iewing the beast as the
symbol of the church of Rome. And it is remarkable, that through the
power of local and political bias, those commentators who themselves
perceive that the beast of the sea in chapter xiii. 1, symbolizes the
Roman _empire_, lose sight of their _own exposition_ when they arrive at
the place before us! And of this bias and inconsistency they seem to be
wholly unconscious! No, there has never yet appeared in the symbolic
heaven a minister or ecclesiastical organization, which has
authoritatively denounced everlasting punishment against all who
"receive the mark of the beast." It is to be noticed here that the sins
charged are _cumulative_, not _distributive_. Guilt is contracted as
here charged, by "worshipping the beast and his image, and receiving his
mark." If the beast signify immoral civil power, and his image signify
the Papacy, as we have seen they do, then it follows that worshipping
both, and receiving the mark of the former, constitute the special guilt
here charged by the angel: that is, eulogizing, praising, and actively
co-operating with civil and ecclesiastical society, at war with the
Bible--in organized hostility to the Lord and his Anointed. (Ps. ii. 9.)
"Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth
mischief by a law?" (Ps. xciv. 20.) But during the 1260 years, the
secular imperial beast consists of "kingdoms of this world" in alliance
with the beast of the earth, (ch. xiii. 1, 11.) And as both are for
their crimes consigned to utter destruction, so in the time of the
"third angel," every individual is threatened with everlasting
punishment, who identifies with them. "No _temporal_ judgments on
_collective_ bodies can be the fulfilment of this awful denunciation,
which evidently relates to _individuals_, and to each individual who is
guilty; and if words can convey the idea of eternal punishment, it is
here denounced."[10] The words in the original, translated "for ever and
ever," (v. 11,) are the strongest in the Greek language to signify
eternity, and are not susceptible of any other meaning.

As already intimated, the special mission and awful message of this
angel is yet future; but the testimony of his predecessor will have made
the tyranny, idolatry, immorality and profligacy of civil despots and
mercenary ministers so palpable and glaring, that the vengeance of the
Lord proclaimed by the last messenger will appear to be just. In this
way the "two witn