The Eighth Head of the Beast.
Is the eighth head of the beast, Rev. xvii, a civil, or an ecclesiastical sovereign? Some writers think that the symbolic beasts of Daniel's and John's visions, represent only the civil power; but they generally admit that the ten-horned beasts of Rev. xiii, and xvii, and Dan. vii, represent papal Rome, and are synonymous; and that the "little horn" of Dan. vii, signifies the papal sovereigns. The government of papal Rome was administered by ecclesiastics. Hence, the head of the beast must be an ecclesiastical sovereign. The popes were not only the sovereigns of Rome, but were supreme lords over kings and emperors, and were regarded as the highest potentates of the world. The Scriptures, and the history of the popes, both confirm this statement. See Dan. vii, 8, 20, 21; xi, 36; 2 Thess. ii, 4; Rev. xiii, 7, 8. "Power was given unto him over all kindreds, nations and tongues. And all shall worship (or honor) him," &c. But the question is, concerning the eighth head of the beast. The eighth is the last of the series; and it is evident that the "ten horns" belong to this head, and are cotemporary. The angel's explanation to John will give some light upon this subject. "The beast that thou sawest, was, and is not." John was "carried away in the spirit by the angel into the wilderness." There he saw this scarlet ten-horned beast, and a woman sitting upon the beast. He saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and martyrs of Jesus. Where is this wilderness? It was "the place prepared of God," for the nourishment of his saints during the papal persecution, within the period of the 1260 years, that the saints were given into the hands of the little horn. Rev. xii, 6, 14; Dan. vii, 25. Here is conclusive evidence that the beast that John saw, viz., that was, and is not, and even is the eighth, was papal Rome. How can it be shown that that beast was papal Rome? Papal Rome was the revival of the old Roman empire by the popes; it was an image to imperial Rome. The Roman emperors were the sovereign pontiffs, so also were the popes. The papal religion was precisely the same as it was in the days of Constantine and the Christian emperors. It was the religion of pagan imperial Rome christianized. Many of the old pagan deities were worshiped by the papists. When the western empire fell in A. D. 476, Rome fell into the hands of barbarian kings, who continued "a short space" the rulers of Rome, about 62 years; and the beast, or imperial Rome, was not, during this short period. In A. D. 538 the dignity of the sovereign pontificate was legally conferred on the pope, when the emperor Justinian constituted him the head of all the holy churches. Then the beast that was—the old Roman empire and its religion, was revived under the administration of the popes. "The beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition." Verse 11. Then papal Rome is the eighth head, and is of the seven. It is generally conceded that the empire of the Cæsars, was the sixth head; the seventh was the next head in order, which continued "a short space;" then followed the papal empire, based upon ten horns, or kings, who protected the papal throne, and enforced the papal religion, and the commands of the pope. The seventh head was the embryo state of the papal empire. During this period the western kings were mostly converted, or subjugated to the pope. The eighth was the grand organization of the papal empire perfected; and it continued until the papal head received "a deadly wound by a sword," in 1798; but it "did live," and "was healed;" for the little horn, which is a symbol of the papal sovereigns, is to "speak great words," and make war with the saints, just before he goes into perdition. Dan. vii, 11, 21, 22.78According to "popular opinion," Louis Napoleon will become the eighth head. But we should remember that France is one of the ten horns; and there is no evidence from the Bible that any of the horns of Rome will ever become heads. The head of Rome is an ecclesiastical sovereign; the kings or emperors are civil powers. Louis Napoleon is now a horn of the pope; he is protecting the pope and his throne, with an army at Rome. So did Austria also, from 1815 to 1848; and so also did the loyal Roman Catholic kings and emperors in former times. The elder Napoleon, as the head of France and other papal States, fulfilled the prophecy of Rev. xvii, 16. "The ten horns shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate, and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire."