"And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in its presence; and causeth that the earth and the dwellers therein worship the first beast, the plague of whose death was healed" - Verse 12.

It is evident, from the last clause of this verse, that "the first beast" referred to in that clause is not the whole of the Ten Horns, nor all the Seven Heads, but only one particular head. We are authorized to say this, because "the plague" is, in the third verse, affirmed of "one of the heads" of the Beast of the Sea - of only one of them. This is the special import of the phrase in this clause; but in the first clause of the text, "the first beast" must be understood in a more general sense. The Episcopal Power "exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in its presence" -enopion. Though the secular authority of the emperors of the Holy Roman dominion, on the accession of the Saxon line, did not extend over France, which is one of the ten horns, the episcopal authority of the dominion was dominant in all the countries of Europe. It may therefore be truly said, that the Episcopal Beast of the Earth exercised all the auhority of the first beast's horns "in its presence." This "presence" is illustrated by Daniel's Little Horn standing contemporaneously in the midst of the Ten Horns; and besides occupying its own German territory, also standing upon that of the Vandals, Lombards, and Huns. From these considerations, it is regarded in the prophecy as the chief authority among the powers of the imperial republic of the west. In fact, this thirteenth chapter is a symbolical exposition of the constitution of Modern Europe in its civil and ecclesiastical relations. It does not undertake to exhibit it in all the phases it has assumed in the course of over a thousand years; but only an heraldic representation sufficiently striking for a ready recognition by those servants of the Deity who have made them-selves acquainted with the things that have been, and those which do exist. The recognition of the "Holy Apostolic" Caesars by the hereditary monarchs of Europe, as the supreme majesty of their political system, as testified in the concluding words of the previous section, constituted their order "the Sun" of the European firmament. The reader will please bear this in mind, for it was upon this Sun that the Fourth Angel poured out his vial; and in so doing scorched men with fire (Apoc. 16:8,9).

Now, this Imperio-Episcopal, or Little Horn, power "causeth that the earth and the dwellers therein worship the first beast, the plague of whose death was healed." In other words, causeth that the tribes, and tongues, and nations referred to in the seventh verse, worship, or do homage to, the Sixth Head, or form of government, common to the Dragon and Beast of the Sea. The phase "the First Beast" is evidently elliptical; and stands for "the Sixth Head of the First Beast;" for this was the only head of the Seven that was healed, or restored to sovereignty in Rome.

The reestablishment of Imperialism upon the Seven Mountains, signalized by the coronation of Charlemagne, Emperor of the Romans, by the hand of the Chief Bishop of the New Empire, was the healing of the Sixth Head so grievously wounded by the Gothic sword. Rome was no longer in the rank to which she had been reduced by Justinian's 'Pragmatic Sanction" of A.D. 554. This ordinance placed her among the cities of the second rank in the Graeco-Roman, or Byzantine, empire; but by her becoming the capital of the Holy Romano-Francic, and afterwards Romano-Germanic, dominion, she was restored to the imperial, or dragonic, sovereignty; and the plague of her death was healed.

This was a great revolution in the fortunes of the so-called "Eternal City." By the restoration of Western Imperialism, an Eighth Form of Government, styled in Apoc .17.8, "the beast that was, and is not, yet is," was established upon the Seven Mountains. In the seventeenth chapter, the two-horned episcopal element of the Beast of the Earth is replaced by the Great Harlot Mother of the Churches of the Gentiles; while the secular element is expanded into the Scarlet-colored Beast, symbolical of Ezekiel's Magogian confederacy of powers, which is the last phase of Daniel's Fourth Beast - the Eighth Head in its final manifestation, which, John says, "is of the Seven, and goeth into perdition" - a confederacy in which the European imperiality and royalties combine against Christ, and the Saints in the war of the great day of God Almighty (Apoc. 17:14; 16:14; 19:19-21).

But the development of the Sixth Head of the Beast into the Eighth, was not only the healing of the plague of death, but it signalized the termination of the third part of the day, and the third part of the night, during which the third of the sun, moon, and stars of the Roman Firmament, Heaven, or Aerial, were to be darkened, or eclipsed, by the judgment of the Fourth Wind-Trumpet (Apoc. 8:12). This period of two hundred and forty years having elapsed, Charlemagne, the Sovereign of Rome and Italy, was no longer content with the substance of imperial authority, and the title of PATRICIAN OF ROME inherited from Pepin, which only represented the service and alliance of the Frank monarchs as Protectors of the Roman Pontiff and his church: he was ambitious of shining in the splendor of imperiality, as the coequal in the Roman Air of the Constantinopolitan emperors. This honor, however, he was providentially restrained from till the 240 years were expired; but after this, as have already seen, on Dec.25, 799, he added to his title ofPatri-cian, that of Augustus, and Emperor of the Romans. Thus the eclipse of the third of Rome's day ended, the plague of the first Beast's death was healed, and all of whom there hath not been written the names in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, were caused to wonder or adore (ch. 17:8).