he is not the mystery of iniquity, the man of fin, the son of perdition, the wicked of whom Paul fpeaks. Had John said of the beast that he was, and is not, but not alfo faid, " that he is," infidels might have said, as Paul and John were nearly cotemporary writers, and as the epiftles of John were written by the fame person who wrote this book, the Antichrift which was in John's day, and the mystery of iniquity, which was in Paul's day, could not be the beast of whom John wrote in the revelation, because he said of him "that he is not ;" but adding, "and yet he is," he fully obviates that objection. By this mode of expreffion he leads men to attend to the diftinction between the existence and the public appearance of a perfon; between the state of an heir apparent to a crown, and the actual coronation of that perfon, when he afcends the throne that had been left vacant for him by the demife of his predeceffor.

Verjes 9th, 10th, 11th.-And here is the mind, which hath wifdom. The feven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman fitteth, and there are feven kings. Five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh he muft continue a fhort space. And the beast that was Dd 2

and

and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the feven, and goeth into perdition.

"Here is the mind that hath wisdom." By this expreffion, as was formerly fhewn in the commentary on chap. xiii. 18, intimation is given to us, that what follows to the end of this chapter is a key to the preceding vifion of the woman and the beast; and therefore, that all the explanatory parts of it are to be taken in a literal and ordinary, not in a symbolical or prophetic sense. I have faid explanatory parts, because, as will be evident to every reader, the following verfes confift of two parts; first a fhort repetition of the different parts of the vifion of the woman and of the beast defcribed in verfes 3, 4, 5, 6. of this chapter, in which first part the language muft neceffarily be fymbolical; and fecond, the particular explication of that vifion, in which the whole language is literal and plain.

The feyen heads of the beast are the first part of the vifion which the angel explained unto John. The explication of this part is perfectly clear in the original, but is confiderably darkened by our tranflation. It is thus expreffed in the original, Α' έπτα κεφαλαι ὄρη ἐσιν έπτα, όπε ἡ γυνή καθηται ท ἐπ' αὐτῶν, καὶ βασιλεις έπτα έσιν. The literal tranflation of which is, "the feven heads are feven mountains, in the place where the woman fits upon "them,

them, and they are feven kings." By ending the fentence, as in our tranflation, at the word fitteth, and by beginning the next one thus," and

there are feven kings," the feven kings are feparated from their antecedent, and the verb are from its nominative; fo that it appears, as if the words" and there are feven kings" had no connection with the feven heads in the preceding. verfe. Whereas, it is clear from the original, that the feven heads are the antecedent both to the feven mountains and to the feven kings, and the nominative to both the verbs which precede the mountains and the kings.

Hence, nothing can be more evident than this explication. The feven heads are the fymbol of, and they fignify seven mountains, in that particular place on which the city is built, which is reprefented by the woman; and they fignify alfo feven kings, or diftinct forms of civil government, every one of which hath that city for its feat. It is univerfally known, that the city of Rome is built upon feven mountains. The following are their names, viz. Mons Palatinus, Coelius, Capitolinus, Aventinus, Quirinalis, Viminalis, and Efquilinus. By this very uncommon fituation, Rome was fo perfectly distinguished from every other city in the world, that both the Greek and Latin writers call her the city on the seven hills, ETTαλopos, and Urbs Septicollis; by which name, every reader under

ftood

ftood as perfectly that Rome was meant, as if they had read the word Rome itself.

Ovid, Trist. l. i. eleg. 4. thus defcribes the fituation of the city of Rome: "Que de feptem "totum circumfpicit orbem montibus, imperii Ro"ma Deumque locus." That is, "Rome the feat "of the gods and of empire, which surveys the "whole world from her feven mountains." That it is the city of Rome, literally and locally, which is meant, is evident not only from the defcription of its fituation, by the feven mountains, but alfo from the very uncommon mode of expreffion in the original language, which I have literally tranflated "in the place where the woman fits upon them;" by which expreffion, the locality of the city is fixed in as plain and ftrong terms as language can afford.

As Rome is in fact built upon feven hills, fo when we count the forms of government which have had their feat in that city, from the day in which Romulus founded the Roman empire to the prefent day, we fhall find them alfo exactly feven. A very eminent Roman hiftorian tells us, that in his day there had been five distinct forms of government in Rome; and it is univerfally known, that there have been just two more fince his time. Tacitus, Annal. 1. i. c 1. fays, "Rome was *first governed by Kings, then by Confuls, by Dictators, by Decemvirs, by Military Tribunes

"with confular authority." Since that time, there have been Emperors; and there are now Popes.

In verses 10th, 11th, the angel enters into a very particular narrative relative to these kings or forms of government; a narrative, which to those who are ignorant of the true meaning of the feven heads, and of the real history of Rome, will appear unintelligible and felf-contradictory. For of the beaft he fays, he is the eighth, and yet is one of the feven. Such perfons will fay, that it is felf-contradictory: how can the identical fame beaft be both the eighth and one of the seven? Form not fo rafh a judgement: Attend with candour to what follows; and I truft you shall perceive this unintelligible and contradictory part the moft intelligible, exact, and complete key to this part of the vifion that can be formed.

Of these kings, five are fallen. Before John's day the five fucceffive forms of government in Rome, by Kings, Confuls, Dictators, Decemvirs, and Military Tribunes with confular authority, were all paffed away. "And one is." Though thefe five forms of government were all paft, Rome was not in John's day in a state of anarchy, nor was the empire then diffolved; the imperial, the fixth form of government in Rome, was then in exiftence. Domitian one of thefe emperors, in a perfecution raised against Chriftians, banished John to the island of Patmos, in

the