had brought forth the man-child. And to the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness into her place, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water 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 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 kept the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

When the dragon was deposed from the imperial throne, he persecuted the Christian Church, which had elevated her offspring to that seat of authority. And this he did by various attempts to restore the pagan idolatry, particularly in the reign of Julian, and likewise by fomenting heresies in the Church. But God gave to the woman, the representative of that Church, two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness. Here is a comparison kept up between the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt and their passage into the wilderness. They were then set free from bondage to Pharaoh, the dragon of the waters, and were by the

protection of the Almighty carried into the wilderness. For God said unto them, Exod. xix. 4. "Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself, so here is the Christian Church furnished with the wings of an eagle, to be prepared for her flight into the wilderness. This flight does not take place immediately, because her actual residence in the wilderness synchronizes with the time of the great apostasy; but she is furnished with the means of her conveyance to the place appointed for her. The eagle being the ensign or symbol of the Roman power, implies that she was under its protection, and the two wings may probably allude to the division of the empire into east and west. The wilderness, as Mede observes, is an intermediate state of the Church, between its subjection to the spiritual thraldom of Satan and its possession of rest in the promised land, where it had the laws of God to govern it, the service of the tabernacle, and the ordinances of Divine worship and of a regular priesthood to instruct it; but where it was still liable, as of old, to lapse into idolatry, and to become disobedient to its heavenly leader. In this wilderness she was to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent; which corresponds with the prophecy of Daniel, relating to the period of the

Antichristian reign, during the fourth kingdom, and which is here explained as meaning a year, two years and a half, by the similar term of one thousand two hundred and three score prophetic days, or years.

The water, which is cast out of the serpent's mouth, Mede seems properly to consider as pestiferous doctrine, and the prevalence of Arianism for a time is perhaps the true exemplification of the metaphor. But the earth is said to have helped the woman, and swallowed up the flood. The earth, in the figurative language of prophecy, is the basis of political power. It here seems to imply the community of stable Christians, who at length exhausted the diabolical inundation and asserted the orthodox faith. This interpretation appears to me much more consistent with the language of Scripture than the supposition of Bishop Newton, that the flood means the irruption of the barbarous nations into the Roman empire, and the swallowing up of that flood, the barbarians adopting the religion and laws of the

people they had conquered. It may here be

observed, by the way, that the adversary of mankind, who had hitherto been called the dragon, and is again so denominated afterwards, is three times in this chapter called the serpent. May not the difference be explained by the supposition, that while in possession of supreme power

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he rules ostensibly as a dragon; but when deprived of open authority, he has then recourse to the wiles of the serpent? Such a supposition would explain and justify the change of title under which he is described. As it is said that the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, (" which is the spirit of prophecy,") it is plain that the faithful followers of Christ, when the woman had fled into the wilderness were become only a remnant, who adhered to the commandments of God, and to the truth as it is in Jesus.

"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and seat, and great authority."

We are now come to the commencement of the Antichristian apostasy. The woman, or the Christian Church, is carried into the wilderness, where she is to be nourished for a time, and

times, and half a time, or one thousand two hundred and sixty days of years, from the face of the serpent. The dragon, or serpent, finding that he is no longer permitted to reign in propriâ personâ, employs his devices to raise up another power, apparently connected with the Church, but subject to his dominion, to whom he may transfer his authority. And now arises from the sea, or out of the commotion of the times, a new beast, which the woman at first does not recognize as the ancient dragon. It bears the appearance of a leopard or panther, with seven heads and ten horns, with feet like a bear, and a mouth (or voice) like a lion; who is in reality an agent of the dragon, and to whom he resigns his seat, power, and authority.

By the term beast is to be understood, in the prophetic language, a tyrannical idolatrous empire. The four kingdoms which were seen in the visions of Daniel, appeared as four beasts rising out of the sea. The fourth beast, or the Roman empire, is described as very strong, and terrible, and breaking in pieces with its iron teeth all that withstood it, and stamping the residue of the nations under its feet, and in conclusion it is said to have ten horns. This is the fourth beast, which is here seen by St. John, rising from the sea in its last state; and it is to be remarked, that in its appearance it partakes in some parti