Church, in the way either of opposition to it, or corruption of it.*

Now, here I would ask a question or two:

1. When the dragon was cast out of the heaven" of this vision-" neither was his place found any more in heaven" was there a total cessation of Satanic influence in those high places? Nothing of the sort is intended, and no such thing came to pass. He lost his party.

He had no more a friend in these high places. And even this means, not that there were no children of the devil there, but only that he got nobody in those places to sustain his Pagan cause from that time.

2. When upon this "a loud voice was heard in heaven, saying, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ; FOR the accuser of our brethren is cast down," &c.-are we to understand that up to this time there had been no salvation, no strength, no manifestation at all of the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ? Certainly not. It means that the saving truths of the Gospel-before struggling for preservation in the earth-had become triumphant: that a hitherto weak cause and party had won its way to "strength," or a strong position; that "the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ" had, in these events, taken a glorious start-earnest of universal sway. All relates, not to the coming in of any thing new, but to the progress of what had been for centuries finding it hard, in the heat of continual persecution, to keep its ground.

3. When, in connexion with Satan's expulsion, we read the following description of his trade, which was thus, in a sense, ended-" And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world-he was cast out"-it irresistibly suggests

* See the commentators.

the description of the 20th chapter, which it is our object to illustrate, as in all respects parallel with it, though far inferior in grandeur and comprehensiveness of symbol. The names given to the devil are in both places the same; and so is the description of his business-deceiving the world. And as this leads us to believe that the "deception" in both cases is similar-not of course by means of the same things, but of the same public character, with the view of keeping his ground in both cases in the same sense-so it suggests the same effect as following that expulsion in both cases. In both cases he is driven out from his former standing and power against the Church and cause of Christ: in the latter case more universally and more thoroughly than in the former; but that is all the difference.

4. When it is said that "the devil was cast out into the earth," does that mean that Satanic influence was for the first time brought then to bear upon the persons included under that term? Undoubtedly not; but only that, having lost his hold of the high places, he sought to create a party amongst those represented by this symbol. He did not come down to them" in their individual capacity, or with the view of ruining their own souls-the vision has nothing to do with that-but he came down to get them stirred up against the Gospel. But, most important of all

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5. How was the expulsion of Satan out of the heaven of the vision brought about? "They"-the Christians"overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." Two things, it seems, did it. They "believed in their hearts, and they confessed with their mouths the Lord Jesus." By the one, in the privacy of their own conscience, they got cleansing and holy courage to do the other before men; and in doing it, "they counted not their own lives

dear unto them," so that the savour of that blessed name might be spread abroad. This carried, at length, all before it. The Pagans were unable to stand before the heroic testimony of pardoned men; they were beaten, routed, and fain to quit the field. The Gospel, in the persons of its living adherents or rather Christ in his people-triumphed over Paganism, in the persons of its blinded votaries, or rather over Satan in his heathen tools.

And yet, while the defeat on the one hand and the victory on the other, were just error flying before truth— true religion triumphing over and expelling false-and, in consequence of this, the votaries of each changing places in the empire this is represented as an expulsion of the unseen head of the defeated interest, leaving the battle-field in exclusive possession of the victorious Redeemer. "THE GREAT DRAGON WAS CAST OUT"-that is the SYMBOL: "THEY (the Christians) overcame him by the blood of the Lamb"-that is the plain, the divinely authorized EXPLANATION OF THE

SYMBOL.

It is impossible not to see the bearing of all this upon. the explanation of the opening vision of the 20th chapter.

As we proceed in tracing the style of this symbolic book regarding Satan, we find the same empire again in possession of the dragon, in another form. The seven heads and the ten horns are there as before; but the crowns are now on the horns, (chap. xiii. 1.) This refers to the empire. after it fell before its Gothic invaders, and was broken up, and at length consolidated into ten independent kingdoms. The engine he now wields, by means of the empire, is ecclesiastical. He has turned Christian in order to destroy Christianity. He betrays it with a kiss. He first heathenises Christianity and the Church, and then he wages war -with all the strength of the empire, in connexion with its ecclesiastical chief of the seven hills-against "the

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saints of the Most High" who will not submit to, and fall in with his heaven-blaspheming, Christ-dishonouring, souldestroying system. It is Popery.

But in this last and most formidable character he is destined to be "cast out," as before. The battle here also is of the same character, and won in the very same way. "These (ten horns, or kingdoms of the Papal dragon) shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them"-in the same sense as we saw he did in the days of Paganism-" for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful." (Chap. xvii. 11.) To make this army of "called, chosen, faithful soldiers of Jesus Christ," to be the glorified saints who will come with him at his second appearing, is every way preposterous. It is manifestly the same company of faithful ones mentioned in the 14th chapter, and described as "the undefiled" party, who, amidst the almost universal unfaithfulness to Christ's truth and cause, "follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." (Ver. 4.) It is a battle, just as before, between Christ's truth and the devil's lies, in the persons of their respective adherents among men. The lies are different, but the lying character of both systems, and their enmity against all that stood in their way, is the same. Christ is represented as coming out of heaven on a war horse, as the captain of a band of celestial horsemen, and with all the insignia of his trampled rights, as the prophet, the priest, and the king of his Church, to give battle to the confederate enemies of his blessed sway. The battle is fought and won. "The beast"-antichrist-"is taken," and goes whence it came -to hell. "The remnant are slain"-the adherents of the defeated interest are crushed-and all remaining appearance in behalf of it vanishes. (Chap. xix. 11 to end.)

The capture of the beast, and the consignment of it to hell,

having reference to a public body, a vast organised confede racy, must be interpreted according to the only way in which retribution can light upon such bodies. And how little individuals, as such, have to do with the whole subject, appears from the songs of triumph which here, as before, are sung over the glorious issue: "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye saints and apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her, (xviii. 20.) Now, the Papal system denoted by "her" was not in existence for ages after "the apostles and prophets" had, as individuals, gone the way of all the earth. Yet they are said to be avenged on Babylon. What can this mean, save as the victory of their doctrine or principles which the Papal system sought to destroy? In the same sense we are to interpret every similar statement in this book. So, likewise, are we to understand such sayings as these, "Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." It is just the cause of the Lord which has become triumphant over the dragon's Anti-christian, as before over his Pagan party.

Well, we have found one party of the dragon falling after another; and we naturally look to be told what party he is to be allowed to form next. The answer of the 20th chapter is-None at all. He is removed from the earth, and chained up for a thousand years, during all which period he shall no more deceive the nations. After what we have found to be the style of this book, on the subject of Satan's "deceptions"-after the key with which the preceding part of it has furnished us, for opening these perfectly similar representations-can the meaning remain doubtful? It is just this: That, during that happy period, the cause of Christ should carry it every where, and Satan be allowed no lodgment in any spot on the globe to form a public party in opposition to Christ; that in this sense, his trade will be at an end; that representatives and