church began to be torn and rent, by a Schisme, that hitherto no remedies have been able to take away. The first evil gave occasion to the birth of the second. Pope Leo, desiring to oppose all the forces of Christendom, against the furious progress of the Turks, had sent his legates to all the Christian princes, and formed a great project to attack the infidels, both by sea and land. Now, to excite the people's devotion, and get their alms and benevolence for so good a work, he sent some, according to the usual custom in such cases practised, to preach indulgences in every province. This commission, according to the allotments made a long time amongst the four Orders Mendicants, belonged to the Augustins in Germany; nevertheless Albert, Archbishop of Mentz, either of his own head, or by order from Rome, allots and gives it to the Jacobins. The Augustins, finding themselves wronged in their interest, which is the great spring, even of the most religious societies, complain, make a noise, and fly to revenge." (This Roman Catholic view is refuted by facts, as will be presently seen.) "Amongst those there was a monk named Martin Luther, of Islebe, in the county of Mansfield, Doctor and Reader in Theologie, in the University of Witemberg, a bold spirit, impetuous and eloquent; John Stampis, their general, commanded him to preach against these Questors. They furnished him but with too much matter; for they made traffick and merchandize of those sacred treasures of the church; they kept their Courts or Shops rather in Taverns, and consumed great part of what they gained or collected in Debauches, and it was certainly known, besides, that the Pope intended to apply considerable Summs to his own proper use.

"Perhaps it would have been better done to prevent these Disorders, only to have removed the occasion of his clamour; but the thing seemed not worth while to trouble their Heads about it. In the meantime, the Quarrel grew high, and was heated by Declamations, Theses, and books on either side. Frederic, duke of Saxony, whose Wisdom and Virtue was exemplary in Germany, maintained him and even animated him, as well for the honour of his new University of Witemberg, which this monk had brought in

reputation, as in hatred to the Archbishop of Mentz, with whom he had other disputes. He at first began with proposing of Doubts, then being hard beset, and too roughly handled, he engaged to maintain and make them good, in the very Sence they condemned them in. They had neither the Discretion to stop his Mouth, or seize upon him; but threatening him before he was in their Power, he takes shelter; and then keeping no more Decorum, he throws off his Mask, and not only declaimed against the Pope, and against the Corruptions of the Court of Rome, but likewise opposed the church of Rome, in many points of Her Doctrine.

"And truly the extreme ignorance of the Clergy, many of them scarce able to read, the scandalous Lives of the Pastors, most of them Concubinaries, Drunkards and Usurers, and their extreme negligence gave him a fair advantage to persuade the People, that the Religion they taught was corrupt, since their Lives and Examples were so bad. At the same time, or as others say, a Year before, to wit, in Anno 1516, Ulric Zuinglius, Curate at Zuric, began to expose his Doctrine in that Swisse Canton; and since, almost every year, new Evangelists have arisen, in such Swarms, that it would be difficult to number them." Dr. Mosheim

says:

"The most momentous event that distinguished the church after the fifteenth century, and we may add the most glorious of all the revolutions that happened in the state of Christianity since the time of its divine and immortal Founder, was that happy change introduced into religion, which is known by the title of the Blessed Reformation. This grand revolution, which arose in Saxony from small beginnings, not only spread itself with the utmost rapidity through all the European provinces, but also extended its efficacy more or less to the most distant parts of the globe, and may be justly considered as the main and principal spring which has moved the nations from that illustrious period, and occasioned the greatest part of those civil and religious revolutions that fill the annals of history down to our times. The face of Europe was, in a more especial manner, changed

by this great event. The present age feels yet, in a sensible manner, and ages to come will continue to perceive, the inestimable advantages it produced, and the inconveniences of which it has been the innocent occasion. The history therefore of such an important revolution, from whence so many others have derived their origin, and whose relations and connections are so extensive and universal, demands undoubtedly a peculiar degree of attention."

J. H. Merle D'Aubigné, after exhibiting the errors of the professing church, penance, flagellations, indulgences, and purgatory, says: "The evil could not go farther. Then the Reformer arose. To establish a mediating caste between man and God, and insist that the salvation which God gives shall be purchased by works, penances, and money, is the Papacy. To give to all by Jesus Christ without a human mediator, and without that power, which is called the church, free access to the great gift of eternal life, which God bestows on man, is Christianity and the Reformation. The Papacy is an immense wall raised between man and God by the labour of ages. The Reformation is the power which threw down this wall, restored Christ to man, and levelled the path by which he may come to his Creator. The Papacy interposes the church between God and man. Christianity and the Reformation make them meet face to face. The Papacy separates, the Gospel unites them." Having further related the abuses of the professing church, the immoralities and ignorance of the clergy, and their dissolute fêtes, he says:-"Such are some of the consequences of the system under which Christendom then groaned. Our picture undoubtedly proves both the corruption of the church and the necessity of a reformation. The vital doctrines of Christianity had almost entirely disappeared. The strength of the church had been wasted, and its body, enfeebled and exhausted, lay stretched almost without life, over the whole extent which the Roman empire had occupied."

Such are the testimonies of various historians to the dominant feature in the annals of the sixteenth century. Their general correspondence with the figurations of the

prophecy will be readily recognised, so that the special features of the vision have only now to be illustrated.

Not forgetting the previous statement that the spirit of the symbolic angel acting in the world, rather than any particular human agent, was represented by his appearance in the vision, the prominent mention in the foregoing, of the name of Martin Luther, combines with that of numerous other historians to exhibit that early Reformer as the principal actor in the events referred to. As such, he would be entitled to be considered the chief visible personator of the Apocalyptic angel, and his characteristics and actions required to be in strict accordance with the influence inspiring him. At the same time, as the names of Zuinglius and Calvin are also mentioned by Gibbon to have been pronounced with gratitude as the deliverers of nations, and history has recorded many others who were at this period conspicuous in furthering the reformation of the church, a general exhibition by all of a similar inspiration, is required to place history and revelation in perfect correspondence.

It may be stated that the historians of the Reformation of the sixteenth century almost invariably introduce their subject by a recital of the corruptions then existing in the visible church, all of which are embraced by the brief but comprehensive Apocalyptic announcement, "And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood; which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."

The prevalence of strong indications of some powerful counteracting intervention is also a subject of general notice. Dr. Mosheim says:-" About the commencement of the sixteenth century, the Roman pontiffs lived in the utmost tranquillity; nor had they, as things appeared to be situated, the least reason to apprehend any opposition to their pretensions, or rebellion against their authority; since those dreadful commotions, which had been excited in the preceding ages by the Waldenses, Albigenses, and Beghards,

and lately by the Bohemians were entirely suppressed, and had yielded to the united powers of counsel and the sword. We must not however conclude from this apparent tranquillity and security of the pontiffs and their adherents, that their measures were applauded, or their chains worn without reluctance. This was far from being the case. Not only private persons, but also the most powerful princes and sovereign states, exclaimed loudly against the despotic kingdom of the pontiffs; the fraud, violence, avarice, and injustice that prevailed in their councils; the arrogance, tyranny, and extortion of their legates; the unbridled. licentiousness and enormous crimes of the clergy and monks of all denominations; the unrighteous severity and partiality of the Roman laws; and demanded publicly, as their ancestors had done before them, a reformation of the church, in its head and in its members, and a general council to accomplish that necessary and happy purpose."

It will be therefore seen how exactly the progressive stages of the prophecy and of history agree. Mosheim further says, "While the Roman pontiff slumbered in security at the head of the church, and saw nothing throughout the vast extent of his dominions but tranquillity and submission; and while the worthy and pious professors of genuine Christianity almost despaired of seeing that reformation on which their most ardent desires and expectations were bent; an obscure and inconsiderable person arose on a sudden in the year 1517, and laid the foundation of this long expected change by opposing with undaunted resolution his single force to the torrent of papal ambition and despotism. This extraordinary man was Martin Luther."

D'Aubigné says:-"Everything announced that a great revolution was at hand. The powerful aid which God had designed to employ was nowhere to be seen. All however felt that it must soon make its appearance, while some even pretended to have seen indications of it in the stars. One class, seeing the miserable state of religion, predicted the near approach of Antichrist. Another class predicted a speedy reformation. The world was waiting. Luther appeared. All was ready. To do great things by small