of the woman, we find that the scene shifteth to heaven, where a hot war ensues, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon and his angels: and that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, is cast out into the earth, and his angels are cast out with him. This taketh place when the seed of the woman is caught up into heaven, and though it be out of human vision, and in a manner out of the field of human anxiety, our Lord gave to the seventy tidings of this fall of Satan, when he said, "I beheld Satan fall like lightning from heaven." And he gave to his apostles a hint of the sad consequence to them and his church, when he said, upon the eve of his crucifixion, to the twelve who sat at supper, "Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you (the twelve) that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, (who most did need it) "that thy faith fail not: and when thou art confirmed, strengthen thy brethren." Whereby is signified that the contest between Satan and the saints was about to be waged upon the earth, and to lie heavy upon the apostles and the church; and, accordingly, when he was cast down to the earth, he was followed with this mournful voice out of heaven, "Wo, wo, to the inhabiters of the earth, and of the sea, for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." Also in another part of the gospels, it is said, by Christ, on the same eventful evening, "The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me:" and again, in the same discourse, "The Comforter will reprove the world of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged:" And again, in another place, "Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out." Whereby we learn, that this victory achieved over Satan in heaven, and removal of his seat of power to the earth, was connected (in a mysterious way, not to us revealed, because it is likely not capable of being understood by us) with the death and resurrection of Christ. Which also is signified in the vision, by these words of the church in heaven, "Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, for the accuser of the brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the blood of their testimony, and they loved not

their lives unto the death. Therefore, rejoice ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them." But into this mysterious transmigration of Satan's malice and power from heaven to earth, we inquire not further, lest it should lead us away from that historical event which ensued upon his coming down to the earth, with whetted weapons against the woman, whose child by death did conquer him that had the power of death, and, as the first-fruits of his conquest, did cast him him out of his heavenly place, and deprived him of his ancient privilege of bringing railing accusations against the sons of God.

"And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. And to the woman were given the wings of a great eagle, that she might flee into the wilderness into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and halfa-time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth waters as a flood, after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ." In these verses is given to us the great historical event, whereby to determine the commencement of the time, times, and a-half, during which the church abode hidden in the wilderness, from the persecution of the dragon. The dragon taking his form of seven heads and ten horns, that is, inspiriting the Roman empire, did commence a most savage warfare with the woman, from the moment he was cast out into the earth; which took effect, as we see in the Acts of the Apostles, by imprisonments, bloodsheddings, stonings, banishments, and every form of destructiveness; and thereafter, through the space of two centuries, in ten regular persecutions appointed by imperial edicts over the wide empire. But the woman betook herself to the fastness, given her of God, which is a true and well-grounded faith, whence the serpent could not by these persecutions drive her, but into which these persecutions did the more obstinately compel her retreat and there she abode in her fastnesses for time,

times, and a-half. Now the event whereby to determine the time of her retreat thereunto, and the period of her continuance therein, is emblematically given, in the novel artifice whereby the serpent seeketh to dispossess her of the fortress of her faith, by casting out of his mouth waters as a flood; which being interpreted by the angel,* are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues; and the earth, which is throughout the whole book, the emblem of the Roman empire, helped the woman. "The earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth." Which being rendered, according to the meaning of the emblems, is, That when the woman had made her retreat to the fastnesses of her faith, the serpent poured out of his mouth peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues, in order to sweep her from her place, or destroy the refuge of her faith. Whereupon the empire, moved with zeal for the preservation of the church in her strong hold, encountered these nations, and destroyed that whereby Satan had hoped to prevail, and left the church in her secure place. The event therefore is the encounter of the empire with these nations whom Satan directed against the strong hold of the church; which is one of the most conspicuous events in the history of Christendom; and was on this wise. The nations which were not of the earth, that is, the Gothic nations which engirdled the empire, began to be converted to Christianity in the fourth century, chiefly by priests of the Arian heresy, which then prevailed to such a pitch, that Jerome says, "The whole world groaned and wondered to see itself Arian ;" when Athanasius, Hilary, Ambrose, and the other orthodox Fathers were persecuted, and every thing secmed to conspire against the true faith. These nations, possessing themselves of Italy, and Spain, and Africa, and the other parts lying around the heart of the empire, began to range against the true faith with a fury not inferior to that which the pagans had used before; aiming, with all their might, to carry away the strong hold of the church. They required the orthodox believers to be rebaptized, to which, if they would not submit, they maimed, mutilated, and slew them, sold them for slaves, and drove them into exile; they

* Rev. xvii.

polluted their sanctuaries, converting their churches into stables, and went to all manner of barbarous excesses; as is fully set forth by that historian* who least of all could be accused of favouring the church, but who, in this, hath borne his testimony to the fulfilment of this prophecy. Thus every where the Arian nations were carrying it with a most violent hand against the orthodox faith. The serpent had infected them with his malignity against the woman's child. He had taken the waters into his mouth, and envenomed them, and now he poured them out as a flood against her, thinking to carry her away. Then the earth helped her, by the emperor Justinian, who, in his distinguished zeal for orthodoxy, took measures against the Arian nations, and brought them to such utter ruin, that Arianism never lifted its head again as a persecuting power, and not for many centuries even as an opinion. This he accomplished by his general, Belisarius, whom he sent over, in the beginning of the year 533, who brought the war to a conclusion in Africa, the chief scene of these cruelties, before the expiration of that year. In the beginning of the year 533, therefore, the earth helped the woman against the nations whom Satan had cast forth as a flood against the secure abiding place of her faith.

The above dates of the beginning and ending of this first blow against the Arian nations are taken from Ecchard and Gibbon, the two most authentic historians of these events; but they have higher authority, being also written in the beginning of the code of Justinian; where an edict is given out for the government and security of the conquered provinces, a conquest which he esteemed so glorious as, like Scipio, to take from it the name of Africanus. He celebrated it as the most wonderful work which had been performed in that age; whereby "Africa, twenty five years enthralled by the Vandals, both soul and body, had been, with many other provinces, recovered, and the injuries of the church revenged." And that it was undertaken in the spirit of a religious war is manifest from this, which is recorded by Ecchard, "that, as a necessary introduction to so great an undertaking, Justinian published several laws against heretics, especially Nestorians, repaired such churches

* Gibbon.

as wanted it, and gave orders for the building of several new ones. He suffered no person to be entertained in his army that was not a Christian." Of the laws which he published against heretics, those were a part whereby he vested supremacy in the pope, and carved out the image of his idolatry and blasphemy, intending thereby not only to express his own zeal for orthodoxy, which abode steadfast through a long reign, but also to interest, in the behalf of his great enterprise, all the orthodox Christians in those parts, towards which it was directed. So that the two events, that of Daniel, the giving the saints over to the little horn, and that of John, the earth helping the woman against the poisoned water, are, in truth, one event presented in two different aspects: the two great features of the same action: the one the ecclesiastical, the other the military; the one affecting the church, in the way of a captivity, the other affecting her in the way of a deliverance, the deliverance of her faith, her place of refuge, the strong hold of her hope in her captivity: as it is written, "Turn ye to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope."

From this great epoch, of March, A. D. 533, when the edicts were issued for this war, the Arian nations went on declining, under the sword of Belisarius, who passed over from the conquest of the Vandals to engage the Goths, another Arian nation, which had the mastery in Italy, Sicily, and Dalmatia, under Theodotus, "the great enemy of the Catholic faith;" and he prevailed against them with wonderful success, as also did Narses, another of Justinian's generals, against whom the help of the Franks did not avail the Goths, who were, after twenty years, warfare, driven out of Italy; and therewith the Arian nations were suppressed, and the orthodox faith preserved by the sword. After which, Justinian, having accomplished the wrath and indignation for which he was raised up, was taken away; but not until he had, in his old age, shipwrecked and lost that reputation for orthodoxy for which he had so valiantly contended. Even as in our times, the scourge of God was not taken away until he had lost the wilful power for which he had contended, and, Prometheus-like, been made fast on a rock in the ocean. Of which Justinian, before we part with him, we may add what is written, at the close of his actions, in Ecchard, whose words are marvel