(4) In accordance with this representation, we should expect to

find such a series of calamities gradually weakening, and finally

terminating the Papal power in the world, as would be properly

represented by the number _seven_.

(5) In regard now to the _application_ of this series of symbolical

representations, it may be remarked, that most recent expositors――as

Elliott, Cunninghame, Keith, Faber, Lord, and others――refer them to the

events of the French revolution, as important events in the overthrow

of the Papal power; and this, I confess, although the application is

attended with some considerable difficulties, has more plausibility

than any other explanation proposed. In support of this application,

the following considerations may be suggested:――

(a) France, in the time of Charlemagne, was the kingdom to which

the Papacy owed its civil organization and its strength――a kingdom to

which could be traced all the civil or secular power of the Papacy, and

which was, in fact, a restoration or reconstruction of the old Roman

power――the fourth kingdom of Daniel. See Notes on Da. vii. 24‒28; and

comp. Notes on Re. xiii. 3, 12‒14. The restoration of the old Roman

dominion under Charlemagne, and the aid which he rendered to the Papacy

in its establishment as to a temporal power, would make it probable

that this kingdom _would be_ referred to in the series of judgments

that were to accomplish the overthrow of the Papal dominion.

(b) In an important sense France has always been the head of the

Papal power. The king of France has been usually styled, by the popes

themselves, “the eldest son of the church.” In reference to the whole

Papal dominion in former times, one of the principal reliances has

been on France, and, to a very large extent, the state of Europe has

been determined by the condition of France. “A revolution in France,”

said Napoleon, “is sooner or later followed by a revolution in Europe”

(Alison). Its central position; its power; its direct relation to all

the purposes and aims of the Papacy, would seem to make it probable

that, in the account of the final destruction of that power, this

kingdom would not be overlooked.

(c) The scenes which occurred in the times of the French revolution

were such as would be properly symbolized by the pouring out of the

first, the second, the third, and the fourth vials. In the passage

before us――the pouring out of the first vial――the symbol employed is

that of “a noisome and grievous sore”――boil, ulcer, plague-spot――“on

the men which had the mark of the beast, and on them which worshipped

his image.” This representation was undoubtedly derived from the

account of the sixth plague on Egypt (Ex. ix. 9‒11); and the sense

here is, not that this would be literally inflicted on the power here

referred to, but that a calamity would come upon it which would be

_well represented_ by that, or of which that would be an appropriate

emblem. This interpretation is further confirmed by ch. xi. 8, where

Rome is referred to under the name of _Egypt_, and where it is clear

that we are to look for a course of divine dealing, in regard to the

one, resembling that which occurred to the other. See Notes on that

passage. Now, this “noisome and grievous sore” would well represent

the moral corruption, the pollution, the infidelity, the atheism,

the general dissolution of society, that preceded and accompanied

the French revolution; for that was a universal _breaking out_ of

loathsome internal disease――of corruption at the centre――and in its

general features might be represented as a universal plague-spot on

society, extending over the countries where the beast and his image

were principally worshipped. The symbol would properly denote that

“tremendous outbreak of social and moral evil, of democratic fury,

atheism, and vice, which was specially seen to characterize the French

revolution: that of which the ultimate source was in the long and

deep-seated corruption and irreligion of the nation; the outward vent,

expression, and organ of its Jacobin clubs, and seditious and atheistic

publications; the result, the dissolution of all society, all morals,

and all {360} religion; with acts of atrocity and horror accompanying,

scarce paralleled in the history of men; and suffering and anguish

of correspondent intensity throbbing throughout the social mass and

corroding it; that which, from France as a centre, spread like a

plague throughout its affiliated societies to the other countries

of Papal Christendom, and was, wherever its poison was imbibed, as

much the punishment as the symptoms of the corruption within.” Of

this sad chapter in the history of man, it is unnecessary to give

any description here. For scenes of horror, pollution, and blood, its

parallel has _never_ been found in the history of our race, and, as

an event in _history_, it was worthy of a notice in the symbols which

portrayed the future. The full details of these amazing scenes must

be sought in the histories which describe them, and to such works as

Alison’s _History of Europe_, and Burke’s _Letters on a Regicide

Peace_, the reader must be referred. A few expressions copied from

those letters of Mr. Burke, penned with no design of illustrating this

passage in the Apocalypse, and no expectation that they would be ever

so applied, will show with what propriety the spirit of inspiration

suggested the phrase, “a noisome and grievous sore” or plague-spot,

on the supposition that the design was to refer to these scenes. In

speaking of the revolutionary spirit in France, Mr. Burke calls it

“the fever of aggravated Jacobinism,” “the epidemic of atheistical

fanaticism,” “an evil lying deep in the corruptions of human nature,”

“the malignant French distemper,” “a plague, with its fanatical spirit

of proselytism, that needed the strictest quarantine to guard against

it,” whereof, though the mischief might be “skimmed over” for a time,

yet the result, into whatever country it entered, was “the corruption

of all morals,” “the decomposition of all society,” &c. But it is

unnecessary to describe those scenes farther. The “world has them by

heart,” and they can never be obliterated from the memory of man. In

the whole history of the race there has never been an outbreak of evil

that showed so deep pollution and corruption within.

(d) The result of this was to affect the Papacy――a blow, in fact, aimed

at that power. Of course, all the infidelity and atheism of the French

nation, before so strongly Papal, went just so far in weakening the

power of the Papacy; and in the ultimate result it will perhaps yet

be found that the horrid outbreaks in the French revolution were the

first in the series of providential events that will result in the

entire overthrow of that Antichristian power. At all events, it will be

admitted, I think, that, on the supposition that it was _intended_ that

this should be descriptive of the scenes that occurred in Europe at the

close of the last century, no more expressive symbol could have been

chosen than has been employed in the pouring out of this first vial of

wrath.

3 And the second angel poured out his vial [478]upon the sea;

and it became as the [479]blood of a dead _man_: and every

living soul died in the sea.

3. _And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea._ So the

second trumpet (ch. viii. 8), “And the second angel sounded, and as

it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and

the third part of the sea became blood.” For the meaning of this as

a symbol, see Notes on that verse. ¶ _And it became as the blood of

a dead |man|._ “Either very bloody, like a mangled corse, or else

coloured, as it were, with the dark and almost black blood of a dead

man” (Professor Stuart, _in loco_). The latter would seem to be, most

probably, the meaning; implying that the ocean would become discoloured,

and indicating that this was the effect of blood shed in great

quantities on its waters. In ch. viii. 8 it is, “the sea became blood;”

here the allusion to the blood of a dead man would more naturally

suggest the idea of naval conflicts, and of the blood of the slain

poured in great quantities into the deep. ¶ _And every living soul

died in the sea._ In ch. viii. 9 it is said that “the third part of the

creatures that were in the sea died, and the third part of the ships

were destroyed.” Here the destruction is more general; the calamity

is more severe and awful. It is as if _every living thing_――πᾶσα ψυχή

ζῶσα――had died. No emphasis should be put on the word _soul_ here, for

the word means merely a creature, a living thing, an animal, Ac. ii. 43;

iii. 23; Ro. xiii. 1; 1 Co. xv. 45. See Rob. _Lex._ _sub voce_, c. {361}

The sense here is, that there would be some dreadful calamity, _as if_

the sea were to be changed into dark blood, and as if every living

thing in it were to die.

In inquiring into the proper application of this, it is natural to

look for something pertaining to the sea, or the ocean (see Notes

on ch. viii. 8, 9), and we should expect to find the fulfilment in

some calamity that would fall on the marine force, or the commerce

of the power that is here referred to; that is, according to the

interpretation all along adopted, of the Papal power; and the proper

application, according to this interpretation, would be the complete

destruction or annihilation of the naval force that contributed to

sustain the Papacy. This we should look for in respect to the naval

power of France, Spain, and Portugal, for these are the only Papal

nations that have had a navy. We should expect, in the fulfilment of

this, to find a series of naval disasters, reddening the sea with blood,

which would tend to weaken the power of the Papacy, and which might be

regarded as _one_ in the series of events that would ultimately result

in its entire overthrow. Accordingly, in pursuance of the plan adopted

in explaining the pouring out of the first vial, it is to be observed

that immediately succeeding, and connected with, the events thus

referred to, there was a series of naval disasters that swept away the

fleets of France, and that completely demolished the most formidable

naval power that had ever been prepared by any nation under the Papal

dominion. This series of disasters is thus noticed by Mr. Elliott

(iii. 329, 330):――“Meanwhile, the great _naval_ war between France and

England was in progress; which, from its commencement in February,

1793, lasted for above twenty years, with no intermission but that

of the short and delusive peace of Amiens; in which war the maritime

power of Great Britain was strengthened by the Almighty Providence that

protected her to destroy everywhere the French ships, commerce, and

smaller colonies; including those of the fast and long-continued allies

of the French, Holland and Spain. In the year 1793, the greater part of

the French fleet at Toulon was destroyed by Lord Hood; in June, 1794,

followed Lord Howe’s great victory over the French off Ushant; then the

taking of Corsica, and nearly all the smaller Spanish and French West

India Islands; then, in 1795, Lord Bridport’s naval victory, and the

capture of the Cape of Good Hope; as also soon after of a French and

Dutch fleet, sent to retake it; then, in 1797, the victory over the

Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent; and that of Camperdown over the

Dutch; then, in succession, Lord Nelson’s three mighty victories――of

the Nile in 1798, of Copenhagen in 1801, and in 1805 of Trafalgar.

Altogether in this naval war, from its beginning in 1793, to its end in

1815, it appears that there were destroyed near 200 ships of the line,

between 300 and 400 frigates, and an almost incalculable number of

smaller vessels of war and ships of commerce. The whole history of the

world does not present such a period of naval war, destruction, and

bloodshed.” This brief summary may show, if this was referred to, the

propriety of the expression, “The sea became as the blood of a dead

man;” and may show also that, on the supposition that it was intended

that these events should be referred to, an appropriate symbol has

been employed. No language could more strikingly set forth these bloody

scenes.

4 And the third angel poured out his vial [480]upon the rivers

and fountains of waters; and they became blood.

4. _And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and

fountains of waters._ This coincides also with the account of the

sounding of the third trumpet (ch. viii. 10, 11):――“And the third angel

sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as a lamp,

and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains

of waters.” As to the meaning of the phrase, “rivers and fountains of

waters,” see Notes on that passage. We found, it was supposed, in the

application of that passage, that the invasion of the Roman empire

by Attila, king of the Huns, was referred to, affecting mainly those

parts of the empire where the rivers and streams had their origin. The

_analogy_ would lead us, in the fulfilment of the passage before us,

to look for some similar desolations on those portions of Europe. See

Notes at the close of ver. 7. ¶ _And they became blood._ This would

properly mean that they became _as_ blood; or became red {362} _with_

blood; and it would be fulfilled if bloody battles were fought near

them, so that they seemed to run blood.

5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, [481]Thou art

righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because

thou hast judged thus.

5. _And I heard the angel of the waters say._ The angel who presides

over the element of water; in allusion to the common opinion among

the Hebrews that the angels presided over elements, and that each

element was committed to the jurisdiction of a particular angel. Comp.

Notes on ch. vii. 1. ¶ _Thou art righteous, O Lord_. In view of the

judgments that reddened these streams and fountains with the blood of

men, the angel ascribes righteousness to God. These judgments seemed

terrible――the numbers slain were so vast――the bloody stream indicated

so great slaughter, and such severity of the divine judgment; yet the

angel sees in all this only the act of a righteous God bringing just

retribution on the guilty. ¶ _Which art, and wast, and shalt be._ That

is, who art _eternal_――existing now; who hast existed in all past time;

and who will exist ever onward. See Notes on ch. i. 8. The _reason_ why

this attribute of God is here referred to, seems to be that the mind

of the angel adverts to it in the _changes_ and _desolations_ that were

occurring around him. In such overturnings among men――such revolutions

of kingdoms――such desolations of war――the mind naturally turns to

one who is unchanging; to one whose throne is from everlasting to

everlasting. ¶ _Because thou hast judged thus._ Hast suffered these

wars to occur that have changed rivers and fountains to blood.

6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and

[482]thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

6. _For they have shed the blood of saints._ The nations here referred

to. They have been engaged in scenes of bloody persecution, and this

is a just recompense. ¶ _And prophets._ Teachers of religion; ministers

of truth. It is not necessary to understand the word _prophets_ here

in its technical sense, as denoting those who are raised up by God and

sent forth as inspired men, but it may be understood in its more common

signification in the New Testament as denoting teachers of religion in

general. See Notes on Ro. xii. 6; 1 Co. xiv. 1. ¶ _And thou hast given

them blood to drink._ To wit, by turning the streams and fountains

into blood, ver. 4. Blood had been poured out in such abundance that

it seemed to mingle with the very water that they drank. This was a

recompense for their having, in those very regions, poured out so much

blood in persecuting the saints and prophets――the pious private members

of the church, and the public teachers of religion. ¶ _For they are

worthy._ That is, they deserve this; or this is a just recompense

for their sins. It is not intended that those who would thus suffer

had been individually guilty of this, or that this was properly a

punishment on _them_; but it is meant that in those countries there had

been bloody persecutions, and that this was a fit recompense for what

had there occurred.

7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, [483]Lord

God Almighty, true and righteous _are_ thy judgments.

7. _And I heard another._ Evidently another _angel_, though this is not

specified. ¶ _Out of the altar._ Either the angel _of_ the altar――that

is, who presided over the altar (Professor Stuart), or an angel whose

voice seemed to come from the altar. The sense is essentially the same.

The writer seemed to hear a voice coming from the altar responding

to what had just been said in regard to the judgment of God, or to

his righteousness in bringing the judgment upon men, ver. 5. This

was evidently the voice of some one who was interested in what was

occurring, or to whom these things particularly appertained; that

is, one who was particularly connected with the _martyrs_ referred

to, whose blood was now, as it were, to be avenged. We are naturally

reminded by this of the martyr-scene in ch. vi. 9‒11, in the opening

of the fifth seal, though it cannot be supposed that the same _events_

are referred to. There “the souls of those that had been slain for the

word of God” are represented as being “under the altar,” and as crying

to God to “avenge their blood on them who dwelt on the earth.” Here

a voice is heard with reference to martyrs, as of one interested _in_

them, {363} ascribing praise to God for _having_ brought a righteous

judgment on those who had shed the blood of the saints. They are both,

for similar reasons, connected with the “altar,” and the voice is

heard proceeding from the same source. In regard to the meaning of

the word _altar_ here, and the reason why the martyrs are represented

in connection with it, see Notes on ch. vi. 9. ¶ _True and righteous,

|are| thy judgments._ Responding to what is said in ver. 5. That

is, God is “true” or faithful to his promises made to his people,

and “righteous” in the judgments which he has now inflicted. These

judgments had come upon those who had shed the blood of the martyrs,

and they were just.

In regard to the application of this there are several things to be

said. The following points are clear:――(a) That this judgment would

_succeed_ the first-mentioned, and apparently at a period not remote.

(b) It would occur in a region where there had been much persecution.

(c) It would be in a country of streams, and rivers, and fountains.

(d) It would be a just retribution for the bloody persecutions which

had occurred there. The question now is, where we shall find the

fulfilment of this, assuming that the explanation of the pouring out of

the first vial is correct. And here, I think, there can be no mistake

in applying it to the events bearing on the Papacy, and the Papal

powers, which followed the French revolution. The next material event,

after that revolution, was the invasion of Italy, where Napoleon began

his career of victories, and where he first acquired his fame. At

this stage of my examination of this passage, I looked into Alison’s

_History of Europe_ to see what events, in fact, followed the scenes

of confusion, crime, blood, atheism, and pollution in the French

revolution, and I found that the next chapters in these eventful scenes,

were such as would be well represented by the vial poured upon the

rivers and fountains, and by their being turned into blood. The detail

would be too long for my limits, and I can state merely a summary of a

few of the chapters in that history. Ch. xix. contains the “History of

the French Republic from the fall of Robespierre to the establishment

of the Directory”――comprising properly the closing scenes of “the

Reign of Terror.” Ch. xx. contains an account of the campaign in Italy

in 1796, embracing, as stated in the summing up of contents in this

chapter, the “Battles of Montenotte, Millesimo, Dego; the passage of

the bridge of Lodi, and fall of Milan; the siege of Mantua, and the

battle of Castiglione; the battles of Caldero and Arcola; and the

battles of Rivoli and Mantua.” This is followed (ch. xxiii.) with an

account of the campaign of 1797, which closed with the fall of Venice;

and this is followed (ch. xxvi.) with an account of the invasion

of Switzerland, &c. It is unnecessary to dwell on the details of

the wars which followed the French revolution on the Rhine, the

Po, and the Alpine streams of Piedmont and Lombardy. The slightest

acquaintance with that history will show the propriety of the following

remarks:――(a) These wars occurred in regions under the influence of

the Papacy, for these were all Papal states and territories. (b) These

scenes followed closely on the French revolution, and grew out of it

as a natural consequence, and would be properly represented as a second

“vial” poured out immediately after the first. (c) The country is

such as here supposed――“of rivers and fountains”――for, being mostly a

mountainous region, it abounds with springs, and fountains, and streams.

Indeed, on the supposition that this is the land referred to, a more

appropriate description could not have been given of it than is found

in this passage. One has only to look upon a map of Northern Italy

to see that there is no other portion of the world which would more

naturally be _suggested_ when speaking of a country abounding in

“rivers and fountains of water.” The admirable map of this region

prefixed to the volume, for which I am indebted to the work of Dr.

Alexander Keith, on the _Signs of the Times_, will clearly illustrate

this passage, and the corresponding passage in ch. viii. 10, 11. Let

anyone look at the Po and its tributaries on the map, and then read

with attention the twentieth chapter of Alison’s _History of Europe_

(vol. i. pp. 391‒424), and he will be struck with the appropriateness

of the description, on the supposition that this portion of the book of

Revelation was designed to refer to these scenes; for he cannot but see

that the battles there described were fought in a country in every way

corresponding with the statement here. (d) This country corresponds

with the description here given in another respect. In {364} ver.

5, 6 there is a tribute of praise rendered to God, in view of these

judgments, because he was righteous in bringing them upon a land where

the blood of saints and prophets had been shed――a land of martyrs. Now

this is applicable to the circumstances supposed, not only in the sense

that Italy in general had been the land where the blood of martyrs had

been shed――the land of Roman persecution, alike under Paganism and the

Papacy――but true in a more definite sense, from the fact that this was

the very region where the persecutions against the Waldenses and the

Albigenses had been carried on――_the valleys of Piedmont_. In the times

of Papal persecution these valleys had been made to flow with the blood

of the saints; and it _seemed_, at least, to be a righteous retribution

that these desolations of war, these conflagrations, and these scenes

of carnage, should occur in that very land, and that the very fountains

and streams which had before been turned into blood, by the slaughter

of the friends of the Saviour, should now be reddened with the blood

of men slain in battle. This is, perhaps, what John saw in vision: a

land where persecution had raged, and the blood of the holy had flowed

freely, and then the same land brought under the awful judgments of

God, and the fountains and streams reddened with the blood of the

slain. There was a propriety, therefore, that a voice should be heard

ascribing righteousness to God for avenging the blood of the saints

(ver. 5, 6), and that another voice should be heard from the “altar” of

the martyrs (ver. 7) responding and saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty,

true and righteous are thy judgments.” (e) It may be added, to show the

propriety of this, that this was _one_ of the series of events which

will be found in the end to have contributed to the overthrow of the

Papal power; for a blow was struck, in the French invasion of Italy,

from which Rome has never recovered, and sentiments were diffused as

the result in favour of liberty which it has been difficult ever since

to suppress, and which are destined yet to burst out in favour of

freedom, and to be one of the means of the final destruction of the

power. Comp. Alison’s _History of Europe_, vol. i. p. 403.

8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial [484]upon the sun:

and power was given unto him to scorch men [485]with fire.

8. _And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun._ Toward

the sun, or so as to reach the sun. The effect was _as if_ it had been

poured _upon_ the sun, giving it an intense heat, and thus inflicting a

severe judgment upon men. This corresponds also with the fourth trumpet

(ch. viii. 12), where it is said, that the “third part of the sun was

smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the

stars.” For the general meaning of this symbol see Notes on that place.

The idea is, that a scene of calamity and woe would occur _as if_ the

sun should be made to pour forth such intense heat that men would be

“scorched.” It cannot be supposed that the sun would be _literally_

made hotter, or that the exact nature of these calamities would be that

men would be consumed by its rays. ¶ _And power was given unto him._

To the sun. The meaning is, that a calamity would follow _as if_ such

an increased power should be given to its rays. ¶ _To scorch men with

fire._ Literally, “And it was given him to scorch men with fire”――that

is, with heat so great that it _seemed_ to be fire. The Greek

word――καυματίσαι――meaning _to burn_, _to scorch_――is used in the New

Testament only in Mat. xiii. 6; Mar. iv. 6; Re. xvi. 8, 9, in all which

places it is rendered _scorch_ and _scorched_. Compare, however, the

use of the word καῦμα, in Re. vii. 16; xvi. 9; καῦσις, in He. vi. 8;

καυσόω, in 1 Pe. iii. 10, 12; and καύσων, in Mat. xx. 12; Lu. xii. 55;

Ja. i. 11. The notion of intense or consuming heat is implied in all

the forms of the word; and the reference here is to some calamity that

would be well represented by such an increased heat of the sun.

9 And men were [486]scorched with great heat, and

[487]blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these

plagues: and [488]they repented not, to give him glory.

9. _And men were scorched with great heat._ That is, as above

expressed, calamity came upon them which would be well represented

by such heat. It is said that this calamity would come upon _men_,

and we are to suppose that it would be such that human life would

be particularly affected; and as that heat of the {365} sun must be

exceedingly intense which would cut down _men_, we are to suppose

that the judgment here referred to would be intensely severe. ¶ _And

blasphemed the name of God._ The effect would be to cause them to

blaspheme God or to reproach him as the author of these calamities;

and in the fulfilment of this we are to look for a state of things when

there would be augmented wickedness and irreligion, and when men would

become worse and worse, notwithstanding the woes that had come upon

them. ¶ _Which hath power over these plagues._ Who had brought these

plagues upon them, and who had power to remove them. ¶ _And they

repented not._ The effect was not to produce repentance, though it was

manifest that these judgments had come upon them on account of their

sins. Comp. Notes on ch. ix. 21. ¶ _To give him glory._ To turn from

sin; to honour him by lives of obedience. Comp. Notes on Jn. ix. 24.

In regard to the _application_ of this the following things may be

remarked:――(a) That the calamity here referred to was one of the

series of events which would precede the overthrow of the “beast,” and

contribute to that, for to this all these judgments tend. (b) In the

order in which it stands it is to follow, and apparently to follow

_soon_, the third judgment――the pouring of the vial upon the fountains

and streams. (c) It would be a calamity such _as if_ the sun, the

source of light and comfort to mankind, were smitten, and became a

source of torment. (d) This would be attended by a great destruction

of _men_, and we should naturally look in such an application for

calamities in which multitudes of _men_ would be, as it were, consumed.

(e) This would _not_ be followed, as it might be hoped it would,

by repentance, but would be attended with reproaches of God, with

profaneness, with a great increase of wickedness.

Now, on the supposition that the explanation of the previous passages

is correct, there can be no great difficulty in supposing that this

refers to the wars of Europe following the French revolution, the wars

that preceded the direct attack on the Papacy and the overthrow of the

Papal government, for these events had all the characteristics here

referred to. (a) They were one of a series in weakening the Papal

power in Europe――heavy blows that will yet be seen to have been among

the means preliminary to its final overthrow. (b) They followed in

their order the invasion of Northern Italy, for one of the purposes of

that invasion was to attack the _Austrian_ power there, and ultimately

through the Tyrol to attack Austria itself. Napoleon, after his

victories in Northern Italy, above referred to (comp. ch.xx. of

Alison’s _History of Europe_), thus writes to the French Directory:

“Coni, Ceva, and Alexandria are in the hands of our army; if you do not

ratify the convention I will keep these fortresses and march upon Turin.

Meanwhile I shall march to-morrow against Beaulieu, and drive him

across the Po; I shall follow close at his heels, overrun all Lombardy,

and in a month be in the Tyrol, join the army of the Rhine, and carry

our united forces into Bavaria. _That design is worthy of you, of

the army, and of the destinies of France_” (Alison, i. 401). (c) The

campaign in Germany in 1796 followed immediately this campaign in Italy.

Thus, in ch. xx. of Alison’s _History_, we have an account of the

campaign in Italy; in ch. xxi. we have the account of the campaign in

Germany; and the other wars in Europe that continued so long, and that

were so fierce and bloody, followed in quick succession――all tending,

in their ultimate results, to weaken the Papal power and to secure its

final overthrow. (d) It is hardly necessary to say here that these wars

had all the characteristics here supposed. It was _as if_ the sun were

smitten in the heavens and power were given to scorch men with fire.

Europe seemed to be on fire with musketry and artillery, and presented

almost the appearance of the broad blaze of a battle-field. The number

that perished was immense. These wars were attended with the usual

consequences――blasphemy, profaneness, and reproaches of God in every

form. And yet there was another effect wholly in accordance with the

statement here, that none of these judgments brought men to “repentance,

that they might give God the glory.” Perhaps these remarks, which might

be extended to great length, will show that, on the supposition that it

was _intended_ to refer to those scenes by the outpouring of this vial,

the symbol was well chosen and appropriate.

10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the [489]seat

of the beast; and his kingdom was full of [490]darkness; and

they gnawed their tongues for pain,

10. _And the fifth angel poured out his {366} vial upon the seat of

the beast._ The previous judgments had been preparatory to this. They

all had a bearing on this, and were all preliminary to it; but the

“seat”――the home, the centre of the power of the beast――had not yet

been reached. Here, however, there was a direct blow aimed at that

power, still not such yet as to secure its _final_ overthrow, for that

is reserved for the pouring out of the last vial, ver. 17‒21. All that

is represented here is a heavy judgment which was merely _preliminary_

to that final overthrow, but which affected _the very seat of

the beast_. The phrase “the seat of the beast”――τὸν θρόνον τοῦ

θηρίου――means the _seat_ or _throne_ which the representative of

that power occupied, the central point of the Antichristian dominion.

Comp. Notes on ch. xiii. 2. See also ch. ii. 13. I understand this

as referring to the very seat of the Papal power――Rome――the Vatican.

¶ _And his kingdom was full of darkness._ Confusion――disorder――distress,

for darkness is often the emblem of calamity, Is. lix. 9, 10; Je.

xiii. 16; Eze. xxx. 18; xxxii. 7, 8; xxxiv. 12; Joel ii. 2. ¶ _And they

gnawed their tongues for pain._ This is a “most significant expression

of the writhings of anguish.” The word here rendered _gnawed_ does not

occur elsewhere in the New Testament, nor is the expression elsewhere

used in the Bible; but its meaning is plain――it indicates deep anguish.

11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of [491]their

pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

11. _And blasphemed the God of heaven._ The same effect which it was

said would be produced by the pouring out of the fourth vial, ver. 9.

¶ _Because of their pains and their sores._ Of the calamities that

had come upon them. ¶ _And repented not of their deeds._ See Notes on

ver. 9. Comp. ch. ix. 21.

In regard to the fulfilment and application of this, the following

general remarks may be made here:――(a) It would succeed, at no great

interval probably, what is referred to under the previous “vials,”

and would be one in the series tending to the same result. (b) It

would fall directly on the seat of the authority of the “beast”――on

the central power of the Papacy, according to the interpretation of the

other symbols; and we should look, therefore, for some calamity that

would come upon Rome itself, and still more specifically upon the pope

himself, and those immediately around him. (c) This would be attended

with deep distress and darkness in the Papal dominions. (d) There would

be an increase of what is here called “blasphemy;” that is, of impiety

and reproaches of the Divine Being. (e) There would be no repentance

produced. There would be no reformation. The system would be as corrupt

as it was before, and men would be as much under its influence. And

(f) we should not expect that this would be the _final_ overthrow of

the system. _That_ is reserved for the outpouring of the seventh and

last vial in the series (ver. 17‒21), and under that the system would

be overthrown, and would come to an end. This is distinctly stated in

the account of that “vial;” and therefore we are not to expect to find,

in the application of the fifth “vial,” that the calamity brought upon

“the seat of the beast” would be such that it would not recover for a

time, and maintain, apparently, in some good degree, its former power

and influence.

With this view of what we are to expect, and in connection with the

explanations of the previous symbols, it seems to me that there can

be no hesitation in applying this to the direct attacks on the Papal

power and on the pope himself, as one of the consequences of the French

revolution, and to the calamities that were thus brought upon the Papal

States. In order to show the appropriateness of this application, I

will state a few facts which will show that, on the supposition that

it was the _intention_ in this symbol to refer to the Papal power at

that time, the symbol has been well chosen, and has been fulfilled. And,

in doing this, I will merely copy from Alison’s _History of Europe_

(vol. i. pp. 542‒546) a few statements, which, like many that have been

quoted from Mr. Gibbon in the former part of these Notes, would seem

almost to have been penned in view of this prophecy, and with a view to

record its fulfilment. The statement is as follows:――

“The Ecclesiastical States were the {367} next object of attack. It had

long been an avowed object of ambition with the Republican government

to revolutionize the Roman people, and plant the tricolour flag in the

city of Brutus,” and fortune at length presented them with a favourable

opportunity to accomplish the design.

“The situation of the pope had become, since the French conquests

in Italy, in the highest degree precarious. Cut off by the Cisalpine

Republic from any support from Austria; left by the treaty of Campo

Formio entirely at the mercy of the French republic; threatened by

the heavings of the democratic spirit within his own dominions; and

exposed to all the contagion arising from the complete establishment

and close vicinity of republican governments in the north of Italy,

he was almost destitute of the means of resisting so many seen and

unseen enemies. The pontifical treasury was exhausted by the immense

payments stipulated by the treaty of Tolentino; while the activity

and zeal of the revolutionary clubs in all the principal towns of the

Ecclesiastical States was daily increasing with the prospect of success.

To enable the government to meet the enormous demands of the French

army, the principal Roman families, like the pope, had sold their

gold, their silver, their jewels, their horses, their carriages――in a

word, all their valuable effects; but the exactions of the republican

agents were still unabated. In despair they had recourse to the fatal

expedient of issuing a paper circulation; but that, in a country

destitute of credit, soon fell to an inconsiderable value, and

augmented rather than relieved the public distress. Joseph Bonaparte,

brother to Napoleon, had been appointed ambassador at the court of Rome;

but as his character was deemed too honourable for political intrigue,

Generals Duphot and Sherlock were sent along with him, the former of

whom had been so successful in effecting the overthrow of the Genoese

aristocracy. The French embassy, under their direction, soon became

the centre of the revolutionary action; and those numerous ardent

characters with which the Italian cities abound, flocked there as to a

common focus, from whence the next great explosion of democratic power

was to be expected. In this extremity, Pius VI., who was above eighty

years of age, and sinking into the grave, called to his counsels

the Austrian general Provera, already distinguished in the Italian

campaigns; but the Directory soon compelled the humiliated pontiff to

dismiss that intrepid counsellor. As his recovery then seemed hopeless,

the instructions of government to their ambassador were to delay the

proclamation of a republic till his death, when the vacant chair of

St. Peter might be overturned with little difficulty; but such was

the activity of the revolutionary agents, that the train was ready

to take fire before that event took place, and the ears of the Romans

were assailed by incessant abuse of the ecclesiastical government, and

vehement declamations in favour of republican freedom.

“The resolution to overturn the Papal government, like all the other

ambitious projects of the Directory, received a very great impulse

from the re-ascendent of Jacobin influence at Paris, by the results

of the revolution of 18th Fructidor. One of the first measures of the

new government was to despatch an order to Joseph Bonaparte at Rome,

to promote, by all the means in his power, the approaching revolution

in the Papal States; and, above all things, to take care that at the

pope’s death no successor should be elected to the chair of St. Peter.

Napoleon’s language to the Roman pontiff became daily more menacing.

Immediately before setting out for Rastadt, he ordered his brother

Joseph to intimate to the pope that three thousand additional troops

had been forwarded to Ancona; that if Provera was not dismissed

within twenty-four hours, war would be declared; that if any of the

revolutionists who had been arrested were executed, reprisals would

forthwith be exercised on the cardinals; and that, if the Cisalpine

Republic was not recognized, it would be the signal for immediate

hostilities. At the same time ten thousand troops of the Cisalpine

Republic advanced to St. Leon, in the Papal duchy of Urbino, and made

themselves masters of that fortress; while at Ancona, which was still

garrisoned by French troops, notwithstanding its stipulated restoration

by the treaty of Tolentino to the Holy See, the democratic party openly

proclaimed the ‘Anconite Republic.’ Similar revolutionary movements

took place at Corneto, Civita Vecchia, Pesaro, and Senigaglia; while at

Rome itself, Joseph {368} Bonaparte, by compelling the Papal government

to liberate all persons confined for political offences, suddenly

vomited forth upon the capital several hundreds of the most heated

republicans in Italy. After this great addition, measures were no

longer kept with the government. Seditious meetings were constantly

held in every part of the city; immense collections of tricolour

cockades were made to distinguish the insurgents, and deputations of

the citizens openly waited on the French ambassador to invite him to

support the insurrection, to which he replied, in ambiguous terms――‘The

fate of nations, as of individuals, being buried in the womb of

futurity, it is not given to me to penetrate its mysteries.’

“In this temper of men’s minds, a spark was sufficient to occasion an

explosion. On the 27th of December, 1797, an immense crowd assembled,

with seditious cries, and moved to the palace of the French ambassador,

where they exclaimed, ‘Vive la République Romaine!’ and loudly invoked

the aid of the French to enable them to plant the tricolour flag on the

Capitol. The insurgents displayed the tricolour cockade, and evinced

the most menacing disposition; the danger was extreme; from similar

beginnings the overthrow of the governments of Venice and Genoa had

rapidly followed. The Papal ministers sent a regiment of dragoons to

prevent any sortie of the revolutionists from the palace of the French

ambassador; and they repeatedly warned the insurgents that their

orders were to allow no one to leave its precincts. Duphot, however,

indignant at being restrained by the pontifical troops, drew his sword,

rushed down the staircase, and put himself at the head of one hundred

and fifty armed Roman democrats, who were now contending with the

dragoons in the courtyard of the palace. He was immediately killed

by a discharge ordered by the sergeant commanding the patrol of the

Papal troops; and the ambassador himself, who had followed to appease

the tumult, narrowly escaped the same fate. A violent scuffle ensued;

several persons were killed and wounded on both sides; and, after

remaining several hours in the greatest alarm, Joseph Bonaparte, with

his suite, retired to Florence.

“This catastrophe, however, obviously occasioned by the revolutionary

schemes which were in agitation at the residence of the French

ambassador, having taken place within the precincts of his palace, was,

unhappily, a violation of the law of nations, and gave the Directory

too fair a ground to demand satisfaction. But they instantly resolved

to make it the pretext for the immediate occupation of Rome and

overthrow of the Papal government. The march of troops out of Italy

was countermanded, and Berthier, the commander-in-chief, received

orders to advance rapidly into the Ecclesiastical States. Meanwhile,

the democratic spirit burst forth more violently than ever at Ancona

and the neighbouring towns, and the Papal authority was soon lost

in all the provinces on the eastern slope of the Apennines. To these

accumulated disasters the pontiff could only oppose the fasts and

prayers of an aged conclave――weapons of spiritual warfare little

calculated to arrest the conquerors of Arcola and Lodi.

“Berthier, without an instant’s delay, carried into execution the

orders of the Directory. Six thousand Poles were stationed at Rimini to

cover the Cisalpine Republic; a reserve was established at Tolentino,

while the commander-in-chief, at the head of eighteen thousand veteran

troops, entered Ancona. Having completed the work of revolution in that

turbulent district, and secured the fortress, he crossed the Apennines;

and, advancing by Foligno and Narni, appeared on the 10th of February

before the Eternal City. The pope, in the utmost consternation, shut

himself up in the Vatican, and spent night and day at the foot of the

altar in imploring the divine protection.

“Rome, almost defenceless, would have offered no obstacle to the

entrance of the French troops; but it was part of the policy of

the Directory to make it appear that their aid was invoked by the

spontaneous efforts of the inhabitants. Contenting himself, therefore,

with occupying the castle of St. Angelo, from which the feeble guards

of the pope were soon expelled, Berthier kept his troops for five

days encamped without the walls. At length, the revolutionists having

completed their preparations, a noisy crowd assembled in the Campo

Vaccino, the ancient Forum; the old foundations of the Capitol were

made again to resound with the cries, if not the spirit, of freedom,

and the venerable {369} ensigns, S. P. Q. R., after the lapse of

fourteen hundred years, again floated in the winds. The multitude

tumultuously demanded the overthrow of the Papal authority; the French

troops were invited to enter; the conquerors of Italy, with a haughty

air, passed the gates of Aurelian, defiled through the Piazza del

Popolo, gazed on the indestructible monuments of Roman grandeur, and,

amid the shouts of the inhabitants, the tricolour flag was displayed

from the summit of the Capitol.

“But while part of the Roman populace were surrendering themselves to

a pardonable intoxication upon the fancied recovery of their liberties,

the agents of the Directory were preparing for them the sad realities

of slavery. The pope, who had been guarded by five hundred soldiers

ever since the entry of the republicans, was directed to retire into

Tuscany; his Swiss guard relieved by a French one; and he himself

ordered to dispossess himself of all his temporal authority. He replied,

with the firmness of a martyr, ‘I am prepared for every species of

disgrace. As supreme pontiff, I am resolved to die in the exercise of

all my powers. You may employ force――you have the power to do so; but

know that, though you may be masters of my body, you are not so of

my soul. Free in the region where it is placed, it fears neither the

events nor the sufferings of this life. I stand on the threshold of

another world; there I shall be sheltered alike from the violence

and impiety of this.’ Force was soon employed to dispossess him

of his authority; he was dragged from the altar in his palace, his

repositories all ransacked and plundered, the rings even torn from

his fingers, the whole effects in the Vatican and Quirinal inventoried

and seized, and the aged pontiff conducted, with only a few domestics,

amid the brutal jests and sacrilegious songs of the French dragoons,

into Tuscany, where the generous hospitality of the grand-duke strove

to soften the hardships of his exile. But, though a captive in the

hands of his enemies, the venerable old man still retained the supreme

authority in the church. From his retreat in the convent of the

Chartreuse, he yet guided the counsels of the faithful; multitudes fell

on their knees wherever he passed, and sought that benediction from

a captive which they would, perhaps, have disregarded from a ruling

pontiff.

“The subsequent treatment of this venerable man was as disgraceful

to the republican government as it was honourable to his piety and

constancy as the head of the church. Fearful that from his virtues and

sufferings he might have too much influence on the continent of Italy,

he was removed by their orders to Leghorn, in March, 1799, with the

design of transferring him to Cagliari in Sardinia; and the English

cruisers in the Mediterranean redoubled their vigilance in the generous

hope of rescuing the father of an opposite church from the persecution

of his enemies. Apprehensive of losing their prisoner, the French

altered his destination; and forcing him to traverse, often during the

night, the Apennines and the Alps in a rigorous season, he at length

reached Valence, where, after an illness of ten days, he expired,

in the eighty-second year of his age, and the twenty-fourth of his

pontificate. The cruelty of the Directory increased as he approached

their dominions, all his old attendants were compelled to leave him,

and the father of the faithful was allowed to expire, attended only

by his confessor. Yet even in this disconsolate state he derived the

highest satisfaction from the devotion and reverence of the people in

the provinces of France through which he passed. Multitudes from Gap,

Vizelle, and Grenoble flocked to the road to receive his benediction;

and he frequently repeated, with tears in his eyes, the words of

Scripture: ‘Verily, I say unto you, I have not seen such faith, no,

not in Israel.’

“But long before the pope had sunk under the persecution of his

oppressors, Rome had experienced the bitter fruits of republican

fraternization. Immediately after the entry of the French troops,

commenced the regular and systematic pillage of the city. Not only

the churches and the convents, but the palaces of the cardinals and of

the nobility, were laid waste. The agents of the Directory, insatiable

in the pursuit of plunder, and merciless in the means of exacting it,

ransacked every quarter within its walls, seized the most valuable

works of art, and stripped the Eternal City of those treasures which

had survived the Gothic fire and the rapacious hands of the Spanish

soldiers. The bloodshed was much less, but the spoil collected

incomparably greater, {370} than at the disastrous sack which followed

the death of the Constable Bourbon. Almost all the great works of art

which have since that time been collected throughout Europe, were then

scattered abroad. The spoliation exceeded all that the Goths or Vandals

had effected. Not only the palaces of the Vatican, and the Monte

Cavallo, and the chief nobility of Rome, but those of Castel Gandolfo,

on the margin of the Alban Lake, of Terracina, the Villa Albani, and

others in the environs of Rome, were plundered of every article of

value which they possessed. The whole sacerdotal habits of the pope

and cardinals were burned, in order to collect from the flames the gold

with which they were adorned. The Vatican was stripped to its naked

walls; the immortal frescoes of Raphael and Michael Angelo, which could

not be removed, remained in solitary beauty amid the general desolation.

A contribution of four millions in money, two millions in provisions,

and three thousand horses, was imposed on a city already exhausted by

the enormous exactions it had previously undergone. Under the direction

of the infamous commissary Haller, the domestic library, museum,

furniture, jewels, and even the private clothes of the pope were sold.

Nor did the palaces of the Roman nobility escape devastation. The noble

galleries of the Cardinal Braschi, and the Cardinal York, the last

relic of the Stuart line, underwent the same fate. Others, as those of

the Chigi, Borghese, and Doria palaces, were rescued from destruction

only by enormous ransoms. Everything of value that the treaty of

Tolentino had left in Rome became the prey of republican cupidity,

and the very name of freedom soon became odious, from the sordid and

infamous crimes which were committed in its name.

“Nor were the exactions of the French confined to the plunder of

palaces and churches. Eight cardinals were arrested and sent to Civita

Castellana, while enormous contributions were levied on the Papal

territory, and brought home the bitterness of conquest to every poor

man’s door. At the same time the ample territorial possessions of the

church and the monasteries were confiscated, and declared national

property――a measure which, by drying up at once the whole resources

of the affluent classes, precipitated into the extreme of misery the

numerous poor who were maintained by their expenditure, or fed by their

bounty. All the respectable citizens and clergy were in fetters; and

a base and despicable faction alone, among whom, to their disgrace be

it told, were found fourteen cardinals, followed in the train of the

oppressors; and, at a public festival, returned thanks to God for the

miseries they had brought upon their country.”[492]

12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon [493]the great

river Euphrates; and the water thereof was [494]dried up, that

the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

12. _And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river

Euphrates._ On the situation of that river, and the symbolical meaning

of this language, see Notes on ch. ix. 14‒21. The reference there was

supposed to be to the Turkish power, and the analogy of interpretation

would seem to require that it should be so understood here. There is

every reason, therefore, to suppose that this passage has reference

to something in the future history of the Turkish dominions, and to

some bearing of the events which are to occur in that history on the

ultimate downfall of the Antichristian power referred to by the “beast.”

¶ _And the water thereof was {371} dried up, that the way of the kings

of the east might be prepared._ That is, as the effect of pouring out

the vial. There is an allusion here, undoubtedly, to the dividing of

the waters of the Red Sea, so that the children of Israel might pass.

See Ex. xiv. 21, 22. Comp. Notes on Is. xi. 15. In this description the

Euphrates is represented as _a barrier_ to prevent the passage of “the

kings of the East,” on their way to the West for some purpose not yet

specified; that is, applying the symbol of the Euphrates as being the

seat of the Turkish power, the meaning is, that _that power_ is such

a hindrance, and that, in some way that hindrance is to be removed

_as if_ the waters of an unbridged and unfordable river were dried

up so as to afford a safe and easy passage through. Still there are

several inquiries as to the application of this, which is not easy,

and, as it refers to what is still future, it may be impossible

to answer. The _language_ requires us to put upon it the following

interpretation:――(a) The persons here referred to as “kings of the

East,” were ready to make a movement towards the West, over the

Euphrates, and would do this if this obstruction were not in their way.

_Who_ these “kings of the East” are is not said, and perhaps cannot

be conjectured. The natural interpretation is, that they are the kings

that reign in the East, or that preside over the countries of the

eastern hemisphere. _Why_ there was a proposed movement to the West

is not said. It might have been for conquest, or it might have been

that they were to bring their tribute to the spiritual Jerusalem, in

accordance with what is so often said in the prophets, that under the

gospel kings and princes would consecrate themselves and their wealth

to God. See Ps. lxxii. 10, 11: “The kings of Tarshish and of the isles

shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.

Yea, all kings shall fall down before him.” So also Is. lx. 4‒6, 9, 11:

“Thy sons shall come from far.――The forces of the Gentiles shall come

unto thee.――All they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and

incense.――The isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first,

to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them.――Thy

gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night;

that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their

kings may be brought.” All that is _fairly_ implied in the language

used here is, that the kings of the East would be converted to the true

religion, or that they were, at the time referred to, in a state of

readiness to be converted, if there were no hindrance or obstruction.

(b) There was some hindrance or obstruction to their conversion; that

is, as explained, from the Turkish power: in other words, they would

be converted to the true faith if it were not for the influence of that

power. (c) The destruction of that power, represented by the drying up

of the Euphrates, would remove that obstruction, and the way would thus

be “prepared” for their conversion to the true religion. We should most

naturally, therefore, look, in the fulfilment of this, for some such

decay of the Turkish power as would be followed by the conversion of

the rulers of the East to the gospel.

13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs _come_ out of

the mouth of [495]the dragon, and out of the mouth of [496]the

beast, and out of the mouth of [497]the false prophet.

13. _And I saw three unclean spirits._ They assumed a visible

form which would well represent their odiousness――that of frogs――but

still they are spoken of as “spirits.” They were evil powers, or evil

influences (ver. 14, “spirits of devils”), and the language here is

undoubtedly designed to represent some such power or influence which

would, at that period, proceed from the dragon, the beast, and the

false prophet. ¶ _Like frogs_――βάτραχοι. This word does not occur

in the New Testament except in the passage before us. It is properly

translated _frogs_. The _frog_ is here employed clearly as a _symbol_,

and it is designed that certain qualities of the “spirits” here

referred to should be designated by the symbol. For a full illustration

of the meaning of the symbol, the reader may consult Bochart, _Hieroz._

P. II. lib. v. cap. iv. According to Bochart, the frog is characterized,

as a symbol, (1) for its rough, harsh, coarse voice; (2) on this

account, as a symbol of complaining or reproaching; (3) as a symbol

of empty loquacity; (4) as a symbol of heretics and philosophers,

as understood by Augustine; (5) because the frog has its origin in

{372} mud, and lives in mud, as a symbol of those who are born in sin,

and live in pollution; (6) because the frog endures all changes of

the season――cold and heat, summer, winter, rain, frost――as a symbol

of _monks_ who practise self-denial; (7) because the frog, though

abstemious of food, yet lives in water and drinks often, as a symbol

of drunkards; (8) as a symbol of impudence; (9) because the frog

swells his size, and distends his cheeks, as a symbol of pride. See

the authorities for these uses of the word in Bochart. How many or few

of these ideas enter into the symbol here, it is not easy to decide.

We may suppose, however, that the spirits referred to would be

characterized by pride, arrogance, impudence, assumption of authority;

perhaps impurity and vileness, for all these ideas enter into the

meaning of the symbol. They are not here, probably, symbols of

_persons_, but of _influences_ or _opinions_ which would be spread

abroad, and which would characterize the age referred to. The reference

is to what the “dragon,” the “beast,” and the “false prophet” would

_do_ at that time in opposing the truth, and in preparing the world for

the great and final conflict. ¶ _Out of the mouth of the dragon._ One

of which seemed to issue from the mouth of the dragon. On the symbolic

meaning of the word “dragon,” see Notes on ch. xii. 3. It, in general,

represents Satan, the great enemy of the church; perhaps here Satan

under the form of heathenism or paganism, as in ch. xii. 3, 4. The

idea then is, that, at the time referred to, there would be some

manifestation of the power of Satan in the heathen nations, which

would be bold, arrogant, proud, loquacious, hostile to truth, and which

would be well represented by the hoarse murmur of the frog. ¶ _And out

of the mouth of the beast._ The Papacy, as above explained, ch. xiii.

That is, there would be some putting forth of arrogant pretensions;

some loud denunciation or complaining; some manifestation of pride and

self-consequence, which would be well represented by the croaking of

the frog. We have seen above (Notes on ver. 5, 6), that although the

fifth vial was poured upon “the seat of the beast,” the effect was

not to crush and overthrow that power entirely. The Papacy would

still survive, and would be finally destroyed under the outpouring

of the seventh vial, ver. 17‒21. In the passage before us we have a

representation of it as still living; as having apparently recovered

its strength; and as being as hostile as ever to the truth, and able

to enter into a combination, secret or avowed, with the “dragon” and

the “false prophet,” to oppose the reign of truth upon the earth.

¶ _And out of the mouth of the false prophet._ The word rendered

_false prophet_――ψευδοπροφήτου――does not before occur in the book of

Revelation, though the use of the article would seem to imply that some

well-known power or influence was referred to by this. Comp. Notes on

ch. x. 3. The word occurs in other places in the New Testament, Mat.

vii. 15; xxiv. 11, 24; Mar. xiii. 22; Lu. vi. 26; Ac. xiii. 6; 2 Pe.

ii. 1; 1 Jn. iv. 1; and twice elsewhere in the book of Revelation, with

the same reference as here, ch. xix. 20; xx. 10. In both these latter

places it is connected with the “beast:” “And the beast was taken,

and with him the false prophet;” “And the devil that deceived them was

cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false

prophet are.” It would seem, then, to refer to some power that was

similar to that of the beast, and that was to share the same fate

in the overthrow of the enemies of the gospel. As to the application

of this, there is no opinion so probable as that it alludes to the

Mahometan power――not strictly the _Turkish_ power, for that was to be

“dried up,” or to diminish; but to the Mahometan power as such, that

was still to continue for a while in its vigour, and that was yet to

exert a formidable influence against the gospel, and probably in some

combination, in fact, if not in form, with Paganism and the Papacy. The

_reasons_ for this opinion are: (a) that this was referred to, in the

former part of the book, as one of the formidable powers that would

arise, and that would materially affect the destiny of the world――and

it may be presumed that it would be again referred to in the account

of the final consummation, see ch. ix. 1‒11; (b) the name “_false

prophet_” would, better than any other, describe that power, and would

naturally suggest it in future times――for to no one that has ever

appeared in our world could the name be so properly applied as to

Mahomet; and (c) what is said will be found to agree with the facts

in regard to that power, as, in connection with the Papacy and with

Paganism, constituting the sum of the {373} obstruction to the spread

of the gospel around the world.

14 For they are the [498]spirits of devils, [499]working

miracles, _which_ go forth unto the kings of the earth and of

[500]the whole world, to gather them to the [501]battle of

that great day of God Almighty.

14. _For they are the spirits of devils._ On the meaning of the word

used here, see Notes on ch. ix. 20. It is used here, as it is in ch.

ix. 20, in a bad sense, as denoting _evil_ spirits. Comp. Notes on

Mat. iv. 1, 2, 24. ¶ _Working miracles._ Working what _seemed_ to be

miracles; that is, such wonders as to deceive the world with the belief

that they were miracles. See Notes on ch. xiii. 13, 14, where the same

power is ascribed to the “beast.” ¶ _|Which| go forth unto the kings

of the earth._ Which particularly affect and influence kings and

rulers. No class of men have been more under the influence of Pagan

superstition, Mahometan delusion, or the Papacy, than kings and princes.

We are taught by this passage that this will continue to be so in the

circumstances referred to. ¶ _And of the whole world._ That is, so

far that it might be represented as affecting the whole world――to wit,

the heathen, the Mahometan, and the Papal portions of the earth. These

still embrace so large a portion of the globe, that it might be said,

that what would affect those powers now would influence the whole world.

¶ _To gather them._ Not literally to assemble them all in one place,

but so to unite and combine them that it might be represented as an

assembling of the hosts for battle. ¶ _To the battle of that great

day of God Almighty._ Not the day of judgment, but the day which would

determine the ascendency of true religion in the world――the final

conflict with those powers which had so long opposed the gospel. It is

not necessary to suppose that there would be a literal “_battle_,” in

which God would be seen to contend with his foes; but there would be

that which might be properly _represented_ as a battle. That is, there

would be a combined struggle against the truth, and in that God would

appear by his providence and Spirit on the side of the church, and

would give it the victory. It accords with all that has occurred in the

past, to suppose that there will be such a combined struggle before the

church shall finally triumph in the world.

15 Behold, [502]I come as a thief. Blessed _is_ he that

watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk [503]naked,

and they see his shame.

15. _Behold, I come as a thief._ That is, suddenly and unexpectedly.

See Notes on Mat. xxiv. 43; 1 Th. v. 2. This is designed evidently

to admonish men to watch, or to be in readiness for his coming, since,

whenever it would occur, it would be at a time when men were not

expecting him. ¶ _Blessed |is| he that watcheth._ Comp. Mat. xxiv.

42‒44. The meaning here is, that he who watches for these events, who

marks the indications of their approach, and who is conscious of a

preparation for them, is in a better and happier state of mind than

he on whom they come suddenly and unexpectedly. ¶ _And keepeth his

garments._ The allusion here seems to be to one who, regardless of

danger, or of the approach of an enemy, should lay aside his garments

and lie down to sleep. Then the thief might come and take away his

garments, leaving him naked. The essential idea, therefore, here,

is the duty of vigilance. We are to be awake to duty and to danger;

we are not to be found sleeping at our post; we are to be ready for

death――ready for the coming of the Son of man. ¶ _Lest he walk naked._

His raiment being carried away while he is asleep. ¶ _And they see

his shame._ Comp. Notes on ch. iii. 18. The meaning here is, that, as

Christians are clothed with the garments of righteousness, they should

not lay them aside, so that their spiritual nakedness should be seen.

They are to be always clothed with the robes of salvation; always ready

for any event, however soon or suddenly it may come upon them.

16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the

Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

16. _And he gathered them together._ _Who_ gathered them? Professor

Stuart renders it, “_they_ gathered them together,” supposing that it

refers to the “spirits”――πνεύματα――in ver. 13, and that this is the

construction of the neuter plural with a singular verb. So De Wette

understands it. Hengstenberg supposes {374} that it means that _God_

gathered them together; others suppose that it was the sixth angel;

others that it was Satan; others that it was the beast; and others that

it was Christ. See Poole’s _Synopsis_, _in loco_. The authority of De

Wette and Professor Stuart is sufficient to show that the construction

which they adopt is authorized by the Greek, as indeed no one can

doubt, and perhaps this accords better with the context than any other

construction proposed. Thus, in ver. 14, the spirits are represented

as going forth into the whole world for _the purpose_ of gathering the

nations together to the great battle, and it is natural to suppose that

the reference is to them here as having accomplished what they went

forth to do. But who are to be gathered together? Evidently those who,

in ver. 14, are described by the word “_them_”――the “kings of the earth,

and the whole world;” that is, there will be a state of things which

would be well described by a universal gathering of forces in a central

battle-field. It is by no means necessary to suppose that what is

here represented will _literally_ occur. There will be a mustering of

spiritual forces; there will be a combination and a unity of opposition

against the truth; there will be a rallying of the declining powers

of Heathenism, Mahometanism, and Romanism, _as if_ the forces of

the earth, marshalled by kings and rulers, were assembled in some

great battle-field, where the destiny of the world was to be decided.

¶ _Into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon._ The word

_Armageddon_――Ἀρμαγεδδών――occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and

is not found in the Septuagint. It seems to be formed from the Hebrew

הַר מְגִדּוֹ _Har Megiddo_――_Mountain of Megiddo_. Comp. 2 Ch. xxxv. 22, where

it is said that Josiah “came to fight _in the valley of Megiddo_.”

Megiddo was a town belonging to Manasseh, although within the limits

of Issachar, Jos. xvii. 11. It had been originally one of the royal

cities of the Canaanites (Jos. xii. 21), and was one of those of which

the Israelites were unable for a long time to take possession. It was

rebuilt and fortified by Solomon (1 Ki. ix. 15), and thither Ahaziah

king of Judah fled when wounded by Jehu, and died there, 2 Ki. ix. 27.

It was here that Deborah and Barak destroyed Sisera and his host (Ju.

v. 19); and it was in a battle near this that Josiah was slain by

Pharaoh-Necho, 2 Ki. xxiii. 29, 30; 2 Ch. xxxv. 20‒25. From the great

mourning held for his loss, it became proverbial to speak of any

grievous mourning as being “like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the

valley of Megiddon,” Zec. xii. 11. It has not been found easy to

identify the place, but recent searches have made it probable that the

vale or plain of Megiddo comprehended, if it was not wholly composed of,

the prolongation of the plain of Esdraelon, towards Mount Carmel; that

the city of Megiddo was situated there; and that the waters of Megiddo,

mentioned in Ju. v. 19, are identical with the stream Kishon in that

part of its course. See _Biblical Repository_, vol. i. pp. 602, 603.

It is supposed that the modern town called _Lejjûn_ occupies the site

of the ancient Megiddo (Robinson’s _Biblical Researches_, vol. iii. pp.

177‒180). Megiddo was distinguished for being the place of the decisive

conflict between Deborah and Sisera, and of the battle in which Josiah

was slain by the Egyptian invaders; and hence it became emblematic

of _any_ decisive battle-field――just as Marathon, Leuctra, Arbela, or

Waterloo is. The word “mountain,” in the term Armageddon――“Mountain of

Megiddo”――seems to have been used because Megiddo was in a mountainous

region, though the battles were fought in a _valley_ adjacent. The

meaning here is, that there would be, as it were, a decisive battle

which would determine the question of the prevalence of true religion

on the earth. What we are to expect as the fulfilment of this would

seem to be, that there will be some mustering of strength――some

rallying of forces――some opposition made to the kingdom of God in

the gospel, by the powers here referred to, which would be _decisive_

in its character, and which would be well represented by the battles

between the people of God and their foes in the conflicts in the valley

of Megiddo.

As this constitutes, according to the course of the exposition by which

we have been conducted, an important division in the book of Revelation,

it may be proper to pause here and make a few remarks. The previous

parts of the book, according to the interpretation proposed, relate

to the past, and thus far we have found such a correspondence between

the predictions and facts which have occurred as to lead us to suppose

that these predictions have {375} been fulfilled. At this point, I

suppose, we enter on that part which remains yet to be fulfilled, and

the investigation must carry us into the dark and unknown future. The

remaining portion comprises a very general sketch of things down to the

end of time, as the previous portion has touched on the great events

pertaining to the church and its progress for a period of more than one

thousand eight hundred years. A few general remarks, therefore, seem

not inappropriate at this point.

(a) In the previous interpretations, we have had the facts of history

by which to test the accuracy of the interpretation. The plan pursued

has been, first, to investigate the meaning of the words and symbols,

entirely independent of any supposed application, and then to inquire

whether there have been any facts that may be regarded as corresponding

with the meaning of the words and symbols as explained. Of this method

of testing the accuracy of the exposition, we must now take our leave.

Our sole reliance must be in the exposition itself, and our work must

be limited to that.

(b) It is always difficult to interpret a prophecy. The language of

prophecy is often apparently enigmatical; the symbols are sometimes

obscure; and prophecies relating to the same subject are often in

detached fragments, uttered by different persons at different times;

and it is necessary to collect and arrange them, in order to have

a full view of the one subject. Thus the prophecies respecting the

Messiah were many of them obscure, and indeed apparently contradictory,

before he came; they were uttered at distant intervals, and by

different prophets; at one time one trait of his character was dwelt

upon, and at another another; and it was difficult to combine these

so as to have an accurate view of what he would be, until he came.

The result has shown what the meaning of the prophecies was; and at

the same time has demonstrated that there was entire consistency in

the various predictions, and that to one who could have comprehended

all, it would have been _possible_ to combine them so as to have had

a _correct_ view of the Messiah, and of his work, even before he came.

The same remark is still more applicable to the predictions in the book

of Revelation, or to the similar predictions in the book of Daniel, and

to many portions of Isaiah. It is easy to see how _difficult_ it would

have been, or rather how _impossible_ by any human powers, to have

applied these prophecies in detail before the events occurred; and yet,

now that they have occurred, it may be seen that the symbols were the

happiest that could have been chosen, and the only ones that could with

propriety have been selected to describe the remarkable events which

were to take place in future times.

(c) The same thing we may presume to be the case in regard to events

which are to occur. We may expect to find (1) language and symbols that

are, in themselves, capable of clear interpretation as to their proper

meaning; (2) the events of the future so sketched out by that language,

and by those symbols, that we may obtain a _general_ view that will be

accurate; and yet (3) an entire impossibility of filling up beforehand

the minute details.

In regard, then, to the application of the particular portion now

before us, ver. 12‒16, the following remarks may be made:――

(1) The Turkish power, especially since its conquest of Constantinople

under Mahomet II. in 1453, and its establishment in Europe, has been

_a_ grand hindrance to the spread of the gospel. It has occupied a

central position; it has possessed some of the richest parts of the

world; it has, in general, excluded all efforts to spread the pure

gospel within its limits; and its whole influence has been opposed

to the spread of pure Christianity. Comp. Notes on ch. ix. 14‒21. “By

its laws it was death to a Mussulman to apostatize from his faith, and

become a Christian; and examples, not a few, have occurred in recent

times to illustrate it.” It was not until quite recently, and that

under the influence of missionaries in Constantinople, that evangelical

Christianity has been tolerated in the Turkish dominions.

(2) The prophecy before us implies that there would be a _decline_ of

that formidable power――represented by the “drying up of the great river

Euphrates.” See Notes on ver. 12. And no one can be insensible to the

fact that events are occurring which would be properly represented by

such a symbol; or that there is, in fact, now such a decline of that

Turkish power, and that the beginning of that decline closely followed,

in regard to _time_, if not in regard to the _cause_, the events which

it is supposed {376} were designated by the previous vials――those

connected with the successive blows on the Papacy and the seat of the

beast. In reference, then, to the decline of that power, we may refer

to the following things:――(a) The first great cause was _internal

revolt and insurrection_. In 1820 Ali Pasha asserted his independence,

and by his revolt precipitated the Greek insurrection which had been

a long time secretly preparing――an insurrection so disastrous to the

Turkish power. (b) The Greek insurrection followed. This soon spread

to the Ægean isles, and to the districts of Northern Greece, Epirus,

and Thessaly; while at the same time the standard of revolt was raised

in Wallachia and Moldavia. The progress and issue of that insurrection

are well known. A Turcoman army of 30,000 that entered the Morea to

reconquer it was destroyed in 1823 in detail, and the freedom of the

peninsula was nearly completed by the insurgents. By sea the Greeks

emulated their ancestors of Salamis and Mycale; and, attended with

almost uniform success, encountered and vanquished the superior Turkish

and Egyptian fleets. Meanwhile the sympathies of Western Christendom

were awakened in behalf of their brother Christians struggling for

independence; and just when the tide of success began to turn, and

the Morea was again nearly subjected by Ibrahim Pasha, the united

fleets of England, France, and Russia (in contravention of all their

usual principles of policy) interposed in their favour; attacked

and destroyed the Turco-Egyptian fleets in the battle of Navarino

(September, 1827), and thus secured the independence of Greece. Nothing

had ever occurred that tended so much to weaken the power of the

Turkish empire. (c) The rebellion of the great Egyptian pasha, Mehemet

Ali, soon followed. The French invasion of Egypt had prepared him

for it, by having taught him the superiority of European discipline,

and thus this event was one of the proper results of those described

under the first four vials. Mehemet Ali, through Ibrahim, attacked

and conquered Syria; defeated the sultan’s armies sent against him

in the great battles of Hems, of Nezib, and of Iconium; and, but for

the intervention of the European powers of England, Russia, Prussia,

and Austria, by which he was driven out of Syria, and forced back

to his proper pashalic, Egypt, he would probably have advanced to

Constantinople and subdued it. (d) There has been for centuries a

gradual weakening of the Turkish power. It has done nothing to extend

its empire by arms. It has been resting in inglorious ease, and, in the

meantime, its wealth and its strength have been gradually decreasing.

It has lost Moldavia, Wallachia, Greece, Algiers, and, practically,

Egypt; and is doing nothing to recruit its wasted and exhausted

strength. Russia only waits for a favourable opportunity to strike

the last blow on that enfeebled power, and to put an end to it

for ever. (e) The general condition of the Turkish empire is thus

described by the Rev. Mr. Walsh, chaplain to the British ambassador

to Constantinople:――“The circumstances most striking to a traveller

passing through Turkey is its _depopulation_. Ruins where villages had

been built, and fallows where land had been cultivated, are frequently

seen with no living thing near them. This effect is not so visible in

larger towns, though the cause is known to operate there in a still

greater degree. Within the last twenty years, Constantinople has lost

more than half its population. Two conflagrations happened while I was

in Constantinople, and destroyed fifteen thousand houses. The Russian

and Greek wars were a constant drain on the janizaries of the capital;

the silent operation of the plague is continually active, though not

always alarming; it will be no exaggeration to say that, within the

period mentioned, from three to four hundred thousand persons have been

swept away in one city in Europe by causes which were not operating in

any other――_conflagration_, _pestilence_, _and civil commotion_. The

Turks, though naturally of a robust and vigorous constitution, addict

themselves to such habits as are very unfavourable to population――the

births do little more than exceed the ordinary deaths, and cannot

supply the waste of casualties. The surrounding country is, therefore,

continually drained to supply this waste in the capital, which,

nevertheless, exhibits districts _nearly depopulated_. We see every day

life going out in the fairest portion of Europe; _and the human race

threatened with extinction_ in a soil and climate capable of supporting

the most abundant population” (Walsh’s _Narrative_, pp. 22‒26, as

quoted in Bush _on the Millennium_, 243, 244). The probability now is,

that this gradual decay {377} will be continued; that the Turkish power

will more and more diminish; that one portion after another will set up

for independence; and that, by a gradual process of decline, this power

will become practically extinct, and what is here symbolized by the

“drying up of the great river Euphrates” will have been accomplished.

(3) This obstacle removed, we may look for a general turning of the

princes, and rulers, and people of the Eastern world to Christianity,

represented (ver. 12) by its being said that “the way of the kings of

the East might be prepared.” See Notes on that verse. It is clear that

nothing would be more _likely_ to contribute to this, or to prepare the

way for it, than the removal of that Turcoman dominion which for more

than four hundred years has been an effectual barrier to the diffusion

of the gospel in the lands where it has prevailed. How rapidly, we

may suppose, the gospel would spread in the East, if all the obstacles

thrown in its way by the Turkish power were at once removed!

(4) In accordance with the interpretation suggested on ver. 13, 14,

we may look for something that would be well represented by a combined

effort on the part of Heathenism, Mahometanism, and Romanism, to stay

the progress and prevent the spread of evangelical religion. That is,

according to the fair interpretation of the passage, we should look for

some simultaneous movement _as if_ their influence was to be about to

cease, and as if it were necessary to arouse all their energies for a

last and desperate struggle. It may be added that, in itself, nothing

would be more _probable_ than this; but when it will occur, and what

form the aroused enemy will assume, it would be vain to conjecture.

(5) And in accordance with the interpretation suggested on ver. 15,

we are to suppose that something will occur which would be well

represented by the decisive conflicts in the valley of Megiddo; that

is, something that will determine the ascendency of true religion in

the world, _as if_ these great powers of Heathenism, Mahometanism,

and Romanism should stake all their interests on the issue of a single

battle. It is not necessary to suppose that this will _literally_

occur, and there are no certain intimations as to the time when what is

represented will happen; but all that is meant may be, that events will

take place which would be well represented by such a conflict. Still,

nothing in the prophecy prevents the supposition that these combined

powers _may be_ overthrown in some fierce conflict with Christian

powers.

17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and

there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the

throne, saying, [504]It is done.

17. _And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air._ This

introduces the final catastrophe in regard to the “beast”――his complete

and utter overthrow, accompanied with tremendous judgments. Why

the vial was poured into _the air_ is not stated. The most probable

supposition as to the idea intended to be represented is, that,

as storms and tempests seem to be engendered in the air, so this

destruction would come from some supernatural cause, as if the whole

atmosphere should be filled with wind and storm; and a furious and

desolating whirlwind should be aroused by some invisible power. ¶ _And

there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven._ The voice of God.

See Notes on ch. xi. 19. ¶ _From the throne._ See Notes on ch. iv. 2.

This shows that it was the voice of God, and not the voice of an

angel. ¶ _Saying, It is done._ The series of judgments is about to be

completed; the dominion of the beast is about to come to an end for

ever. The meaning here is, that that destruction was so certain, that

it might be spoken of as now actually accomplished.

18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and

there was a [505]great earthquake, [506]such as was not since

men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, _and_ so

great.

18. _And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings._ Accompanying

the voice that was heard from the throne. See Notes on ch. iv. 5; xi.

19. ¶ _And there was a great earthquake_, &c. See Notes on ch. vi. 12;

xi. 19. The meaning is, that a judgment followed _as if_ the world

were shaken by an earthquake, or which would be properly represented

by that.¶ _So mighty an {378} earthquake_, and _so great_. All this is

intensive, and is designed to represent the severity of the judgment

that would follow.

19 And the [507]great city was divided into three parts, and

the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in

remembrance before God, to give unto her the [508]cup of the

wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

19. _And the great city was divided into three parts._ The city of

Babylon; or the mighty power that was represented by Babylon. See

Notes on ch. xiv. 8. The division here mentioned into three parts was

manifestly with reference to its destruction――either that one part

was smitten and the others remained for a time, or that one form of

destruction came on one part, and another on the others. In ch. xi. 13

it is said, speaking of “the great city spiritually called Sodom and

Egypt”――representing Rome, that “the tenth part of the city fell, and

in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand” (see Notes on that

place); here it is said that the whole city, in the calamities that

came upon it, was divided into three portions, though it is evidently

implied that, in these calamities, the _whole_ city was sooner or later

destroyed. Professor Stuart (_in loco_) supposes that the number _three_

is used here, as it is throughout the book, “in a symbolical way,” and

that the meaning is, that “the city was severed and broken in pieces,

so that the whole was reduced to a ruinous state.” He supposes that

it refers to Pagan Rome, or to the Pagan Roman persecuting power.

Others refer it to Jerusalem, and suppose that the allusion is to the

divisions of the city, in the time of the siege, into Jewish, Samaritan,

and Christian parties; others suppose that it refers to a division of

the Roman empire under Honorius, Attalus, and Constantine; others to

the fact, that when Jerusalem was besieged by Titus, it was divided

into three factions; and others, that the number three is used to

denote _perfection_, or the total ruin of the city. All that, it seems

to me, can be said now on the point is, (a) that it refers to Papal

Rome, or the Papal power; (b) that it relates to something yet future,

and that it may not be possible to determine with precise accuracy

what will occur; (c) that it probably means that, in the time of the

final ruin of that power, there will be a threefold judgment――either

a different judgment in regard to some threefold manifestation of that

power, or a succession of judgments, _as if_ one part were smitten at

a time. The certain and entire ruin of the power is predicted by this,

but still it is not improbable that it will be by such divisions, or

such successions of judgments, that it is proper to represent the city

as divided into three portions. ¶ _And the cities of the nations fell._

In alliance with it, or under the control of the central power. As the

capital fell, the dependent cities fell also. Considered as relating to

Papal Rome, the meaning here is, that what may be properly called “the

cities _of the nations_” that were allied with it would share the same

fate. The cities of numerous “nations” are now, and have been for ages,

under the control of the Papal power, or the spiritual Babylon; and the

calamity that will smite the central power _as such_――that is, _as_ a

spiritual power――will reach and affect them all. Let the central power

at Rome be destroyed; the Papacy cease; the superstition with which

Rome is regarded come to an end; the power of the priesthood in Italy

be destroyed, and however widely the Roman dominion is spread now,

it cannot be kept up. If it falls _in_ Rome, there is not influence

enough _out of_ Rome to continue it in being――and in all its extended

ramifications it will die as the body dies when the head is severed;

as the power of provinces ceases when ruin comes upon the capital.

This the prophecy leads us to suppose will be the final destiny of the

Papal power. ¶ _And great Babylon._ See Notes on ch. xiv. 8. ¶ _Came

in remembrance before God._ That is, for purposes of punishment. It

had been, as it were, overlooked. It had been permitted to carry on its

purposes, and to practise its abominations, unchecked, as if God did

not see it. Now the time had come when all that it had done was to be

remembered, and when the long-suspended judgment was to fall upon it.

¶ _To give unto her the cup of the wine_, &c. To punish; to destroy

her. See Notes on ch. xiv. 10.

20 And [509]every island fled away, and the mountains were not

found.

{379} 20. _And every island fled away._ Expressive of great and

terrible judgments, _as if_ the very earth were convulsed, and

everything were moved out of its place. See Notes on ch. vi. 14.

¶ _And the mountains were not found._ The same image occurs in ch.

vi. 14. See Notes on that place.

21 And there fell upon men a great [510]hail out of heaven,

_every stone_ about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed

God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof

was exceeding great.

21. _And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven._ Perhaps this

is an allusion to one of the plagues of Egypt, Ex. ix. 22‒26. Comp.

Notes on ch. xi. 19. For a graphic description (by Com. Porter) of

the effects of a hail-storm, see Notes on Is. xxx. 30. Comp. Notes on

Job xxxviii. 22. ¶ _|Every stone| about the weight of a talent._ The

Attic talent was equal to about 55 lbs. or 56 lbs. Troy weight; the

Jewish talent to about 113 lbs. Troy. Whichever weight is adopted,

it is easy to conceive what must be the horror of such a storm, and

what destruction it must cause. We are not, of course, to suppose

necessarily, that this would literally occur; it is a frightful image

to denote the terrible and certain destruction that would come upon

Babylon――that is, upon the Papal power. ¶ _And men blasphemed God._ See

Notes on ver. 9. ¶ _Because of the plague of the hail._ Using the word

_plague_ in allusion to the plagues of Egypt. ¶ _For the plague thereof

was exceeding great._ The calamity was great and terrible. The design

of the whole is to show that the destruction would be complete and

awful.

This finishes the summary statement of the final destruction of this

formidable Antichristian power. The details and the consequences of

that overthrow are more fully stated in the subsequent chapters. The

_fulfilment_ of what is here stated will be found, according to the

method of interpretation proposed, in the ultimate overthrow of the

Papacy. The process described in this chapter is that of successive

calamities that would weaken it and prepare it for its fall; then

a rallying of its dying strength; and then some tremendous judgment

that is compared with a storm of hail, accompanied with lightning, and

thunder, and an earthquake, that would completely overthrow all that

was connected with it. We are not, indeed, to suppose that this will

_literally_ occur; but the fair interpretation of prophecy leads us to

suppose that that formidable power will, at no very distant period, be

overthrown in a manner that would be well represented by such a fearful

storm.

CHAPTER XVII.

ANALYSIS OF THE CHAPTER.

This chapter properly commences a more detailed description of the

judgment inflicted on the formidable Antichristian power referred to

in the last chapter, though under a new image. It contains an account

of the sequel of the pouring out of the last vial, and the description,

in various forms, continues to the close of ch. xix. The whole of this

description (ch. xvii.‒xix.) constitutes the last great catastrophe

represented under the seventh vial (ch. xvi. 17‒21), at the close of

which the great enemy of God and the church will be destroyed, and the

church will be triumphant, ch. xix. 17‒21. The image in this chapter

is that of a harlot, or abandoned woman, on whom severe judgment is

brought for her sins. The action is here _delayed_, and this chapter

has much the appearance of _an explanatory episode_, designed to give

a more clear and definite idea of the character of that formidable

Antichristian power on which the judgment was to descend. The chapter,

without any formal division, embraces the following points:――

(1) Introduction, ver. 1‒3. One of the seven angels intrusted with

the seven vials comes to John, saying that he would describe to him

the judgment that was to come upon the great harlot with whom the kings

of the earth had committed fornication, and who had made the dwellers

upon the earth drunk by the wine of her fornication――that is, of that

Antichristian power so often referred to in this book, which by its

influence had deluded the nations, and brought their rulers under its

control.

(2) A particular description of this Antichristian power――represented

as an abandoned and attractive female, in the usual attire of an harlot,

ver. 3‒6. She is seated on a scarlet-coloured beast, covered over with

blasphemous names――a beast with seven heads and {380} ten horns. She is

arrayed in the usual gorgeous and alluring attire of an harlot, clothed

in purple, decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, with a

golden cup in her hand full of abomination and filthiness. She has on

her forehead a name expressive of her character. She is represented

as drunken with the blood of the saints, and is such as to attract

attention and excite wonder.

(3) An explanation of what is meant by this scarlet-clothed woman, and

of the design of the representation, ver. 7‒18. This comprises several

parts: (a) A promise of the angel that he would explain this, ver. 7.

(b) An enigmatical or symbolical representation of the design of the

vision, ver. 8‒14. This description consists of an account of the beast

on which the woman sat, ver. 8; of the seven heads of the beast, as

representing seven mountains, ver. 9; of the succession of kings or

dynasties represented, ver. 9‒11; of the ten horns as representing

ten kings or kingdoms giving their power and strength to the beast,

ver. 12, 13; and of the conflict or warfare of all these confederated

or consolidated powers with the Lamb, and their discomfiture by

him, ver. 14. (c) A more literal statement of what is meant by this,

ver. 15‒18. The waters on which the harlot sat represent a multitude

of people subject to her control, ver. 15. The ten horns, or the ten

kingdoms, on the beast, would ultimately hate the harlot, and destroy

her, _as if_ they should eat her flesh, and consume her with fire,

ver. 16. This would be done _because_ God would put it into their

hearts to fulfil his purposes, alike in giving their kingdom to the

beast, and then turning against it to destroy it, ver. 17. The woman

referred to is at last declared to be the great city which reigned over

the kings of the earth, ver. 18. For particularity and definiteness,

this is one of the most remarkable chapters in the book, and there can

be no doubt that it was the design in it to give such an _explanation_

of what was referred to in these visions, that there could be no

mistake in applying the description. “All that remains between this

and the twentieth chapter,” says Andrew Fuller, “would in modern

publications be called _notes of illustration_. No new subject is

introduced, but mere enlargement on what has already been announced”

(_Works_, vi. 205).

CHAPTER XVII.

AND there came one of the seven angels which had the seven

vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I

will show unto thee the judgment of the [511]great whore that

[512]sitteth upon many waters:

1. _And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials._

See Notes on ch. xv. 1, 7. Reference is again made to these angels in

the same manner in ch. xxi. 9, where one of them says that he would

show to John “the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” No particular one is

specified. The general idea seems to be, that to those seven angels

was intrusted the execution of the last things, or the winding up of

affairs introductory to the reign of God, and that the communications

respecting those last events were properly made through them. It is

clearly quite immaterial by which of these it is done. The expression

“which had the seven vials,” would seem to imply that though they had

emptied the vials in the manner stated in the previous chapter, they

still retained them in their hands. ¶ _And talked with me._ Spake to

me. The word _talk_ would imply a more protracted conversation than

occurred here. ¶ _Come hither._ Gr., δεῦρο――“Here, hither.” This is a

word merely calling the attention, as we should say now, “_Here_.” It

does not imply that John was to leave the place where he was. ¶ _I will

show thee._ Partly by symbols, and partly by express statements; for

this is the way in which, in fact, he showed him. ¶ _The judgment._

The condemnation and calamity that will come upon her. ¶ _Of the great

whore._ It is not uncommon in the Scriptures to represent a city under

the image of a woman――a pure and holy city under the image of a virgin

or chaste female; a corrupt, idolatrous, and wicked city under the

image of an abandoned or lewd woman. See Notes on Is. i. 21: “How is

the faithful city become an harlot!” Comp. Notes on Is. i. 8. In ver.

18 of this chapter it is expressly said that “this woman is that great

city which reigneth over the kings of the earth”――that is, as I suppose,

Papal Rome; and the design here is to represent it as resembling an

abandoned female――fit representative of an apostate, {381} corrupt,

unfaithful church. Comp. Notes on ch. ix. 21. ¶ _That sitteth upon many

waters._ An image drawn either from Babylon, situated on the Euphrates,

and encompassed by the many artificial rivers which had been made to

irrigate the country, or Rome, situated on the Tiber. In ver. 15 these

waters are said to represent the peoples, multitudes, nations, and

tongues over which the government symbolized by the woman ruled. See

Notes on that verse. Waters are often used to symbolize nations.

2 With[513] whom the kings of the earth have committed

fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made

drunk with the wine of her fornication.

2. _With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication._

Spiritual adultery. The meaning is, that Papal Rome, unfaithful to God,

and idolatrous and corrupt, had seduced the rulers of the earth, and

led them into the same kind of unfaithfulness, idolatry, and corruption.

Comp. Jer. iii. 8, 9; v. 7; xiii. 27; xxiii. 14; Eze. xvi. 32; xxiii.

37; Ho. ii. 2; iv. 2. How true this is in history need not be stated.

All the princes and kings of Europe in the dark ages, and for many

centuries were, and not a few of them are now, entirely under the

influence of Papal Rome. ¶ _And the inhabitants of the earth have been

made drunk with the wine of her fornication._ The alluring cup which,

as an harlot, she had extended to them. See this image explained in

the Notes on ch. xiv. 8. There it is said that Babylon――referring to

the same thing――had “made them drink of the wine _of the wrath_ of her

fornication;” that is, of the cup that led to wrath or punishment. Here

it is said that the harlot had made them “_drunk_ with the wine of her

fornication;” that is, they had been, as it were, intoxicated by the

alluring cup held out to them. What could better describe the influence

of Rome on the people of the world, in making them, under these

delusions, incapable of sober judgment, and in completely fascinating

and controlling all their powers?

3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness; and

I saw a woman sit upon a [514]scarlet-coloured beast, full of

names of blasphemy, [515]having seven heads and ten horns.

3. _So he carried me away in the spirit._ In vision. He _seemed_ to

himself to be thus carried away; or the scene which he is about to

describe was made to pass before him _as if_ he were present. ¶ _Into

the wilderness._ Into a desert. Comp. Notes on ch. xii. 6. Why this

scene is laid in a wilderness or desert is not mentioned. Professor

Stuart supposes that it is because it is “appropriate to symbolize

the future condition of the beast.” So De Wette and Rosenmüller. The

imagery is changed somewhat from the first appearance of the harlot

in ver. 1. There she is represented as “sitting upon many waters.” Now

she is represented as “riding on a beast,” and of course the imagery

is adapted to that. Possibly there may have been no intentional

significancy in this; but on the supposition, as the interpretation has

led us to believe all along, that this refers to Papal Rome, may not

the propriety of this be seen in the condition of Rome and the adjacent

country, at the rise of the Papal power? That had its rise (see Notes

on Da. vii. 25, seq.) after the decline of the Roman civil power,

and properly in the time of Clovis, Pepin, or Charlemagne. Perhaps

its first _visible_ appearance, as a power that was to influence

the destiny of the world, was in the time of Gregory the Great, A.D.

590‒605. On the supposition that the passage before us refers to the

period when the Papal power became thus marked and defined, the state

of Rome at this time, as described by Mr. Gibbon, would show with what

propriety the term _wilderness_ or _desert_ might be then applied to

it. The following extract from this author, in describing the state of

Rome at the accession of Gregory the Great, has almost the appearance

of being a designed _commentary_ on this passage, or is, at anyrate,

such as a partial interpreter of this book would _desire_ and _expect_

to find. Speaking of that period, he says (_Decline and Fall_, iii.

207‒211):――“Rome had reached, about the close of the sixth century, the

lowest period of her depression. By the removal of the seat of empire,

and the successive loss of the provinces, the sources of public and

private opulence were exhausted; {382} the lofty tree under whose shade

the nations of the earth had reposed was deprived of its leaves and

branches, and the sapless trunk was left to wither on the ground. The

ministers of command and the messengers of victory no longer met on

the Appian or Flaminian Way; and the hostile approach of the Lombards

was often felt and continually feared. The inhabitants of a potent and

peaceful capital, who visit without an anxious thought the garden of

the adjacent country, will faintly picture in their fancy the distress

of the Romans; they shut or opened their gates with a trembling

hand, beheld from the walls the flames of their houses, and heard the

lamentations of their brethren who were coupled together like dogs,

and dragged away into distant slavery beyond the sea and the mountains.

Such incessant alarms must annihilate the pleasures, and interrupt the

labours of a rural life; _and the Campagna of Rome was speedily reduced

to the state of a dreary WILDERNESS, in which the land is barren, the

waters are impure, and the air is infectious_. Curiosity and ambition

no longer attracted the nations to the capital of the world; but

if chance or necessity directed the steps of a wandering stranger,

he contemplated with horror _the vacancy and solitude of the city;

and might be tempted to ask, Where is the Senate, and where are the

people?_ In a season of excessive rains, the Tiber swelled above its

banks, and rushed with irresistible violence into the valleys of the

seven hills. A pestilential disease arose from the stagnation of the

deluge, and so rapid was the contagion that fourscore persons expired

in an hour in the midst of a solemn procession which implored the mercy

of Heaven. A society in which marriage is encouraged, and industry

prevails, soon repairs the accidental losses of pestilence and war;

but as the far greater part of the Romans was condemned to hopeless

indigence and celibacy, _the depopulation was constant and visible,

and the gloomy enthusiasts might expect the approaching failure of

the human race_. Yet the number of citizens still exceeded the measure

of subsistence; their precarious food was supplied from the harvests

of Sicily or Egypt; and the frequent repetition of famine betrays the

inattention of the emperor to a distant province. _The edifices of Rome

were exposed to the same ruin and decay; the mouldering fabrics were

easily overthrown by inundations, tempests, and earthquakes; and the

monks who had occupied the most advantageous stations exulted in their

base triumph over the ruins of antiquity_.

“Like Thebes, or Babylon, or Carthage, the name of Rome might have

been erased from the earth, if the city had not been animated by a

vital principle which again restored her to honour and dominion. The

power as well as the virtue of the apostles resided with living energy

in the breast of their successors; and the chair of St. Peter, under

the reign of Maurice, was occupied by the first and greatest of the

name of Gregory. The sword of the enemy was suspended over Rome; it was

averted by the mild eloquence and seasonable gifts of the pontiff, who

commanded the respect of heretics and barbarians.” Comp. Rev. xiii. 3,

12‒15. On the supposition, now, that the inspired author of the

Apocalypse had Rome, in that state when the civil power declined and

the Papacy arose, in his eye, what more expressive imagery could he

have used to denote it than he has employed? On the supposition――if

such a supposition could be made――that Mr. Gibbon _meant_ to furnish

a commentary on this passage, what more appropriate language could

_he_ have used? Does not this language look as if the author of the

Apocalypse and the author of the _Decline and Fall_ _meant_ to play

into each other’s hands?

And, in further confirmation of this, I may refer to the testimony of

two Roman Catholic writers, giving the same view of Rome, and showing

that, in their apprehension also, it was only by the reviving influence

of the Papacy that Rome was saved from becoming a total waste. They

are both of the middle ages. The first is Augustine Steuchus, who thus

writes:――“The empire having been overthrown, unless God had raised up

the _pontificate_, Rome, resuscitated and restored by none, would have

become uninhabitable, and been a most foul habitation thenceforward

of cattle. But in the pontificate it revived as with a _second birth_;

its empire in magnitude not indeed equal to the old empire, but its

form not very dissimilar: because all nations, from East and from West,

venerate the pope, not otherwise than they before obeyed the emperor.”

The other is Flavio Blondas:――“The princes of the world now adore and

worship as {383} _perpetual dictator_ the successor not of Cæsar but of

the fisherman Peter; that is, the _supreme pontiff_, the substitute of

the aforesaid emperor.” See the original in Elliott, iii. 113.

¶ _And I saw a woman._ Evidently the same which is referred to in

ver. 1. ¶ _Sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast._ That is, either the

beast was itself naturally of this colour, or it was covered with

trappings of this colour. The word _scarlet_ properly denotes a bright

red colour――brighter than crimson, which is a red colour tinged with

blue. See Notes on Is. i. 18. The word here used――κόκκινον――occurs

in the New Testament only in the following places:――Mat. xxvii. 28;

He. ix. 19; Re. xvii. 3, 4; xviii. 12, 16――in all which places it is

rendered _scarlet_. See Notes on Mat. xxvii. 28 and He. ix. 19. The

colour was obtained from a small insect which was found adhering to

the shoots of a species of oak in Spain and Western Asia. This was

the usual colour in the robes of princes, military cloaks, &c. It

is applicable in the description of Papal Rome, because this is a

favourite colour there. Thus it is used in ch. xii. 3, where the same

power is represented under the image of a “red dragon.” See Notes on

that passage. It is remarkable that nothing would better represent

the favourite colour at Rome than this, or the actual appearance

of the pope, the cardinals, and the priests in their robes, on some

great festival occasion. Those who are familiar with the descriptions

given of Papal Rome by travellers, and those who have passed much time

in Rome, will see at once the propriety of this description, on the

supposition that it was intended to refer to the Papacy. I caused this

inquiry to be made of an intelligent gentleman who had passed much

time in Rome――without his knowing my design――what would strike a

stranger on visiting Rome, or what would be likely particularly

to arrest his attention as remarkable there; and he unhesitatingly

replied, “The scarlet colour.” This is the colour of the dress of the

cardinals――their hats, and cloaks, and stockings being always of this

colour. It is the colour of the carriages of the cardinals, the entire

body of the carriage being scarlet, and the trappings of the horses

the same. On occasion of public festivals and processions, scarlet is

suspended from the windows of the houses along which processions pass.

The inner colour of the cloak of the pope is scarlet; his carriage is

scarlet; the carpet on which he treads is scarlet. A large part of the

dress of the body-guard of the pope is scarlet; and no one can take

up a picture of Rome without seeing that this colour is predominant.

I looked through a volume of engravings representing the principal

officers and public persons of Rome. There were few in which the

scarlet colour was not found as constituting some part of their apparel;

in not a few the scarlet colour prevailed almost entirely. And in

illustration of the same thought, I introduce here an extract from

a foreign newspaper, copied into an American newspaper of Feb. 22,

1851, as an illustration of the fact that the scarlet colour is

characteristic of Rome, and of the readiness with which it is referred

to in that respect:――“_Curious Costumes_.――The three new cardinals,

the archbishops of Thoulouse, Rheims, and Besançon, were presented to

the president of the French Republic by the Pope’s nuncio. They wore

red caps, red stockings, black Roman coats lined and bound with red,

and small cloaks.” I conclude, therefore, that if it be admitted that

it was _intended_ to represent Papal Rome in the vision, the precise

description would have been adopted which is found here. ¶ _Full of

names of blasphemy._ All covered over with blasphemous titles and names.

What could more accurately describe Papal Rome than this? Comp. for

some of these names and titles the Notes on 2 Th. ii. 4; 1 Ti. iv. 1‒4;

and Notes on Re. xiii. 1, 5. ¶ _Having seven heads and ten horns._ See

Notes on ch. xiii. 1.

4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,

and decked[516] with gold and precious stones and pearls,

[517]having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations of

filthiness of her fornication:

4. _And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour._ On

the nature of the _scarlet colour_, see Notes on ver. 3. The _purple_

colour――πορφύρα――was obtained from a species of shell-fish found on

the coasts of the Mediterranean, which yielded a reddish-purple dye,

much prized by the ancients. Robes dyed in that colour were commonly

{384} worn by persons of rank and wealth, Mar. xv. 17, 20; Lu. xvi. 19.

The purple colour contains more blue than the crimson, though the

limits are not very accurately defined, and the words are sometimes

interchanged. Thus the mock robe put on the Saviour is called

in Mar. xv. 17, 20, πορφύραν――_purple_, and in Mat. xxvii. 28,

κοκκίνην――_crimson_. On the applicability of this to the Papacy, see

Notes on ver. 3. ¶ _And decked with gold._ After the manner of an

harlot, with rich jewelry. ¶ _And precious stones._ Sparkling diamonds,

&c. ¶ _And pearls._ Also a much-valued female ornament. Comp. Notes on

Mat. vii. 6; xiii. 46. ¶ _Having a golden cup in her hand._ As if to

entice lovers. See Notes on ch. xiv. 8. ¶ _Full of abominations._ Of

abominable things; of things fitted to excite abhorrence and disgust;

things unlawful and forbidden. The word, in the Scriptures, is commonly

used to denote the impurities and abominations of idolatry. See Notes

on Da. ix. 27. The meaning here is, that it seemed to be a cup filled

with wine, but it was in fact a cup full of all abominable drugs,

leading to all kinds of corruption. How much in accordance this is with

the fascinations of the Papacy, it is not necessary now to say, after

the ample illustrations of the same thing already furnished in these

Notes. ¶ _And filthiness of her fornication._ The image here is that

of Papal Rome, represented as an abandoned woman in gorgeous attire,

alluring by her arts the nations of the earth, and seducing them into

all kinds of pollution and abomination. It is a most remarkable fact

that the Papacy, as if _designing_ to furnish a fulfilment of this

prophecy, has chosen to represent itself almost precisely in this

manner――as a female extending an alluring cup to passers by――as will

be seen by the engraving on this page. Far as the design of striking

this medal may have been from confirming this portion of the book of

Revelation, yet no one can fail to see that if this _had_ been the

design, no more happy illustration could have been adopted. Apostate

churches, and guilty nations, often furnish the very proofs necessary

to confirm the truth of the Scriptures.

Illustration: Medal of Pope Leo XII.

5 And upon her forehead _was_ a name written, [518]MYSTERY,

BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF [519]HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS

OF THE EARTH.

5. _And upon her forehead._ In a circlet around her forehead. That

is, it was made prominent and public, _as if_ written on the forehead

in blazing capitals. In ch. xiii. 1 it is said that “the name of

blasphemy” was written on the “heads” of the beast. The meaning in

both places is substantially the same, that it was prominent and

unmistakable. See Notes on that verse. Comp. Note on ch. xiv. 1.

¶ _|Was| a name written._ A title, or something that would properly

indicate her character. ¶ _Mystery._ It is proper to remark that there

is nothing in the original as written by John, so far as now known,

that corresponded with what is implied in placing this inscription

in capital letters; and the same remark may be made of the “title”

or inscription that was placed over the head of the Saviour on the

cross, Mat. xxvii. 37; Mar. xv. 26; Lu. xxiii. 38; Jn. xix. 19. Our

translators have adopted this form, apparently for the sole purpose of

denoting that it _was_ an inscription or title. On the meaning of the

word _mystery_, see Notes on 1 Co. ii. 7. Comp. Notes on {385} 1 Ti.

iii. 16. Here it seems to be used to denote that there was something

hidden, obscure, or enigmatical, under the title adopted; that is, the

word _Babylon_, and the word _mother_, were symbolical. Our translators

have printed and pointed the word _mystery_ as if it were part of the

inscription. It would probably be better to regard it as referring to

the inscription, thus: “a name was written――a _mysterious_ name, to wit,

Babylon,” &c. Or, “a name was written mysteriously.” According to this,

it would mean, not that there was any wonderful “mystery” about the

thing itself, whatever might be true on that point, but that the _name_

was enigmatical or symbolical; or that there was something _hidden_

or _concealed_ under the name. It was not to be literally understood.

¶ _Babylon the great._ Papal Rome, the nominal head of the Christian

world, as Babylon had been of the heathen world. See Notes on ch. xiv.

8. ¶ _The mother of harlots._ (a) Of that spiritual apostasy from God

which, in the language of the prophets, might be called adultery. See

Notes on ch. xiv. 8. (b) The promoter of lewdness by her institutions.

See Notes on ch. ix. 21. In both these senses, there never was a more

expressive or appropriate title than the one here employed. ¶ _And

abominations of the earth._ Abominable things that prevail on the earth,

ver. 4. Comp. Notes on ch. ix. 20, 21.

6 And I saw the woman [520]drunken with the blood of the

saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I

saw her I wondered with great admiration.

6. _And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints._ A

reeling, intoxicated harlot, for that is the image which is kept up

all along. In regard to the phrase “drunken with blood,” comp. Je.

xlvi. 10. “The phraseology is derived from the barbarous custom (still

extant among many Pagan nations) of drinking the blood of the enemies

slain in the way of revenge. The effect of drinking blood is said to be

to exasperate, and to intoxicate with passion and a desire of revenge”

(Prof. Stuart, _in loco_). The meaning here is, that the persecuting

power referred to had shed the blood of the saints; and that, in its

fury, it had, as it were, drunk the blood of the slain, and had become,

by drinking that blood, intoxicated and infuriated. No one need say how

applicable this has been to the Papacy. Compare, however, the Notes on

Da. vii. 21, 25; Re. xii. 13, 14; xiii. 15. ¶ _And with the blood of

the martyrs of Jesus._ _Especially_ with their blood. The meaning is,

that the warfare, in which so much blood was shed, was directed against

the _saints as such_, and that, in fact, it terminated particularly on

those who, amidst cruel sufferings, were faithful _witnesses_ for the

Lord Jesus, and deserved to be called, by way of eminence, _martyrs_.

Comp. Notes on ch. ii. 13; vi. 9; xi. 5, 7. How applicable this is to

the Papacy, let the blood shed in the valleys of Piedmont; the blood

shed in the Low Countries by the Duke of Alva; the blood shed on

St. Bartholomew’s day; and the blood shed in the Inquisition, testify.

¶ _And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration._ I was

astonished at her appearance, at her apparel, and at the things which

were so significantly symbolized by her.

7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I

will tell thee the mystery of [521]the woman, and of [522]the

beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten

horns.