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ambition, that he might covertly reign with their assistance, as the last head of the prophetic beast.

With respect to the propriety of the similitude, we may refer for Scriptural authority to the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah, ver. 12. where the prophet alludes to the humiliation of the ruler of Babylon, under the image of a fallen star. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, the Son of the Morning!" (or, in other words, thou bright morning star!)" How art thou cut down to the ground, that didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne among the stars of God;-yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."

And here I cannot but observe, that as the King of Babylon is called the Morning Star, or Star of the East, so may the vision of St. John allude to the Hesper, or Evening Star, the Emperor of the West. It is impossible to read the magnificent description of the greatness and fall of ancient Babylon, the seat of pagan idolatry, by the prophets, without observing its close correspondence with that of the modern Babylonof papal Rome, the seat of pseudo-christian idolatry, in the Revelation of St. John. It seems indeed probable that the former had a double sense, and that it refers, through its type, to the

disgraceful corruption of the latter in its state of spiritual whoredom.

The fall of the kingdoms, which had been enemies of the Church of God, is thus depicted in the thirty-fourth chapter of Isaiah, ver. 4."And all the host of heaven shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree'."

This star is said to be called Wormwood. The expression is a Hebraic aggregate, implying an accumulation of bitter events and afflictions, which are thus designated in the Scripture. As we find in Ruth i. 20. Naomi says, "Call me not Naomi, call me Marah; for the Almighty has afflicted me with bitterness."

And this title might well be applied to the empire of the west, which was a scene of bitterness and troubles, almost from its rise to its termination. The division of the Roman empire into western and eastern, first opened a way to the barbarians, and their successive inroads exposed the commonwealth to the greatest calamities. When, therefore, the last Cæsar of the west was hurled from his throne, the bitterness of death

Mede considers the star as a comet, and says it is peculiarly applicable, as the power it represented was of a short continuance. In chapter xvii. it is said, " And when he cometh, he must continue for a short space."

fell upon the cities and provinces of the empire, whose influx into the political sea of dominion is characterized under the title of the rivers and fountains of waters. These became embittered by the calamities which ensued, in consequence of the fall of their sovereign.

"And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise."

At the sound of the fourth trumpet the lights of the ancient Roman empire, which once presided over a third part of the world, were obscured and extinguished. After the western Cæsar had been hurled from his throne, under the last trumpet, Odoacer's kingdom was of short duration. He was vanquished and slain by Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, who founded the kingdom of the Ostrogoths in Italy, where it subsisted for sixty years. History informs us, that even under Odoacer, the consulate of Rome was restored, which had been at first taken away; and when Theodoric was established on the throne by Zeno, Emperor of the East, he rebuilt the walls and part of the city of Rome, regulated the kingdom wisely, and retained the senate, the

consuls, the patricians, and other magistrates, both civil and military, of the ancient commonwealth, and his regulations were preserved for some time by his immediate successors. When the lieutenants of the Emperor of the East, Belisarius first, and Narses afterwards, under Justinian, waged war with the Ostrogoths, to recover Italy, Rome was repeatedly taken by Totila, burnt, and a third part of it demolished, and was actually deprived of all its inhabitants. Yet even in this state it was at length recovered by Narses, but soon after was overthrown by a whirlwind and thunderbolts. In fine, the Byzantine emperor prevailed, and Italy was made a province of the eastern empire. Under Justin II. Longinus was sent to govern Italy with absolute authority. He altered the whole form of government, abolished the senate, the consuls, and all the former magistrates of Rome and Italy, and constituted governors in every city of note, under the title of duke. He resided at Ravenna, and was called exarch of that city and province, and Rome, which had once been the mistress of the world, was now degraded into a poor dukedom, and rendered tributary to Ravenna, which had formerly been one of her meanest dependencies.

Thus was exemplified the vision of the fourth trumpet, in which the sun, moon, and stars of

Roman majesty, formerly shining over a third part of the world, were eclipsed, and for a time extinguished.

As long as Rome retained her dominion under her emperor or her king, and under her consuls, senate, and magistrates, her political sun, moon, and stars shone by day and by night, but when she was degraded from all her dignities, and reduced to a low estate, their splendour was darkened, and she sunk into obscurity.

The image of sun, moon, and stars, as applicable to the ruling powers of states, kingdoms, and cities, is very frequent, as Mede has observed, in the writings of the prophets, and in the language of oriental authors.

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And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe to the inhabiters of the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels, which are yet to sound."

This solemn warning was given from heaven, and probably enunciated by some sacred minister of the Church, now beginning to decline from its purity, both in the east and west, in order to show that the three following trumpets would be the heralds of greater plagues than either of the foregoing, and were therefore distinguished from them by the appellation of the three woes. And that these plagues were intended not only to

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