the seventeenth chapter the church apostate is
without doubt described by the symbol of a vile, polluted harlot.

The pure woman of chapter 12, then, represents the apostolic church in
all its beauty and glory. She is represented as clothed with the sun,
a striking emblem of the light of the glorious gospel of Christ
which shone forth from the early church. The moon under her feet is
generally understood to designate the typical worship of the Jewish
age, which was a shadow of things to come but which now stands
eclipsed in the superior light and glory of the new and better
dispensation. The moon is the lesser light and derives its
illumination from the sun; so also the Mosaic period was the moonlight
age of the church and reflected a part of the gospel which, at a later
time, was to be revealed in all its glory with the rise of the "Sun of
righteousness."

The crown of twelve stars adorning the diadem of the church is a fit
representation of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, they being in one
important sense permanent fixtures in the church. According to chapter
1:20, stars are sometimes used to represent Christian ministers, the
analogy as light-givers being obvious. "They that be wise shall
shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to
righteousness as the stars forever and ever" (Dan. 12:3).

The prominent position occupied by this woman and the light which
shone forth from the sun with which she was clothed stand out in
marked contrast with the later description given of her flight into
and seclusion in the wilderness. The latter stage of her experience
I shall describe further on, but a brief allusion to it will make
her first appearance more impressive. The wilderness describes the
apostasy which was to envelop the woman and thus obscure her light.
Therefore her first appearance as in the planetary heavens presents a
sublime description of her dignity and excellence in the morning time
of the gospel era. Her light shone upon all and her glory could be
seen by all. She presents that fundamentally distinct characteristic
of the true church of God--universality; not a mere isolated star
shedding its feeble rays in competition with the other orbs of night;
but a cluster of bright, shining stars and _the very sun itself_. The
light of the apostolic church was, therefore, all-inclusive in the
sense of reflecting all the truth. It is essential to our proper
understanding of the symbols that fol