iling the
Egyptians." (Exod. xii. 36.)

Some suppose that the confederacy of the "kings of the earth" with the
beast, (v. 19,) is a distinct attack from that mentioned in chapter
seventeenth; (v. 14;) but perhaps it is safer to consider it as the
same, only more distinctly and fully exhibited here. Indeed it seems,
from the agency of the "false prophet," to be the same event as that
under the sixth vial, (ch. xvi. 14;) preparing to the battle of
Armageddon. The Lord Jesus as "captain of the Lord's hosts," and the
army of heaven following him, all of them on white horses, appear to be
on the one side; and the beast with the kings of the earth, instigated
by the false prophet, on the other. The rank and file like their leaders
are described as having "received the mark of the beast and worshiped
his image." But the beast of the earth, (ch. iii. 11,) causes all ranks
to receive the mark, and worship the image of the beast, (vs. 15, 16)
The beast of the earth, the woman, and the false prophet, all mean the
same thing; and that is, an apostate church in alliance with tyrannical
civil powers, (ch. xvii. 3.) Now, if the great city Babylon, a symbol
which comprises the whole antichristian confederacy, has been utterly
destroyed, as appears in the eighteenth chapter, whence come these
enemies bearing the same characters? The only solution of this apparent
difficulty is by supposing as we have done, that this is a re-exhibition
of what has been more obscurely symbolized, (ch. xiv. 20; xvi. 17; xvii.
16; xviii. 2, 8, 20,) in order more distinctly to point out the end of
two principal leaders,--the "beast and the false prophet," the empire
and church of Rome. "These both were cast alive into a lake of fire
burning with brimstone."--"The remnant were slain." When the leaders
were discomfited, the ranks were soon broken, and the whole army melted
away. They were slain with Messiah's sword, the emblem of his justice,
(ch. i. 16.)

Thus "Babylon is fallen, to rise no more at all:" all the visible
enemies of the Lord and his Anointed are cut off from the face of the
earth: and it remains only that he who originated the rebellious
conspiracy be put under necessary restraint.

CHAPTER XX.

1. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the
bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

2. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil,
and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.

3. And