1 ESSAY ON THE REVELATION OF THE APOSTLE JOHN, CHA P; I. Of the Character, Era, and Duration of the twe SECT. I. Of the Character and Duration of the ten-horned or fecular Beaft. B Y this image we are plainly to understand the fourth beaft mentioned by Daniel, 7th chapter, verfe 7. or the laft great empire, namely the Roman. For the dominion of the three firft beafts, which the prophet Daniel saw in vision, and which represented the Babylonian, Perfian, and Grecian Grecian empires, had ended long before the apoftle's time. And the angel, in the 17th chapter of the Revelation, tells us, that, by the feven heads, in the first place, is pointed out the feat of this last empire, viz. the city of Rome, which was built upon seven hills, or feven principal eminences: And again, that, by the feven heads, we are to understand seven kings, that is, feven different kinds of government, which were to take place therein. For by kings, that we are not to conceive fingle perfons cloathed with regal power, but different governments, is evident from Daniel, 7th chapter, 17th verfe, where the four beafts, which reprefent the four great empires, are faid to be four kings. Now, in the forequoted 17th chapter of the Revelation, we are told, that five of these governments were fallen in the apoftles's time, and that one exifted; which was precifely the cafe as to the Roman ftate; for the only governments which had born the fupreme fway at Rome before the vifion of the apoftle, were the kingly, confular, tribunitial, decemviral, and dictatorial. Thefe, in a fucceffion, one after another, had fallen, and the Cefarian then exifted; and we are there told, that the other was not yet come, and, when he that he must continue but a short space.' ་ came, The other in the original is anos, alius generis, one of a diftinct fpecies from all the feven. This must have happened when christianity, unmixed with heathen idolatry, was countenanced and eftablished by the fupreme ruler of the ftate; and this government may be faid to have begun A. D. 313, when Conftantine the Great firft published his edicts in favour of chriftianity: For as he and his fucceffors, down to the reign of Gratian, aflumed the title of Pontifex Maximus, or of high priest, fo they exercifed the office, in directing and fuperintending the whole affairs of the church. Gratian was the firft who refused this dignity, and conferred it upon the bishop of Rome, and his fucceffors, A. D. 378; from which we may, with great propriety, date the birth or origin of papal government, though it did not attain to its maturity, till the beginning of the fixth century, as fhall afterwards be thewn. So that this government of the anos which continued little more than fixty years, was, according to the prediction, but of fhort duration, whether we compare it with that of the heathen Cefars which preceded it, or with the reign of the beaft which followed it: And as it was of a different kind from the seven, being deftitute of the effential character which belonged to them, namely, the idolatrous form; therefore it is not numbered with them. By the seventh head, we are to understand the last fpecies of government which the beaft, or Roman ftate, was to receive. This was the beast, in its last form, which the apoftle faw in vifion, and which the'angel tells him, in the 17th chapter, 11th verfe,' "is the beaft that was, and is not;" that is, was under the former five heads, and for fome time had been under the fixth, but had not as yet appeared' in its laft fhape; and, according to the 8th verfe of that chapter, "it was afterwards to afcend out of "the abyfs, and go into perdition;" that is, it would receive this laft form of government from fatan the prince of darkness, and, under this form of government, its power would be utterly deftroyed. This lalt head is faid to flourish with ten horns, and these were to be decorated with ten crowns; and the angel, in the 17th chapter, explains the "ten horns to be ten kings, who had not received a "kingdom as yet," which expreffion evidently fixes them to the feventh head, and fhews, that, in this laft form of government, the Roman empire was to be divided into ten royalties. And And again it is faid, " these fhall receive power as "kings one hour with the beast." This points out the commencement of the reign of the beaft, in its laft form, and whofe mighty deeds are recorded in the beginning of the 13th chapter, namely, that it was to begin precifely at that time when the ten kingly governments fhould be fully established in the empire, upon the ruins of the Cefarian or fixth head. But this æra of the beaft will be treated of in a particular fection by itself. It is added as the diftinctive characteristic of all the heads, that upon them was the "name of blafphemy." By the name of blafphemy, we are, by way of eminency, to understand idolatry. For the highest degree of blafphemy against God, is the offering that divine worship to the creature, which is due to the Creator: And thus, Ezekiel, 20th chapter, from the 27th to 31ft verfe, God calls it a blafpheming of him, "when the Ifraelites, upon every high hill, and "under the thick trees, offered their facrifices, and "polluted themselves with idols:" And Ifaiah, 65th chapter, 6th and 7th verses, "I will recompenfe into "their bofom, their iniquities, and the iniquities of "their fathers together, faith the Lord, which have "burnt incense upon the mountains, and blafphe"med me upon the hills." Befides, what other blafphemy is there to be found, which is common to all the feven heads, but this one, namely, idolatry? Surely there is none. From what has been already observed, it must follow, that this last government includes in it the community of thefe ten kings and their fubjects, and the form is idolatry. Farther, the animating fpirit is the dragon, or old ferpent, who is faid, in the 4th verie, "to give his power to the beaft;" and the ri der, who directs and fuperintends its motions, is the whore, who, Revelation 17th chapter, 3d verfe, is reprefented as " fitting upon the beaft;" and, in the |