Key to the Apocalypse or the Seven Interpretations of Symbolic Prophecy by Henry Grattan Guinness

7/29/2019 Key to the Apocalypse or the Seven Interpretations of Symbolic Prophecy by Henry Grattan Guinness

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WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.THE APPROACHING END OF THE AGE, Viewedill the Light of History, Prophecy, and Science.With Diagrams. Thirteenth Edition. Crown 8vo,cloth, 78. 6d.LIGHT FOR THE LAST DAYS. A Study, Historicaand Prophetica. With Diagrams. By Dr. and Mrs.H. GRATTANGUINNESS.Third Edition. Crown 8vo,cloth, 75. 6d.CREATION CENTRED IN CHRIST. 8vo, cloth, 95Vol. II. Chronologica Tables. 8vo, cloth, 9S

LONDON:HODDER AND STOUGHTON.

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KEY TO THE APOCALYPSEOR

THE SEVEN I NTERPRETATI ONS OFSYMBOLI C PROPHECY

BY

H. GRATTAN GUI NNESS, D. D.

LONDONHODDER AND STOUGHTON

27, PATERNOSTER ROW1899

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I1). 1I v

PREFACE

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WHLE complete in itself as a Key to. the Apocalypse, this work is intended

to be introductory to a short series of simpleexpositions of that great prophecy, based ondivinely given interpretations of its meaning.

It is an unquestionable fact that theintimately related prophecies of Daniel andJohn contain seven divinely given interpreta-tions, and it is evident that these mustconstitute the only infallible basis of exposi-tion. In building on them," as we statein chapter iii., ('we build not on theshifting sands of human opinion, but onthe stable rock of revealed truth. With-out such a foundation no interpretation ofDaniel and the Apocalypse can be secureand trustworthy, as resting upon divinePrinted byHazel, Watson, G' Viney; LaLondon and Aylesbury.

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vi PREFACE

CONTENTS

PRELIMINARY POINTS 3

authority, but can only stand on 'beggedprinciples and mere human conjectures.'''

The basis on which we build is divineinterpretation. The plan of this book is asfollows. After a brief introduction the sev~divine interpretations are....etforth i6 chapte.!..iii.; in chapter iv. the historical fulfilment

. -of the seventh and last of these; and inchapter v. we use this last interpreted andmarvellously fulfilled vision (that in Rev.xvii.) as a Key to open the remaining uisionsin theApocalypse, "for such is the connectionof the various visions in the book, that theopening of its central vision is a manifestclue to the meaning of the whole" (p. 103).

May the Divine Spirit, who ({searches allthings, yea the deep things of God," enlightenus to understand these sublime and sacredprophecies, and sanctify us through theknowledge of the Truth.

CHAPTER I~AGE

CHAPTER 11INTERPRETATION OF THE APOCALYPSE. IS

SCRIPTURE KEY TO THE SUBJECT OF THE PROPHECY.

CHAPTER IIITHE SEVEN INTERPRETATIONS OF SYMBOLIC

PROPHECY 23

CHAPTER IVHISTORICAL FULFILMENT OF THE PROPHECY

CONCERNING THE HARLOT BABYLON, ORPROOF FROM HISTORY THAT ROME IS THEBABY LON OF THE APOCALYPSE 67

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1 51 ,PRELIMINARY POINTS '

viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER Vl"AGE

USE OF THE KEY . 103

CHAPTER VITHE TWO LAST K INGDOMS OF PROPHECY , OR

THE RELATION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD . 139

DIAGRAMS. ~\

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151 ,PRELIMINARY POINTS '

viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER VPAGE

USE OF THE KEY . . 103

CHAPTER VITHE TWO LAST K INGDOMS OF PROPHECY , OR

THE RELATION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD . 139

DIAGRAMS. r \

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CHAPTER IPRELIMINARY POINTS

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1. THE WRITER OF -THE ApOCALYPSE ISTHE ApOSTLE JOHN

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THSview is amply sustained by primitivetestimony. Justin Martyr, who wasborn about seven years after the banishment

of the Apostle J ohn to Patmos, in hisdialogue with Trypho thus refers to theauthor of the Apocalypse: "A man fromamong us, by name John, oneoj the Apostlesof Christ, in the revelation made to him, hasprophesied that the believers in our Christshall live a thousand years in Jerusalem."Irenzeus, who wrote about thirty years laterthan Justin Martyr, speaks of the Apocalypse


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4 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE 5RELIMINARY POINTSas the work of John, the disciple of the Lord,that same John that leaned on His breastat the Last Supper. Origen, who made theCanon of the New Testament a subject ofspecial enquiry, attributes the authorship ofthe Apocalypse to the Apostle John, C{wholeaned on Jesus' bosom," ((who wrote aGospel, and said that the world itself couldnot contain the books which tell of theLord's acts," C{ he wrote the Apocalypsealso." "Herod slew J ames the brother ofJohn with the sword; and the King of theRomans-c. as tradition teaches-condemnedJohn, bearing witness for the word of truth,to the Island of Patmos. And John informsus of the things concerning this witness ofhis, not telling who condemned him, butsaying in the Apocalypse: 'I, John, was inthe isle that is called Patmos' (i. 9)...And he appears to have seen the Revelationin the island."

I ' The writings of the Apostle John relateto the past, the present, and the future ofthe time in which he lived. He wrote aGospel concerning the Person of Christ,Epistles concerning His Church, and anApocalypse concerning His Kingdom. Noother writer in the New Testament is of- ..--"'- . . .. . . .. . . . ... ... ,"" . . . . . . .,,~--,...,-....,.--...;.. -'""" . . .- . . ,""""" -" . . ,..~ '".. . :. . . . .. , . . , . .""" ':- .. ..... . , '., .equal range, or more profound or Christ-like .. ' . ..', . " " .','"II. THE DATE OF THE ApOCALYPSE IS~

THAT OF THE BANISHMENT OF THE ("")ApOSTLE JOHN UNDER THE ROMAN ,)EMPEROR DOMITIAN TOWARDS THE CLOSE \\OF THE FIRST CENTURY ):The testimony of Irenzeus, who was

Polycarp's disciple, who was himself thedisciple of the Apostle John, is of specialimportance on this point. Speaking of thenumber of the Beast in the Apocalypse, hesays: "For it [the Apocalypse] was seen novery long time ago, but almost in our age,

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6 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE PRELIMINARY POINTS 7towards the end of the reign of Dornitian "(Eusebius, H. E., iii. 18). Tertullian, Clementof Alexandria, Hippolytus, and others ofthe early Fathers confirm this testimony.Victorinus, who wrote a commentary on theApocalypse towards the close of the thirdcentury, says twice over that the vj~ons

receive his quittance by suffering, Domitianbeing killed, all his judgments were dis-charged. And John being dismissed fromthe mines, thus subsequently delivered the'same Apocalpyse which he had received fromGod."The external evidence as to the Domitian

date of the Apocalypse is clear and certain.((From the first witness who speaks upon thepoint in the latter half of the second centurydown to the first half of the fifth we havea succession of Fathers bearing testimonywith one accord, and in language whichadmits of no misunderstanding, to the factthat St. John was banished to Patmos underthe reign of Domitian, and that there hebeheld those visions of the Apocalypsewhich he afterwards committed to writing.These Fathers too are men ... of ability,learning, and critical insight into the historyof bygone times. . . . They belong to the

of the Apocalypse were seen by the ApostleJohn in the Isle of Patmos, when banishedthither by the Roman Emperor Domitian.The commentary of Victorinus is the earlieston the Apocalypse extant. Referring tothe passage in Rev. x. I I, he writes: (((Thoumust again prophesy to the peoples, andto the tongues, and to the nations, and tomany kings.' He says this because, whenJohn said these things, he was in the Islandof Patmos, condemned to the labour of themines by Cresar Domitian. There there-fore he saw the Apocalypse; and when, atlength grown old, he thought that he should


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to confirm the date originally and expresslyassigned by Irenreus to the Apocalypse, asseen and written at the close of the reignof Domitian-that is, near the end of the- - - - - -yea:J2~_,2!


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10 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE PRELI M NARY POI NTS IIan unhesitating and implicit confidence ason the truth of almost any of the lesser factsrecorded in history. And I must say itseems to me most surprising that respectableand learned commentators should have spenttheir time and labour in building up apoca-lyptic expositions that rest wholly and onlyon the sandy foundation of an earlier Neronicdate" (Elliott, Hora: Apocalyptica:, vol. i.,pp. 45, 46).

to come to pass. Their chronological posi-tion did not lie in remote futurity. The timeof their fulfilment was in the first century"at hand" (i. 3). This idea of the speedyaccomplishment of its predictions is again andagain referred to throughout the prophecy,and appears at its close in the sentence, "theLord God of the holy prophets sent Hisangel to show unto His servants the thingswhich must shortly be done lJ (xxii. 6).The Apocalypse is a r~velatio~"E.2t oLtemote~----.,.-'.-- ..- . '''-'-~~-'-~'---~,,~.,,~-.--.events in which the Christian Church from

,_ ' . _"" ." _ 'J ' ~_",_ __ " '."."""~"~ ...-.-"~.-,-~~,-,"~-

apostolic days onward .t()_.!h~"_.pr.~~~~~_tirn.ehas had no practical interest, but of events" - ' " " -- ,~. , ." . . . , . - .- ." .- -, .. -" . .~ .' "

which eighteen hundred years ago.werenear at hand as toithe cQiTImencemel),t oftheir accomplishment." Blessed is he that readeth, and tlzey thathear the words of this prophecy, and keep those

things which arewritten thereir: : for the timeis at hand."

III. THE THEME OF THE ApOCALYPSE ISDEFINED IN ITS OPENING VERSES

.The s~ ..L~P.,!~La~9rdingto its i~~s.pi,!~g,,,.gefinition,,is..~.thingswhich.-.--_"r~~'''''''''''-" must shortly come to pass." The Apocalypse- " , . :" . ,, . ; , , , , . , , , , , , , ~ , , , . '. - - i '" ' ' ~ ' '' ' ' '' ' ' ~ < ' '' ' ' " ~ " " " ' " ' , . " ~ . ' ' ' ' , ' '. - ._ _ ' " . ~ _ , '"' 0' . _ : . 'is not a book of history or of doctrine, butof prophecy. To this its larger part isdevoted. I treats of things which werefuture at the date of their revelation, and ofthings whose accomplishment was" shortly"


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CHAPTER IIINTERPRETATION OF THE APOCALYPSE

SCRIPTURE KEY TO THE SUBJECTOF THE PROPHECYNq__~~rpretation of the ~?ocalypse can~)

be secure and stable but that whick \is basedondivinely.givene;t~~q~~~~_';;its~symbolsand uisions. In seeking to under--c.,stand the prophecy our first question shouldbe, What saitt: the Scripture? The diligentuse of divinely given helps for the inter-pretation of the symbolic prophecy is thetrue and only way to its comprehension.In science and philosophy men followedfor many ages a false method of reasoningand research, building their conclusions upon

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16 KEY TO THE APOCALY PSE INTERPRETATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 17a basis of dogmatic spe~ulation, instead ofdeducing them from a full collection of well-established facts. In his Novum Organum,or, True Suggestions for the Interpretat()'}Zof Nature, Bacon exposed this mstakenmethod. "The sole cause," says Bacon,"and root of almost every defect inthe sciences is this, that while we falselyadmre and extol the powers of the humanmnd we do not search for its real helps.""Speculations and theories of mankind arebut a kind of insanity, only there i s no oneto stand by a1zd obseY'lJeit." (C We mustbring men to particulars, and their regularseries and order," and make "an instaura-tion from the very foundations, if we donot wish to revolve for ever in a circle,making only some slight and contemptibleprogress."

lation and dogmatism, those who seek tounderstand symbolic prophecy, and especiallythe mysterious prophecies of the Apocalypse,should turn to the real helpswhich God hasgiven to the comprehension of these portionsof His Word. The primary key to Scripture _is Scripture itself. The gate of entrance tothe meaning of symbolic prophecy is divineinterpretation. The first duty of the studentof prophecy is to listen to that which therevealing Spirit has said as to the meaningof His own mysterious utterances.

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THE OLD TESTAMENT INTRODUCTION TOTHE ApOCALYPSE

An analogous reformation is needed inprophetic interpretation. Abandoning specu-

He who would enter the temple of truthmu~~y--the divi~ely'-,


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18 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE INTERPRETATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 19Testament is the porch or passage leading tothe Apocalypse. In his observations on theprophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse ofSt. John, Sir Isaac Newton says: IIAmongthe old prophecies Daniel is most distinct inorder of time and easiest to be understood,and therefore in those things which relate tothe last times he must be made the key to therest." On the connection of Daniel andRevelation he says: "The Apocalypse ofJohn iswritten in the same style and languagewith the prophecies of Daniel, and hath thesame reiatio to them which they have to oneanother, so that all of them together make butonecompleteprophecy." The Apocalypse shouldthus be regarded as the New Testamentsequel to the Book of Daniel. The Books ofDaniel and Revelation may be considered asparts one and two of a single prophecy-aprophecy relating to the same subject, andpresenting that subject in the same symbolic

form. They unfold earlier and later portionsof the same great story.

The Book of Daniel holds a transitionalposition in Old Testament Scripture. In it((prophecy ceases to be Jewish and becomesGentile."1 It is thus suited to be an intro-duction to New Testament prophecy relatingto the course of Gentile history.

All the events foretold in the Apocalypsebelong to that order of things and course ofages predicted in the Book of Daniel. Theintroductory vision in Daniel, that of theImage, the Stone, and the Mountain, sketchesthe complete course of the ,~_~c::_.greating-doms of History and Prophecy, and, like thevault of heaven embracing the extent andcircumference of earth, IIarches in the entirefuture of the world with celestial ease andstability. It starts from the time thenpresent, and termnates on the verge of1Daniel, alZ Exposition, by Payne Smth, D.D., p. r.


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20 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSEeternity." The grand outline given in thisintroductory vision is filled in by laterprophecies. Each succeeding prophecy addsfurther details, but no fresh outline is pre-sented. The sublime framework of the fiveempires remains unaltered. All the visionsof the Apocalypse belong to this outline.They cannot be properly understood untilthey are fitted into it, and take their placein it as part of a great symbolic revelationconcerning the course and succession ofearthly empires, and the rise and establish-ment of the Kingdom of God

THE SEVEN INTERPRETATIONS OFSYMBOLIC PROPHECY


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CHAPTER IIITHE SEVEN I NTERPRETATI ONS OF

SYMBOLI C PROPHECYT H E symbolic prophecies of Daniel andJohn contain seven divinely given intre-

pretations of their meaning. These interpre-tations claim our first attention, and constitutetIle only infallible basis 0.1 exposition. Inbuilding on them we build not on the shiftingsands of human opinion, but on the stablerock of revealed trutlt. Without such afoundation no interpretation of Daniel andthe Apocalypse can be secure and trust-worthy, as resting upon divine authority,but can only stand on ((begged principlesand mere human conjectures." The seven

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24 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE THE SEVEN INTERPRETATIONS 25divinely given interpretations are thefollowing :-

1. The Interpretation of tlte Vision of theGreat Image i-ll Da. ii.Five 'Verses contain the description of the

Image, Stone, and Mountain (vv. 31-35),followed by ten verses giving the interpre-tation (vv, 36-45). Mark the introductorywords, "This is the dream; and we will tellthe interpretati(J 1Zthereof before the king";and the concluding words, "The dream iscertain, and the inte,pretatzoll thereof sure."We do well to underline in our Bibles theword "-intelpretatzolZ," that we may note andremember the important fact that we arefurnished here in the prophecy with aninfallible guide to its meaning.The interpretation of the vision of the

Image given to Daniel in answer to prayerby "the God of heaven," and conveyed byDaniel to Nebuchadnezzar, is as follows :_

(I) "Thou, 0 king, art a king of kings:for the God of heaven hath given thee akingdom, power, and strength, and glory.And wheresoever the children of men dwell,the beasts of the field and the fowls of theheaven hath He given into thine hand, andhath made thee ruler over them all. T hauart this head of gold.(2) "And after thee shall arise another

kngdom inferior to thee,(3) (I And another third kingdom of brass,

which shall bear rule over all the earth.(4) "And thefourtlt kingdom shall be strong

as iron; forasmuch as iron breaketh in piecesand subdueth all things: and as iron thatbreaketh all these, shall it break in piecesand bruise. And whereas thou sawest thefeet and toes, part of potters' clay, and partof iron, tlte Jdngdom shall be divded; butthere shall be in it of the strength of theiron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron


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26 KEY TO ~HE APOCALYPSEmixed with miry clay. And as the toes ofthe feet were part of iron, and part of clay,so the kingdom shall be partly strong, andpartly broken. And whereas thou sawestiron' mixed with miry clay, they shall minglethemselves with the seed of men: but theyshall not cleave'one to another, even as ironis not mixed with clay.(5)" And in the days of these kings shall

the God of heave1z set up a/kingdom whz'chsltallneveroe destroyed ; and the kingdomshall not be left to other people, but it shallbreak in pieces and consume all these king-doms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuchas thou sawest that the 'stone was cut outof the mountain without hands, and that it.brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay,the silver, and the gold; the great God hathmade known to the king what shall come topass hereafter : and the dream is certain, andthe interpretation thereof sure."

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THE ,SEVEN INTERPRETATIONS 27In this divinely given ,interpretaton the

four different metallic parts of the Imagerepresent four successive kingdoms, of whichthe first is that of Babylon; while the Stonecut out without hands which destroys the

, .Image, becomes a Mountain, and fills theearth, represents the Kingdom of the God,or' heaven, universal H~its range and ever-lasting in its duration. Let us mark thesefivekingdoms in our Bibles by the numbersI, 2, 3, 4, 5,and write opposite the wordsI!Thou art this head of gold" the name ofBabylon, and opposite the fifth kingdom thewords Kingdom of God. Let us note thatthe four kingdoms follow each other '!Vitho'!J; I . '~ny'....g !!PJ . as represented by the four partsofa single image, that the second is inferiorto the first, that the third is characterisedby worldwide extent, and the fourth byresistless strength and all subduing con-.quests. Observe especially that the fourth


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28 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE THE SEVEN INTERPRETATIONS 29kingdom is in its later stage "divided,"that it consists partly of iron and partly ofclay, and that the attempts to reunite itsbroken fragments prove vain and futile.Contrast the great Colossus of humansovereignty, standing on feeble broken feetof iron mxed with clay, with the stableand everlasting Mountain of the Kingdomof God. Observe the superhuman originof the final kingdom represented by a Stonecut out" without hands "-a kingdom foundedby no sword or sceptre of man, built by nohuman will or wisdom, but by the invisiblepower of the Creator of heaven and earth.Note also the two stages of the kingdomrepresented by the Stone and the Mountain,and that before the Stone becomes theMountain it falls on the feet of the Image,or on the Image in its finally divided clayand iron state, and utterly annihilates it.

The first and last of the five kingdoms in

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the vision are clearly and authoritativelyinterpreted as the Kingdom of Babylon andthe Kingdom of the God of heaven; whilethe second, third, and fourth are the in-tervening kingdoms which fill up the courseof Gentile rule between these two well-marked termni. Later visions plainly showwhat these intervening kingdoms are.

II. The Interpretation of the Vision of theGreat Tree in Dan. iu.

Nebuchadnezzar, who had heard fromDaniel the interpretation of the great Image,now asks the prophet to tell him the inter-pretation of the great Tree. (I Tell me thevisions of my dream, and the interpretationthereof." The king then recounts his dream,the narrative occupying nine verses, whileDaniel's interpretation fills the nine verseswhich follow (vv. I9-27). Observe thewords: "T hz's is the interpretation, 0 king,and this is the decree of the Most High."

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30 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE THE SEVEN INTERPRETATIONS 31Nehuchadnezzar had seen in his dream agreat Tree, reaching to heaven, under whoseshadow dwelt the birds and beasts of theearth. He had heard a voice from heavenproclaim the decree, "Hew down the tree,"but {(eave the stump of his roots in theearth," and "let seven times pass over him."Daniel thus interprets the meaning: ((It isthou, 0 king" (ver. 22). As in the formervision Daniel had said to Nebuchadnezzar,((Thou art this head of gold," .so here heboldly tells the monarch that the visionconcerns himself. He, Nebuchadnezzar, wassymbolised by the great Tree; his far-reachingdominion by its widely extending branches;and his temporary abasement during theperiod of "seven times" was represented bythe cutting down of the Tree, whose stumpwas left bound with iron and brass in thesoil during this predicted period. '(Theyshall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling

shall be with the beasts of the field, ... andseven times shall pass over thee, till thouknow that the Most High ruleth in thekingdom of men, and giveth it to whomso-ever He will." The rest of the chapterrelates the historical fulfilment of the vision:"All this came upon the king Nebuchad-nezzar."The "seven times" of the monarch's

debasement typify the {(seven times" of thelong degradation of worldly power underthe Wild Beast empires of the later prophecyin chapter vii. The same empires whichhad been represented by the bright andterrible Image are here depicted by savagebeasts of prey, whose dominion, strictlylimited by the decree of Heaven to therevealed times and seasons of the prophecy,continues till the manifestation of the King-dom of" the Son of Man."III. The Interpretation of the Hand-


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32 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE THE SEVEN INTERPRETATIONS 33wn'tng O1 t the Wall of Belshazzar's Palacein Dan. v.At Belshazzar's feast the golden vessels

from the Temple at Jerusalem were profanedby being used for the worship of "gods ofgold and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood,and of stone." It was the culmination ofthe sin of Babylon. Silently her doom waswritten. "In the same hour came forthfingers of a man's hand, and wrote overagainst the candlestick upon the plaster ofthe wall of the king's palace: and the kingsaw the part of the hand that wrote." Movedby curiosity and consternation, the king asksthe astrologers to interpret the mysteriouswords upon the wall; but none of themcan do it. At the queen's suggestion hesends for Daniel. The aged prophet standsin the presence of the idolatrous monarch,and, while refusing his proffered gifts, says:" I will read the writing unto the king, and

make known to him the interpretation.""This is the writing that was written,Mene, Mene, Tekel, Uplzarsin. This is theinterpretation of the thing: Mene; Godhath numbered thy kingdom, and finishedit. Teke! ; Thou art weighed in thebalances, and art found wanting. Peres;Thy kingdom is divided, and given tothe Medes and Persians." History, bothsacred and profane, records the fulfilmentof the prophecy. "In that night wasBelshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain."The Kingdom of Babylon, proud, sensual,and idolatrous, fell before the Medo-Persianpower. In the interpretation of the word" Peres" the prophet Daniel plainly indicatesthe name of the ~~~?ndof the four kingdoms,that of" the Medes 41td Persians." Thus thesilver breast and arms of the great Imageare interpreted. As the first of the fourkingdoms is Babylon, so the second is Persia.

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34 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE THE SEVEN INTERPRETATIONS 35In accepting this interpretation we buildon plain statements in the Word of God,confirmed by the witness of history. Isaiah,]eremiah, Daniel, Herodotus, Xenophon,and the Canon of Ptolemy all combine toprove the distinctness of the Babylonianand Medo-Persian Kingdoms, and that thesecond of these conquered and succeededthe first.IV. The Interpretation of the Ra'lIZand

He-goat in Dan. vii.We place this interpretation before that

of chap. vii., as it gives us the name ofthe third empire. The Persian power isrepresented in this vision by a Ram, whilethe power which destroyed and succeededit is depicted by a He-goat. The Ram hastwo horns, and is thus interpreted: " Theram which thou sawest having two. hornsare the kings of Media and Persia." The" he-goat" that "came from the west on

the face of the whole earth, and touchednot the ground," which had ((a notable hornbetween his eyes," and which "smote theram, and brake his two horns," and "casthim down to the ground, and stamped uponhim," is thus interpreted: "The rough goatis the king of GRECIA: and the great hornthat is between his eyes is the first king.Now that being broken, whereas four stoodup for it, four kingdoms shall stand upout of the nation, but not in his power "(viii. 21 22).Exactly the same succession of historic

events is again plainly foretold in Dan. xi.2-4. "In the first year of Darius theMede" the revealing angel says to Daniel:" Now I will show thee the truth. Behold,there shall stand up yet three kings inPERSIA; and the fourth shall be far richerthan they all: and by his strength throughhis riches he shall stir up all against the


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36 KEY TO THE APOCAL'"PSE THE SEVEN INTERPRETATIONS 37~E1!:1:IlirfJ~~e.th~tlzf~c! in the succession ofkingdoms beginning with that of Babylon.V. The Interpretation of the Four Wild

Beast Kingdoms, and of the Kingdom. of theSon of Man, inDan. vii.The four kingdoms of the Image, followed

by the Kingdom of the Mountain whichfills the earth, representing the universaland everlasting Kingdom of God, are shownunder a different set of symbols in Dan. vii.,with additional features. ((The four greatempires of earth appear under strangelycontrasted symbols to the king and tothe prophet. In the former case a worldlyidolater looked up, and beheld a greatfourfold Image of earthly dominion; it wasterrible yet attractive to him in its brilliancy.In the latter case. a man of God lookeddown, and beheld four great beasts, terribleonly in their fierce brutality." 1

1 Approaching Eltd of tlteAge, p. 33.

realm. of GRECIA. And a nighty kingshall stand up, that shall rule with greatdominion, and do according 0 his will.And when he shall stand up, lis kingdomshall be broken, and shall be divded towardthe four winds of heaven; and not to hisposterity, nor according to hi; dominionwhich he ruled: for his kingdcn shall beplucked up, even for others beide those."The three Persian kingswm followedCyrus were Cambyses, Smerdis, ind DariusHystaspis; while the fourth w.s Xerxes,who, "far richer" than his predeessors, in-vaded Greece, and by his defe.t broughtabout the crisis of Persian deay, Themighty world-conquering king who over-threw the power of Persia was Alexanderthe Great of Macedon, and tle fourfolddivision of his kingdom in the prophecyanswers to the course of history. Prophecyand History agree in determining heGrecian


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38

kingdoms, the angel Gabriel continues themessage of the prophet: 'The ram havingtwo horns are the kings of MEDIA andPERSIA. . . . The rough goat is the kingof GRECIA.' If we ask the name andcharacter of the fourth empire, the Evan-gelist supplies the answer: 'There wentout a decree from Cesar Augustus thatall the world should be taxed'; 'I f welet Him alone, all men will believe on Him;and the ROMANS will come, and take awayboth our place and nation.' Four supremeand ruling kingdoms, and four only, areannounced by name in the Word of God,from the time of Daniel to the close ofthe sacred Canon." 1The narrative of the vision of the four

Wild Beast empires and the Kingdom of theSon of Man in Dan. vii. occupies the firstfourteen verses, while the interpretation

1Birks' First Two Visionsof Daniel, p. 20

KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE THE SEVEN INTERPRETATIONS 39The identity of the four kingdoms in

Dan. ii. and vii. is evident. "The numberis the same, four in each. The starting-poz'nt is the same, for each was given whileBabylon was the ruling power (Dan. ii . I,vn. I). The issue is the same, for bothare immediately followed by the Kingdomof Christ. The order is the same, for thekingdoms in the first vision, as all admit,are successiue ; and in the other there areno less than seven or eight clauses whichdenote succession in time. There is thesame gradation, for the noblest metal andthe noblest animal take the lead in eachseries. Further, the kingdoms in eachvision are described as occupying the wholespace till the dominion of the saints ofGod. . . . The first empire is that ofBABYLON, for to the king of Babylon itwas said: 'Thou art this head of gold.' I fwe require the names of the two next

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40 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE

these rises "another little horn," with "eyeslike the eyes of a man, and a mouth speak-ing great things," which horn "made warwith the saints, and prevailed against them"for a definite period. "They shall be giveninto his hand until a time and times andthe dividing of time, But the judgmentshall sit, and they shall take away hisdominion, to consume and to destroy itunto the end. And the kingdom anddominion, and the greatness of the kingdomunder the whole heaven, shall be given tothe people of the saints of the Most High,whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,and all dominions shall serve and obeyHim" (vv. 25-27).VI. The Interpretation of the Seven Stars

and Seuen Candlestick -inRev. i.The interpreter here is none other than

our Lord Himself: "The mystery of theseven stars which thou sawest in My right

5

THE SEVEN INTERPRETATIONS 41follows in vv. 16-27. Note the words: "Sohe told me, and made me know the inter-pretation of the things." First a generalinterpretation is given of the four Wild Beastpowers and of the Kingdom of "the saintsof the Most High" (vv. 17, 18),and then amore detailed interpretation of the fourthkingdom. "The fourth beast shall be thefourth. kingdom UP01Z earth, which shallbe diverse from all kingdoms, and shalldevour the whole earth, and shall tread itdown and break it in pieces." Here, as inthe symbol of the great Image, a tenfolddivision of the fourth or Roman Empireis predicted. " The kingdom shall bedivided .... As the toes of the feet werepart of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdomshall be partly strong, and partly broken"(Dan. ii. 41, 42). In the later vision thistenfold division is represented by the" tenhorns" of the fourth wild beast. Among

,


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42 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE THE SEVEN INTERPRETATIONS 43

(Rev. i. 20).This divinely given interpretation assigns

a Christian character to the prophecy inwhich it occurs, for it interprets the candle-sticks as Christian Churches, and the intro-ductory portion of the book in which theseare presented is so intimately and profoundlyconnected with the subsequent prophecy inchaps. vi.-xxii., as to impart to the latter aChristian character, or to justify the viewthat it is a prophecy of the history anddestiny of the Christian Church.

This intimate connection is seen in thefact that the promses in the letters to theseven Churches relate to experiences andprivileges set forth in the predictions whichoccur in the prophetic portion of the book.

I. The promse in the letter to the Churchof Ephesus, "To him that overcometh willI give to eat of the tree of life, which isin the mdst of the paradise of God," relatesto a blessing foretold in chap. xxii. in thecourse of the prophecy, where the sceneis described in which the tree of lifeoccupiesa central place. The Christian characterwhich certainly attaches to the promsemust therefore also attach to the prophecy,for the thing promsed and the thingprophesied are the same.

2. The promse in the letter to the Churchof Smyrna, j(He that overcometh shall notbe hurt of the second death," relates to thatfinal stage of salvation described in detailin chaps. xx. and xxi. Both promse andprophecy refer to the experiences of thosewho escape the same final judgment.

3. The promse in the letter to the Churchof Pergamos, ((To him that overcometh will

j

hand, and the seven golden candlesticks.The seven stars are the angels of the sevenchurches: and the seven candlesticks whichthou sawest are the seven churches"


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44 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE THE SEVEN INTERPRETATIONS 45I give to eat of the hidden manna, and Iwill give him a white stone, and in thestone a new name written, which no manknoweth saving he which receiveth it,"is in one of its features analogous withthe prophecy of the one hundred andforty-four thousand " redeemed from theearth" who have the Father's name writtenIn their foreheads, and also with theprophecy in chap. xxii. concerning theinhabitants of the New Jerusalem: "Theyshall see His face, and His name shall\be in their foreheads." The thing promisedand the thing prophesied are the bestow-ment on His redeemed people of a divinename In a written form, by the hand ofthe Redeemer.4. The promise in the letter to the Church

of Thyatira is: "He that overcometh, andkeepeth My works unto the end, to himwill I give power over the nations: and

he shall rule them with a rod of iron." Inchap. xii. is a prophecy concerning a "man-child who is to rule all nations with a rodof iron," and in chap. xix. Christ Himselfis seen in vision exercising this power.The ruling the nations" with a rod of iron"referred to in these cases must be the same.As the promise of ruling the nations witha rod of iron is addressed to Christianpeople, the act of ruling the nations witha rod of iron described in the prophecymust be something in which Christianpeople take part.5. The promise in the letter to the Church

of Sardis is : "He that overcorneth, the sameshall be clothed in white raiment; and Iwill not blot out his name out of the bookof life." In chap. vii. is a prophecy con-cerning an innumerable multitude of allnations, peoples, and tongues, clothed inwhite robes, washed in the blood of the


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46ng out of heaue from God, having in itsfoundation the names of the Apostles ofthe Lamb, must be a Christian prophecy,or relate to things concerning the ChristianChurch. This link is clear and important.

7. The promse in the letter to the Churchof Laodicea is: "~To him that overcomethwill I grant to sit with Me on My throne."In the closing part of the prophecy,chaps. xx.-xxii., the victorious saints areseen reigning with Christ: "I saw thrones,and they sat upon them"; "and they livedand reigned with Christ." The rewardpromsed to Christian victors-the reigningwith Christ-is identical with the rewardof the victors over the Wild Beast powerdescribed in the prophecy. Promse andprophecy relate to the same exalted expe-riences, and describe the same ultimatereward.

The conclusion to which we are led, that

KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE THE SEVEN INTERPRETATIONS 47Lamb; in chap. xix. the Bride of theLamb is seen arrayed in fine linen, "whichis the righteousness of saints" ; and in chap.xxi. the names of the inhabitants of the NewJerusalem are said to be "written in theLamb's book of life." Here again theblessings promsed in the earlier part ofthe book are identical with the privilegesprophetically foretold in its later pages.

6. The promse in the letter to the Churchof Philadelphia is: "Him that overcomethwill I make a pillar in-the temple of MyGod, and he shall go no more out: and Iwill write upon him the name of My God,and the 1zameof the. city of My God, whichis New Jerusalem which C011Uthdown outof heavenfrom My God: and I will writeupon him My new name." This is un-questionably a Christian promse relatingto Christian experiences. Hence theprophecyn chap. xxi. of the New Jerusalem descend-


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48 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE THE SEVEN INTERPRETATIONS 49the prophecy chaps. vi.-xxii. is a Christanprophecy, or relates to the experiences ofthe Christian Church, is strongly confirmedby the description of its witnessing andsuffering saints as those who "overcameby the blood of the Lamb," who "havethe testimony of Jesus Christ" (xii. II, 17),who "keep the faith of Jesus" (xiv. 12),and are "the martyrs of Jesus JJ (xvii. 6)slain "for the witness of Jesus" (xx. 4).Who can those be who "have the testimol'tyof Jesus," who "keep the faith if J esus,"and are" themartyrs of J esus," but Christz'anpeople? But these are the saints, the sufferers,and the victors of the prophetic portion ofthe book. On all these grounds the con-clusion is inevitable that !he AQocaIY.Q;se~"~C!,_Cb."rj~tial1.J2r~Y_;_Qr"j~.Qthe!


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IITheBride, theLamb'swife."IITheHolyJerusalem"IIThere came unto me

one of the seven anges

50 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSEpurple and scarlet colour, and decked withgold and precious stones and pearls"; whilethe Bride, the New Jerusalem, is arrayedin "fine linen, clean and white," which is"the righteousness of saints," and has "theglory of God." The one is the associateof the Beast (01Jptov), the other of the Lamb(apv tov ) . The one is drunken with the bloodof the saints and with the blood of themartyrs of Jesus: the other consists of thesaints, and includes the martyrs. The oneis punished with both temporal and eternaljudgments: the other is rewarded with ever-lasting honour and felicity. The contrastbetween them is complete.CONTRASTED VISIONS OF BABY LON AND JERU-

SALEM, THE HARLOT AND THE BRIDEII Thewhore that sitteth

uponmany waters."" Babylon the Great.""There came one of

the seven anges which

CONTRASTED VI SI ONShad the seven vials, andtalked with me, saying,Come hither; I will showunto thee the judgmentof the great whore thatsitteth upon manywaters:

" Sohecarried meawayin the spirit into thewilderness: and Isaw awoman sit upon a scarletcoloured beast, full ofnames of blasphemy, hav-ing seven heads and tenhorns.

"And the woman wasarrayed in purple andscarlet colour, anddeckedwith gold and preciousstones and pearls, havinga golden cup in her handfull of abomnations andfilthiness of her fornica-tion: and upon her fore-head was a name written,Mystery, Babylon tIleGreat,the Mother o.fHar-lots and Abomnations ofthe Earth.

"And I saw the womandrunken with the blood

;

which had the seven vialsfull of the seven lastplagues, and talked withme, saying, Come hither,Iwill showthee theBride,the Lamb's wife.IIAnd he carried me

away in the spirit to agreat and high mountain,and showed me" (theBride, the Lamb's wife,under another symbol)(Rev. xxi. 9, 10).

"To her was grantedthat sheshould be arrayedin fine linen, clean andwhite: for the fine linenis the righteousness ofsaints" (Rev. xix. 8).

This Bride is describedas "The Holy Jerusalemdescending out of heavenfromGod,havingthe gloryof God: and her lightlike unto a stone mostprecious" (Rev. xxi.10 II).

The dragon '1persecutedthe woman," and /I the

5 1


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of the saints, and withthe blood of the martyrs ofJesus" (Rev. xvii. 1-6).

dragon was wroth withthe woman, and went tomake war with the rem-nant of her seed, whichkeep the commandmentsof God, and have the testi-mony of Jesus Christ"(Rev. xii, 13-17).

INTERPRETATION OF THE VISION 532 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE

Of Babylon the Great the Apostle says:"When I saw her, I wondered with a greatwonder" (Rev. xvii. 6, R.V.). "And theangel said unto me, Wherefore didst thouwonder? 1 will tell thee the mystery of thewoman, and of the beast that carrietk her,which hath the seven heads and the tenhorns." Verses 8-I8 contain the inter-pretation, which is clear, copious, and cate-gorical. Five principal points are dealtwith in the explanation under the expres-sions: "the beast that thou sawest" (ver. 8) ;"the seven heads" (vel'. 9); cc the ten

'.;

horns which thou sawest" (ver. 12); " thewaters which thou sawest" (vel'. 15); thewoman which thou sawest" (ver. 18).Every point interpreted fixes the applica-tion of the vision to Rome.I. The~Y()1nans interpreted as signifying

the city of Rome. "The woman which thousawest is that great city which reigneth overthe kings of the earth." At the date whenthe Apocalypse was written Rome governedthe world.2. The City is represented as sitting on

"seven hills." This is a well-known featureof the city of Rome. All the Latin poetsfor five hundred years speak of Rome as theseven-hilled city. Rome is depicted on herimperial coins as sitting on seven hills.Among the early Fathers, Tertullian andJerome may be cited as referring to thisfeature. "I appeal," says Tertullian, "to thecitizens of Rome, the populace that dwell

6

INTERPRETATION OF THE VISION

lai;

INTERPRETATION OF THE VISION 55


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54 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSEon the seven hills."1 Jerome, when urgingMarcella to quit Rome for Bethlehem, writes:" Read what is said in the Apocalypse of theseven hills." The names of the seven hills ofRome are the Palatine, Quirinal, Aventine,Ccelian, Viminal, Esquiline, and J aniculan.3. The Harlot City is representedas seated

"upon, many waters" (Rev. xvii. I), whichare interpreted to mean " peoples, andmultitudes, and nations, and tongues"(ver. 15). Such was certainly the positionof Rome. The nations of the world werethen, and for centuries after, subject to hersway.4. The Harlot City is representedas seated

upon theseven-headed, ten-horned Beast. Inthe prophecies of Daniel the ten-hornedWild Beast is the fourth Gentile empire,or the Roman. No city ruled the RomanEmpire but Rome.

1Ajol./ 35.~It~~r

5. The szzth head of the Wld Beast power'which carried the Harlot is stated to havebeen z'n existence at the time when theApocalypse was zoritte. Of the sevenheads of the Wild Beast the angel says"five are fallen, and one is, and the otheris not yet come." These seven heads areinterpreted to be ruling powers. Five ofthese were past, the sixth in existence, theseventh in the future. Hence the WildBeast under its sixth head represented theRoman Empire as governed by the ther:,existing Roman Emperors, and consequentlythe Harlot City borne by tbl.t Be~ust}i!:Y~",J ,P.[~~"cxu~d~

6. The ten horns are interpreted as tenkz'ngdoms, then future, into whic!t the empireshould be divided. These horns or king-doms first submit to the Harlot City, andthen rise against her, and" make her desolateand naked, and eat her -flesh, and burn



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her with fire." Their futurity at that earlydate is indicated in the words, they "havereceived no kingdom as yet" (ver. 12). Itis a notorious matter of history that theWestern Roman Empire was thus divided~ ..-.-.~--.-p------. --.", -. ,-, .. -- ." ." ..~". -'-"into the Gothic kingdoms, whose average

~,__ ,._ ..~. __ ._A#-"" .---

number has been ten for the last twelve.r - ..

or thirteen centuries; and that these Gothickingdoms have overthrown the city ofRome, and laid it waste, after having beensubject to it for centuries as the city ofthe }?opes.7. The attire, character, and persecutingaction of the Harlot City identify her witltRome. The view that the Babylon of the,Apocalypse represents Rome has prevailedin the Christian Church, both Eastern andWestern, from the earliest times.. "Tellme, blessed John," says Hi ppolytus, "whatdidst thou see and hear concerning Babylon?Arise and speak, for it sent thee also into

; J

banishment." 1 Victorinus, the author ofthe earliest known commentary on theApocalypse, says: ((The seven heads arethe seven hills on which the Woman sitteth-that is, the city of Rome." Augustine writesof "Rome the second Babylon, and thedaughter of the first, to which it pleasedGod to subject the whole world, and bringit all under one sovereignty." 2 Protestantinterpreters maintain, while Roman Catholicinterpreters admit, that the Babylon of theApocalypse is Rome. Cardinal Bellarminesays: "Rome is signified in the Apoca-lypse by the name of Babylon." CardinalBaronius says: "All persons confess thatRome is denoted by the name Babylon inthe Apocalypse of John." Bossuet declaresthat "the features are so marked that itIS easy to decipher Rome under the figure

'"


1 Treatiseon elmst and Antichrist, sec. 36.2 City of God, i. 18-22.



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58 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSEof Babylon" (" Rome sous la figure deBabylon ").While Romanists and Protestants are

agreed that the Babylon of the Apocalypseis Rome, the former maintain that Babylonrepresents Rome Pagan, the latter lS~~r~pal. "I do not hesitate," says DeanAlford, ((to maintain that interpretationwhich regards Papal and not Pagan Romeas pointed out by the Harlot of this vision.The subject has been amply discussed bymany expositors. I would especially men-tion Vitringa and Dr. Wordsworth." ((Bythe Woman sitting on the Wild Beast issignified that superintending and guidingpower which the rider possesses over hisbeast, than which nothing could be chosenmore apt to represent the superiority claimedand exercised by the See of Rome overthe secular kingdoms of Christendom."HThe prophecy regards Rome Pagan and

Papal, but from the figure of a Harlot, andthe very nature of the predictions themselvesmore the latter than the former." 1On this important point Bishop Words-

worth says: " The Woman, who is called theHarlot, sits on the Beast as on a throne-that is, governs it, and is supported by it.The Beast is represented as having ten hornsbearing crowns, which, we are taught, areten kingdoms; and these, it is added, hadnot received power in St. John's age, butwere afterwards to receive it, at one hour-that is, at one and the same hour withthe Beast.IINow, if we imagine the Woman on the

Beast to be Heathen and not ChristianRome, where were these ten kingdoms,which had not existed in St. John's age,and which were to arise and receive powercontemporaneously with Heathen Rome?ICommentary on the Greek Testament, Rev. xvii.

"'"60 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE INTERPRETATION OF THE VISION 61


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It was destroyed before such kingdomsarose. None can be found to correspond toSt. John's description."But now adopt, again, the other sup-

position. Let the Beast, with the Womanenthroned upon it, represent a Church. Letit represent the Church planted on the sevenhills on which the Woman sits; let itrepresent the Church of Rome. Then allis plain. The prophecy is wonderfullyfulfilled, and is proved to be divine. Whenthe Empire of Rome fell, new kingdomsarose from its ruins. The ten horns ofthe Beast sprouted up; then the Churchof Rome increased in strength; and thesekingdoms received power at the same timewith her."And look again at the prophecy. These

kings, we read, give their power and strengthto the Beast. As kings-that is, they arecalled kings-but the Beast is the real

};~f

sovereign of their subjects. What is thefact? The European kingdoms which aroseat the dissolution of the Roman Empiredz'd surrender themselves to the dominionof the Church of Rome. I taly, Switzerland,G~ru,any, P()~~)E~glan_d, formany centuries, were subject to the Papacy.The Woman who sat upon the Beast hadher hand upon its ten horns" and held themfirmly in her grasp. She treated them asher subjects. The Papal coins claim this."Omnes Reges servient ei.' 'Gens etRegnum, quod tibi non servierit, peribit.'Such are her claims, declared at the corona-tion of every Pontiff. 'Know thyself tIlefather of kings and princes, ruler of theworld,' These are the words with whichhe is addressed, when the tiara is placed onhis brow. And thus, in this very subjectionof the kingdoms of the earth to Rome, in

~

60 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE INTERPRETATION OF THE VISION 61"'"


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It was destroyed before such kingdomsarose. None can be found to correspond toSt. John's description."But now adopt, again, the other sup-

position. Let the Beast, with the Womanenthroned upon it, represent a Church. Letit represent the Church planted on the sevenhills on which the Woman sits; let itrepresent the Church of Rome. Then allis plain. The prophecy is wonderfullyfulfilled, and is proved to be divine. Whenthe Empire of Rome fell, new kingdomsarose from its ruins. The ten horns ofthe Beast sprouted up; then the Churchof Rome increased in strength; and thesekingdoms received power at the same timewith her."And look again at the prophecy. These

kings, we read, give their power and strengthto the Beast. As kings-that is, they arecalled kings-but the Beast is the real

sovereign of their subjects. What is thefact? The European kingdoms which aroseat the dissolution of the Roman Empiredz'd surrender themselves to the dominionof the Church of Rome. I taly, Switzerland,G~!1lany, P


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this her amplitude of domnion and plenitudeof felicity, of which she has vaunted herselffor many generations as a proof that she* 'is favoured by Heaven, we recognise anotherproof that the Babylon of the Apocalypseisno other than the Church of Rome: Stillfurther; these horns, or kingdoms, whichreceive power together with the Beast, willone day rise against it, and tear the fleshof the Harlot and burn her with fire.

IIi!!pen the prQPhecy of St. John has failed.

. ~ ~-. ~. . . . . ~, .../But the marvel predicted by the Apocalypseis this-and a stupendous mystery it is-that some of the powers which receivedstrength with the Beast, and gave uptheir mght to it, they, under the overrulingsway of God's retributive justice, will oneday rise against the Woman seated on theBeast, and tear her flesh, and burn herwith fire. And, what is still more awfullymarvellous, they will do this, althoughthey will league with the Beast and withthe False Prophet against Christ; and theywill destroy Babylon, not for love ofZion, not for the maintenance of God'struth or for the advancement of His glory,but in a mysterious transport of indignationand in a wild ecstasy of revenge; and whenthey have done the deed, and have de-stroyed Babylon, they will weep over her.

"Such is the prophecy of St. John. This

f!I ,t

C( Now, again, for argument's sake, let theWoman on the Beast be heathen Rome.Then we readily allow that Alaric withhis Goths, Attila with his Huns, Gensericwith his Vandals, Odoacer with his Heruli,did indeed sack the city of Rome. Butwhen did they ever receiuepower togetherwith Rome? Wlzen did the)! give theirpower and thez'rstrength to heathen Rome?Never. If, therefore, the Woman upon the----- " " '" " " .--. . . . . . .- - - . - - - - - - - """""---Beas!_j~,,_~~i:,",,!h~,~SitL.J2.L~~n Rome,. _> . , . , . , . .~ C" _ __" _ - ~ __ . ",_ -

tI

~tf

{

"

64 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE ~


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portion of it remains to be fulfilled. ButPagan Rome has long since ceased to be.Therefore these predictions cannot con-cern Pagan Rome: but they do concernthe seven-hilled city Rome; and thereforethey point at Papal Rome; and the Womanupon the Beast is not heathen Rome, butit is the city and the Church of PapalRome." 1

A fuller examination of the facts ofhistory is necessary at this point. We havemerely glanced at some of them, and evennow can do no more than group togetherthe leading facts connected with the historicalfulfilment of the prophecy.

1Wordsworth 01Z the Apocalypse, pp. 371-375.,

HISTORICAL FULFILMENT OF THE PRO-PHECY CONCERNING THE HARLOTBABYLON, OR PROOF FROM HISTORYTHAT ROME IS THE BABYLON OFTHE APOCALYPSE

65 7

. .


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CHAPTER IV~

i;

HISTORICAL FULFILMENT OF THE PRO-PHECY CONCERNING THE HARLOTBABYLON, OR PROOF FROM HISTORYTHAT ROME IS THE BABYLON OFTHE APOCALYPSET H E Apostle ]ohneighteen centuriesago marvelled at what he foresaw

concerning the character and career of theWoman drunken with the blood of the saintsand martyrs of ] esus; we, on the other hand,living in this late age marvel at what wesee has taken place during the interveningcenturies in fulfilment of the prophecy.The fact is, that the things which ]ohnforesaw have come to pass. Their fulfilmentis written on the page of history in letters

67

HISTORICAL FULFILMENT 69~



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worldwide society. The Church of Romeovershadows the larger part of Christendomto-day. It boasts of universality, as in-cluding a host of "peoples, multitudes,nations, and tongues." It has a thousandbishops, in thirty countries, and half a millionpriests. As its head is an aged Pontiff,claiming the highest authority in the worldas the visible representative of Deity, theVicar of J esus Christ, the Head of theChurch of Christ on earth, God's Vicegerent,the Infallible Teacher of Faith and Morals,whose doctrines and decrees are irreformable;having power to bind and loose the souls ofmen in heaven, earth, and hell; canonisingsouls in heaven, pardoning sins on earth,and remitting the pains of purgatory in theworld beneath; reigning thus in three worlds,and wearing in token of the fact a triplecrown; a crown grafted on a mitre; a mitrewithin as the great High Priest in the

of blood and flame. There has arisen inthe sphere of the Roman Empire, and therehas reigned in and from the city of Rome, theseven-hilled city of the Ca-sars, just such apower as is predicted in the' Apocalypse.Translate the symbolic language of theprophecy into plain non-figurative terms,and it becomes the history of the last twelveto fourteen centuries.One of the most important compendiums

relating to the organisation and local de-velopment of the Roman Catholic Church isthat presented in a quarto volume entitledOrbis Terrarum Catholieus, sive totiusecclesie Catholicce et occidentis et orientis.It is a geographical and statistical "con-spectus" by a Jesuit author (0. Werner,S.].) of the whole Catholic Church in theWest and East, drawn from recent authorita-tive sources,' and illustrates the truth thatthe so-called " Catholic" Church is still a vast

l

70 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE HISTORICAL FULFILMENT 71"'"


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1 IIHinc Papa triplici corona coronatur, tanquamRex Cceli, et Terrre, et Infernorum" (Annot. i. addecis. 2, Bibliotlt. Canon. Ferraris, Tom. vii.).

Chrz"st. . . and-ELitJ iqd on earth , . . havingplenitude of power ... the government atonceof theearthly and heavenly kingdoms ...the key-bearer of eternal life."1 At his feet,as he sits on the day of his coronation onthe high altar of St. Peter's, kneel seventycardinals, attired in long scarlet robes, princesof the Catholic Church, constituting herhighest conclave; they kneel at his feet inthe presence of assembled awestruck thou-sands, and one by one they kiss his feet,worshipping him as the representative ofDeity. ((They adore his Holiness on theirknees, kissing his feet and his right hand.""After this his' Holiness is set down on thehighest steps of the Altar, where hesolemnlyblesses the people." He lifts up his righthand, extending two fingers and the thumb,symbolising his authority as the representativeof the three Persons of the Trinity, the Father,

Church of God; and a crown without asthe highest monarch; crown above crownin threefold splendour, encircling and glorify-ing his mtre with the incomparable symbolof celestial, terrestrial, and infernal dignity.'That triple crowned Pontiff sits to-day inthe Church of God, "non simplex homo, sedquasi Deus "-" not simply man, but as itwere

i God"; so self-described in his own deliberate,authoritative utterances; utterances formngpart of the infallible decisions and definitionsof the long line of Popes who have ruledfrom Rome the larger part of Christendomfor centuries; {{ante enim est dignitatis etpotestatis, ut faciat unum et idem Tribunalcum Christo . . . et quasi Deus in terra "-" ofso great dignity and power that he mayconstitute one and the same tribunal with

1 Tom. vi. in cap. quarto, 3.

72 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE HISTORICAL FULFILMENT 73


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Ithe Son, and the Holy Ghost; and thus heblesses the assembled kneeling multitudes inthe vast and solemn sanctuary, who form avisible part of the two hundred millionsof Christendom owning his spiritual sway.And this takes place in Rome, the Romeof the Csesars, the Rome of that Domitianwho sent the blessed Apostle John intobanishment! "When I saw her," said thatJ ohn-" When I saw her," in prophetic vision-saw that gaudy, glorious, guilty harlotenthroned on the seven-hilled city_H I WOR-dered with great admiration."

IIi

professing to be the Church of Christ shehas been the guilty paramour of the ungodlykings of Christendom. She has acceptedtheir royal gifts and rich endowments, andhas bestowed on them in return the boastedwealth of her spiritual privileges. She hasbeen carried by them in lofty state andsplendour, sustained by their authority, andprotected by their power; ruling them,and through them, ruling the subject nationsof Christendom. And all these centuriesduring which she has thus ruled in associationwith the kings of the earth she has heldin her hand a cup (oh marvellous mark!)-a cup such as old heathen Rome never ex-tended to the nations: for Pagan Rome wasnot their temptress; she made no attemptto intoxicate them with error or idolatry;she cared not what they believed, or whatthey did, or what they worshipped, so onlythey submtted to her imperial rule; whereas

I,

THE CHURCH OF ROME SYMBOLISEDBY A HARLOT

It is well known that a faithless womanis, n the language of the prophets, the typeand symbol of a faithless and apostateChurch(see Ezek. xvi. and xxiii.), The Churchof Rome is an apostate Church. While t j'I '~;1 1I;~~~~~j. ';fi;

74 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE - . . . ,, , HISTORICAL FULFILMENT 75


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Papal Rome has for ages held in her handthe intoxicating cup of falsehood, delusion,and idolatry-a cup drugged with the wineof soul-destroying error, as the teacher offalse religion, the temptress and deceiver ofthe kings and peoples of Christendom. Wellmight the blessed Apostle gaze at her withamazement! And we gaze at her to-dayas the foretold apocalyptic Harlot withequal if not greater wonder;THE NAME ON THE FOREHEAD OF THE

HARLOT

l

never deceived by her. Heathen Rome neverclaimed to be other than she was. But thisHarlot "Babylon" deceives the nations byprofessing to be Christian, while in realityshe is anti-Christian. What is this((Mystery" but the development of that((MYSTERY OF INIQUITY" which began towork in the Christian Church in apostolictimes ? (2 Thess. ii. 7).Further, she is called "BABYLON THE

GREAT." What symbolical title could betterdescribe Papal Rome; for has she not beenthe worldly, idolatrous, proud, persecutingpower in the history of the Christian Churchwhich the literal Babylon was in the historyof apostate Israel? What could better sym-bolise the idolatrous and persecuting Churchof Rome than that Babylon which in thedays of Jewish apostasy filled Jerusalem withbloodshed, and drank to her idol gods outof the golden vessels of jehovah's sanctuary?

What is the name which has been writtenby the finger of God upon her brow? It is"MYSTERY!" Now Jet the fact be notedthat no such name as this ever was or couldhave been characteristic of the Rome of theCaesars. Pagan Rome was no "Mystery"in Christian eyes. Her idolatry was openand confessed. The Christian Church was

"r :t .

76 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSEt i

HISTORICAL FULFILMENT 77


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THE HARLOT CARRIED BY THE TEN-HORNED BEAST

Further, it is important to observe that theBeast that bears the Harlot is represented inthe vision as the "TEN-HoRNED BEAST."This figure portrays the Roman Empire inits broken and divided stage, as ruled bymany sovereigns-as consisting of the groupof kingdoms which has occupied ever sincethe Gothic invasions of the fifth century thesphere of the sovereignty then overturned.In his description of the fall of the WesternEmpire of Rome the historian Hallam says:"Before the conclusion of the fifth centurythe mghty fabric of empire, widell ualour andpolicy had founded upon the seven hills ofRome, was finally overthrown, in all the westof Europe, by the barbarous nations from thenorth, whose martial energy and whosenumbers were irresistible. A race of men,

formerly unknown or despised, had not onlydismembered that proud sovereignty, butpermanently settled themselves in its fairestprovinces, and imposed their yoke upon theancient possessors. The Vandals weremasters of Africa; the Suevi held part ofSpain; the Visigoths possessed the re-mainder, with a large portion of Gaul; theBurgundians occupied the provinces wateredby the Rhone and Saone; the Ostrogothsalmost all Italy."

~ ., .

THE TEN HORNS ,The following is the list of the tenkingdohzs represented by tlze ten horns of theBeast, given by Sir Isaac Newton :-I. The kingdom of the Vandals and Alans

in Spain and Africa.2. The kingdom of the Sueuians in Spain.3. " "Visigoths.

Alans in Gallia.r~ 4- " " 8

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5. The kingdom of the Burgundians.6. II " Franks.7 )J " Britains.8. " " Huns.9 II " Lombards.10 " of Ravenna.

GEOGRAPHICAL SPHERE OF THE TENHORNS

In my work on The Diuine Programme oftk World's History I have shown that "theten horns or kingdoms of the fourth empiremust none of them be sought in the realmsof the third, second, or first, but exclusivelyin the realm of the fourth, or in the territorypeculiar to Rome, and which had neverformed part either of the Grecian, Medo-Persian, or Babylonian Empires. Sir IsaacNewton says on this point: ((Seeing the bodyof the thz'rdbeast is confined to the nationson this side the Euplwates, and the body of

' I1 the fourth beast is confined to the nationson tlds side of Greece,we are to look for allthe four heads of the third beast among thenations on this side the Euphrates, and forall the elevenhorns of thefourth beast amongthe nations onthz'sside of Greece. Thereforewe do not reckon the Greek Empire seated. 'at Constantinople among the horns of thefourth beast, because it belonged to the bodyof the third."

I

t~11 AVERAGE NUMBER OF THE GOTHICKINGDOMS OF WESTERN CHRISTENDOM

The historian Machiavel, without theslightest reference to this prophecy, gives thefollowing list of the nations which occupiedthe territory of the Western Empire at thetime of the fall of Romulus Augustulus, thelast emperor of Rome.The Lombards, the Franks, the Burgun-

dians, the Ostrogoths, the Visigoths, the,~~

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Vandals, the Heruli, the Sueves, the Huns,and the Saxons-ten in all.

After a time the Huns disappeared, butother powers arose and obtained a home inthe domains of old Rome. The changeswere incessant, as horde after horde ofbarbarian invaders pressed in on every sideto share the spoils; but still the number ofestablished kingdoms was again and againten. It never rose to twenty or thirty; itnever fell to two or three. Charlemagne Inhis day reduced it for a time, and attempted,like Napoleon in a later age, to restoreunity; both utterly failed, and after avery few years the normal ten kingdomsreappeared.

The following list gives the contemporarykingdoms existing in Western Europe at in-tervals of a hundred years, from the ninth tothe nineteenth centuries. It isextracted froma much longer series in Tile Four Prophetic

Ii'

Empires, by the Rev. T. R. Birks, and ISintroduced by the remark that a measure ofuncertainty must exist as to whether someof the states should be included, as "it issometimes doubtful whether a kingdom canclaim an independent sovereignty on acc~untof the complex and varying nature of itspolitical relations." But as exactly as itcan be estimated from the records of historythe following list presents the members ofthis famly of kingdoms as they appearedfrom century to century. Where a note ofinterrogation follows a name, it implies thatthere are some elements of doubt as towhether it should be included or not.

A.D. 860.Italy, Provence, Lorraine, East France,West France, Exarchate, Venice, Navarre,England, Scotland. Total, 10

~

t, t - t[I : '\~ ,it A.D. 950.Germany, Burgundy, Lombardy, Exarchate

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Venice, France, England, Scotland, Navarre,Leon. Total, 10.

A.D. 1552.Austria, Venice, France, England, Scotland,Spain, Naples, Portugal, Hungary, Switzer-land (?), Lombardy (?). Total, 9 to I!

A.D. II50.Germany, Naples, Venice, France, England,Scotland, Arragon, Castile, Portugal, Hun-gary, Lombardy (?). Total, 10, orperhaps 11.

Austria, Venice, France, Britain (?), Spainand Naples, Portugal, Hungary, Switzer-land (?), Savoy, Tuscany, Holland. Total,8 to I I. J

A.D. 1050.Germany, Exarchate, Venice, Norman Italy,France, England, Scotland, Arragon, Castile,Normandy (?), Hungary (?). Total, 9 to 11. A.D. 1648.

A.D. 1350.Germany, Naples, Venice, Switzerland (?),Milan (?), Tuscany (P), France, Englandand Scotland, Arragon, Castile, Portugal,Hungary. Total, 9 to 12.

fiI\1

A.D. 1750.Austria and Hungary, France, Savoy andSardinia, Venice, Tuscany, Spain, Portugal,Switzerland (?), Naples (?), Britain (P),Holland. Total, 8 to 1I.

A.D. 1250.Germany and Naples, Venice, Lombardy,France, England, Scotland, Arragon, Castile,Portugal, Hungary. Total, 10.

A.D. 1453.

Austria, Naples, Venice, France, England,Scotland, Arragon, Castile, Portugal, Hun-gary, Switzerland (?), Savoy (?), Milan (?),Tuscany (?). Total, II to 14.

II

A.D. 1816.Austria, Bavaria, Wiirtemberg (?), Naples,Tuscany, Sardinia, Lombardy (?), France,Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Britain (?),Switzerland (?). Total, 9 to 13

: : 1 ;\ ' t : :~rJii

An examination of this list reveals thesurprising fact, which would only becomemore apparent were the list lengthened ten

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times, so as to present a census of eachdecade instead of each century, that amdstunceasing and almost countlessfluctuations,.thekingdoms of modern Europe ha'Zlero'mtheir birt}t to the present day averaged ten-in number. They have never, since thebreak up of old Rome, been united into onesingle empire; they have never formed onewhole even like the United States. Noscheme of proud ambition seeking to reunitethe broken fragments has ever succeeded;when such have arisen, they have beeninvariably dashed to pieces. Witness thelegions of Napoleon buried beneath thesnows of Russia, the armadas of Spainwrecked by Atlantic storms, and all thefutile royal marriage arrangements by whichmonarchs vainly sought to create a revivedempire. In spite of all human effort, indefiance of every attempt at reunion, theEuropean commonwealth for thirteen or four-

"I I

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teen centuries has numbered on an averageten kingdoms.And the division is as apparent now as,

ever! Plainly and palpably inscribed onthe map of Europe this day, it confronts,the sceptic with its silent but conclusivetestimony to the fulfilment of this greatprophecy. Who can alter or add to this,tenfold list of the kingdoms now occupymgthe sphere of Rome?ITALY,AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND"FRANCE"

II

GERMANY,ENGLAND, HOLLAND, BELGIUM,SPAIN, and PORTUGAL. ITen, and no more; ten, and no less!IThe Franco-Prussian War and the unification

of Italy have once more developed distinctlythe normal number of the kingdoms ofEurope. ,.~The tenfold division of the Western Empire

of Rome is then an indisputable fact, andthe submssion for long centuries of this'

..#

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divided Empire of Rome to the power ofthe Papacy cannot be questioned or denied." Under the sacerdotal monarchy of St.Peter," says Gibbon, "the nations began toresume the practice of seeking on the banksof the Tiber their kings, their laws, andthe oracles of their fate." The temporalpossessions of the Popes were the gift ofPepin and Charlemagne. In his investiturewith the papal tiara the Pope is thus ad-dressed: "Receive this triple crown, andknow that thou art the Father of princes,and the King and Ruler of the world." Thecoronation oath enjoined by Popes andagreed to by the Western Emperors wasthat they would "be faithful and submssiveto the Pope and Roman Church." 1 Intoken of their subjection they prostratedthemselves before the Pope, and kissedhis feet. They held their kingdoms from

1Decline and Fall, chap. xlix.

him. It was his " to make kings andunmake, to assign kingdoms and to takethem away." The Catholic kings of Chris-tendom supported and guarded the RomshChurch and "its Papal Head with theirlaws, their gifts, an~ their swords. Evenas late as the time of the third NapoleonFrance continued to support the Papacyagainst the will of the Italians. Al:ldressingthe French Legislature on March rst, 186o,Louis Napoleon said: "For the last elevenyears I haue sustained alone at Rome thepower of the Holy Father, without havingceased a single day to revere in him thesacred character of the chief of our religion."This position of Papal Rome as seated forcenturies upon the Roman Empire in itsdivided or ten-horned state is a plain proofthat she is the Harlot of the apocalypticVISIon.

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THE HARLOT RECOGNISED BY HERATTIRE

Further, we identify Papal Rome as theHarlot of the Apocalypse by her character-'istic attire. Her garments of purple, scarlet,

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Church, but Papal Rome through longcenturies has held the pre-emnence as thepersecutor of those faithful to the teachingsof the Gospel of Christ. She has beenall along in her essential and unalterablecharacter apersecuting Church. Persecutionhas occupied a promnent place .in herdoctrines, decrees, canons, excommunications,tribunals, trials, condemnations, imprison-ments, executions, and extermnating wars.Centuries of persecuting action witnessagainst her. Her laws for the persecutionand extermnation of heretics have increasedin malignity from their first rise down tomodern times. Plainly and openly shehas declared herself to be a persecutingChurch. She has gloried in her intolerance.Her avowed doctrine is" that heretics oughtto be visited by the secular powers withtemporal punishments, and even with deathitself" Bellarmne, her great cardinal,

who wrote those words, said of the saintsof God who protested against her iniquity:

I((If you shut them in prison or sendthem into exile, they corrupt those nearthem with their words and those at a dis-tance with their books; therefore the onlyremedy is to send them betimes into their ownplace." Under these maxims Rome hasalways acted. What a long roll of bloodypersecutions is her record! The extirpationof the Albigenses, the massacre of theWaldenses, the martyrdoms of the Lollards,the slaughter of the Bohemans, the burningof Huss, Jerome, Savonarola, Frith, Tyndale,Ridley, Hooper, Cranmer, Latimer, andthousands of others as godly and faithfulas they, have been her acts; the demoniacalcruelties of the Inquisition were invented byher mnd and inflicted by her hand-thatInquisition which was for centuries themghty instrument of her warfare against

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devoted men and women whose cnme wasonly this, that they ((kept the command-ments of God and the faith of Jesus." Theferocious cruelties of the Duke of Alva inthe Netherlands; the bloody martyrdoms ofQueen Mary's reign; the extinction by fireand sword of the Reformation in Spainand Italy, in Portugal and Poland; themassacre of St. Bartholomew; the long andcruel persecutions of the Huguenots, andall the infamies and barbarities of the Re-vocation of the Edict of Nantes, which flungits refugees on every shore of Europe, wereperpetrated by Papal Rome. Her victimshave been innumerable. In Spain aloneLlorente reckons as the sufferers of theInquisition 31,912 burnt alive, and 291,450so-called penitents forced into submission(by water, weights, fire, pulleys, and screws,"and "all the apparatus by which the sinewscould be strained without cracking, and the

bones bruised without breaking, and thebody racked exquisitely without giving upthe ghost." A million perished in themassacre of the Albigenses. I n the thirtyyears which followed the first institution ofthe Jesuits nine hundred thousand faithfulChristians were slain: Thirty-six thousandwere dispatched by the common executionerin the Netherlands, by the direction of theDuke of Alva, who boasted of the deed.Fifty thousand Flemings and Germans werehanged, burnt, or buried alive under Charles V.And when we have added to this the blood-. shed of the Thirty Years' War in Germany,and the long agony of other and repeatedmassacres of Protestants in England, Ireland,Scotland, France, Spain, Italy, and theNetherlands, we have to remember that'for all this" no word of censure ever issuedfrom the Vatican, except in the brief intervalwhen statesmen and soldiers grew weary

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I Davison On ProjJ he0', p. 319.

,IiII

of bloodshed and looked for means to admit tricious splendour, a sanguinary spirit ofpersecution, a system of domineering policyexercised over dependent kings and in-fatuated nations "-these are the featureswhich any faithful historian would be obligedto select and insist on in a general descriptionand narrative of the character and action ofthe Church of Rome during the long periodof her power.By its record of the fulfilment of what

has been foretold the history has justifiedthe prophecy. I t has unveiled the greatobject for which the Apocalypse was written.Not for the guidance of the saints of thefirst few centuries merely or mainly, or forthe benefit of the saints of some briefperiod yet to come, was this wondrousprophecy indited, but for the instruction,the warning, the strengthening, the con-firmation, the consolation, of the sufferingChurch of all the Christian centuries,

the heretics to grace."'In the light of these facts we maintain

that the fulfilment of the prophecy utteredof old in Patmos is plainly evident. Theprediction of the Apostle as to its leadingfeatures was this: that" a domineering powerwas to be established in the city of Rome,to corrupt the faith, to spread that corrup-tion, to be distinguished by the displayof gaudy splendours, to persecute theprofessors of the Christian faith, to In-toxicate itself in the blood of persecution,to be supported by subservient kings, andto requite them for their homage with larger,draughts of her cup of abominations." 1 We iare justified in maintaining that the historyof the Church of Rome has fulfilled everydetail of the prophecy. "Error and flagrantcorruption of doctrine and worship, mere-

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including the countless persecuted saintsand faithful martyrs of mediaeval times,and the glorious company of witnesses toGospel truth raised up in the age of theReformation. The Apocalypse, as predictingthe Christian apostasy, was written chieflyfor saints exposed to the delusions andsuffering under the persecutions of the Churchof Rome, and its distinguishing glory is this,that it has given us the Reformation! Letus boldly avow our recognition of thesefacts. Guided and inspired by these marvel-lous prophecies, the Reformed Church broke

-,-'---_ .. '.loose from the bondage of Romish error andusurpation, and came forth into liberty, theherald of the liberation of the world, in con-fessed obedience to the divine command:"Come out of her, My people, that ye benot partakers of her sins, and receive notofher plagues."To conclude in the eloquent words of

another: "The Holy Spirit, foreseeing, nodoubt, that the Church of Rome would. )adulterate the truth by many gross and. .grievous abominations, that she wouldanathematise all who would not communi-cate with her, and denounce them as cutoff from the body of Christ and the hopeof everlasting salvation; foreseeing also thatRome would exercise a wide and dominantsway for many generations, by boldly iter-ated assertions of unity, antiquity, sanctity,and universality; foreseeing also that thesepretensions would be supported by the civilsword of many secular governments, amongwhich the Roman Empire would be dividedat its dissolution, and that Rome wouldthus be enabled to display herself to theworld in an august attitude of imperialpower and with the dazzling splendour oftemporal felicity; foreseeing also that theChurch of Rome would captivate the imagi-

HISTORICAL FULFILMENT 99EY TO THE APOCALYPSE

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nations of. men by the fascinations of art by nicely poised compensations for sin, and


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allied with religion, and would ravish theirsenses and rivet their admiration by gaudycolours and stately pomp and prodigalmagnificence; foreseeing also that shewould beguile their credulity by miraclesand mysteries, apparitions and dreams,trances and ecstasies, and would appeal tosuch evidence in support of her strangedoctrines; foreseeing likewise that she wouldenslave men and (much more) women bypractising on their affections and by ac-commodating herself with dangerous pliancyto their weakness, relieving them from theburden of thought and from the perplexityof doubt by proffering them the aid ofinfallibility, soothing the sorrows of themourner by dispensing pardon and promis-ing peace to the departed, removing theload of guilt from the oppressed conscienceby the ministries of the confessional and

~\

that she would flourish for many centuriesin proud and prosperous impunity beforeher sins would reach to heaven and comein remembrance before God; foreseeing alsothat many generations of men would thusbe tempted to fall from the faith and tobecome victims of deadly error, and thatthey who clung to the truth would beexposed to cozening flatteries and fierceassaults and savage tortures from her,-theHoly Spirit, we say, foreseeing all thesethings in His divine knowledge, and beingthe ever-blessed Teacher, Guide, and Com-forter of the Church, was graciously pleasedto provide a heavenly antidote, for all thesedangerous, widespread, and long-enduringevils, by dictating the Apocalypse. In thisdivine book the Spirit of God has por-trayed the Church of Rome such as nonebut He could have foreseen that she would

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100 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSEbecome, and such as, wonderful and lament-


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101 10

, :''.' :c :able to say, she has become. He has thusbroken her magic spells; He has takenthe wand of enchantment from her hand;He has lifted the mask from her face; andwith His divine hand He has written hertrue character in large letters, and hasplanted her title on her forehead, to beseen and read of all : 'MYSTERY, BABYLONTHE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTSAND ABOMINATIONSOF THE EARTH.'" 1

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USE OF THE KEY7 -~"$:

1 Bishop Wordsworth On Rome, tlte Babylon of theApocalypse.

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CHAPTER VUSE OF THE KEY

HAVING now firmly fixed the interpre-tation of the prophecy concerning the

Harlot" Babylon," and the ten-horned" Beastthat carrieth her," by means of the detailedand definite explanations of their meaningcontained in the seventeenth chapter of Reve-lation, and by their fulfilment in the courseof history, we proceed to use this interpretedvision as a key to open the remaining visions."in the Apocalypse; for such is the connectionof the various visions in the book, that theopening of its central vision is a manifest clueto the meaning of the whole.This method of interpreting the Apoca-

103

104 KEY TO THE APOCALYPSE USE OF THE KEY 105lypse is not new. It is adopted and advo- I. T-Vehave seen that -in tlte interpreted


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cated in Medes Key of the Revelation,published in 1643. Addressing the reader,he says: /(Lest haply thou mayest doubtwhether anywhere in the Revelation outof all those visions such may be found inwhich thou mayest safely pitch thy foot,and from whence as it were from a stationor watch-tower thou mayest take the scant-ling of the rest of the Revelation, beholdprovision made for this thing also bythe Holy Spirit's most wise counsel, in thatfamous vision of thegreat whorewhich on!.)'and alone of all the uisions the angel inter-preteth to John. But to what end, exceptthat by that an entrance beopenedas itwerethrough a door to tlu rest, otherwise i1Z-accessible? What wilt thou more? There-fore by this way enter thou, calling uponthe Father of lights, and being entered usethe key of entry to the opening of the rest."

utston contained n Rev. xvii. the ten-horned"Wiid Beast power represents the Roman

Empire, and the Harlot Babylon the Churchof Rome.

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Key to the Apocalypse or the Seven Interpretations of Symbolic Prophecy by Henry Grattan Guinness

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