734. 'And is going to come up out of the deep, and go away into perdition' signifies [that it was] several times deliberated in the Papal Consistory concerning the reception and reading of the Word by the laity and common people, but it was rejected. By 'the beast that is going to come up' is signified the Word, as above (n. 723, 733). By 'the deep' out of which it is going to come up, nothing else can be signified than that form of religion, and chiefly where its throne is, thus the Papal Consistory. The reason why this is 'the deep' is because what is decreed there has regard to dominion over the holy things of the Church and over heaven, thus over all things of the Lord and His Word (n. 729). They have these things for an end as the essentials, but the good of the Church and the salvation of souls as formal things [serving] as means to the end. By 'to go away into perdition' is signified to be rejected. It is known from ecclesiastical history that the reception and reading of the Word by the laity and common people has been deliberated there several times, but rejected. It was also proposed by a Pontiff* who is now among the Reformed and the blessed, of whom [something has been said] in the CONTINUATION [CONCERNING THE LAST JUDGMENT AND] CONCERNING THE SPIRITUAL WORLD (n. 59), but it was not accepted. This has also primarily been known from the Bulla Unigenitus, and besides from the Councils. * This was Clement XII (1730-1740).