The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

If our understanding of the angel's explanation of these seven heads is correct, then the
Victor Immanuel Dynasty, ruling since 1870, is the seventh head, and the next or eighth
form of the beast will be the beast without a head, which would be anarchy. It was in 1799
AD, that the beast under its Papal head, ceased to have power over God's true saints. It
was at this time that the "time, times and a half" of Dan. 7:25 and the "forty-two months" of
Rev. 13:5 ended. It was at this time that the judgments on the Papal system began in
earnest. These judgments began to be executed by Napoleon, and then followed a
checkered history during which several revolutions resulted at different times in
temporarily removing the Pope, when finally they reached their climax in so far as
temporal dominion is concerned through the agency of Victor Immanuel in 1870.
"This last government [seventh head, Victor Immanuel Dynasty] has now continued as
head of Rome since September, 1870; and today more than 150,000,000 Catholics
[220,000,000 at the present time--1924] are biding their time, waiting and longing for the
auspicious moment when a blow can be struck for its overthrow; vainly hoping for a
restoration to Rome of Papal sovereignty; while the prophetic symbol demands, not the
restoration of Papacy, or any other government, but the rising of the beast itself without a
head; in other words the peoples and nations, or body of the beast without an organized
government, as the next verse will show: 'And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the
eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.'--Ver. 11."
This eighth is not a head, since the beast had but seven. This eighth is the beast as it is to be after
its seventh or last head has fallen. This last or eighth state will be anarchy. The expression,
"and is of the seven," signifies that the nations ('waters' ver. 15) on which the woman sat,
have been of the seven; and are already taking on a separate existence as the inter-nations,
or peoples of all nations.
Summary of the seven heads
"The reader cannot fail of seeing our present locality in the world's history; and that we are
on the verge of great events. And if he will revert to near the end of the last century, may
judge somewhat of the character of the events which are to follow the fall of this last head
of Rome. . . . 'And they that dwell upon the earth shall wonder [whose names are not
written in the book of life from the foundation of the world], when they behold the beast
that was, and is not, and yet is [this last its final, eighth form].'--Rev. 17:8.
"The state of chaos and reign of terror in that demoniac equality and atheistic liberty which
deluged France in blood, under the Commune; when such monsters as Dupont,
Robespierre, and their class could wield the guillotine and ride the storm, is only a faint
picture of the fully developed Commune, or headless monster. . . . And the character of
coming events can be gathered by what then occurred in France, with this difference: the
Commune came to the surface in only one of the ten divisions of the empire at that time
and was soon driven back; while now it is to become a universal scourge. And not only are
all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth to be thrown down, but
there is to be want of employment so that there shall be 'no hire for man, nor hire for beast'