Victory and Royalty. With this she shines in the dark night of Error and Unbelief. Nothing can take this crown from her head.

She cries, travailing in childbirth, and pained to be delivered. In this lower world, the Church, like Eve, brings forth children in sorrow*. Be in pain, says the Prophet Micah, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail†. And, behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, whose tail sweeps down from heaven a third of the stars §, stands before the woman which was ready to be delivered, in order to devour her child as soon as it was born.

veritatis auditores illuminant, per quos omnes Gentes, quæ in circuitu hujus mundi sunt, crediderunt in Christum, et Ipsum Caput victoriam de toto mundo portavit.-Aquinas ad loc. Victoria per coronas significatur: dicitur hæc corona esse in Christo (Ecclesiæ Capite), cujus milites fuerunt Apostoli. 2 Cor. ii. 14, Deo gratias, Qui semper triumphat nos in Jesu Christo.

* Gen. iii. 16.

ἄρσεν.

Micah iv. 10. cf. Isaiah lxvi. 7—10. ¿épuye kaÌ ËTEKEV

Vitringa ad Apoc. p. 522. Draco hic notat Diabolum, qualem se exhiberet in Romano Imperio, cujus character est septiceps et denicornis.-Haymo says, ad cap. xiii. Per septem capita omnes reges intelliguntur illi subditi; per decem cornua omnia regna. Aquinas in loc. Cornua decem; omnes perversi, Legis decalogum impugnantes.

& Stellæ cadunt, (says Augustin. ep. cxix.) quoniam multi qui gratiâ fulgere videbantur, persequentibus cedent et cadent.— Haymo ad loc. Illi designantur per stellas de cœlo abstractas qui prius lucere videbantur in Ecclesiâ.

The Woman, persecuted by the Dragon, brings forth, we read, a male child, to rule the nations with a rod of iron; and her child is snatched up to God and to His throne.

At first sight these words appear applicable only to CHRIST*.

But, we must remember, that what is true primarily of Christ alone, is, by virtue of His union with all true members of His body, and by reason of the working of His grace, transferred to them. Hence St. Paul says, My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in yout. So, in a figurative sense, the Church is in labour with children till Christ be formed within them. This figure of transference is of very frequent occurrence in the Apocalypse. Christ is our King and Priest; it represents all His true members as Kings and Priests to Gods. And you will remember, that in the Apocalypse Christ Himself applies to all true believers the words, which are literally true of Himself alone ||

*Psalm ii. 9.

† Gal. iv. 19.

This is well expressed by Primasius, ad loc. Hìc, Caput Ecclesiæ Christus in singulis membris dicitur nasci.—Omnes enim qui in Christo Jesu baptizati estis Christum induistis, (Gal. iii. 27) et raptus est filius ad Deum et ad thronum Ejus. Licet in capite Christo præcesserit, congruit tamen et corpori Ejus. Hinc illæ voces Apostoli, Qui nos resuscitavit et considere fecit in cœlestibus, (Eph. ii. 6) et conversatio nostra in cœlis est (Phil. iii. 20).

§ Rev. i. 6. v. 10. xx. 6. note †.

See above, Lect. II. p. 59, 60,

§ Rev. ii. 26, 27.

S

Ile 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 in pieces*. Thus Christ Himself interprets the Vision before us.

And what is this rod of iron? It is, as was before said †, the inflexible rule of Christ's Word. With it the male children, the masculine spirits, of the Church §, being endued with power by Christ, rule the Nations, that is, they overcome the World; with it they shiver into atoms the potter's vessels that is, the earthy, brittle theories, of corrupt Religion and carnal Philosophy; and having performed their mission on earth like Elijah, like him they are caught up to heaven. They are exalted in a glorious apotheosis, and are made to sit in heavenly places with Christ ||. To him that overcometh, saith Christ, in the Apocalypse, will I grant to sit with Me

Haymo ad loc. De omnibus electis potest intelligi qui in Suo Capite acceperunt potestatem ut regant gentes virgâ ferreâ et confringendi eas tanquam vas figuli.

+ Lecture VIII. p. 240, 241.

Bede ad loc. Semper Ecclesia, dracone licet adversante, Christum parit; masculum autem dicit, victorem diaboli qui fœminam vicerat. . . . Ecclesia quotidie gignit ecclesiam, mundum in Christo vincentem.

Haymo in loc. Masculus in bonam partem accipitur, quia significat membra Christi quæ quotidie parit sancta Ecclesia. Rectè autem sancti sub nomine masculorum comprehenduntur, quia fortiter contra adversa istius seculi pugnant, sicut fecerunt sancti Apostoli et Martyres.

|| Eph. i. 20.

in My Throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His Throne*.

Thus the children of the Church are caught up to Heaven. But the Church herself remains on earth to the end.

The Woman, we read, flies into the Wilderness, where she has a place prepared her by God, that they may nourish her One thousand two hundred and sixty days.

St. John, having thus described the term of the pilgrimage of the Church, reverts to an earlier point --to the beginning of her pilgrimage. And why? To remind us that the Church, when persecuted by Satan, has always had an invincible Protector, Who has vanquished the Dragon.

There was war in Heavent: Michael and his Angels fought with the Devil and his Angels; and the Dragon, the old Serpent, was cast out ‡. And a Hymn of Victory was heard in Heaven. This is the conquest achieved by the Son of God at His incarnation -I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven §. Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out ||

The Devil, being vanquished by Christ, attacks His Church. And the two wings of the great Eagle**, we read, are given her to fly from the face of the Dragon to the Wilderness unto her place, where (it is said)

*Rev. iii. 21.

† Haymo ad loc. in cœlo: i. e. in Ecclesiâ.

Rev. xii. 7-9. ** αἱ δύο πτέρυγες τοῦ

§ Luke x. 18. ἀετοῦ, τοῦ μεγάλου.

John xii. 31.

she is nourished, that is, fed with heavenly food; as the Ancient Church in the Wilderness was nourished with manna, which was the type of the True Bread which came down from Heaven*. She is nourished for a time, times, and half a time†that is, three years and a half; which is the same period as the twelve hundred and sixty days ‡, before mentioned, or the forty-two months, during which the Holy City will be trodden by the Gentiles §.

What now, are the Two WINGS of the GREAT EAGLE?

The Eagle is the natural foe of the Dragon; and the Church of Israel is said, in Scripture, to be borne from Egypt by God through the Wilderness on Eagles' wings. Hence the Church is here described in the Apocalypse, as thus rescued from the Dragon. And ancient Expositors, observing that the Church flies on the pinions of Holy Scripture through all ages and into all lands, saw that the ** Two Wings of the Great Eagle are the Two †† Testaments of the Incarnate WORD, Who ascended

* John vi. 31–58.

+

Rev. xii. 6.

|| Exod. xix. 4. Deut. xxxii. 11.

+ Rev. xii. 14.

§ Rev. xi. 2.

** The two Wings: i. e. the well-known Wings; another striking use of the Article: see above, on "the Seven Thunders," p. 230-235, 245. Primasius ad loc. Ecclesia in modum alarum duobus utitur Testamentis.

+ This symbol has received a beautiful practical exposition in the usage of the Church to place the BIBLE on the two wings of an EAGLE, and to read the Lesson therefrom.