.) As the devil
possessed the serpent to deceive the mother of mankind, so, with the
same malevolent design, he possessed himself of the whole political and
ecclesiastical power of the Roman empire, thereby to deceive and destroy
the "seed of the woman," all true believers. His color is _red_,
denoting his character as cruel and blood-thirsty. Sir Isaac Newton
considers the dragon as symbolical of the Greek Christian empire of
Constantinople. Scott thinks this symbol represents the pagan Roman
empire; while others suppose the British government to answer the
symbol, because of the scarlet costume of her officers and soldiers!
Thus, inspired symbols may mean any thing suggested to the imaginations
of men, not by the text or context, but by their respective and
conflicting political prejudices. Surely, if the red color signify any
thing besides _cruelty_, it may be discerned with equal clearness in the
scarlet cloaks of _Pope_ and _Cardinals_. As "heaven" is to be taken in
an ecclesiastical sense, so are the "stars," (ch. i. 20,--) "the angels
of the churches," ministers of the gospel.--As the Saracenic locusts and
the Euphratean horses had stings and hurtful power in their tails, (ch.
ix. 10, 19;) so it is with this dragon. The destructive influence of
Mahometan delusion and papal idolatry, operated as a fatal poison in the
souls of men. The judgments of the past woes left many still in a state
of impenitence, (ch. ix. 20, 21.) "The leaders of this people caused
them to err," by inculcating submission to existing corrupt civil power.
The "little horn" of Daniel, as first rendered visible in the person of
the brutal Phocas, began to be addressed in language of most fulsome and
degrading flattery, which seems to be copied till the present time. That
we may see how mercenary and aspiring ecclesiastics paid court to civil
despots from the commencement of the famous 1260 years, let the
following instance serve for a sample. Addressing the monster Phocas,
Pope Gregory, as the mouth of the clergy and laity,[4] uses this
language: "We rejoice that the benignity of _your piety_(!) has reached
the pinnacle of imperial power. Let the heavens he glad and the earth
rejoice."--Now let us hear the character of Phocas from the pen of an
infidel:--"Ignorant of letters, of laws, and even of arms, he indulged
in the supreme rank a more ample privilege of lust and drunkenness.--The
punishment of the victims of his tyranny was imbittered by th