the present nature and character of the tree that bears it, as God describes man by his fruits, in Rom. iii., though all men have not borne such: and thus I can judge my own heart, and know what man is; and if the last apostate be not revealed, he is but the head of a system of which God’s revelation of him as the full fruit makes me know the sap and character. Though the serpent could not overcome the woman in war (for God preserved her, not by the mighty man, but by flight, and there his direct power was stopped; for heavenly power was in aid for her), yet the resources he had he uses, and pours forth, animated by his energy, these waters as a flood. I should suppose, from the explanation given in this book of waters, looked at as on earth, these were armies of people directly under Satan’s moral influence, flowing from his mouth, the expression of his mind and will.
But the earth helped the woman, by whatever providence (for God teaches here the facts of Satan’s agency not the historical providences)—the scene of God’s providential and prophetic agency—and swallowed up and brought to nought this agency of Satan: it was frustrated; and he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, the godly Jews, who
