This vial, then, being poured out upon his seat, with the result that his kingdom was filled with darkness—­a symbol drawn from nature—­points to the downfall of the Pope as a temporal ruler.  Thus he would be deprived of his “seat.”

We have already seen that each plague prepares the way for a succeeding one.  Under the reign of Napoleon the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved (1806).  This was the beginning of the end of the Pope’s temporal authority; for the two had in a great measure been for ages interdependent upon each other.  Pius VII. was made a prisoner and the temporal sovereignty of the Roman See declared to be at an end; while the Pope himself was forced to disown all claim to rank as a temporal ruler.  Of course, this was but a temporary overthrow; for when the period of Reaction came, the Pope recovered also temporal authority.  But the vast territories of Avignon, Venaissin, Bologna, Ferrara, and the Romagna—­representing fully a third of all the Papal dominions—­which had been forcibly ceded to France under Napoleon, was never restored to the Roman See.  From that time the sun of the Pope’s temporal kingdom rapidly approached the horizon; while the inhabitants of his dominions continued to blaspheme God through the atheistical Jacobinism that infested to so great an extent the whole mass of society—­symbolized by their “sores”—­and the firm supporters of Popery were filled with excessive chagrin and mortification of mind—­symbolized by their “pains”—­because the power of their leader, who professed temporal sovereignty over the whole earth, was being suddenly destroyed and his kingdom left in darkness.  Concerning this matter the People’s Cyclopaedia, after speaking of the blow the Pope’s spiritual supremacy received at the Reformation, says:  “But in her relations to the State the Roman church has since passed through a long and critical struggle.  The new theories to which the French Revolution gave currency have still further modified these relations.”  In the second revolution of 1848 the Pope’s temporal authority was about to be entirely destroyed by the attempted establishment of the republic of Italy; but at this juncture France, who, notwithstanding her plagues, had not repented of her former deeds, not willing to desert entirely the Papal cause after upholding it faithfully for centuries, interfered, and the Pope was sustained in his position by a French garrison until 1870 (except a short time in 1867), at which time the success of King Victor Emmanuel and his capture of the Eternal City established the free government of United Italy.  The temporal sun of the Pope set forever; his kingdom was left in darkness.

    12.  And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
    Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of
    the kings of the east might be prepared.

    13.  And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the
    mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out
    of the mouth of the false prophet.