MYSTERY OF 666

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 143, 17 June 1916, Page 12

MYSTERY OF 666

THE NUMBER OP MAN

"REVELATION" AND THE KAISER.

Mr. Horatio Bottomley has been delving into Revelation, which he describes as "that wonderful book of tne wonderful Bible." Writing in tho Sunday Pictorial, Mr. Bottomley tells how he was recently snowed up in the Midlands, I cut off from mail and telephone, in a country hotel. There he met a man "well known in both financial and political circles, one of bold originality of thought." -Mr. Botttomley then proceeds:—We soon found ourselves boxing the compass of contemporary events, and, naturally, up came the Kaiser. "Do you know," said my friend, "I really believe he is the Beast of Revelation." Then he proceeded to "bombard" n.e with all kinds of quotations from that wonderful book of the wonderful old Bible. The idea fascinated me, and—startling the waiter with a request for the New Testament—l shut myself up to have a good think about it all. And now I am going to indulge in all kinds of fantastic speculation about one of those "things which must shortly come to pass," as seen by John on the Island of Patmos. You will find it in Chapter xiii.—ominous omen for the Kaiser if my view is correct! And this is what the good Saint saw : "I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out; of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crownt, and upon his heads the name of Blasphemy." That will do to start with. '^o > we must go a bit further —because at the end of the vision there are these remarkable and cryptic words: "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast—for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred three score and six." Now we will get on.

You will observe that the proper words in the description of the vision are—Beast, Seven Heads, Ten Horns, Ten Crowns, and Blasphemy. Bear those words in mind, and now skip to Chapter xvii.—where you will find that the Beast is the _ " Eighth King," and assuming ■the Kaiser to be the man, wo naturally take his dynasty—" Hohenzollem." And now for the key. Take the alphabet, and gave each letter of those words its number. Thus " Beast "■„: B is the second letter; c, the fifth; a, the first; s, the nineteenth; t,.jthe twentieth.

Add these figures together—2, 5, 1, 19, 20—and you get ... 47 " Sea " treated in the same way gives "you. ... 25 " Seven heads—ten horns—ten crowns," similarly treated, gives ... 341 "Blasphemy" 101 And. " Hohenzollem " 152

And thus you get the "number of the mini " ... 666

And take the word Kaiser by itself. It consists of six letters; add the figure 6 to the alphabetical number of each of the letters, and you get this result : X is number 11; a is No. 1; i is No. 9; s is No. 19; c Ls No. 5; r is No. 18. And,so yon get this little sum: 11.6,----1.6, 9.6, 19.6, 5.6, 18.6—equals 666; Kunny,'isn't it? It is becoming interesting. Let .us have another look. " Seven heads, ten, horns, and ten crowns" make twentyseven emblems of the distinguishing features—and Germany consists of twenty-seven States ! The Blasphemy of the Kaiser requires no elaboration. He is bathed in Blasphemy. . And here is another interesting little table : Take the words—Wilhelm ; Germany; Hohenzollem; Seven heads—Ten horns—Ten crowns; give them their alphabetical numbers, j-nd you get 82, 83, 152, 341— 658; and IS, for the "eighth lung," and again you get 666. It is becoming uncanny, you say ? Well, come with me a litl-Je further.

Here is a truly remarkable coincidence. The war began on 23th July, 19J-4 —-when Austria declared war on Servia—and on 27th ' July, 1914, the Kaiser had lived 666 months! That deserves a paragraph all to itself. But there is a lot more. What about the "King"? Chapter xvii. says: " Andi there are seven king*; five are fallen. „ .■ and the Beast, even he is the eighth." Let us try to solve that parable. It is a most interesting study. First, take the kingdoms engaged— omitting Germany—the Beast, who is the Eighth King. We h«iv« England, Russia, ,ItaJy, Belgium, Servia, Austria, and Bulgaria—that makes seven (France is a republic; so is Portugal; Montenegro, a principality; Japan cannot be said to have really come into the waT, and Turkey is outside the pale of Christendom). And thus, at this very moment, yon get the "Seven Kings"! But what about the five that "are fallen " ? Let' us see—Belgium and Scrvia. have gone; and that is as far as I can get at present—although I believe that Bulgaria is about to be smashed up. That would make three—leaving two more to be accounted fot.

\ But what is this? "Five are fallen, and one is' and the other is not yet come; and when he Cometh he mast continue v, short space." What can those words mean? May not it be that they relate to the lat* advent of Rumania and Greece upon .the scene, replacing Bulgaria and Austria,, and still leaving the Seven Kings—Greece being the one- which " must continue a short time "—till the Allies place her on n new footing amongst the reorganised Balkan States? Think that over.

Arid now a. word about the Eighth King's ally, Austria. John says, " I beheld another beast coming up oat of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb." There, clearly, is the dual, lamblike kingdom, of Austria-Hungary. It is all very remarkable.

And here is a strange thing : " I sawone of his heads (those of the Beast) us it were . wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed; and- all the world wondered after the Beast." You remember that throat trouble—said to be cancer—and the recent operation? And what about Zepps and bombs? "And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from Heaven on the eartli in the sight of men." There you have it. And, again, read this: "And the sixth angel poured, out his vial upon the great River Euphrates • ■ ■ and I saw three unoleaa spirits . . come out of (he mouth of the draeoti .ami out of the month of the beast r.ij<l out of the mouth of the false prophet." Wb have already seen that tho Beast and the Drnjron are Germany snid Austria, and who hut Turkey can the "false iirophe;" l,e? 1,-, not the Sultan called tho Prophet?

A fascinating viieitio. isu'L il'.' Upon my wotel, the moi- o you study the Uook, tlu> more remarkable' the vision become;. I confess il haunts me. Tf those words do not describe tiio condition of the people of Germany before the war. they hid v.-ilhoirt, mooning : "Anil they ivoi-.-'■!lippf(l tllP rll;ifrf.iirL\M.*tvi3) that K.IVfl power unto th.-. "br:>=i ((!em:.i!iv> : " "aiM

they worshipoeil iho bttiet. saying: ■'Who is lil-u> urii.o the li«aEl~vrho is able to nUiHci war with him 7" .Arid vrhat cl.-c but ;i reference to Germany's oomnierdal policy can U\h inftori ■• ;'Alid lia Miuath til, both erns.il and gr«*t, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a

mark in their right hand, 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 bis name." I won't be tempted to dwell upon the "mark"—but I note its presence all the same.

And what is the ultimate fate of the Beast? Listen: "God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will, and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled." And then? "The beast goeth unto perdition." And "the merchants

. . shall weep and mourn ... for no man bnyeth their merchandise any more." I have, omitted certain words which appear to disguise the obvious meaning of the prophecy—and which is emphasised by a later verse: "For in one hour so. great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster,, and all the company in ships, and sailors,^ and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off." And I like this: "Rejoice over her, thou Heaven and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God bath avenged you on her." And I like this, too: "For her sins have reached unto Heaven, and God ha.th remembered her iniquities." And this: "Babylon the great is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every—foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird." But I like this best of all: "Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works; in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double." They knew *the meaning of the word reprisals in those days.

Phew! I must never get snowed up again.