the dragon; with this difference, however, that in the former case there was only one chief of the host of heaven, the Lord Jehovah, who made heaven and earth, against whom, though Antiochus might magnify himself, he could not disturb him in heaven; but in the latter case, there were many chiefs or demons in the Roman heaven, whom all the emperors who bore the standard of Christ, did utterly overthrow. Add to this, that the above exposition may be confirmed by the Synchronism of the Dragon cast down with his attendants from heaven. Chap. xii. "The dragon fought and his angels, but they prevailed not, neither was there place found any longer in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out; that old Serpent called the Devil and Satan."" And his angels (that is, demons worshipped under the name of gods,) were cast out with him." It follows,It follows," And every mountain and island were moved out of their places." Mountains and islands might perhaps be taken for persons of higher or lower conditions of life, who are enumerated in the very next verse, unless the word Island should be thought less favourable to such an interpretation. It might, therefore, seem more probable,—if, indeed, it has a reference to this subject,-that both point out men of higher condition which are eminent in each; the mountains on the earth, the islands

in the sea. But what if we understand by islands here, not lands rising in the midst of waters, but edifices, of whatever kind they are called, which, surrounded by a public or private enclosure, are not used in common with neighbouring buildings? May we not then take both mountains. and islands for the temples and shrines of idols, overthrown by this whirlwind, throughout the Roman world? For any one may see how conformable the notion of mountains is to an interpretation of this sort, who is not ignorant that it was customary for idolaters to build altars and shrines to their gods in the more lofty places. Whence, in every part of the Old Testament, the name of high-places is very frequent; nay, in Jeremiah, c. iii. v. 23, the names of hills and mountains for the temples of idols. says he,) the hills and multitude of the mountains were vain." Now islands for temples are not inconsistent with a similar interpretation, since it is very appropriate to temples to resemble islands, and they are not polluted by communion, or even a contact with the walls of other edifices. Supposing, however, it should not be satisfactory, that one and the same thing should be represented under two names, consider the mountains, if you will, as applicable to sacred places in the country and in the fields, and islands as temples of idols in the cities. But in

Surely,

such things as these, minutiæ of any sort do not seem to be required; so that, perhaps, in every instance, the small points of allegorical prophecies are not to be so anxiously suited to the event. It is sufficient if the sum and substance of the matter agree on both sides.

The demolition of shrines and temples was effected under the authority of the same most pious Theodosius, the standard-bearer of the Lamb. For Constantine the Great only shut up the temples of the gods; he did not destroy them, except at Constantinople and the adjoining places. Julian opened them again. But this emperor ordered them to be utterly demolished. The history is well known to every one, nor is there any necessity that I should add to what has been already related by the ecclesiastic writers on this subject. Perhaps, however, it will not be unacceptable to hear Zosimus, a Pagan historian, complaining of, or indignant at, this severe fate of his gods. "The sacristies of the gods, (says he,) were overthrown through all cities and countries, and therefore danger threatened the heads of those who thought them gods, or who looked up to heaven at all, and adored what they saw there." In truth, as the Lord, when he was about to conduct ancient Israel out of Egyptian bondage, is said to have exercised

judgment on all the gods of the Egyptians, Exod. c. xii. v. 12, Numb. c. xxxiii. v. 4, so here, when he was about to deliver the Christian people from Roman tyranny, he exercised judgment on the gods of the Romans. But you will inquire when there was such a disturbance, and heaven and earth were blended, had those gods no Atlases who applied their shoulders to support the falling heavens, and oppose the standard-bearers of Christ thus overthrowing all things? Yes, they had; but they experienced a similar fate with their demons. "The kings of the earth," says the Scripture," and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond and every free man," that is, the emperors, Maximinian, Galerius, Maxentius, Maximin, with Martinian Cæsar, Licinius, Julian, (add also, if you please, the tyrants Eugenius and Arbogastes,) with all their companions in infidelity, of whatever order and degree, who endeavoured with force of arms to defend the religion of their forefathers, to support the cause of the gods, then falling into ruin, and to restore it when already fallen and desperate, were reduced at length to such straits, that "they hid themselves in caves and rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him who

sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come, and who will be able to stand?"

This is a degrading image of persons flying and hiding themselves, and of those who are weary of life, from the desperate state of their affairs; to which you have a similar description in Luke, c. xxiii. v. 30. of the slaughter of Jerusalem; also in Hosea, c. x. v. 8. of the destruction of Samaria and her idols; but the whole is contained in Isaiah, c. xi. v. 18.

Here, let the reader observe in the first place, that the key to unlock the whole vision, is contained in those words; for the matter treated of here, is of some splendid victory of the Lamb, by which he subdued and overthrew his enemies with a universal slaughter. Moreover, since they, whose destruction is described, fly from the Lamb as an enemy, and wish to hide themselves from his wrath, it may from hence clearly appear, that the slaughter, although it be pointed out by no synchronism, can by no means be applied to Christian kings, but to those who were estranged from Christ; and, therefore, ought not to be explained of slaughters by the Goths, and other barbarous nations upon the empire, after it had become Christian. But lastly, what the kings, nobles, and chief captains, and the rest of the Gentiles in the same situation with themselves, say in ad