In the 17th chapter of Revelation, where the Seven Heads and Ten Horns appear upon the body of the Beast from the Pit, they are elaborately described by the angel to John . The following is the text of the passage:—
“So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness : and I saw a woman sit upon scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns .
“And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abomination and filthiness of her fornication : and upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations 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 carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns .
“The beast that 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 that was, and is not, and yet is .
“And here is the mind which hath wisdom .
“The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth .
“And there are seven kings :
“five are fallen ;
“and one is ;
“and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space .
“And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition .
“And the horns which thou sawest are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet ; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast .
“These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast . **
* * * * “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth .” Rev. xvii: 3-13, and 18.
In each of the above instances, while they appear upon different bodies, the Seven Heads and Ten Horns are the same, and symbolize the same powers . In the 17th Chapter, the angel explains to John that the Seven Heads and ten horns symbolize “seven kings,” prophetic phrase for seven kingdoms or empires . The angel says “five are fallen ; and one is ; and the other is not yet come, and when he cometh he must continue for a short space”
From this explanation, we are able to understand the Appearance Of The Seven Heads And Ten Horns, as they appear on the body of the Dragon . As the Dragon stands uplifted before the woman, five heads hang down dead, underneath its neck, symbolizing the five empires which had fallen at the time the Revelation was given . The Sixth Head is on the end of the Serpent’s neck, and on it are ten horns . The Seventh Head is the Serpent’s head, jutting out through the top of the Sixth head, and dominating all . Such is the appearance of the Dragon, with its Seven heads and Ten horns .
What is the symbolic signification of the Seven Heads and Ten Horns ? What power do they symbolize ? Before giving the true exposition, it will be best to notice 1. the erroneous interpretation formerly given of the seven heads.
In former interpretations, the Headed Beast was interpreted as symbolizing the Roman empire, exclusively . This interpretation could be made, only by an entire misapplication of the facts of history . The Five Heads that had fallen at the time of the vision, have been interpreted as symbolizing the five forms of administration that existed under the Roman Republic,—Kings, Consuls, Decemvirs, Military Tribunes, and Dictators .
1st. I Object To This,
1 . That there were only two forms of government in Rome that had fallen at the time the vision was given,—the Kings; and the Republic. The Republic was always a government of the Senate and the People, throughout its entire existence . And, during its entire existence, the Executive of the Republic was in the hands of the Consuls, except during brief intervals .
2. Again, I Object To The Interpretation, That
It is a violation of all the facts of history to call the Decemvirate, the Military Tribunes, and the Dictators, such forms of the Roman government as would be symbolized by “heads.”
1) The Decemvirate was a brief rule of ten persons who had been sent to Greece, to obtain new institutions, and who ruled about a year, while they put the institutions in operation . They were overthrown in a popular uprising against the crime of one of their number .
2) The Military Tribunes were a temporary arrangement, that lasted only a few years . It was only another name for the Consuls ; and it was adopted, in order that one of the officers might be a Plebeian . It was merely a temporary expedient for a special purpose, and was soon set aside .
3) The Dictatorship only existed in times of great public danger when a Dictator was appointed, whose authority only lasted six months . It is absurd to call the Dictatorship a “head” of the Beast . What sort of head is that, which comes on and falls of constantly ? Such a symbol is ridiculous .
4) These forms of administration can not be called “heads”. The government of the Roman Republic was continuous all the while; and these changes of administration did not affect its identity in the least. France, since the Revolution of 1789-93, has had nine different dorms of executive administration,—the Monarchy, Convention, the Directory, the Consulate, the Empire, the Monarchy again, the Republic, the Empire, and the Republic . All these were much more fundamental than those changes of the Roman executive . And yet, France has been the same power all the while .—Who would think of saying that any prophecy would represent France, during the last hundred years, by a beast with nine heads ? The idea is absurd . The French nation has been the same, all the while .
3. I Object To This Application Of The Symbol That
If the Different Forms of the Roman Administration Are to be Continued as Heads, then the Triumvirate of Octavius, Antony and Lepidus must be counted also; and it will make six heads that had lived, instead of five ! !
4. I Object To This Interpretation That
A Head, in Prophecy is Never the Symbol of a Mere Form of Administration . A head in prophecy, always symbolizes a kingdom, or an empire . The four heads of the Macedonian Leopard, in the second vision of Daniel symbolize the four kingdoms into which the Macedonian Empire was divided .—And these seven heads, in like manner, represent seven empires that have risen in the earth.
2nd. But The Greatest Absurdity Of This Exposition remains to be stated .—By making the “Seven Heads” symbolize the seven forms of Roman administration, former expositors had to find fulfilment for the Seventh Head in some form of Roman power ; and they found it in the Heathen Roman empire.
1. But The Dragon Is A Power Of The Latter Days.
This is certain.
1) It is contemporary with the Beast from the Pit; and all expositors agree that the Beast from the Pit is a power that has not yet risen .
2) In the Great Final War of the Earth, just before the Millennium, the Dragon is engaged in the war, in alliance with the Beast from the Pit and the False Prophet .
3) And all the facts respecting the Dragon, in the Apocalypse, prove that it is a power of the Latter Days.
The idea of making the dragon symbolize the Heathen Roman empire is perfectly absurd . It is this kind of interpretation,—such a straining of all the facts of history, such a jumble of symbolism and imagery,—that has made of this grand symbol, the Beast with Seven Heads and Ten Horns, an epithet of contempt and derision, hurled by the scoffer against all prophecy.
ii. the true interpretation of the seven heads and ten horns.
The Beast with Seven Heads and Ten Horns is a most remarkable symbol . It is so peculiar, so complex, and yet so simple, that it will not fit any powers but those it was intended to set forth.
As the four heads of the Macedonian Leopard, in the second vision of Daniel, symbolize the four kingdoms into which the Macedonian empire was divided, so here, the Seven Heads symbolize seven empires . But, as we might suppose, from the analogy of the vision of Daniel, that the seven empires were contemporary like those of the Macedonian Beast, it is expressly stated that they are consecutive.
The Seven Heads Symbolize Seven Empires having relations with the people of God, and existing from the earliest times down to a time yet future . Of these empires, five had fallen at the time of the vision .
1st. Exposition Of The First Five Heads.
The first Five Dead Heads hanging down under the neck of the Dragon symbolize five empires that had fallen at the time the revelation was given : “five are fallen.”
1. The First Dead Head Hanging Down
under the neck of the Serpent . Symbolizes the Egyptian empire; which under the Eighteenth Dynasty, as we learn from the records of the Egyptian monuments, recently deciphered, extended over Western Asia beyond the Euphrates and the Tigris . It was the Nineteenth Dynasty which persecuted Israel . The Pharaoh of the Persecution, under whom Moses was born, was the second king of the Nineteenth Dynasty . The Pharaoh of the Exodus died at Memphis, some twenty years after that event, with his Asiatic empire all lost, and with Egypt divided between himself and two rival kings, who reigned in the Delta . The great Egyptian empire fell before the judgments of God, visited upon Egypt for the deliverance of His people.
2. The Second Dead Head Hanging Down
beneath the neck of the Dragon is a Lion’s head, and symbolizes the Assyrian empire, which carried away the Ten Tribes into captivity in Media.
3. The Third Dead Head Hanging Down
is also a Lion’s head, and symbolizes the Babylonian empire, which carried Judah away captive to Babylon .
4. The Fourth Dead Head Hanging Down
is a Bear’s head, and symbolizes the Persian empire, which restored the Jews to their own land, and always treated them kindly .
5. The Fifth Dead Head Hanging Down
beneath the neck of the Dragon is a Leopard’s head, and symbolizes the Macedonian empire, which, under Alexander the Great, overthrew the Persian empire, and which, under Antiochus Epiphanes, afflicted the Jews with a grievous persecution . These five empires had fallen, when the vision of Revelation was given .
2nd. exposition of the sixth head, with its ten horns.
The Sixth Head was the Roman Empire, which was then in existence, and of which the angel said “One now is”. The Sixth Head, the Roman empire, was slain by the “sword” of the Northern Barbarians, in the year 476, a. d., at which time historians date the fall of the Western Roman empire .
The Northern Barbarians Planted Their Kingdoms in the territories of the Roman empire. In the year 476, a.d.,—the very year of the fall of the Western Roman empire,—we find, for the first time, Ten Kingdoms within its boundaries .
In the eye of prophecy, the Babylonian, the Persian, and Macedonian empires continued to exist geographically, after their fall as political powers ; just as Ireland and Poland are still recognized as having a geographical existence, after they have ceased to be political powers . According to prophecy, the Roman territory was that part of the Roman empire which was not covered by the Babylonian, Persian and Macedonian empires,—the territory extending from the head of the Adriatic to the Danube, and thence westward, within the Rhine and the Danube, to the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and including England and a part of Scotland .
Within This Territory, We Find Ten Barbarian Kingdoms in the year 476, a.d. And there have been Ten Kingdoms in the territories of the Roman empire ever since that time. Not always the same kingdoms : sometimes, some would fall, and others would rise in their place: sometimes, in eras of transition, there have been one or two more or less than ten kingdoms . But when these eras of transition were over, and Europe returned to its normal condition, there would be Ten Kingdoms again . There have been Ten Kingdoms in Southern and Western Europe, for thirteen hundred years : there are Ten Kingdoms in Europe now, within the limits of the Roman empire .
These Ten Kingdoms are fully set forth in my work, “Key to Prophecy,” and it is not necessary to present them further here .
These Ten Kingdoms within the territories of the Roman empire are symbolized by the Ten Horns, which grew out of the dead Sixth Head . This Sixth Head corresponds with the fourth beast of the second vision of Daniel . That beast symbolized the Roman empire : so here, the Sixth Head . That beast had ten horns ; so, on the Sixth head here, are the same ten horns .
3rd. The Seventh Head.
The Seventh Head is the Serpent head,—the empire of the Dragon . It is the subject of this work to prove that the Seventh or Dragon Head symbolizes the London Money Power—the Imperialism of Capital centred in London . We will proceed in the next chapter to give the proof . At present we will proceed to the identification of 4th. The Beast From The Pit.
After explaining to John the Seven Heads and Ten Horns, the angel goes on to give an explanation of the Scarlet Beast,—the Beast from the Pit . The angel says of him : “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not ; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition .” And he says again : “The beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is one of the seven .”
1. This shows that the Beast from the Pit rises after all the other seven empires have risen,—after the rise of the Dragon Empire, the Seventh Head . “He is the Eighth .”
After the rise of the Dragon empire, another empire rises, which is the Eighth in order of time, but which is actually not a new empire but is one of the first Seven Empires : that is, it is a new imperial power, in whose dominion one of the dead six empires comes to life again, and is re-established .
All expositors agree that the Roman empire,—the dead Sixth Head,—is to be re-established in the dominion of the Beast from the Pit . There are many other prophecies which foreshow this re-establishment of the Roman empire . The re-establishment of the Roman empire under the dominion of the Beast from the Pit is set forth with great clearness in the 13th chapter of Revelation, and also is the First and Second Visions of Daniel .
In the 13th chapter of Revelation, this re-establishment of the Roman empire is set forth . The context reads as follows :—
“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 names of blasphemy .
“And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion .
“And I saw one of his heads as it had been wounded to death [or slain;] and his deadly wound was healed .
“ And the Dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority .”
“And all the world wondered after the beast . And they worshipped the Dragon which gave power to the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him .” Rev. XIII: 1-4.
I have, in one place, slightly transposed this passage, so as to give the proper order of sequence .
The Seven Heads here, as has been already explained, are
I) Egypt ;
2) Assyria ;
3) Babylon ;
4) Persia ;
5) Macedon ;
6) Rome ;
7) The Dragon head; which I expound as the symbol of the Money Power . This is the point now being established .
I) Egypt ;
2) Assyria ;
3) Babylon ;
4) Persia ;
5) Macedon ;
6) Rome ;
7) The Dragon head; which I expound as the symbol of the Money Power . This is the point now being established .
2. It Is Important To Fix The Time when the vision begins .
The Beast, in its first rise from the Sea, represents Medieval Europe, after the fall of the Roman empire, under the Ten Kingdoms . This is evident both from history, and from the symbolism of the Beast:—
1) The Ten horns represent the Kingdoms of the Northern Barbarians who overran the Roman empire . It is Europe under the Ten Kingdoms that is here represented . That the time is during the reign of the Ten Kingdoms is evident from the fact that the ten horns in the symbol are crowned ; which shows that they are reigning in the era set forth in the vision .
2) The Beast rises up out of “the Sea.” The “Sea” is a prophetic image frequently employed, to represent a chaotic condition of society, in which all the elements of social life are unsettled . Such was the condition of the territory of the Roman empire after the fall of the Western empire . All the institutions of Roman civilization were broken down : society was dissolved by the Barbarians who overswept the Roman empire, ravaging, destroying, burning ; until the remnants of the Roman population were reduced to the condition of serfs, hoveled in the forests which grew up in the cultivated provinces that were reduced to desolation . Out of this chaos modern Europe emerged .
3) When the Beast rose it had the Sixth or Roman head “as it had been wounded unto death,” that is, freshly slain . This was true of the Roman empire, which was just recently slain by the “sword” of the Northern Barbarians . All the symbolism shows that the Beast represents Europe during the era of the reign of the Ten Kingdoms, after the fall of the Roman empire .
4) The description of the Beast also agrees perfectly with Europe under the Ten Kingdoms .
1] “The Beast was like a leopard.”—In the Macedonian Leopard (Daniel vii), the spots indicate the great number of Grecian states that entered into the Macedonian empire . The Amphyctionic Council of the Grecian states made Phillip, King of Macedon, and afterwards Alexander, the head of Greece for the war with Persia, while each state continued to maintain its independence .
So here, the spots of the Leopard indicate the Ten Kingdoms of Europe, which have maintained a sort of loose combination through their community of religion and interest, but have always maintained their independence as separate states .—They were combined during the Crusades by a common religious enthusiasm ; and all through the Middle Ages, they were united in their allegiance to the Papacy .—In Modern Times, community of interest has caused them to combine against any preponderant nation, to maintain the Balance of Power . The ten crowned horns have thus been united on the head of the Beast from the Sea .
2] “The feet were as the feet of a bear.”—The Persian bear was slow in its conquests; and these bear feet show that the states of Europe were, like Persia, slow in their military operations . And indeed, the Ten Kingdoms of Europe have always been slow and sluggish in any military conquests, and generally close their slow wars with but little or no conquests on either side .
3] “His mouth was as the mouth of a lion .”—This lion mouth tears and ravages, and shows the ferocity of the European states in their furious and bloody wars . There can the no doubt that the Beast from the Sea represents Roman Europe after the fall of the Roman empire, under the dominion of the Ten Kingdoms .
3. The Healing Of The Deadly Wound.
The Seer defers the mention of the deadly wound, until he speaks of the healing of the wound . The first act which John saw was the healing of the deadly wound . This symbolizes the Restoration of the slain Roman head to life,—the re-establishment of the Roman empire .
After the healing of the dead Sixth Head, that head, when restored to life, is the Beast from the Pit . This fully explains the symbolism of the Beast from the Pit :—
1) It shows the Beast from the Pit was the Eighth empire in the order of time, but was not a new head, but one of the seven heads, being the Sixth Head restored to life .
2) We also perceive how the Beast from the Pit might be called “The Beast that was, and is not, and yet is .” It is the Roman empire ; it is not, in its new form, actually the Roman empire but the German empire ; and yet, it is the Roman empire, re-established under a new form .
3) The Beast from the Pit is the Roman empire reestablished, under the imperial supremacy of Prussia over the kingdoms of Southern and Western Europe . The symbolism plainly shows that the power under which the Roman empire is to be re-established is Prussia:—
1] From the nature of the symbolism, none of the ten horns can be the Beast from the Pit . For a horn can not be a head, much less can a horn be a Beast . The horns are all on the Sixth Head of the Beast: they are all accounted for ; and none of them can be the Beast from the Pit .
This shows that none of the Ten Kingdoms of Western and Southern Europe can be the Beast from the Pit . This excludes all the kingdoms in the territories of the Roman empire, within the Rhine and the Danube, from the head of the Adriatic westward to the Atlantic, including England and part of Scotland . Neither France, nor Austria, nor Italy, nor Spain, nor Britain, can be the Beast from the Pit ; for they are horns on the head of the Beast . A common sense analysis of the symbol would have prevented all the blunders that have been made in expounding the Beast from the Pit as the symbol of the French empire .
2] The Beast from the Pit must, from the nature of the symbol, be some power in Europe outside of the Rhine and the Danube . It must be either Prussia or Russia . But it is not Russia, because in prophecy, Russia is called by name as at the head of Europe, at an era after the Beast from the Pit has fallen . Hence, as the Beast from the Pit can not be any of the ten kingdoms of Europe within the Rhine and the Danube, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, can not be Russia, it must be Prussia . The very nature of the symbolism demonstrates the fact that Prussia is the Beast from the Pit . We will find that identifying Prussia as the Beast from the Pit is a strong point of the evidence in proving the Dragon to be the symbol of the London Money Power .
