[1] 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 I stood on the sand of the sea - This also was in
the vision. And I saw - Soon after the woman flew away. A wild beast coming
up - He comes up twice; first from the sea, then from the abyss. He comes
from the sea before the seven phials; "the great whore" comes after them.
O reader, this is a subject wherein we also are deeply concerned, and which
must he treated, not as a point of curiosity, but as a solemn warning from
God! The danger is near. Be armed both against force and fraud, even with
the whole armour of God. Out of the sea - That is, Europe. So the three
woes (the first being in Persia, the second about the Euphrates) move in
a line from east to west. This beast is the Romish Papacy, as it came to
a point six hundred years since, stands now, and will for some time longer.
To this, and no other power on earth, agrees the whole text, and every
part of it in every point; as we may see, with the utmost evidence, from
the propositions following:
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It is one and the same beast, having seven heads, and ten
horns, which is described in this and in the seventeenth chapter. Of consequence,
his heads are the same, and his horns also.
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This beast is a spiritually secular power, opposite to the
kingdom of Christ. A power not merely spiritual or ecclesiastical, nor
merely secular or political but a mixture of both. He is a secular prince;
for a crown, yea, and a kingdom are ascribed to him. And yet he is not
merely secular; for he is also a false prophet.
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The beast has a strict connexion with the city of Rome. This
clearly appears from the seventeenth chapter.
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The beast is now existing. He is not past. for Rome is now
existing; and it is not till after the destruction of Rome that the beast
is thrown into the lake. He is not altogether to come: for the second woe
is long since past, after which the third came quickly; and presently after
it began, the beast rose out of the sea. Therefore, whatever he is, he
is now existing.
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The beast is the Romish Papacy. This manifestly follows from
the third and fourth propositions; the beast has a strict connexion with
the city of Rome; and the beast is now existing: therefore, either there
is some other power more strictly connected with that city, or the Pope
is the beast.
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The Papacy, or papal kingdom, began long ago. The most remarkable
particulars relating to this are here subjoined; taken so high as abundantly
to show the rise of the beast, and brought down as low as our own time,
in order to throw a light on the following part of the prophecy: The marriage
of priests is forbidden. conquers him and his successor.
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A.D. 1033
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Benedict the Ninth, a child of eleven years old, is bishop
of Rome, and occasions grievous disorders for above Chapter Overview:
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A.D. 1048
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Damasus II. introduces the use of the triple crown.
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A.D. 1058
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The church of Milan is, after long opposition, subjected
to the Roman.
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A.D. 1073
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Hildebrand, or Gregory VII., comes to the throne.
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A.D. 1076
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He deposes and excommunicates the emperor.
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A.D. 1077
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He uses him shamefully and absolves him.
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A.D. 1080
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He excommunicates him again, and sends a crown to Rodulph,
his competitor.
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A.D. 1083
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Rome is taken. Gregory flees. Clement is made Pope, and crowns
the emperor.
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A.D. 1085
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Gregory VII. dies at Salerno.
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A.D. 1095
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Urban II. holds the first Popish council, at Clermont and
gives rise to the crusades.
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A.D. 1111
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Paschal II. quarrels furiously with the emperor.
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A.D. 1123
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The first western general council in the Lateran. The
marriage of priests is forbidden.
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A.D. 1132
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Innocent II declares the emperor to be the Pope's liege -
man, or vassal.
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A.D. 1143
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The Romans set up a governor of their own, independent on
Innocent II. He excommunicates them, and dies. Celestine II. is, by an
important innovation, chosen to the Popedom without the suffrage of the
people; the right of choosing the Pope is taken from the people, and afterward
from the clergy, and lodged in the Cardinals alone.
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A.D. 1152
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Eugene II. assumes the power of canonizing saints.
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A.D. 1155
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Adrian IV. puts Arnold of Brixia to death for speaking against
the secular power of the Papacy.
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A.D. 1159
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Victor IV. is elected and crowned. But Alexander III.
conquers him and his successor.
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A.D. 1168
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Alexander III. excommunicates the emperor, and brings him
so low, that,
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A.D. 1177
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he submits to the Pope's setting his foot on his neck.
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A.D. 1204
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Innocent III. sets up the Inquisition against the Vaudois.
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A.D. 1208
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He proclaims a crusade against them.
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A.D. 1300
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Boniface VIII. introduces the year of jubilee.
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A.D. 1305
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The Pope's residence is removed to Avignon.
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A.D. 1377
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It is removed back to Rome.
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A.D. 1378
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The fifty years' schism begins.
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A.D. 1449
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Felix V., the last Antipope, submits to Nicholas V.
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A.D. 1517
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The Reformation begins.
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A.D. 1527
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Rome is taken and plundered.
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A.D. 1557
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Charles V. resigns the empire; Ferdinand I. thinks the being
crowned by the Pope superfluous.
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A.D. 1564
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Pius IV. confirms the Council of Trent.
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A.D. 1682
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Doctrines highly derogatory to the Papal authority are openly
taught in France.
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A.D. 1713
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The constitution Unigenitus.
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A.D. 1721
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Pope Gregory VII. canonized anew.
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He who compares this short table with what will be observed,
verse 3, Revelation 13:3 , , Revelation 17:10, will see that the ascent
of the beast out of the sea must needs be fixed toward the beginning of
it; and not higher than Gregory VII., nor lower than Alexander III.
The secular princes now favoured the kingdom of Christ;
but the bishops of Rome vehemently opposed it. These at first were plain
ministers or pastors of the Christian congregation at Rome, but by degrees
they rose to an eminence of honour and power over all their brethren till,
about the time of Gregory VII. (and so ever since) they assumed all the
ensigns of royal majesty; yea, of a majesty and power far superior to that
of all other potentates on earth. We are not here considering their false
doctrines, but their unbounded power. When we think of those, we are to
look at the false prophet, who is also termed a wild beast at his ascent
out of the earth. But the first beast then properly arose, when, after
several preludes thereto, the Pope raised himself above the emperor.
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Hildebrand, or Gregory VII., is the proper founder of the
papal kingdom. All the patrons of the Papacy allow that he made many considerable
additions to it; and this very thing constituted the beast, by completing
the spiritual kingdom: the new maxims and the new actions of Gregory all
proclaim this. Some of his maxims are,
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That the bishop of Rome alone is universal bishop.
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That he alone can depose bishops, or receive them again.
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That he alone has power to make new laws in the church.
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That he alone ought to use the ensigns of royalty.
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That all princes ought to kiss his foot.
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That the name of Pope is the only name under heaven; and
that his name alone should be recited in the churches.
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That he has a power to depose emperors.
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That no general synod can be convened but by him.
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That no book is canonical without his authority.
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That none upon earth can repeal his sentence, but he alone
can repeal any sentence.
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That he is subject to no human judgment.
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That no power dare to pass sentence on one who appeals to
the Pope.
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That all weighty causes everywhere ought to be referred to
him.
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That the Roman church never did, nor ever can, err.
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That the Roman bishop, canonically ordained, is immediately
made holy, by the merits of St. Peter.
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That he can absolve subjects from their allegiance.
These the most eminent Romish writers own to be his genuine
sayings. And his actions agree with his words. Hitherto the Popes had been
subject to the emperors, though often unwillingly; but now the Pope began
himself, under a spiritual pretext, to act the emperor of the whole Christian
world: the immediate dispute was, about the investiture of bishops, the
right of which each claimed to himself. And now was the time for the Pope
either to give up, or establish his empire forever: to decide which, Gregory
excommunicated the emperor Henry IV.; "having first," says Platina, "deprived
him of all his dignities." The sentence ran in these terms: "Blessed Peter,
prince of the apostles, incline, I beseech thee, thine ears, and hear me
thy servant. In the name of the omnipotent God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
I cast down the emperor Henry from all imperial and regal authority, and
absolve all Christians, that were his subjects, from the oath whereby they
used to swear allegiance to true kings. And moreover, because he had despised
mine, yea, thy admonitions, I bind him with the bond of an anathema."
The same sentence he repeated at Rome in these terms:
"Blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, and thou Paul, teacher of the gentiles,
incline, I beseech you, your ears to me, and graciously hear me. Henry,
whom they call emperor, hath proudly lifted up his horns and his head against
the church of God, - who came to me, humbly imploring to be absolved from
his excommunication, - I restored him to communion, but not to his kingdom,
- neither did I allow his subjects to return to their allegiance. Several
bishops and princes of Germany, taking this opportunity, in the room of
Henry, justly deposed, chose Rodulph emperor, who immediately sent ambassadors
to me, informing me that he would rather obey me than accept of a kingdom,
and that he should always remain at the disposal of God and us. Henry then
began to be angry, and at first intreated us to hinder Rodulph from seizing
his kingdom. I said I would see to whom the right belonged, and give sentence
which should be preferred. Henry forbad this. Therefore I bind Henry and
all his favourers with the bond of an anathema, and again take from him
all regal power. I absolve all Christians from their oath of allegiance,
forbid them to obey Henry in anything, and command them to receive Rodulph
as their king. Confirm this, therefore, by your authority, ye most holy
princes of the apostles, that all may now at length know, as ye have power
to bind and loose in heaven, so we have power to give and take away on
earth, empires, kingdoms, principalities, and whatsoever men can have."
When Henry submitted, then Gregory began to reign without
control. In the same year, 1077, on September 1, he fixed a new era of
time, called the Indiction, used at Rome to this day.
Thus did the Pope claim to himself the whole authority
over all Christian princes. Thus did he take away or confer kingdoms and
empires, as a king of kings. Neither did his successors fail to tread in
his steps. It is well known, the following Popes have not been wanting
to exercise the same power, both over kings and emperors. And this the
later Popes have been so far from disclaiming, that three of them have
sainted this very Gregory, namely, Clement VIII., Paul V., and Benedict
XIII. Here is then the beast, that is, the king: in fact such, though not
in name: according to that remarkable observation of Cardinal Bellarmine,
"Antichrist will govern the Roman empire, yet without the name of Roman
emperor." His spiritual title prevented his taking the name, while he exerciseth
all the power. Now Gregory was at the head of this novelty. So Aventine
himself, "Gregory VII was the first founder of the pontifical empire."
Thus the time of the ascent of the beast is clear. The
apostasy and mystery of iniquity gradually increased till he arose, "who
opposeth and exalteth himself above all." 2 Thessalonians 2:4.Before the
seventh trumpet the adversary wrought more secretly; but soon after the
beginning of this, the beast openly opposes his kingdom to the kingdom
of Christ.
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The empire of Hildebrand properly began in the year 1077.
Then it was, that upon the emperor's leaving Italy, Gregory exercised his
power to the full. And on the first of September, in this year, he began
his famous epocha.
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