CHAPTER VII

Chapter 12. “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.”PSC 172.1

The woman is the true church of Christ. The sun is the gospel light in which she is clothed. The moon is the former dispensation, or the Old Testament, which is now obscured by the more glorious dispensation of the gospel; the church is represented as having it under her feet, to denote that she stands on the foundation of the prophets and patriarchs, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. The crown of twelve stars represents the ministers of Christ.PSC 172.2

The church is next represented as bringing forth a man child, who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron. See the second Psalm. Isaiah also represents the Saviour as being born to the church. “Unto us (the church of God) a child is born, unto us a son is given, etc.” There appeared another wonder in (the moral) heaven. A great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads. And his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven, (moral heaven) and did cast them to the earth. The stars are ministers of Christ. His tail, the latter part of his reign. Casting the stars to the earth, denotes his persecutions of Christians. He is called the dragon, because of his dreadful character, which could not be represented by any thing on earth, therefore he is represented by the monsters of hell. He is said to be red to denote his bloody and persecuting spirit. His seven heads denote the seven forms of government under which Rome existed.PSC 172.3

“The dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” None acquainted with the history of the birth of Christ and the desperate efforts of Herod, a Roman governor, to destroy him as soon as he was born, can doubt who the dragon was.PSC 173.1

“And the child was caught up to God and to his throne.” Let the history of the death of Christ, his resurrection and ascension into heaven, answer the question who the child was, and when this incident was fulfilled.PSC 173.2

“And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” This was the flight of the church into her wilderness state, A. D. 538, when Justinian had decreed the bishop of Rome head of all the churches. God watched over the church and kept her alive twelve hundred and sixty long years of darkness and superstition, and at the end of that period, he brought her out of her state of bondage and set before her an open door of usefulness which no man can shut.PSC 173.3

“And there was war in (the moral) heaven; Michael (Jesus Christ) and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels.” This war seems to have been carried on before the fleeing of the woman into the wilderness. That event is introduced incidentally, that the mind of the reader might be relieved from anxiety for the fate of the woman after her child was caught up to God’s throne. The dragon is evidently the government of pagan Rome, and was instigated to his acts of cruelty by the devil. But Christ and his servants fought against that system of wickedness, and the dragon or devil, or pagan Rome, fought against Christianity. Let the reader consult Moshiem’s Ecclesiastical History, for a more full history of this long and bloody war between the gospel of Christ and the powers of darkness. But the dragon prevailed not, neither was his place found any more in heaven. Paganism in the moral heaven was cast out of the Roman empire, A. D. 508, when the most of the pagan kings who had overrun the Roman empire, were converted to the Christian faith or embraced Arianism. Then came the song of triumph, in the moral heaven; the accuser of the brethren was cast down.PSC 174.1

“And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.” It was by testifying Christ crucified, at the peril of their lives, that idolatry was overthrown. The true church is called on to rejoice at this event; and the inhabitants of the (Roman) earth and of the sea, were assured of the wrath of the devil and of their danger from his rage. We are now brought down once more to the circumstances of the woman’s flight; it was after the fall of paganism in the western Roman empire. The devil, who had been the principal agent in instigating the abominations of paganism, now found his beloved system falling to ruin. In thirty years, another system of abomination was to be set up and the woman to flee into the place prepared for her of God. He, the dragon or devil, persecuted the woman or church; and to her were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place; where she is nourished for a time, times and half a time, from the face of the serpent. That is, from 538 to 1798.PSC 174.2

“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.” The flood of waters represents the flood of persecution which followed the establishment of popery. In the course of twenty years after the siege of Rome was raised by the Goths, in A. D. 538, the city was taken and re-taken five times. These wars greatly retarded the progress of the papal power, and checked those persecutions which were carried on against those who dared oppose the assumptions of the pope.PSC 175.1

“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.” The devil saw that all his efforts to ruin the church were ineffectual, and made war against all her true children.PSC 175.2

This system of persecution was continued to be carried on with all the horrors which the ingenuity of men could invent. But when the twelve hundred and sixty years were ended, the pope was taken captive, his government dissolved, and he died in captivity.PSC 176.1

Chapter 13. “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 a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and seat, and great authority.”PSC 176.2

The Revelator in this and the foregoing chapter has pursued the same course with Daniel; first giving the history of the true church. See Daniel 11:32-35. He next gives the history of the anti-christian or Roman church. Daniel 11:36-39. John gives the history of the true church in the 12th, and the apostate in the 13th chapter of Revelation.PSC 176.3

In the first and second verses of chapter 13 quoted above, we are again presented with a view of the same pagan Roman government as in the former chapter. He is now called a beast, receiving from the dragon or the devil, his power, and seat, and great authority. The seven heads of this beast are the seven forms of government under which Rome has existed in the west:-1. Senatorial; 2. Tribunate; 3. Consular; 4. Decemvir; 5. Triumvirate; 6. Imperial; 7. Papal. When John wrote, the five first of those heads had fallen. One then existed, imperial. The other had not yet come, nor would it appear until one of the heads of the beast should be wounded to death, and his deadly wound be healed. The head which was wounded to death, and whose deadly wound was healed, I think to have been Imperial Rome. In A. D. 356, the Huns, a barbarous nation from the north of Europe, settled in Hungary; and up to the year A. D. 483, there were ten distinct kingdoms established within the bounds of the old western Roman empire. The seat of government was removed from Rome to Constantinople twenty-six years before the Huns established themselves in Hungary. When the Lombards settled in the north part of Germany 483, the power of the Roman emperor in the west became extinct; or was wounded to death by the sword. These ten kings were to receive (when they came) power as kings a short time, or one hour with the beast. They were all set up between the years 356 and 483. Three of these horns were to be plucked up before the little horn, or the papacy, could be established. They reigned together from 483 to 493. Then they began to fall. The Heruli, who had established themselves in Italy in 476, were overthrown by the Visigoths. Thus two points of prophecy were fulfilled:-1. The ten kingdoms received power a short time together as kings. Also one of the three horns was plucked up before the little horn. The ten horns reigned, jointly, ten years. The beast, or Roman government, was dead in the west, but lived in the east, and these ten kings reigned with him. But although one horn had been plucked up by the roots before the little horn, yet the imperial power of Rome was not yet revived in the west. But in A. D. 534, the army of Justinian, emperor of Constantinople, under the command of Belisarius, succeeded in the subjection of the kingdom of the Vandals in Africa; and in A. D. 538, the same Roman general was left in peaceable possession of Italy and the city of Rome; the three horns of the ten were now plucked up by the roots from before the little horn, or papacy, and Justinian had also decreed the bishop of Rome head of all the churches. The deadly wound of the imperial head was also revived and lived again in the west.PSC 176.4

But although the pope obtained supreme authority in the church in 538, and the saints were given into his hand, still the eastern emperor held the reins of civil government in his own hands, until he erected the exarchate of Ravenna. In 567, the Lombards made a descent from the Julian Alps upon Italy, and became masters of it. The exarchate, however, still existed until A. D. 752. The Lombards then completely subdued Italy. The pope being alarmed at the growing power of the Lombards, made application to Pepin, king of France, for assistance. Pepin, in two successive expeditions into Italy, succeeded in subduing the Lombards, and securing the whole exarchate, which he conferred on the pope in perpetual sovereignty. The civil government of Rome now had assumed his seventh head, and the pope was a temporal, as well as spiritual sovereign.PSC 178.1

“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?” The old Imperial head seems to be represented by the dragon who made war with Michael and his angels. He also gave power unto the beast, the papal form of the Roman government. First; he conferred spiritual power on the pope, A. D. 538. Secondly, the pope became a head of the beast as a civil ruler, about A. D. 752. For this act of Justinian, in constituting the bishop of Rome head of all the churches, the catholics manifested the greatest gratitude, and professed the strongest attachment to the eastern emperor. They also worshipped the beast which had received power of the dragon.PSC 179.1

“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies; and power was given him to continue forty and two months.” The forty-two months of this beast’s reign, is the same number on which I have so often remarked, meaning one thousand two hundred and sixty years; beginning 538, when the dragon, the imperial Roman power, gave the beast, the papal Roman power, his seat, and great authority. This time ended A. D. 1798. During this one thousand two hundred and sixty years, those whose names were not written in the Lamb’s book of life, were to worship or reverence the pope of Rome.PSC 179.2

On the verses between the 6th and 8th I shall not stop to remark, as it is only an exhibition of the character of the beast, on which sufficient has been already said in the former part of the book.PSC 180.1

The following part of the chapter is introduced by a solemn call on all who have ears to hear; as though an event of importance was about to be announced, the right understanding of which would be of vast importance to the explaining of prophecy.PSC 180.2

“He that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity; he that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints.” This is the point to which the patience and faith of the saints will be directed, under all their sufferings and persecutions from papal powers. That, when the forty two months should end, their persecuting foe should himself go into captivity. But this cannot be his end, for that is to be sudden and entire. It is to be effected by the brightness of Christ’s coming. Has the time come, when, by the vicissitudes of war, the pope of Rome has gone into captivity and perished? If so, this, we may safely conclude, was the end of the one thousand two hundred and sixty years. This did take place in A. D. 1798. The pope of Rome, whose predecessors had led into captivity and put to death so many of the human family, was himself led into captivity, where he died. This is the end of the civil reign of the pope of Rome, and also, properly speaking, of the Roman government. That government was dissolved when the pope was taken, and Italy declared a republic. We are now to attend to the subsequent history of the Roman government, or papal power. “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spake as a dragon.” This new beast, I apprehend to be Napoleon. His two horns, were the empire of France, where he was crowned emperor, A. D. 1804, and the kingdom of Italy, where he was crowned king in May, 1805. He spake like a dragon. His words were great, and he meditated nothing short of universal dominion.PSC 180.3

“And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein, to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” Napoleon had now obtained the seat of the first beast, or the one which existed before him, the one who received the deadly wound by the sword. He was now the supreme ruler of Rome. The pope only held his power by the permission of Bonaparte. He caused those who dwelt on the Roman earth to worship the first beast, or popery. Although popery proper was dead, his one thousand two hundred and sixty years being expired, yet he caused an image of the beast to be made; “and he had power to give life to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast, should be killed.” Popery as it now exists, is only an image, or representation of popery as it was. Although by the authority of Napoleon, popery has been restored to a degree of power, and the catholic nations consented to receive it as the national religion, yet the pope has never gained his former eminence, nor exercised all his former intolerance against protestants.PSC 181.1

“And that no man might buy or sell, but he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom; let him that hath understanding, count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.” What this number means has long been a matter of deep interest with many. There seem to be two objects to which this number refers: 1. “The number of the beast,” with seven heads and ten horns. 2. The number of the name of the beast. Each of these numbers is six hundred and sixty-six. The number of the beast is the number of a man. What is the number of a man; I answer, the number of a man, is the number of days or years he lives. So David says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our heart unto wisdom.” We also say of a man under sentence of death, that his days are numbered. So the number of the beast, is the days or years he was to exist under some form or circumstances.PSC 182.1

What is the number of his name? I answer, It was a well known mode of reckoning with the Greeks and Latins, to use letters to designate numbers. The number of a man’s name, would be the number to which the numerical letters of his name would amount when added together. What name then amounts to just six hundred and sixty-six? I answer the Greek letters which spell The Latin Kingdom, amount to that number.PSC 183.1

The Latin kingdom, was the kingdom of Rome, or the Roman government in its pagan form. For, about the time paganism ceased in the Roman empire, the Latin language ceased to be spoken as a living language; and the Latin kingdom might be said to expire. When did the number of his name begin and end? I answer, it began when the Roman government first commenced its union with the church. The first league between the people of God and the Latin government, took effect at the time when Bacchiades, a Grecian general, left off, at the command of the Romans, to trouble the Jews, B. C. one hundred and fifty-eight years. (See chapter 3. on Daniel 11:23, One hundred and fifty-eight years from six hundred and sixty-six, will leave, after Christ, five hundred and eight years. At the expiration of that time, the paganism of Rome disappeared, and the Roman government has from that year, been a professed Christian government.PSC 183.2

I think we have now found the number of the beast to be the latin kingdom, in his pagan form; we have also learned, that the number of years from the time the first league between the Jews and Latins took effect, to the expiration of paganism in the Roman empire, was just six hundred and sixty-six years. Both the number of the beast, and the number of his name, agree perfectly; and I can see no reason for doubting but this is the true meaning of this dark and mysterious passage.PSC 184.1

We are now brought down through the events of the destruction of popery, properly so called, and have seen the image of the Roman beast set up, and life given to him; and all people commanded by the two-horned beast to worship him and receive his mark.PSC 184.2

The events of the fourteenth chapter immediately succeed those which are related in the foregoing chapter.PSC 184.3

“And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty sand four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunder; and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders; and no man could learn that song, but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God.” On this company I have before remarked. They seem to be those Jews who were first converted to Christianity after the preaching of the Gospel, twelve thousand for each tribe of Israel. “They are the first fruits unto God and the Lamb.”PSC 184.4

Next an angel was seen “flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying, with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” This I think is the missionary angel, which has so swiftly flown through the earth for the last forty years, scattering light and life in all his path. These extraordinary efforts commenced about the time of the fall of popery, 1798, and have been gaining strength and influence from that to the present time.” The hour of his judgment is come.” The same judgment spoken of in Daniel 7:9, 10, when the dominion of the beast was to be taken away, and judgment given to the saints. This too was the period when the church emerged from the wilderness, and the two witnesses were raised from the dead. At the same time, “Another angel appeared, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” This was immediately on the fall of Rome by the French. The third angel follows them, “saying, with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his band, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” Those who worshipped the beast in his former glory, were deeply guilty before God. But those who worship his image, with all the light which is now shining on that horrid system of cruelty and pollution, are doubly guilty, and must drink deeply of the wine of the wrath of God; 1st. Because they have more light than their fathers; and, 2nd. Because the last great judgments of God will fall on those who worship his image.PSC 185.1

“And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.” This verse I think brings us down to the period when the troubles of the last days are about to commence. The day of grace with sinners will then be over, and the peculiar work of the Christian will be finished; and those who, from that period, after a life of piety and usefulness, die in the Lord, and escape the great troubles about to come on the world, are peculiarly blessed or happy; for it will be but a little time, and they will be raised up again, all glorious like their Lord. “For them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”PSC 187.1

The subsequent part of this chapter, concerning the harvest and the vintage, I think is yet in futurity. It is a part of the dreadful scene of the great battle of Armageddon. The harvest, saith the Saviour, is the end of the world. Then the Son of man is to send forth his angels, to gather his elect from the four winds. The vintage, of this chapter, I believe to be the same described Isaiah 63:1-6, The great and dreadful judgments which will be poured out on the wicked at that day, none can conceive. “The wine press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine press even unto the horses’ bridles, (so deep) by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.” That is, two hundred miles. Where this event will take place, I know not. The remainder of the book relates principally to events and scenes of futurity.PSC 187.2

Chapter 15. presents us with a view of the heavenly company, who had gotten the victory over the beast, and also over his image; over his mark and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. These scenes are evidently placed down just at that period when God’s grace is to be restrained, and the mystery of redemption is to be finished. The seven angels are prepared with seven vials, in which is filled up the wrath of God.PSC 188.1

Chapter 16. They are directed to go and pour out these vials upon the earth. That these vials are yet in futurity, appears evident from the fact, that the very first was poured upon the earth, and affected the men who had worshipped the beast and his image. The image of the beast did not exist until after the beast was overthrown, which was in 1798. Since that period, there have been no events which can be represented by these vials. Therefore I am constrained to place them down just at the close of the reign of grace. What these judgments will be, time must determine. It is probable, however, that they will be poured out pretty near the same period, in swift succession. On the sixth and seventh vials it may be proper to make some remarks. The troubles of the last days will be introduced by the pouring out of the first vial on the Roman earth, by which all Europe will he set in commotion; then immediately will follow the remaining vials.PSC 188.2

When the sixth angel pours out his vial on the great river Euphrates, or the Ottoman empire, it will be dried up. This, according to former calculations, will take place about 1840. The way is now prepared for the battle of Armageddon, or the great battle of that great day of God Almighty. I have already given my opinion of this event. (See Daniel 12:1, and the remarks on it, Chap. 3.) When the sixth angel has sounded, the sixth vial has been poured out, and the second woe is ended, then the third woe comes quickly; how quickly, time must decide.PSC 189.1

“And I saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.” These three spirits are called unclean, denoting that they are of a secular or political character. By these three spirits, all the kings or rulers of the world are to be deceived and gathered together in battle.PSC 189.2

“Behold, (says the Saviour to his people) I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest they walk naked and they see his shame.” After the great river Euphrates is dried up and the mustering of the nations takes place, then let the people of God look up, for their redemption draws nigh. Let them keep their lamps trimmed and their light burning, and keep oil in their vessels, with their lamps. Then, when the proclamation is made, “Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him, they may open unto him immediately, and go in with him” to the marriage, before the door is shut. The gathering of the nations before the Son of man, spoken of in the latter part of the 25th chapter of Matthew, will probably take place at this time. Not that the general resurrection will then take place, but all nations which are alive at that time will be judged. This must take place, that is, the moral character of each individual must be decided, in order to his admission to the blessedness of the first resurrection, or to his destruction.PSC 189.3

“And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done,” When Christ had finished the great work of atonement on the cross, and was about to expire, he cried with a loud voice, It is finished, and gave up the ghost. So when the great mystery of redemption shall be ended, and the Mediator is about to assume the character of the judge of all the earth, that powerful voice which then cried, It is finished, clothed the sun in sackcloth, shook the earth, rent the temple’s veil, and opened the graves of his saints, will again be heard, saying, It is done; his voice which then shook the earth, will “shake not the earth only, but also heaven.” “That the things which cannot be shaken may remain.”PSC 190.1

I must confess myself lost when I have arrived at this point. What the events of futurity may be, here alluded to, time will determine. Yet they are matters of revelation from the God of heaven, and why should we not meekly and prayerfully inquire, “What shall be the end of these things?” There was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Earthquake means revolution, when used figuratively. This revolution will be the most extensive and dreadful ever experienced since men were on the earth; loosing all the bonds which now hold society together, and throwing the world into a state of complete anarchy.PSC 191.1

The great city is the papal church. (See chap 17:18.) And the woman which thou sawest, is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. This great city is to be divided into three parts when the seventh vial is poured out into the air. In what this division will consist, time must determine. “And the cities of the nations fell.” If the great city, means the papal church, then cities of the nations must mean the church establishments of the nations of the earth. And is there no sign in the present aspect of the moral and religious world, that such an event is not far in futurity? The present bonds of sectarianism will be dissolved; and all the ties which will bind Christians together will be the bonds of Christian love. The tares and the wheat will be separated. The king will come in also, to view the guests who have presented themselves at the marriage supper of the Lamb; and if any one should then be found so presumptuous as to present himself at that feast without a wedding garment, his fate is already sealed. Nothing but a robe of holy love will admit us to the privileges of that supper.PSC 191.2

Chapter 17 “I will show thee the judgment of the great whore, that sitteth upon many waters,” etc.PSC 192.1

We have now before us the great and final judgment which is to befal the great papal church. We have also in this and the following chapter, the most full description of this system of abominations which is given in the Bible. For an explanation and application of this prophecy, I must refer the reader to those commentators who have written on the subject.PSC 192.2

I will, however, make some remarks on some parts of the seventeenth chapter, before I pass along. The woman upon the scarlet colored beast, represents the papal church carried on the back of the Roman government. The seven heads and ten horns of this scarlet colored beast have already been explained in chapter 13. The woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs. When John saw this, he was filled with wonder. “And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will show thee the mystery of the woman, and the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast which thou sawest was and is not: and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder (whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world,) when they behold the beast which was, and is not, and yet is.”PSC 192.3

The beast which was; the Roman government under its seven forms before mentioned; the papal form being the last of the seven heads. Which is not, refers to the end of the Roman government by the French, 1798. The Revelator speaks prophetically of things to come as being then present. And yet is; (or will be, according to the rendering of a late expositor.) The beast which now is, or the image of the beast, is the old Roman beast revived. The beast which yet is, is the eighth head, and is of the seven; it is the same papal form which existed previous to the fall of popery by the French. And goeth into perdition. This present form will be destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming.PSC 193.1

“The ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, who have received no kingdom as yet, (when John wrote) but receive authority as kings, one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.” The ten original horns into which the western Roman empire was divided, are given in Chapter III. The time of their united reign, after the establishment of the last of the ten kingdoms, to the subversion of the Heruli by the Goths, was ten years. But although the kingdoms afterward changed their location and names and number, yet the territory where they were originally located, was under papal influence. The governments of western Europe, did for a season give their power and authority unto the beast. They were completely under the control of papal authority. He set up and put down kings at pleasure. These kingdoms for many centuries, while under the papal influence, exerted their power in persecuting the real followers of Christ. But “the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords and king of kings; and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saith unto me, the waters where the woman sitteth are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten, horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate, and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.” This will probably take place when the seven last plagues begin to be poured out. The restraining influence which prevents the kingdoms of Europe now, from exterminating popery at once, is, God hath put it into their hearts to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. When those words ore all fulfilled, we may expect these restraints to be removed, and Babylon the great, like a great millstone, must sink, and be found no more at all.PSC 193.2

On the entire and final destruction of the papal power, a description of which we have in chapter 18, I shall not dwell. As those events are yet in futurity, but if our former calculations are correct, at no great distance from us, we must wait for their fulfillment for a knowledge of what the events here foretold will be.PSC 195.1

“And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”PSC 195.2

The former part of the nineteenth chapter is a description of the triumph of the church, on the final and utter desolation of the great mystical Babylon. The remainder of the chapter from the eleventh verse, is a description of the further and complete conquest of Christ over all his foes. It seems to be the winding up of the bloody scenes of the great battle of Armageddon.PSC 195.3