he seed of the church."

The heathen priests were not deficient in logic, philosophy, and artful
sophistry, by which to defend their mythology. They exhausted these, and
then resorted to persecution, torture, and death; yet they prevailed not.
With the weapons of truth, the teachers of Christianity successfully
assailed those antiquated forms of error,--overcoming "by the blood of the
Lamb, and by the word of their testimony." "They loved not their lives
unto the death," but freely gave themselves for Christ, till, in time, the
current of popular favor ceased to flow in the direction of paganism. The
accession of Constantine to the throne, put an end to the dragonic period
of Rome; the Pagan service gave place to the worship of Jehovah. The rites
of heathenism were no longer the religion of the state, and its ministers
were displaced from the exalted position they had so long occupied. Their
place was no longer in the symbolic heavens, but in a less conspicuous
station.

The casting out of the dragon, would then be this expulsion of the pagan
hierarchy from its national importance, and the dejection of the
priesthood and their adherents to the earth,--below their former high
station,--and to the sea, among the unsettled tribes and nations outside of
Rome. This being a religious and not a political event, it does not
immediately affect Rome's nationality. That it is not the overthrow of a
kingdom, but of religious rites, is shown by the rejoicings which
followed.

Rejoicings of the Victors.

"And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the
salvation and the strength, and the Kingdom of or God, and the
power of his Anointed: for the accuser of our brethren it cast
out, who accused them before our God day and night. And they
overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their
testimony; and they loved not their lives to death. On this
account, rejoice, ye heavens, and ye who dwell in them."--Rev.
12:10-12.

The loud voice is heard in the symbolic heaven from which the Dragon had
been cast. By the displacement of the Pagan hierarchy, and the
substitution of Christianity under Constantine, the adherents of the
latter succeeded to the place of the former, and rejoiced over them.

A loud voice symbolizes the utterance of the thoughts and feelings of an
interested multitude. The nature of the voice indicates the nature of the
utterance--whether it be one o