edly have transpired, the chronological periods connected have passed away; and now what wait we for but the astounding events under the last Trump. "For," says the apostle "the trumpet shall sound, and "the dead in Christ shall rise first. But-O fearful contrast then also will God "destroy them that destroy the earth." That the interpretation I have given is neither a vagary of the fancy, nor an innovation of Adventists, is evident from the following lines by, the venerable Isaac Watts:

CHAPTER X.

EXPOSITION OF REV. CHAP. XII.

v. 1. "AND there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her' feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars."

The woman here brought to view is a symbol of the Church, (ch. xix: 7). "Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honor to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." The moral light and beauty with which she is adorned, is strikingly expressed by her being "clothed with the sun," (Cant. vi: 10). "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners? "And the moon under her feet." "" 'Bp. Newton understands this of Jewish typical worship; and indeed the whole Mosaic system of rites and ceremonies could not have been better represented, for it was the shadow of good things to come."* As the moon, in and of itself, is an opaque body, and can only shine by reflection of solar light, so the types and shadows of the Mosaic ritual could only shine, in spiritual glory, when illuminated

*Adam Clark.

with the borrowed sunbeams of Gospel light; ör, in other words, when regarded as shadows of good things to come, the substance, beauty, and glory of the whole centering in Christ.

"Twelve stars."

Under the former dispensation there were twelve patriarchs, under the present, twelve apostles; and these stood as representatives of the entire Church, just as the thirteen stars of the American flag, corresponding to the original number of States, stand as representatives of the entire nation.

v. 2. "And she being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered."

This verse expresses the ardent longings of the true Church for their promised Deliverer, as exhibited in the lives of Simeon and Anna, the prophetess. (See Luke ii: 25-38).

"And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born," (vs. 4, 5).

A dragon is a serpent. Some dragons are found of enormous size, so that they can erect their heads some ten or twelve feet in height. * Says Barnes, in a note on this passage, "The general interpretation, which refers this vision to Rome, may receive confirmation from the fact, that the dragon was, at one time, THE

*See Kitto's Cyclopedia.

ROMAN STANDARD." And again, quoting from Ammianus Marcellinus, "The dragon was covered with purple cloth, and fastened to 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, and with its tail floating in several folds through the air."

"In presenting to the eye of the prophet a scenic representation of earthly governments, the Lord used such symbols as were most significant of the character of those governments. Thus the lion, which is the king of the forest, symbolized the military prowess of Babylon. A leopard having four wings aptly represented the hasty marches of Alexander the Great. When the Lord would present to the eye of Daniel the most destructive of all human governments, one that should wear out the saints of the Most High," he selected a nondescript animal with ten horns; and in presenting to John the same persecuting power, he chose a symbol which seemed the very embodiment of everything odious, abhorrent and formidable to the human race, and then says by way of synonym, (v. 9,) THAT OLD SERPent, the Devil," evidently referring to the one, to which allusion had been made in Scripture before. He thus conveys an idea of extreme hostility to God, and inveterate malignity against the Church. There are instances in Revelation where a symbol is employed in a double sense; for example, in chapter 17, where it is said, "the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth," and also, "seven kings." When John saw one of the seven heads as it were wounded to death, it is evident

he could not refer to a literal mountain, but to one of the governments. Thus the expression, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan," must refer to something distinct from the Roman government. Satan's power is embodied in the Empire of Rome, and his agency in wearing out the saints is developed through that instrumentality. And as the angel, in speaking of the heads, uses language which can only apply to the governments, (namely, being wounded to death,) he also speaks of the acts of the dragon as only applicable to Satan. In the view presented to Daniel, horns are multipled on the " dreadful and terrible" beast to an unnatural extent; so in this case, the dragon is represented with seven heads and ten horns, in order to express the different agencies or instrumentalities, through which Satan should act against the Church of God. The dragon stood before the woman in the person of Herod, the king, (Matt. ii: 16).

v. 5. "And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne."

Jesus Christ is the personage designated in Scripture, who is to "rule all nations with a rod of iron," (Ps. ii: "And her child was caught up," etc., (See Rev. iii: 21).

9).

v. 6. "And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days."

This chronological period, it is generally admitted, refers to the time of 1260 years, during which the saints