nifies a multitude of men in commotion or war 2 3. Therefore in Daniel's vifions we find the four winds 'Ariving upon the great fea, and out of it four great beafts arifing 24, to fignify that four great monarchies fhould arife out of the wars, which fhould happen in 'the world; one of which bears the characters of this < beast.' In the fame manner, in the paffage under confideration (I am now transcribing from Dr. Lancafter's abridgement of Daubuz) the afcending of the "wild Beast, here defcribed, from the fea denotes, that the tyrannical power represented has its origin from wars and commotions. And forafmuch as this wild Beaft

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has feven heads and ten horns, as well as the dragon, hereby is denoted that he is poffeffed of the fame em'pire as the dragon was; and confequently that the

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wars and commotions, from whence this beaft had his rife, were fuch as had happened in the Roman empire, 'by the irruptions of the barbarous nations.'

The Secular Beaft is likened to the bear, the leopard, and the lion. Thefe, fays Mr. Lowman, are famous for ftrength and rapaciousness in feizing and devouring 'their prey. They are therefore admirably expreffive of the formidable power and the plundering policy of the antichriftian monarchies of Europe. It is, remarks an early commentator,faid to be like a leopard, 'full of spots, swift and cruel; to have the feet of a 'bear, which grafps both with the hindermost and foremoft legs and claws; and to have the mouth of a lion, 'to tear and devour. The government which this na*ture doth affect is abfolute, to have all in fubjection in

23 The refemblance between the noife of an enraged fea and the 'noife of an army or multitude in commotion is obvious, and frequently taken notice of by the prophets.' Dr. Lancaster's Dict.

24 VII. 2, 3.

• its

its will, without any other rule or law 25.' The epithet of fcarlet-coloured 26 is faftened upon this Beast, obferve bishop Newton and Mr. Pyle, to denote his 'cruelty 27.'

And the dragon gave him his power, and his feat, and great authority. The word here tranflated feat fhould rather have been tranflated throne, as it is by Wakefield, Doddridge, and Daubuz. This,' fays Daubuz, is an induction of particulars to fhew, that the dragon furrendered up to the Beast all its royalties, or 'the feveral parts of his power. Auvas is often taken Δυναμις the imperial feat, or authority is the jurif The terms are eafily,

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for the armies 28, the throne is

'power of government, and his diction over all the fubjects. underflood; and that this fignifies, that the Beast suc'ceeded in the fame power as the dragon; that is, that ⚫ the Roman empire was divided into the Ten Monarchies ' of the Beast.-There is one thing more to be observed, ⚫ that the dragon is faid to give his power to the Beast; 'whereas, it appears, that the barbarians, who difmem'bered the empire, did enter it by force: but this is not material, for a furrender of power is the giving up of • that power. But befides that, the Romans did not 'barely furrender their power, but gave it for the most 'part by treaty to thofe barbarians under the name of 'alliance.'

25 Clavis Apocalyptica, 1651, p. 48 of the Pref.

26 Rev. xvii. 3.

27 That red doth emblematize bloody cruelty and barbarous perfecu'tion is fo obvious to conceive, that it feems needlefs to have noted it.' More's Prophetic Alphabet.

28 Mede (in loc. p. 621) alleges paffages in proof of this. `E8012, fays Dr. More, which is here tranflated authority, fhews that duvaus fignifies military forces, or elfe it were a needless tautology.' Anf. to Rem. p. 89.

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To facilitate our inquiries into the import of the next verfe (v. 3), it will be requifite previously to explain a paffage in ch. xvii. After mentioning the feven heads 29 in v. 9, the angelic interpreter fays in v. 10, And they 30 are feven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he muft continue a fhort space. The fubfequent explanation is from bishop Newton. And they are seven

kings, or kingdoms, or forms of government, as the 'word imports, and hath been fhewn to import in former inftances. Five are fallen, five of these forms of government are already paffed; and one is, the fixth is now fubfifting. The five falien are kings, and confuls, and dictators, and decemvirs, and military tribunes 'with. confular authority; as they are enumerated and diftinguished by thofe who fhould best know, the two greatest Roman hiftorians, Livy and Tacitus. The fixth is the power of the Cæfars or emperors, which was fubfifting at the time of the vifion.' With respect to the seventh head, which in St. John's time was not yet come, and was to continue a short space, I shall quote from Mr. Evanfon; previously obferving, that the prophet fays in v. 11, ch. xvii, that the Beast itself is the eighth, i. e. may be regarded as an eighth head. • There

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29 In all the figures of beafls in the prophecy of Daniel,' fays the learned Dr. Creffener, are fignified by the horns and heads of a beast the feveral kinds of fupreme government in the nation spoken of. • If they be defcribed to come after one another, they fignify fo many fucceffive kinds of fettled government over the fame kingdom. But if they ⚫ be described to be in rule all at the fame time, they fignify so many dif 'tin&t fovereignties, or kingdoms.' Now it is admitted by all, fays Dr. Creffener, that St. John has borrowed all these symbols from the book of Daniel. Dem. of the Prot. Appl. of the Apoc. p. 93.

30 In the common verfion it is, and there are seven kings. But bishop Newton, Wakefield, Doddridge, Lowman, Pyle, and Daubuz, are unanimous in introducing they into the translation.

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⚫ cannot remain a doubt,' that the Beast having feven heads and ten horns is a prophetic type of the civil 'power of the Roman empire, confidered in this pro'phecy of the New Teftament, first, as fubfifting under its fixth or imperial form of government; then, as 'being for a fhort fpace of time only femi-imperial; ' and laftly, as confifting of that pollarchy, into which the semi-empire was broken by the incurfions of the northern nations 31...

I fhall now return to ch. xiii. And I faw one of his heads, as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world 32 wondered after 33 the Beaft. This head, according to the quotation recently alleged, was the femi-imperial government, which was wounded even unto death by the hostile invafions of the barbarians from the eaft and from the north. By Mr. Pyle, who, the reader will perceive, does not distinguish between the imperial and semi-imperial power, this verfe is thus paraphrafed. One of

thefe forms of government, or one head of this empire, ' received, methought, a fatal blow, i. e. the imperial power, under the Cæfars, was deftroyed by the bar'barous nations. But, though this one head was deftroyed, the Beast itself still lived; the power, the perfecuting power, ftill remained, though got into feveral 'hands, and the Ten Kings exercifed the fame cruel and ' arbitrary dominion over their Christian subjects as ever

31 Let. to bishop Hurd, p. 39.

32 The word rendered world,' fays Johnfton of Holywood (in loc.), ' ought to have been tranflated earth. It is in the original, the proper 'fignification of which is earth, and which is uniformly in this book tranf 'lated earth.' The earth, in his opinion, is to be regarded as the symbol of the Roman empire.

33 • Θαυμάζω is here taken as in Jude, 16:—θαύμαζειν is to make courtship to, fawn, flatter, and fubmit to.' Daubuz.

'the

Thus the deadly

the heathen emperors had done. 'wound was healed, to the pleasing astonishment of all the corrupted part of Chriftian world.' The fimilar ftatement that follows is from an ingenious writer of the laft century. The deadly wound of one of the heads of the Beast' fignifies the ruin of the empire by the incurfion of the barbarous nations, and the extinguishing of the western emperors in Auguftulus.-He lived again, when the like politic body or civil state of affairs in the empire was re-established by the ten-horned Beast, by the barbarous nations settling into a subjection to, or a compliance with, the Roman laws 34.'

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And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the Beast; and they worshipped the Beast, saying, Who is like unto the Beaft? Who is able to make war with him? Dazzled with the luftre of the imperial throne, mankind in general had formerly reverenced the power and the perfons of the Cæfars; and had fupported them in their exactions, and their defpotism. Thus also has it happened to the ten-horned Beast, who has fince laid wafte the ancient dominions of the dragon. The mafs of mankind, fince the establishment of the tyrannic governments of modern Europe, have manifefted an irrational reverence for the glitter which furrounds the thrones of their defpots, and the titles with which they have been decorated; though their own labours have been taxed for the fupport of that glitter, and the affumption of thofe titles has often been inconfiftent with their most valuable rights. They have been ready to exclaim, Who is like unto the Beast, who is able to

34 This anonymous writer, whose signature is S. E. is quoted by Dr. More in his Anf. to Remarks, p. 90, 98.

35 This,' fays Daubuz, may be limited to civil submission and ado'ration, as the word fignifics fometimes. In proof of this, he refers to many paffages.

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