13:3. And I saw one of his heads.—One of the dragon’s heads—Papacy. As it were wounded to death.—Whenever the Scriptures use the expression “as it were” (as in Rev. 9:7, 9) what seems or appears is not actually the case. And his deadly wound was healed.—“At the Diet of Augsburg, in 1555, the Religious Peace was concluded. Every prince was to be allowed to choose between the Catholic religion and the Augsburg Confession [of the Reformers]; and the religion of the prince was to be that of the land over which he reigned: that is, each government was to choose the creed for its subjects. “In fact, the political circumstances of the time, combined with the fact that even the leaders of the reform were only beginning to get awake to some of the moral and a few of the doctrinal errors of Papacy, lead us to wonder at the rapid strides taken toward the right, rather than to harshly condemn them for not making the cleansing more thorough. But when the Protestant churches united with the state, progress and reform came to a standstill. Soon creeds were formed which were almost as unyielding and opposed to growth in knowledge as the decrees of Rome.”—C. 111. And all the [world] EARTH wondered after the beast.—The reference is to the symbolic earth, the people, obedient to the ruling powers.—Rev. 17:8. 13:4. And they worshipped the dragon.—“Dragon means civil power, Pagan Rome.”—Z. ’79‐12‐2. [Which] BECAUSE HE gave THE power unto the beast.—“The people respected the civil power all the more because it had so honored ecclesiastical authority. The various kingdoms (horns) soon learned that their hold over the people was strengthened rather than weakened by allegiance to Papacy, for Papacy in turn recognized them, and commanded the people to recognize those despots as of divine appointment. Thus it is, that to this day, the rulers of Europe claim to rule by Divine right and appointment, and their children after them, no matter how incompetent. For the same reason the Protestant churches of Europe, to gain national favor, protection and assistance, became State churches, and they, as Papacy did, recognize the reigning families as possessed of Divine title to the office and rulership of the people. God’s Word, on the contrary, denounces all the governments of earth as beastly, selfish, oppressive, and recognizes only one Kingdom as being of God’s appointment, viz., the Kingdom soon to be established in all the earth—Christ and His saints in glory. (Dan. 7:27; Rev. 11:15; 2 Tim. 2:12.) It is in that Kingdom only that the saints have their citizenship, it alone they recognize, and for it pray ‘Thy Kingdom come.’ ”—Z. ’80‐1‐1.