at the Papacy occupied from the time the dragon resigned in
favor of the beast (chap. 13:2) was his position of temporal power and
authority. In the following chapter the Papacy is described as _seated_
upon a ten-horned beast, the ten horns of which symbolized the kingdoms
of Europe. In this position it was able to exercise a guiding influence
over the European nations. We have already seen what great power the
Popes exercised in this direction during the Dark Ages. But the "beast"
of chapter 17 himself, as distinguished from his horns, symbolizes the
Holy Roman Empire, which was a revival of the old empire of the Caesars.
This revived "world-empire" was closely allied to the Papacy. When
Charlemagne, the Carlovingian king, restored the empire of the West, he
was crowned "Emperor of the Romans" by Pope Leo III., A.D. 800. "The
Popes made the descendants of Charles Martel kings and emperors; the
grateful Frankish princes defended the Popes against all their enemies,
imperial and barbarian, and dowering them with cities and provinces,
laid the basis of their temporal sovereignty, which continued for more
than a thousand years." After the decline of the Carlovingian power the
imperial authority was again revived by Otto the Great (962), who was
crowned Emperor of the Romans by the Pope. Henceforth the empire of the
West was termed the _Holy Roman Empire_. "From this time on it was the
rule that the German king who was crowned at Aachen had a right to be
crowned ... emperor at Rome." So the general rule was that the Popes
upheld the emperors, and the emperors sustained the Popes in their
position as the spiritual heads of the church and as temporal rulers
over the Papal states, which were granted them originally by the
donations of Pepin and Charlemagne.

In chapter 13 the civil powers of Europe and the ecclesiastical power of
Rome are not shown by a double symbol--a woman and a beast--as in
chapter 17, but are there represented by a combination of symbols drawn
from the departments of human life and animal life, which shows that a
politico-religious system is intended, as heretofore explained; hence
the term _beast_, as there used, signifies either the Papacy or the
civil power. Thus the term is used in the present chapter under
consideration, and has reference here to the beast as an ecclesiastical
power--the Papacy--and his "seat" refers to his temporal authority.

This vial, then, being poured out upon his seat, with t