and he causeth the earth, or nations of the Dragon’s kingdom, to worship the first Beast, whose deadly wound was healed, that is, to be of his religion. And he doth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men; that is, he excommunicateth those who differ from him in point of religion:  for in pronouncing their excommunications, they used to swing down a lighted torch from above. And he said to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the Beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live; that is, that they should call a Council of men of the religion of this Beast. And he had power to give life unto the image of the Beast, that the image of the Beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the Beast should be killed, viz. mystically, by dissolving their Churches. And he causeth all both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right band or in their foreheads, and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the Beast, or the number of his name; that is, the mark [Cross], or the name [Greek:  LATEINOS], or the number thereof [Greek:  chxs], 666.  All others were excommunicated.

When the seven Angels had poured out the seven vials of wrath, and John had described them all in the present time, he is called up from the time of the seventh vial to the time of the sixth seal, to take a view of the woman and her Beast, who were to reign in the times of the seventh seal.  In respect of the latter part of time of the sixth seal, then considered as present, the Angel tells John:  The Beast that thou sawest, was and is not, and shall ascend out of the abyss, and go into perdition; that is, he was in the reign of Constans and Magnentius, until Constantius conquered Magnentius, and re-united the Western Empire to the Eastern.  He is not during the reunion, and he shall ascend out of the abyss or sea at a following division of the Empire.  The Angel tells him further:  Here is the mind which hath wisdom:  the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth; Rome being built upon seven hills, and thence called the seven-hilled city. Also there are seven Kings:  five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space:  and the Beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.  Five are fallen, the times of the five first seals being past; and one is, the time of the sixth seal being considered as present; and another is not yet come, and when he cometh, which will be at the opening of the seventh seal, he must continue a short space:  and the Beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, by means of the division of the Roman Empire into two collateral