CHAPTER VI.

Twentieth chapter. The angel that comes down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand, is the same as that brought to view in the ninth chapter. The angel of the pit symbolizes the line of the Popes at the head of the papal dynasty, who profess to have the keys of the kingdom of heaven from St. Peter, but are in reality the keys of the bottomless abyss-a system of political and religious iniquity too deep to fathom, and without any foundation in justice, truth and righteousness. With his chain of principles, and civil and religious policy, he bound the dragon that had broken away from the imperial bonds of Christian Rome, and was at this time rioting in the pride and luxury of his independence, and in the division of his dominion into ten kingdoms.

When Christian Rome, or the beast, received this deadly wound by the sword, and the division of her empire, a movement was soon made to heal this wound. It was discovered by the Bishop of Rome, that a restoration of the ten kingdoms, and their union to the eastern imperial head at Constantinople, would be impossible; and as he was ambitious for power, he formed the design of organizing a new government at the old capital, Rome, in which all the ten kingdoms, with the eastern division, should be made to unite under one head, and thus heal the deadly wound of this Roman beast made with the sword.

The accomplishment of this great enterprise by the Bishop of Rome, is what is meant by the binding of the dragon. The first war waged by the Catholic power to establish its supremacy, was commenced near five hundred and fourteen, headed by the Bishop of Rome and Vitalian, a Gothic chieftain, who with a mixed army of Goths, Huns, and Bulgarians, declared himself the champion of the Catholic faith. In this pious war, Thrace was depopu lated, Constantinople besieged, and more than sixty five thousand fellow Christians exterminated, the bishops. silenced, and many of them banished, and the Eastern Emperor, Anastasius, forced to sign what was called an orthodox treaty of the Council of Chalcedon, to the full satisfaction of the Pope. This treaty gave the Pope power to desolate the church by blood, which was soon exercised by Justin, the successor and uncle of Anastasius.

In September, 218, he called a council, and at the insti gation of the Pope, fifty bishops were dethroned, and eight hundred official ecclesiastics cast into prison.

Justin was succeeded by Justinian, a zealous Catholic, who raised an army and placed Belisarius, a distinguished general, at the head, and sent him to subdue the Vandals in Africa, and the Osthragothic kingdom in Italy, that the Pope might be free from these enemies, and establish the permanency of his throne at Rome.

While the Pope was chaining to his throne the eastern and southern part of the Roman empire, Clovius, king of France, who has been styled the eldest son of the Pope, was fast subduing the western division, and chaining it to the same throne, so that as early as five hundred and forty, we may consider the dragon bound to the authority of the Popes, or the angel of the bottomless pit, and for a thousand years confined in this deep abyss of political and religious iniquity.

The dragon is called the devil and Satan, because his evil acts and character are those which the Bible calls the devil, whether they are manifested in one person, or a gov. ernment. He is bound and sealed by the chain of authority of the bottomless pit, and is to serve this master a thousand years, when he will be loosed a little season.

The king of the pit employs the dragon power to carry on a war against the true church of Christ, and hence John says, I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. These were the thrones of the dragon, and the papal authority made them so many courts and thrones of judgment against heretics: consequently he says, I saw the souls [or persons] of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, or received his mark upon their forehead, or in their hands: and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. It is not to be understood that any one of the martyrs lived a thousand years, any more than any one person lived twelve hundred and sixty years, the time of the flight of the woman into the wilderness; but he saw the souls that were martyred during this thousand years, and declares their moral and spiritual state, viz., living and reigning with Christ a thousand years.

These souls, living and reigning with Christ, are mentioned, because all the rest had forsaken Christ's standard and gone over to the papal beast; for it is said in the thirteenth chapter, It was given him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, and power was given him over all kindreds, tongues, and nations, and all shall worship him that dwell upon the earth, whose names are not written in the book of life, of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. But these persons adhered to. Christ, they would not forsake his standard, but stood in defence of the truth, and the authority of Christ in the

church and over his people, and by this means lost their lives-they were beheaded.

The papal power claimed to be the head of the church, and enforced its usurped authority by the civil arm of the dragon; the martyrs refused to acknowledge such a head, and strenuously opposed the blasphemous doctrines, claims of title, and authority to judge their conscience in spiritual matters; so that while all the world, as it were, went after the beast, and lived and reigned with him for a thousand years, these martyrs lived and reigned with Christ. The rest of the Christian world went after the beast, and became withered, dry, and dead branches, and was not restored to life again, till the thousand years were finished. Hence it is said, The rest of the dead lived not again, until the thousand years were finished.

This life that the martyrs lived, when suffering and dying for Christ, was the life of the first resurrection. This life and resurrection is abundantly spoken of by Christ and his apostles. Rom. 6: 11, 12. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof; neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.. Col. 3: 1. If ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. A resurrection is a transition from death to life. Col. 2:13. And you being dead in your sins, and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, [resurrected] having forgiven you all your trespasses. Eph. 2: 15. And you hath he quickened, [that is, made alive,] who were dead in trespasses and sins. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up together, and made us

sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 1st John 3: 14. We know that we have passed from death unto life. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. John 5: 21. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. A multitude of like texts might be quoted, to prove and explain the doctrine of the first resurrection, but these must suffice.

These martyrs were the living limbs and branches of Christ's body and church during the thousand years, while the rest of the professed Christian church were dead to Christ and lived not to him, but to the beast. This is the first resurrection, and has direct reference to moral character. Blessed and holy is he that hath part [or experience] in the first resurrection, upon such the second death hath no power, as it will have on the finally unregenerated.

The papal beast had his kings and his priests reigning with him, and Christ made these martyrs kings and priests to Him, and to his Father. They were clothed with the authority of his word, and officiated at the true altar of his church, and were in their station in the sight of Christ and the Father, higher and greater in power than the kings and priests of the government of the bottomless pit. Peter in his first epistle says, 2: 5. Ye as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Also Rev. 1: 5, 6. Unto him that loved us and washed us in his own blood from our sins, and hath made us kings and priests unto Christ and his Father. These texts show, with the others we have quoted, that the first resurrection is a spiritual resurrection, and their reign with Christ as kings and priests is a spiritual reign.

Many learned divines, who have had a false theory to maintain concerning a future millennium, not understanding this prophecy, have seized upon this portion of John's