May 1, 1868. it was after that he saw the beast rise with seven heads. Thyatira was thus an emblem of Papal Rome, and the Rome of the past and present may be but the mere shadow of the Rome that will be! Let us not be blinded, then, by appearances, but watch, for as the Church was severely tried in its infancy, so may it be destined again to pass through a more fiery ordeal towards the close of the dispensation, ere the wild olive branch be finally separated from the true stock; and if it has to undergo a lengthened period of trouble and persecution under the iron tyranny of the harlot and the beast, how important indeed that we should be prepared and strengthened for such tribulation by correct apprehension of God's revelation to us for that purpose, for then, indeed, "Blessed will they be that read, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein." Blessed indeed will they be to know, by the previous removal of the five wise virgins, that the Lord is actually present, looking down upon them from the cloud, upholding and sustaining them in their spiritual struggle upon earth. How ardently will they be watching, not knowing the hour, when He will come for them likewise to associate them with their glorified brethren who had gone before, to be with Him where He is. May the Lord guide us in a perfect apprehension of the truth, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for if the morning cometh, so also does the night! Smyrna, 1868. J. W. THE EIGHTH HEAD-THE BEAST: MUST HE BE ONE OF THE FIVE KINGS WHICH ARE FALLEN? ORE than one of the most able and deservedly esteemed contribu MORE tors to the RAINBOW, have lately, both in its pages and in other publications, re-asserted the exposition of the words "the beast that thou sawest was and is not," (Rev. xvii. 8,) as affirming, that in the time when the Apostle wrote that beast must have already existed. A clear apprehension of the real import of those words, we need scarcely say, is of first importance; and so, it is presumed, a free ventilation of the passage cannot be ill-timed, or ill-placed in an early number of the RAINBOW. It will, at any rate, probably show that, if the proposition above stated can be substantiated, very much of the Book of Revelation, if not all except the Epistles to the Seven Churches, had been fulfilled before the record reached us; and so præterists and futurists alike will be left without a locus standi. What, then, would the maintenance of the position assumed seem to require us also to hold for the sake of consistency? Admitting for argument's sake that, because it is recorded by the Apostle, "the beast that thou sawest was," the beast must have then had an exist ence, are we not compelled also to aver from the words, "I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast" (v. 3), "and the woman was arrayed in purple, "that this woman must have May 1, 1868. already existed also? But aro we, and are our friends, prepared to accept this conclusion, and the many other like conclusions that will cling together in one cluster. Let us for a moment turn to another method of interpretation. The measure of time, in other words the succession of events by which time is measured, must have a point of commencement, in reference to which those events may be described as present, or past, or future. In the passage from which the words discussed are taken (Rev. xvii.), the transaction to which the other events bear such relation, appears to be "the judgment of the great whore," which John was invited (v. 1) to witness, and for which we read (v. 3) the angel carried him away "in the spirit into the wilderness." That judgment is depicted in the latter part of ch. xvii., and in ch. xviii.; and it is to be inflicted by the ten kings (horns) who have "one mind" and shall “ give their kingdom unto the beast." And so the eighth-head beast is in existence and must be at hand when the great whore is judged; and therefore all the seven heads must have previously existed, and have ceased to exist. At the time, therefore, that the judgment of the great whore is inflicted -a time to which John in the spirit was transported, as all the seven heads will have been and have ceased to be, he could most intelligibly assert, that "the beast which thou sawest was," and until elected to his new sphere by the ten kings might further say, "the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven." But, had it been as some hold, that the expression, "the beast that was," meant that he had already lived and died as one of those of whom St. John wrote, "five are fallen," we should the rather have expected to read, "The beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the fire," instead of "of the seven.” It is not, however, possible to limit the mode of interpretation set forth in the proposition" the beast that was before John's day, must be one of the five that had fallen," to the subject contained in the 17th chapter: if it is admissible at all, it must include a wider range; for seals, trumpets, and vials, and the fearful visitations symbolically represented under them, are all narrated by the Apostle in the past tense ;-ay, and the thousand years of rest and peace and bliss, and the general resurrection and judgment, yes, and the descent of the new Jerusalem-all are described as if they had existed too. [Some passages of a palpably exceptional character will be noticed before we conclude this paper.] Of course, if the exposition here combated were the true one, the possibility of the eighth head being the resuscitated seventh were at an end; while, if the counter-argument adduced be sound, that possibility will still be admitted to compete with others; and if, as many students of the prophetic word believe, it can bring the largest sum of proba In "The Elements of Prophetical Interpretation," by the Rev. Canon BROOKS, author of "Abdiel's Essays," in discussing the identity of the beast that persecutes the two witnesses, he writes, "The beast that thou sawest was and is not. I believe the time intended to be indicated as present, in reference to the action and circumstances of that vision, is not the time when the apostle sees the vision, but the time of THE JUDGMENT OF THE GREAT WHORE, which is the title or subject matter of the vision, as expressed in verse 1." The italics and capitals are Mr. Brooks's. P. 459. May 1, 1868. bilities in its favour, it is likely to be the one most generally accepted. And as our friends of contrary opinion agree with us in the view, that "the judgment of the great whore" was yet future, so we hold that the time when it could be said "the beast that thou sawest was and is not " was future too, in the time of the Apostle John: though he described what had been exhibited to his view in the past tense, as any one of us would describe any scenic representation of events, whether supposed to have already transpired or to be the predicted fulfilments yet to come. Nor is it easy in any other way to understand how the Apostle could have been addressed, "Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter." (Rev. iv. 1.) To this argument we anticipate further objections, probably in some such terms as these, "Well, maintaining that the beast that was and is not' had not existed as one of the five 'fallen kings,' you of course also hold that none of these had existed, and so none of them had yet fallen when the Apostle wrote." At first sight this objection may seem fair; and the conclusion to which it would shut us up, a hard one to escape from; let us see. In the meaning of the vision of the Great Whore and the Beast, John was instructed by the Angel who "carried him away into the wilderness" for the purpose. Hence the language of a demonstrator, "the beast which thou sawest" (v. 8.); "and the ten horns which thou sawest, (v. 12), "and the waters which thou sawest" (v. 15); but a very different style of address is interjected at v. 9, "The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth"; and this is prefaced with the remarkable declaration "and here is the mind which hath wisdom." What can this mean ?-this interruption to the demonstration by the Angel? Is it not to show, that a fact so well known in the Roman world as the city sitting on seven hills, and indeed the further fact stated in v. 10, "there are seven kings," (seven kinds of kings or sovereigns); five are fallen, and one is and one is not yet come," needed not the supernatural teaching of the angel, since they were within the Apostle's own personal knowledge-the knowledge or wisdom (Greek, sophia) of his own mind. These facts would probably be thus supplied to afford a key to the enigma of the chapter; and in doing this John was literally complying with the terms of his commission, "Write the things which thou hast (? shalt have) seen, and the things which are." (Rev. i. 19.) That such facts were well known, it is not easy to doubt, when we know that one of John's imperial masters, Vespasian, issued a coin with the device "Rome seated on seven hills; at the base Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf; before, the Tiber personified." It is figured in Gesnerii "Numismata," Tab. lvii. Cf. Vaillant, p. 30. Again, its description by the writers of the Apostle's time was e polis e heptalophos-the seven-hilled city; while Virgil wrote of it Ovid, "Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit arces"; "Sed que de septem totum circumspicit orbem and such expressions of the Roman poets might be multiplied. Of the May 1, 1868. forms of regal government to which Rome had been subject, it is likely that St. John was as cognisant as of its notorious physical characteristics. Of this intermixture of the supernatural with the natural acquirements of the Apostles, their writings afford more than this one example. St. Paul, in 1 Cor. vii. v. 6, 12, 25, 26, 40, thus mixes up statements of his own opinion with inspired knowledge, or, as he terms it, the "commandment of the Lord" (v. 25); and possibly other instances may occur to the mind of the reader. There is another palpable instance of change of time and place occupied by the several events of the Apostle's record in Rev. xix., where in v. 2 it is written as part of the vision of John "he hath judged the great whore, &c."; while in v. 10 we read "I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, &c.," where we have the first passage referrible to the judgment not then accomplished, while the prostration before the demonstrating angel was a fact occurring in the life of the Apostle in Patmos, but both are spoken of in the past tense. For the reasons stated we feel unable to acknowledge that "the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition," Rev. xvii. 8-10, had in St. John's time already existed as one of the five kings that are described in v. 10, as fallen. Nor, again, do we feel compelled to refer the circumstances as regards the time of them-of v. 9 and 10 to the same period of commencement, viz., "the judgment of the Great Whore." It may be, that our reasons will not satisfy those who have adopted a contrary opinion-an opinion which, nearly thirty years ago, had weight with the writer; but even if our interpretation of v. 9, 10 be rejected, we do not see how the eighth head beast can be one of the five fallen kings, who in that case, it might still be contended, had all yet to exist, if their time of so doing could only be dated from "the judgment of the Great Whore." We shall await with interest any other explanation that our friends may offer. Meanwhile, that God "the Spirit of Truth" will guide us and those who cannot think with us into all truth, prays The Author of "THE REVELATION UNRAVELLED." WAITING FOR THE ADOPTION. THE figure of adoption, as it is generally understood, is not sufficient, when taken alone, to express the relationship in which believers in the Lord Jesus stand to God as their father. We speak of a child who possesses no blood-relationship to a man, being adopted into his family. But believers in the Lord Jesus are "born of God," and are one with the Son of God, possessors of his life, so that one spiritual life is found in Him and in them. He is the Head, and we the members of the one body. He is "the first-born," and we the younger-born of the May 1, 1868. great eternal family of God. How blessed, however feeble and unworthy, to have a place in that family! The Holy Ghost, by Paul, tells believers that they are "all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." (Gal. iii. 26.) And the same authority, by John, says to believers, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God," and in the chapter from which I have taken the words at the head of this paper, we find that believers are said to have received the spirit of adoption, whereby they cry " Abba Father." What, then, can the words "waiting for the adoption," mean? We are said to be already the sons " of God, and to have received "the spirit of adoption." And yet we are said to be waiting for the adoption. The difference between spirit and body, between what is secret and openly manifested, explains the matter. Now, indeed, are we who believe, the sons of God, but the world knoweth us not, even as it knew Him not, who is the only begotten of the Father. But it shall not be always so. Both He the first-begotten, and we the younger-born, shall be manifested and known to all. This is what we wait for, and not we alone. But the irrational creation around us waiteth for this. "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." And when will this revelation of the sons of God take place? Let the Scripture reply. "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only it, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." When the believer's body is redeemed from the power of the grave, then shall the groaning and travailing not only of those who possess the first-fruits of the spirit, but of the whole creation, cease. For this glorious era the Church hopes with sure and certain hope, and for this the very brutes around us groan. "For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." But do we ask, when shall the glory of the children of God come? the Scripture in this place, as in so many other places, unequivocally answers, At their manifested adoption, to wit, the redemption of their bodies.' But the Lord Himself must descend from heaven ere that can be. (1 Thess. iv.) When they spring forth from their graves at the "shout" of his quickening voice, wearing his likeness, then shall that which has been so long a secret be manifested, and they, too, like their Head, shall be declared or marked off as the sons and heirs of God by resurrection from the dead. "Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." (1 Cor. xv. 23.) For that glorious advent all wait-those who from the beginning of the world have believed on Him to life everlasting (for all the redeemed are his, and beside Him there is no Redeemer, and apart from his blood no redemption), as well as those who at this day also believe, and "the whole creation" too, waits for Him. Even we who have received the first-fruits of the Spirit-i.e., the first-fruits of that gracious power of the Holy Ghost, which after the judgments of his appearing, shall be manifested here-cven we groan within our |