"And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness," &c. Wings,' the instruments of motion, answer in prophecy the superadded purpose of standing as symbols of protection. This is plain from the following, among numerous other passages. Ruth, 2. 12, The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.' Ps. 17. 8. Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.' Ps. 57. 1.

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In the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until the secalamities be overpast.' Ps. 63. 7. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.' The imagery is manifestly derived from the history in Exodus where the sojourn of the Israelites in the wilderness from the face of the Egyptians is described very much after the same manner as the withdrawment of the woman into the spiritual wilderness from the face of the serpent. Ex. 19. 4. 'Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings and brought you unto myself.' This is enlarged upon, Deut. 32. 11, 12. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings; so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him.' As the "eagle' is a symbol frequently used in the Scriptures to denote a monarchy or a king, and as the eagle, the bird

et ad tutetam generis humani excitavit. Quo gubernante Romanæ Reipublicæ statum, jam cultores Dei pro secleratis ae nefariis non habemur.-Lact. Inst. L. VII. c. 26.

of Jove, formed the Roman standard, we seem to be directed, by the necessity of the symbol, to understand it of the Roman Empire subsisting in its two grand divisions, the Eastern and Western, and in this form spreading the wings of its imperial patronage over the church, guarding it from visible persecution, during the interval between the fall of Paganism and the rise of Antichristianism in the sixth or seventh century. But the drift of the emblem undoubtedly involves the idea of transition as well as of tutelage, and leads us to seek for some kind of recess or withdrawment on the part of the true church from the more central, prominent, and conspicuous station which she had hitherto occupied. The explication of this part of the mystical scenery given by Vitringa, is entitled to a high degree of consideration. He is of opinion that the emblem was designed to shadow forth a literal migration of a large portion of the church, or a transfer of the seat of its primitive triumphs, from the eastern quarters of the empire, where it hitherto principally flourished, to the then barbarous and uncultivated climes of western and northwestern Europe, especially France, Spain, Germany, England, Holland, Bohemia, Hungary and Denmark, where it was destined to find a permanent though afflicted establishment during the period of the grand apostacy under the reign of the Beast. Accordingly we learn from the ecclesiastical annals of that and the subsequent ages, that by the peculiar providence of God, a line of faithful witnesses for the truth was preserved,

* Anacrisis Apocalypseos, p. 556.

especially in the retired and peaceful valleys of Piedmont and Dauphiny, where the far-famed churches of the Waldenses and Albigenses continued for more than twelve centuries the conservators of the unadulterated faith of the Apostles. The protection indicated by the eagle's wings is to be considered as having been afforded more especially at the commencement of this long period, while the woman was in the act of flying into the wilderness; for after she had become firmly established in her desert abode, she became the object of the persecuting rage both of the civil and ecclesiastical power of the apostate church. It was therefore by the peculiar interposition of heaven that this mystic woman of the wilderness was protected and nourished' in her lonely dwelling place. A succession of faithful pastors was raised up to minister the spiritual aliment of the gospel to these eremite churches, embosomed in their Alpine glens, during the whole prophetical period of the time, times, and half a time,' or 1260 years, when the occurrence of the Reformation gave them a door of egress from their obscurity, and they became merged in the great body of Protestant believers.

"And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman," &c. Of the import of seas, rivers, and water-floods as a prophetic symbol we have

"The Vaudois are in fact descended from those refugees from Italy, who, after St. Paul had there preached the Gospel, abandoned their beautiful country, and fled, like the woman mentioned in the Apocalypse, to these wild mountains, where they have to this day handed down the Gospel from father to son in the same purity and simplicity as it was preached by St. Paul."-Pref. to Arnaud's Glorious Recovery, p. 13, 14.

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an inspired exposition in the words of the hierophantic angel, Rev. 17. 15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." This is confirmed by the usage of the ancient prophets. Is. 8. 7. Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the King of Assyria and all his glory.' This is plainly the annunciation of a warlike expedition which under the conduct of the King of Assyria should overflow the land. Is. 28. 2. Behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand;' thus explained by the Targum, which is of great value in the explication of prophetic symbols:Sicut impetus aquarum fortium inundantium, sic venient contra eos populi, et transferent eos de terra sua'-Like the violence of mighty overflowing floods shall peoples come against them and remove them from their own land. To the same effect Jeremiah ch. 46. 7, 8. says, ' Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the river? Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.' Again, in Dan. 9. 26. 'a flood' is expressly interpreted as equivalent to 'war.' 'And the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.' The river-flood therefore, sent forth from the mouth of the Dragon to drown the woman, signifies beyond question

the invasion of the territories of Christendom or the Roman empire by numerous armies of foreign nations, whose assault was in some manner instigated by the malice of the Pagan party, the ministers of the Dragon. The figurative prediction was accomplished when the hordes of barbarous nations from the north of Europe, the Goths, Alans, Suevi, and Vandals, by the secret treachery of Stilicho, prime minister to the emperor Honorius, were invited to pour themselves down in desolating torrents upon the southern provinces of the empire. But what was the result of the incursions made by these rude and ruthless barbarians? The earth,' says the prophet, helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.' That is, these barbarian and pagan nations were absorbed into the original population of the Roman provinces. They not only embraced their religion, but affected the laws, manners, customs, language, and even name of Romans, so that they were in effect completely merged in the vanquished nation. Instead of sweeping away the Christian church, they eventually fell into the ranks of her nominal supporters, and thus contributed to prolong and perpetuate. her existence. "The progress of

Christianity," says Gibbon, "has been marked by two glorious and decisive victories: over the learned and luxurious citizens of the Roman empire; and over the warlike barbarians of Scythia and Germany, who subverted the empire, and embraced the religion, of the Romans. The formidable Visigoths universally adopted the religion of the Romans, with whom they maintained