on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast'."

In these four respects, then, not to look for others, will the last persecution be more awful than any of the earlier ones in its being in itself fiercer and more horrible; in its being attended by a cessation of the ordinances of grace," the Daily Sacrifice;" and by an open and blasphemous establishment of infidelity, or some such enormity, in the holiest recesses of the Church; lastly, in being supported by a power of working miracles. Well is it for Christians that the days are shortened!-shortened for the elect's sake, lest they should be overwhelmed,— shortened, as it would seem, to three years and a half.

Much might be said, of course, on each of these four particulars; but I will confine myself to making one remark on the first of them, the sharpness of the persecution.-It is to be worse than any persecution before it. Now, to understand the force of this announcement, we should understand in some degree what those former persecutions were.

This it is very difficult to do in a few words; yet a very slight survey of the history of the Church will convince us that cruelties more shocking than those which the early Christians suffered from their persecutors, are beyond our conception beforehand. St. Paul's words, speaking of the persecutions prior to his time, but faintly describe the trial which came upon the Church in his day and afterwards. He says of the Jewish saints, "They were tortured, not accepting deliverance". they "had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea moreover, of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented." Such were the trials of the Prophets under the Law, who in a measure anticipated the Gospel, as in doctrine, so in suffering; yet the suffering, when the Gospel came, was as much sharper, as the doctrine was clearer, than their foretaste of either.

1 Rev. xiii. 13, 14.

To show you to what extent the early persecutions went, I will read you part of an account of one of them in the south of France; and, as I read it, would have you bear in mind the declaration in the text, that there is some suffering still to come, to which none which has hitherto happened, is worthy to be compared, and therefore not even what I am now going to read. It is written by eye-witnesses.

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. . . The rage of the populace, governor, and soldiers, especially lighted on Sanctus, a deacon; on Maturus, a late convert; on Attalus, and on Blandina, a slave, through whom CHRIST showed that the things which are lowly esteemed among men, have high account with God. For when we were all in fear, and her own mistress was in agony for her, lest she should be unable to make even one bold confession, from the weakness of her body, Blandina was filled with such strength, that even those who tortured her by turns, in every possible way, from morning till evening, were wearied and gave it up, confessing she had conquered them. And they wondered at her remaining still alive, her whole body being mangled and pierced in every part. But that blessed woman, like a brave combatant, renewed her strength in confessing; and it was to her a recovery, a rest, and a respite, to say, 'I am a Christian.'. . . . . Sanctus also endured exceedingly all the cruelties of men with a noble patience. . . . and to all questions would say nothing but I am a Christian.' When they had nothing left to do to him, they fastened red hot plates of brass on the tenderest parts of his body. But though his limbs were burning, he remained upright and unshrinking, stedfast in his confession, bathed and strengthened from heaven with that fountain of living water that springs from the well of CHRIST. But his body bore witness of what had been done to it, being one entire wound, and deprived of the external form of man."

...

After some days they were taken to the shows where the wild beasts were, and went through every torture again, as though they had suffered nothing before. Again they were scourged, forced into the iron chair (which was red hot), dragged about by the beasts, and so came to their end. "But Blandina

was hung up upon a cross, and placed to be devoured by the beasts that were turned in." Afterwards she was scourged; at last placed in a basket and thrown to a bull, and died under the tossings of the furious animal. But the account is far too long and minute, and too dreadful, to allow of my going through it. I give this merely as a specimen of the sufferings of the early Christians from the malice of the devil.

Take again the sufferings which the Arian Vandals inflicted at a later time. Out of four hundred and sixty Bishops in Africa, they sent forty-six out of the country to an unhealthy place, and confined them to hard labour, and three hundred and two to different parts of Africa. After an interval of ten years they banished two hundred and twenty more. At another time they tore above four thousand Christians, clergy and laity, from their homes, and marched them across the sands till they died either of fatigue or ill usage. They lacerated others with scourges, burned them with hot iron, and cut off their limbs '.

Hear how one of the early Fathers, just when the first persecution was ceasing, meditates on the prospect lying before the Church, looking earnestly at the events of his own day, in order to discover from them, if he could, whether the predicted evil was coming.

"There will be a time of affliction, such as never happened since there was a nation upon the earth till that time. The fearful monster, the great serpent, the unconquerable enemy of mankind, ready to devour. . . . . . The Lord knowing the greatness of the enemy, in mercy to the religious, says, 'Let those that are in Judæa flee to the mountains.' However, if any feel within him a strong heart to wrestle with Satan, let him remain, (for I do not despair of the Church's strength of nerve), let him remain, and let him say, 'Who shall separate us from the love of CHRIST?'... Thanks to God, who limits the greatness of the affliction to a few days, for the elect's sake those days shall be cut short. Antichrist shall reign only three years and a half," a time, times, and the dividing of time. . . . . . "Blessed surely he who then shall be a

Gibbon, Hist. chap. 37.

martyr for CHRIST! I consider that the martyrs at that season will be greater than all martyrs; for the former ones wrestled with man only, but these, in the time of Antichrist, will battle with Satan himself personally. Persecuting emperors slaughtered the former; but they did not pretend to raise the dead, nor made show of signs and wonders: but here there will be the persuasion both of force and of fraud, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Let no one at that day say in his heart, 'What could CHRIST do more than this? by what virtue worketh he these things? Unless GoD willed it, He would not have permitted it.' No: the Apostle forewarns you, saying beforehand, 'GOD shall send them a strong delusion,'-not that they may be excused, but condemned; those, viz. who believe not in the Truth, that is, the true CHRIST, but take pleasure in unrighteousness, that is, in Antichrist. . . . . . Prepare thyself, therefore, O man! thou hearest the signs of Antichrist; nor remind only thyself of them, but communicate them liberally to all around thee. If thou hast a child according to the flesh, delay not to instruct him. If thou art a teacher, prepare also thy spiritual children, lest they take the false for the True. For 'the mystery of iniquity doth already work.' I fear the wars of the nations; I fear the divisions among Christians; I fear the hatred among brethren. Enough; but God forbid that it should be fulfilled in our day. However, let us be prepared'."

To these observations I will add only two remarks: first, that it is quite certain, that if such a persecution has been foretold, it has not yet come, and therefore is to come. We may be wrong in thinking that Scripture foretels it, though it has been the common belief, I may say, of all ages; but if there be, it is still future. So that every generation of Christians should be on the watch-tower, looking out,-nay, the more and more, as time goes on.

Next, I observe that signs do occur from time to time, not to enable us to fix the day, for that is hidden, but to show us it is coming. The world grows old-the earth is crumbling

1 Cyr. Catech. xv. 16, 17.

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away the night is far spent-the day is at hand. The shadows begin to move-the old forms of empire which have lasted ever since CHRIST was with us, heave and tremble before our eyes, and nod to their fall. They are they which keep CHRIST from usHe is behind them. When they go, Antichrist will be released from that which letteth, and after his short but fearful season CHRIST will come.

For instance: one sign is the present state of the Roman Empire, if it may be said to exist, though it does exist; but it is like a man on his death-bed, who after many throes and pangs, at last goes off when you least expect, or perhaps you know not when. You watch the sick man, and you say every day will be the last; yet day after day goes on-you know not when the end will come -he lingers on-gets better-relapses,-yet you are sure after all he must die-it is a mere matter of time, you call it a matter of time so is it with the Old Roman Empire, which now lies so still and helpless. It is not dead, but it is on its death-bed. We suppose indeed that it will not die without some violence even yet, without convulsions. Antichrist is to head it; yet in another sense it dies to make way for Antichrist, and this latter form of death is surely hastening on, whether it comes a few years sooner or later. It may outlast our time, and the time of our children; for we are creatures of a day, and a generation is like the striking of a clock; but it tends to dissolution, and its hours are numbered.

Again, another anxious sign at the present time is what appears in the approaching destruction of the Mahometan power. This too may outlive our day; still it tends visibly to annihilation, and as it crumbles, perchance the sands of the world's life are running out.

And lastly, not to mention many other tokens which might be observed upon, here is this remarkable one. In one of the passages I just now read from the book of Revelation, it is said that in the last times, and in order to the last persecution, Satan, being loosed from his prison, shall deceive the nations in the extremities of the earth, Gog and Magog, and bring them to battle against the Church. These words had been already used