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mountain to burst forth into a blaze; and afterwards, heaving it from its base, casts it flaming into the midst of the sea. This imagery is manifestly copied from a parallel passage of Jeremiah, which will afford us the best explanation of what is intended by St. John. Addressing himself to Babylon, the Lord solemnly declares, "Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, which destroyest all the earth and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain."* It appears

then, that the destruction of Babylon is symbolized by the tearing up of a large mountain from its base, and by setting it on fire. Now it is well known, that Babylon is the constant apocalyptic type of Rome. Hence, in a prophecy like that of the trumpets which treats of the fall of the Roman empire, the symbol of a mountain, circumstanced precisely similar to the Babylonian mountain, cannot with propriety be interpreted as relative to any power excepting that of Rome alone. In the year 455, Genseric king of the Vandals sailed from Africa, and suddenly landed at the mouth of the Tiber. Rome, once the mistress of the world, was now unable to resist the arms of a barbaric chieftain. During fourteen days and nights it was given up to the licentiousness of the Vandals and the Moors; and was plundered of all that yet remained to it from former conquerors of public or private wealth, of sacred or profane treasure. Having thus at once satiated his rapacity and cruelty, Genseric set sail again for Africa, carrying with him immense riches and an innumerable multitude of captives, among whom were the empress Eudoxia, and her two daughters. By former ravages the power of Rome had been greatly weakened, but by Genseric it was so completely brokent that in a little time it was utterly subverted. Hurled from its base, and plunged like a huge blazing mountain into a sea of wars and tumults, "it struggled hard, and gasped as it were for breath, through eight short and tur

Jerem. li. 25.

† So completely was it broken at this period, that many, among whom are Mr. Mede, have dated the fall of the Western empire from the year 455 or 456.

bulent reigns, for the space of twenty years, and at length expired under Augustulus."*

"And the third angel sounded: and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp; and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters: and the name of the star is called Wormwood; and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter."

We have seen, that the language used by St. John in describing the effects of the former trumpet is borrowed from a passage of Jeremiah wherein the fall of Babylon, the apocalyptic type of Rome, is predicted this, which is here employed by him, is taken in a similar manner from Isaiah. "Thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased, the golden city ceased! The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers→ How art thou fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations."+ Arguing then both from analogy of interpretation, and from the general tenor of the present prophecy, if the mountain of the second trumpet mean Rome, the star of the third trumpet must mean the prince of Rome; precisely in the same manner as the mountain spoken of by Jeremiah means Babylon, and the star described by Isaiah as falling to the ground means the prince of Babylon. In the language of symbols indeed the shooting of a star from heaven to earth signifies either the downfull of a king, or the apostacy of a minister of religion; but in the present instance we cannot hesitate to adopt the secular interpretation. St. John is describing the calamities of the Roman empire in general, and the downfall of the Western empire in particular hence it is more congruous to explain the symbol of the falling star secularly than spiritually. And this opinion is decidedly confirmed by the testimo

Bp. Newton's Dissert. on Rev. viii. Mr. Lowman supposes like myself, that the symbol of casting a mountain into the sea, here used by the prophet, denotes the subversion of a kingdom by hostile invasion. "Great disorders and commotions, especially when kingdoms are moved by hostile invasions, are expressed in the prophetic style by carrying or casting mountains into the midst of the sea. Paraph, in loc.

† Isaiah xiv. 4, 5, 12.

ny of history. At the era of the third trumpet, that is to say at the era posterior to the hail-storm of northern invasion and the fiery blast of southern devastation, we find that a great temporal star immediately connected with the blazing mountain did actually fall from heaven to earth; but we shall in vain, at the same period, look for the apostacy of some remarkable spiritual star.* On these grounds, I doubt not that the falling star of the third trumpet is the line of the Western Cesars, which was finally hurled from the political heaven in the year 476. The last emperor Momyllus or Augustulus was deposed by Odoacer king of the Heruli, who put an end to the very name of the Western empire, and caused himself to be proclaimed king of Italy.

St. John intimates, that the fall of this star should eventually be productive of much bloodshed among the rivers and fountains or the settled Gothic governments of the West, which now filled the place formerly occupied by the Roman empire; and thence styles it Wormwood, as indicative of the bitter discords which its downfall should occasion. As the union of the nations of the West under one head would naturally be the cause of peace among them, so their disunion under many heads would as naturally be the cause of war. Thus we find,

that Odoacer after a short reign of sixteen years was attacked and slain by Theodoric king of the Ostrogoths; that the Ostrogothic monarchy was in its turn subverted by the lieutenants of the Eastern Emperor; and that Italy was afterwards alternately a prey to the Lombards and the Franks. If from Italy we cast our eyes over

*The fallen star of the third trumpet cannot be Arius, because he died before even the first trumpet began to sound. His opinions were started about the year 318, and continued to agitate the East till about the year 381. The bail-storm of the first trumpet had long been collecting; but it did not burst till the year 395.

† Mr. Lowman most justly observes respecting this symbol, that "the most natural interpretation of it seems to be this: that, as the rising of a star denotes the rise of some new power or authority, so the fall of a star from heaven signifies the fall of some kingdom or empire." (Paraph. in loc.) He would have expressed himself however with more accuracy, had he said the fall of some king or emperor.

Mr. Mede applies the shooting of this star to the downfall of the Western Cesars ; and thence takes occasion to style it Hesperus, or the evening star of the West. I perfectly agree with him in his interpretation of the symbol; but think it right to observe, that he has no warrant for denominating the star Hesperus. In the Apocalypse it is simply called a great star. 36

VOL. I.

Gaul, we shall behold the same spectacle of war and discord in the contests of Clovis with the Alemanni, the Burgundians, and the Visigoths: while the period of the fallen star was marked in Britain by the establishment of the Saxon Heptarchy,* and the subsequent never ceasing wars between the princes of the Saxon blood.†

"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."

This trumpet describes, under the symbol of an eclipse of the third or Roman part of the political luminaries of the world, the effects produced upon the empire, considered as one great whole, by the sounding of the three first trumpets. When all the provinces of the West were occupied by the northern invaders, when Rome herself became a mere appendage to a Gothic kingdom, and when the line of the Italian Cesars had ended in the person of Augustulus; then commenced the great eclipse of the fourth trumpet. The Roman sun, shorn of his rays, no longer emitted his pristine splendor; the figurative moon, or the body of the people subject to his influence, shone, by the defalcation of the western provinces, with scarcely more than half her wonted lustre ; and the figu rative stars, or the governors of provinces, experienced a proportionate diminution. "The day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise." While" the

* Or, according to Mr. Turner, Octarchy. See his Hist. of the Anglo-Saxons, B. ii. C. 6.

The state of the Roman world, when its symbolical rivers and fountains began to be tinged with wormwood by the downfall of the Western empire, is thus described by Mr. Gibbon. "I have now accomplished the laborious narrative of the decline and fall of the Roman empire, from the fortunate age of Trajan and the Antonines, to its total extinction in the West, about five centuries after the Christian era. At that unhappy period, the Saxons fiercely struggled with the natives for the possession of Britain; Gaul and Spain were divided between the powerful monarchies of the Franks and the Visigoths, and the dependent kingdoms of the Suevi and Burgundians; Africa was exposed to the cruel persecution of the Vandals, and the savage insults of the Moors; Rome and Italy, as far as the banks of the Danube, were afflicted by an army of barbarian mercenaries, whose lawless tyranny was succeeded by the reign of Theodoric the Ostrogoth. All the subjects of the empire, who, by the use of the Latin language, more particularly deserved the name and privileges of Romans, were oppressed by the disgrace and calamities of foreign conquest; and the victorious nations of Germany established a new system of manners and government in the western countries of Europe." Hist. of Decline, Vol. vi. p. 404.

victorious nations of Germany established a new system of manners and government in the western countries of Europe, the majesty of Rome was faintly represented by the princes of Constantinople, the feeble and imaginary successors of Augustus. Yet they continued to reign over the East, from the Danube to the Nile and Tigris ; the Gothic and Vandal kingdoms of Italy and Africa were subverted by the arms of Justinian ;"* nor did the long line of the Cesars become finally extinct, till Constantinople fell a prey to the martial fanaticism of the Turks.

Thus was he that letted removed out of the way, and thus was an opening prepared for the man of sin and the western Apostacy. Constantine quitted the ancient capital for the city of which he claimed to be the founder; Honorius, the first of the divided Italian Cesars, fixed his residence at Ravenna; and at length the Western empire was completely overthrown in the person of Augustulus. Nothing now impeded the growth of the little horn, except the three Gothic kingdoms which were destined to be plucked up by the roots before it. During their eradication it gradually increased; and, before it had attained the summit of its temporal power, the saints were delivered into its hand, and it became a mighty spiritual persecuting empire. Then was the man of sin revealed, that son of perdition, whose tyrannical reign and final destruction is described at large under the three last trumpets.

As I have materially varied from Bp. Newton in the preceding interpretation of the first four trumpets, it is a mark of respect only due to so excellent a commentator to state the grounds of my differing from him. According to his Lordship's exposition, "at the sounding of the first trumpet, Alaric and his Goths invade the Roman empire, twice besiege Rome, and set fire to it in several places. At the sounding of the second trumpet, Attila and his Huns waste the Roman provinces, and compel the Eastern emperor Theodosius the second, and the Western emperor Valentinian the third, to submit to shameful terms. At the sounding of the third trumpet,

Hist. of Decline and Fall, Vol. vi. p. 424.

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