ime, had "contended with the devil." (Jude v. 9.)
"Christ and Belial" are therefore the two opposing leaders of the
armies. In other words, Christ mystical and the devil incarnate are the
belligerents; and we know that "greater is he that is in the saints,
than he that is in the world." (1 John iv. 4.) The result of the war is
not doubtful. The whole power of Rome, civil and
ecclesiastical,--emperors, kings, princes, pope, cardinals and prelates,
were baffled; and this too, whether in the use of the sword of the
Spirit,--polemic _theses_,--or of the material sword, in literal
warfare. When the Lord Jesus "mustered the hosts to the battle," he
furnished them "with the whole armour of God to stand in the evil way."
When Zuingle, Luther, Calvin, Knox, their compeers and successors, were
obliged to wrestle with the hosts of Antichrist,--"against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places," (_wicked
spirits in heavenly places_,) they found it both lawful and
necessary,--"having no sword, to buy one." (Luke xxii. 36.)

The dragon and his angels were defeated and routed,--"They prevailed
not,--he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with
him." The thunders of the Vatican thenceforth lost their wonted power to
terrify. Ever since, they are but _brutum fulmen,--vox, et praeterea
nihel_,--harmless thunder,--unmeaning voice. Papal curses, though
annually launched against all heretics, tend only to amuse the popular
mind, not to reach or disturb the individual conscience. For centuries
the dragon has been unable to rouse any one horn of the beast to deeds
of blood.

It is usual for the victors to give outward expression to their joy.
"The voice of them that shout for mastery," has been heard since the
days of Moses. (Exod. xxxii. 18.) Accordingly, these conquerors
congratulate one another on their recent victory, but their joy
terminates on the proper object. The "kingdom of their God and the power
of his Christ" constitute their theme. His right hand and his holy arm
have gotten him the victory. The devil accused Job before God. His
accusations in that instance were prosecuted through Job's friends and
his wife. (Job ii. 4, 5, 9, 11.)--So it was in the experience of the
reformers. They were loaded with infamy by their persecutors; and while
they were depressed, God himself seemed to give sentence against them.
This was the wor