Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

66

earth, calling them "our brethren." They know more clearly than we what is Satan's awful work, as "the accuser of our brethren." They also see more clearly the weapons and the cause of our warfare: They overcame him for the sake of the blood of the Lamb, and for the sake of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

That final casting-out of heaven appears to me not the casting unto the earth of ver. 13, which seems to be at the commencement of the persecution of the woman ; whereas the final one is "a woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea." In this view, ver. 13 to 16 is another statement of the 1260 years' persecutions: -"And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly unto the wilderness, into her place; where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman; and the earth opened up her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth."

The dragon had attempted to devour the man-child, and then to corrupt the Church. In the former he entirely failed; in the latter he had a terrible success, but not against the true people of God, who preserved their heavenly character. He therefore poured out a flood of

wrath upon Christ's saints, but the good feelings of humanity diminished his power: "The earth helped the woman," and swallowed up the flood.

The chapter closes with characterising the whole warfare:-" And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (ver. 17).

The character of Christ's faithful ones is that they keep the commandments of God, and have (hold to) the testimony of Jesus Christ-a most accurate description of the principles of the Reformation.

Whatever remaining obscurity hangs over the details of this wonderful prophecy, the general outline is a clear prediction of the Papacy as a persecuting power, doing its utmost to destroy all who keep the faith of Jesus, and the supremacy of Scripture.

IMPERIALISM AND THE PAPACY.

THE 13th chapter of the Apocalypse gives another aspect of the same 1260 years. It begins with the revival of the Western Empire under a new form, and of the ecclesiastical western hierarchy formed upon the model of the empire :—“ And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as

the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion's: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the people wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies: and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear" (Rev. xiii. 1–9).

Like Daniel, John sees a beast rise up out of the sea, which could be none other than the Western Roman Empire, inasmuch as from Daniel's time to the coming of the Son of man, there were to be four, and only four universal empires. John sees the beast as having seven heads and ten horns. Daniel did not see it as having seven heads. John, living in the time of the fourth beast, saw its features more distinctly. Rome was celebrated as the seven-hilled city, and we shall see on chap. xvii. that the seven heads of this beast symbolise both the seven mountains on

which Rome was built, and its successive forms of government down to the time of the ten horns. The seven heads of the beast are not, therefore, to be confounded with the seven heads of the dragon. The latter belong to the devil's continuous power from Nimrod onwards; the former, to Roman power. As the principal subject of this vision is the revived Western Empire it is the horns which are here seen crowned. Upon his heads [was] the name of blasphemy-i.e., this beast had the same self-willed character as all the antecedent empires. He is compared to a leopard for swiftness, and his feet to a bear for firm grasp. His boastfulness is as the roar of a lion. The dragon makes him his principal agent. One of his heads received an apparently mortal wound, but the wound was healed, to the astonishment of the world. This is the apparent extinction of the Western Empire in Momyllus, A.D. 478, and its revival when Clovis was regularly invested with the Roman consulship, A.d. 510. It is remarkable that the Bishop of Rome was the person who invested Clovis with the purple, by the order of the Greek Emperor Anastasius, and thus the Popes of Rome began to exercise political power, soon to culminate in their claim to the right of consecrating the Emperors. God, who seeth not as man seeth, declares the homage given to this revived beast to be in reality the worship of the devil. The revived empire becomes especially the enemy of the true people of God, and power was given to him to continue [Toñoa, to be energetic] forty-two months— i.e., 1260 years. This revival took place A.D. 510, and by A.D. 1770, the energy of the Frankish kingdom was all

but gone. In that year Louis XV. attempted to extinguish the French parliaments, only to have the monarchy itself extinguished within twenty-two years.

The character of the blasphemy of the beast is thus described:" And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven" (ver. 6).

The word blasphemy originally meant simply to speak to the injury of any one. Giving the word this more extensive application, we get a better view of this character of the beast. He misdescribed the name (i.e., the character) of God and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. The system of Christianity upheld by the revived Roman Empire was that corrupted form of it which is in God's sight Paganism, as we have already seen. "His tabernacle," would especially refer to the heavenly holy of holies, where Christ is exercising His mediatorial and intercessory offices. It is these which are altogether misrepresented by Popery, which misrepresentation was maintained by Imperialism. He also misrepresented "them that dwell in heaven "-i.e., the heavenly-minded ones, whether on earth or in paradise.

:

He also made war with the saints and overcame them :"And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations" (ver. 7).

Within the Latin dominions the professors of the true gospel of Christ have been utterly crushed. "All kindreds, and tongues, and nations," must be applied to all the races of people within the Latin empire.

« ÎnapoiContinuă »