“2. And his Mouth as the Mouth of a Lion. 5. And there was given unto him (the Beast of the Sea) a Mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. 6. And he opened his Mouth in blasphemy concerning the Deity, to have blasphemed his Name, and his Tabernacle, and those who tabernacle in the heaven. ”
Every living, and many inanimate, things, have their mouth in a literal or figurative sense. In man, it is the hollow between the jaws, shut or opened by the lips, which are, therefore styled “the doors of the mouth.” In him, it is the outlet of that which defiles, or of wisdom, graciousness, and blessing. It is that which proceedeth out of the mouth by which the character of the inward man is in a great degree determined. A man whose mouth speaks the wisdom of the Deity, gracious words, and blessing, and whose conduct is in conformity with what he speaks, is one whose heart is right with the Deity, and from which no blasphemy can find utterance: “the heart of the wise teacheth his mouth,” therefore, “the mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talk- eth of judgment” (Prov. 16:23; Psa. 37:30).
But the Mouth of the Beast evidently doth not belong to mouths of this class; for it “speaks blasphemies concerning the Deity.” Hence, the heart of the Beast must be desperately wicked; for “out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh.” The character of the inward Beast, therefore, or of that system of things spiritual and temporal, doctrinal, practical and political, hidden in the symbols before us, must be essentially “the Mystery of Iniquity in all the deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish” (2 Thess. 2:7,10). The Mouth of the Beast is the mouth of the wicked in their politico-religious organization. It is a mouth which “speaketh vanity,” and “poureth out evil things:” the words thereof “are smoother than butter, but war is in their heart; their words are softer than oil, yet are they drawn swords.” With this Mouth “the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom Yahweh abhorreth. Through the pride of his countenance he will not seek, the Deity is not in all his thoughts. His ways are always grievous; thy judgments, O Yahweh! are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved; for I shall never be in adversity. His Mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and fraud; under his tongue is mischief and vanity. He sitteth in the lurking-places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent; his eyes are privily set against the poor. He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den; he lieth in wait to catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. He croucheth and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones. He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: He hideth his face; he will never see it” (Psa. 10:3-11). If John had written this as descriptive of the Lion-Mouth of the Beast, nothing could have more accurately recorded what have been the facts developed in the many centuries of its wickedness and blasphemies. The words proceeding out of it have been “softer than oil” towards its worshippers; but they have been “drawn swords” against the poor saints and witnesses of the anointed Jesus. He has puffed at his enemies; for, though but feeble in arms, he has set the most powerful of his enemies at defiance; and by his spiritual thunders reduced them to the most abject submission. The Name of Blasphemy speaking by his Lion-Mouth, declares the eternity of his rule; and that he shall “see no sorrow” from which he shall not ultimately be delivered: “He saith in his heart, I shall not be moved; for I shall never be in adversity” (Apoc. 18:7); and, as for cursing, deceit, fraud, mischief and vanity, his mouth is indeed full; for in the atmosphere of these he lives, and moves, and has his being. The judgments of the Deity are indeed “out of his sight” far above him. He discerns them not. This is highly characteristic of him at the present time. Even his worshippers are hating him, and making him desolate and naked, as it has long since been predicted they would (Apoc. 17:16); yet so blind are his eyes with which he surveys the world, and so infatuate and unteachable his obdurate and beastly heart from his long surfeit and intoxication of blood (verse 6), that he can see nothing; so that, persisting in his obstinacy, the fate of the blind when they undertake to lead the blind, will come upon him in an hour when he thinks only of future glory, and he will suddenly “go into perdition,” and there will be none to help.
When a man becomes a spokesman for another he is regarded as a mouth to him. This was the case with Aaron. He was appointed for a mouth to Moses, who was slow of speech, and of a slow tongue; and Moses was to be to him in the place of God (Exod. 4:16). Hence, Aaron was Moses’ prophet, who spoke as he was moved by Moses. So of all in old time who spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit; they became mouths to Him who moved them to speak; and therefore, it is written, “the Deity spake to the fathers by the prophets.” There were such mouths of the Deity in the ecclesia at Corinth. They were styled prophets, and their utterances, prophesyings; or, speaking unto men to “edification, and exhortation, and comfort” (1 Cor. 14:3). And so also in relation to the worshippers of the Beast. They needed a Prophet to teach and build them up in their superstition, and to be for them a bond of union in all things pertaining to it. As they designated their superstition “the Holy Catholic Apostolic,” they required a Prophet, who should be the Mouth of that system; and would expound and defend it against the Holy Scriptures, Deity Himself, and all who claimed to be His witnesses. The utterances of this Mouth would be his prophesyings; and by no means to be despised by those who should enjoy the favor of the Beast; or, of that Name of Blasphemy upon his heads. The requirements of the worshippers were provided for by the Dragon, who gave them “a Mouth speaking great things and blasphemies”; and to the Mouth himself, he “gave authority over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations;” so that “all that dwell upon the (Mediterranean) earth should worship him, whose names are not written, from the foundation of the world, in the book of the life of the Lamb slain.” To these millions of worshippers, upon whom the Deity sent “a strong delusion that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” — the Mouth given became the spokesman of Anti-christendom — “the Mouth of the False Prophet,” or Name of Blasphemy—(Apoc. 16:13; 19:30). He is styled a false prophet, because his utterances, or prophesyings, are mere fraud, deceit, and vanity; because the signs, and lying wonders wrought in the presence of the Beast-authorities by him, are an imposture, and his preaching, allocutions, decrees, and so forth, the falsehoods of a lying oracle, by which they are deceived who have received the mark of the beast, and who worship his image (Apoc. 19:20). His end is perdition by being “cast alive into the Lake of Fire burning with brimstone.”
A Name of Blasphemy with Eyes only, might look more stoutly and defiantly than its fellows; but, however full it might be of “great things and blasphemies,” it could give no expression to them without a mouth. We have seen how Aaron was Moses’ Mouth, or prophet; so, upon a like principle, the reigning Pope for the time being is the Mouth, or Prophet, of the Name of Blasphemy; and therefore, of “the broad church,” which is the National Superstition of all the Horn-Kingdoms. The Eyes and the Mouth, then, of Daniel’s Little Horn, though in his vision placed in that horn only, represent a sovereign order of ecclesiastical officials, the Papal Dynasty, which is Eyes and Mouth both to the Ten Horns and to the Beast of the earth. Daniel says nothing of any other mouth pertaining to his Fourth Beast than this mouth of the Little Horn upon his head. He speaks of his “great iron teeth,” however; we must therefore, by the omission, no doubt designed, understand that these iron teeth belong to the Little Horn mouth. Iron is as'much the symbol of the power of Rome, as brass is of that of Constantinople. If the teeth had been of brass, we must have looked to Constantinople for the Mouth; but the teeth being of iron, our attention is directed to Rome. The teeth being of iron, also connects the Mouth with the iron section of
Nebuchadnezzar’s image; and the iron band of the Babylonian Stump (Dan. 4:15). This metal symbolizes the fourth dominion, as appears from ch. 2:40: “the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron; forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.” First, the Lion of Babylon, or the golden section of the image; then, the Bear of Medo- Persia, or the silver; third, the Leopard of Grecia, or the brazen; and •fourth, the Dragon of Rome, or the iron. These are the four general phases of “the kingdom of men,” from the time of Nimrod to the future coming of the Ancient of Days to supersede it by “the Kingdom of God.” The iron symbolizes the last: whether therefore it be a log, a band, a tooth, or a toe, if they be of iron, they are all related to the Latin section of the kingdom of men.
But, was the mouth, with its “great iron teeth,” like the mouth of a man? No: the human element of the thing signified, had been sufficiently indicated by “the Eyes, like the eyes of a man.” These represented a mystical man, the Antichrist. But, was he Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Latin, Turk, Jew, or infidel? This may be determined by the Mouth of the Monster of the Sea; for whatever the mouth is, such also is the man, or beast, that owns it. No; the mouth was not like the mouth of a man; “his Mouth,” says the apostle, “was as the mouth of a Lion,” and with “great iron teeth,” according to Daniel. It was therefore not only a Roman Mouth, but a Babylonian Mouth also: for the Lion is the symbol of the old Babylonian organization of the kingdom of men. Hence, his mouth was like the mouth of Daniel’s first beast; his feet like his second’s; and his body like that of his third. This symbolization connects Babylon with Rome. Had the teeth been silver and the mouth like that of a leopard, the Name of Blasphemy would have been Persian and Greek; but, as given by John and Daniel, it can only be Latin and Babylonian. The following remarks of Daubuz on the apocalyptic identity of Rome and Babylon are quite in point here:
“Babylon in the Revelation,” he says, “is Rome, not only on account of Rome’s being guilty of usurpation, tyranny, and idolatry, and of persecuting the church of God in the same manner as the old literal Babylon was, but also on the account of her being, by a successive devolution of power, the successor of the pretended rights of Babylon. The literal Babylon was the beginner and supporter of tyranny and idolatry, first by Nimrod or Ninus, and afterwards by Nebuchadnezzar; and therefore in Isaiah 47:12, she is accused of magical enchantments from her youth or infancy; namely, from the very first origin of her being a city or nation.
“This city and the whole empire thereof was taken by the Persians
under Cyrus. The Persians were subdued by the Macedonians, and the Macedonians by the Romans: so that succeeded to the power of
the old Babylon. And it was her way to adopt the worship of the false deities she had conquered: so that by her own acts she became the Heiress and Successor of all the Babylonian idolatry, and of all that was introduced into it, by the immediate successors of Babylon, and by consequence of all the idolatry of the earth.
“Rome Catholic, corrupted by dressing up the idolatry of Rome Pagan in another form, and forcing it upon the world, because the successor of the old literal Babylon in tyranny and idolatry, and may therefore be properly represented and called by the name of Babylon; it being the usual style of the prophets to give the name of the head, or first institution, to the successors, however different they may be in some circumstances; even as in Ezek. 37, the Messiah is called David, as being successor to David; and as the Christian church, though chiefly composed of Gentiles, is called, Gal. 6:16, by the name of Israel, as successively inheriting, in a spiritual sense, the promises made to the literal Israel. So Rachel, in Jer. 31:15, Matt. 2:18, is put for the town, or women inhabiting the town of Bethlehem, wherein was the sepulchre of the lit-
Roman Catholicism identified with Babylonian mythology. Hislop’s Two Babylons clearly demonstrates the links of Romanism with Paganism, and shows from the records of history and archaeology how the former superimposed the latter upon Apostolic Christianity. Pagan feasts and rites were given “Christian” names, and introduced into the worship of the church. The doctrines of Romanism exist in ancient Pagan religions; whereas the basic doctrines of the Scriptures do not. Basic to the teaching of Catholicism is the worship of the Mother and the Son. The following drawings, taken from Hislop’s Two Babylons identifies
eral Rachel, of which, consequently, those inhabitants were still in possession. And so the Persians and Moguls call the Ottoman Turks by the name of Roumi, i.e. Romans, because in possession of the country and capital enjoyed by the ancient Romans.
“Lastly, that Babylon is Rome is evident from the explanation given by the angel in Rev. 17:18, where it is expressly said to be that great city which ruleth over the kings of the earth: no other city but Rome being in the exercise of such power at the time when the vision was seen.”
The lion and the teeth, then, demonstrate beyond all doubt, that the Beast’s organ of utterance is Romano-Babylonian, having its seat, or throne, upon the Seven Heads, or Mountains. In other words, it is the Roman Government headed up in the Pope. This is the Name of Blasphemy, or blasphemous body-corporate, with its Eyes and Mouth, which has reigned over the Ten Horns for many ages. This sovereignty, like all others, had a beginning, as it will also have an end. It did not begin to reign as a Roman Power till all the Seven Heads of the Dragon- Beast had fulfilled their course; then that which hindered his manifestation would be totally and completely removed; for it is evident, that no Mouth like the Papal Government could co-exist in the same city with another sovereign power. Thus, if Rome were to become the capital of the kingdom of Italy, the Pope could only continue there as the Eyes and Mouth of the Horn-kingdoms without temporal sovereignty. Before these kingdoms were established, he was neither the Eyes nor Mouth of the Little Horn; but simply “Head of all the Churches” of the GraecoLatin, or Dragon, empire. He had no imperial or royal authority; but only that sort of influence that attaches to the Chief Bishop of the capital of a dominion. In A.D. 554, and onward for many years, the Universal Latin Bishop was subject to the Exarchs of Ravenna, the Viceroys of the Emperors of Constantinople, in all things secular; while in spirituals he was acknowledged by his lord and master to be supreme. In after ages, however, he became greater than he who had created him; and when he opened his mouth in the roarings of his blasphemy he made all the beasts of the field to tremble. His heart was lifted up as the heart of Lucifer in his pride; and with a truly Babylonian Mouth, in the stoutness of his presumption, said, “I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of Ail: I will sit also upon the Mount of the congregation in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High” (Isa. 14:12-14). But there is a limit to human arrogance and blasphemy. The Romano-Babylonian Mouth of the Beast has long since passed the zenith of self-exaltation and presumption; and is now but the shadow of a name. The fate of the Babylonian
Lucifer awaits him. He will be brought down to Sheol, to the sides of the pit; and though once the Mouth that made the world to tremble, and did shake kingdoms, he will be cast out as an abomination, and reproach of all peoples; for his dominion is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.