were ordered and commissioned to force all Christians, without distinction of rank or sex, to sacrifice to the gods, and were authorised to employ all sorts of torments to drive them to this act of apostasy. The diligence and zeal of the Roman magistrates in the execution of this inhuman edict, had like to have proved fatal to the Christian cause.' Galerius finally obliged Diocletian and Maximian to resign the imperial dignity, and proclaimed himself emperor of the east, leaving the west to Constantius. Having done this, "he augmented the sufferings of Christians under his tyrannic rule to a dreadful degree." How appropriate to these bloody scenes was the emblem of human bodies strown round an altar, slain for the word of God.

To these martyrs white robes were given as a token of their innocence and their future recompense; and for their consolation they were told that yet a little season and they should rest when others of their brethren should be slain as they had been. This, I regard as an answer to their question, How long, O Lord, in the preceding verse; and, if I mistake not, the idea is, that in a short time, these persecutions from heathen rulers, heathen priests and magistrates would cease, which was the fact in a few years after, under Constantine, the first Christian emperor. As we shall presently see, he not only caused persecution against the Christians to cease; but he put down heathen priests and idolatrous sacrifices, and prohibited the whole system of paganism. There was a long period of comparative tranquillity and prosperity to the church; vast accessions were made to it all over the empire, and its supremacy was everywhere acknowledged.

12, 13, and 14. 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.-The convulsions of the earth, the obscuration of the sun, the sanguinary aspect of the moon, the falling of stars, the passing away of the firmament, and the removal of mountains and islands, are great prodigies in nature, employed as symbols to express violent changes in the civil and religious affairs of a kingdom or state. Here, and in succeeding chapters, the things predicted were to transpire within the Roman empire, which, at the time of these visions, embraced nearly all the known world.

An earthquake is a symbol of a civil commotion and revolution; or, as Cruden says, "An extraordinary and unexpected alteration in the state of affairs, civil or ecclesiastical." The sun being a ruling orb in the natural world, is the symbol of the ruling power in the state or the church. Being deprived of its brightness, and made black as sackcloth, signifies the cessation of that powerthe overthrow of the ruling authority. The moon is an emblem of inferior official stations, and sometimes of religious ordinances. Its becoming like blood, signifies that the things represented by it are to undergo a sanguinary change. Stars represent distinguished persons, Christian pastors and teachers, as in chapter 1: 20;, and in this place, heathen philosophers, statesmen and priests. The falling of these, means their deposition from office, the termination of their functions, and the ruin of their influence. Heaven is the symbol of government, either civil or religious, under a particular form; and its departure means the cessation of that form, a change in the political system. Mountains and islands are states and sovereignties included

within an empire; and their removal out of their places indicates a transition from one political and moral condition to another. It is important that these definitions should be particularly noticed, because these emblems frequently occur in the subsequent visions. The manner in which they are used in the Old Testament, fully substantiates the interpretation now given of them.

The overthrow of the Chaldean government, the capture of Babylon by the army of Darius, and the slaying. of the king and nobles, is thus described in the 13th chapter of Isaiah: "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he will destroy the sinners out of it. For the stars of heaven and its constellations shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts." Ezekiel, in chap. 32: 7, 8, describes the destruction of Egypt in a similar manner, expressly comparing the extinction of her glory to the extinguishment of the lights of heaven: "When I shall extinguish thee, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon

shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord." In the hieroglyphics of that country, the sun is always the emblem of the king. (See also Jer. 4: 22, 24.) In the same metaphorical language Christ foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Jewish commonwealth. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun 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. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and

then shall all the tribes of the land mourn," &c. It was declared by the patriarch Jacob, in his prophetic blessing of Judah, that the sceptre should not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver between his feet, until Shiloh shall come. At the destruction of Jerusalem, the sceptre did depart, the Jewish commonwealth was overthrown; and this was the sign that Messiah had come. This sign appeared in heaven; the Saviour using that term just as the old prophets did, and as John afterward did, as signifying the government, both civil and ecclesiastical; which government was then utterly destroyed. The passing away of the heaven of government, was the infallible sign that Messiah had come.

Having thus explained the symbols, let us turn to the records of history for the fulfillment in the case before us. The victories of Constantine; the entire subversion of the Pagan dominion in the empire, which had continued for more than a thousand years; the eradication of heathenism, and the establishment of Christianity and a Christian government, are the events thus predicted.

At the beginning of the fourth century, the Roman empire consisted of four great divisions, each having a governor or emperor over it. Galerius and Dioclesian ruled over the central and eastern portions. Upon the death of Galerius, his son-in-law, Maxentius, a firm supporter of paganism, became a competitor for the imperial throne. Constantine succeeded his father in the government of the western portion of the empire. Ascertaining the state of things, he left France, and entered Italy with an army of 90,000 foot and 8,000 horse, and advanced almost to the gates of Rome. Maxentius came out with an my of 175,000 foot and 1,800 horse. The engagement was fierce and bloody, till the pagan usurper's cavalry was routed, and Maxentius was drowned in his flight by the breaking down

of a bridge, which precipitated him into the Tiber. This victory was achieved in the year 312.

Edicts were soon after issued by Constantine, declaring that Christians should be relieved of all their oppressions, and be admitted into places of civil trust and authority.

Maximin, who governed the eastern part of the empire, desirous of obtaining the whole imperial authority, with a powerful army, marched against Licinius, who participated with Constantine in the government; but, after many engagements, was defeated, and his troops cut to pieces. Licinius then turned against Constantine, and with Maximin, at the head of formidable armies, fought a desperate battle in Pannonia. Before engaging, Constantine, with his Christian ministers, implored divine assistance; and Licinius called upon the heathen priests to beg assistance of the gods. Here the friends of Christianity and the abettors of heathenism were arrayed against each other. The issue of that battle was of the highest moment. stantine was victorious, and Licinius sued for a truce. Soon, however, instigated by the heathen priests, he raised another army of those who were attached to the heathen superstitions; and, having fought several battles without success, he threw himself at the feet of the Christian victor a prisoner of war, in the year 325.

Con

The imperial authority being wholly in the hands of Constantine, he resolved to establish Christianity on a basis which no revolution could shake. He commanded, that in all the empire the orders of the bishops should everywhere be obeyed. "He employed all the resources of his genius, all the authority of laws, and all the engaging charms of his munificence and liberality, to efface the superstitions of paganism, and to propagate Christianity in every corner of the Roman empire. He had learned, no doubt, from the disturbances continually excited by Lici