seventh Trumpet,) contains many more particulars than any of the former ones; the destruction of the Antichristian Empire being a subject of such importance, that the Holy Spirit hath thought fit to represent it under a variety of images. Rome having been characterized under the names of "Spiritual Egypt and Babylon ;" and her plagues having somewhat resembled those of the former; her fall is compared to that of the latter. This had, indeed, already been proclaimed (ch. xiv. 8.); but the particulars of the catastrophe are now entered into more fully. The previous characteristics of " this Babylon" plainly show that Rome is the place meant; all, both papists and protestants, admit this; though, for obvious reasons, the former insist that it is Heathen Rome which is alluded to; whereas it fully appears, on a comparison of the whole description, that Papal Rome is meant.

St. John is invited to witness the judgment of "the great Whore," the spiritual harlot who had made the kings and the inhabitants of the earth drunk with "the wine of her fornication." Now fornication is the usual Scripture term for idolatry; but though ancient Rome was idolatrous, it cannot be said of her that she debauched other nations, and intoxicated them, as it were, with her worship. On the contrary, she permitted them to follow their own religions, and to pursue their own rituals. She may, indeed, be

rather said to have been corrupted by them, in consequence of adopting foreign vices and superstitions.

Moreover, the description of the false Church, under the figure of "a woman sitting upon a scarlet coloured Beast, having seven heads and ten horns,” -(and forming a strong contrast to the true Church, described in ch. xii. 6, as a persecuted woman fleeing into the wilderness,)—corresponds to the two-horned Beast, described in chapter xiii.; and consequently this Woman is Christian Rome, and not Pagan Rome; because Rome was become Christian, before it was divided into ten horns, or kingdoms. The scarlet vesture and jewels, moreover, seem to allude to the peculiar colour assumed by Papist dignitaries, and to the splendour of their attire; whilst the golden cup of spiritual fornication pictures forth her alluring arts of spiritual seduction. Her name, “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots,"-all have a manifest reference to the practices, affectations of supremacy, and inventions of idolatry, which characterise that Church and they are not applicable to Ancient Rome; which was rather a learner of foreign superstition, than a mistress of idolatry to other nations.

The statement of her being "drunk with the blood of the saints," is also peculiarly applicable to Papal Rome; for though Pagan Rome did slay her thousands of the saints and martyrs of Jesus; yet Rome Chris

tian hath martyred her tens of thousands: so that when St. John saw a professedly Christian city rioting in the blood of Christians, he might well "wonder with great wonder."

The angel then proceeds, in the next eleven verses, to interpret this mystery, or scenic representation; and this is, indeed, the best key to the Revelation. The seventh and eighth verses contain a general interpretation thereof. The mystery of the Beast is considered in a threefold state: "it was,"—" is not,” and “shall ascend again." Now Heathen Rome was idolatrous; under Christian Emperors it ceased to be so for some time, and was not: under the Roman Pontiffs, it became so again, and thus ascended, or revived again under another form; but under this last form it only revived, eventually "to go into perdition."

They

After this general explanation there succeeds a more specific one, of particular parts, calling for the deepest attention of every "mind which hath wisdom." The "seven heads" (v. 9.) refer primarily to the seven mountains on which Rome is seated. signify also, "seven kings,” or forms of government; "five are fallen," that is, are already past; and "one is:"-the sixth is now subsisting. The five fallen ones seem to be those of Kings, Consuls, Dictators, Decemvirs, and Military Tribunes with consular

authority. The sixth is that of the Cæsars, or Emperors, subsisting at the time of the vision. When Rome fell into a Dukedom, under the Exarchate of Ravenna, we have "the other," the seventh, which was to "continue a short space," viz. about one hundred and fifty years;-short in comparison, with the Imperial power which preceded, and lasted five hundred years; and short also, in comparison with the eighth, or papal power, succeeding it, and which has now lasted upwards of a thousand years. However different interpretations may be put upon the forms of government, this part of the prophecy evidently points to Rome, under her last and longest form of government; and clearly indicates that the Beast upon which the Woman rideth is Papal Rome'.

This again is confirmed at verse 12; "the ten horns are ten kings, who have received no kingdom as yet ;” for the Roman Empire was not divided into ten kingdoms till some time after it was christianized. The phrase (ç μav wpav) would be better translated here "for the same period;" implying that their power would synchronize with that of the Beast, as the words of the next two verses show; and they state also that as those kingdoms would agree in submitting to, and

'The Beast seems here to signify the Papal temporal power which supported the Woman, who herself was emblematic of the Papal Church.

defending the Church of Rome; so they would also unite in persecuting the true Church of Christ, which in the end would prevail and triumph over them.

The description of the "many waters," whereon this Woman-(like ancient Babylon, v. 1.)—is sitting, is interpreted to mean "multitudes of people, nations, and tongues;" and corresponds to the vast extension of the Papal sway, and the immense jurisdiction whereunto it at last grew.

But notwithstanding all this, the time shall come when those who once helped to raise and protect her, shall turn against her. "The ten horns shall hurt the whore ;'" that is, by a very common figure, of a part for the whole, some of the ten; for (at ch. xviii. 9.) we read that others of the ten shall lament for her, and (at ch. xix. 19.) shall fight and perish for her. Some of the kings, grown sensible of her exactions and oppressions, shall use their power against her, and shall make her desolate, and burn her with fire. Papal Rome hath already been shaken, and made naked, comparatively, and powerless, by the reformed Potentates of Europe; and eventually, she shall be utterly destroyed by them.

The angel concludeth, by corroborating the interpretation: "the Woman that thou sawest is the great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth;" the city,-(as hath already been, and will still

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