THE TOKENS OF THE HEADS OF THE BEASTS.
The seven heads of the beast of hell are the seven capital sins by which the devil draws to himself also all the world. For scarcely it befalls that one falls not into the throat of some of the seven heads, and therefore St. John says well that it had power against the saints. For on earth is no man so holy that he can perfectly escape all the kinds of sin that come of these seven heads without special privilege of grace, as it was in the maid Mary, or in some others by special grace, which they had of God. The ten horns of the beast betoken the offences against the ten behests of our Lord, which the devil obtains, as much as he can, by the seven aforesaid sins. The ten crowns above betoken the victory that it (he) hath over all the sinful, because he causes them to sin against the ten behests.