THE RETROSPECT.

No. XI.

AND wherefore into the wilderness?

Let us see. We have already stated in our preceding number the grounds which exist for the expectation, that this symbolic woman who flies into the wilderness, and whose future history in that state we shall now endeavour to discover, is the Church left on the earth, after the living saints are translated into their glorified condition, at the first appearance of the Lord in the air.

It is scarcely possible to conceive a more appropriate symbol could be selected to describe the helpless and forlorn condition of the Church, under such circumstances, than that of a woman lying exhausted after the birth of a child. Such events as the appearance of Christ and the change of the saints, professedly expected by so few within the borders of the visible Church, and actually longed and looked for by still fewer,

must have the effect (apart from all considerations of the manifestation of God's judgments), of destroying, as in a moment, all those false dependencies upon which the Church has been accustomed to rest, and thus the way will be prepared for her complete dissolution as an ecclesiastical polity; nor can much doubt be entertained, if a strong consolation was not administered to her in that moment of agony and trial, that her spiritual life would altogether become extinct. The ultimate hope, which we have reason to believe is declared in the prophecy, will, however, be eagerly grasped at in her extremity, though the shock which she will have received will render a period of rest needful, in order that she may gradually recruit her strength, and be brought into the condition of confronting in open conflict that serpent, from whose face, at first, she is represented as flying into the wilderness as a place of refuge.

This symbolic action of the woman is described in the twelfth chapter of the Revelation in two several places the first, in the fifth and sixth verses; and the second, in the thirteenth and following verses. We shall quote both passages in the consecutive order in which they occur in the prophecy :-" And she brought forth a man child who was (about) to rule all nations with a rod of

iron and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled (or was a flying) into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand, two hundred, and three-score days"-or, literally, three years and a half (Rev. xii. 5, 6).

"And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time (or, literally, three years and a half), from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

These two passages in the prophecy, which describe the history of the woman immediately after the birth of the man child, and during a

literal period of three years and a half, are rich in symbolic representation, and we think their true interpretation will conduct us to a much wider field of enquiry than their apparent simplicity would at first lead us to anticipate; for, we think it will appear in the sequel that we are thereby furnished, not only with a clue to the ministerial aspect of the Church during her sojourn in the wilderness, but also to the nature of her employment there, and the end and object of her seclusion from the world for such a period of time.

The first symbol which presents itself to our consideration is that of the great eagle with two wings, who is represented in the figure as bearing the woman into the wilderness; and which of itself is so comprehensive that we think it advisable, in order to render our future interpretation more intelligible, to contemplate the emblem in the two separate and distinct aspects-firstly, its symbolical signification; and, secondly, its typical import.

But, as all the symbols in the Apocalypse are selected from the Jewish ecclesiastical economy, it is quite evident we can only acquire light as to the true meaning of this symbol by discovering its proper place in that dispensation; and, if possible, in a similar way ascertain also its true typical character as applicable to the Church of