Revelation · Chapter 12

V. 1. And a great sign was seen in heaven-Not only by St. John, but many heavenly spectators represented in the vision.

A sign means something that has an uncommon appearance, and from which we infer that some unusual thing will follow.

A woman-The emblem of the church of Christ, as she is originally of Israel, though built and enlarged on all sides by the addition of heathen converts; and as she will hereafter appear, when all her "natural branches are again "grafted in." She is at present on earth; and yet, with regard to her union with Christ, may be said to be in heaven, Ephesians 2:6. Accordingly, she is described as both assaulted and defended in heaven, Revelation 12:4, 7.

Clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars-These figurative expressions must be so interpreted as to preserve a due proportion between them. So, in Joseph's dream, the sun betokened his father; the moon, his mother; the stars, their children. There may be some such resemblance here; and as the prophecy points out the "power over all nations," perhaps the sun may betoken the Christian world; the moon, the Mahometans, who also carry the moon in their ensigns; and the crown of twelve stars, the twelve tribes of Israel; which are smaller than the sun and moon. The whole of this chapter answers the state of the church from the ninth century to this time.

Verse 1. There appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun] That the woman here represents the true Church of Christ most commentators are agreed. In other parts of the Apocalypse, the pure Church of Christ is evidently portrayed by a woman. In Revelation 19:7, a great multitude are represented as saying, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his WIFE hath made herself ready.” In Revelation 21:9, an angel talks with St. John, saying, “Come hither, I will show thee the BRIDE, the Lamb’s wife.” That the Christian Church is meant will appear also from her being clothed with the sun, a striking emblem of Jesus Christ, the Sun of righteousness, the light and glory of the Church; for the countenance of the Son of God is as the sun shineth in his strength. The woman has:— The moon under her feet.] Bishop Newton understands this of the Jewish typical worship and indeed the Mosaic system of rites and ceremonies could not have been better represented, for it was the shadow of good things to come. The moon is the less light, ruling over the night, and deriving all its illumination from the sun; in like manner the Jewish dispensation was the bright moonlight night of the world, and possessed a portion of the glorious light of the Gospel. At the rising of the sun the night is ended, and the lunar light no longer necessary, as the sun which enlightens her shines full upon the earth; exactly in the same way has the whole Jewish system of types and shadows has been superseded by the birth, life, crucifixion, death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of Jesus Christ. Upon the head of the woman is:—

A crown of twelve stars.] A very significant representation of the twelve apostles, who were the first founders of the Christian Church, and by whom the Gospel was preached in great part of the Roman empire with astonishing success. “They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the STARS for ever and ever.” Daniel 12:3.

NOTES ON CHAP. 12., BY J. E. C.

Verses 1-5. And there appeared a woman clothed with the sun — “It was a well-known custom,” says Lowman, “at the time of this prophecy, to represent the several virtues, and public societies, by the figure of a woman in some peculiar dress, many of which are to be seen in the Roman coins; in particular, Salus, the emblem of security and protection, is represented as a woman standing upon a globe, to represent the safety and security of the world under the emperor’s care. The consecration of the Roman emperors is expressed in their coins by a moon and stars, as in two of Faustina, to express a degree of glory superior to any on earth. Never was any image more expressive of honour and dignity than this in the vision: to stand in the midst of a glory made by the beams of the sun; and upon the moon, as above the low condition of this sublunary world; to wear a crown set with the stars of heaven, as jewels, is something more sublime than any thing whereby antiquity has represented their societies, their virtues, or their deities.” Bishop Newton explains this, and the five following verses, as follows: “St. John resumes his subject from the beginning, and represents the church (verses 1, 2) as a woman, and a mother bearing children unto Christ. She is clothed with the sun, invested with the rays of Jesus Christ, the Sun of righteousness; having the moon — The Jewish new moons and festivals, as well as all sublunary things; under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars — An emblem of her being under the light and guidance of the twelve apostles. And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered — St. Paul hath made use of the same metaphor, and applied it to his preaching and propagating of the gospel, in the midst of tribulation and persecution, Galatians 4:19. But the words of St. John are much stronger, and more emphatically express the pangs and struggles which the church endured from the first publication of the gospel to the time of Constantine the Great, when she was in some measure eased of her pains, and brought forth a deliverer. At the same time, there appeared a great red dragon — Which is the well-known sign or symbol of the devil and Satan, and of his agents and instruments. We find the kings and people of Egypt, who were the great persecutors of the primitive church of Israel, distinguished by this title in Psalm 74:13; Isaiah 51:9; Ezekiel 29:3; and with as much reason and propriety may the people and emperors of Rome, who were the great persecutors of the primitive church of Christ, be called by the same name, as they were actuated by the same principle. For that the Roman empire was here figured, the characters and attributes of the dragon plainly evince. He is a great red dragon; and purple or scarlet was the distinguishing colour of the Roman emperors, consuls, and generals; as it hath been since of the popes and cardinals. His seven heads, as the angel afterward (Revelation 17:9, 10) explains the vision, allude to the seven mountains upon which Rome was built, and to the seven forms of government which successively prevailed there. His ten horns typify the ten kingdoms into which the Roman empire was divided; and the seven crowns upon his heads denote, that at this time the imperial power was in Rome, the ‘high city, seated on seven hills, which presides over the whole world,’ as Propertius describes it, book 3. His tail also (verse 4) drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth — That is, he subjected the third part of the princes and potentates of the earth; and the Roman empire, as we have seen before, is represented as the third part of the world. He stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born — And the Roman emperors and magistrates kept a jealous, watchful eye, over the Christians from the beginning. As Pharaoh laid snares for the male children of the Hebrews, and Herod for the infant Christ, the son of Mary; so did the Roman dragon for the mystic Christ, the son of the church, that he might destroy him even in his infancy. But notwithstanding the jealousy of the Romans, the gospel was widely diffused and propagated, and the church brought many children unto Christ; and, in time, such as were promoted to the empire. She brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, verse 5 — It was predicted that Christ should rule over the nations, Psalm 2:9; but Christ, who is himself invisible in the heavens, ruleth visibly in Christian magistrates, princes, and emperors. It was therefore promised before, to Christians in general, (Revelation 2:26, 27,) He that overcometh, and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, &c. But it should seem that Constantine was here particularly intended, for whose life the dragon Galerius laid many snares, but he providentially escaped them all; and notwithstanding all opposition, was caught up unto the throne of God — Was not only secured by the divine protection, but was advanced to the imperial throne, called the throne of God; for, (Romans 13:1,) there is no power but of God, &c. He too ruled all nations with a rod of iron; for he had not only the Romans, who before had persecuted the church, under his dominion, but also subdued the Scythians, Sarmatians, and other barbarous nations, who had never before been subject to the Roman empire; and, as Spanheim informs us, there are still extant medals and coins of his with these inscriptions: The subduer of the barbarous nations; the conqueror of all nations; everywhere a conqueror; and the like. What is added, verse 6, of the woman’s fleeing into the wilderness for a thousand two hundred and threescore days, is said by way of prolepsis or anticipation. For the war in heaven between Michael and the dragon, and other subsequent events, were prior, in order of time, to the flight of the woman into the wilderness; but before the prophet passes on to a new subject, he gives a general account of what happened to the woman afterward, and enters more into the particulars in their proper place.

Verse 1. There appeared a great wonder in heaven; that is, in the church or kingdom of heaven below; for the church has long been called a woman, and a fruitful mother, the bride, and the Lamb’s wife; a lovely metaphor to designate her graces, her glory and beauty.

1. And—In the opening of this chapter three representative beings appear on the scene. The man child, Christ; the mother; and the dragon, ready to devour the child. The grouping at once suggests the source whence the symbolism is drawn. We at once think of the virgin mother, the infant Jesus, and the murderous Herod. Yet the subsequent wilderness history of the woman shows that the virgin is here introduced as a symbol of the Church; that as Herod is not actually named, the dragon is truly the literal Satan, and that the man child is truly Christ. Yet the habiliments of the dragon show that he is Satan as representative of pagan Roman antichrist, and the man child is Christ as representative leader in the battle against antichrist. As the woman is symbol, and the Herod is symbol, so the man child is here symbol. Alford is right in insisting that “the man child is the Lord Jesus Christ and none other,” (not Constantine, nor any other Roman emperor;) but he is wrong in ignoring the plain fact, that both Christ and the dragon are here representatives of Christianity and paganism in the Roman world; that the battle here is truly between the two great causes, and that the overthrow of the dragon is the downfall of paganism. As the beast of Revelation 13:1, is the specific antichrist of the New Testament, according to the apocalypse, so Gebhardt holds the dragon to be rather anti-god. This may in due degree be admitted. The paganism of the Old Testament, and even as it laps over into the New, is opposed not so much to Christ as to God. It supplies a rival, and denies the true divine existence. Yet, by another view, as Christ is the Jehovah of the Old Dispensation, so the anti-god is, through all ages, the lineal antichrist. See introductory note to 2 Thessalonians, chap. 2. We might, then, (and some of our readers may prefer the view,) reckon the contest with the dragon as part of the coming anti-christic war, and so reckon four rather than three “overthrows of antichrist.” Yet as the man child and the dragon are here presented as the two powers which, after this antecedent contest, are reserved in the background as the source, inspiration, and controllers of the manifest war, we prefer to consider this contest as preludial, introduced to show the genesis of the main war and to authenticate the personalities introduced in the next chapter as the combatants; thereby leaving but three main “overthrows.” There appeared—From the symbolic heaven, where the panorama was in action, the seer looks upward to a higher ethereal region, the atmospheric heaven, where the woman, and subsequently the dragon, appear; yet higher still, the third heaven, is the throne whither the child was caught up. Note Revelation 4:11. Wonder—Rather, sign, token, symbol, a phenomenon significant of some idea. So 1 Corinthians 14:22; Matthew 12:39; Matthew 24:3. Sun—In the gorgeous imagery investing the woman is truly to be seen a recognition of the unparalleled honour of the blessed virgin in becoming the mother of the Incarnate. Sad as is the error of the Romanistic adoration of her person, no reaction of thought should prevent our recognising the due honour which Scripture pays her. And one honour is, that she is clearly here the basis of the symbol of the Church in its struggle with paganism. Note on Matthew 1:18.

There is an apparent incongruity in the Church’s being here the mother of Christ and also, hereafter, the bride of Christ. But the two are to be separated in thought as different symbols. The maternal symbol of the Church is a specialty, terminating at a particular historic point. The bridal symbol comes from another region of thought, and extends into the final glorification. Clothed with the sun—”Invested,” Newton well says, “with the rays of the sun of righteousness.” The moon—The symbol of sublunary change, over and upon which the ideal Church stands exalted. Crown of twelve stars—The twelve apostles, under whom she stands as the apostolic Church. The three orders of heavenly luminaries combine to do her homage. Robed with the sun, and crowned with the stars, she stands on the moon—her silver pedestal. While each of these investments may have its symbolic import, the clustering of the whole is to render glorious the personified Church. The dragon, on the contrary, in a different hemisphere of the firmament, is clothed in no such glory, but equipped with symbols of power and fierceness.

V. 2. And being with child she crieth, travailing in birth-The very pain, without any outward opposition, would constrain a woman in travail to cry out. These cries, throes, and pains to be delivered, were the painful longings, the sighs, and prayers of the saints for the coming of the kingdom of God. The woman groaned and travailed in spirit, that Christ might appear, as the Shepherd and King of all nations.

Verse 2. And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, &c.] This, when taken in connection with the following verses, is a striking figure of the great persecution which the Church of Christ should suffer under the heathen Roman emperors, but more especially of that long and most dreadful one under Diocletian. The woman is represented as BEING with child, to show that the time would speedily arrive when God’s patient forbearance with the heathen would be terminated, and that a deliverer should arise in the Christian world who would execute the Divine vengeance upon paganism.

NOTES ON CHAP. 12., BY J. E. C.

Verses 1-5. And there appeared a woman clothed with the sun — “It was a well-known custom,” says Lowman, “at the time of this prophecy, to represent the several virtues, and public societies, by the figure of a woman in some peculiar dress, many of which are to be seen in the Roman coins; in particular, Salus, the emblem of security and protection, is represented as a woman standing upon a globe, to represent the safety and security of the world under the emperor’s care. The consecration of the Roman emperors is expressed in their coins by a moon and stars, as in two of Faustina, to express a degree of glory superior to any on earth. Never was any image more expressive of honour and dignity than this in the vision: to stand in the midst of a glory made by the beams of the sun; and upon the moon, as above the low condition of this sublunary world; to wear a crown set with the stars of heaven, as jewels, is something more sublime than any thing whereby antiquity has represented their societies, their virtues, or their deities.” Bishop Newton explains this, and the five following verses, as follows: “St. John resumes his subject from the beginning, and represents the church (verses 1, 2) as a woman, and a mother bearing children unto Christ. She is clothed with the sun, invested with the rays of Jesus Christ, the Sun of righteousness; having the moon — The Jewish new moons and festivals, as well as all sublunary things; under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars — An emblem of her being under the light and guidance of the twelve apostles. And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered — St. Paul hath made use of the same metaphor, and applied it to his preaching and propagating of the gospel, in the midst of tribulation and persecution, Galatians 4:19. But the words of St. John are much stronger, and more emphatically express the pangs and struggles which the church endured from the first publication of the gospel to the time of Constantine the Great, when she was in some measure eased of her pains, and brought forth a deliverer. At the same time, there appeared a great red dragon — Which is the well-known sign or symbol of the devil and Satan, and of his agents and instruments. We find the kings and people of Egypt, who were the great persecutors of the primitive church of Israel, distinguished by this title in Psalm 74:13; Isaiah 51:9; Ezekiel 29:3; and with as much reason and propriety may the people and emperors of Rome, who were the great persecutors of the primitive church of Christ, be called by the same name, as they were actuated by the same principle. For that the Roman empire was here figured, the characters and attributes of the dragon plainly evince. He is a great red dragon; and purple or scarlet was the distinguishing colour of the Roman emperors, consuls, and generals; as it hath been since of the popes and cardinals. His seven heads, as the angel afterward (Revelation 17:9, 10) explains the vision, allude to the seven mountains upon which Rome was built, and to the seven forms of government which successively prevailed there. His ten horns typify the ten kingdoms into which the Roman empire was divided; and the seven crowns upon his heads denote, that at this time the imperial power was in Rome, the ‘high city, seated on seven hills, which presides over the whole world,’ as Propertius describes it, book 3. His tail also (verse 4) drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth — That is, he subjected the third part of the princes and potentates of the earth; and the Roman empire, as we have seen before, is represented as the third part of the world. He stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born — And the Roman emperors and magistrates kept a jealous, watchful eye, over the Christians from the beginning. As Pharaoh laid snares for the male children of the Hebrews, and Herod for the infant Christ, the son of Mary; so did the Roman dragon for the mystic Christ, the son of the church, that he might destroy him even in his infancy. But notwithstanding the jealousy of the Romans, the gospel was widely diffused and propagated, and the church brought many children unto Christ; and, in time, such as were promoted to the empire. She brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, verse 5 — It was predicted that Christ should rule over the nations, Psalm 2:9; but Christ, who is himself invisible in the heavens, ruleth visibly in Christian magistrates, princes, and emperors. It was therefore promised before, to Christians in general, (Revelation 2:26, 27,) He that overcometh, and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, &c. But it should seem that Constantine was here particularly intended, for whose life the dragon Galerius laid many snares, but he providentially escaped them all; and notwithstanding all opposition, was caught up unto the throne of God — Was not only secured by the divine protection, but was advanced to the imperial throne, called the throne of God; for, (Romans 13:1,) there is no power but of God, &c. He too ruled all nations with a rod of iron; for he had not only the Romans, who before had persecuted the church, under his dominion, but also subdued the Scythians, Sarmatians, and other barbarous nations, who had never before been subject to the Roman empire; and, as Spanheim informs us, there are still extant medals and coins of his with these inscriptions: The subduer of the barbarous nations; the conqueror of all nations; everywhere a conqueror; and the like. What is added, verse 6, of the woman’s fleeing into the wilderness for a thousand two hundred and threescore days, is said by way of prolepsis or anticipation. For the war in heaven between Michael and the dragon, and other subsequent events, were prior, in order of time, to the flight of the woman into the wilderness; but before the prophet passes on to a new subject, he gives a general account of what happened to the woman afterward, and enters more into the particulars in their proper place.

Ver. 2. And she being with child cried out through pain, and was labouring to be delivered.

2. Cried—Even in her celestial exaltation the woman is writhing in womanly agony. Type of how divine a thing is human maternity! Science may find in it but an animal process of “evolution;” but as the incarnation showed what divinity there is in humanity, so the maternity of the incarnate shows what a divine type is stamped upon human birth.

V. 3. And behold a great red dragon-His fiery-red colour denoting his disposition.

Having seven heads-Implying vast wisdom.

And ten horns-Perhaps on the seventh head; emblems of mighty power and strength, which he still retained.

And seven diadems on his heads-Not properly crowns, but costly bindings, such as kings anciently wore; for, though fallen, he was a great potentate still, even "the prince of this world."

Verse 3. There appeared another wonder-a great red dragon] The dragon here is a symbol, not of the Roman empire in general, but of the HEATHEN Roman empire. This great pagan power must have, therefore, been thus represented from the religion which it supported. But what is a dragon? An entirely fabulous beast of antiquity, consequently, in this respect, a most proper emblem of the heathen worship, which consisted in paying adoration to numerous imaginary beings, termed gods, goddesses, &c. The very foundation of the heathen religious system is mostly built upon fable; and it is very difficult to trace many of their superstitions to any authentic original; and even those which appear to derive their origin from the sacred writings are so disguised in fable as literally to bear no more resemblance to the truth than the dragon of the ancients does to any animal with which we are acquainted. But it may be asked why the Spirit of God should represent the heathen Roman empire as a dragon, rather than by anger other of the fabulous animals with which the mythology of the ancient Romans abounded. The answer is as follows; In the eighth chapter of the Prophet Daniel, God has represented the kingdom of the Greeks by a he-goat, for no other apparent reason than this, that it was the national military standard of the Grecian monarchy; we may therefore expect that the pagan Roman empire is called a DRAGON on a similar account. In confirmation of this point it is very remarkable that the dragon was the principal standard of the Romans next to the eagle, in the second, third, fourth, and fifth centuries of the Christian era. Of this we have abundant evidence in the writings of both heathens and Christians. Arrian is the earliest writer who has mentioned that dragons were used as military standards among the Romans. See his Tactics, c. 51. Hence Schwebelius supposes that this standard was introduced after Trajan’s conquest of the Daci. See Vegetius de Revelation Militari a Schwebelio, p. 191, Argentorati, 1806; and Grævii Thesaur., Antiq. Roman., tom. x., col. 1529. Vegetius, who flourished about A.D. 386, says, lib. ii. c. 13: Primum signum totius legionis est aquila, quam aquilifer portal. DRACONES etiam per singulas cohortes a draconariis feruntur ad prælium. “The first standard of the whole legion is the eagle, which the aquilifer carries. DRAGONS are also borne to battle by the Draconarii.” As a legion consisted of ten cohorts, there were therefore ten draconarii to one aquilifer; hence, from the great number of draconarii in an army, the word signarii or signiferi, standard-bearers, came at last to mean the carriers of the dragon standards only, the others retaining the name of aquiliferi.-See Veget., lib. ii. c. 7, and his commentators. The heathen Roman empire is called a RED dragon; and accordingly we find from the testimony of ancient writers that the dragon standards of the Romans were painted red. We read in Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xvi., c. 12, of PURPUREUM signum draconis, “the purple standard of the dragon.” See also Claudianus in Rufinum, lib. ii., l. 177, 178. Pitiscus, in his Lexicon Antiq. Rom., and Ducange, in his Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis, sub voc. Draco, have considered this subject at great length, especially the latter writer, who has made several quotations from Claudianus, Sidonius, Prudentius, and others, in which not only the standard, but also the image of the dragon itself, is stated to be of a red or purple colour. Of what has been said above respecting the dragon, this is then the sum: a huge fabulous beast is shown to St. John, by which some GREAT PAGAN power is symbolically represented; and the RED dragon is selected from among the numerous imaginary animals which the fancies of mankind have created to show that this great pagan power is the heathen ROMAN empire.

Having seven heads] As the dragon is an emblem of the heathen Roman power, its heads must denote heathen forms of government.-See Clarke’s note on “Revelation 17:10”, where the heads of the beast are explained in a similar way. These were exactly seven, and are enumerated by Tacitus (Annal., lib. i., in principio) in words to the following effect: “The city of Rome was originally governed by kings. L. Brutus instituted liberty and the consulate. The dictatorship was only occasionally appointed; neither did the decemviral power last above two years; and the consular power of the military tribunes was not of long continuance. Neither had Cinna nor Sylla a long domination: the power of Pompey and Crassus was also soon absorbed in that of Cæsar; and the arms of Lepidus and Antony finally yielded to those of Augustus.” From this passage it is evident to every person well acquainted with the Roman history, that the seven forms of government in the heathen Roman world were, 1. The regal power; 2. The consulate; 3. The dictatorship; 4. The decemvirate; 5. The consular power of the military tribunes; 6. The triumvirate; and, 7. The imperial government.

It is singular that commentators in general, in their citation of this passage, have taken no notice of the triumvirate, a form of government evidently as distinct from any of the others as kings are from consuls, or consuls from emperors. For the triumvirate consisted in the division of the Roman republic into three parts, each governed by an officer possessed with consular authority in his own province; and all three united together in the regulation of the whole Roman state. Consequently, it differed entirely from the imperial power, which was the entire conversion of the Roman state from a republic to a monarchy.

And ten horns] That these ten horns signify as many kingdoms is evident from the seventh chapter of Daniel, where the angel, speaking of the fourth beast, says, that “the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise;” and in this view of the passage many commentators are agreed, who also admit that the ten kingdoms are to be met with “amid the broken pieces of the Roman empire.” And it is evident that nothing less than the dismemberment of the Roman empire, and its division into ten independent kingdoms, can be intended by the angel’s interpretation just quoted. If, therefore, the ten horns of Daniel’s fourth beast point out as many kingdoms, for the very same reason must the horns of the dragon have a similar meaning. But the Roman empire was not divided into several independent kingdoms till a considerable time after it became Christian. In what sense then can it be said that the different kingdoms into which the Roman empire was divided by the barbarous nations are horns of the dragon? They were so because it was the Roman monarchy, in its seventh DRACONIC form of government, which was dismembered by the barbarians. For though the Roman empire was not completely dismembered till the fifth century, it is well known that the depression of the heathen idolatry, and the advancement of Christianity to the throne, elected not the least change in the form of government: the Romans continued still to be under subjection to the imperial power; and, consequently, when the heathen barbarous nations divided the Roman empire among themselves, they might very properly be denominated horns of the dragon, as it was by means of their incursions that the imperial power, FOUNDED by the heathen Cæsars, was abolished. Machiavel and Bishop Lloyd enumerate the horns of the dragon thus: 1. The kingdom of the Huns; 9. The kingdom of the Ostrogoths; 3 The kingdom of the Visigoths; 4. The kingdom of the Franks; 5. The kingdom of the Vandals; 6. The kingdom of the Sueves and Alans; 7. The kingdom of the Burgundians; 8. The kingdom of the Heruli, Rugii, Scyrri, and other tribes which composed the Italian kingdom of Odoacer; 9. The kingdom of the Saxons; and 10. The kingdom of the Lombards.

And seven crowns upon his head.] In the seven Roman forms of government already enumerated, heathenism has been the crowning or dominant religion.

NOTES ON CHAP. 12., BY J. E. C.

Verses 1-5. And there appeared a woman clothed with the sun — “It was a well-known custom,” says Lowman, “at the time of this prophecy, to represent the several virtues, and public societies, by the figure of a woman in some peculiar dress, many of which are to be seen in the Roman coins; in particular, Salus, the emblem of security and protection, is represented as a woman standing upon a globe, to represent the safety and security of the world under the emperor’s care. The consecration of the Roman emperors is expressed in their coins by a moon and stars, as in two of Faustina, to express a degree of glory superior to any on earth. Never was any image more expressive of honour and dignity than this in the vision: to stand in the midst of a glory made by the beams of the sun; and upon the moon, as above the low condition of this sublunary world; to wear a crown set with the stars of heaven, as jewels, is something more sublime than any thing whereby antiquity has represented their societies, their virtues, or their deities.” Bishop Newton explains this, and the five following verses, as follows: “St. John resumes his subject from the beginning, and represents the church (verses 1, 2) as a woman, and a mother bearing children unto Christ. She is clothed with the sun, invested with the rays of Jesus Christ, the Sun of righteousness; having the moon — The Jewish new moons and festivals, as well as all sublunary things; under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars — An emblem of her being under the light and guidance of the twelve apostles. And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered — St. Paul hath made use of the same metaphor, and applied it to his preaching and propagating of the gospel, in the midst of tribulation and persecution, Galatians 4:19. But the words of St. John are much stronger, and more emphatically express the pangs and struggles which the church endured from the first publication of the gospel to the time of Constantine the Great, when she was in some measure eased of her pains, and brought forth a deliverer. At the same time, there appeared a great red dragon — Which is the well-known sign or symbol of the devil and Satan, and of his agents and instruments. We find the kings and people of Egypt, who were the great persecutors of the primitive church of Israel, distinguished by this title in Psalm 74:13; Isaiah 51:9; Ezekiel 29:3; and with as much reason and propriety may the people and emperors of Rome, who were the great persecutors of the primitive church of Christ, be called by the same name, as they were actuated by the same principle. For that the Roman empire was here figured, the characters and attributes of the dragon plainly evince. He is a great red dragon; and purple or scarlet was the distinguishing colour of the Roman emperors, consuls, and generals; as it hath been since of the popes and cardinals. His seven heads, as the angel afterward (Revelation 17:9, 10) explains the vision, allude to the seven mountains upon which Rome was built, and to the seven forms of government which successively prevailed there. His ten horns typify the ten kingdoms into which the Roman empire was divided; and the seven crowns upon his heads denote, that at this time the imperial power was in Rome, the ‘high city, seated on seven hills, which presides over the whole world,’ as Propertius describes it, book 3. His tail also (verse 4) drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth — That is, he subjected the third part of the princes and potentates of the earth; and the Roman empire, as we have seen before, is represented as the third part of the world. He stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born — And the Roman emperors and magistrates kept a jealous, watchful eye, over the Christians from the beginning. As Pharaoh laid snares for the male children of the Hebrews, and Herod for the infant Christ, the son of Mary; so did the Roman dragon for the mystic Christ, the son of the church, that he might destroy him even in his infancy. But notwithstanding the jealousy of the Romans, the gospel was widely diffused and propagated, and the church brought many children unto Christ; and, in time, such as were promoted to the empire. She brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, verse 5 — It was predicted that Christ should rule over the nations, Psalm 2:9; but Christ, who is himself invisible in the heavens, ruleth visibly in Christian magistrates, princes, and emperors. It was therefore promised before, to Christians in general, (Revelation 2:26, 27,) He that overcometh, and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, &c. But it should seem that Constantine was here particularly intended, for whose life the dragon Galerius laid many snares, but he providentially escaped them all; and notwithstanding all opposition, was caught up unto the throne of God — Was not only secured by the divine protection, but was advanced to the imperial throne, called the throne of God; for, (Romans 13:1,) there is no power but of God, &c. He too ruled all nations with a rod of iron; for he had not only the Romans, who before had persecuted the church, under his dominion, but also subdued the Scythians, Sarmatians, and other barbarous nations, who had never before been subject to the Roman empire; and, as Spanheim informs us, there are still extant medals and coins of his with these inscriptions: The subduer of the barbarous nations; the conqueror of all nations; everywhere a conqueror; and the like. What is added, verse 6, of the woman’s fleeing into the wilderness for a thousand two hundred and threescore days, is said by way of prolepsis or anticipation. For the war in heaven between Michael and the dragon, and other subsequent events, were prior, in order of time, to the flight of the woman into the wilderness; but before the prophet passes on to a new subject, he gives a general account of what happened to the woman afterward, and enters more into the particulars in their proper place.

Ver. 3. Behold, a great red dragon. Dr. Peter Allix, a learned biblical writer, has some valuable thoughts on this subject. “The ancients allow,” he says, “as St. Jerome acknowledges, that this chapter speaks of the fall of the Roman pagan empire; that the great dragon who had fallen from heaven, casting out of his month as it were a flood to destroy the church, signifies the heresies which the devil taught Arius and his followers, after that Constantine, [or rather Christ, and the holy seed] the man-child born of the woman, had been raised to the empire of the world, whose elevation threw down the dragon from the heaven where he was adored before that time. Indeed the fathers counted the first heresy to be that of Arius, which had several branches, as those of the Eudoxians, the Aetians, the Eunomians, &c., and which was condemned in the person of its author by the council of Nice, in 325.

The second heresy was that of Macedonius, bishop of Constantinople, condemned by the second general council in 381. The third was that of Nestorius, another bishop of Constantinople, who in a great measure revived the heresy of Paulus Samosatenus, bishop of Antioch, who lived in the middle of the third century. This heresy was condemned at Ephesus in

431. The fourth was that of Eutyches, abbot of a monastery in Constantinople, who asserted that the Word did not clothe itself with flesh, or assume human nature in the womb of the virgin; but that the Divinity, being turned into flesh, passed through the virgin, and was afterwards crucified, died, and was buried, and raised again on the third day. This the council of Chalcedon condemned in 451. Those ancient writers also teach, as we see from Theodoret, lib. 4. de hæret. fabulius, that the end of the world was to be expected as very near. This Theodoret asserts in another place in the same book, speaking of the forementioned person. It must be owned that Mr. Mede was much in the right in his notion of heresies, which were indeed the flood that was cast out of the mouth of the dragon. The interpretation is solid; and Rupertus, abbot of Duitz in the diocese of Colen, above six hundred years ago, took the first hint of it from St. Jerome. And Mr. Whiston did well to follow Mede. These heresies all arose in the eastern church: the west was also much concerned therein. So the devil left the east to come and bring desolation and confusion into the west, by corrupting the other part of the posterity of the woman in giving rise to antichristianism, which began upon the division of the western empire into ten kingdoms. The fathers, misled by a foolish tradition of the apocryphal writers, were of opinion that antichrist should not reign longer than three years and a half, and that the end of the world should immediately succeed his fall. We justly blame their credulity.

3. Dragon—Name and shape allude to the Edenic serpent. With this primitive serpent the present dragon is very expressly identified in verse 9, and again re-identified in Revelation 20:2. He is the personal Satan, ver. 9, arrayed in the skin of the Roman empire. So Rome’s great predecessor, Egypt, Ezekiel 29:3, is a dragon: “I am against thee, Pharaoh, the great dragon that liest in the midst of its rivers.” Probably the physical reference is to the crocodile. In the second and third centuries of our era the dragon was adopted as a Roman ensign, and is thus described by Ammianus Marcellinus: “The dragon was covered with purple cloth, and fastened to the end of a pike gilt and adorned with precious stones. It opened its wide throat, and the wind blew through it; and it hissed, as if in a rage, with its tail floating in several folds through the air.”—Elliott. Red—Fire-coloured, not blood-coloured; yet indicating both his slaughterous character and his hellish origin. The seven heads subsequently referred, physically, to the seven hills of Rome, (Revelation 17:9,) and politically to the seven great empires of which Rome is the sixth and seventh. Notes Revelation 17:10. It is clear that the dragon is here symbol of Roman paganism, as the woman is symbol of the Christianity that paganism would destroy. The ten horns refer, perhaps, basally, to the ten kingdoms into which the Roman empire immediately fell, analogous to the ten toes of Daniel’s image, and ultimately to the universality of modern nations. Notes Revelation 17:12-14. It is a remarkable inconsistency in Alford that he admits the symbolism of the woman as the Christian Church, and yet ignores that of her antagonist, the dragon, as heading the antichurch of antichrist. And yet it is notable how antithetically our seer places before us the two in position in verses 1-4, before he proceeds to narrate the action.

V. 4. And his tail-His falsehood and subtilty.

Draweth-As a train.

The third part-A very large number.

Of the stars of heaven-The Christians and their teachers, who before sat in heavenly places with Christ Jesus.

And casteth them to the earth-Utterly deprives them of all those heavenly blessings. This is properly a part of the description of the dragon, who was not yet himself on earth, but in heaven: consequently, this casting them down was between the beginning of the seventh trumpet and the beginning of the third woe; or between the year 847 and the year 947; at which time pestilent doctrines, particularly that of the Manichees in the east, drew abundance of people from the truth.

And the dragon stood before the woman, that when she had brought forth, he might devour the child-That he might hinder the kingdom of Christ from spreading abroad, as it does under this trumpet.

Verse 4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven] It is not unusual in Scripture, as Dr. Mitchell observes, to call the hindmost of an enemy the tail, as in Joshua 10:19: Ye shall cut off the hindmost of them, which is literally in Hebrew, אותם וזנבתם “Ye shall cut off their tail.” See also Deuteronomy 25:18. It is also observable that the word oura, in this verse, has been used by the Greeks in the same sense with the Hebrew word bnz already referred to. Thus oura stratou, which we would translate the rear of an army, is literally the tail of an army. See the Thesaurus of Stephens, in loc. The tail of the dragon is therefore the heathen Roman power in its seventh or last form of government, viz., the imperial power; and is not, as Dr. Mitchell supposes, to be restricted to the last heathen Roman emperors. The heathen imperial power is said to draw the third part of the stars of heaven, by which has generally been understood that the Roman empire subjected the third part of the princes and potentates of the earth. But that this is not a correct statement of the fact is evident from the testimony of ancient history. The Roman empire was always considered and called the empire of the world by ancient writers. See Dionys. Halicar., Antiq. Rom. lib. i., prope principium; Pitisci Lexicon Antiq. Roman., sub voc. imperium; Ovidii Fast., lib. ii. l. 683; Vegetius de Revelation Militari, lib. i. c. 1., &c., &c. And it is even so named in Scripture, for St. Luke, in the second chapter of his gospel, informs us that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus that THE WHOLE WORLD should be taxed, by which is evidently meant the Roman empire. The whole mystery of this passage consists in the misapprehension of its symbolical language. In order therefore to understand it, the symbols here used must be examined. By heaven is meant the most eminent or ruling part of any nation. This is evident from the very nature of the symbol, for “heaven is God’s throne;” they therefore who are advanced to the supreme authority in any state are very properly said to be taken up into heaven, because they are raised to this eminence by the favour of the Lord, and are ministers of his to do his pleasure. And the calamity which fell upon Nebuchadnezzar was to instruct him in this important truth, that the heavens do rule; that is, that all monarchs possess their kingdoms by Divine appointment, and that no man is raised to power by what is usually termed the chances of war, but that “the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.” The meaning of heaven being thus ascertained, it cannot be difficult to comprehend the meaning of earth, this being evidently its opposite, that is, every thing in subjection to the heaven or ruling part. Stars have already been shown to denote ministers of religion; and this is more fully evident from Revelation 1:16 of this book, where the seven stars which the Son of God holds in his right hand are explained to signify the seven angels (or messengers) of the seven Churches, by whom must be meant the seven pastors or ministers of these Churches. The resemblance of ministers to stars is very striking; for as the stars give light upon the earth, so are ministers the lights of the cause they advocate; and their position in heaven, the symbol of domination, very fitly betokens the spiritual authority of priests or ministers over their flocks. Hence, as the woman, or Christian Church, has upon her head a crown of twelve stars, which signifies that she is under the guidance of the twelve apostles, who are the twelve principal lights of the Christian world, so has the dragon also his stars or ministers. The stars therefore which the dragon draws with his tail must represent the whole body of pagan priests, who were the stars or lights of the heathen world. But in what sense can it be said that the heathen Roman empire, which ruled over the whole known world, only draws a third part of the stars of heaven? The answer is: The religious world in the time of St. John was divided into three grand branches, viz., the Christian world, the Jewish world, and the heathen and pagan world: consequently, as a dragon, a fabulous animal, is an emblem of a civil power supporting a religion founded in fable; it necessarily follows that the stars or ministers of the Jews and Christians cannot be numbered among those which he draws with his tail, as they were not the advocates of his idolatry, but were ministers of a religion founded by the God of heaven, and consequently formed no part of the pagan world, though they were in subjection in secular matters to the pagan Roman empire. The tail of the dragon therefore draweth after him the whole heathen world. And did cast then to the earth] That is, reduced all the pagan priests under the Roman yoke. The words of the prophecy are very remarkable. It is said the tail of the dragon draweth, (for so surei should be translated,) but it is added, and HATH CAST then upon the earth, to show that at the time the Apocalypse was written the world was divided into the three grand religious divisions already referred to; but that the tail of the dragon, or the pagan Roman power under its last form of government, had brought the whole heathen world (which was a third part of the religious world in the apostolic age) into subjection previously to the communication of the Revelation to St. John. It is the dragon’s tail that draws the third part of the stars of heaven, therefore it was during the dominion of his last form of government that Christianity was introduced into the world; for in the time of the six preceding draconic forms of government, the world was divided religiously into only two grand branches, Jews and Gentiles. That the sense in which the third part is here taken is the one intended in the prophecy is put beyond all controversy, when it is considered that this very division is made in the first and third verses, in which mention is made of the woman clothed with the sun-the Christian Church, the moon under her feet, or Jewish Church, and the dragon, or heathen power. Thus the heathen IMPERIAL government is doubly represented, first, by one of the seven draconic heads, to show that it was one of those seven heathen forms of government which have been successively at the head of the Roman state; and secondly, by the dragon’s tail, because it was the last of those seven. For a justification of this method of interpretation, see on the angel’s double explanation of the heads of the beast, Revelation 17:9, 10, 16. And the dragon stood before the woman, &c.] Constantius Chlorus, the father of Constantine, abandoned the absurdities of paganism, and treated the Christians with great respect. This alarmed the pagan priests, whose interests were so closely connected with the continuance of the ancient superstitions, and who apprehended that to their great detriment the Christian religion would become daily more universal and triumphant throughout the empire. Under these anxious fears they moved Diocletian to persecute the Christians. Hence began what is termed the tenth and last general persecution, which was the most severe of all, and continued nearly ten years; (see Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History of the Third Century;) and as it was the Divine pleasure that, at this time, a great deliverer should be raised up in behalf of his suffering people, the woman, or Christian Church, is very appropriately represented as overtaken with the pangs of labour, and ready to be delivered. Before the death of Constantius, the heathen party, aware that Constantine would follow the example of his father, who so much favoured the Christians, beheld him with a watchful and malignant eye. Many were the snares that, according to Eusebius, were laid for him by Maximin and Galerius: he relates the frequent and dangerous enterprises to which they urged him, with the design that he might lose his life. When Galerius heard of the death of Constantius, and that he had appointed Constantine his successor, he was filled with the most ungovernable rage and indignation, notwithstanding he did not dare to take any steps contrary to the interest of Constantine. The dread of the armies of the west, which were mostly composed of Christians, was a sufficient check to all attempts of that kind. Thus the dragon, or heathen power, stood before the woman, or Christian Church, to devour her son, or deliverer, as soon as he was born. See Dr. Mitchell’s Exposition of the Revelation, in loc.

Verses 1-5. And there appeared a woman clothed with the sun — “It was a well-known custom,” says Lowman, “at the time of this prophecy, to represent the several virtues, and public societies, by the figure of a woman in some peculiar dress, many of which are to be seen in the Roman coins; in particular, Salus, the emblem of security and protection, is represented as a woman standing upon a globe, to represent the safety and security of the world under the emperor’s care. The consecration of the Roman emperors is expressed in their coins by a moon and stars, as in two of Faustina, to express a degree of glory superior to any on earth. Never was any image more expressive of honour and dignity than this in the vision: to stand in the midst of a glory made by the beams of the sun; and upon the moon, as above the low condition of this sublunary world; to wear a crown set with the stars of heaven, as jewels, is something more sublime than any thing whereby antiquity has represented their societies, their virtues, or their deities.” Bishop Newton explains this, and the five following verses, as follows: “St. John resumes his subject from the beginning, and represents the church (verses 1, 2) as a woman, and a mother bearing children unto Christ. She is clothed with the sun, invested with the rays of Jesus Christ, the Sun of righteousness; having the moon — The Jewish new moons and festivals, as well as all sublunary things; under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars — An emblem of her being under the light and guidance of the twelve apostles. And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered — St. Paul hath made use of the same metaphor, and applied it to his preaching and propagating of the gospel, in the midst of tribulation and persecution, Galatians 4:19. But the words of St. John are much stronger, and more emphatically express the pangs and struggles which the church endured from the first publication of the gospel to the time of Constantine the Great, when she was in some measure eased of her pains, and brought forth a deliverer. At the same time, there appeared a great red dragon — Which is the well-known sign or symbol of the devil and Satan, and of his agents and instruments. We find the kings and people of Egypt, who were the great persecutors of the primitive church of Israel, distinguished by this title in Psalm 74:13; Isaiah 51:9; Ezekiel 29:3; and with as much reason and propriety may the people and emperors of Rome, who were the great persecutors of the primitive church of Christ, be called by the same name, as they were actuated by the same principle. For that the Roman empire was here figured, the characters and attributes of the dragon plainly evince. He is a great red dragon; and purple or scarlet was the distinguishing colour of the Roman emperors, consuls, and generals; as it hath been since of the popes and cardinals. His seven heads, as the angel afterward (Revelation 17:9, 10) explains the vision, allude to the seven mountains upon which Rome was built, and to the seven forms of government which successively prevailed there. His ten horns typify the ten kingdoms into which the Roman empire was divided; and the seven crowns upon his heads denote, that at this time the imperial power was in Rome, the ‘high city, seated on seven hills, which presides over the whole world,’ as Propertius describes it, book 3. His tail also (verse 4) drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth — That is, he subjected the third part of the princes and potentates of the earth; and the Roman empire, as we have seen before, is represented as the third part of the world. He stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born — And the Roman emperors and magistrates kept a jealous, watchful eye, over the Christians from the beginning. As Pharaoh laid snares for the male children of the Hebrews, and Herod for the infant Christ, the son of Mary; so did the Roman dragon for the mystic Christ, the son of the church, that he might destroy him even in his infancy. But notwithstanding the jealousy of the Romans, the gospel was widely diffused and propagated, and the church brought many children unto Christ; and, in time, such as were promoted to the empire. She brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, verse 5 — It was predicted that Christ should rule over the nations, Psalm 2:9; but Christ, who is himself invisible in the heavens, ruleth visibly in Christian magistrates, princes, and emperors. It was therefore promised before, to Christians in general, (Revelation 2:26, 27,) He that overcometh, and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, &c. But it should seem that Constantine was here particularly intended, for whose life the dragon Galerius laid many snares, but he providentially escaped them all; and notwithstanding all opposition, was caught up unto the throne of God — Was not only secured by the divine protection, but was advanced to the imperial throne, called the throne of God; for, (Romans 13:1,) there is no power but of God, &c. He too ruled all nations with a rod of iron; for he had not only the Romans, who before had persecuted the church, under his dominion, but also subdued the Scythians, Sarmatians, and other barbarous nations, who had never before been subject to the Roman empire; and, as Spanheim informs us, there are still extant medals and coins of his with these inscriptions: The subduer of the barbarous nations; the conqueror of all nations; everywhere a conqueror; and the like. What is added, verse 6, of the woman’s fleeing into the wilderness for a thousand two hundred and threescore days, is said by way of prolepsis or anticipation. For the war in heaven between Michael and the dragon, and other subsequent events, were prior, in order of time, to the flight of the woman into the wilderness; but before the prophet passes on to a new subject, he gives a general account of what happened to the woman afterward, and enters more into the particulars in their proper place.

4. Third part of the stars—Allusively based on the history of the fallen angels, and given here to magnify the dragon’s power.

V. 5. And she brought forth a man child-Even Christ, considered not in his person, but in his kingdom. In the ninth age, many nations with their princes were added to the Christian church.

Who was to rule all nations-When his time is come. And her child-Which was already in heaven, as were the woman and the dragon.

Was caught up to God-Taken utterly out of his reach.

Verse 5. And she brought forth a man child] The Christian Church, when her full time came, obtained a deliverer, who, in the course of the Divine providence, was destined:-

To rule all nations] The heathen Roman empire,

With a rod of iron] A strong figure to denote the very great restraint that should be put upon paganism, so that it should not be able longer to persecute the Christian Church. The man child mentioned in this verse is the dynasty of Christians emperors, beginning with Constantine’s public acknowledgment of his belief in the divinity of the Christian religion, which happened in the latter part of A.D. 312, after the defeat of the Emperor Maxentius.

And her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.] A succession of Christian emperors was raised up to the Church; for the Roman throne, as Bishop Newton observes, is here called the throne of God, because there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

NOTES ON CHAP. 12., BY J. E. C.

Verses 1-5. And there appeared a woman clothed with the sun — “It was a well-known custom,” says Lowman, “at the time of this prophecy, to represent the several virtues, and public societies, by the figure of a woman in some peculiar dress, many of which are to be seen in the Roman coins; in particular, Salus, the emblem of security and protection, is represented as a woman standing upon a globe, to represent the safety and security of the world under the emperor’s care. The consecration of the Roman emperors is expressed in their coins by a moon and stars, as in two of Faustina, to express a degree of glory superior to any on earth. Never was any image more expressive of honour and dignity than this in the vision: to stand in the midst of a glory made by the beams of the sun; and upon the moon, as above the low condition of this sublunary world; to wear a crown set with the stars of heaven, as jewels, is something more sublime than any thing whereby antiquity has represented their societies, their virtues, or their deities.” Bishop Newton explains this, and the five following verses, as follows: “St. John resumes his subject from the beginning, and represents the church (verses 1, 2) as a woman, and a mother bearing children unto Christ. She is clothed with the sun, invested with the rays of Jesus Christ, the Sun of righteousness; having the moon — The Jewish new moons and festivals, as well as all sublunary things; under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars — An emblem of her being under the light and guidance of the twelve apostles. And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered — St. Paul hath made use of the same metaphor, and applied it to his preaching and propagating of the gospel, in the midst of tribulation and persecution, Galatians 4:19. But the words of St. John are much stronger, and more emphatically express the pangs and struggles which the church endured from the first publication of the gospel to the time of Constantine the Great, when she was in some measure eased of her pains, and brought forth a deliverer. At the same time, there appeared a great red dragon — Which is the well-known sign or symbol of the devil and Satan, and of his agents and instruments. We find the kings and people of Egypt, who were the great persecutors of the primitive church of Israel, distinguished by this title in Psalm 74:13; Isaiah 51:9; Ezekiel 29:3; and with as much reason and propriety may the people and emperors of Rome, who were the great persecutors of the primitive church of Christ, be called by the same name, as they were actuated by the same principle. For that the Roman empire was here figured, the characters and attributes of the dragon plainly evince. He is a great red dragon; and purple or scarlet was the distinguishing colour of the Roman emperors, consuls, and generals; as it hath been since of the popes and cardinals. His seven heads, as the angel afterward (Revelation 17:9, 10) explains the vision, allude to the seven mountains upon which Rome was built, and to the seven forms of government which successively prevailed there. His ten horns typify the ten kingdoms into which the Roman empire was divided; and the seven crowns upon his heads denote, that at this time the imperial power was in Rome, the ‘high city, seated on seven hills, which presides over the whole world,’ as Propertius describes it, book 3. His tail also (verse 4) drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth — That is, he subjected the third part of the princes and potentates of the earth; and the Roman empire, as we have seen before, is represented as the third part of the world. He stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born — And the Roman emperors and magistrates kept a jealous, watchful eye, over the Christians from the beginning. As Pharaoh laid snares for the male children of the Hebrews, and Herod for the infant Christ, the son of Mary; so did the Roman dragon for the mystic Christ, the son of the church, that he might destroy him even in his infancy. But notwithstanding the jealousy of the Romans, the gospel was widely diffused and propagated, and the church brought many children unto Christ; and, in time, such as were promoted to the empire. She brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, verse 5 — It was predicted that Christ should rule over the nations, Psalm 2:9; but Christ, who is himself invisible in the heavens, ruleth visibly in Christian magistrates, princes, and emperors. It was therefore promised before, to Christians in general, (Revelation 2:26, 27,) He that overcometh, and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, &c. But it should seem that Constantine was here particularly intended, for whose life the dragon Galerius laid many snares, but he providentially escaped them all; and notwithstanding all opposition, was caught up unto the throne of God — Was not only secured by the divine protection, but was advanced to the imperial throne, called the throne of God; for, (Romans 13:1,) there is no power but of God, &c. He too ruled all nations with a rod of iron; for he had not only the Romans, who before had persecuted the church, under his dominion, but also subdued the Scythians, Sarmatians, and other barbarous nations, who had never before been subject to the Roman empire; and, as Spanheim informs us, there are still extant medals and coins of his with these inscriptions: The subduer of the barbarous nations; the conqueror of all nations; everywhere a conqueror; and the like. What is added, verse 6, of the woman’s fleeing into the wilderness for a thousand two hundred and threescore days, is said by way of prolepsis or anticipation. For the war in heaven between Michael and the dragon, and other subsequent events, were prior, in order of time, to the flight of the woman into the wilderness; but before the prophet passes on to a new subject, he gives a general account of what happened to the woman afterward, and enters more into the particulars in their proper place.

Ver. 5. She brought forth a man child. Probably Constantine the great, whose life the rivals of his throne made the greatest exertions to destroy. Constantine however could only be a figure of Christ, to whom the Father had given the rod of iron, that he might rule all nations. Psalm 2:7-12. The Greek poimainein comprises the double idea of ruling, as well as that of chastening with his rod.

5. Rule… iron—A prediction taken from Psalm 2:9, and vividly quoted as fulfilled in Revelation 19:15. Caught up… throne—The resurrection, as well as the birth, is given not as literal history, but as the basis of symbol. The infant Jesus is exalted to the divine throne to symbolize that infant Christianity is to triumph, not only over paganism, but over all other opposing powers. In his note on Acts 1:1, 2, Alford has beautifully shown (see our note there) that Christ’s ascension was an exaltation to rule as Head of the Church and Lord of the world. And the representative character herein of the man child is verified by Revelation 2:26, 27: “He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.” While it is extreme for Elliott or Newton to identify the man child as being Constantine, it is not too much to say that according to this promise the man child on the divine throne does represent the triumph of Christianity over Roman paganism, in which Constantine was a principal figure. And thus the symbolic exaltation of the man child, of the two witnesses, and of the emparadised “souls” of Revelation 20:4, all signify the same thing—namely, the victory of the cause by them represented.

V. 6. And the woman fled into the wilderness-This wilderness is undoubtedly on earth, where the woman also herself is now supposed to be. It betokens that part of the earth where, after having brought forth, she found a new abode. And this must be in Europe; as Asia and Africa were wholly in the hands of the Turks and Saracens; and in a part of it where the woman had not been before. In this wilderness, God had already prepared a place; that is, made it safe and convenient for her. The wilderness is, those countries of Europe which lie on this side the Danube; for the countries which lie beyond it had received Christianity before. That they may feed her-That the people of that place may provide all things needful for her.

Twelve hundred and sixty days-So many prophetic days, which are not, as some have supposed, twelve hundred and sixty, but seven hundred and seventy-seven, common years. This Bengelius has shown at large in his German Introduction. These we may compute from the year 847 to 1524. So long the woman enjoyed a safe and convenient place in Europe, which was chiefly Bohemia; where she was fed, till God provided for her more plentifully at the Reformation.

Verse 6. And the woman fled into the wilderness] The account of the woman’s flying into the wilderness immediately follows that of her child being caught up to the throne of God, to denote the great and rapid increase of heresies in the Christian Church after the time that Christianity was made the religion of the empire.

Where she hath a place prepared of God] See Clarke on “Revelation 12:14”.

Ver. 6. The woman fled into the wilderness, as is repeated in ver. 14. This was remarkably the case during the sore persecution of the church. The christians fled to deserts, and lived on insects, herbs, and wild fruits. They began to love solitude, and on the return of peace, their brethren favoured those confessors, and suffered them to live alone. Hence arose the monastic habits which afterwards prevailed. The east, and then the west, were filled with solitaries. The reformed were called Hugonots, from John Hugon, of Swisserland, who first opened his house for worship. Those of France fled in all directions from the dreadful persecutions raised against them, and many of the refugees found protection in England.

6. Fled into the wilderness—Commentators think that this is said in anticipation of verse 14; but the time-periods in both verses are not precisely identical. This verse tells what became of the woman while the firmamental fight lasts; verse 14 tells what, after the dragon’s fall. The two flights seem to be somewhat different. In this she fearfully flees; in ver. 14 she is eagle-winged and flies. Note ver. 14.

2. Firmamental war—the dragon cast to earth, 7-17.

V. 7. And there was war in heaven-Here Satan makes his grand opposition to the kingdom of God; but an end is now put to his accusing the saints before God. The cause goes against him, Revelation 12:10, 11, and Michael executes the sentence. That Michael is a created angel, appears from his not daring, in disputing with Satan, Jude 1:9, to bring a railing accusation; but only saying, "The Lord rebuke thee." And this modesty is implied in his very name; for Michael signifies, "Who is like God?" which implies also his deep reverence toward God, and distance from all self-exaltation. Satan would be like God: the very name of Michael asks, "Who is like God?" Not Satan; not the highest archangel. It is he likewise that is afterward employed to seize, bind, and imprison that proud spirit.

Verse 7. And there was war in heaven] As heaven means here the throne of the Roman empire, the war in heaven consequently alludes to the breaking out of civil commotions among the governors of this empire. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon] Michael was the man child which the woman brought forth, as is evident from the context, and therefore signifies, as has been shown already, the dynasty of Christian Roman emperors. This dynasty is represented by Michael, because he is “the great prince which standeth for the children of God’s people.” Daniel 12:1.

And the dragon fought and his angels] Or ministers.

NOTES ON CHAP. 12., BY J. E. C.

Verses 7-12. And there was war in heaven, &c. — It might reasonably be presumed that all the powers of idolatry would be strenuously exerted against the establishment of Christianity, and especially against the establishment of a Christian on the imperial throne: and these struggles and contentions between the heathen and the Christian religions are here represented by war in heaven, between the angels of darkness and angels of light. Michael was (Daniel 10:21; 12:1) the tutelar angel and protector of the Jewish Church. He performs here the same office for the Christian Church. He and the good angels, who are sent forth (Hebrews 1:14) to minister to the heirs of salvation, were the invisible agents on one side, as the devil and his evil agents were on the other. The visible actors in the cause of Christianity were the believing emperors and ministers of the word, the martyrs and confessors; and in support of idolatry, were the persecuting emperors and heathen magistrates, together with the whole train of priests and sophists. This contest lasted several years, and the final issue of it was, (verses 8, 9,) that the Christian prevailed over the heathen religion; the heathen were deposed from all rule and authority, and the Christians were advanced to dominion and empire in their stead. Our Saviour said unto his disciples casting devils out of the bodies of men, (Luke 10:18,) I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. In the same figure Satan fell from heaven: and was cast out into the earth — When he was thrust out of the imperial throne; and his angels were cast out with him — Not only all the heathen priests and officers, civil and military, were cashiered, but their very gods and demons, who before were adored, became the subjects of contempt and execration. It is very remarkable that Constantine himself, and the Christians of his time, described his conquests under the same image, as if they had understood that this prophecy had received its accomplishment in him. Moreover, a picture of Constantine was set up over the palace gate, with the cross over his head, and under his feet the great enemy of mankind, who persecuted the church by the means of impious tyrants, in the form of a dragon, transfixed with a dart through the midst of his body, and falling headlong into the depth of the sea: in allusion, it is said expressly, to the divine oracles in the books of the prophets, where that evil spirit is called the dragon, and the crooked serpent. Upon this victory of the church there is introduced (verse 10) a triumphant hymn of thanksgiving for the depression of idolatry and exaltation of true religion. It was not by temporal means or arms that the Christians obtained this victory, (verse 11,) but by spiritual; by the merits and death of their Redeemer, by their constant profession of the truth, and by their patient suffering of all kinds of tortures, even unto death: and the blood of the martyrs hath been often called the seed of the church. This victory was indeed matter of joy and triumph to the blessed angels and glorified saints in heaven, (verse 12,) by whose sufferings it was in great measure obtained; but still new woes are threatened to the inhabiters of the earth; for, though the dragon was deposed, yet was he not destroyed; though idolatry was depressed, yet was it not wholly suppressed; there were still many pagans intermixed with the Christians, and the devil would incite fresh troubles and disturbances on earth, because he knew that he had but a short time — That is, it would not be long before the pagan religion should be totally abolished, and the Christian religion prevail in all the Roman empire.

Ver. 7-9. There was war in heaven, on the first revolt of fallen angels, as in the sacred text, and in Milton. And the great dragon, the old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, was cast out. He is the prince; the other fallen angels are called dæmons in the gospel. Any fall from great splendour is called a fall from heaven, as in the apostrophe to the monarch of Babylon. How art thou fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, son of the morning. Isaiah 14:12.

In this war Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The phrase refers to Christ, who shall come in his glory, and all his holy angels with him. Matthew 25:31. This is repeated from Zechariah 14:5. Jehovah, my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. — The etymon of the word lakym Michael, is given by Coccejus, qui est, ut Deus, who is, as God, and it must be understood of Christ, as Lord of angels and of men.

7. War in heaven—These symbols are, doubtless, drawn from the holy tradition so often alluded to in Scripture, that Satan was once a heavenly angel and fell from his first estate. (Jude 1:6.) The traditional account is, of course, modified to suit the symbolical purpose. Michael— Mentioned in Daniel 10:13, 21 and 12:1, as “one of the chief princes,” and champion for the Jewish people against adverse powers. And as in the apocalypse Jerusalem is the Christian Church, and Jews are Christians, so Michael, “the archangel,” (Jude 1:9,) is champion for Christ and Christianity. He is not, as Hengstenberg claims, Christ himself. For in this scene Christ is the man child on the throne, and overcoming his adversary through “the archangel,” the heroic general of his forces. The signification of Michael’s name—”Who is like God?”—suggests, not that he is God, but the champion and challenger for God; just as the parody, “Who is like the beast?” is not uttered by the beast himself, but by his admirers. The forces on both sides are angels. The dragon’s being in the firmamental heaven, means that he was ruling over the Roman world as the impersonation of paganism.

V. 8. And he prevailed not-The dragon himself is principally mentioned; but his angels, likewise, are to be understood.

Neither was this place found any more in heaven-So till now he had a place in heaven. How deep a mystery is this! One may compare this with Luke 10:18; Ephesians 2:2; 4:8; 6:12.

Verse 8. And prevailed not] Against the cause of Christianity. Neither was their place found any more in heaven.] The advocates of the heathen idolatry were prevented from having any farther share in the government of the empire. The wonderful success of Constantine over all his enemies, and his final triumph over Licinius, correspond exactly to the symbolical language in this verse.

Verses 7-12. And there was war in heaven, &c. — It might reasonably be presumed that all the powers of idolatry would be strenuously exerted against the establishment of Christianity, and especially against the establishment of a Christian on the imperial throne: and these struggles and contentions between the heathen and the Christian religions are here represented by war in heaven, between the angels of darkness and angels of light. Michael was (Daniel 10:21; 12:1) the tutelar angel and protector of the Jewish Church. He performs here the same office for the Christian Church. He and the good angels, who are sent forth (Hebrews 1:14) to minister to the heirs of salvation, were the invisible agents on one side, as the devil and his evil agents were on the other. The visible actors in the cause of Christianity were the believing emperors and ministers of the word, the martyrs and confessors; and in support of idolatry, were the persecuting emperors and heathen magistrates, together with the whole train of priests and sophists. This contest lasted several years, and the final issue of it was, (verses 8, 9,) that the Christian prevailed over the heathen religion; the heathen were deposed from all rule and authority, and the Christians were advanced to dominion and empire in their stead. Our Saviour said unto his disciples casting devils out of the bodies of men, (Luke 10:18,) I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. In the same figure Satan fell from heaven: and was cast out into the earth — When he was thrust out of the imperial throne; and his angels were cast out with him — Not only all the heathen priests and officers, civil and military, were cashiered, but their very gods and demons, who before were adored, became the subjects of contempt and execration. It is very remarkable that Constantine himself, and the Christians of his time, described his conquests under the same image, as if they had understood that this prophecy had received its accomplishment in him. Moreover, a picture of Constantine was set up over the palace gate, with the cross over his head, and under his feet the great enemy of mankind, who persecuted the church by the means of impious tyrants, in the form of a dragon, transfixed with a dart through the midst of his body, and falling headlong into the depth of the sea: in allusion, it is said expressly, to the divine oracles in the books of the prophets, where that evil spirit is called the dragon, and the crooked serpent. Upon this victory of the church there is introduced (verse 10) a triumphant hymn of thanksgiving for the depression of idolatry and exaltation of true religion. It was not by temporal means or arms that the Christians obtained this victory, (verse 11,) but by spiritual; by the merits and death of their Redeemer, by their constant profession of the truth, and by their patient suffering of all kinds of tortures, even unto death: and the blood of the martyrs hath been often called the seed of the church. This victory was indeed matter of joy and triumph to the blessed angels and glorified saints in heaven, (verse 12,) by whose sufferings it was in great measure obtained; but still new woes are threatened to the inhabiters of the earth; for, though the dragon was deposed, yet was he not destroyed; though idolatry was depressed, yet was it not wholly suppressed; there were still many pagans intermixed with the Christians, and the devil would incite fresh troubles and disturbances on earth, because he knew that he had but a short time — That is, it would not be long before the pagan religion should be totally abolished, and the Christian religion prevail in all the Roman empire.

Ver. 7-9. There was war in heaven, on the first revolt of fallen angels, as in the sacred text, and in Milton. And the great dragon, the old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, was cast out. He is the prince; the other fallen angels are called dæmons in the gospel. Any fall from great splendour is called a fall from heaven, as in the apostrophe to the monarch of Babylon. How art thou fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, son of the morning. Isaiah 14:12.

In this war Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The phrase refers to Christ, who shall come in his glory, and all his holy angels with him. Matthew 25:31. This is repeated from Zechariah 14:5. Jehovah, my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. — The etymon of the word lakym Michael, is given by Coccejus, qui est, ut Deus, who is, as God, and it must be understood of Christ, as Lord of angels and of men.

V. 9. And the great dragon was cast out-It is not yet said, unto the earth-He was cast out of heaven; and at this the inhabitants of heaven rejoice. He is termed the great dragon, as appearing here in that shape, to intimate his poisonous and cruel disposition.

The ancient serpent-In allusion to his deceiving Eve in that form. Dragons are a kind of large serpent.

Who is called the Devil and Satan-These are words of exactly the same meaning; only the former is Greek; the latter, Hebrew; denoting the grand adversary of all the saints, whether Jews or Gentiles. He has deceived the whole world-Not only in their first parents, but through all ages, and in all countries, into unbelief and all wickedness; into the hating and persecuting faith and all goodness.

He was cast out unto the earth-He was cast out of heaven; and being cast out thence, himself came to the earth. Nor had he been unemployed on the earth before, although his ordinary abode was in heaven.

Verse 9. And the great dragon was cast out, &c.] By the terms Devil and Satan mentioned in this verse, Pareus, Faber, and many other commentators, understand literally the great spiritual enemy of mankind. But this view of the passage cannot be correct, from the circumstance that it is the dragon which is thus called. Now, if by the dragon be meant the devil, then use are necessarily led to this conclusion, that the great apostate spirit is a monster, having seven heads and ten horns; and also that he has a tail, with which he drags after him the third part of the stars of heaven. The appellations, old serpent, devil, and Satan, must, therefore, be understood figuratively. The heathen power is called that old serpent which deceived the whole world, from its subtlety against the Christians, and its causing the whole Roman world, as far as it was in its power, to embrace the absurdities of paganism. It is called the devil, from its continual false accusations and slanders against the true worshippers of God, for the devil is a liar from the beginning; and it is also called Satan, ˆcc, which is a Hebrew word signifying an adversary, from its frequent persecutions of the Christian Church. The dragon and his angels are said to be cast out, which is more than was said in the preceding verse. There mention is made of his being found no longer in heaven, or on the throne of the Roman empire, here he is entirely cast out from all offices of trust in the empire; his religion is first only tolerated, and then totally abolished, by the imperial power. This great event was not the work of a reign; it took up many years, for it had to contend with the deep-rooted prejudices of the heathen, who to the very last endeavoured to uphold their declining superstition. Paganism received several mortal strokes in the time of Constantine and his sons Constans and Constantius. It was farther reduced by the great zeal of Jovian, Valentinian, and Valens; and was finally suppressed by the edicts of Gratian, Theodosius I., and his successors. It was not till A.D. 388 that Rome itself, the residence of the emperor, was generally reformed from the absurdities of paganism; but the total suppression of paganism soon followed the conversion of the metropolitan city, and about A.D. 395 the dragon may be considered, in an eminent sense, to have been cast into the earth, that is, into a state of utter subjection to the ruling dynasty of Christian emperors.

Verses 7-12. And there was war in heaven, &c. — It might reasonably be presumed that all the powers of idolatry would be strenuously exerted against the establishment of Christianity, and especially against the establishment of a Christian on the imperial throne: and these struggles and contentions between the heathen and the Christian religions are here represented by war in heaven, between the angels of darkness and angels of light. Michael was (Daniel 10:21; 12:1) the tutelar angel and protector of the Jewish Church. He performs here the same office for the Christian Church. He and the good angels, who are sent forth (Hebrews 1:14) to minister to the heirs of salvation, were the invisible agents on one side, as the devil and his evil agents were on the other. The visible actors in the cause of Christianity were the believing emperors and ministers of the word, the martyrs and confessors; and in support of idolatry, were the persecuting emperors and heathen magistrates, together with the whole train of priests and sophists. This contest lasted several years, and the final issue of it was, (verses 8, 9,) that the Christian prevailed over the heathen religion; the heathen were deposed from all rule and authority, and the Christians were advanced to dominion and empire in their stead. Our Saviour said unto his disciples casting devils out of the bodies of men, (Luke 10:18,) I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. In the same figure Satan fell from heaven: and was cast out into the earth — When he was thrust out of the imperial throne; and his angels were cast out with him — Not only all the heathen priests and officers, civil and military, were cashiered, but their very gods and demons, who before were adored, became the subjects of contempt and execration. It is very remarkable that Constantine himself, and the Christians of his time, described his conquests under the same image, as if they had understood that this prophecy had received its accomplishment in him. Moreover, a picture of Constantine was set up over the palace gate, with the cross over his head, and under his feet the great enemy of mankind, who persecuted the church by the means of impious tyrants, in the form of a dragon, transfixed with a dart through the midst of his body, and falling headlong into the depth of the sea: in allusion, it is said expressly, to the divine oracles in the books of the prophets, where that evil spirit is called the dragon, and the crooked serpent. Upon this victory of the church there is introduced (verse 10) a triumphant hymn of thanksgiving for the depression of idolatry and exaltation of true religion. It was not by temporal means or arms that the Christians obtained this victory, (verse 11,) but by spiritual; by the merits and death of their Redeemer, by their constant profession of the truth, and by their patient suffering of all kinds of tortures, even unto death: and the blood of the martyrs hath been often called the seed of the church. This victory was indeed matter of joy and triumph to the blessed angels and glorified saints in heaven, (verse 12,) by whose sufferings it was in great measure obtained; but still new woes are threatened to the inhabiters of the earth; for, though the dragon was deposed, yet was he not destroyed; though idolatry was depressed, yet was it not wholly suppressed; there were still many pagans intermixed with the Christians, and the devil would incite fresh troubles and disturbances on earth, because he knew that he had but a short time — That is, it would not be long before the pagan religion should be totally abolished, and the Christian religion prevail in all the Roman empire.

Ver. 7-9. There was war in heaven, on the first revolt of fallen angels, as in the sacred text, and in Milton. And the great dragon, the old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, was cast out. He is the prince; the other fallen angels are called dæmons in the gospel. Any fall from great splendour is called a fall from heaven, as in the apostrophe to the monarch of Babylon. How art thou fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, son of the morning. Isaiah 14:12.

In this war Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The phrase refers to Christ, who shall come in his glory, and all his holy angels with him. Matthew 25:31. This is repeated from Zechariah 14:5. Jehovah, my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. — The etymon of the word lakym Michael, is given by Coccejus, qui est, ut Deus, who is, as God, and it must be understood of Christ, as Lord of angels and of men.

9. Great dragon was cast out—As if with exultant feeling the seer reiterates the fact of his expulsion, giving his name in full, and making sure that we know that he is the very ancient devil. And when he emerges from his long concealment at Revelation 20:2, he is identified with the same list of titles. Cast out into the earth—From being a supreme ruler he is humbled to be an angry, groveling, earthly persecutor. Paganism ceased to be the religion of the Roman empire by the edict of Milan, under Constantine, A.D. 313, and its rites were prohibited by Theodosius the Great, A.D. 392. This was the completed downfall of the pagan dragon.

V. 10. Now is come-Hence it is evident that all this chapter belongs to the trumpet of the seventh angel. In the eleventh chapter, from the fifteenth to the eighteenth verse, are proposed the contents of this extensive trumpet; the execution of which is copiously described in this and the following chapters.

The salvation-Of the saints.

The might-Whereby the enemy is cast out.

The kingdom-Here the majesty of God is shown.

And the power of his Christ-Which he will exert against the beast; and when he also is taken away, then will the kingdom be ascribed to Christ himself, Revelation 19:16; 20:4.

The accuser of our brethren-So long as they remained on earth. This great voice, therefore, was the voice of men only.

Who accused them before our God day and night-Amazing malice of Satan, and patience of God!

Verse 10. And I heard a loud voice, saying,-Now is come salvation, &c.] This is a song of triumph of the Christian Church over the heathen idolatry, and is very expressive of the great joy of the Christians upon this most stupendous event. The loud voice of triumph is said to be heard in heaven, to show that the Christian religion was now exalted to the heaven or throne of the Roman. empire. “It is very remarkable,” as Bishop Newton observes, “that Constantine himself, and the Christians of his time, describe his conquests under the image of a dragon, as if they had understood that this prophecy had received its accomplishment in him. Constantine himself, in his epistle to Eusebius and other bishops concerning the re-edifying and repairing of the churches, saith that ‘liberty being now restored, and that the dragon being removed from the administration of public affairs, by the providence of the great God and by my ministry, I esteem the great power of God to have been made manifest to all.’ Moreover, a picture of Constantine was set up over the palace gate, with the cross over his head, and under his feet the great enemy of mankind, who persecuted the Church by means of impious tyrants, in the form of a dragon, transfixed with a dart through the midst of his body, and falling headlong into the depth of the sea.” See Eusebius de Vita Constantini, lib. ii. c. 46; and lib. iii. c. 3, and Socratis Hist. Eccles., lib. i. c. 9. Constantine added to the other Roman ensigns the labarum, or standard of the cross, and constituted it the principal standard of the Christian Roman empire. To this labarum Prudentius refers, when speaking of the Christian soldiers, in his first hymn peri stefanwn, Cæsaris vexilla linquunt, eligunt SIGNUM CRUCIS,

Proque ventosis Draconum, quæ gerebant, palliis,

Proferunt INSIGNE LIGNUM, quod Draconem subdidit.

“They leave the ensigns of Cæsar; they choose the standard of the cross; and instead of the dragon flags which they carried, moved about with the wind, they bring forward the illustrious wood that subdued the dragon.” When the apostle saw the woman in heaven, well might he call it, in the spirit of prophecy, a great wonder.

NOTES ON CHAP. 12., BY J. E. C.

Verses 7-12. And there was war in heaven, &c. — It might reasonably be presumed that all the powers of idolatry would be strenuously exerted against the establishment of Christianity, and especially against the establishment of a Christian on the imperial throne: and these struggles and contentions between the heathen and the Christian religions are here represented by war in heaven, between the angels of darkness and angels of light. Michael was (Daniel 10:21; 12:1) the tutelar angel and protector of the Jewish Church. He performs here the same office for the Christian Church. He and the good angels, who are sent forth (Hebrews 1:14) to minister to the heirs of salvation, were the invisible agents on one side, as the devil and his evil agents were on the other. The visible actors in the cause of Christianity were the believing emperors and ministers of the word, the martyrs and confessors; and in support of idolatry, were the persecuting emperors and heathen magistrates, together with the whole train of priests and sophists. This contest lasted several years, and the final issue of it was, (verses 8, 9,) that the Christian prevailed over the heathen religion; the heathen were deposed from all rule and authority, and the Christians were advanced to dominion and empire in their stead. Our Saviour said unto his disciples casting devils out of the bodies of men, (Luke 10:18,) I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. In the same figure Satan fell from heaven: and was cast out into the earth — When he was thrust out of the imperial throne; and his angels were cast out with him — Not only all the heathen priests and officers, civil and military, were cashiered, but their very gods and demons, who before were adored, became the subjects of contempt and execration. It is very remarkable that Constantine himself, and the Christians of his time, described his conquests under the same image, as if they had understood that this prophecy had received its accomplishment in him. Moreover, a picture of Constantine was set up over the palace gate, with the cross over his head, and under his feet the great enemy of mankind, who persecuted the church by the means of impious tyrants, in the form of a dragon, transfixed with a dart through the midst of his body, and falling headlong into the depth of the sea: in allusion, it is said expressly, to the divine oracles in the books of the prophets, where that evil spirit is called the dragon, and the crooked serpent. Upon this victory of the church there is introduced (verse 10) a triumphant hymn of thanksgiving for the depression of idolatry and exaltation of true religion. It was not by temporal means or arms that the Christians obtained this victory, (verse 11,) but by spiritual; by the merits and death of their Redeemer, by their constant profession of the truth, and by their patient suffering of all kinds of tortures, even unto death: and the blood of the martyrs hath been often called the seed of the church. This victory was indeed matter of joy and triumph to the blessed angels and glorified saints in heaven, (verse 12,) by whose sufferings it was in great measure obtained; but still new woes are threatened to the inhabiters of the earth; for, though the dragon was deposed, yet was he not destroyed; though idolatry was depressed, yet was it not wholly suppressed; there were still many pagans intermixed with the Christians, and the devil would incite fresh troubles and disturbances on earth, because he knew that he had but a short time — That is, it would not be long before the pagan religion should be totally abolished, and the Christian religion prevail in all the Roman empire.

Ver. 10. I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation. This song gladdened all heaven, to see the accuser cast down. Every act of grace calls for a new song, for unceasing songs of praise. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.

10. And a similar exultation rings through heaven. A loud voice—He hears the voice but knows not the utterer. Yet apparently it comes from the redeemed spirits of the previous martyrs under pagan supremacy, now in paradise; for Christians on earth are to them our brethren. Now—In the glad hour of the pagan dragon’s downfall. Sublime is their song even over an incomplete victory; for it is a special instalment of that salvation, strength, kingdom, power, which shall be terrenely exhibited in their reign on earth, (Revelation 20:4,) and consummated in Revelation 21:22. Thus far the pagan dragon had impeded their power; he has fallen from heaven, but survives, alas, on earth and sea. Verse 12. Accused them—As Satan did Job. Satan suggested the accusation that Christians who opposed the pagan gods were atheists; charged them with atrocious crimes, and brought terrible persecutions upon them.

V. 11. And they have overcome him-Carried the cause against him. By the blood of the Lamb-Which cleanses the soul from all sin, and so leaves no room for accusing.

And by the word of their testimony-The word of God, which they believed and testified, even unto death. So, for instance, died Olam, king of Sweden, in the year 900, whom his own subjects would have compelled to idolatry; and, upon his refusal, slew as a sacrifice to the idol which he would not worship. So did multitudes of Bohemian Christians, in the year 916, when queen Drahomire raised a severe persecution, wherein many "loved not their lives unto the death."

Verse 11. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb] Here is given the reason why the followers of Christ prevailed at this time against all their adversaries. It was because they fought against the dragon in the armour of God. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb-by proclaiming salvation to sinners through Christ crucified, and by their continual intercession at the throne of grace for the conversion of the heathen world.

And by the word of their testimony] By constantly testifying against the errors and follies of mankind.

And they loved not their lives unto the death.] They regarded not their present temporal estate, but even gladly delivered up their lives to the fury of their persecutors, and thus sealed the truth of what they spake with their blood.

NOTES ON CHAP. 12., BY J. E. C.

Verses 7-12. And there was war in heaven, &c. — It might reasonably be presumed that all the powers of idolatry would be strenuously exerted against the establishment of Christianity, and especially against the establishment of a Christian on the imperial throne: and these struggles and contentions between the heathen and the Christian religions are here represented by war in heaven, between the angels of darkness and angels of light. Michael was (Daniel 10:21; 12:1) the tutelar angel and protector of the Jewish Church. He performs here the same office for the Christian Church. He and the good angels, who are sent forth (Hebrews 1:14) to minister to the heirs of salvation, were the invisible agents on one side, as the devil and his evil agents were on the other. The visible actors in the cause of Christianity were the believing emperors and ministers of the word, the martyrs and confessors; and in support of idolatry, were the persecuting emperors and heathen magistrates, together with the whole train of priests and sophists. This contest lasted several years, and the final issue of it was, (verses 8, 9,) that the Christian prevailed over the heathen religion; the heathen were deposed from all rule and authority, and the Christians were advanced to dominion and empire in their stead. Our Saviour said unto his disciples casting devils out of the bodies of men, (Luke 10:18,) I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. In the same figure Satan fell from heaven: and was cast out into the earth — When he was thrust out of the imperial throne; and his angels were cast out with him — Not only all the heathen priests and officers, civil and military, were cashiered, but their very gods and demons, who before were adored, became the subjects of contempt and execration. It is very remarkable that Constantine himself, and the Christians of his time, described his conquests under the same image, as if they had understood that this prophecy had received its accomplishment in him. Moreover, a picture of Constantine was set up over the palace gate, with the cross over his head, and under his feet the great enemy of mankind, who persecuted the church by the means of impious tyrants, in the form of a dragon, transfixed with a dart through the midst of his body, and falling headlong into the depth of the sea: in allusion, it is said expressly, to the divine oracles in the books of the prophets, where that evil spirit is called the dragon, and the crooked serpent. Upon this victory of the church there is introduced (verse 10) a triumphant hymn of thanksgiving for the depression of idolatry and exaltation of true religion. It was not by temporal means or arms that the Christians obtained this victory, (verse 11,) but by spiritual; by the merits and death of their Redeemer, by their constant profession of the truth, and by their patient suffering of all kinds of tortures, even unto death: and the blood of the martyrs hath been often called the seed of the church. This victory was indeed matter of joy and triumph to the blessed angels and glorified saints in heaven, (verse 12,) by whose sufferings it was in great measure obtained; but still new woes are threatened to the inhabiters of the earth; for, though the dragon was deposed, yet was he not destroyed; though idolatry was depressed, yet was it not wholly suppressed; there were still many pagans intermixed with the Christians, and the devil would incite fresh troubles and disturbances on earth, because he knew that he had but a short time — That is, it would not be long before the pagan religion should be totally abolished, and the Christian religion prevail in all the Roman empire.

Ver. 11. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. By this it was that all their sins were washed away, sins of which the enemy had accused them before God, as he had impeached Job. — They also overcame by the word of their testimony, the word of truth, the shield of faith, which repels all the fiery darts of the wicked one. — They vanquished his falsehoods by dying for Christ, being supported by that perfect love which casts out all fear. Believers, weigh and study these three grand points. The conquering armour, the triple shield, which covered them will cover you.

11. They overcame him—For Michael’s victory was their victory; since they are the literal of whom the woman was symbol. And this victory on earth Christians won by faith in the blood of the Lamb, as well as by their unshrinking testimony against the idols and for Christ. They loved not (or, as Alford well puts it, they carried their not-love of life) unto death— They so persisted in not loving life as to attain martyrdom.

V. 12. Woe to the earth and the sea-This is the fourth and last denunciation of the third woe, the most grievous of all. The first was only, the second chiefly, on the earth, Asia; the third, both on the earth and the sea, Europe. The earth is mentioned first, because it began in Asia, before the beast brought it on Europe.

He knoweth he hath but a little time-Which extends from his casting out of heaven to his being cast into the abyss.

We are now come to a most important period of time. The non-chronos hastens to an end. We live in the little time wherein Satan hath great wrath; and this little time is now upon the decline. We are in the "time, times, and half a time," wherein the woman is "fed in the wilderness;" yea, the last part of it, "the half time," is begun. We are, as will be shown, towards the close of the "forty-two months" of the beast; and when his number is fulfilled, grievous things will be.

Let him who does not regard the being seized by the wrath of the devil; the falling unawares into the general temptation; the being borne away, by the most dreadful violence, into the worship of the beast and his image, and, consequently, drinking the unmixed wine of the wrath of God, and being tormented day and night for ever and ever in the lake of fire and brimstone; let him also who is confident that he can make his way through all these by his own wisdom and strength, without need of any such peculiar preservative as the word of this prophecy affords; let him, I say, go hence. But let him who does not take these warnings for senseless outcries, and blind alarms, beg of God, with all possible earnestness, to give him his heavenly light herein.

God has not given this prophecy, in so solemn a manner, only to show his providence over his church, but also that his servants may know at all times in what particular period they are. And the more dangerous any period of time is, the greater is the help which it affords. But where may we fix the beginning and end of the little time? which is probably four-fifths of a chronos, or somewhat above 888 years. This, which is the time of the third woe, may reach from 947, to the year 1836. For, 1. The short interval of the second woe, (which woe ended in the year 840,) and the 777 years of the woman, which began about the year 847, quickly after which followed the war in heaven, fix the beginning not long after 864: and thus the third woe falls in the tenth century, extending from 900 to 1000; called the dark, the iron, the unhappy age. 2. If we compare the length of the third woe with the period of time which succeeds it in the twentieth chapter, it is but a little time to that vast space which reaches from the beginning of the non-chronos to the end of the world.

Verse 12. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.] Let the Christians, who are now partakers of the present temporal prosperity, and advanced to places of trust in the empire, praise and magnify the Lord who has thus so signally interfered in their behalf. But it is added:—

Wo to the inhabiters of the earth, and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you] By the inhabiters of the earth are meant the people in subjection to the Roman empire; and by the sea, those parts of the Roman dominions appear to be intended that were reduced to a state of anarchy by the incursions of the barbarous nations. It is not without precedent to liken great hosts of nations combined together to the sea. See Ezekiel 26:3. Here then is a wo denounced against the whole Roman world which will be excited by the devil, the father of lies, the heathen party being thus denominated from the method they pursued in their endeavours to destroy the religion of Jesus. See Clarke on “Revelation 12:15”. Having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.] The Christian religion, the pagan party see with great regret, is rapidly gaining ground everywhere; and, if not timely checked, must soon brave all opposition.

NOTES ON CHAP. 12., BY J. E. C.

Verses 7-12. And there was war in heaven, &c. — It might reasonably be presumed that all the powers of idolatry would be strenuously exerted against the establishment of Christianity, and especially against the establishment of a Christian on the imperial throne: and these struggles and contentions between the heathen and the Christian religions are here represented by war in heaven, between the angels of darkness and angels of light. Michael was (Daniel 10:21; 12:1) the tutelar angel and protector of the Jewish Church. He performs here the same office for the Christian Church. He and the good angels, who are sent forth (Hebrews 1:14) to minister to the heirs of salvation, were the invisible agents on one side, as the devil and his evil agents were on the other. The visible actors in the cause of Christianity were the believing emperors and ministers of the word, the martyrs and confessors; and in support of idolatry, were the persecuting emperors and heathen magistrates, together with the whole train of priests and sophists. This contest lasted several years, and the final issue of it was, (verses 8, 9,) that the Christian prevailed over the heathen religion; the heathen were deposed from all rule and authority, and the Christians were advanced to dominion and empire in their stead. Our Saviour said unto his disciples casting devils out of the bodies of men, (Luke 10:18,) I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. In the same figure Satan fell from heaven: and was cast out into the earth — When he was thrust out of the imperial throne; and his angels were cast out with him — Not only all the heathen priests and officers, civil and military, were cashiered, but their very gods and demons, who before were adored, became the subjects of contempt and execration. It is very remarkable that Constantine himself, and the Christians of his time, described his conquests under the same image, as if they had understood that this prophecy had received its accomplishment in him. Moreover, a picture of Constantine was set up over the palace gate, with the cross over his head, and under his feet the great enemy of mankind, who persecuted the church by the means of impious tyrants, in the form of a dragon, transfixed with a dart through the midst of his body, and falling headlong into the depth of the sea: in allusion, it is said expressly, to the divine oracles in the books of the prophets, where that evil spirit is called the dragon, and the crooked serpent. Upon this victory of the church there is introduced (verse 10) a triumphant hymn of thanksgiving for the depression of idolatry and exaltation of true religion. It was not by temporal means or arms that the Christians obtained this victory, (verse 11,) but by spiritual; by the merits and death of their Redeemer, by their constant profession of the truth, and by their patient suffering of all kinds of tortures, even unto death: and the blood of the martyrs hath been often called the seed of the church. This victory was indeed matter of joy and triumph to the blessed angels and glorified saints in heaven, (verse 12,) by whose sufferings it was in great measure obtained; but still new woes are threatened to the inhabiters of the earth; for, though the dragon was deposed, yet was he not destroyed; though idolatry was depressed, yet was it not wholly suppressed; there were still many pagans intermixed with the Christians, and the devil would incite fresh troubles and disturbances on earth, because he knew that he had but a short time — That is, it would not be long before the pagan religion should be totally abolished, and the Christian religion prevail in all the Roman empire.

12. Rejoice, ye heavens—As if these rejoicing martyr-spirits called for a joyful response from all their co-celestials, human or angelic. Woe to earth and sea (as the true reading is) since they are to be the scenes of the bestial war. Devil is come down—Paganism in its downfall is full of wrath, feeling that it has but a brief period for recovering the supremacy. That ended with the death of the Emperor Julian, A.D. 363.

V. 13. And when the dragon saw-That he could no longer accuse the saints in heaven, he turned his wrath to do all possible mischief on earth. He persecuted the woman-The ancient persecutions of the church were mentioned, Revelation 1:9; 2:10; 7:14; but this persecution came after her flight, Revelation 12:6, just at the beginning of the third woe. Accordingly, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, the church was furiously persecuted by several heathen powers. In Prussia, king Adelbert was killed in the year 997, king Brunus in 1008; and when king Stephen encouraged Christianity in Hungary, he met with violent opposition. After his death, the heathens in Hungary set themselves to root it out, and prevailed for several years. About the same time, the army of the emperor, Henry the Third, was totally overthrown by the Vandals. These, and all the accounts of those times, show with what fury the dragon then persecuted the woman.

Verse 13. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth] When the heathen party saw that they were no longer supported by the civil power:—

He persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.] The heathens persecuted the Christian Church in the behalf of which Divine Providence had raised up a dynasty of Christian Roman emperors. NOTES ON CHAP. 12., BY J. E. C.

Verses 13-17. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth: &c. — When the dragon was thus deposed from the imperial throne, and cast unto the earth, (verse 13,) he still continued to persecute the church with equal malice, though not with equal power. He made several attempts to restore the pagan idolatry in the reign of Constantine, and afterward in the reign of Julian; he traduced and abused the Christian religion by such writers as Hierocles, Libanius, and others of the same stamp and character; he rent and troubled the church with heresies and schisms; he stirred up the favourers of the Arians to persecute and destroy the orthodox Christians. But the church was still under the protection of the empire, (verse 14,) and to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle — As God said to the children of Israel, (Exodus 19:4,) Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, &c.; so the church was supported and carried, as it were, on eagles’ wings: but the similitude is the more proper in this case, an eagle being the Roman ensign, and the two wings alluding probably to the division that was then made of the eastern and the western empire. In this manner was the church protected, and these wings were given, that she might flee into the wilderness, into a place of retirement and security, from the face of the serpent — Not that she fled into the wilderness at that time, but several years afterward; and there she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time — That is, three prophetic years and a half, which is the same period with the twelve hundred and sixty days, or years, before mentioned. So long the church is to remain in a desolate and afflicted state, during the reign of antichrist; as Elijah, while idolatry and famine prevailed in Israel, was secretly fed and nourished three years and six months in the wilderness. But before the woman fled into the wilderness, the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood, (verse 15,) with intent to wash her away. Waters, in the style of the Apocalypse, (Revelation 17:16,) signify peoples and nations; so that here was a great inundation of various nations excited by the dragon, or the friends and patrons of the old idolatry, to oppress and overwhelm the Christian religion. Such appeared plainly to have been the design of the dragon, when Stilicho, prime minister of the Emperor Honorius, invited the barbarous heathen nations, the Goths, Alans, Sueves, and Vandals, to invade the Roman empire, hoping by their means to raise his son Eucherius to the throne, who from a boy was an enemy to the Christians, and threatened to signalize the beginning of his reign with the restoration of the pagan, and abolition of the Christian religion. Nothing indeed was more likely to produce the ruin and utter subversion of the Christian Church, than the irruptions of so many barbarous heathen nations into the Roman empire. But the event proved contrary to human appearance and expectation: the earth swallowed up the flood, verse 16 — The barbarians were rather swallowed up by the Romans, than the Romans by the barbarians; the heathen conquerors, instead of imposing their own, submitted to the religion of the conquered Christians; and they not only embraced the religion, but affected even the laws, the manners, the customs, the language, and the very name of Romans. This course not succeeding according to probable expectation, the dragon did not therefore desist from his purpose, (verse 17,) but only took another method of persecuting the true sons of the church, as we shall see in the next chapter. It is said that he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who kept the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus — Which implies that at this time there was only a remnant; that corruptions were greatly increased, and the faithful were diminished from among the children of men.

Ver. 13, 14. When the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he renewed his persecutions of the woman under the ten kings, as he had done under the Roman dragon, the firstborn son of the great dragon; and he continued those floods of persecution for 1260 years.

13. Persecuted the woman—We might have expected, that after the dragon’s expulsion from heaven the woman would be restored to her original place in the sky. That was still her right place; but the influence and power of the dragon, doubtless, it is, which really bring her to the earth until the war is over.

V. 14. And there were given to the woman the two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place-Eagles are the usual symbols of great potentates. So Ezekiel 17:3, by "a great eagle', means the king of Babylon. Here the great eagle is the Roman empire; the two wings, the eastern and western branches of it. A place in the wilderness was mentioned in the sixth verse also; Revelation 12:6 but it is not the same which is mentioned here.

In the text there follow one after the other,

1. The dragon's waiting to devour the child.

2. The birth of the child, which is caught up to God.

3. The fleeing of the woman into the wilderness.

4. The war in heaven, and the casting out of the dragon.

5. The beginning of the third woe.

6. The persecution raised by the dragon against the woman.

7. The woman's flying away upon the eagle's wings.

In like manner there follow one after the other,

1. The beginning of the twelve hundred and sixty days.

2. The beginning of the little time.

3. The beginning of the time, times, and half a time.

This third period partly coincides both with the first and the second. After the beginning of the twelve hundred and sixty days, or rather of the third woe, Christianity was exceedingly propagated, in the midst of various persecutions. About the year 948 it was again settled in Denmark; in 965, in Poland and Silesia; in 980, through all Russia. In 997 it was brought into Hungary; into Sweden and Norway, both before and after. Transylvania received it about 1000; and, soon after, other parts of Dacia. Now, all the countries in which Christianity was settled between the beginning of the twelve hundred and sixty days, and the imprisonment of the dragon, may be understood by the wilderness, and by her place in particular. This place contained many countries; so that Christianity now reached, in an uninterrupted tract, from the eastern to the western empire; and both the emperors now lent their wings to the woman, and provided a safe abode for her.

Where she is fed-By God rather than man; having little human help. For a time, and times, and half a time-The length of the several periods here mentioned seems to be nearly this:—

1. The non-chronos contains less than 1111 years.

2. The little time 888

3. The time, times, and half a time 777

4. The time of the beast 666

And comparing the prophecy and history together, they seem to begin and end nearly thus:—

1. The non-chronos extends from about 800 to 1836

2. The 1260 days of the woman from 847-1524

3. The little time from 947-1836

4. The time, time, and half from 1058-1836

5. The time of the beast is between the beginning and end of the three times and a half.

In the year 1058 the empires had a good understanding with each other, and both protected the woman. The bishops of Rome, likewise, particularly Victor II., were duly subordinate to the emperor. We may observe, the twelve hundred and sixty days of the woman, from 847 to 1524, and the three times and a half, refer to the same wilderness. But in the former part of the twelve hundred and sixty days, before the three times and an half began, namely, from the year 847 to 1058, she was fed by others, being little able to help herself; whereas, from 1058 to 1524, she is both fed by others, and has food herself. To this the sciences transplanted into the west from the eastern countries much contributed; the scriptures, in the original tongues, brought into the west of Europe by the Jews and Greeks, much more; and most of all, the Reformation, grounded on those scriptures.

Verse 14. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle] tou aetou tou megalou. Of THE great eagle. The great eagle here mentioned is an emblem of the Roman empire in general, and therefore differs from the dragon, which is a symbol of the HEATHEN ROMAN empire in particular. The Roman power is called an eagle from its legionary standard, which was introduced among the Romans in the second year of the consulate of C. Marius; for before that time minotaurs, wolves, leopards, horses, boars, and eagles were used indifferently, according to the humour of the commander. The Roman eagles were figures in relievo of silver or gold, borne on the tops of pikes, the wings being displayed, and frequently a thunderbolt in their talons. Under the eagle, on the pike, were piled bucklers, and sometimes crowns. The two wings of the great eagle refer to the two grand independent divisions of the Roman empire, which took place January 17, A.D. 395, and were given to the woman, Christianity being the established religion of both empires. That she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, &c.] The apparent repetition here of what is said in Revelation 12:6 has induced Bishop Newton to consider the former passage as introduced by way of prolepsis or anticipation; for, says he, the woman did not fly into the wilderness till several years after the conversion of Constantine. But that there is no such prolepsis as the bishop imagines is evident from the ecclesiastical history of the fourth century; for the woman, or true Church, began to flee into the wilderness a considerable time before the division of the great Roman empire into two independent monarchies. The word translated fled is not to be taken in that peculiar sense as if the woman, in the commencement of her flight, had been furnished with wings, for the original word is efugen. The meaning therefore of verses 6 and 14, {Revelation 12:6, 14} when taken in connection with their respective contexts, is, that the woman began to make rapid strides towards the desert almost immediately after her elevation to the heaven or throne of the Roman empire, and in the course of her flight was furnished with the wings of the great eagle ina pethtai, that she might FLY, into that place prepared of God, where she should be fed a thousand two hundred and threescore days. It is said here that the period for which the woman should be nourished in the wilderness would be a time, times, and a half; consequently this period is the same with the twelve hundred and sixty days of Revelation 12:6. But in no other sense can they be considered the same than by understanding a time to signify a year; times, two years; and half a time, half a year; i.e., three years and a half. And as each prophetic year contains three hundred and sixty days, so three years and a half will contain precisely twelve hundred and sixty days. The Apocalypse being highly symbolical, it is reasonable to expect that its periods of time will also be represented symbolically, that the prophecy may be homogeneous in all its parts. The Holy Spirit, when speaking of years symbolically, has invariably represented them by days, commanding, e. gr., the Prophet Ezekiel to lie upon his left side three hundred and ninety days, that it might be a sign or symbol of the house of Israel bearing their iniquity as many years; and forty days upon his right side, to represent to the house of Judah in a symbolical manner, that they should bear their iniquity forty years, The one thousand two hundred and threescore days, therefore, that the woman is fed in the wilderness, must be understood symbolically, and consequently denote as many natural years. The wilderness into which the woman flies is the Greek and Latin worlds, for she is conveyed into her place by means of the two wings of the great eagle. We must not understand the phrase flying into her place of her removing from one part of the habitable world into another, but of her speedy declension from a state of great prosperity to a forlorn and desolate condition. The woman is nourished for one thousand two hundred and threescore years from the face of the serpent, The empires in the east and west were destined, in the course of the Divine providence, to support the Christian religion, at least nominally while the rest of the world should remain in pagan idolatry or under the influence of this dragon, here called the serpent, because he deceiveth the whole world. The words of the prophecy are very remarkable, The Christian Church is said to be supported by the eastern and western empires, two mighty denominations; and at the same time situated in the wilderness, strongly denoting that, though many professed Christianity, there were but very few who “kept the commandments of God, and had the testimony of Jesus Christ.” NOTES ON CHAP. 12., BY J. E. C.

Verses 13-17. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth: &c. — When the dragon was thus deposed from the imperial throne, and cast unto the earth, (verse 13,) he still continued to persecute the church with equal malice, though not with equal power. He made several attempts to restore the pagan idolatry in the reign of Constantine, and afterward in the reign of Julian; he traduced and abused the Christian religion by such writers as Hierocles, Libanius, and others of the same stamp and character; he rent and troubled the church with heresies and schisms; he stirred up the favourers of the Arians to persecute and destroy the orthodox Christians. But the church was still under the protection of the empire, (verse 14,) and to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle — As God said to the children of Israel, (Exodus 19:4,) Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, &c.; so the church was supported and carried, as it were, on eagles’ wings: but the similitude is the more proper in this case, an eagle being the Roman ensign, and the two wings alluding probably to the division that was then made of the eastern and the western empire. In this manner was the church protected, and these wings were given, that she might flee into the wilderness, into a place of retirement and security, from the face of the serpent — Not that she fled into the wilderness at that time, but several years afterward; and there she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time — That is, three prophetic years and a half, which is the same period with the twelve hundred and sixty days, or years, before mentioned. So long the church is to remain in a desolate and afflicted state, during the reign of antichrist; as Elijah, while idolatry and famine prevailed in Israel, was secretly fed and nourished three years and six months in the wilderness. But before the woman fled into the wilderness, the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood, (verse 15,) with intent to wash her away. Waters, in the style of the Apocalypse, (Revelation 17:16,) signify peoples and nations; so that here was a great inundation of various nations excited by the dragon, or the friends and patrons of the old idolatry, to oppress and overwhelm the Christian religion. Such appeared plainly to have been the design of the dragon, when Stilicho, prime minister of the Emperor Honorius, invited the barbarous heathen nations, the Goths, Alans, Sueves, and Vandals, to invade the Roman empire, hoping by their means to raise his son Eucherius to the throne, who from a boy was an enemy to the Christians, and threatened to signalize the beginning of his reign with the restoration of the pagan, and abolition of the Christian religion. Nothing indeed was more likely to produce the ruin and utter subversion of the Christian Church, than the irruptions of so many barbarous heathen nations into the Roman empire. But the event proved contrary to human appearance and expectation: the earth swallowed up the flood, verse 16 — The barbarians were rather swallowed up by the Romans, than the Romans by the barbarians; the heathen conquerors, instead of imposing their own, submitted to the religion of the conquered Christians; and they not only embraced the religion, but affected even the laws, the manners, the customs, the language, and the very name of Romans. This course not succeeding according to probable expectation, the dragon did not therefore desist from his purpose, (verse 17,) but only took another method of persecuting the true sons of the church, as we shall see in the next chapter. It is said that he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who kept the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus — Which implies that at this time there was only a remnant; that corruptions were greatly increased, and the faithful were diminished from among the children of men.

Ver. 13, 14. When the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he renewed his persecutions of the woman under the ten kings, as he had done under the Roman dragon, the firstborn son of the great dragon; and he continued those floods of persecution for 1260 years.

14. Two wings of a great eagle… wilderness—There seems to be a double allusion here: to Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness, and to the flight of the blessed mother of Jesus through the same wilderness to Egypt, as driven by Herod. Of the former, Jehovah said to Moses, approaching Sinai, Exodus 19:4, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.” The woman came down from her high place in heaven, but it was on Jehovah’s wings, in order to be borne to a place of security as well as humiliation. Not that she is carried by the eagle; but the eagle’s wings are put on her, and she flies with them of herself, eagle-winged. That she might fly—in regard to the flight of the woman into the wilderness we may note, 1. That it was under fear of paganism, even after the pagan dragon was overthrown. Even under the Christianized empire, therefore, there was a powerful pagan influence repressive of a pure Christianity. This arose from two sources: First, The remains of pagan principle and practice in the national Church assuming the various forms of Mariolatry, wafer-worship, saint-adoration, pope-worship, and ritual. Second, The paganism of the nations of Northern Europe, who filled the atmosphere of the world with a pagan malaria. 2. The wilderness is at once the repressed power of the Church at home and her difficulty in struggling with the pagan nations of Europe for their conversion. 3. But her flying is mentioned twice, verses 6 and 14. The first is a fleeing in fear, and refers to the humble and persecuted, yet spiritually-prospering, obscurity of the Church before the pagan downfall, and in anticipation of her 1260-day period. The second is a divine flying, with God-given wings, into the wilderness, with a divinely-provided nourishment. This alludes to the missioning of Christianity, especially northward, by which she not only, with obscure perseverance, converted the tribes that settled in Italy, but spread her power through the forests of central and northern Europe. Thus she fled from the dragon in fear; she flew to the wilderness, both spiritual and literal, of Europe with hope; she was divinely sustained, and was helped to prosperity and even victory by the very pagan earth. Yet the spirit and power of paganism contrived to overlie the Church, even after these victories, and her wilderness state remained through the “dark ages.” Though thus borne on eagles’ wings, yet her home is the wilderness. For Rome is still Babylon. Even after a Christian emperor was seated on the throne, a quasi-paganism was still able to struggle for ascendency, and at court a semi-pagan Christianity but too much prevailed. The pure Church, therefore, retired like raven-fed Elijah to the mystic wilderness. For a time, and times, and half a time—That is, for a season, (or year,) two seasons, and half a season; that is, three years and a half; or (verse 6) 1260 days. This 1260-day period appears five times in the apocalypse. The origin of this use of this period seems to be found in the famine in Israel in the time of Elijah, which our Lord in Luke 4:25, and James 5:17, fix at three years and a half. But this could only be an approximation; for a famine neither begins nor ends on an exact day. And similarly, when adopted as a measurement in prophecy, the events will be found in their nature equally gradual in their commencement and termination, and the number must be viewed as simply an approximation. A similar period is adopted by Daniel 7:25; 12:7.

Elliott and others maintain that these five passages in the apocalypse designate the same time and train of events. But plainly two of them (Revelation 12:14, 15) designate the period of the dragon’s terrene troubling of the Church, and three of them (Revelation 11:2, 3; 13:5) the supremacy of the beast.

This dragon-period is the time after the firmamental overthrow of the dragon in which he oppresses the Church, Revelation 12:13, 17. That is, it includes the time of the power of paganism in and over the Church, after paganism had ceased to rule imperially supreme. And certainly, measuring from the downfall of paganism under the reign of Constantine, we find that an approximate 1260-year period will bring us to the Reformation. And the Reformation was the establishment of an anti-pagan Church. The Roman “beast” still sustained a paganism in his own domain, for his period of domination was yet continuing. But the reformed Church completely expelled paganism from her limits. Christianity became established beyond all danger in the Roman empire about A.D. 325; and in 1588 the defeat of the Spanish armada placed the permanence of the Reformation beyond question. Constantine published the edict of Milan, by which Christianity was freed from persecution, in 313; and 1260 years bring us to 1573, when Protestantism was in full possession of all those States that became permanently Protestant.

V. 15. Water is an emblem of a great people; this water, of the Turks in particular. About the year 1060 they overran the Christian part of Asia. Afterward, they poured into Europe, and spread farther and farther, till they had overflowed many nations.

Verse 15. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood] The water here evidently means great multitudes of nations and peoples; for in Revelation 17:15, the interpreting angel says, The waters which thou sawest-are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. This water, then, which the dragon cast out of his mouth, must be an inundation of heathen barbarous nations upon the Roman empire; and the purpose which the dragon has in view by this inundation is, that he might cause the woman, or Christian Church:—

To be carried away of the flood.] Entirely swept away from the face of the earth. Dr. Mosheim, in the commencement of his second chapter upon the fifth century, observes “that the Goths, the Heruli, the Franks, the Huns, and the Vandals, with other fierce and warlike nations, for the most part strangers to Christianity, had invaded the Roman empire, and rent it asunder in the most deplorable manner. Amidst these calamities the Christians were grievous, nay, we may venture to say the principal, sufferers. It is true these savage nations were much more intent upon the acquisition of wealth and dominion than upon the propagation or support of the pagan superstitions, nor did their cruelty and opposition to the Christians arise from any religious principle, or from an enthusiastic desire to ruin the cause of Christianity; it was merely by the INSTIGATION of the pagans who remained yet in the empire, that they were excited to treat with such severity and violence the followers of Christ.” Thus the wo which was denounced, Revelation 12:12, against the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea, came upon the whole Roman world; for, in consequence of the excitement and malicious misrepresentations of the pagans of the empire, “a transmigration of a great swarm of nations” came upon the Romans, and ceased not their ravages till they had desolated the eastern empire, even as far as the gates of Byzantium, and finally possessed themselves of the western empire. “If,” says Dr. Robertson, in the introduction to his History of Charles V., vol. i., pp. 11, 12, edit. Lond. 1809, “a man was called to fix upon the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most calamitous and afflicted, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Theodosius the Great to the establishment of the Lombards in Italy, a period of one hundred and seventy-six years. The contemporary authors who beheld that scene of desolation, labour and are at a loss for expressions to describe the horror of it. The scourge of God, the destroyer of nations, are the dreadful epithets by which they distinguish the most noted of the barbarous leaders; and they compare the ruin which they had brought on the world to the havoc occasioned by earthquakes, conflagrations, or deluges, the most formidable and fatal calamities which the imagination of man can conceive.” But the subtle design which the serpent or dragon had in view, when he vomited out of his mouth a flood of waters, was most providentially frustrated; for:—

NOTES ON CHAP. 12., BY J. E. C.

Verses 13-17. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth: &c. — When the dragon was thus deposed from the imperial throne, and cast unto the earth, (verse 13,) he still continued to persecute the church with equal malice, though not with equal power. He made several attempts to restore the pagan idolatry in the reign of Constantine, and afterward in the reign of Julian; he traduced and abused the Christian religion by such writers as Hierocles, Libanius, and others of the same stamp and character; he rent and troubled the church with heresies and schisms; he stirred up the favourers of the Arians to persecute and destroy the orthodox Christians. But the church was still under the protection of the empire, (verse 14,) and to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle — As God said to the children of Israel, (Exodus 19:4,) Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, &c.; so the church was supported and carried, as it were, on eagles’ wings: but the similitude is the more proper in this case, an eagle being the Roman ensign, and the two wings alluding probably to the division that was then made of the eastern and the western empire. In this manner was the church protected, and these wings were given, that she might flee into the wilderness, into a place of retirement and security, from the face of the serpent — Not that she fled into the wilderness at that time, but several years afterward; and there she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time — That is, three prophetic years and a half, which is the same period with the twelve hundred and sixty days, or years, before mentioned. So long the church is to remain in a desolate and afflicted state, during the reign of antichrist; as Elijah, while idolatry and famine prevailed in Israel, was secretly fed and nourished three years and six months in the wilderness. But before the woman fled into the wilderness, the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood, (verse 15,) with intent to wash her away. Waters, in the style of the Apocalypse, (Revelation 17:16,) signify peoples and nations; so that here was a great inundation of various nations excited by the dragon, or the friends and patrons of the old idolatry, to oppress and overwhelm the Christian religion. Such appeared plainly to have been the design of the dragon, when Stilicho, prime minister of the Emperor Honorius, invited the barbarous heathen nations, the Goths, Alans, Sueves, and Vandals, to invade the Roman empire, hoping by their means to raise his son Eucherius to the throne, who from a boy was an enemy to the Christians, and threatened to signalize the beginning of his reign with the restoration of the pagan, and abolition of the Christian religion. Nothing indeed was more likely to produce the ruin and utter subversion of the Christian Church, than the irruptions of so many barbarous heathen nations into the Roman empire. But the event proved contrary to human appearance and expectation: the earth swallowed up the flood, verse 16 — The barbarians were rather swallowed up by the Romans, than the Romans by the barbarians; the heathen conquerors, instead of imposing their own, submitted to the religion of the conquered Christians; and they not only embraced the religion, but affected even the laws, the manners, the customs, the language, and the very name of Romans. This course not succeeding according to probable expectation, the dragon did not therefore desist from his purpose, (verse 17,) but only took another method of persecuting the true sons of the church, as we shall see in the next chapter. It is said that he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who kept the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus — Which implies that at this time there was only a remnant; that corruptions were greatly increased, and the faithful were diminished from among the children of men.

Ver. 15-17. The serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood. The flood of Arianism, as Dr. Allix states; but after that age, many critics considered this flood to be the irruption of the northern nations, which coincides with all the trouble on the remnant of her seed.

The late Robert Carr Brackenbury, esquire, of Raithby Hall, Lincolnshire, sent me his ingenious essay on this chapter, which illustrates “the periphrasis of time, times and half a time, from the first edict of Constantine in the year 313, to the advanced state of the reformation in 1573, which was diffused far and wide, and when the northern states of Europe, with multitudes in the south, embraced the doctrines of the reformation, the whole of which period makes exactly the 1260 years.” The earth helped the woman. As Constantine helped the woman against the wars of Maxentius in Italy, and next against Licinius in Greece, so providence has raised up a Maurice in Saxony to defend Luther, and a Henry the eighth to defend the reformation in England. God can turn the hearts of kings as the rivers of the south.

That celebrated code, the French Constitution, was drawn by that great statesman, the ABBE SIEYES; and though it contain not a word of God, or of providence, yet the earth again helped the woman; the reformed were admitted into the national assembly; they were allowed to rebuild their churches, and their ministers received small salaries from the state.

15. Water as a flood—It cannot reasonably be denied that the antithetic terms water and earth are here figurative, as is the dragon. Water, as a figure, symbolizes the moving and unstable human populations; and earth, the steady and solid human state. The dragon, therefore, pouring from his mouth the water upon the woman, must signify paganism pouring a hostile horde upon the Christian communion; and the aid derived from the earth must designate the support of Christianity by the settled and civilized people. And so did pagan Europe pour her hosts of barbarians down upon Christianized Italy. And the Christianized earth so aided the Church as to secure her triumph over paganism.

V. 16. But the earth helped the woman-The powers of the earth; and indeed she needed help through this whole period. "The time" was from 1058 to 1280; during which the Turkish flood ran higher and higher, though frequently repressed by the emperors, or their generals, helping the woman. "The" two "times" were from 1280 to 1725. During these likewise the Turkish power flowed far and wide; but still from time to time the princes of the earth helped the woman, that she was not carried away by it. "The half time" is from 1725 to 1836. In the beginning of this period the Turks began to meddle with the affairs of Persia: wherein they have so entangled themselves, as to be the less able to prevail against the two remaining Christian empires. Yet this flood still reaches the woman "in her place;" and will, till near the end of the "half time," itself be swallowed up, perhaps by means of Russia, which is risen in the room of the eastern empire.

Verse 16. The earth helped the woman] “Nothing, and indeed,” as Bishop Newton excellently observes, “was more likely to produce the ruin and utter subversion of the Christian Church than the irruptions of so many barbarous nations into the Roman empire. But the event proved contrary to human appearance and expectation: the earth swallowed up the flood; the barbarians were rather swallowed up by the Romans, than the Romans by the barbarians; the heathen conquerors, instead of imposing their own, submitted to the religion of the conquered Christians; and they not only embraced the religion, but affected even the laws, the manners, the customs, the language, and the very name, of Romans, so that the victors were in a manner absorbed and lost among the vanquished.” See his Dissertations on the Prophecies, in loc.

NOTES ON CHAP. 12., BY J. E. C.

Verses 13-17. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth: &c. — When the dragon was thus deposed from the imperial throne, and cast unto the earth, (verse 13,) he still continued to persecute the church with equal malice, though not with equal power. He made several attempts to restore the pagan idolatry in the reign of Constantine, and afterward in the reign of Julian; he traduced and abused the Christian religion by such writers as Hierocles, Libanius, and others of the same stamp and character; he rent and troubled the church with heresies and schisms; he stirred up the favourers of the Arians to persecute and destroy the orthodox Christians. But the church was still under the protection of the empire, (verse 14,) and to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle — As God said to the children of Israel, (Exodus 19:4,) Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, &c.; so the church was supported and carried, as it were, on eagles’ wings: but the similitude is the more proper in this case, an eagle being the Roman ensign, and the two wings alluding probably to the division that was then made of the eastern and the western empire. In this manner was the church protected, and these wings were given, that she might flee into the wilderness, into a place of retirement and security, from the face of the serpent — Not that she fled into the wilderness at that time, but several years afterward; and there she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time — That is, three prophetic years and a half, which is the same period with the twelve hundred and sixty days, or years, before mentioned. So long the church is to remain in a desolate and afflicted state, during the reign of antichrist; as Elijah, while idolatry and famine prevailed in Israel, was secretly fed and nourished three years and six months in the wilderness. But before the woman fled into the wilderness, the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood, (verse 15,) with intent to wash her away. Waters, in the style of the Apocalypse, (Revelation 17:16,) signify peoples and nations; so that here was a great inundation of various nations excited by the dragon, or the friends and patrons of the old idolatry, to oppress and overwhelm the Christian religion. Such appeared plainly to have been the design of the dragon, when Stilicho, prime minister of the Emperor Honorius, invited the barbarous heathen nations, the Goths, Alans, Sueves, and Vandals, to invade the Roman empire, hoping by their means to raise his son Eucherius to the throne, who from a boy was an enemy to the Christians, and threatened to signalize the beginning of his reign with the restoration of the pagan, and abolition of the Christian religion. Nothing indeed was more likely to produce the ruin and utter subversion of the Christian Church, than the irruptions of so many barbarous heathen nations into the Roman empire. But the event proved contrary to human appearance and expectation: the earth swallowed up the flood, verse 16 — The barbarians were rather swallowed up by the Romans, than the Romans by the barbarians; the heathen conquerors, instead of imposing their own, submitted to the religion of the conquered Christians; and they not only embraced the religion, but affected even the laws, the manners, the customs, the language, and the very name of Romans. This course not succeeding according to probable expectation, the dragon did not therefore desist from his purpose, (verse 17,) but only took another method of persecuting the true sons of the church, as we shall see in the next chapter. It is said that he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who kept the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus — Which implies that at this time there was only a remnant; that corruptions were greatly increased, and the faithful were diminished from among the children of men.

Ver. 15-17. The serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood. The flood of Arianism, as Dr. Allix states; but after that age, many critics considered this flood to be the irruption of the northern nations, which coincides with all the trouble on the remnant of her seed.

The late Robert Carr Brackenbury, esquire, of Raithby Hall, Lincolnshire, sent me his ingenious essay on this chapter, which illustrates “the periphrasis of time, times and half a time, from the first edict of Constantine in the year 313, to the advanced state of the reformation in 1573, which was diffused far and wide, and when the northern states of Europe, with multitudes in the south, embraced the doctrines of the reformation, the whole of which period makes exactly the 1260 years.” The earth helped the woman. As Constantine helped the woman against the wars of Maxentius in Italy, and next against Licinius in Greece, so providence has raised up a Maurice in Saxony to defend Luther, and a Henry the eighth to defend the reformation in England. God can turn the hearts of kings as the rivers of the south.

That celebrated code, the French Constitution, was drawn by that great statesman, the ABBE SIEYES; and though it contain not a word of God, or of providence, yet the earth again helped the woman; the reformed were admitted into the national assembly; they were allowed to rebuild their churches, and their ministers received small salaries from the state.

16. Earth… swallowed up the flood—Instead of barbarism swallowing up civilization, civilization conquered barbarism. Instead of paganism extinguishing Christianity, Christianity converted paganism. The Roman earth absorbed the barbarian peoples, and Christianity firmly walked over Europe and transformed it to a Christendom.

V. 17. And the dragon was wroth-Anew, because he could not cause her to be carried away by the stream.

And he went forth-Into other lands.

To make war with the rest of her seed-Real Christians, living under heathen or Turkish governors.

Verse 17. And the dragon was wroth with the woman] The heathen party, foiled in their subtle attempt to destroy Christianity, were greatly enraged, and endeavoured to excite the hatred of the multitude against the religion of Jesus. “They alleged that before the coming of Christ the world was blessed with peace and prosperity; but that since the progress of their religion everywhere, the gods, filled with indignation to see their worship neglected and their altars abandoned, had visited the earth with those plagues and desolations which increased every day.” See Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History, cent. V., part 1, and other works on this subject. Went to make war with the remnant of her seed] The dragon aphlqe, departed, i.e., into the wilderness, whither the woman had fled; and in another form commenced a new species of persecution, directed only against the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. See on verse 13 of the following chapter for an illustration of this remarkable passage. {“Revelation 13:13”}

REVELATION

Verses 13-17. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth: &c. — When the dragon was thus deposed from the imperial throne, and cast unto the earth, (verse 13,) he still continued to persecute the church with equal malice, though not with equal power. He made several attempts to restore the pagan idolatry in the reign of Constantine, and afterward in the reign of Julian; he traduced and abused the Christian religion by such writers as Hierocles, Libanius, and others of the same stamp and character; he rent and troubled the church with heresies and schisms; he stirred up the favourers of the Arians to persecute and destroy the orthodox Christians. But the church was still under the protection of the empire, (verse 14,) and to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle — As God said to the children of Israel, (Exodus 19:4,) Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, &c.; so the church was supported and carried, as it were, on eagles’ wings: but the similitude is the more proper in this case, an eagle being the Roman ensign, and the two wings alluding probably to the division that was then made of the eastern and the western empire. In this manner was the church protected, and these wings were given, that she might flee into the wilderness, into a place of retirement and security, from the face of the serpent — Not that she fled into the wilderness at that time, but several years afterward; and there she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time — That is, three prophetic years and a half, which is the same period with the twelve hundred and sixty days, or years, before mentioned. So long the church is to remain in a desolate and afflicted state, during the reign of antichrist; as Elijah, while idolatry and famine prevailed in Israel, was secretly fed and nourished three years and six months in the wilderness. But before the woman fled into the wilderness, the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood, (verse 15,) with intent to wash her away. Waters, in the style of the Apocalypse, (Revelation 17:16,) signify peoples and nations; so that here was a great inundation of various nations excited by the dragon, or the friends and patrons of the old idolatry, to oppress and overwhelm the Christian religion. Such appeared plainly to have been the design of the dragon, when Stilicho, prime minister of the Emperor Honorius, invited the barbarous heathen nations, the Goths, Alans, Sueves, and Vandals, to invade the Roman empire, hoping by their means to raise his son Eucherius to the throne, who from a boy was an enemy to the Christians, and threatened to signalize the beginning of his reign with the restoration of the pagan, and abolition of the Christian religion. Nothing indeed was more likely to produce the ruin and utter subversion of the Christian Church, than the irruptions of so many barbarous heathen nations into the Roman empire. But the event proved contrary to human appearance and expectation: the earth swallowed up the flood, verse 16 — The barbarians were rather swallowed up by the Romans, than the Romans by the barbarians; the heathen conquerors, instead of imposing their own, submitted to the religion of the conquered Christians; and they not only embraced the religion, but affected even the laws, the manners, the customs, the language, and the very name of Romans. This course not succeeding according to probable expectation, the dragon did not therefore desist from his purpose, (verse 17,) but only took another method of persecuting the true sons of the church, as we shall see in the next chapter. It is said that he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who kept the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus — Which implies that at this time there was only a remnant; that corruptions were greatly increased, and the faithful were diminished from among the children of men.

Ver. 15-17. The serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood. The flood of Arianism, as Dr. Allix states; but after that age, many critics considered this flood to be the irruption of the northern nations, which coincides with all the trouble on the remnant of her seed.

The late Robert Carr Brackenbury, esquire, of Raithby Hall, Lincolnshire, sent me his ingenious essay on this chapter, which illustrates “the periphrasis of time, times and half a time, from the first edict of Constantine in the year 313, to the advanced state of the reformation in 1573, which was diffused far and wide, and when the northern states of Europe, with multitudes in the south, embraced the doctrines of the reformation, the whole of which period makes exactly the 1260 years.” The earth helped the woman. As Constantine helped the woman against the wars of Maxentius in Italy, and next against Licinius in Greece, so providence has raised up a Maurice in Saxony to defend Luther, and a Henry the eighth to defend the reformation in England. God can turn the hearts of kings as the rivers of the south.

That celebrated code, the French Constitution, was drawn by that great statesman, the ABBE SIEYES; and though it contain not a word of God, or of providence, yet the earth again helped the woman; the reformed were admitted into the national assembly; they were allowed to rebuild their churches, and their ministers received small salaries from the state.

17. Dragon was wroth—Paganism long maintained an angry and desperate struggle for supremacy. War with… seed—Who maintained the testimony of Jesus himself over wafer-worship and Mariolatry during the beast-period.

Dusterdieck denies that the woman is symbol of the Church; maintaining that this whole scene of chapter 12 is a picture showing who are the true adversaries of Christ, namely, Satan and his hosts. The woman, he argues, cannot be the Jewish Church, for, besides her apostolic twelve stars she laps over into the Christian ages even to the time of Constantine. Nor can she be the Christian Church; for who then are the remnant of her seed? To this argument Alford seems to succumb, and accept Dusterdieck’s view, and thereby enfeebles and disconcerts his whole scheme of interpretation.

Our answer to Dusterdieck’s dilemma is, that the woman is the anti-dragon or anti-pagan Church; the remnant of her seed is the anti-bestial or anti-papal Church. The woman, therefore, inclusively represents the ancient Jewish Church, from which Christ sprung, continued into the Christian Church in all its anti-pagan history and character. While the pagan dragon hoped, in his own undisguised person, to conquer her, he fought; but when he saw defeat before him he evoked the sea-beast (chap. 13) to be his substitute, and through him to war with the remnant of her seed—the opponents of the pseudo-Christian beast—until he reappears in his own person, Revelation 20:1. The Church, the woman, is, in successive generations, truly her own seed. The Church of to-day is the Church’s seed, and the Church of a later day is the remnant or rest of her seed. The seed against which paganism warred through the beast were the anti-papal successors to the anti-pagan Church.

We have a striking proof that the dragon was paganism in the opinion of Constantine himself. Eusebius gives us Constantine’s words: “That dragon has been expelled from the government of the world by the good providence of the supreme God and my instrumentality.” And before the vestibule of his own palace the emperor placed a cross over his own head, and the dragon beneath, thrust down into the abyss.