ably prepared by the dreadful events above alluded to, was the Edict of the Emperor Valentinian III., dated A.D. 445, by which he all but established the Papacy on the ruins of the falling empire. He enjoined by this edict, says Sir Isaac Newton, "an absolute obedience to the will of the Bishop of Rome throughout all the churches of his empire; and declares, for the bishops to do any thing without the Pope's authority, is contrary to ancient custom; and that the bishops summoned to appear before his judicature, must be carried thither by the governor of the province; and he ascribes these privileges of the see of Rome to the concessions of his dead ancestors—that is, to the edict of Gratian and Valentinian II., as above; by which reckoning, this dominion of the Church of Rome was now of sixty-six years' standing; and if," he adds, "in all this time it had not been sufficiently established, this new edict was enough to settle it, beyond all question, throughout the Western empire."

The real state of the church during the period of time which followed this epoch, was one of gross darkness and ignorance. The distinguishing characteristics of Popery were ripening apace; Christianity was giving way to heathen philosophy; the dreadful dissensions of the principal prelates were still continued-particularly the fierce contentions of the Bishops of Rome and

lates only of the second order; and on the other, he invaded the diocese of the Roman Pontiff, and spoiled him of several provinces. The two former prelates, though they struggled with vehemence, and raised considerable tumults by their opposition, yet they struggled ineffectually, both for want of strength, and likewise on account of a variety of unfavourable circumstances. But the ROMAN PONTIFF, far superior to them in wealth and power, contended also with more vigour and obstinacy, and in his turn gave a deadly wound to the usurped authority of the Byzantine Patriarch.'

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The "great sword" and "red horse" of this seal, are therefore highly expressive emblems of this slaughtering and bloody period, and give a lively view of the state in which the church was placed during the whole of its continuance.

THIRD SEAL.

"And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and, lo, a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine."

The next important epoch in the aspect of the church, and for which it had been most lament

ably prepared by the dreadful events above alluded to, was the Edict of the Emperor Valentinian III., dated A.D. 445, by which he all but established the Papacy on the ruins of the falling empire. He enjoined by this edict, says Sir Isaac Newton, "an absolute obedience to the will of the Bishop of Rome throughout all the churches of his empire; and declares, for the bishops to do any thing without the Pope's authority, is contrary to ancient custom; and that the bishops summoned to appear before his judicature, must be carried thither by the governor of the province; and he ascribes these privileges of the see of Rome to the concessions of his dead ancestors-that is, to the edict of Gratian and Valentinian II., as above; by which reckoning, this dominion of the Church of Rome was now of sixty-six years' standing; and if," he adds, "in all this time it had not been sufficiently established, this new edict was enough to settle it, beyond all question, throughout the Western empire."

The real state of the church during the period of time which followed this epoch, was one of gross darkness and ignorance. The distinguishing characteristics of Popery were ripening apace; Christianity was giving way to heathen philosophy; the dreadful dissensions of the principal prelates were still continued-particularly the fierce contentions of the Bishops of Rome and

Constantinople; and the vices and corruptions of all degrees of the clergy were carried to the most enormous lengths. These things, added to the many heresies that prevailed at this time, produced a famine of the faithful preaching of the Gospel, and it was but rarely that bright examples of true and genuine godliness could be found.

Such a state of things is fitly represented in the symbols of this seal, by a "black horse "— a scarcity of bread--and by a "pair of balances" in the hands of the rider. This last hieroglyphic, I conceive, intimates the near downfall of the Western Empire, and is borrowed from the hand-writing inscribed on the walls of the palace of the last King of Babylon, "Thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting;' for, in less than thirty years from the opening of this seal, after the short and inglorious reigns of ten emperors, Augustulus, the last emperor, was deposed. And thus was " removed out of 'the way" that which the Apostle Paul signified as having "hindered " the complete manifestation of the "man of sin ;" and we are thereby prepared for what follows on the opening of the next seal.

FOURTH SEAL.

"And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and, behold, a pale horse;

and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over a fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." The finishing stroke to the establishment of that power which brought such desolation and calamities upon the Roman empire, and introduced that spiritual "death," and those temporal evils, which from this time, for a THOUSAND YEARS onward, darkened the face of society, was formally given by the celebrated Edict of the Emperor Justinian, in A.D. 533. This individual, whom God raised up to perform so important a part in the world, was of a character totally different from the generality of the weak, voluptuous, and effeminate emperors of this period.

He was a great conqueror, legislator, and theologian; and his reign is characterized by events far out of the common order of things. The empire of the West being extinguished, he, as sole remaining emperor of the Roman world as conqueror (by means of his generals Belisarius and Narses) of the Arian nations of the West; as champion of the professedly orthodox faith; and as the promulgator of that celebrated code of laws, which is, up to the present time, the basis of European jurisprudence; he was undoubtedly the legitimate authority for regulating the ecclesiastical con