# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1855 03 13_S116
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

116

seen. Moreover, the bloodthirsty countenance of the infernal lion looked forth from it.

"and out of their mouths," etc. — V. 18. "which issued out of their mouths" and V. 19. "For their power is in their mouth" —: Other conquerors too have gained great power, but the beginning was at least a lawful seat of rule or marshal's staff, and what fell to them was driven into their hands by fear of their sword, or hoped for riches, power and protection; but Mohammed began with nothing, was no prince, nor general, but a merchant, and conquered by his lying tongue, as to this very day the Turks have their strength in fanaticism.

V. 19. "for their tails were like unto serpents" etc. —: Of the Arabs of Mohammed's race there were the fewest who filled three quarters of the earth with terror before the crescent; what made this scourge so dreadful were the tails: the peoples who, once they had tasted the lure of the false prophet, in whose mouth are "fire" (signifying burning zeal), "smoke" (represents the darkness which the fumes of such false doctrine spread) and "brimstone" (image of the lusts to which Mohammed pandered with his lie, and at the same time mirror of the infernal damnation into which the devil, through his servant, enticed "ten thousand times ten thousand"), of their own inward impulse of the flesh, without compulsion, attached themselves as a tail to the robber horde, and with it soon grew together into one hideous dragon's body, to the honor of the thousand-artist Satan.

"and had heads" —: Mohammed and his successors left behind mighty kingdoms. That was what remained behind, as the "tails," of such a monster. Even the last, weakest remnant could not deny its descent. All together it was and remained a brood of serpents. Otherwise whatever is unclean in its origin is wont, under the chastening hand of the Lord, to be ennobled in time. This devil's seed has not changed: the tail is like the head and has no other destiny in history than to do harm.

V. 20. "And ... repented not" etc. —: from this one sees into what time the plague falls. One went on building at the idol temple of the papacy, indeed began in earnest only now.

V. 21. The Roman abomination cannot be better described than is done in this verse. "murders, sorceries, fornication, and thefts." — The darkness into which the Mohammedan firebrand is hurled is more dreadful than the uncanny flickering of the latter.

The beginning and end of this vision (V. 13 and the close, V. 20, 21) thus already mirror what follows, as the high mountain peaks on the rim of the horizon frame the landscape that lies before them, and both at the beginning of the journey engage the eye of the wanderer who would climb them more than the plain through which his foot passes, and also at the end his gaze again rests on them. Accordingly there appeared of the mountain range at which we have now arrived, V. 13, first the head of idolatry, wrapped in white mist of gleaming splendor; afterwards it appears now, V. 20, 21, as it rises from the lowland, in its earthy nature.

The Tenth Chapter.

The antichristian papacy appears here in the likeness of a strong angel, who comes down from heaven and has the form of Christ. Without figure: In the papacy the devil will disguise himself as an angel of light (cf. 2 Cor. 11:14; Col. 2:18), pretending that his lies are revelations of God, heavenly wisdom, and by God's permission have great power, to make fools of the world with this deceit. He will be "clothed with a cloud," that is: he will glitter, hover high above the life of common Christians with great devotion of self-chosen services, be almost unapproachable for an ordinary child of God, and so pitch his castle in the air. As ape of Christ he will have "a rainbow upon his head," as the Pope, according to the will of the devil, so behaves as if he were the possessor of the grace which is represented here under the sign of the rainbow, and as if it passed from him to those to whom he bestowed it. And quite as though he were Christ (cf. Rev. 1:16), "his countenance as the sun" will shine. So the Pope himself called himself the sun, the civil magistracy on the other hand the moon, and arrogated to himself the government in all the world, even as the sun is not confined to the boundaries of countries. "His feet," however, are "as pillars of fire": for he stands firm, namely in hell, and maintains his dominion by ordinances which torment the consciences like fire.

V. 2. "he had in his hand a little book open" —: in his hand it is, that is: as much as he will, his people may know. Then it is also "open," that is, intelligible and agreeable to common human reason. All depends on this, that the Pope get the knowledge into his hand. Whoever once yields to the Pope the dominion over conscience, to him one can prove any Roman error. — The prohibition of the Bible could not be more aptly satirized. A little book is open, the Book of books shut, because "his hand" will not open it.

"and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth": — His dominion extends farther over the sea, into the distance, than in the land where he has, as it were, pitched his court, as the Pope counts for most where he never lets himself be seen. If one thinks of the "sea" as the spread of Christianity among the heathen, it is thereby given to understand that the Pope will strive to bring into his power everything that confesses Christ and still gives hope of accepting the Christian name. So Boniface, for example, first had to swear that he would bring the unconverted peoples under the Roman yoke before he received the papal confirmation for his missionary labor. But it is also granted us to understand by the "sea" the domain on which the ship of the Church sails, that is, the churchly order and government in general. Then this line contains the dreadful prophecy that the Pope will subject both the Church ("sea") and the civil order ("earth") to his dominion. — Thus earthly power and might is the prize of the chair at Rome. A fine counterpart of the Church, which bears the motto: "Our conversation is in heaven; on earth we are strangers and pilgrims!" and of the LORD, who had not where to lay His head.

V. 3. "And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth" —: A mighty preacher, but of the infernal lion, who goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Here one is to think of the papal bulls of excommunication.

What is now said in this and the following verse of the "seven thunders" can be understood either of the wrath of God, which is to be revealed in its time in terrible judgments upon the papacy and therefore is first sealed up, so that only a few in the light of the Holy Spirit, as members of the invisible Church, perceive something of it in secret; or it refers to the secret wickedness of Antichrist (cf. 2 Thess. 2:7). If one is pleased with the latter, the following explanation of the words may be admitted:

"seven thunders uttered their voices:" — The Pope's fearful power awakens for him serviceable spirits, which raise the treasures of the depths of Satan, to terrify the souls (thunder). The number seven then refers to the mysterious, sorcerous doctrine of the Papists and at the same time indicates the Antichristian, which apes the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

V. 4. "Seal up" —: the dregs of the antichristian pool and its enchantment do not come here to light, and are also too horrible to be described in the Revelation.

V. 5 — 7. Just as the papacy breaks through all other barriers with its usurped power, so it also regards not the limits which otherwise time sets to every dominion. Against the threatening waves of higher insight of coming generations it arms itself with so much the bolder abuse of the divine name. It rams the piles deeper in, which bear its palace, the more one shakes at them. Not one of its claims does it give up. So it goes on to the last day.

"that there should be time no longer" — means also this much, that this will be the last deceit. With the papacy the world shall come to an end.

V. 8. — 10. The papistical doctrine goes down smoothly, but afterwards causes terrible pain in the conscience and at last prepares for the souls everlasting hell-torment.

V. 11. The next effect of the papistical doctrine is thus that it teaches to despise the old missionary work of the Apostles and fills its adherents with a new zeal for conversion. For the wolf is not content that the shepherd has found the sheep; he must run after them as well.