essively
disappeared; and the son of Orestes, a youth recommended only by his
beauty, would be the least entitled to the notice of posterity, if his
reign, which was marked by the extinction of the Roman empire in the west,
did not leave a memorable era in the history of mankind.' "

The throne of the Caesars had been for ages the sun of the world; while
other kings were designated as stars. The imperial power had first been
transferred to Constantinople by Constantine; and it was afterwards
divided between the east and the west; but the eastern empire was not yet
doomed to destruction. The precise year in which the western empire was
extinguished, is not positively ascertained, but it is usually assigned to
A. D. 476. Some place it in 479. The imperial Roman power, of which either
Rome or Constantinople had been jointly or singly the seat, whether in the
West or the East, ceased to be recognized in Italy; and the third part of
the sun was smitten, till it emitted no longer the faintest rays. The
power of the Caesars became unknown in Italy; and a Gothic king reigned
over Rome.

Dr. Keith considers that "the concluding words of the fourth trumpet imply
the future restoration of the Western empire: 'The day shone not for a
third part of it, and the night likewise.' In respect to civil authority,
Rome became subject to Ravenna; and Italy was a conquered province of the
Eastern empire. But, as more appropriately pertaining to other prophecies,
the defence of the worship of images first brought the spiritual and
temporal powers of the Pope and of the emperor into violent collision;
and, by conferring on the Pope all authority over the churches, Justinian
laid his helping hand to the promotion of the papal supremacy, which
afterwards assumed the power of creating monarchs. In the year of our Lord
800, the Pope conferred on Charlemagne the title of Emperor of the Romans.
The title was again transferred from the King of France to the Emperor of
Germany. By the latter it was formally renounced, within the memory of the
existing generation. In our own days the iron crown of Italy was on the
head of another 'emperor.' " Then the sun was suddenly darkened, as
symbolized under the sixth seal, 6:12. p. 66.

The Woe-denouncing Angel.

"And I beheld, and heard an eagle flying in the midst of heaven,
saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the
earth, from the remaining voices of the trumpet o