destruction of the Roman empire,--Daniel's "kingdom of iron." (Dan. ii.
40.) For although from the time of Constantine it assumed the Christian
name, it nevertheless continued to be a beast. Of this we shall have
cumulative evidence as we progress. The first trumpet began to demolish
the fabric of antichristian power; and by the fourth the western
division was overthrown. For although the northern barbarians under the
first, the southern Vandals under the second, and the successors of
both, prevailed to bring down the last of the Caesars, yet the ancient
frame of government still subsisted. The political heaven, though
shaken, was not yet wholly removed, while the Senate, Consuls and other
official dignitaries continued to shine as political luminaries in the
firmament of power. But as the last of the Caesars fell from power in
the year 476, so the last vestige of imperial dominion in the west was
removed in 566, when Rome, the queen of the nations, was by the emperor
of the east reduced to the humble condition of a tributary dukedom. Most
of the saints had their residence at this time in the nations of western
Europe and northern Africa, where they were grievously afflicted by the
Arian, Pelagian and other heresies; as also exposed to persecution by
the civil powers, whom those heresiarchs moved to oppress the orthodox:
consequently, the righteous judgments of God fall first upon that member
of the empire. The eastern section, however, is destined to become the
special object of the judgments indicated by the succeeding trumpets.
However interpreters differ in details when explaining the effects
produced by the sounding of the first four trumpets, they very generally
harmonize in the application of them to the western section of the Roman
empire. The luminaries of heaven are darkened, or fall, or are
extinguished, while the earth, the sea and the rivers are
correspondently affected. Now, these are the well known allegorical
representations of divine judicial visitations of guilty communities, as
we find in the prophetic writings. See, for example, the case of