Lectures on the Millennium online

Eleventh Horn, 153

ime came, that the saints possessed the
dngdom. Thus he said, The fourth heast
hall he the fourth kingdom upon earth,
^'hich shall be diverse ft^om all kingdoms,
md shall devour the whole earth, and shall
read it down, and break it in pieces. And
he ten horns out of this kingdom are ten
:ings, that shall arise; and another shall rise
ifter them; and he shall be diverse from the
Irst^ and he shall subdue three kings. Jhid
\e shall speak great words against the most
ligh^ and shall wear out the saints of the most
ligh, and think to change times and laws;
md they shall be given into his hand, VlSTlJf
i TIME AND TIMES AND THE
[)1V1DING OF TIME. But the judgment
ihall sit, and they shall take away his domin-
ion, and consume and destroy it unto the end.
ind the kingdom and dominion, and the
greatness of the kingdom under the whole
ieaven, shall be given to the people of the
jaints of the most High, whose kingdom is
"^in everlasting kingdom, and all dominions
shall serve and obey him.'*

What then is the power oy kingdom syra-
3olized by the eleventh horn? What great,
;)eculiar and wonderful power has risen up
unce the fall of the old Roman empire? —
las come up among the ten kingdoms into
rvhich that empire was divided?— has risen
n a gradual and almost imperceptible man-
ner, from small beginnings? What power has
irisen, to give place tr# which three of those
iingdoHis, have been eradicated? What



I



154 Eleventh Hm-n.

power has appeared, which in a peculiai
sense might be said to have eyes like tht
eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking grea
things, even very great things? What powei
has had a look more stout than his feUows!
or manifested a degree of pride, haughtiness
self-sufficiency, and self-exaltation, above
every other? What power has spoken gre
words against the Most High?— and haf
thought to change times and laws? Whal
power, with all the above characteristic
has made war with the saints, and has over^
come them? Who has worn out the saints o:
the Most High? — and. into whose hand hav
they been given, until a time and times aiu
the dividing of time? Surely a power with a^
these characteristics, may be easily known
There is one power, to which all these cha
aeteristics may undoubtedly be applied^ an
that is the Papacy, or papal power. It
probable, that not half of them can be a
plied to any other power with the shadow oi
plausibility.

That the eleventh horn was designed to
symbolize the papal power, seems now to be
plac^l beyond a reasonable doubt; at least in]
the view of those, who have read what Bish-i
op Newton and Mr. Faber have written up-j
on the subject. Still however, a question
may arise, whether that horn represents the
Pope or succession of Popes the grand centrejl
and organ of that power; or whether it re-
presents the power itself, and if it repre-
sents the power itself, or Papal kingdom.



r



Eleventh Horn, 155



whether il is the spiritual kingdom, or fem-
oral kingdom, or both. It may not be very
asy, nor very important, to decide these
oints with any considerable precision. It
lay not be amiss however to remark, that
Ir. Faber is "rather inclined to think, that
le little horn," that is the eleventh horn,
typifies, not the temporal, but the spiritual
ingdom of the Pope, that tyrannical eccle-
iastical domination, which at first was
nly a small and harmless kingdom, but
/hich afterwards became a pretended cath-
lic** or universal '^empire symbolized in
lie Apocalypse by a two horned beast, rising
p out of the earth or Roman empire, as the
ittle horn rises up out of the ten-horned
east."

I shall now endeavor to show briefly, and
>rincipally in the words of Mr. Faber, how
he characteristics of the eleventh horn will
pply to the Papacy or Papal kingdom.
"1. The eleventh* horn was not only to be
small kingdom at its first rise; but it was
be different from all the other horns. —
Accordingly every one of the ten kingdoms
[)unded by the northern nations, wereterri-
orial sovereignties; but the papal horn was
, spiritual sovereignty. And afterwards,
k'lien it liad acquired a secular principality
y the fall of three of the ten tempoi'al horns

* In quoting from Mr. Faber, I have generally taken the
berty to substitute the â– word ekventh^ for (ittle, -vvhen con-
etted v'ilh horn..



156 Eleventh Horn. \

it still continued to differ essentially fron
them; being an ecclesiastical and spiritual
as well as a civil and temporal po ver.

«^2. The eleventh horn had eyes, like the
eyes of a man. This particular, liice the
former, serves to show, that a spiritual, no
a temporal, kingdom, was intended by th'
symbol. ^By its eyes it was a seer; and hj
lis mouth speaking great things and changin|
times and laws, it was a prophet — ^A seer
episcopos, is a bishop in the literal sense o
the word; and this church claims the univer
sal bishopric' * At its first rise indeed,
presumed not to make so bold a claim. Stil
nevertheless it w as equally a seer, or a bishoj^l
within its own proper diocese. I

"3. The eleventh horn had a mouth, speaki
ing great things. In his pretended capacity
of prophet and vicar of Christ, and in th<
plenitude of his usurped power, the JBisho|
of Rome has, at various times, anathema*
tized all who dared to oppose him; has lai^
whole kingdoms under an interdict; has ex-
comrfiunicated kings and emperors; and has
absol ved their subjects from their allegiance.

«4. The eleventh horn had a look more
stout than his fellows. The Popes have
claimed an unlimited superiority over othet
bishops, their ecpials in spiritual matters;
and have affected greater authority than even
sovereign princes in temporal matters.
^Pope Paul the fourth,' says the historian o;

* I. Newtoa.



Eleventh Horn, 157

the council of Trent <never spake with am-
bassadors, but he thundered in their ears,
that he was above all princes, that he would
not that any of them should be too domes-
tical with him, that he could exchange king-
doms, that he was successor of him who had
deposed kings and emperors, and did often
repeat, that he had made Ireland a king-
dom.' Thepopes indeed have pretended that
the dominion of the whole earth belonged to
them; and strictly acting upon this claim,
they have gone so far as to divide all newly
discovered countries between Spain and Por=
tugal, assigning to the one the western, and
to the other the eastern hemisphere.

*«5. The eleventh horn spake great words
hj the side of the most High, affecting an
equality with God. So the Popes have not
scrupled to lay claim to infallibility, an es-
pecial attribute of God; and have sometimes
blasphemously assumed even the name of
God himself, and, as such, have impiously
received divine honors. Accordingly, they
are not offended at being styled. Our Lord
God the Pope; another God upon earth; king of
kings and lord of lords. Nor do they disap-
prove of the impious flattery, which tells
them, that the same is the dominion of God and.
the Pope; that the power of the Pope is greater
than alt created powers extending itself to
things celestialf terrestnal OMd infernal; and
that the Pope doeth whatsoever he lisfethf
even things unlawful, and is more than God.
14.



158 Eleventh Horn,

Nor yet do they refuse, on the day of thei^
election, to receive the adoration of the car-
dinals on the very altar, and in the midst of
the temple of the Lord of hosts. The other
divine titles, by which that man of sin, the
apostate bishop of Rome, suffers himself to
be hailed, are Our most holy Lord; his divine
Majesty; the victorious God and man in his
see of Rome; the most great and excellent God;
vice God; named God by the pious emperor
Constantine, and adored as God by that empe-
ror'; the Lamb of God that taketh away the
sins of the world; the most holy, who carrieth
the most holy. Lord Lyttleton observes of
the age of Henry IL that 'those times thought
it no blasphemy to give to the Pope the hon-
or of God/

«6. The eleventh horn thought to change
times and laws. So the Popes have perpet-
ually changed the calendar by the canoniza-
tion of new saints., and have departed from
the original simplicity of the gospel, by the
introduction of an infinite number of super-
stitious laws and observances, 'instituting
new modes of worship, imposing new arti-
cles of faith, enjoining new^ rules of practice,
and reversing at pleasure the laws both of
God and man/ They have even dared to
strike the second commandment out of the
decalogue, because it so plainly reproved
them for their multifarious idolatry. In
short, <the wisest and most impartial of the
Roman Catliolic writers, do not only ac-
knowledge^ but arc even at pains to deiwasi-



Eleventh Horn, 1 59

strate, that from the times of Lewis the Meek,
who died in the year 840, the ancient rules
of ecclesiastical government were gradually
changed in Europe by the councils of the
court of Rome, and new laws substituted in
their place.'

«7. The eleventh horn was to wear out the
saints of the Most High, who were to be given
into his hand by a formal grant of the secu-
lar power,* during the space of three years
and a half, or 1260 prophetic days; that is
to say, during the same space of time,
that the two apocalyptic witnesses were to
prophesy in sackcloth, and the persecuted
church was to be nourished in the wilder-
ness. Accordingly, when the Pope was
constituted Universal Bishop and Supreme
bead of the church, by the grant of the
tyrant Phocas, the saints were delivered
into his hand, and placed under his control.
They were no longer, as in the primitive
church, subject, and that for conscience sake
and for the real edification of their souls, to
their respective diocesans; but they were now
made the spiritual vassals of the man of sm,
and were in consequence of it soon reduced
by him to a state of worse than Egyptian
bandage. By the instrumentality of the se-
cular beast, he has already by far the greater

* It is doubtful whether we are to understaad from the
prophecy that the sahits were to be given into the hand of
the eleventh horn by a formal grant of the secular potver^
to bj^ the hand of divine provideuce*in some other way.



160 Eleventh Horn.

part of the predicted period, incessantly per*
secuted and worn out (so far as this present
life is concerned) the faithful servants of God,
who protested against his corruptions, and
refused to partake of his idolatries. These
persecutions indeed, like the more ancient
persecutions of Paganism, have not alw^ays
been universal; nor have they always raged
with equal violence. They have moreover
been greatly checked by the influence of the
Reformation, and the consequent warring of
the Papal power. Nevertheless the witnesses
are still more or less prophesying in sackcloth;
they are still throughout popish countries, in
a degraded and humbled state; and in this
state they will continue in one part or other
of the world, to the end of tjie 42 months.

"8. The eleventh horn was to subdue or de-
press three out of the ten kings — or three of
the first horns were to be eradicated before it,
—As the three horns are to be sought for
among the ten first horns, we must obviously
learn what those ten first horns are, before
we can inquire with any prospect of success
for the tliree, which w^ere to be eradicated be-
fore the eleventh horn. The historian Ma-
uliiavel, whom, I cannot but consider, as the
best, because the most unprejudiced, judge of
the manner, in which the Roman empire was
divided, very undesignedly, and little thinking
what he was doing, reckons up the ten pri-
mary kingdoms, as follows; 1. The Ostro-
gotlis in Mesia; 2. The Visigoths in Panno-



]$leventh Horn* 161

Ilia; 3. Tl/o Sueves and Alans in Gasgoigne
and Spain; 4. The Vandals in Africa; 5.
The Franks in France; 6. The Burgundians
in Burgundy; 7. The Herulians and Thurin-
giansin Italy; 8. The Saxons and Angles in
Britain; 9. The Huns in Hungary; and 10.
The Lomhards, at first upon the Danube, af=
terwards in Italy. The self-same catalogue
is exhibited by that excellent chronologer,
Bp. Lloyd —

*'These then, upon the concurring testi-
mony of a historian and chronologer, are the
ten kingdoms, into which the Roman empii»e
was originally divided, and consequently they
are the ten first horns, of which we are in
quest. Hence, if three kingdoms were ever
plucked before a little kingdom, which arose
imperceptibly among the ten primary king-
doms, they must be three, the names of which
occur in the preceding list. Accordingly we
shall find, that the kingdom of the Herulians,
the kingdom of the Ostrogoths, and the king-
dom of the Lombards, were successively erad-
icated, before the little Papal horn, which at
length became a temporal, no less than a
spiritual power, at the expense of these three
depressed primary states^ —

"As for specifying what powers are now the
ten horns, I cannot but consider it as absurd
to attempt it. History has decidedly shown,
that the kingdoms, into which the Roman em-
pire was divided, never continued long in the
same state; nor is it at all necessary for the
#14



16^ Eleventh Horn,

completion of the prophecy, that they should
have done so— Still however the lioman beast
is symbolically represented as having tea
horns; because such was the original num-
ber, into which the empire was divided."*
Thus it is abundantly evident, that the Pa-
pal power or kingdom, is symbolized by th©
eleventh horn. When, therefore, the saints
shall have been delivered into the hand of
the papal power for a time and times and the
dividing of time^ tlie judgment will sit upon
that cruel, tyrannic and tremendous power;
its dominion shall be taken away, and itself
entirely consumed and destroyed.f Imme-
diately the kingdom and dominion and the
greatness of the kingdom under the whole
heaven shall be given to the people of the
saints of the Most High. The Millennium
will commence, then, very soon after the ter-
mination of the period, denoted by a time and
times and the dividing of time. If then we
can ascertain the length of this period, and
time of its commencement, it will be easy to
calculate the time of its termination, and thus
to ascertain nearly, when the Millennium will
commence. It is humbly hoped, that the
length and commencement of this period may
be ascertained with such evidence, as may
appear plausible, to say the least. But in
order to prepare the way for this, some other
prophecies must be considered.

* Faber on the 1260 years, YqI. Ij pp. H9— '147«
t Dan. 7;$5j26. .



LECTURE IX,



m



'he first Apocalyptic Beast — The Bragoifb^
The second Apocalyptic Beast,

Hating attended, with some particularity^
to the Roman beast of Daniel, and its eleventh
horn, we are the better prepared to attend to
other prophetic symbols, that may be sup-
posed to represent the same powers. In the
thirteenth chapter of Revelation, we find their
pictures drawn in a manner so plain and
striking, that surely no candid examiner
can easily mistake the resemblance, or doubt
what originals they are designed to repre-
sent. Thougli it cannot be expected, that in
so brief a discussion, I shall attempt to ex-
plain every thing mentioned in this chapter,
yet, for the sake of the connexion, it may be
I proper to insert the whole. "And I stood
upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise
up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten
horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and
upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And
the beast, which I saw, was like unto a leop-
ard, 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 liis seat, and
great au«thority. And I saw one of his heads
as it were wounded to death; and his deadly
;,\vound was healed; and all the world wonder-



164 apocalyptic Beasts^

ed after the beast. And they worshipped the
dragon, which gave power unto the beast,
saying, Who i^ like the beastf who is able
to make war with him? And there was given
imto him a mouth speaking great things, and
blasphemies; and power was given unto him
to continue forty and two months. And he
opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,
to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and
them that dwell in heaven. And it was given
unto him to make war with the saints, and to
overcome them; and power was given him
over all kindreds and tongues and nations.
And all that dwell upon the earth shall wor-
ship him, whose names are not written in the
book of life of the Lamb slain, from the
foundation of the world. If any man have
an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into
captivity, shall go into captivity; he that
kiileth with the sword, must be killed with
the sword. Here is the patience and the faith
of the saints.

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. And he
exercisetli all the power of the first beast be-
fore him, and causeth the earth, and them
which dwell therein, to worship the first
beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And
lie doeth great wonders, so that he maketh
fire come down from heaven on the earth in
the sight of men, and deceiveth them that
dwell on the earth b v the means of those mira-



First Apocalyptic Beast 165

cles, which he Fiad power to do in the sight of the
beast; saying to them that dwell on the sarth.
That they should make an image to the beast,
which had a wound by a sword and did live.
And he had power to give life unto 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. And he caused all, both small and
great, rich and poor, free and bond, to re-
ceive a mark in their right hand, or in their
foreheads; and that no man might buy or
sell, save he that had the mark, or the name
of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath under-
standing count the number of the beast; for
it is the number of a man; and his number is
six hundred three score and six."

The intelligent reader, tho he may never
have thought particularly of the subject be-
fore, has now probably been struck with the
resemblance between the fourth beast of
Daniel, and the first beast described in tljg
chapter. They were alike in coming upi^gt
of the sea; each of them had ten horns,
each of them seemed too fierce and mohstroig
to be compared to any beast in nature. IS^
doubt, they must have been designed to repre-
sent one and^:he same power, tho they may
symbolize that power in somewhat different
respects. <' Daniel does not mention the seven
heads of the beast, nor does he specially de-
fine his form; he only observes, that he was



166 First .^jwcalyptic Beast.

dreadful^ terrible^ and strong exceedingly. But
John amply supplies this deficiency, by in-
forming us, that he had not only the ten
horns, noticed by Daniel, but likewise seve^
heads j and that his shape was compounded df
all the three beasts, which preceded him, the '
Babylonian lion, the Medo-Persian bear, and '
the Macedonian leopard;" perhaps intimating
that it had the fierceness, voraciousness, and
cruelty, and all the other^dreadl'ul qualities to
be found in any of these. "IN o doubt is to be
made," says Bp. Newton, "that this beast
was designed to represent the Roman empire;
for thus far both ancients and moderns, Pap-
ists and Protestants, are agreed. The only
doubt and controversy is, whether it was
Rome,Pagan or Christian, imperial or Papal."
But that this beast was designed to represent
a civil, and not an ecclesiastical, tyranny,
may, I think, be established beyond a rea-
sonable doubt. Being the same with Daniel's
fourth beast, no doubt, like that, it represents
- civil power. But this is not the principal
of ^ ment. The first beast of Rev. 13: is un-
laml\ionably the same, that is described in
exfy^ 17: "So he carried me away in the spirit
foi.o the wilderness; and I sa\v a woman sit
upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names
of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten
horns. And the woman was arrayed in pur-
ple and scarlet-color, and decked with gold,
and precious stones, and pearls, having a
golden cup in her hand, full of abomination



First Jlpocalyptic Beast. 167

and filthiness of her fornication. And upon
her forehead was a name written MYSTERY,
BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTH-
ER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINA-
TIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw
the woman drunken with the blood of the
saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of
Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered
with great admiration. And the angel said
unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I
will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and
of the beast that carries her, which hath the
seven heads and ten horns." Now as no
candid person can possibly doubt, whether this
mother of harlots and abominations of the
earth, thus drunken with the blood of saints
and martyrs, represents the ecclesiastical or
Papal power of Rome; so it is manifest, that
the beast, upon which she sat—the beast that
carried her, must mean some other power,.
For surely the two symbols, so very ditferent
from each other, and so manifestly distinct,
could not be designed to represent the same
ecclesiastical power. The beast, then, must
represent the civil power of Rome.

The angel explains the seven heads of the
beast to mean seven mountains; as Rome was
built upon seven mountains or hills. The
angel also intimates that the seven heads
\ repi'esent likewise seven kings; referring no
* doubt to the seven forms of the Roman gov-
ernment. *^'The beast then" says Mr.Fa-
lier, <«is the secular Roman empire. His



168 The Dragon,

seven heads? (the last being his double, op
septinio-octave head) are l. Kings; 2. Con-
suls; 3a Dictators; 4. Decemvirs; 5. Milita-
ry Tribunes; 6 Augustan Emperors; 7,8*
l/arlovingian Patricio-Emperors, And this,
bj the way, seems to furnish another conclu-
sive argument, that the seven-headed, ten-
homed beast was designed to represent the
civil power, and not the ecclesiastical.

But some suppose, that the civil power of
Home is represented hy the dragon, men-
tioned in Eev. 12:3. "And there appeared
another wonder in heaven; and behold, a
great red dragon, having seven heads and
ten horns, and seven crowns iij[>on his heads."
But besides several passages, that seem to
iiitimate, that the dragon is a power differ
ent from the civil power of Rome, we are
assured in Rev. 20:2, that the dragon is the
old vserpenty the devil and Satan.

As Satan had a great influence in raising
up the Roman empire,and instigated the Ro-
mans to commit the most abominable idola-
tries and all kinds of wickedness, so in re
iation to his influence upon that people, he is
symbolized by 6«a gs^eat red dragon, having
seven heads and ie^n horns, and seven
crowns upon his heads." All the Roman!
persecutions were the persecutions of Satan
wos'king in and by the Roman power. The
dragon gave to the beast *'his power and his
seat, and great authority." People wor-
aiiipped the dragoit and the beast by submit-



Two-horned Beast 169

ting to and applauding the abominable and
blasphemous requisitions, which the dragon
instigated the beast to make and enforce.

But the two-horned beast is undoubtedly
designed to symbolize the Roman ecclesias^
tical power, or Papal hierarchy | the very
same, as the eleventh horn of Daniel's fourth
beaste With great probability Mr. Faber
supposes, that the eleventh "horn and the
two-horned beast represent the very same
ecclesiastical power, the one symbolizing it
at its first rise and describing it as after-
wards having a look more stout than its fel-
lows, and as influencing the actions of the
whole ten-horned beast; the other symboliz-
ing it, when it had grown up into a catliolic
empire, by having had the saints delivered
into its hand,'*

I shall add a short explanation of some of
the principal characteristics of the second or
two- horned beast, taJvcn mostly from the
writings of Mr. Faber, to w hom I feel pecu-
liarly indebted for the light, w hich he has
afforded upon the prophecies, reliiting to the
Koman empire, the Papacy and Maiioniet-
ism.

^<1. The second beast sprung up out of the
earth, and is described as being another beast
perfectly distinct fiom the first. In the lan-
guage of the Apocalypse, the earth denotes
the Roman empire ^' This presents anotlier
resemblance between the eleventh horn ajjd