“And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and the Tenth of the City fell. ”
An earthquake, in symbolic language, is a shaking of “the earth,” which, in the political system of the world, is representative of the com
mon people. It answers to the phrase, a democratic and social revolution. There was to be a Great Democratic Revolution “in that hour,” characterized by the ascent of the political witnesses of Jesus “in the Cloud” of Deputies “into the heaven,” to the great alarm of all interested in the abuses and corruptions of Church and State. The events of that hour have since come to be spoken of as “the Great French Revolution,” which has hitherto surpassed all others.
As the result of this great political convulsion, “the Tenth of the City fell.” Not the other nine tenths of the Great City, which would have been the fall of the Great City itself; but of one tenth thereof. All the tenths are to continue unfallen, with the exception of the tenth before us, until after the advent of Christ, and the resurrection of his brethen. Then the Great City itself will fall, and be “found no more at all.” Its thrones will all be “cast down,” and not merely shaken; and the kingdoms which acknowledged their sovereignty will be taken possession of by Christ and his resurrected brethren.
The ten tenths of the Great City are symbolized in Daniel by the Ten Toes of the metallic image seen by Nebuchadnezzar; and by the Ten Horns seen by Daniel and John in their visions of the Fourth-Beast system of powers, commonly styled the European Commonwealth, acknowledging the Papal Supremacy. They are the Ten Kingdoms of the Great City, situated south and west of
the Rhine and Danube. Until the late temporary development of the
Kingdom of Italy, and as the re-
s?DaraTedtP[hee|Sit9n °f-*lr Sw‘eSG^neral in failles. The membersofeach^SrT^ freSS theyyftre compeHedto wear. But when the deputies of the Commons failed to obtain from the King the concessions they demanded they made ^ way to an indoor tennis-court where they took an oath “never to separate” untill an a? ceptable constitution was established “on solid foundations” for proper and equitable zJt- ^nTeTh°! ^£ nat/,<?n' Made fearfy* by this show of force, the King agreed to grant conces-
suit of the Treaty of Vienna A.D. 1815, modified by the revolution of 1832, they were Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Bavaria, Hungary, Lombardy, Naples, and Sardinia. The Italian Duchies, Venice, and Switzerland, though upon the territory of the Great City, are not reckoned as horns, because their executives are not diademed. The order of things existing in 1865 is exceptional, and therefore only provisional. Bavaria, Hungary, and Lombardy, with the Roman States of the Church, are concorded with the Little Horn, or Catholic Germany. This symbolic order, however, is disturbed by the ambition of “the Earth,” or revolutionary element of the Great City. Lombardy, Naples, and Sardinia, with the Duchies, and without Rome, is the unsymbolic order of things; and with France imperial instead of a simple diademed tenth. This arrangement of the city, I apprehend, will not last long[1]. It contains in it elements of conflict, which will probably result in a threefold division of powers, after the advent of Christ (Apoc. 16:19). Nevertheless, these powers continue to be styled “the ten horns, or kingdoms, which receive power as kings one hour with the beast; to whom, with one mind, they give their power and strength” (Apoc. 17:12,13). Ten has been the predominant number of the papal kingdoms; and, therefore, though they may vary at times, as the vision does not follow them in all their history, they are symbolically indicated as the Ten. Of these, France is the most conspicuous in its relation to the witnesses. It is therefore styled kat exochen, “the Tenth of the City,” which was overthrown as a Diademed Horn by the executioners of the national justice upon the king, nobles and clergy — the class-murderers of the saints.
[1] Since Eureka was published, dramatic events have taken place in Europe in accordance with the expectations of its Author. In 1957, the Pact of Rome was signed that brought into existence the Common Market in Western Europe, in contrast to the Warsaw Pact of Communist countries east of the Iron Curtain. This has effectively divided the Continent into two parts answering to the feet of the Image (Dan. 2) upon which the confederacy of the last days must ultimately rest. In Exposition of Daniel, Bro. Thomas wrote: “Whilst the head, breast, arms, belly, thighs, legs and toes have all existed, the feet have not yet been formed; so that it has hitherto been impossible for the colossal Image to stand erect as Nebuchadnezzar saw it in his dream. It is, therefore, the mission of the Autocrat to form the feet and set up the Image before the world in all its excellent brightness, and terribleness of form; that all men subject to the Kingdom of Babylon may worship the work of its creator’s power ...” It would appear that the “feet” of the Image are today being formed in the manner in which Europe is divided and confederated into two parts: east and west. Though Bro. Thomas may have been a little sanguine in regard to the time in which his expectations would be fulfilled, the basis of his expositions is sound, so that they are being vindicated today. We can rejoice that the Lord did not come at the time he anticipated he would, and that the work Bro. Thomas commenced in these latter days of “preparing a people for the Lord” has continued to our days so long after his death. — Publishers.