supreme administration of justice and of the finances, the two objects which, in a state of peace, comprehend almost all the respective duties of the sovereign and of the people; of the former, to protect the citizens who are obedient to the laws; of the latter, to contribute the share of their property which is required for the expences of the state. The coin, the highways, the posts, the granaries, the manufactures, whatever could interest the public prosperity, was moderated by the authority of the Prætorian Præfects, (they held the four winds of the earth). As the immediate representatives of the Imperial majesty, they were empowered to explain, to enforce, and on some occasions to modify, the general edicts by their discretionary proclamations. They watched over the conduct of the provincial governors, removed the negligent, and inflicted punishments on the guilty. From all the inferior jurisdictions, an appeal in every matter of importance, either civil or criminal, might be brought before the tribunal of the præfect but his sentence was final and absolute; and the emperors themselves refused to admit any complaint against the judgment or the integrity of a magistrate, whom they honored with such unbounded confidence. His appointments were suitable to his dignity; and if avarice was his ruling passion, he enjoyed frequent opportunities of collecting a rich harvest of fees, of presents, and of perquisites. Gibb. III. xvii. n. n. 99.

3. The Seven Angels with the Trumpets. The seven successive series of the true preachers of authorised Christianity from the adoption of our holy religion by Constantine, A. D. 312. to the second coming of Christ. These seven angels are not distinct from the two witFor the effects of the public sounding of the word by the former, and of the prophesying, or fiery

nesses.

preaching of the latter, are the same: they both have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will. Compare Rev. xi. 6. with viii. But the difference is in this: the trumpet-angels mark out the chronology of the Church and the two witnesses its geography: the trumpet-angels designate the seven stages of the progress of the ark to its resting place, the seven successive series of the sounding against the Antichristian Jericho before it falls; while the two witnesses mark out the Universal true Church distributed in the two Empires of the East and West, and afterwards, when the Eastern Empire ceased, in the two Prætorian or Papal Præfectures of Gaul and Italy. See 2.

4. The Angel with the Censer. Our Lord's accession to the High-Priesthood of the Roman Empire in the room of the Roman Pagan Pontiff, whose office had been before filled by the Cæsars. Rev. viii. 3, 4.

5. The Angel of the Bottomless Pit. The prince of this world, put for Muhammed and the series of Khalifs his successors, who were stars or angels, i. e. priests, and princes, and abaddons, i. e. commanders as well, being Commanders of the Faithful, and the Emirs of Emirs. See ABADDON, ABYSS.

6. The four Angels bound on the great river Euphrates. The four dynasties or peoples of Turks; 1. The Seljukians: 2. The Atabeks: 3. The Kharismians; and 4. the Ottomans, in possession of the Prætorian Præfecture of the East. Why they are called angels and not kings may be from the priestly character of their Sultans. The Seljukians conquered Anatolia and founded the kingdom of Rhoum, in A. D. 1074 or 1081, which extended from the Euphrates to Constantinople, from the confines of Syria to the Black Sea. It

lasted 220 years under fifteen sultans, who fixed their seat at Nice in Bithynia, where the first general council was held, and afterwards at Iconium. Gibb. x. lvii. n. n. 52; or Mills' Hist. of Muhammedunism, p. 257, 2d edit.; Les Fastes Universels. Suite de la Phil. 1037. In the year 1127 the Atabeks reigned over Syria, Mesopotamia, and Chaldea or Irak-Arabi, under Omadeddin Zenghi, the first of the dynasty; and under Noureddin, his son, their dominion reached from the Tigris to the Nile. Gibb. XI. lix. n. n. 39. This dynasty was continued on by the renowned Saladin and the Ayoubites his descendants, and lasted till 1250. Les F. Uni. Suite de la Phil. 1084. Suite des Epoq. 1197. In 1297, the Kharismian or Khovarezmian Turks, come from Charisme between the Jaxartes and the Oxus, under the conduct of Cotheddin, seized Persia from the Seljukians and India from the Gaznavides. "Flying from the arms of the Moguls, those shepherds of the Caspian rolled head-long on Syria, A. D. 1243; and the union of the Franks with the sultans of Aleppo, Hems, and Damascus, was insufficient to stem the violence of the torrent. Whatever stood against them was cut off by the sword, or dragged into captivity: the military orders were almost exterminated in a single battle; and in the pillage of the city, in the profanation of the holy sepulchre, the Latins confess and regret the modesty and discipline of the Turks and Saracens." Gibb. xI. lix. n. n. 91. L. F. Un. Suite de la Phil. 1097. Othman or Osman, son of Orthogrul, or Ordogrul, morzar or chief of the Turcoman Tartars, descendant of the ancient Sultans of Iconium, founded the dynasty of the Ottoman Turks in Asia Minor, and established himself at Prusa in Bithynia, A. D. 1299: at the head of seven captain Turks, he sallied out of Persia, and made himself master of all what the

Seljukians had possessed in Asia Minor. His son Orchan gained Nice from the Greeks; and at last Mahomet II. one of his successors, got possession of Constantinople, and founded the Empire of Turkey in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Les F. Un. Suite de la Phil. 1299. Thus were the four peoples finally amalgamated into one Empire, and they were fairly represented by Mahomet and his three vizirs on their capture of the Imperial seat of the Greek Cæsars, and key to the whole Prætorian Præfecture of Illyricum. Gibb. xII. lxviii. n. n. 16. Rev. ix. 14.

7. The mighty Angel with a Rainbow on his head. Our Lord's extraordinary manifestation and visitation of his Church by the Reformation, when he republishes his gospel, purified and cleansed from the dross and stubble of popery, condensed into a more portable size by the recent invention of printing, and become more digestible by its emancipation from the burdensome rites and ceremonies of the Roman Church. Rev. x. 1.

8. The Angel with the everlastng Gospel. The wider diffusion of pure Christianity by the doctrines of the Reformation, at which the session of the Ancient of Days or the Father's judgment upon the papacy began. For the Reformers caused the adoration of the Church to revert from the existing pantheon of saints and angels to its original and sole legitimate object, the only true God. Rev. xiv. 6, 7.

9. The Angel announcing the fall of Babylon. The rapid decline of the papacy in Germany, England, and Holland, and in other parts of the two Prætorial-Præfectures of the Pope, by the fire and thunder of the Gallic and Italic witnesses.

10. The third Angel. The loud and vehement protestations of the Gallic and Italic witnesses against the interference of the regal decemvirate of the Cæsars in

that spiritual kingdom which God gave to us and not to them, Heb. xii. 28; James ii, 1-9; for " nothing in Him," John xiv. 30; Rev. xiv. 9, 10, 11.

they had

11. The Angel out of the Temple. Luther and the other Reformers, who by their public outcries against the abuses of the Papacy provoke to action the instruments of the Son of man in the subsequent European wars, A. D. 1518-1815. Rev. xiv. 15. This angel passes the sentence according to his authority delegated by Christ, Matth. xvi. 19; xviii. 18; Rev. xi. 6; and the Son of Man is the executioner, Rev. xiv. 16, according to Rom. xii. 19.

12. The Angel with the sharp sickle. The active carnal instruments of God's judgments on the overthrow of Antichristian power. Rev. xiv. 17.

13. The Angel which had power over the fire of the altar. The true witnesses of God, who, before or during the grand catastrophe of the drama of prophecy, by the possession and fearless dissemination of the pure truth provoke to action the carnal instruments of God's judgments. Rev. xiv. 18, compare with viii. 5, xi. 5. See p. xiii.

14. The seven Angels with the seven last plagues. The seven series of Reformers in the Western Church, the real incentives of the woes brought upon the ten kingdoms by their seven thunders of the pure word, and bold assertion of civil and religious liberty to God's heritage.

15. The Angel with great power. Our blessed Lord's manifestation by the Reformation. See 7. Rev. xviii. 1. 16. A mighty Angel with a great stone. The sudden and violent fall of the Roman Churches. Rev. xviii. 21.

17. The Angel in the Sun. A more brilliant display of the true principles of Christ's kingdom, by which they will quickly gain ground among all orders of men. Rev. xix. 18.