, by the eighth head of the scarlet-coloured beast, or polity, by which the Roman Jezebel is carried: as it is written there,

"and the beast that was, but is not, even he is the eighth."

It must be remembered here, that the angel is discoursing to John about "heads" under which the polity of the Romanized nationalities had been capitalized. There are not eight beasts, but eight heads to one beast. The angel's words are therefore historically interrupted thus—

"and the beast that was, but is not, even he is the eighth head."

This eighth head did not exist in John's day, for he was living under the sixth; and could have no existence until after the termination of "the short space," during which the seventh head or Gothic kingly form of government, was to reign in Rome, and until the eclipse of the Roman Majesty "for the third part of a day, and the third part of a night," should have ended.

The eighth head arose seven hundred years after John, "and yet is," as the Germano-Italian, commonly known as the Austro-Papal. John saw, in vision, this dominion of the Emperor and the Pope in the wilderness of the peoples existing contemporarily with ten minor sovereignties upon the Romano-Babylonish Habitable, styled by the angel, "ten horns."

This Austro-Papal eighth head which "yet is," but "is not" in John's time, though of a like character to the sixth head under which he was living being imperio-pontifical, the angel declared, "goeth into perdition," and in so doing, becomes "the beast that was:"—

"the beast that thou sawest," saith he, "was and is not;"

and shall ascend out of the abyss, and go away into perdition, and they that dwell upon the earth (whose names have not been written in the book of the life from (or beginning from) the foundation of (the Millennial) Kosmos, (or order of things) shall do homage, when they behold the beast which was, and is not, yet is;" and in verse 11,

"the beast which was, but is not, even he is the eighth, and out of the seven, and goes away into perdition.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Sept 1859

12 And the Ten Horns which thou sawest are 10 <governments>, which have <not yet received> kingdom; but <they receive authority> as kings one hour [30 years] with the beast.

...the image-vision of Nebuchadnezzar, divinely interpreted by Daniel (Dan. 2), taken in connection with the vision of the four beasts shown to Daniel himself (Dan. 7), shows that Babylon, the destroyer of the saints, corrupter of the earth, the queen of many waters, must be Roman; for, by these visions, it is shown that it is the Roman iron and clay that receives the shattering blow of the stone; and that it is the Roman, or fourth beast, with Papal little horn and companion kings, that is given to the burning flame by the Lord at his coming.

The Apocalyptic Babylon must be in the feet of iron and clay, and in the Roman monster of the night visions. We look at Europe as it is now, in the light of these symbols; and it requires no dogmatism to say that Babylon is there. The Roman habitable is sub-divided, as Daniel's visions require: it is cut up into a number of separate, yet connected sovereignties; and prominent among the elements constituting this fourth beast dominion is to be seen an ecclesiastical Babylon -- an ecclesiastical woman -- MOTHER CHURCH -- focused in the city of the seven hills, borne on the back of the political system subsisting in all the kingdoms of Europe.

Thirteen Lectures on the Apocalypse - Lecture 11

13 These have one <purpose>, and < they> shall <deliver> their power and <authority> to the beast.

Re- emergence of The Beast

[ "And the 5th angel poured out his vial upon the <throne > of the Beast; and < it was> his kingdom <which had been darkened> [but not destroyed - it lives on but not in the imperial sunshine]; and they <did gnaw> their tongues <from the anguish>" - 16: 10]

" and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever and they have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image"

Fear <the Deity>, and give < to him> glory; for the hour of his judgment <hath arrived> and <do homage to> him < who hath> made <the> heaven, and <the> earth and sea and fountains of waters

These have one purpose, and they shall deliver their power and authority to the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall <conquer> them: <because> he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and < those> with him, called, and chosen, and faithful.

And the Beast <had been> taken, and with him the False Prophet < who had worked the wonders> before him, with which he deceived them <who> received the <sign > of the Beast, and <who> worshipped his image. <The two had been> cast alive into <the> lake of <the> fire burning with brimstone.

14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall <conquer> them: <because> he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and < those> with him, called, and chosen, and faithful.

To "make war" with the Lamb is not the work of a day. It implies all that is involved in preparation, organization, discussing plans of campaign, etc., and extends over a considerable period.

"One hour" is not literal, of course; it must either be taken generally (e.g., "This is your hour and the power of darkness"), or it must be understood with precision as the fraction of a duplicated day of years -- that is, a year of years.

An hour of a day year of years, would be the twelfth part of 360 years -- 30 years. In either case, the statement brings with it the idea of a prolonged struggle. Some have a difficulty in conceiving of a prolonged struggle where Omnipotence is on one side. This difficulty arises from looking at it as a mere question of power. This is not the question. As a question of power there would be no need for war at all, for the Lamb has power to take the life of all his enemies quietly, instantly, and in detail, just as he has power to give life to his friends by resurrection.

...Christ is coming again to take possession of all their thrones and set up one divine government which will fill the whole earth and give law, and health, and blessedness to all mankind, in which every form of human government has so miserably failed.

Thirteen Lectures on the Apocalypse - Lecture 11

15 And he <said to> me, The waters which thou sawest, where the <Harlot is sitting>, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

16 And the 10 Horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the <Harlot>, and make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and <shall> burn her with fire.

This process has been going on for some time, but is not yet [1866] consummated.

...The judgment has been sitting upon the Papacy and the secular imperiality that sustains it; that is, upon the Eighth Head, for the past seventy-five years, as shown in the exposition of the Vials. The effect of the judgment may be seen by comparing the Papacy and Austria as they were before the great French Revolution, with what they are at the present time.

The Pope, the Emperor, and the Sultan, are the three sick men of Europe - in hospital, as it were, incurably sick. All his calamities have come upon the Pope and his Church by the powers occupying the territories of the Ten Horns, who have hated the Harlot, and made her desolate, and naked, and ate her flesh, and burned her with fire.

Alison informs us, that the French ambassador writing from Rome to Buonaparte in 1797, remarked that "the payment of thirty millions stipulated by the treaty of Tolentino has totally exhausted this old carcass" (the Great Harlot, or Roman State): "we are making it consume by a slow fire".

...the losses of the Roman State were estimated altogether at 220 millions of livres. French occupation and oppression in Rome reduced its population from 180,000 to 90,000, and converted many villages into deserts.

See also the spirit of hatred evinced on Feb.15, 1798, by the French soldiery, who arrested the Pope while sitting in "the temple of the god," and receiving the congratulations of his cardinals; tore from his finger the ring of his marriage to the Latin Harlot; rifled his palace; and carried him prisoner into France, where he died in exile shortly after.

In France, the Great Harlot still remains spoiled, impoverished, and legally only on a footing of equality with the other superstitions, whose adherents she used to murder as heretics. In Portugal, she was prohibited from resuming possession of her confiscated domains by decree of the secular authority in 1835.

The national and ecclesiastical property then to be sold is stated at more than twelve millions sterling. Such a dilapidation of funds could not but sensibly affect the revenues of the Romish See.

Even in "most catholic" Spain, the Harlot's flesh was eaten, and the confiscation of her immense property completed by queen Christina and Espartero.

The papal apostolic letter states, that the ecclesiastical property in that country had been put up to sale, and the proceeds put into the public treasury; that all communication With the See of Rome was prohibited under severe penalties; that no Nuncio is ever to be admitted into the kingdom to grant favours and dispensations; that the ancient papal prerogative of confirming or rejecting bishops elected in Spain, was altogether abolished; and that the priests who seek confirmation, and metropolitans who solicit the pallium, or lambskin, from Rome, incur the penalty of exile.

In 1844, Christina repented of this anti-Romish policy, and conjointly with Narvaez took measures for the partial re-endowment of the Harlot. The Times and Evening Mail, of April 16, speaks of

"the signalization of her former government by the confiscation of Church property, burning of monasteries, desecration of churches, and massacre of monks, when the infidel party in her name, tore up the old ecclesiastical machinery of Spain, and shot down its adherents;"

and then proceeds in these words,

"the corruptions of the church have been beyond denial or apology. Friend and foe alike confessed and proclaimed them. A fiery ordeal was necessary for it; and a fiery ordeal it has had. It has emerged from the flames shorn of much of its paraphernalia. We may hope that it has been purified, as well as punished".

Eureka 17.4.

Throughout that country, with the exception of Rome and the little patrimony held by French protection, the Roman Harlot has been made desolate and naked; her flesh has been eaten, and she has been subjected to a fiery ordeal, that has thoroughly impoverished her.

Her property has been confiscated to the use of the kingdom of Italy, to an amount equal to six hundred millions of dollars; which is being eaten up in preparations for the struggle, which, it is hoped, will consummate the desires and ambition of all patriotic citizens; that Rome shall be redeemed from the beastly tyranny of priests, and made the capital of a free, happy, and united Italy.

Thus the Ten Horns which John saw upon the Beast have hated the harlot, and made her desolate and naked, and eaten her flesh, and burned her with fire; for the Deity put it in their hearts to fulfill His will: and He will yet put it in their hearts 'to agree, and deliver their kingdom to the beast,"(*) during the "one hour" in which they are at war with the Lamb; that is, "until the predictions of the Deity have been fulfilled"

Eureka 17.4.

This we have seen fulfilled within the last forty or fifty years. The governments of Europe have concurred in an anti-Papal policy, while obliged to compromise with the Church in their arrangements. The secularization of ecclesiastical property in all the states of Europe (including even Spain, the most pro-Papal of all countries), is a process which illustrates the fulfilment of the prophecy.

This is, symbolically, eating the harlot's flesh in a very unmistakable way. Before the days of the French Revolution, the Church possessed nearly a third of the lands of Europe: ... The Church has been hated of the governments; her flesh has been nearly eaten off her bones, and they have burnt her with the fire of war.

But a reaction in her favour may be looked for as the end approaches. When Christ appears on the scene, the powers rally round her; for the false prophet is found in their camp, as their inspirer and ecclesiastical leader. But her "last end will be worse than the first;" for Christ himself confronts her as the avenger of the slaughtered saints, and there will be no recovery from the perdition which he will bring upon her.

Thirteen Lectures on the Apocalypse - Lecture 11

The process of hating and eating the Roman harlot,‭ ‬on the part of the horns of the European system,‭ ‬is making rapid progress,‭ ‬with a corresponding development of anger-heat among the nations.‭ ‬The Austrian Parliament is now discussing what are technically termed the ecclesiastical bills—bills having for their object the deprivation of the church in Austria of powers and revenues heretofore possessed,‭ ‬and the compulsion,‭ ‬by penalty and imprisonment,‭ ‬of obedience to the new laws on the part of the priests.‭

The bills resemble those adopted in Germany.‭ ‬The bishops are in conclave,‭ ‬considering what is to be done.‭ ‬They have received a letter from the Pope,‭ ‬ordering them to disobey the new laws.‭ ‬Meanwhile,‭ ‬they are petitioning the upper house against the adoption of the bills,‭ ‬but have received no encouragement.‭ ‬On the contrary,‭ ‬the head of the Government declared that Government intended to enforce obedience and exclude the church from all her accustomed supremacy in affairs of state.

‭ ‬The Pope,‭ ‬as a last resource,‭ ‬has addressed a letter to the Emperor personally,‭ ‬calling upon him to withhold his sanction to the new bills,‭ ‬without which,‭ ‬the bills cannot become law.‭ ‬The Emperor has not taken the trouble to answer the letter,‭ ‬but has handed it to the Foreign Minister,‭ ‬thus repudiating the Pope's claim to hold sovereigns responsible to himself,‭ ‬and asserting the rights of constitutional government which the Pope detests.

The Christadelphian, Apr 1874

The slaying of the beast is the utter extermination of the Greek and Latin Catholic governments by the power of the sword; and the taking away of the dominion of the Lion, the Bear, the Leopard, or that of the Asiatic Powers, is the binding of the Dragon, casting him into the abyss, shutting him up, and Setting a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more for "a season and a time," or "a thousand years."

Eureka 13.11.

17 For <the Deity hath given into> their hearts to <execute> his will, and to <perform one purpose, and to deliver> their kingdom to the beast, until the < predictions of the Deity have been> fulfilled.

18 And the woman which thou sawest, is that Great City <having dominion> over the kings of the earth.

In the days of John, it was customary to represent the Roman State by a woman sitting upon seven projections piled upon one another, to typify the seven mountains. This device may be seen upon a coin in the British Museum struck in the reign of Vespasian. Sitting upon the Seven Hills with "Roma" under the base line, indicated that that Great City as it 'really was in those days, was the capital of the State.

In John's time she ruled militarily "over the kings of the earth"; as in after ages she came to do spiritually and more despotically. On a medal struck in 1825 in the reign of Leo XII, the Roman State is represented by a woman holding a cross in the left hand, and a cup In the right hand extended, with the Inscription Sedet super Universam, She sits upon the Universe "which is equivalent to the Apocalyptic intimation,

'She sits upon the many Waters or "peoples and multitudes, and nations, and tongues," or 'She Sits upon the Beast,"

and therefore reigns over the kings of the earth

Eureka 17.4.