Roman
governor. Rome, which then ruled over all the earth, Luke 2:1, was the
responsible party in this transaction. Rome was the only power which at
this time could be symbolized in prophecy, as its dominion was
universal. It is not without good reason, therefore, that Pagan Rome is
considered among Protestant commentators to be the power indicated by
the great red dragon. And it may be a fact worth mentioning that during
the second, third, fourth, and fifth centuries of the Christian era,
next to the eagle, the dragon was the principal standard of the Roman
legions; and that dragon was painted red.

There is but one objection we need pause to answer before passing to
the'next symbol. Is not the dragon plainly called in verse 9, the devil,
and Satan? How then can it be applied to Pagan Rome? That the term
dragon is primarily applied to the devil, there seems to be no doubt;
but that it should be applied also to some of his chief agents, would
seem to be appropriate and unobjectionable. Now Rome being at this time
pagan, and the supreme empire of the world, was the great, if not almost
the sole, agent in the hands of the devil for carrying out his purposes.
Hence the application of that term to the Roman power.

The next symbol to engage our attention is the leopard beast of chapter
13, to which the dragon gives his seat, his power, and great authority.
It would be sufficient on this point to show to what power the dragon,
Pagan Rome, transferred its seat and gave its power. The seat of any
government is certainly its capital city. The city of Rome was the
dragon's seat. But in A.D. 330, Constantine transferred the seat of
empire from Rome to Constantinople; and Rome was given up to what? To
decay, desolation, and ruin? No; but to become far more celebrated than
it had ever before been, not as the seat of pagan emperors, but as the
city of St. Peter's successors, the seat of a spiritual hierarchy which
was not only to become more powerful than any secular prince, but
through the magic of its fatal sorcery was to exercise dominion over the
kings of the earth. Thus was Rome given to the papacy; and the decree of
Justinian, issued in 533, and carried into effect in 538, constituting
the pope the head of all the churches and the corrector of heretics, was
the investing of the papacy with that power and authority which the
prophet foresaw.

It is very evident, therefore, that this leopard beast is a symbol of
the papacy.