Page:Mahometanism in its relation to prophecy - or, an inquiry into the prophecies concerning antichrist, with some reference to their bearing on the events of the present day (IA mahometanisminit00philrich).pdf/156

 chapter is said to have "seven heads, and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems:" whereas the beast that comes up out of the sea in the thirteenth chapter, is said to have "seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten diadems."

How, then, can these two beasts be the same?

Again, the Prophet assigns a chronological difference to them also.

The red dragon, with its seven heads and ten horns, failing in its onslaught on the woman, the devil subsequently takes his stand "on the sand of the sea," as we have already seen. And the Prophet tells us that he saw the result of that, in the coming of a beast "out of the sea."

Now, the pagan Roman empire arose long before the date of St. John's vision. Its twelfth emperor, Domitian, was reigning at the time, and what St. John is here describing is evidently posterior not only to Domitian, but to the conversion of Constantine.

This beast, then, in the thirteenth chapter, cannot refer to the pagan Roman empire. What is it then?

The learned Anglican, Bishop Newton, suggests another interpretation, which, with much ingenuity, he endeavours to establish.