hear of the Goths, as breaking into the dominions
of Rome. Valerian too, a persecutor of the Christians,
was taken prisoner by Sapor, king of Persia, and
treated by him with great cruelty till his death.
Scarcity of provisions and famine, the usual effect
of wars, and more especially civil wars, prevailed
to an alarming extent. These things are mentioned
by Dionysius of Alexandria, and by Cyprian, bishop
of Carthage. ' After these things,' says Dionysius,
speaking of the Decian persecution, * wars and fa-
mine came upon us.' Cyprian, in his * Apology for
the Christians,' takes notice of the perpetual wars
and famines of these times. These things were
charged, as usual, upon the Cluistians. * The gods
are angry,' cried the priests, ' because their altars
are forsaken ; therefore has this distress come upon
us.' Cyprian insists, on the contrary, that these
great calamities, which had been before predicted,
came upon the world, not because the Christians
rejected the idolatrous Roman worship, but because
the Romans rejected the worship of the true God,
and persecuted His people.
The pecuHar judgment indicated m the predic-
REVELATION, CHAPTER VI . 67
tion before US, \q pestilence, — the "usual concomitant of
famine and war. And this is specially mentioned
by ancient historians. * In the reigns of Gallus and
Yolusian,' says Zonoras, '• a plague infested the pro-
vinces. Beginning in Ethiopia, it spread itself
through the whole east and west, destroyed the
inhabitants of many cities, and continued for fifteen
years.' Zosimus takes notice of the same calamity.
* While war raged in every part, a pestilence spread
through the towns and villages, destroying the
remnant of mankind. So great a destruction had
never before happened.' Eutropius also says, ' that
the reigns of Gallus and Volusian were only me-
morable for pestilence and grievous distempers.'
Of this unparallelled pestilence, Gibbon gives the
following account: 'Famine is almost always fol-
lowed by epidemical diseases, the effect of scanty
and unwholesome food. Other causes must, how-
ever, have contributed to the furious plague which,
from the year 250 to the year 265, raged without in-
terruption in every province, every city, and almost
every family in the Roman empire. During a part
of this time five thousand persons died daily at
Rome ; and many towns that had escaped the hands
of the barbarians were entirely depopulated.' -^
Of the ravages of wild beasts during this melan-
choly period particular mention is made by Arno-
* DecKne and Fall, vol. i. p. 150.
68 THE APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED:
bius. Within a year after tlie death of Galliennff,
they made their appearance in many provinces, and,
like other evils, were charged npon the Christians,
because they had roused the anger of the gods.
Arnobius defends the Christians against this charge,
by showing that ravenous beasts had prevailed
in the previous ages, long before the date of
Christianity.^
In the prediction before us, power was given to
these several plagues over the fourth part of the
Roman earth. Whether they actually prevailed to
this extent, it is impossible to say. Mr Gibbon
makes the proportion of those destroyed much
greater than this. He goes into a calculation to
show that, by the calamities which have been men-
tioned, not less than half of the inhabitants of the
vast empii'o of Rome perished, — enough surely to
answer to the symbol of * Death upon the Pale
Horse.'
The Fifth Seal.
* And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw
under the altar the souls of them that were slain for
the word of God, and for the testimony which they
held : and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How
long, Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the
earth? And white robes were given unto every
* Disp. Adv. Gentes Libri, i. p. 5.
REVELATION, CHAPTER VI. 6>
one of them ; and it was said unto tliem, that they
should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-
servants also and their brethren, that should be
killed as they were, should be fulfilled' (Rev. vi.
9-11).
There is some change of scene presented in this
symbol. Previously there had been a throne, and
He that sat upon it, surrounded by the elders and
the living creatures. But now there is a vision of
the temple in heaven, with its altars and other appur-
tenances. And this change may account for it, that
John no longer hears a voice from the living crea-
tures, inviting him to come and see. At the foot of
one of the altars^ — the place of prayer — John saw
the souls of the meirtyrs, ' who had been slain for the
word of God, and for the testimony which they
held ; ' and they were engaged in supplication :
* How long, Lord, holy and true, dost thou not
judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell
on the earth ? '
This does not imply that the martyrs in heaven
have any malice towards their former persecutors ;
but they implore that the terrible scenes of tor-
ture and slaughter on the earth may cease, and
that God would magnify His glorious justice, in
> There were two altars in the temple, — the altar of burnt offerings,
where was presented the morning and evening sacrifice ; and the altar
of incense. It is likely that the altar of incense is here referred to.
70 THE APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED:
visiting upon the infamous destroyers of His
people that pnnisliment which they deserve. They
implore that this may be done speedily. The an-
swer to their prayer is, that they must forbear a
little season. Others are waitmg for the crown of
martyrdom, and their destinies must be fulfilled.
Meanwhile, the suppliants are invested with pecu-
liar honours. White robes are given to every one
of them ; denoting that they are in the number of
those *w^ho have washed their robes, and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb.'
The import of tliis instructive symbol cannot
be mistaken. It refers to the persecutions of the
third and fourth centuries, and more especially to
the last and most temble of them — that under
Diocletian.
At the commencement of the fourth century, the
vast empire of Rome w^as governed by four rulers,
viz., Diocletian and Maximian, with the title of
Augustus ; and Galerius and Constantius, with the
title of Caesar. The state of the Church was peace-
ful and happy. Christians were regarded 'svith
favour, and admitted to the most important civil
offices ; spacious buildings were erected for public
worship, to which the people resorted wdthout fear ;
and they had little more to hope for, unless it were
that one or more of the emperors should embrace
their religion. Under these circumstances, the
REVELATION, CHAPTER VI. 71
pagan priests and populace began to be alarmed,
lest the power wbicli they had so long wielded
should pass out of their hands. They first began
to work upon the fears and prejudices of Diocletian,
— who was an old man, and whom they knew to
be both timid and credulous, — to induce him to
persecute the Christians. But failing here, they
next tried their arts upon Galerius, who was son-in-
law to Diocletian ; and with him they were more
successful. He, being a cruel and fanatical pagan,
persuaded Diocletian to publish an edict, requiring
that the temples of the Christians should be demo-
lished, their sacred books burned, and they deprived
of all civil rights and honours. This decree did
not aim directly at the lives of the Christians ; and
yet many, because they refused to give up their
sacred books, were put to death.
Not long after the publication of this first edict,
there were two conflagrations in the palace at
Nicomedia, which were charged upon the Christians,
and many of them were, by an imperial edict, put
to the torture, with a view to extort confessions.
Nearly at the same time there were insurrections in
Armenia and Syria, which provoked the emperor to
pass a third edict, committing all Christian bishops
and ministers to prison, that, by tortures and punish-
ments they might be compelled to offer sacrifice to
the gods. In consequence of this order, the prisons.
72 THE APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED:
destined for the vilest criminals, were soon filled
with bishops, presbyters, deacons, and other Church
officers, many of whom were put to death, while
others were exiled, or banished to the mines.
But the malice of Galerius was not yet satisfied.
In the following year he induced Diocletian to pass
his fourth and final edict, compelling all Christians
to offer sacrifice to the gods under penalty of death.
The malice of the persecutors could go no fur-
ther, and the condition of the Church, more espe-
cially in the eastern provinces, seemed to be hopeless.
And what rendered it more so was, that Galerius,
just at this time, succeeded in deposing Diocletian
and Maximian, and thus became sole emperor of
the East. His avowed purpose was to put an end
to the Cliristian religion ; and he set himself about
it with the ferocity and ingenuity of a fiend.
It was not death which the Christians di'eaded
so much as the various and terrible tortures by
which it was preceded. ]\Ir Gibbon says : * It
would be easy to fill many pages with disgustful
accounts of racks and scoui'ges, of iron hooks and
red-hot beds, and of other torments, which fire and
steel, and savage beasts, and more savage men,
could inflict on the human body.' Milner says :
' The prisons were full, and unheard of tortures
were invented. Some were split down by axes;
some were mutilated and cut in pieces ; some had
REVELATION, CHAPTER VI. 73
molten lead poured into tlieir bodies ; some were
sawn asunder ; while others were suspended, with
the head downward, over a slow fire, till they were
suffocated and consumed.'
I might pursue these hideous details to almost
any length, but I need not. No wonder the souls
of the martyrs, under the heavenly altar, were
constrained to cry out, 'How long?' and to in-
voke the seemingly tardy justice of the Almighty
to put a stop to such abominable deeds. Thus
terribly were the portents of the fifth seal accom-
plished.
The Sixth Seal.
'And I beheld when He had opened the sixth
seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake ; and the
sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon
became as blood ; and the stars of heaven fell unto
the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely
figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And
the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled
together; and every mountain and island were
moved out of their places. And the kings of the
earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the
chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond-
man, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens
and in the rocks of the mountains ; and said to the
mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from
the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from
K
74 THE APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED:
the wrath of the Lamb : for the great day of His
wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?'
(Rev. vi. 12-17).
The events here described were all seen in pano-
ramic vision. They were pictured on that roll of a
book which the Lamb took out of the hand of Him
that sat upon the throne, and were exhibited, as
they could be, upon the breaking of the sixth seal.
They are all of them symbolical ; nor are the sym-
bols of difficult interpretation. The earthquake
denotes a great shaking of the religious and politi-
cal earth — a mighty change — a stupendous revolu-
tion. The darkening of the sun and moon, and the
falling of the stars, set forth the overturning of
thrones, and the dowTifall of rulers and dignitaries.
The departure of the visible heavens, like the rolling
up of a scroll of parchment, and the moving of the
mountains and islands out of their places, are all a
part of the same mighty change. The luminaries
which had before studded the political heavens are
no longer there. They are rolled together, and put
out of sight, and potentates and poAvers, which had
seemed like the fastnesses of the earth, have passed
away.
The phraseology here used may seem strange to
modern ears, but it is in strict accordance with the pro-
phetic language of the Old Testament. Thus Isaiah,
predicting the downfall of idolatrous kingdoms,
REVELATION, CHAPTER VL 75
says : * The stars of heaven and the constellations
thereof shall not give their light : the sun shall be
darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not
cause her light to shine. And I will punish the
world for their evil, and the wicked for their ini-
quity ' (Isa. xiii. 10). * The host of heaven shall be
dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together
as a scroll : and all their host shall fall down, as
the leaf falleth from off the vine, and as a falling
fig from the fig-tree ' (Isa. xxxiv. 4).
Our Saviour uses similar language in predicting
the destruction of Jerusalem : ' The sun shall be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers
of the heavens shall be shaken' (Matt. xxiv. 29).
The concluding verses under the sixth seal set
forth the terror and affright which the revolution
thus predicted shall occasion. The great ones of
the earth, with all its guilty inhabitants, shall flee
and hide themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of
the mountains, and shall say to the mountains,
' Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him who
sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the
Lamb.'
The mighty revolution here symbolically por-
trayed is, without doubt, the revolution under Con-
stantino, which took place immediately upon the
close of the Diocletian persecution. Upon the death
EaiTYIi
76 THE APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED:
of Constantius Chlorus, who, -with the title of
Caesar, governed the western provinces of the em-
pire, and who, though a pagan, had not participat-
ed in the recent persecutions, his son Constantino
was, by the army, proclaimed his successor. He
had several colleagues and rivals, all of whom
sought his life ;. but, one after another, they were
taken out of the way. Maxentius and Licinius he
vanquished in battle ; Maximin committed suicide ;
wlnle Galerius, the chief instigator of the late per-
secution, was smitten with an incurable disease,
attended by such insupportable torments, that he
often attempted to destroy himself, but was pre-
vented. Thus the political sun and moon of Rome
were darkened, and the stars fell to the earth.
Constantine became sole emperor of Rome in the
year 323. Previous to this, he had become a de-
cided believer in the Cliristian religion. He soon
effected an entire revolution in the civil and religious
state of the empire. In place of the Roman eagle,
he carried before his armies a representation of the
cross. He removed the seat of empire from Rome
to Constantinople, and adopted a new form of go-
vernment, putting the administration of it into the
hands of four principal officers, called Praetoiian
Prefects. The great lights of the heathen world —
the powers civil and religious — were all eclipsed
and obscured ; heathen augurs and soothsayers were
REVELATION, CHAPTERS VIL, VIIL 77
suppressed ; heathen priests and magistrates were
removed; heathen temples were demoHshed, and
their revenues appropriated to better uses. In short,
a new rehgion was estabhshed, and a new order of
things arose in the world's history. Paganism was
effectually overthrown, its votaries, with their idols,
were cast to the moles and the bats ; and, after lin-
gering for a little time, it passed finally away.
Here, surely, was change enough accomplished to
be indicated by the sublime and awful imagery of
the sixth seal.
78 THE APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED:
CHAPTER YL
THE FIRST FOUR TRUMPETS.
EEVELATION, CHAPS. VII., VHI.
* A ND after these things I saw four angels
-LA. standing on the four corners of the earth,
holding tjie four winds of the earth, that the wind
should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor
any tree. And I saw another angel ascending
from the east, having the seal of the living God :
^nd he cried with a loud voice to the four angels,
to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the
sea, saying. Hurt not the earth, neither the sea,
nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants
of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the
number of them which were sealed: an hundred
and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the
children of Israel ' — (i.e., twelve thousand from each
of the twelve tribes) (Rev. vii. 1-8).
The seventh chapter of the Revelation may be
regarded as an appropriate conclusion of the events
predicted under the sixth seal. ' After these things '
(i.e., the revolution which has been described), John
sees four angels standing on the four corners of
the earth, holding the four winds of heaven, that,
PcEVELATION, CHAPTERS VIL, VIII. 79
for a time, they should not blow on the earth,
nor on the sea, nor on any tree. Winds, in the
language of the prophets, are the appropriate sym-
bols of commotions and wars. Thus Jeremiah,
speaking of the overthrow of the Persians, says:
' And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from
the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them
toward all those winds; and there shall be no
nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not
come' (Jer. xlix. 36). The restraining of the
four whids, therefore, indicates, that commotions
and wars should be temporarily restrained in the
Koman earth, and that the revolution before pre-
dicted should be followed by a season of peace.
And so, in fact, it was. When Constantino
had triumphed over all his enemies, and become
firmly seated on his throne, there was a season
of unusual tranquillity. There were few or no
wars or civil commotions to the end of his reign.
On this subject Eusebius speaks earnestly and par-
ticularly, applying the language of the Psalmist
to his own times : * Come hither, and behold
the works of the Lord, what wonders He hath
wrought in the earth. He maketh wars to cease
unto the ends of the earth ; he breaketh the bow,
and cutteth the spear asunder ; he burneth the
chariot in the fire.'^ Lactantius also tells us, in
» Ps. xlvi. 8, 9, according to the Septiiagint.
80 THE APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED:
tlie same triumpliant strain, that * tranquillity being
restored throughout the earth, the Church, which
was lately ruined, riseth again. Now, after the
agitations of so great a tempest, a calm air and the
desired light became resplendent. Now hath God
relieved the afflicted, and wiped away the tears of
the sorrowful.' These are testimonies of contem-
porary Christian writers. Some medals of Constan-
tino are still preserved, with the head of the emperor
on one side, and this inscription on the other, —
Beata TRANQUILLITAS — Blessed tranquillity.
It was during this time of tranquillity that the
servants of God were to be sealed in their foreheads,
— an allusion to the ancient custom of marking-
servants in their foreheads, to show who they were,
and to whom they belonged.
We are not to understand that any visible mark
was at this time put upon the foreheads of Chris-
tians. But God goes forth, by His providence and
grace, to search out His people, and sanctify and
seal them for himself. The plu'aseology implies
that a selection is to be made. All are not sealed
who bear the Christian name, and are able to make
a fair show in the flesh ; but God seeks out His own,
and puts a mark upon them, that henceforth He may
know, and the world may know, to whom they
belong. They bear unmistakably ' the spot of His
children.'
REVELATION, CHAPTERS VIL, VIII. 81
This sealing process was exceedingly appro-
priate in the times of which we speak. Christianity
was undergoing a new trial. It had borne the
brunt of severe and protracted persecution. Can it
bear as well the trial of great prosperity ? Chris-
tianity was now the religion of the court and the
state. It was exceedingly popular ; and multitudes
were eager to make a profession of it. Thousands
and thousands crowded into the Churches, and soli-
cited baptism. It is said that twelve thousand men
were baptized at Kome in a single year, besides a
proportionate number of women and children.
Nor were the guardians of the Churches as par-
ticular as they should have been in looking into
the character of those who were admitted. The
consequence was, that the Churches were rapidly
filling up with mere worldly members, — ambitious,
selfish, ostentatious, proud, — who sought its fellow-
ship only that they might secure their worldly ends.
Such were the characters, in many instances, of the
bishops and ministers. It is obvious, therefore, that
the Church needed a sifting. A messenger of mercy
must pass through it, and separate, so far as possible,
the precious from the vile. He must search out and
seal those who belong to Christ. He must prepare
the wheat for the heavenly garner, and leave the
chaff to the winds. In no other way can the Church
of God be prepared for those ages of darkness and
L
82 THE APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED:
conflict througli which it has yet to pass, and for
those triumphs and glories which await it in the dis-
tant future, on earth and in heaven.
The seaHng process was of the fii'st importance
at this very time. And John tells us the number
that were sealed, — a small number, it would seem,
in comparison with the whole — a definite number, in
place of an indefinite. There were sealed a hun-
dred and forty-four thousand out of the several
tribes of Israel.
The word Israel is here used, as it often is in
the Scriptures, in a symbolical sense. It stands for
the Church in general — the whole Israel of God.
This, whether made up of Jews or Gentiles, is the
Israel here spoken of, from among whom the sealed
■ones are selected and taken.
Wlien the sealing process was over, a new vision
presented itself to the view of the apostle : ' I be-
held, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could
number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people,
and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the
Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their
hands ; and cried with a loud voice, saying. Salva-
tion to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and
unto the Lamb' (Rev. vii. 9, 10).
This part of the service belonged exclusively
to the ransomed ones — those who had been re-
deemed from the earth. These, as being more
REVELATION, CHAPTERS VIL, VIIL 83
particularly interested, were permitted to lead off
in the heavenly anthem. But when their part was
performed, ^ all the angels stood round about the
throne, and about the elders and the four living
creatures, and fell before the throne on their faces,
and worshipped God, saying, Amen : Blessing, and
glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour,
and power, and might, be unto our God for ever
and ever. Amen ' (Rev. vii. 11, 12).
The vision was a heavenly one, and this is one
of those songs of triumph, — of which there are
several in the book of Revelation, — which are
sung by the heavenly choirs, in view of the vic-
tories of Christ's cause upon the earth ; thus show-
ing the sympathy of heaven with earth, and the
deep interest which is felt above in all that concerns
the militant Church below.
Among the crowd of ransomed worshippers about
the throne, John saw some w^hose robes were very
white, and who seemed to be invested with peculiar
honours ; and he was anxious to know who these
were, and whence they came. And one of the
elders answered and said, ' These are they which
came out of great tribulation, and have washed their
robes, and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb ' (Rev. vii. 14). The reference here is, with-
out doubt, primarily, to the martyrs who had come
out of the late persecution ; but, ultimately, to all
84 . THE APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED:
those who are called to great sufferings in the
cause of Christ, who bear them meekly, and
triumph over them. To all such, the closing-
words of comfort and promise may be regarded as
addressed: 'They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light on
them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead
them unto living fountains of waters : and God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes' (Rev.
vii. 16, 17).
The way is now prepared for the opening of
the Seventh Seal, the revelations of which are
of great extent, including the seven succeeding
trumpets, and reaching down to the millennium.
* And when he had opened the seventh seal,