Page images
PDF
EPUB

those who were most zealously attached to the ancient superstition, by oppressing and murdering the Christians. In the reign of Severus (an. 202), the persecution was so general and bloody, that many supposed that the times of Antichrist were come, and that hardly a Christian would be left alive. In this persecution, Irenæus bishop of Lyons, and Leonidas the father of the celebrated Origen, and other distinguished characters, suffered martyrdom. Under Maximin (an. 235), they suffered in the most barbarous manner; for though the edict of this tyrant extended only to the bishops and leaders of the Christian church, yet its shocking effects reached much farther; as it animated the Heathen priests, the magistrates, and the multitude, against Christians of every rank and order.' The accession of Decius (an. 249), raised a new and a more furious tempest against the Christians. By the terrible edicts of this cruel man, the prætors were ordered, upon pain of death, either to extirpate the whole body of the Christians without exception, or to force them, by torments of various kinds, to return to the Pagan worship. Hence, in all the provinces of the empire, they were put to death by the most cruel punishments which an ingenious barbarity could invent. Both Gallus his successor, and Volusianus, carried on the same work; and where the embers of persecution were beginning to die out, they kindled up the flame. Under Valerian (an. 257), they were prohibited from meeting together for any act of public worship; and the bishops and public teachers were sent into banishment. In the following year, another edict was published, enjoining, that all those who would not worship the gods of the empire, should be put to death. In consequence of this, multitudes of all ranks suffered martyrdom, and were generally put to death by such cruel methods of execution as were much more terrible than death itself.*

• As a specimen of the cruel edicts of the times to which we have referred, the following may be subjoined, as what was agreed upon by the emperors and the whole senate of Rome :

'Decius and Valerian, Emperors, Triumphers, Conquerors, August, Pious, to

During the period of this seal the inhabitants of the Roman earth were slain by the sword, and other violent means, not only on occasion of their contests among themselves about matters of civil policy and religion, but by the sword of numerous and powerful foreign enemies. There is hardly a reign that can be mentioned, in which some of the neighbouring tribes did not break in upon the empire, and put all to the sword wherever they came. They took advantage of the internal distractions; and, in their terrible depredations, were more successful than in former times. In the reign of Gallus, the Goths and other barbarous nations broke down like a torrent upon the eastern parts of Europe; while the Persians and Scythians committed the most fearful ravages in Mesopotamia and Syria. In the reign of Valerian, the tribes of the North overran the Roman dominions in a more formidable manner than they had ever done before. Syria; and when Valerian was them, he was taken prisoner.

The Persians again invaded making preparations to oppose Under Claudius, the empire

gether with the whole Senate, have by common consent decreed thus: Whereas we have received the gifts and blessings of the gods, by whom we enjoy victory over our enemies, as also temperate seasons, and fruits in great plenty and abundance; since we have found them our great benefactors, and to supply us with those things that are so universally beneficial to all: We therefore unanimously decree, That all orders of men, as well children as servants, soldiers as private persons, shall offer sacrifices to the gods, doing reverence and supplication to them. And if any shall dare to violate our divine order thus unanimously agreed upon, we command, that he be cast into prison, and afterwards exposed to several kinds of torments; if by this means he be reclaimed, he may expect no mean honours from us; but if he shall persist contumacious, after many tortures, let him be beheaded, or thrown into the sea, or cast out to be devoured by dogs and birds of prey; but especially if there be any found of the religion of the Christians. As for those that obey our decrees, they shall receive great honours and rewards from us. So happily fare ye well.'-Cave's Prim. Christ, p. II. chap. 7.

• The vicissitudes of human life have seldom been more remarkable in any man than in Valerian. From filling the throne of the greatest empire that ever was in the world, he was degraded to a lower condition than that of the meanest slave. The haughty king of Persia always used him as a footstool for mounting his horse; he added the bitterness of ridicule to his insults, and usually observed, that an attitude like that to which Valerian was reduced, was the best statue that could be erected in honour of his victory. This horrid life of insult and sufferance continued for seven years, and was at length terminated, by the cruel Persian's commanding his prisoner's eyes to be plucked out, and afterwards causing him to be flead alive.Gold. Rom. Hist. v. II. chap. 33.

seemed to tremble in every quarter. Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece, were covered with invaders; many thousands of the inhabitants were put to death, and the finest cities were laid in ruins. Upwards of three hundred thousand of the Heruli, and other nations, came down the river Danube, and spread terror and devastation wherever they came.

In this dreadful catalogue of human woes we cannot altogether overlook the bloody and ferocious characters of the emperors themselves. Many of them were the greatest monsters in human shape that ever disgraced the purple. Nero, Domitian, and some others that had preceded them, were mere children in cruelty, extravagance, lust, and wickedness, compared with some of the emperors in this period. It would shock every feeling to describe their barbarities; and it is impossible to sum up the multitudes whom they put to death, for no other cause than to gratify their desire to shed blood.*

When we take into view, then, the internal dissensions of the empire during the whole period of this prophecy; when we consider, that during the same period the Christians were often subjected to the severest persecutions; that almost every part of the empire was overrun by barbarians, who were not disposed to shew mercy to any Roman; and also reflect upon the savage temper of most of those who held the reins of government ;—we cannot but perceive, that the sword had got a very singular commission to devour much flesh, and that this part of the prophecy has met with a remarkable accomplishment.

In such stormy times, it may be easily conceived, that the evil of famine would be frequently felt. In many regions, the fields were left without tillage; in others, they were destroyed by barbarians. The severity of famine was as much felt in different periods of this seal as under the former. At one time the army mutinied for want of provisions, and put the emperor Probus to death.

5

Ech. Rom. Hist. v. II. b. 2, chap. 4, 5, 6.

space

of

But the greatest calamity with which the empire was visited, was the pestilence or plague. This destructive malady broke out in Ethiopia (an. 250), and spread through every province and city of the empire. It was no less remarkable for its duration, than for its severity and extent; it continued, with hardly any sensible diminution of its violence, for the fifteen years; and even so late as the year 270, it was making fearful ravages. The emperor Claudius fell a sacrifice to this disease. For a considerable time, the deaths in the city of Rome amounted to the number of five thousand daily; in Alexandria, the mortality, in proportion to its population, was equally great; many cities and villages were left without a human being to inhabit them.-There are few periods in which the catalogue of human woes is fuller, or more affecting, than between the times of Commodus and Dioclesian, especially during the last fifteen years. Different writers have supposed, that a full fourth part of the inhabitants within the limits of the Roman empire perished by famine, by infectious and malignant diseases, and by the sword and the casualties. of war.

Multitudes were left without interment; and ferocious animals, finding in such abundance that species of food which is most gratifying to their taste, multiplied so remarkably, that troops of wolves, to the number of five hundred, were sometimes seen together: they frequently attacked considerable villages, and devoured the miserable remains of their inhabitants. Eusebius, an ancient ecclesiastical historian, who was a witness of many of the scenes which he describes, assures us, that dogs were so numerous, and, by feeding daily upon human flesh, had become so fierce and ravenous, that it was ne cessary to carry on a warfare against them to destroy them.* Thus history, you see, fully justifies all this boldness of

Since the commencement of the war in Spain, that country has been infested, to a degree never before witnessed, with wolves of the most ferocious kind; which the inhabitants attribute to the many dead bodies lying unburied all over the country.'-Edin. Even. Cour. for Sept. 20th, 1813.

VOL. II.

figure, since the prophecy, in all its particulars, has met with a very literal fulfilment. Unless the emblems had been peculiarly terrific, they would not have been sufficient to describe the state of the times to which they refer.

Taking this prophecy in connexion with the preceding, it appears, 1st, That when the lighter strokes of judgment do not produce any salutary effects, those that are more weighty and severe may be expected to follow. The inhabitants of the Roman earth were far from being at rest in the period either of the second or third seals. Dispensations of a very afflictive nature were measured out under both; they nevertheless continued to prosecute their unjust quarrel with the Christians till they were overtaken with the complicated evils of the fourth seal. In the former, the calamities were placed at some distance from each other, or seemed only to follow in the succession of events; but those of the fourth were crowded upon each other. One might be introductory to another, but the first did not retire when the second made its appearance. At one and the same instant, war, famine, pestilence, and the beasts of the earth, extended their ravages. If any one of these evils is to be deplored, how affecting the case of those that are subjected to the calamities of the whole !

2d, When God is an enemy, all means of resistance and protection will prove feeble and inefficient. The Roman empire was a much more powerful association than any that had preceded it; it trode down and broke in pieces all other kingdoms, Dan. vii. 23. Nevertheless, when God began to avenge the blood of his saints upon this wicked state, it was shaken with the greatest facility by his judgments. In the period of this seal, oftener than once it appeared as if it were to be completely subverted. At one time, the emperor had not a single province besides Italy that he could call his own. Britain was in the hands of a usurper; all the other countries in Europe were overrun by barbarians; those in the East were either in the same condition, or had the banners of rebellion unfurled. Every thing seemed to indicate, that this colossus of human

« PreviousContinue »