ower was given them to kill unto the fourth
part of the earth, with the sword, and with famine, and with the plague,
and with the Beasts of the earth_, or armies of invaders and rebels: and as
such were the times during all this interval. Hitherto the _Roman_ Empire
continued in an undivided monarchical form, except rebellions; and such it
is represented by the four horsemen. But _Dioclesian_ divided it between
himself and _Maximianus_, A.C. 285; and it continued in that divided state,
till the victory of _Constantine_ the great over _Licinius_, A.C. 323,
which put an end to the heathen persecutions set on foot by _Dioclesian_
and _Maximianus_, and described at the opening of the fifth seal. But this
division of the Empire was imperfect, the whole being still under one and
the same Senate. The same victory of _Constantine_ over _Licinius_ a
heathen persecutor, began the fall of the heathen Empire, described at the
opening of the sixth seal: and the visions of this seal continue till after
the reign of _Julian_ the Apostate, he being a heathen Emperor, and
reigning over the whole _Roman_ Empire.

The affairs of the Church begin to be considered at the opening of the
fifth seal, as was said above. Then she is represented by _a woman_ in the
Temple of heaven, _clothed with the sun_ of righteousness, _and the moon_
of _Jewish_ ceremonies _under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve
stars_ relating to the twelve Apostles and to the twelve tribes of
_Israel_. When she fled from the Temple into the wilderness, she left in
the Temple a _remnant of her seed, who kept the commandments of God, and
had the testimony of Jesus Christ_; and therefore before her flight she
represented the true primitive Church of God, tho afterwards she
degenerated like _Aholah_ and _Aholibah_. In _Diocesian_'s persecution _she
cried, travelling in birth, and pained to be delivered_. And in the end of
that persecution, by the victory of _Constantine_ over _Maxentius_ A.C.
312, _she brought forth a man-child_, such a child as _was to rule all
nations with a rod of iron_, a _Christian_ Empire. _And her child_, by the
victory of _Constantine_ over _Licinius_, A.C. 323, _was caught up unto God
and to his throne. And the woman_, by the division of the _Roman_ Empire
into the _Greek_ and _Latin_ Empires, _fled_ from the first Temple _into
the wilderness_, or spiritually barren Empire of the _Latins_, where she is
found afterwards sitting upon the Beast