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 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
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GETHSEMAMi ABBEY, 
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 THE 
 
 GENERAL HISTORY 
 
 O F T HE 
 
 CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 
 
 FROM 
 
 HER BIRTH 
 
 TO 
 
 HER FINAL TRIUJN^PHANT STATE IN HEAVEN 
 
 CHIEFLY DEDUCED FROM 
 
 THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN, 
 
 THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST. 
 
 BY Sia. PASTOHINI 
 
 Blessed is he tbat readeth, aod heareth the words of the prophet. — ^poc. i. 3. 
 
 FIFTH AMERICAN EDITION. 
 
 NEW- YORK: 
 PUBLISHED BY D. & J. SADLIER> 
 
 58 GOLD STREET. 
 
 BOSTON:— 72 FEDERAL STREET. 
 AND 179 NOTRE-DAME STREET, MONTREAL : C. E. 
 
 1851 
 
i 
 
 I 
 
 
 lOAN STACIf 
 
 »-^*%^ 
 
 
 A>^.» 
 
THE EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 Notwithstanding the several editions of Pastorini's 
 commentary on the Apocalypse, the work is, by no means, 
 heavy on the hands of the booksellers. It may, in some mea- 
 sure, be considereci out of print. To satisfy a prevalent de- 
 sire for a new and cheap edition, the present publication has 
 been strongly urged. Perhaps it may be advanced, without 
 the imputation of heated fancy, that the times, and '* the signs 
 of the times," we live in, seem to add a peculiarly new interest 
 to this rare and celebrated production. 
 
 The author's views of the awful prophecies, mysteries and 
 judgments contained in the sacred volume, from which he has 
 undertaken to illustrate the General History of the Church, 
 have operated variously, as in course they must, upon various 
 dispositions. In many minds they confirmed the old faith. 
 In some they disturbed, or subverted new opinions. In some 
 they excited, or seemed to excite, anger and ridicule. But, 
 generally, they have been considered ingenious, interesting, 
 and highly edifying. His admonitions are evidently directed 
 by a spirit of charity, pure and universal-^and his illustra- 
 tions of the sublime text before him exhibited a mind, uncom- 
 monly gifted with intuition, assiduity, and deep and discern- 
 ing research. He seems to have sensibly apprehended that 
 some of the dreadful scourges, menaced in the Revelations, 
 were soon to fall on criminal and unrepenting nations — and 
 he forewarns all Christians to strive, by sincere repentance, to 
 avert, if possible, the impending judgment, or at least, to be 
 prepared for its awful visitations. 
 
 Sensible of the precision and brevity of the inspired writer 
 
 O 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 of the Apocalypse, our author examines every word witfe 
 scrupulous care, and turns his text on every side, in order to 
 ascertain its true meaning. Unlike former commentators, he 
 confines not his views to the early ages @f the Church, but 
 traces the divine economy in her regard from her foundation^, 
 through every succeeding period, to the end of time and her 
 final triumphant introduction into heaven. For this arduous 
 undertaking his station, talents, and learning, had eminently 
 fitted him. 
 
 The first edition of the present commentary on the book of 
 Revelations appeared about the year 1776. It was soon bought 
 up — and after much solicitation, the author consented to the 
 preparation of a second edition, with additional remarks. 
 
 Although no pains were particularly taken by the author 
 or his friends to extend the circulation of the work, it soon 
 found its way into foreign countries. A French translation 
 of it was published in 1778; shortly after it appeared in 
 Latin; in 1785 it was translated into German ; and a few years 
 ago, an Italian version was sent to the public. Of the high 
 repute, which this noted production has obtained in other coun- 
 tries, we may judge by the following extract from one of the 
 periodical works of the learned Abbe Feller, published in 
 1786:— 
 
 " Signior Pastorini's work is the only good comment, which 
 England has produced on the Apocalypse — and the nation is 
 much indebted to him, for having contributed to put down the 
 extravagant notions of James I. and of the celebrated Newton, 
 concerning this divine book. It is a learned and edifying per- 
 formance, in which theology and ecclesiastical history reflect 
 valuable lights on the most mysterious of the sacred writings. 
 The wonderful prophecies it contains, realized as they are by 
 striking, authentic, and public facts, inspire the christian soul 
 with hope and fortitude, and give solemn testimony to the 
 power and veracity of Giod. What remains as yet undisclosed 
 is already manifestmg itself in a sensible manner — and the 
 times ice livein are furnishing a faithful and lively ficture'^ 
 
PREFACE. 5 
 
 'r 
 
 It IS to be regretted, that the former editafi^of thte work have 
 but too poorly sketched their author's biography. They do 
 not even mention his name — nor do they recollect to tell us, 
 that the appellation of Pastorini is merely significant of his 
 ministry. This neglect gave occasion to a new display of the 
 inventive faculties of Sir Richard Musgrave, in what he is 
 pleased to call, jocosely we should think, his History of ike 
 different Rebellions in Ireland. That famous his-toriaii calls 
 the present work a translation — " it was,''^ he says, " writteii 
 originally at Rome by a sanguinary bigot of the name of Pas' 
 torini .'" There is a species of censure, which has all the 
 value of praise. The work was originally written in Eng- 
 land, in the English language, and by an Englishman, under 
 the assumed signature of Pastorini. It is not a translation — 
 it is the original text. The author is the Right Rev. Charles 
 Walmesley, D, D. Catholic Bishop, or Vicar Apostolic, of 
 the Western District (in England) — Fellow of the Royal Socie- 
 ties of London and Berlin — and one of the scientific men em- 
 ployed in correcting the old styla This pious, and venerable 
 divine was not " a sanguinary bigot." The whole tenor of 
 his life and writings proves, that he was a most mild and en- 
 lightened member of the Christian communion. The work 
 before us abundantly establishes this character. Sir R. Mus- 
 grave calls it "apiece of folly and blasphemy." Dr. Milner, 
 a better judge, calls it "a most ingenious and learned exposi- 
 tion of the book of revelations, calculated, he says, in his reply 
 to the author of the different Rebellions, &c. to excite all 
 Christians to lead a holy life, and to prepare for the coming of 
 that awful Judge, before whom Sir Richard Musgrave will be 
 arraigned for his unprecedented malice and calumnies."* 
 
 The present publisher, after many solicitous inquiries, finds 
 himself destitute of materials for a satisfactory biographical 
 sketch of the distinguished individual, whose work he under- 
 takes to re-commit to the press. The following is all that he 
 has been able to collect. 
 
   An inquiry into certain vulgar opinions &c. p. 83— 2nd Edit. London. 
 1* 
 
Preface. 
 
 Dr. Walmesley was born in the year 1721, in some part of 
 England. With his parentage we are not made particularly 
 acquainted — ^but, we may presume on its respectability, on ac- 
 count of the high literary accomplishments which had been 
 bestowed on him early in life. Gifted with abilities of the first 
 order, and with a heart formed for piety and virtue, he dedicated 
 himself, at an early period of his youth, to the study and prac- 
 tice of religion. His attainments in sacred literature, and in 
 mathematical and astronomical investigations, soon became con- 
 spicuous. The former obtained for him the degree of Doctor 
 of Divinity in the University of Paris. At the age of thirty- 
 five, he was elevated to the episcopal dignity. He was also a 
 member of the learned congregation of Benedictins. His valu- 
 able contributions to the Philosophical Transactions in the 
 years 1745, 6, 7, &c. — and his joint labours in correcting the 
 old style in 1752, exhibit, altogether, very ample proofs of his 
 mathematical learning. Before his return to England, on the 
 close of his collegiate course, he visited many parts of the Con- 
 tinent. During his travels, he wrote several learned tracts. 
 To the loss, however, of the literary world, his manuscripts 
 were unfortunately consumed by the fire, which broke out at 
 Bath, some years since. In that city he died, in the 76th year 
 of his age, and 40th of his episcopacy, having serenely closed 
 a holy life, which gave fresh odour to sanctity, — ^and new lustre 
 to virtue, to religion, and to learning. 
 
"HSEMANI ABBP^ 
 
 THE AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION, 
 
 The Book of the Apocalypse, according to that learned in- 
 terpreter of the Scriptures, St. Jerom, " contains an infinite 
 number of mysteries relating to future times." Lib. 1, contra 
 Jovin. " The Apocalypse," says St. Austin, " is a prophecy 
 of what is to happen from the first coming of Christ upon 
 earth, to his second coming at the last day." De. Civ. Dei. 1, 
 2. c. 8. Some modern writers hold the same opinion. Besides 
 these authorities, our own study of that mysterious book, dili- 
 gently pursued, has entirely prevailed on us to espou*>ethe same 
 sentiments. The Apocalypse exhibits, in general, a summary 
 of the whole history of the Christian Church, from the date 
 of its birth to its triumphant and glorious state in Heaven after 
 the close of time. This is the foundation of the present work, 
 and we hope the attentive reader, when he has considered the 
 whole, will approve our sentiments and applaud our endea- 
 vours. He may perhaps then join us in thinking, that the 
 celebrated commentators, Bossuet and Calmet, have too much 
 contracted this admirable Prophecy by confining the contents 
 to so short a period as the four first centuries of the Christian 
 sera, and applying the whole, except the two last chapters, to 
 the persecutions which the Church suffered from the pagan 
 Roman Emperors, and to the destruction of the Roman em- 
 pire. For this reason, the two above-mentioned authors have 
 often been obliged to wrest the text, and give it a forced and im- 
 probable explication, to bring it within their system. On the 
 same account, they have derogated from the dignity and pre- 
 cision of that prophecy, by applying several texts to the same 
 event ; whereas, whoever looks attentively into the tenor of the 
 Apocalypse, will perceive that St. John's precision and brevity 
 are such, that he never repeats the same thing. 
 
 For the unfolding of the different parts of the Apocalypse, 
 we have followed, in general, the plan laid down by Mr. De 
 la Chetardie towards the close of the last century, as it has since 
 been improved by a late French commentator on the scrip- 
 ture. It consists in a division of the whole Christian sera, to 
 the end of time, into seven Ages, corresponding to the seven 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Seals, seven Trumpets, and seven Vials mentioned in the Apo- 
 calypse ; so that to each belong a Seal, Trumpet, and Vial. 
 But in the application of the Prophecies contained under these 
 Seals, Trumpets, and Vials, as well as in other parts of the 
 Apocalypse, we have frequently deviated from the above-named 
 writers, to substitute what we thought a more genuine expli- 
 cation. It must then be observed, that an age and a century 
 must not here be taken for synonymous terms ; but by an age 
 in this history we shall understand one of the seven divisions 
 of time above-mentioned ; neither are these divisions of time 
 equal. 
 
 From the preceding observations it follows, that Christ di- 
 vides the history of his Church into seven periods, in each of 
 which he describes three different sorts of transactions under 
 the respective Seal, Trumpet, and Vial. The Lamb holds a 
 book sealed with seven Seals, which he opens one after ano- 
 ther. This book contains the history of the formation and 
 propagation of Christ's Church, together with the opposition 
 made to the establishment of it ; and a part of this account is 
 disclosed at the opening of each Seal. To every Seal corres- 
 ponds a Trumpet, which is sounded by an angel. The sound 
 of a trumpet naturally indicates an alarm, and such is the na- 
 ture of the Trumpets in the Apocalypse, They always an- 
 nounce events that are alarming to the Church, such as per- 
 secutions, intestine convulsions occasioned by heretics, &c. 
 After the Trumpets follow the Vials of the wrath of God. 
 These convey the punishments which Christ inflicts on the 
 enemies of his people. Hence it appears that the Seals, Trum- 
 pets, and Vials, unfold the three kinds of events, which dis- 
 tinguish each age of the Christian Church. One may re- 
 mark in the history of the Jews, that nearly the same sort of 
 economy was observed in the divine dispensations towards 
 that people. They were favoured with the special assistance 
 of God, but they had also their trials, persecutions, &c. and 
 at other times they saw their enemies laid prostrate by the di- 
 vine hand before them. 
 
 When almighty God thinks fit to reveal future events, he 
 generally expresses them in obscure terms that leave the mean- 
 ing more or less uncertain. This seems to be done in order 
 to prevent the daring presumption of some men, who might 
 attempt, if the prophecies were clear, to obstruct and hinder 
 their accomplishment. Others of mankind of a more timo- 
 rous disposition, would be alarmed and over much terrified at 
 disasters which they foresaw were impending upon them. On 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 anotlier hand, if futurity was clearly foretold, it might seem 
 to intrench upon that liberty, which God had been pleased to 
 grant to man, of directing" his own conduct and actions. For 
 these reasons, the generality of prophecies are covered with 
 a veil of darkness and uncertainty. Obscurity is therefore a 
 general characteristic of prophecy, but it is peculiarly so of 
 the Apocalypse, as every commentator has acknowledged. 
 This book appears at first sight impenetrable. Let any one 
 dip into it without having a key to open to him the meaning, 
 and he will see nothing but a continued series of the most 
 mysterious enigmas. Hence it has happened that so many 
 different explanations have been invented. But the same ob- 
 scurity was the occasion, that the ancient Fathers were so 
 sparing in their interpretations of this prophecy. They have 
 here and there explained a particular passage, without attempt- 
 ing the whole, and sometimes only given a moral exposition 
 of it. But in this we need not wonder, because as the Apo- 
 calypse is the history of Christ's Church through the whole 
 time of its existence, so few events had happened when they 
 wrote, that the greatest part of the book must have appeared 
 to them inexplicable. Hence we see the advantage of the pre- 
 sent times for unravelling the mysteries of the Apocalypse, 
 when so considerable a share of them has been fulfilled. 
 Whoever looks back into the history of the Church, and 
 compares attentively the facts with the expressions of St. John, 
 will see a distinct analogy and connexion between them. It 
 must however be allowed, there remain yet very many obscu- 
 rities, which if we have not always sufficiently cleared, we 
 hope the indulgent reader will consider the difficulty and ex- 
 cuse the defect. 
 
 The principal help for removing the obscurities of the 
 Apocalypse arises from a right understanding of its general 
 tendency. If a wrong system be adopted, the difficulty of re- 
 conciling the different parts of the prophecy become insuper- 
 able : and this has appeared fully in the attempts of several 
 interpreters. But when the plan of the book is discovered 
 and ascertained, the difficulties decrease and the obscurities 
 gradually disappear. Thus a surprising light breaks in upon 
 the Apocalypse, when we view it as the History of Christ's 
 Church divided into seven periods or ages, as we have above 
 explained. A second means of removing difficulties is, the 
 taking notice of the order of the different parts that compose 
 this prophetic book. St. John gives all the seals together, 
 then all the trumpets, and lastly the vials in the same manner. 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Under the seven seals a series of transactions is related which 
 belong to the seven successive ages of the Church, and which 
 terminate with the great day of judgment. The same course 
 is observed in the trumpet and the vials. But we must how- 
 ever remark, that, after finishmg with the trumpets, he does 
 not proceed immediately to the vials : nevertheless he ob- 
 serves the same rule, namely, in returning, after the seventh 
 trumpet, to relate a new series of events, but which are con- 
 fined to the first, third, sixth, and seventh ages ; these ages 
 being the most interesting to the Church, as the three first of 
 them exhibit the history of idolatry, and the last or seventh 
 relates to the general judgment. This narrative is given in 
 the chapters xii. xiii. xiv. and as it is joined to that of the 
 trumpets, it partakes of the nature of them, that is, it describes 
 events that are alarming to the Church, with the addition 
 however of some incidents or promises that administer com- 
 fort in those alarming circumstances. 
 
 The prophet, having thus carried us on to the end of time, 
 begins again with the first age, and rehearses under the seven 
 vials, in chap. xv. xvi. a new course of transactions that runs 
 through all the seven ages. This narrative being terminated, 
 he returns back, as he had done after the account of the trum- 
 pets, to a new course of history, relating to the first, third, sixth, 
 and seventh ages, beginning at chap. xvii. and ending with 
 verse 10th of chap. xix. This piece of history is of such a 
 nature as agrees with that of the vials to which it is joined, 
 that is, it is a rehearsal of divine punishments ; to which are 
 annexed exultations on these victories of Christ over his ene- 
 mies. This being done, the prophet, according to his custom, 
 begins again a new narrative of events, of the same nature as 
 the preceding, and which also belong to those interesting 
 ages, the first, third, sixth and seventh. This narrative begins 
 at verse 11th of chap. xix. and continues to the end of chap. 
 XX. Finally, the two last chapters conclude the prophecy, with 
 an account of the other world, as it will be after the close of 
 all time. Hence then appears the order observed in this in- 
 comparable prophecy of the Apocalypse. As the whole His- 
 tory of the Church, therein contained, is divided into seven 
 Ages, so it is related, not indeed all that part together which 
 belongs to each age, but in seven diflferent series of events, six 
 of which reach from the first age to the last day, and the 
 seventh is the description of the next v/orld. The first of these 
 series is given under the seals, the second under the trumpets; 
 the third in the chapters xii. xiii. xiv. the fourth under the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 vials ; the fifth in chapters xvii. xviii. and part of chaptet xix ; 
 the sixth in the rest of chapter xix. and in chapter xx. ; and 
 the seventh in chapters xxi. and xxii. This sevenfold divi- 
 sion is conformable to the constant use made in the Apo- 
 calypse of that mysterious number seven, as, of seven seals, 
 seven trumpets, seven vials, seven churches, seven candle- 
 sticks, seven spirits, &c. 
 
 It is plain from this disposition of the plan of the Apocalypse, 
 that it is necessary to transpose many things in order to form 
 a regular narration : for, as St. John so often travels through 
 the whole period of the Christian sera, at each time relating 
 only a part of the transactions, we are obliged to collect from 
 different parts of the book all those facts that belong to the 
 same age. And we may observe, that the prophet is the most 
 copious upon four of the seven ages, viz. the first, third, sixth, 
 and seventh, as being the most interesting to the Church, and 
 most remarkable for their transactions. 
 
 Another help which we found for clearing up obscurities 
 was, a very strict attention to the tenor of the text. The ex- 
 traordinary nicety in the expressions, the sudden change of 
 tense in the verbs, of number in the nouns, general words 
 used in particular senses, the addition or omission of a word, 
 with several such circumstances, are of great consequence for 
 discovering the true sense, and have not been by the generality 
 of interpreters sufficiently attended to ; which indeed we may 
 not wonder at, as such minute particularities are not generally 
 expected, and there never has been seen a book written with 
 that comprehensive precision and exact nicety which are ob- 
 servable in the Apocalj'pse. 
 
 In composing this work we have freely made use of other 
 authors, where we liked their opinions ; and we hope to incur 
 no censure, when on other occasions we have substituted our 
 own. — Some few passages of the Apocalypse have been gene- 
 rally understood in the same sense by all the ancient fathers 
 of the Church and modern Catholic interpreters; to these we 
 havesciupulously adhered, and founded our interpretation on 
 their testimony. In other places, where former writers took 
 the liberty of interpreting and differed in their expositions, we 
 have likewise thought it lawful to use the same liberty. We 
 hope for indulgence, if in some few instances we appear to 
 have applied the text of the ancient prophets to what they have 
 not usually been applied. This freedom, we presume, is al- 
 lowable, when the sense of the texts has never been fully set- 
 tled. And here we carmot but remark that, whoever will take 
 
12 INTRODirCTlON. 
 
 the pains to study the Apocalypse, we apprehend he will per- 
 ceive that it throws a new light upon several dark passages 
 of the ancient prophets. Besides, it must be observed, that a 
 prophecy is not always confined to one object, but often re- 
 lates both to the figure of a thing and to the thing itself, and 
 consequently has two accomplishments, the one inadequate and 
 in part only, the other complete and perfect. How often, for 
 example, is the same scriptural text applied in an imperfect 
 sense to David or Solomon, which is fully completed in Christ, 
 of whom they were figures ? Thus also the return of the 
 J&ws from the Babylonic captivity may be deemed a figure of 
 thfeit return from a much longer captivity in the latter period 
 of the world, and both may be intimated together by the pro- 
 phets : and so of other instances. On these grounds a text, 
 that has been generally applied to the figure, we have' some- 
 times transferred to the thing itself, to show its full and ulti- 
 mate completion. That part of the Apocalypse, which gives 
 the prophetic history of past ages, we have illustrated with the 
 real history of those times, that the accomplishment may clear- 
 ly appear. If we have not always mentioned our vouchers, 
 it is because we thought it unnecessary in the case of such 
 short abstracts of history, especially as they are taken from 
 the well known ecclesiastic historians of the times. In regard 
 to the text of th^ Apocalypse, we have made use of the com- 
 monly known English translation made from the Latin vul- 
 gate ; at the same time taking notice of any difference, worth 
 observing, between the translation and the original Greek. In 
 fine, we here make our acknowledgments to those friends 
 whom we have consulted, and who have assisted us in disco- 
 vering and unfolding the mysterious senses of the Apocalypse. 
 As to the time when this prophecy was delivered to St. 
 John, it is generally understood to have been in the year 95 or 
 96 of the Christian sera. This holy Apostle, after being im- 
 mersed in a caldron of boiling oil at Rome, from which he 
 came out unhurt, was banished by the emperor Domitian inta 
 the isle of Patmos in the Egean Sea or Archipelago, where, 
 as we learn from himself, Apoc. i. 9. he was favoured with this 
 most admirable and most comprehensive of all prophecies. 
 " St. John was a prophet," says St. Jerom, " because being in 
 the isle of Patmos, whither he had been exiled for the faith by 
 the emperor Domitian, he received the Apocalypse or a reve- 
 lation containing an infinite number of mysteries appertain- 
 ing to future times." Lib. I. contra Jovin. He always enjoyed 
 a superior share in the affections of his divine Master, and 
 
INTRODUCTION. iZ 
 
 among many proofs of it, he was indulged with this singular 
 and extraordinary favour, not granted to any of the other apos- 
 tles. This most instructive book we cannot but earnestly re- 
 commend to every Christian, and we hope our recommenda- 
 tion will have the more weight, as it is grounded on the words 
 of the divine book itself: " Blessed is he, that readeth and 
 heareth the words of this prophecy; and keepeth those things 
 which are written in it," Apoc. i. 3. The obscurity, which 
 covers the Apocalypse, has been the occasion of its having 
 been so little attended to. We have therefore "attempted to re- 
 move that obstacle: but if we have not totally succeeded, we 
 plead indulgence from the difficulty of explaining a prophecy 
 so sublime, and the most mysterious that is extant. Besides 
 the advantage resulting from a general survey of the history 
 of the Church, another motive for attending to the Apocalypse, 
 is the particular interest every Christian must take in that part 
 of the history, which relates to the present time, and those 
 scenes which are approaching. Much instruction may be 
 drawn from the present state of the Church, as described by 
 our prophetic writer, and caution ought to be the result for 
 what we find is to happen hereafter. If God reveals to us 
 mysteries, it is for our instruction : if he discloses to us future 
 events, doubtless he does it to give us warning to prepare for 
 them. This kind of economy almighty God observed towards 
 mankind from the beginning, that in consequence of such pre- 
 vious admonitions, his faithful servants should withdraw 
 themselves from approaching calamities, while the wicked 
 might impute to their own obstinacy the punishments that fell 
 upon them. This bountiful administration of Providence ap- 
 peared very conspicuous in favour of the Jews, who were 
 generally forewarned by the prophets of the great events that 
 concerned them. The same course we find the Almighty has 
 pursued in the Christian age of the world. He has not in- 
 deed sent a succession of prophets as he did to the Jews. The 
 only considerable prophet Christianity can claim is St. John 
 the apostle ; but then he as far excels any one of the ancient 
 prophets, as his Apocalypse contains more m.atter, and com- 
 prises a larger field of history. He grasps the whole period 
 of Christianity. He describes the birth of Christ's Spouse, 
 his Church, and gradually conducts her through her whole 
 progress, till she arrives at ihe full possession of her Lord in 
 everlasting glory and bliss. The finger of God appears 
 plainly stamped upon the book of the Apocalypse, it so far ex- 
 ceeds the reach of human composition. The divine pen is 
 2 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 visible in every line, as each sentence is apparently written 
 with such precision and accuracy, that a word cannot be added 
 or retrenched without derogating from the sense. The figures 
 and allegories here employed are truly sublime, grand, and 
 beautiful, and closely adapted in all their parts to the subject. 
 Some of them are borrowed from the ancient prophets, but 
 heightened by superior strokes. St. John's subject, the history 
 of Christ's kingdom, as it surpasses in dignity the object of 
 all preceding prophecies, so he exhibits it in colours that out- 
 shine all former prophetic descriptions. This kingdom of 
 Christ, the greatest of all kingdoms, and his government of 
 it, the most perfect of all governments, are described in a stjde 
 proportionably exalted. The ancient prophets announced the 
 orders and instructions they received from God, and were only 
 favoured with visions in some particular cases : but the be- 
 loved disciple of Christ, not only receives from his Lord the 
 verbal account he delivers, but is admitted to see transacted 
 before him every scene of the history which he writes. Again, 
 the ancient prophets chiefly confined their accounts to the 
 temporal transactions of kingdoms ; but St. John, after giving 
 the history of the Christian Church, for the whole time of 
 her existence in this world, describes her future triumphant 
 state in the heavenly Jerusalem, the period of which will be 
 equal to that of eternity. Besides, the picture which he there 
 gives of the heavenly Jerusalem is drawn with such exqui- 
 site art, is painted with such striking colours, and enriched 
 with such charming scenes, and with such a collection of the 
 choicest, the most valuable, and the most shining objects in na- 
 ture, that the whole surpasses greatly whatever human con- 
 ception is capable of imagining or combining together. Such 
 then being the extent, the usefulness, and the excellence of tke 
 prophecy delivered in the Apocalypse, what can be more cu- 
 rious or interesting than a history founded upon it ? 
 
THE 
 
 GENERAL HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHRISTIAN CHURCH: 
 
 DIVIDED INTO SEVEN AGES, 
 
 AND DEDUCED CHIEFLY FROM THE 
 
 APOCALYPSE. 
 
 g;^ Before we enter upon this prophetic History, it will be necessary to 
 explain the first chapter of the Apocalypse, as it contains the Preface to 
 the whole book, — and, on that account, is essential to the present work. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Explication of the first Chapter of the Apocalypse. 
 
 Verse 1. " The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God 
 gave unto him, to make known to his servants the things 
 which must shortly come to pass : and signified, sending by 
 his angel to his servant John. 
 
 V. 2. "Who hath given testimony to the word of God, 
 and the testimony of Jesus Christ, what things soever he hath 
 seen." 
 
 We are here informed that the book of the Apocalypse is a 
 Revelation, which Jesus Christ, as Man-God, received from 
 God : the purpose of which is to disclose to his servants, the 
 Christians, a series of events very interesting to them, and 
 which must shortly come to pass. This revelation Jesus 
 Christ communicates by the channel of his angel, whom he 
 sends to deliver it to his servant John. The character here 
 given to this servant John shows him to be the Apostle St. 
 John ; for he is here said to have given testimony to the word 
 
16 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 of God, by his preaching and suffering for the cause of God, 
 and to have also given testimony of Jesus Christ, by bearing 
 witness to what things soever he had seen of his divine Mas- 
 ter. And this account of him coincides with what St. John 
 says of himself at the beginning of his first epistle ; " That 
 which we have heard," says he, " which we have seen with 
 our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have 
 handled, of the word of life — we declare unto you." 
 
 We have said that it was Christ who signified or notified 
 this his Revelation, sending it by his angel ; which is con- 
 firmed by what he himself speaks in the conclusion of the 
 Apocalypse : " I Jesus have sent my angel, to testify to you 
 these things in the churches." Apoc. xxii. 16. But it might 
 be equally said, that God himself communicated this prophecy 
 by his angel ; for we likewise read : " The Lord God of the 
 spirits of the prophets sent his angel to show his servants the 
 things which must be done shortly," Apoc. xxii. 6. which 
 words are quite similar to those above of verse first. How- 
 ever, it is not material whether to God or to Jesus Christ the 
 communication of the prophecy be ascribed, when we con- 
 sider the divinity of Christ. 
 
 Another observation we must here make, is concerning the 
 angel of God or Christ, who is sent to communicate the Apo- 
 calypse to St. John. He is generally supposed to be a real 
 angel : but upon close examination we think he will appear to 
 be St. John the Baptist. This personage is peculiarly vested 
 with the character of angel* or messenger of God and Christ, 
 and is denominated such in the ancient prophecies, and by 
 Christ himself: — " Behold I send my angel," said the Lord 
 by his prophet Malachy, " and he shall prepare the way be- 
 fore my face," Mai. iii. 1. which Christ applies to his precursor, 
 St. John Baptist. " This is he," says Christ, " of whom it is 
 written : Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall 
 prepare the way before thee." Mat. xi. 10. The same is also 
 confirmed by the Baptist's own declaration : " I am," says he 
 "the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the 
 way of the Lord," John i. 23. which plainly speaks his func- 
 tion of angel or messenger of Christ. A farther proof is de- 
 rived from the words of the angel himself, who thus speaks to 
 St. John theApo.stle: "I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy 
 brethren who have the testimony of J-esus." Apoc. xix. 10. And 
 again, " I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the pro 
 phets, and of them that keep the words of the prophecy of this 
 
   The word angel signifies messenger. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHTTRCH. 17 
 
 book." Apoc. xxii. 9. This languag-e, it is clear, cannot be 
 that of a real ang-el, but corresponds very justly with the charac- 
 ter of the Baptist, who had been a fellow-servant of the Apostle 
 and his brethren in giving testimony to Jesus, &c. A function 
 suitable to the character of St. John the Baptist ; who, as he 
 announced Christ and showed him present to the people ; so 
 here he announceth and showeth to St. John the Apostle the 
 History of Christ or of his Church. However, as the Apostle 
 gives to St. John the Baptist the name of angel, perhaps his 
 form and appearance were such on this occasion. 
 
 V. 3. " Blessed is he that readeth and heareth* the words of 
 this prophecy : and keepeth those things which are written in 
 it: for the time is at hand." We are here assured that great 
 is the advantage of attending to what is delivered in the Apo- 
 calypse ; for they are pronounced blessed, who read or hear 
 read the words of this prophecy; and who keep the things 
 which are written in it, that is, who take due notice of the 
 things which are written in it, in order to compare them with 
 what is already fulfilled by real events, to beware of what is 
 foretold to come, and to draw proper instructions from both. 
 These prophecies are the more interesting, as the time is at 
 hand for the accomplishment of some of them, and the rest 
 will follow in their order. This was true at the period when 
 St. John wrote, and will be equally true at whatever period of 
 time the Apocalypse be consulted, as some part of its prophetic 
 history will always be near the time of its accomplishment. 
 It might likewise be said, that the whole would happen soon, 
 with allusion to the shortness of all time when compared with 
 the eternal existence of God, according to that of St. Peter : 
 " One day with the Lord is a thousand years, and a thousand 
 years as one day," 2 Pet. iii. 8. and that of the Psalmist: "A 
 thousand years in thy sight, are but as yesterday, which is past 
 and gone." Psalm Ixxxix. 4. 
 
 V. 4. "John to the seven churches which are in Asia, 
 Grace be unto you and peace from Him that is, and that was, 
 and that is to come; and from the seven spirits which are be- 
 fore his throne." 
 
 St. John addresses the seven churches of lesser Asia, which 
 he governed, and which will be specified below, ver. 1 1. We 
 shall see him there receive an order to send them this pro- 
 phecy. He salutes these churches, wishing them grace, or 
 benediction and peace from Him who is, and who was, and 
 who is to come ; that is, from Almighty God, who exists from 
 
 * In the Greek text, " and those that hear," &c. 
 2* 
 
18 HISTORY OP THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 all eternity, continues to exist, will remain for all eternity, and 
 will come at the last day to reward his faithful servants, and 
 to punish the wicked. The Apostle offers the same good 
 wishes from the seven spirits which are before the throne of 
 God, always ready to depart and execute his commands with 
 respect to mankind. These are " ministering spirits, sent to 
 minister for them who shall receive the inheritance of salva- 
 tion." Heb. i. 14. 
 
 V. 5. " And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, 
 the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of 
 the earth : who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in 
 his own blood. 
 
 V. 6. "And hath made us a kingdom* and priests to God 
 his Father : to him be glory and empire for ever and ever. 
 Amen." 
 
 St. John continues his salutation to the seven churches, 
 wishing them grace and peace from Jesus Christ, whom he 
 entitles the faithful witness, as having given testimony to his 
 eternal Father upon earth, and executed faithfully the com- 
 mission he had received from him. He is also the first-be- 
 gotten of the dead, having raised himself from death to life 
 by his own power, which no man ever did or can do, nor can 
 any man rise again but by virtue of the resurrection of Christ, 
 according to that of St. Paul : " By a man came death, and by 
 a man the resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam all die, 
 so also in Christ all shall be made alive." 1 Cor. xv, 21, 22. 
 Jesus Christ is likewise styled the prince of the kings 'of the 
 earth not only as God, but likewise as God-Man having ac- 
 quired, by the merits of his Incarnation, a sovereign power 
 on earth. On that account, " all power is given to me," says 
 Christ, "in heaven and in earth." Mat. xxviii. 18. And again, 
 •' The Father hath given to the Son power to do judgment." 
 Why so ? " Because he is the Son of man," John v. 27. Here 
 we see ascertained the universal dominion of Christ. Then 
 follow the gracious effects of his bounty towards mankind ; 
 for, " he hath loved us, an.d washed us from our sins in his 
 own blood;" and he " hath made us kings and priests to God 
 and his Father," that is, he hath made us his co-heirs, and has 
 admitted us to a participation of his own sovereign power 
 over the world, and likewise of his priesthood, by virtue of 
 which we become also " a holy priesthood," as St. Peter says, 
 "to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus 
 Christ." 1 Pet. ii. 5. This communication of power granted 
 
   In the Greek text, " mado us kings." 
 
HISTORY OV THB CHRISTIAN CHURCH. ly 
 
 by Christ to his servants, by which they become kings and 
 priests, will chiefly take place in the other world ; and it is not 
 only founded on the present text, but is clear from our Saviour's 
 own words : " I dispose to you," says he, " as my Father has 
 disposed to me, a kingdom : that you may eat and drink at my 
 table in my kingdom, and may sit upon thrones judging the 
 twelve tribes of Israel." Luke xxii. 29, 30. And again, " To 
 him that shall overcome, I will give to sit with me on my 
 throne." Apoc. iii. 21. To Christ therefore, our bountiful 
 Saviour and gracious benefactor, be glory and empire for ever 
 and ever. Amen. 
 
 V. 7. " Behold, he cometh with the clouds, and every eye 
 shall see him, and they also that pierced him. And all the 
 tribes of the earth shall bewail themselves because of him. 
 Even so. Amen." 
 
 The same Jesus Christ, who is prince of the kings of the 
 earth, who has washed us from our sins in his blood, who has 
 chosen us and made us kings and priests to God, is equally 
 entitled to be our judge, and will effectually come in his sove- 
 reign power at the last day to Judge the world ; at which tinio 
 every eye shall see him ; and his countenance will be terriblti 
 to those who pierced him and crucified him. And even all 
 the tribes of the earth, or the people of all nations upon the 
 face of the earth, will mourn and bewail his death, being 
 amazed and confounded at the unparalleled impiety of those 
 men who crucified him. In the two preceding verses were de- 
 scribed the functions which Jesus Christ, the Son of God 
 made man, performed upon earth, in fulfilling the charge he 
 had received from his Father in redeeming the world, &c. 
 These functions we see here completed by his coming at the 
 last day to judge mankind, and to decree their rewards and 
 punishments. 
 
 V. 8. " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, 
 saith the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, 
 the Almighty." 
 
 Here the Almighty himself speaks : I am Alpha and Ome- 
 ga ; Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the 
 Greek Alphabet, the meaning of which in this place is ex- 
 plained by the subsequent words, the beginning and the end. 
 I am, says Almighty God, the beginning and end of every 
 thing, I am the first cause and last end of all beings. I am 
 the source, from which everything flows, and to which every 
 thing must return. I created the world by my power, I govern 
 it by my wisdom, and shall put an end to it at my pleasure. I 
 
 4 
 
20 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 am he who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. 
 See above, ver. 4. 
 
 Thus we see the two great personages, who here preside 
 through the whole scene of the Apocalypse, God, and Jesus 
 Christ. They are placed in the supreme degree of eminence, 
 and are clearly distinguished by their respective titles and at- 
 tributes. 
 
 They are exhibited as the Sovereign rulers of the universe, 
 the moderators of all human transactions. And thus is nobly 
 ushered in the prophetic history, which begins as follows : 
 
 V. 9. " I John your brother and your partner in tribulation, 
 and in the kingdom, and patience in Christ Jesus, was in the 
 island, which is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for 
 the testimony of Jesus. 
 
 V. 10. "I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and heard be- 
 hind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 
 
 V. 1 1. " Saying, what thou seest, write in a book : and send 
 to the seven churches which are in Asia, to Ephesus, and to 
 Smyrna, and to Pergamus, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and 
 to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea." 
 
 St. John here informs us, that he had shared in the perse- 
 cution and tribulation, which were common to the Christians; 
 that he was partner with them in being a member with them 
 of the body of Christians, which formed the kingdom of Jesus 
 Christ. By the orders of the Emperor Domitian, St. John, as 
 we have seen, was put into a caldron of boiling oil at Rome, 
 which he bore with invincible patience, and came out unhurt; 
 after which he was banished into the island of Patmos, in the 
 Archipelago. There he was an exile for the word of God, 
 for having preached the word of God in opposition to the su- 
 perstitions of idolatry, and for the testimony of Jesus, or for 
 having borne testimony to Christ, by confessing publicly his 
 holy name, and maintaining his doctrine. He was there in 
 spirit on the Lord's day, or Sunday, which being sanctified by 
 the great mysteries of the resurrection of Christ, and the de- 
 scent of the Holy Ghost, was certainly a proper day for re- 
 ceiving this important revelation, which comprises the whole 
 history of the Christian Church, from her birth to her final 
 triumphant state in heaven. 
 
 He then proceeds to describe the manner in which this his- 
 tory was communicated to him : And I heard behind me a 
 great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, what thou seest, write in 
 a book. We proved, ver. i. p. 2. that this prophecy was deli- 
 vered to the Apostle by the angel of Christ, St. John Baptist: 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 21 
 
 and he is the great voice like that of a trumpet, which here 
 speaks to the apostle ; for the function of the voice on this oc- 
 casion is similar to that which the Baptist performxcd -when on 
 earth. He then announced, as with the voice of a trumpet, the 
 coming of his divine Master : " I am the voice," says he, " of 
 one crying in the wilderness : make straight the way of the 
 Lord." John i. 23. In like manner he is here distinguished by 
 the appellation of a great voice, and announces what is and 
 what will be his Master's government and administration of 
 his Church. Besides, we read in verse the first of chap. iv. 
 of the Apocalypse : " The first voice which I heard, as it were 
 of a trumpet speaking with me, said: Come up hither and I 
 will show thee the things Avhich must be done hereafter;" 
 which being compared to verse the eighth of chap. xxii. " After 
 I had heard and seen, I fell down to adore before the feet of 
 the angel, who shoAved me these things ;" it plainly appears 
 that the voice and the angel indicate the same person, viz. St. 
 John Baptist. This observation premised, the apostle is told: 
 What thou seest, write in a book, and send it to the seven 
 churches which are in Asia, &c. He is ordered to send this 
 book of the Apocalypse to the seven Asiatic churches men- 
 tioned in the text, whence it was circulated over the christian 
 world, and transmitted down to us. 
 
 V. 12. " And I turned," continues St. John, "to seethe voice 
 that spoke with me : and being turned, I saw seven golden 
 candlesticks. 
 
 V. 13. " And in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks 
 one like to the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to 
 the feet, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 
 
 V. H. ** And his head and his hairs were white, as white 
 wool, and as snow : and his eyes were as a flame of fire. 
 
 V. 15. " And his feet like unto fine brass, as in a burnino- 
 furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 
 
 V. 16. "And he had in his right hand seven stars. And 
 from his mouth came out a sharp two-edged sword : and his 
 face was as the sun shineth in his power." 
 
 St. John, in looking behind him to see the voice that spoke 
 to him, is surprised by the appearance of a remarkable scene : 
 Seven golden candlesticks standing, and in the midst of them 
 a person resembling the Son of Man, or Christ, clothed with 
 a long garment down to the feet, and girt about the breast 
 with a golden girdle, a dress that denotes high rank and dig- 
 nity; and being girt in this manner shows him to be abo 
 business, namely the government of bis Church. His h'rad 
 
23 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 and hair were white, as white wool, and as snow ; an emblem 
 of Christ's divine existence from all eternity, whiteness of 
 hair naturally indicating old age. And his eyes were as a 
 flame of fire, as piercing as the flame of fire, penetrating into 
 every thing as he himself says : " I am He, that searcheth 
 the reins and hearts." Apoc. ii. 23. His feet were like unto 
 fine brass, as in a burning furnace ; the feet make the extremity 
 of the body, and appear here inflamed as brass in a glowing 
 furnace, to show that at the extremity or end of time, Christ 
 will come to destroy the world by fire. His voice was as the 
 sound of many waters ; his voice sounded like the noise of 
 many flowing waters, as terrible as the roaring of a tempest- 
 uous sea. Such will be his voice in denouncing sentence 
 against the wicked at the last day. In his right hand he held 
 soven stars, which will be explained below, ver. 20. And from 
 his mouth came out a sharp two-edged sword, the terrible 
 weapon which Christ will use, as we shall see hereafter, 
 to slay Anti-christ and his armies. It appears to proceed from 
 his mouth, as ready to execute his command. It also shows 
 in general, that Christ punishes his enemies. Lastly, his face 
 shone as bright as when the sun shineth in its full power; 
 this is the bright pleasing countenance which he will show to 
 his saints at the last day. 
 
 Thus appears the Son of Man, arrayed in dignity, with the 
 marks of his unlimited power and dominion, with the symbols 
 of his divine and human attributes, and as the sovereign Ad- 
 ministrator of his Church. 
 
 V. 17. " And when I had seen him," continues St. John, 
 " I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon 
 me, saying: Fear not, I am the first and the last. 
 
 V. 18. "And alive,* and was dead. And behold lam 
 living for ever and ever, and have the keys of death and of 
 hell." 
 
 St. John, struck at the awful appearance of his Lord, fells 
 down at his feet as dead: but is raised up by Christ, who tells 
 him not to fear, and adds, I am the first and the last : I exist 
 before all created beings, and shall continue to exist when time 
 shall be no more; I am from all eternity, and shall be to all 
 eternity. I am alive and was dead : I am the living one; life 
 is essential to me, as God ; but I died, as Man-God ; and be- 
 hold I am now living for ever and ever, I hold the keys of 
 death and of hell ; mine is the power of opening the graves, and 
 raising the dead bodies ; mine is the power of opening hell, 
 
   In the Greek text, ** the Living-one." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 23 
 
 and drawing thence the souls, to reunite them to their bodies : 
 and thus I am He that shall resuscitate all mankind, and shall 
 be their Judge. 
 
 V. 19. " Write therefore the things which thou hast seen, 
 and which are, and which must be done hereafter." 
 
 Our Saviour here orders St. John to write the scene he has 
 already seen, and the things which are, or which have just now 
 been dictated to him ; and to write also the things which nust 
 be done hereafter, that is, the history, that will presently he 
 given him, of the events which will happen in the Christian 
 Church. 
 
 V. 20. " The mystery of the seven stars," continues oui 
 Saviour, '* which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven 
 golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven 
 churches ; and the seven candlesticks are the seven churches." 
 
 Here Christ himself explains to St. John the mystery or 
 meaning of two particulars : the seven stars, v/hich thou 
 sawest in my right hand, are, or denote the angels of the 
 seven churches in Asia, that is, the bishops of those churches : 
 and the seven candlesticks are, or represent those seven 
 churches. Let us also observe, that these seven candlesticks, 
 or seven churches, may very well represent all the churches 
 of the christian world ; and in that case, our Saviour, who is 
 placed in the midst of them, is naturally exhibited as adminis- 
 tering and governing the whole. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE FIRST AGE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Christ proceeds, in the second and third chapters of the 
 Apocalypse, to dictate to St. John particular instructions tor 
 each of the seven above mentioned churches ; which as they 
 do not belong to the general history of Christianity, we shall 
 pass over, and shall now proceed to the fourth and fifth chap- 
 ters, which open a general magnificent scene, that prepares us 
 for the particular transactions. 
 
 Prelude to the Opening of the seven Seals. 
 
 Apoc. chap, iv. 1. "After these things I looked," says 
 St. Johri, " and behold a door was opened in heaven, and the 
 first voice which I heard as it were of a trumpet speaking 
 
I 
 
 24 ' HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 with me, said : Come up hither, and I will show thee the things 
 which must be done hereafter. 
 
 V. 2. " And immediately I was in the spirit : and behold 
 there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne one 
 sitting. 
 
 V. 3. " And he that sat was to the sight like the jasper and 
 the sardine stone : and there was a rainbow round about the 
 throne, in sisrht like unto an emerald." 
 
 No sooner had St. John received, in the preceding vision, 
 the documents he was to transmit to the seven Asiatic churches; 
 when behold ! a new scene displays itself. Heaven opens. 
 3t. John is invited up thither by the voice which had spoken 
 ;o him before, that is, by St. John Baptist, and is told he shall 
 see what is to happen in future ages. On a sudden appears a 
 throne, and the Almighty himself seated upon it, shining in 
 the brightest lustre of jasper green and sardine red, the green 
 colour, as best proportioned to the human eye, speaks his 
 mercy, and the red his justice : these two attributes bearing a 
 particular relation to mankind. The throne is surrounded 
 with a rainbow, in which shines remarkably a most beautiful 
 green, like that of emeralds. This rainbow, with its bright 
 green colour, denotes the covenant of reconciliation and peace, 
 which God made with man after the deluge. 
 
 V. 4. " And round about the throne were four and twenty 
 seats : and upon the seats, four and twenty ancients sitting, 
 clothed in white garments, and on their heads crowns of gold.". 
 
 Round the throne of God appear silting four and twenty 
 ancients, representing the saints that preceded the age of 
 Christianity, and for that reason called ancients. They are 
 clothed in w^hite to express the immortal glory they possess in 
 heaven; and their crowns of gold show their royal dignity, 
 God admitting them to sit as judges with him. In the same 
 manner it was said, that Christ makes his saints kings, Apoc. 
 i» 6. — See p. 18. 
 
 V. 5. "And from the throne proceeded lightnings and 
 voices, and thunders : and there were seven lamps burning 
 before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God." 
 
 The lightnings, loud voices, and thunders, which come from 
 the throne of God, announce alarms and severe hardships, 
 such as persecutions, dissentions, calamities, &c. by which he 
 tries the fidelity of his servants on earth. And the seven spirits 
 oi God, who appear under the form of burning lamps, are 
 seven angels as before mentioned. Apoc. i. 4. standing ready 
 to execute the divine commands. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN OllCKOH. 25 
 
 V, 6. " And in the sio^ht of the throne was as it were a sea of 
 glass like to crystal : and in the midst of the throne and 
 round about the Ihrone were four living creatures full of eyes 
 before and behind. 
 
 V. 7. " And the first livinsf creature was like a lion : and 
 the second living creature, like a calf; and the third living 
 creature, having the face, as it were of a man : and the fourth 
 living creature was like an eagle flying. 
 
 V. 8. " And the four livino: creatures had each of them six 
 wings : and round about,* and within, they are full of eyes." 
 
 The extensive sea of glass here described, transparent as 
 crystal, represents what may be called, the floor of heaven. 
 Before the throne of God and round it stand four living crea- 
 tures of an extraordinary shape, which denote the four great 
 prophets, Isaiah, Jeremy, Ezechiel, and Daniel. Their bodies 
 are described full of eyes both before and behind, an emblem 
 of their prophetic sight, that penetrates into all ages, past, pre- 
 sent, and to come. And they being also full of eyes within, 
 indicates that their extensive knowledo-e arises from an interior 
 divine Inspiration. They have each six wungs, in the same 
 manner as the seraphims appeared to the prophet Isaias, Isa. 
 vi. 2 : Two wings serve to cover their face, two their feet, out 
 of respect for the Deity : and the two others serve to fly, that* 
 is, figuratively express their expeditious readiness to carry and 
 deliver the divine instructions and messages. 
 
 Some have imagined these four symbolical living creatures 
 to represent the four Evangelists, but we think improperly; 
 as St. John was still living, and there present in person. Be- 
 sides, the scene exhibited here to St. John represents the times 
 and persons that existed before the age of Christianity. The 
 first living creature is here said to resemble a lion, the king 
 of beasts ; because the prophet Isaias, represented by it, was 
 descended by the royal race of David. The second living crea- 
 ture resembles a' caFf, and represents the prophet Jeremy, in 
 his character of a priest ; the calf which was the principal 
 victim in Jewish sacrifices, being on that account the emblem 
 of priesthood. The third living creature, exhibiting Ezechiel^ 
 has the countenance of a man ; because God, in speaking to 
 that prophet, always addresses him by the name of Son of 
 man. The fourth living creature, denoting Daniel, resem- 
 bles a flying eagle, on account of the sublime oracles of this 
 prophet, who soars to the highest object, and vie\vs the succes- 
 sion of all the great empires, that were to rise up in the world 
 
 • In the Greek, " six wings about him ;-and within," Ac 
 3 
 
26 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHUKCJi. 
 
 to the end of time. Probably these four principal prophets are 
 to be understood to represent all the prophets of the old law. 
 
 V. 8. "And they (the four livjng creatures) rested not day 
 and night, saying-, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, 
 who was, and who is, and who is to come ! 
 
 V. 9. " And when those living creatures gave* glory and 
 honour and benediction to him, that sitteth on the throne, who 
 liveth for ever and ever. 
 
 V. 10. " The four and twenty ancients fell down before him 
 that sitteth on the throne, and adored him that liveth for ever 
 and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying : 
 
 V. 11. " Thou art worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory, 
 and honour, and power : because thou hast created all things, 
 and for thy will they were,t and have been created." 
 
 The Almighty being seated on his throne, in the splendour 
 of his majesty, with the marks of his supreme power, sur- 
 rounded with the august choir of the ancient Saints and Pro- 
 phets ; these Prophets, represented by the four living crea- 
 tures, are constantly employed in offering their homage to 
 him and singing his praises. They cry out day and night, 
 Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty ! &c. repeating three 
 times Holy, probably in honour of the Blessed Trinity ; and 
 for the same reason they give to God three different kinds of 
 praise, glory, honour and benediction, or thanksgiving. And 
 whenever the four living creatures sing these praises, the four 
 and twenty ancients are ready to join their homage, by falling 
 down before him that sitteth on the throne, and adoring Him 
 that liveth for ever and ever; and in token of their acknow- 
 ledging all their happiness and pre-eminence to be his gift, 
 they cast down their crowns before the throne ; and thus they 
 conclude their homage : Thou art worthy, O Lord our God, 
 to receive glory, honour, and power : because thou hast created 
 all things, and for thy will they are, and have been created; 
 that is, w^e acknowledge thy power, O Lord, because by thy 
 Omnipotence thou hast created all things; honour is due to 
 thee, because by thy will they are, or continue to exist ; glory 
 is due to thee, because they were created to serve to thy glory. 
 
 Apoc. chap. V. 1. " And I saw," says St. John, " in the right 
 hand of him that sat on the throne a book, written within and 
 without, sealed with seven seals." 
 
 The book, which Almighty God holds in his right hand, 
 contains the detail of his administration of the Christian church; 
 
 * In the Greek, " shall give," &-c.— " the four and twenty ancients will 
 fall down," &c. tin the Greek, " they are." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 27 
 
 the length of which detail is marked by the hook being writ- 
 ten both within and without. It is sealed up, as containing 
 the divine counsels, impenetrable to human sagacity; and the 
 seven seals indicate that the whole is divided into seven parts, 
 each of which is uniblded and made known at the opening of 
 each respective seal. 
 
 V. 2. " And I saw a strong angel, proclaiming with a loud 
 voice : Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals 
 thereof? 
 
 V. 3. " And no man was able, neither in heaven, nor on 
 earth, nor under the earth, to open the book, nor to look on it." 
 
 A strong angel cries out with a loud voice, to be heard over 
 the whole creation. Who is worthy to open the book, and to 
 loose the seals thereof? But there is not found a creature, 
 either in heaven or on earth, or elsewhere, worthy to do this 
 function, or even to look on the book, the eyes not being here 
 permitted to view the repository of the divine dispensations, 
 which, the book being yet sealed up, are kept concealed from 
 human understanding. 
 
 V. 4. " And I wept much," continues St. John, " because no 
 man was found worthy to open the book,* nor to see it. 
 
 V. 5. "And one of the ancients said to me, weep not, be- 
 cause the lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David, hath 
 prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof" 
 
 St. John, mortified and weeping, because no one was found 
 worthy to open the book, is told by one of the four and twenty 
 ancients to cease weeping; for that the lion of the tribe of 
 Juda, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, &:c. 
 Christ the Messiah, who is born of the tribe of Juda, and who 
 is the root that springs from the royal race of David, is, on 
 account of his achievements, styled the Lion of that tribe, con- 
 formably to Jacob's prophecy : " Juda is a lion's whelp," Gen. 
 xlix. 9. He, the Messiah, David's descendant, like a valiant 
 lion, conquered Satan, death, and the world. He put a stop 
 to Satan's power, by breaking down the empire of idolatry, he 
 discharged the great functions he undertook to perform on 
 earth, he reconciled m^an to his eternal Father, he raised him- 
 self from death, he established his new Law notwithstanding 
 the most obstinate opposition from the world, and he founded 
 his Church at the expense of his blood. By these victories 
 he is here proclaimed to have merited to open the book, that 
 contains the account of the divine dispensations to that church 
 — accordingly, 
 
   The Greek text here adds, " and to read it." 
 
28 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 V. 6. " And I saw," says St. John : " and behold in the 
 midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the 
 midst of the ancients, a Lamb stand in o- as it were slain, havin*'" 
 seven horns and seven eyes : which are the seven spirits of 
 God, sent forth into all the earth. 
 
 V. 7. " And he came and took the book out of the right 
 hand of him that sat on the throne." 
 
 We had just now seen Christ represented as a strong and 
 valiant lion subduing his enemies ; here we see him in the 
 humble character of a lamb, which appears as it were slain, 
 that is, newly sacrificed and immolated for the redemption of 
 the world. But the Lamb is standing, that is, though he has 
 been slain, he is resuscitated to life, and recovered all his 
 strength and vigour: and he is seen placed in the midst of 
 the throne, which bespeaks his divine origin and person. This 
 lamb has seven horns, signifying the seven particular powers 
 which he exercises in the seven successive ages of the Chris- 
 • tian Church: and to show his wisdom and vigilance, he has 
 also seven eyes denoting the seven spirits of God abovemen- 
 tioned, Apoc. i. 4. and iv. 5. or angels, who are always ready 
 to execute the commands of God and the Lamb, and to carry 
 their messages over the whole earth. The number seven here 
 used, corresponds to the seven periods or ages, into which the 
 whole duration of the Christian Church is divided : so that, 
 when it is said, that the lamb has seven horns and seven eyes, 
 it is meant, that the Lamb, or Jesus Christ, governs his Church 
 through its seven successive ages by his power and wisdom, 
 and by the ministry of seven angels, who may be supposed to 
 be appointed over the seven ages of the Christian Church, each 
 angel to each age. 
 
 The Lamb goes, and takes the book from the hand of Cxod, 
 who sitteth upon the throne: 
 
 V. 8. " And when he had opened the book,* the four living- 
 creatures, and the four and twenty ancients fell down before 
 the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials 
 full of odours, which are the prayers of the saints : 
 
 V. 9. " And they sung a new canticle, saying : Thou art 
 worthy, O Lord, to take the book and to open the seals thereof' 
 because thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God in thy 
 blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation. 
 
 V. 10. "And hast made us to our God a kingdomf and 
 priests, and we shall reign on the earth.' 
 
   In the Greek text, " when he had taken the book," and so read most 
 cf the ancient interpreters. tin the Greek, kings 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 29 
 
 y 
 
 The Lamb having taken the book, the four living- creatures 
 and the four and twenty ancients, or the prophets and the saints 
 prior to Christianity, whom they represent, fall down and adore 
 him, having in their hands harps and golden vials full of odours, 
 which are the prayers of the saints. The prayers of the saints, 
 that is, of the faithful on earth, are here described as sweet 
 odours, and are presented to Christ by the saints in heaven. 
 Then the four living creatures and the four and twenty 
 ancients, being postrate before the Lamb, sing a new canticle; 
 new, because the subject of it is new, viz. the actions of the 
 Lamb. This nev/ canticle is. Thou art worthy to take the 
 book, and to open the seals thereof; because thou wast slain, 
 and hast redeemed us, not only us but also our posterity, the 
 christian race ; for thou hast redeemed us, out of every tribe, 
 and tongue, and people, and nation. Thus these saints and 
 prophets acknowledge, that the Lamb has, at the expense of 
 his blood, redeemed mankind, and restored them to the rights 
 they had lost by Adam's sin, and consequently that he is en- 
 titled to an- absolute dominion over them throusrh all succeed- 
 ing generations. Thus they also acknowledge, that they are 
 indebted to him for the ineffable blessings of heavenly glory, 
 and of kingly and priestly power, which they now possess, 
 and which will hereafter be likewise the portion of their pos- 
 terity. On these accounts they proclaim-, the Lamb has merited 
 to take the book, and open the seals thereof, that is, to reveal 
 to men what relates to his Church. Thus we see the dou- 
 ble character of Christ. What he is here declared to have 
 merited as the slaughtered Lamb, he was also before en- 
 titled to in quality of the conquering Lion. 
 
 V. 11. "And I beheld," proceeds St. John, "and I heard 
 the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living 
 creatures and the ancients : and the number of them was 
 thousands of thousands. 
 
 V. 12. " Saying with aloud voice: The Lamb, that was 
 slain, is Xvorthy to receive power, and divinity,* and wisdom, 
 and strength, and honour, and glory, and benediction." 
 
 After the adoration and homage paid to the Lamb by the 
 ancient prophets and saints, St. John now sees an infinite num- 
 ber of angels round the throne and round the celestial choir, 
 who come next to address the Lamb with their praises and 
 loud applauses, saying, the Lamb, that was slain, is worthy to 
 receive power, and riches, &c. because by being slain, he has 
 
 * In the Greek text, riches. The manuscripts and the ancient writers 
 read the same. 
 
 3* 
 
30 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 purchased a power of forming to himself a people out of every 
 nation of the earth, that is, of founding a new universal church, 
 and has also merited to be vested with the government of it 
 
 O 
 
 through all succeeding time. And as the peiiod of the Chris- 
 tian Church's duration is, by divine appointment, divided into 
 seven ages, so the Lamb is represented as entitled to seven spe- 
 cial qualities, power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory 
 and benediction, which bear a relation to that part of his go- 
 vernment of the church, which is described under the seven 
 seals. These seven qualities are therefore to be applied to the 
 seven successive ages, each to each respectively ; and there, the 
 meaning of them will be explained. 
 
 V. 13. "And every creature, which is in heav^en, and on 
 the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and 
 all that are in them : I heard all saying : To him that sitteth 
 on the throne, and to the Lamb, benediction, and honour, and 
 glory, and power, for ever and ever." 
 
 After the homage of the angels, succeeds that of all crea- 
 tures, both animate and inanimate, which are in heaven, and 
 on the earth, and under the earth, or in hell, and in the sea ; 
 and in fine, of all that are in them, that is, of every individual 
 atom of the creation. They are all heard to say: To him 
 (God) that sitteth on the throne and to the Liamb, benediction 
 and honour and glory and power for ever and ever. Thus 
 they pour forth their praises to God and the Lamb, for their 
 creation, their conservation, the beautiful harmony and order 
 they hold in the general system of nature, &c. In the verses 
 9th and 11th, in the preceding pages, sea p. 28 and 29. three 
 times of praise were offered to him that sitteth on the throne; 
 here a fourth is added, viz. power, on account of the Lamb, 
 who has acquired all power over this w^orld, and which is thus 
 confessed by every individual part of it. In the same sense 
 St. Paul declares, that "in the name of Jesus every knee shall 
 bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth," 
 Philip, ii. 10. 
 
 V. 14. " And the four living creatures said: Amen. And 
 the four and twenty ancients fell down on their faces, and adored 
 him that liveth for ever and ever." 
 
 To the above praises and homage offered to God and the 
 Lamb, the four living creatures, or ancient prophets, join their 
 assent by saying, Amen. This conclusion comes suitably from 
 them who had so often proclaimed to the world the great works 
 of the Almighty and the Lamb, and their gracious dispensa- 
 tions to mankind. Then, conformably to what is said in the 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 31 
 
 pT3ceding- page, verse 9th and 10th, see p. 28. the four and 
 twenty ancients close this awful and religious scene of ho- 
 mage and praise by adoring the Almighty in unity of God- 
 head. 
 
 Thus we have seen an august scene exhibited, where God 
 the Almighty appears, shining in all the brightness and dig- 
 nity of Divine Majesty, and round him an illustrious choir, 
 composed of the ancient prophets represented by four emble- 
 matical animals, and of four and twenty ancients representing 
 all the saints of the ages antecedent to Christianity. By this 
 disposition of the scene, our view is removed back to the time 
 of the close of the Old Law, and the commencement of the 
 New, that is, to the birth of the Christian Church. The 
 ancient saints and prophets sound forth their praises, their 
 thanks, and hymns of gratitude to God for all his blessings 
 received, and for the all wise and bountiful economy he had 
 exercised over them through all past ages. And thus they 
 close up the period of the patriarchal and Jewish Church. 
 
 The Lamb then appears who had just been slain for the re- 
 demption of the world. He has by his blood acqvlired the do- 
 minion over the whole succeeding race of mankind ; and 
 therefore he now opens a new period by founding his own 
 Church, the Church of the Christians, of which he is declared, 
 conjointly with God, Lord and governor. Immediately the 
 ancient prophets and saints direct their homage to him, ac- 
 knowledging they owe to him. their redemption, their power 
 and bliss, and all other blessings. Thus they give testimony 
 to the Lamb, they confess his sovereign power, and that his 
 reign now begins, and will last for ever. The same is re- 
 echoed by every part of the creation. — We must observe, that 
 no Christian saints appear in this celestial assembly : the rea- 
 son is, because the scene exhibits to us the moment in which 
 Christianity commences. 
 
 The Opening of the first Seal. 
 
 A'poc. chap. vi. v. 1. " And I saw," says St. John, "that the 
 Lamb had opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of 
 the four living creatures, as it were the voice of thunder, say- 
 ing : Come and see. 
 
 V. 2. " And I saw : and behold a white horse and he that 
 sat on him had a bow, and there was a crown given him, and 
 he went forth conquering that he might conquer." 
 
 Previously to the explication of the text, let us observe, that 
 at the opening of each seal of this mysterious book, a new 
 
32 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 spectacle offers itself to St. John, which seems to represent, 
 under an emblematical figure, what is written in that part of 
 the book that is laid open on breaking the seal. And the seven 
 figurative representations, that thus follow on the opening of 
 the seven seals, mark seven particular events, which open the 
 seven ages, into which is divided the whole period of the 
 church's existence. This observation premised. 
 
 At the opening of the first seal, there appears .to St. John a 
 person upon a white horse. This person is our Saviour, as 
 appears from chapter xix. of the Apocalypse, ver. 11 and 13» 
 where St. John says, " I saw heaven open, and there appeared 
 a white horse ; and he that sat upon him, was called the Faith- 
 ful and True. And his name is, the Word of God." The 
 
 crown that is here given him, and the white colour of his steed, 
 show him victorious and triumphant. Christ had been victo- 
 rious; first, over Satan, by overthrowing the dominion that 
 murderous enemy had usurped over mankind; secondly, in 
 purchasing, by extreme suffering, and at the price of his blood, 
 a perpetual peace between God and man ; thirdly, in conquer- 
 ing death, by raising himself to life from the grave by his own 
 power. Fraught with these victories, he had ascended trium- 
 phant in glory into heaven, amidst the acclamations of the 
 heavenly choirs, singing, " Princes, lift up your gates ; eter- 
 nal gates, be ye lifted up, and the King of glory shall enter 
 in." Psalm xxiii. 7. Being therefore exalted to all the honours 
 of a glorious King and conqueror, he here appears in the 
 equipment belonging to that character, and with bow in hand 
 sets out to prosecute his conquests, in subduing the world to 
 the dominion of faith by the preaching of his apostles, and 
 his other succeeding ministers. 
 
 Thus then opens and commences the first age of the Chris- 
 tian Church, Avhich may take its date from the day of Pente- 
 cost, or Whitsunday, when the apostles began to preach. And 
 the conquest, or conversion, which followed, of so many na- 
 tions to the faith, shows evidently in Christ the exercise of 
 that power, which was attributed to him, Apoc. v. 12. See p. 
 29. Let us also observe, that on opening the seal, one, or the 
 first of the four living creatures, which, as we have shown, 
 represents the prophet Isaias, says to St. John, Come and see ; 
 which is spoken, as with the voice of thunder, to mark the im- 
 portance of the vision : and the invitation to a view of our 
 triumphant Saviour comes properly from Isaias, who had so 
 minutely prophesied of all that related to him. 
 
 To understand how the conquest of tiie world was made to 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 33 
 
 the Gospel, we must take notice that, as soon as the apostles 
 had received the Holy Ghost, ten days after the ascension of 
 Christ, they immediately proceeded to execute the commission 
 given them by their divine Master, when he told them, " Go, 
 and teach all nations," Mat. xxviii. 16, "but to begin by Jeru- 
 salem and Judgea," Luke xxiv. 47. and Acts i. 8. They spent 
 therefore some time in labouring at the conversion of the Jews, 
 of whom no small number embraced the Christian religion, 
 though much the greater part remained obstinate in their infi- 
 delity. This work being done, the apostles separated and dis- 
 persed themselves into diiferent nations, to announce to them 
 the new tidings of salvation. St. Peter retired to Antioch, 
 where he founded a church, and having governed it for seven 
 years, and preached over a great part of lesser Asia, he went to 
 Rome, and there fixed his see. St. Andrew preached to the 
 Scythians, and afterwards in Greece and Epirus. St. Philip 
 in higher Asia. St. Thomas preached to the Parthians, then 
 eastwards as far as the Indies. St. Bartholomew went into 
 Armenia, and some part of India. St. Matthew em.ployed his 
 labours in Parthia and other eastern countries of Asia. St. 
 Simon in Mesopotamia and Persia. St. Jude or Thaddee in 
 Mesopotamia and Arabia. St. Matthias in the countries bor- 
 dering on the Caspian sea. St. John fixed his see at Ephesus 
 in Asia Minor, in which country he founded several churches, 
 which he governed till his death. The two St. James's, one of 
 whom was the first bishop of Jerusalem, chiefly confined their 
 preaching to Judsea. St. Paul announced the gospel to many 
 nations, but he was principally employed in Asia and Greece, 
 . and fmished his mission in Rome. 
 
 By these zealous messengers of Christ, the gospel was 
 spread throughout the world, according to that of the royal 
 Prophet : " Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth : 
 and their words unto the ends of the world." Psalm xxviii. 5. 
 The success of their preaching was the more wonderful, as 
 all human considerations conspired against it. This new doc- 
 trine was entirely opposite to the received maxims of the world; 
 it declared war against the passions of mankind, it taught self- 
 denial and mortification, it preached a contempt of what is 
 generally admired, it condemned all other religions, and abso- 
 lutely required a most virtuous conduct in all its professors. 
 Moreover, its ministers, the apostles, were not possessed of 
 those natural endowments, which might make impression upon 
 their hearers, and conciliate their minds to a new doctrine. 
 They were illiterate men, chosen from the lowest conditions 
 
34 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 of life, destitute of all human succour, without the advantages 
 of education, and without human eloquence. Notwithstand- 
 ing the want of these helps, they were inspired with such a 
 spirit of zeal, and with such supernatviral force of elocution as 
 not to be resisted. But, above all, the power of performing 
 miracles was their peculiar badge which stamped upon their 
 words the seal of divine attestation. These were the means 
 by which truth began to shine forth in a garb which it had 
 never worn before. It now laid open to view the errors man- 
 kind had hitherto been enslaved to, it withdrew the veil of igno- 
 rance that had overshadowed human reason, it dispelled the 
 darkness of paganism and superstition, and by its native lustre 
 it discovered the imperfection of all the systems of doctrine 
 proposed before by the so much boasted philosophers of anti- 
 quity. Such became the case with a Socrates, a Plato, an 
 Epictetus, a Cicero, &c. Those sages, as they were styled, not 
 aware of the weakness of human reason unassisted by revela- 
 tion, gave precepts of morality and maxims for the conduct of 
 life, which were in admiration for many ages ; but when that 
 light appeared, which came down from heaven with the Son 
 of God, it then became manifest how defective those dictates 
 were. In the same manner as the stars in the firmament strike 
 us with their lustre, and shine wdth advantage, in the night, 
 but when the great luminary of the day, the sun, comes forth, 
 the brightness of the stars immediately fades, and soon vanishes, 
 so likewise, when the Son of God thought fit to grace this 
 world with his presence, it became necessary that all former 
 legislators and philosophers, however eminent, should be 
 eclipsed by his superior excellence, and that every human in- 
 stitution of doctrine should give place to the new precepts of 
 his all-comprehending wisdom. 
 
 The great structure of religion, which the apostles had 
 begun, was carried on by their faithful and zealous suc- 
 cessors through the subsequent ages. Thus he went forth 
 conquering that he might conquer ; and, thus he doth to this 
 day, and will continue so to do. 
 
 Prelude to the sounding of the seven Trumpets. 
 
 Apoc. chap. viii. 2, "And I saw," says St. John, "seven 
 angels* standing in the presence of God : there were given 
 to them seven trumpets." 
 
 St. John now is directed to turn his eyes to the seven 
 angels, who were seen standing before the throne of God in 
 
 v 
 
 ♦In the Greek text, "the seven angels." \ 
 
 /• 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 35 
 
 heaven, Apoc. i. 4. and iv. 5, and seven trumpets are given 
 to them; one of these trumpets is sounded in each of the 
 seven ages of the Church, probably by that angel who iwS 
 appointed to superintend that age. — Then, 
 
 V. 3. " And another angel came, and stood before the altar, 
 having a golden censer ; and there was given to him much 
 incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all saints upon 
 the golden altar, which is before the throne of God. 
 
 V. 4. " And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the 
 saints ascended up before God, from the hand of the angel." 
 
 In imitation of the golden altar of incense that stood in the 
 Jewish tabernacle before the Holy of Holies, there is here a 
 golden altar of incense placed before the throne of God, to 
 which an angel comes holding a golden censer. This is 
 presently filled with much incense, which represents the 
 prayers of ail the saints, that is, of all the servants of God on 
 earth: and thus the angel offers these prayers, which ascend 
 up as the odour of so much fragrant incense before God, so 
 pleasing are they to him. We saw, Apoc. v. 8. see p. 28. the 
 saints in heaven presenting the prayers of the faithful to the 
 Lamb ; and here the same kind of function is performed by an 
 angel: which shows how the angels are employed in good 
 offices for mankind. Another instance of this sort is seen in 
 the book of Tobias, where the angel tells that holy man, 
 " When thou didst pray with tears, — I offered thy prayers to 
 the Lord." Tob. xii. 12. 
 
 V. 5. " And the angel took the censer, and filled it with the 
 fire of the altar, and cast it on the earth, and there were thun- 
 ders, and voices, and lightnings, and a great earthquake." 
 
 The angel having performed the religious rite of offering 
 the prayers of the saints to God, he then takes the censer, and 
 fills it with fire from the altar of holocaust; such altar appear- 
 ing to St. John in heaven similar to that which formerly 
 belonged to the Jewish tabernacle. The censer so filled witn 
 fire, the angel casts down on the earth. This is a figurative 
 intimation of God's design to try his servants on earth by the 
 fire of tribulation, like gold in the furnace. The Almighty 
 had just received their prayers with great complacency, and 
 doubtless never ceases to keep a paternal eye over them, and 
 to cover them with his protection: but he here lets them know, 
 U is the disposition of his Providence to put them to the test, that 
 ^hose who are truly his servants, and firm in their faith and 
 charity, may be distinguished from vke hypocrites and pusil- 
 lanimous. Accovding-ly. upon the falling of the censer on the 
 
36 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 
 
 earth, there happen thunders, and voices, and lightnings, 
 and a great earthquake ; which metaphorically express four 
 various kinds of tribulations, which are to befall the Christians 
 at the sounding of the four first trumpets, and which will then 
 be seen ; and there the abovementioned four metaphorical 
 terms will be explained. The three last trumpets, as we shall 
 see hereafter, have three particular woes annexed to them. 
 
 V. 6. " And the seven angels, who had the seven trumpets 
 prepared themselves to sound the trumpet." 
 
 The trumpet is generally sounded for war, or to give notice 
 of any public danger or alarm. And such is the case here. 
 The seven ans^els sound at different intervals of time their 
 trumpets, to announce alarms to the Christians, such as per- 
 secutions, heresies, wars, &c. trials with which they must 
 struggle, and which the Almighty sends them for their 
 probation. 
 
 It may not be improper to observe, that the magnificent 
 scene, which was exhibited in heaven in the prelude to the 
 opening of the seals, receives here an addition by the appear- 
 ance of two new objects, the altar of incense and the altar ot 
 holocausts. These are very aptly introduced, to point out 
 some particular circumstances that have relation to the trum- 
 pets. The first altar, on which the Jews offered daily incense 
 to God, presents to our mind the daily offering the Christians 
 make to God of their fervent and holy prayers, which ascend 
 to heaven like sweet perfumes : while at the same time, the 
 altar of holocausts, on Avhich the Jewish victims were burned, 
 is here a just representation of martyrdom, by which the 
 Christians are immolated as so many victims to God in the 
 fire of persecution. 
 
 As before the opening of* the seals we saw, ;?. 31, the close 
 of the Old Law and the commencement of the New; so 
 here, before the sounding of trumpets a confirmation of the 
 same appears, by two Jewish altars, of incense and holocausts, 
 being removed out of sight on the angels proceeding to sound 
 the trumpets which relate to the Christian Church. 
 
 The sounding of the first Trumpet. 
 
 Afpoc, chap. viii. 7. " And the first angel sounded the 
 trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, 
 and it was cast on the earth, and the third part of the earth* 
 
 * "The third part of the earth was burnt," is not in the common Greek 
 text; but it is found in several very good manuscripts, and in the Syriac 
 and Arabic versions. 
 
 # 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 37 
 
 was burnt up, and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and 
 all the green grass was burnt up." 
 
 This shower of hail and fire mingled with blood, denotes 
 the cruel and bloody persecutions exercised against the 
 Christians in the three first centuries, till Constantine, the 
 first Christian emperor, put a stop to them. The words, hail, 
 fire, and blood, pretty plainly express some of the most 
 remarkable kinds of death inflicted on the Christians: some 
 being consumed by fire, others having their blood spilt by 
 the sword, and others being stoned to death, which kind of 
 execution may very well be represented by hail. This terri- 
 ble shower fell upon the earth, which here represents the 
 Church of Christ, in its first quiet state, in allusion to the 
 land which is the stable part of the terraqueous globe. Then 
 a third part of the earth was destroyed by the shower, that is, 
 the persecutions swept away nearly one third part of the 
 Christians. But in particular, a third part of the trees was 
 burnt, that is, a third part of the pastors, with their clergy, 
 meant here by the trees, were sacrificed in the fire of per- 
 secution: and all the green grass, or best grass, was con- 
 sumed, that is, all the most fervent and perfect among the 
 faithful were blessed with the crown of martyrdom. 
 
 Persecutions, tortures, violent deaths by martyrdom, are 
 such objects of alarm and terror to human nature, that they 
 may, with great propriety, be metaphoricall}'- styled thunders: 
 Apoc. viii. 5. 
 
 At the opening of the first seal we saw the conversion of 
 Jews and Pagans to the Christian faith, and thus the kingdom 
 of Christ took its rise. But no sooner is the infant Church 
 formed, than the trumpet of alarm sounds, and Christ permits 
 his new-acquired people to be subjected to rigorous trials by 
 repeated persecutions, and their fidelity to be put to the strict- 
 est test. Such is the economy of his unfathomable wisdom. 
 
 Satan, who had usurped for many ages almost an universal 
 empire in the world, by setting himself up to be worshipped 
 in the place of God, seeing his throne shaken by the propaga- 
 tion of the Christian religion, was deeply stung, and resolved 
 to exert his utmost efforts to crush the new rising power, and 
 to support his own. For that purpose he set out by stirring 
 up the potentates of the earth: and as the monarchy of Rome 
 was at that time exceedingly powerful, and extended over a 
 great part of the then known world, his chief attempt was to 
 instil the poison of his malice into the minds of the pagan 
 lloman emperors, and to inspire them with the rankest hatred 
 4 
 
38 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 against the Christian religion. To open the scene of his 
 hellish machinations, he made use of the Emperor Nero, 
 douUless a very proper instrument for the work, as being 
 already a monster of cruelty and vice. He freely drank the 
 poisonous cup offered him by the devil, and first of all the 
 Roman monarchs, drew his sword against the Christians. 
 Nine other general persecutions were raised by the subsequent 
 emperors, of all which we shall here insert a brief account. 
 
 The first Persecution under Nero. 
 
 This brutal prince had privately ordered the great city of 
 Rome to be set on fire, which reduced the greatest part of it 
 to ashes. Finding himself detested by the people,' who im- 
 puted the mischief to him, in order to clear himself, he 
 endeavoured to transfer the odium upon the Christians, whom 
 he charged with being the incendiaries, and immediately 
 began to persecute them in the most bloody manner. Some 
 were wrapt up in skins of wild beasts, and so exposed to be 
 worried by dogs ; others were crucified; others burned alive, be- 
 ing clad in coats dipped in pitch or brimstone, that they might 
 serve as torches in the night. The Church celebrates on the 
 24th of June, the memory of all these martyrs, the first fruits 
 which heathen Rome sent up to heaven. Before the end of 
 this persecution suffered the two great pillars of the Church, 
 SS. Peter and Paul, at Rome, in the year 67 ; the first being 
 crucified with his head downwards; the second, being a 
 Roman citizen, was put to death by the sword. In conse- 
 quence of the severe edict of Nero, many Christians w'ere 
 sacrificed to the fury of the Pagans in the different provinces 
 of the Roman empire. 
 
 The second Persecution under Domitian. 
 
 The disturbances in the Roman empire under the em- 
 perors Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, and the humane disposition 
 of Vespasian and Titus, gave some rest to the Christians, 
 till Domitian succeeding, began the second geneial persecu- 
 tion. This emperor, a second Nero in cruelty, instigated by 
 the malice of Satan, published in the year 95 new edicts 
 throughout the empire against the Christians, by virtue 
 of which great numbers were made victims of religion. In 
 Rome, among others he put to death Flavins Clemens, his 
 own cousin-german, for being a Christian, and banished Cle- 
 mens's wife Domitilla. SS. Nereus and AchilleU'S suffered 
 also in this persecution j as likewise Antipas, mentioned in 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 39 
 
 chap. ii. 13. of the Apocalypse, vvhfjin Christ calls there 
 " his foithful witness." It was by this tyrant's order that 
 St. John the Apostle was sent for to Rome, and was cast into 
 a caldron of boiling oil, but coining out more vigorous than 
 before, he was banished to the isle of Patnios. 
 
 The third Persecution under Trajan. 
 
 The Christian religion, by the beginning of the second 
 century, had prodigiously increased, and spread itself through 
 a great extent in Europe, Asia, and Africa ; and all consider- 
 able cities were governed by their respective bishops. Tra- 
 jan, the Roman emperor, according to the Pagan writers, 
 was of a mild temper, and possessed of many amiable quali- 
 ties, which gained him from the senate the title of" Optimus," 
 or " good prince." But this glorious title received a black and 
 indelible stain from the persecutions which he permitted to be 
 carried on against the Christians. For, thouo-h he issued 
 out no new edicts against them, he suffered the former san- 
 guinary laAvs to be executed in different parts of the empire in 
 the years lOG, 107, &c. A clear instance of this appears in 
 his answer to Pliny the younger, governor of Pontus and 
 Bithynia, who had writ to know his pleasure, what should 
 be done with the Christians, who were very numerous in the 
 provinces of his government. Trajan's answer was, " Let 
 the Christians not be sought for ; but if they be accused and 
 convicted as such, let them be punished." The chief of those 
 who gained the crown of martyrdom in his reign were, St. 
 Clement, bishop of Rome ; St. Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem ; 
 St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, whom Trajan himself con- 
 demned and sent to Rome, there to be torn to pieces by wild 
 beasts in the amphitheatre. 
 
 The fourth Persecution under Marcus Aurelius. 
 
 The fourth persecution finds its place in the reign of Mar- 
 cus Aurelius, in the year IGH, &c. Many Christians indeed 
 had been sacrificed under the Emperor Adrian, by virtue of 
 former laws remaining in force, but at last he mitigated them 
 by an express order. Marcus Aurelius was extremely super- 
 stitious ; and as he also boasted of being a philosopher, he 
 Avas easily instigated by the heathen priests and philosophers 
 against the Christians, whose principles of religion and phi- 
 losophy Avere so contrary to theirs. If Aurelius issued out 
 no new edicts, he permitted at least the governors of provinces 
 to put into execution the laws subsisting. And that the per- 
 
40 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 
 
 seciition was very violent and bloody, appears from the several 
 apologies presented to him by St. Justin, Melito, Athenagoras, 
 and Apollinaris, entreating him to put a stop to it. The same 
 is also evident from the number of those that were crowned 
 with martyrdom. In Asia, St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, 
 was put to death, and many others -about the same time. At 
 Rome was beheaded St. Justin, who wrote two apologies for 
 the Christians. Several others shared with him the same 
 crown. At Lyons, St. Pothinus the bishop, and many of all 
 ages and conditions were, through the most acute and cruel 
 torments conveyed to heaven. At length the emperor put an 
 end to the persecution about the year 174, prevailed upon, as 
 it is supposed, by the signal favour he and his army, in the 
 German war, received from heaven by the prayers of the 
 Christian legion. He Avas shut up in narrow defiles, and 
 surrounded by the Q,uadi and Marcomanni, and his soldiers 
 were ready to perish with excessive heat and thirst. Under 
 these calamities, the Christian soldiers humbly addressed 
 themselves to God, who immediately sent a plentiful shower 
 of rain, which relieved Aurelius's army, and at the same 
 time a violent storm of hail, with dreadful flashes of light- 
 ning, upon the enemies ; which gave a complete victory to 
 the emperor. 
 
 The fifth Persecution under Severus. 
 
 After the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180, the Christians 
 enjoyed a respite of tolerable peace till the reign of Severus, a 
 crafty, treacherous, and bloody prince, and by his nature truly 
 answering his name. He at first treated the Christians with 
 humanity, but was after Avards prevailed upon by their enemies 
 to commence a furious persecution. He not only suffered the 
 governors of the provinces to persecute the Christians by the 
 laws already standing, but he gave out in the year 202 fresh 
 edicts, which were executed with such rigour and barbarity, 
 that the faithful imagined the time of Antichrist was come. 
 About the beginning of this persecution, Tertullian wrote his 
 apology for the Christians, a masterly work, in which he 
 refutes all the calumnies published against them, shows the 
 divine morality of their doctrine, and exposes the absurdity of 
 the Pagan religion. But it does not appear so pathetic an 
 address had any effect. The fire of this persecution raged 
 through all the provinces of the Roman empire, but far from 
 consuming the Church of Christ, it only served to purify it, 
 and to make it shine with greater lustre. The most illus 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 41 
 
 trious victims immolated on this occasion were St. Victor, 
 bishop of Rome: Leonidas, Origen's father, beheaded at 
 Alexandria ; and several of Origen's scholars. St. Pota- 
 misena, an illustrious virgin, and her mother Marcella, after 
 various torments, were burned alive. SS. Felicitas and Per- 
 petua, the one a noble lady in Mauritania, and brought to bed 
 but the day before : the other at that time a nurse ; St. Spera- 
 tas and his companions beheaded at Carthage; St. IrensBus, 
 bishop of Lyons, and many thousands of his people martyred 
 with him. 
 
 The sixth Persecution under Maximinus. 
 
 During the space of twenty-four years, times were peace- 
 able for the Christians, till Maximinus stept into the imperial 
 throne in 235, a man of base origin and barbarous nature. 
 He raised the sixth persecution, chiefly against the bishops 
 and ministers, and the teachers and principal promoters of 
 Christianity. The historian Capitolinus says of him, that, 
 "never did a more cruel beast tread on the earth." St. Pontian, 
 pope, suffered in this persecution, and several others. Hap- 
 pily it did not last above two years, Maximinus being cut off 
 after a short reign. 
 
 The seventh Persecution under Decius. 
 
 For ten years from the death of Maximinus till the reign 
 of Decius, the Church enjoyed a tolerable tranquillity ; and as 
 Maximinus's persecution was chiefly levelled against the pas- 
 tors, the bulk of Christians had tasted the sweets of peace for 
 thirty-eight years. This period of tranquillity occasioned, con- 
 formably to the bent of human nature, a remissness in the 
 Christians, and a relaxation in their morals: of which St. Cy- 
 prian, who lived at that time, grievously complained. Almighty 
 God, therefore, to punish their neglect, to revive their fervour, 
 and to try them in a fiery crucible, permitted a most severe 
 general persecution under Decius, in the year 249. This sa- 
 vage emperor, seeing that Christianity had gained prodigious 
 growth over the Avhole Roman empire, and that paganism on 
 that account visibly declined, was resolved to support the 
 latter by effectually ruining the former. He therefore issued 
 out a cruel edict against the Christians, and sent it to all the 
 governors of provinces. The Christians were immediately 
 driven from their houses, and stript of their estates ; whips 
 and prisons, fires and wild beasts, scalded pitch and melted 
 wax, sharp stakes and burning pincers, were the ordinary 
 4* 
 
42 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 instruments used for their torments. Slow tortures were par- 
 ticularly employed in order to tire out the patience of the 
 sufferers. This persecution crowned at Rome Fabian, pope, 
 Abdon and Sennen, and many others. A great harvest of 
 martyrs was made at Carthage: Appollonia, with many 
 others, suffered at Alexandria, as related by St. Dionysius, 
 bishop of that see. In the east it SAvept away Babylas, bishop 
 of Antioch ; Alexander, bishop of 5^erusalem, with thousands 
 more. Such was the rage of the pagan magistrates, that the 
 historian Nicephorus declares, it would be easier to count 
 the sands of the sea, than to reckon up all the martyrs of the 
 persecution. Many Christians fled from the scene of slaughter 
 into the deserts. One of this number was St. Paul of the 
 province of Thebais in Egypt, Vv'ho became an eminent an- 
 choret, and is styled the first hermit. 
 
 The eighth PersccvAioii under Valerian. 
 
 Valerian being invested with the imperial purple, was at 
 first very favourable to the Christians ; but he suffered his 
 mind to be poisoned by the suggestions of magicians, who 
 persuaded him, that to procure success in his wars, and pros- 
 perity to the empire, he must render the gods propitious by 
 suppressing Christianity. In this view he issued out edicts, 
 and commenced a bloody persecution in the year 257, which 
 lasted three years and a half Some of the chief martyrs 
 were at Rome, St. Stephen, pope, his successor St. Xystus, 
 with St. Lawrence his deacon ; St. Fructuosus, bishop of 
 Tarragon in Spain; St. Saturninus, bishop of Toulouse, and 
 St. Felix of Nola. Many were the holy victims in Egypt, 
 as St. Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, relates. Violent also 
 was the persecution in other parts of Africa, where many 
 suffered death, and many others were condemned to work in 
 the mines : but the most eminent of the martyrs in that part 
 of the world was St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who had 
 so strenuously supported the Christian religion by his writings 
 and example, and had encouraged others to martyrdom both 
 by his words and letters. Fie had escaped the persecution of 
 Decius ; but now he was first banished, then beheaded for the 
 faith, in the neighbourhood of Carthage. 
 
 The ninth Persecution under Aurelian. 
 
 The Emperor Aurelian, in the beginning of his reign, 
 behaved with humanity towards the Christians ; but being 
 strongly attached to idolatrous worship, he at last sent out, in 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 43 
 
 the year 274, violent edicts to exterminate the Christian reli- 
 gion : but as he died soon after, this persecution was short. 
 The principal victims it sent to heaven were : St. Felix, pope ; 
 St. Mamas, at Caesarea in Cappadocia ; St. Agabitus in Italy; 
 St. Savinianus, bishop of Troyes ; St. Reverianus, bishop of 
 Autun ; St. Columba, virgin, and many others in France. 
 
 The tenth Persecution under Dioclesian. 
 
 The tenth and last general persecution, the most severe and 
 most bloody of all, was set on foot by the Emperor Dioclesian. 
 The Christian religion had by this time gained so much 
 ground, that in every province of the Roman empire, and 
 even almost in every town, multitudes professed it, and public 
 churches had been built, where they assembled for prayer, 
 and other holy exercises, Satan now raging with envy, and 
 seeing his empire near expiring, seemed to summon up his 
 whole strength, in order to make a last effort for the support 
 of idolatry, and the destruction of Christianity. He inspired 
 Dioclesian, and his colleague Maximian, with the most ranco- 
 rous hatred against the Christians. Dioclesian published an 
 edict at Nicomedia, in the year 303, ordering the churches id 
 be pulled down, and the Holy Scriptures to be burnt. But 
 this was only a prelude to his subsequent inhuman edicts, 
 which presently deluged the Roman empire with Christian 
 blood. Cruelties hitherto unheard of, and all kinds of tortures, 
 were employed upon the Christians. Some were hung with 
 their heads downwards and suffocated by slow fires, as in 
 Mesopotamia; others were broiled upon gridirons, as in Sy- 
 ria. Some were slain by breaking their legs, as in Cappado- 
 cia ; others had sharp reeds thrust under their nails, and 
 others melted lead poured upon them, as in Pontus. Some 
 were beheaded in Arabia ; others devoured by wild beasts in 
 Phoenicia. In Egypt infinite numbers suffered ; some of 
 whom, after being cruelly scourged, racked, and having their 
 flesh torn off with pincers, or racked off with pieces of broken 
 pots, were committed to the fire, or thrown into the sea. In 
 Phrygia, a populous city, consisting all of Christians, was 
 surrounded by a body of soldiers, who set fire to it, and men, 
 women, and children, were all consumed in the flames. In 
 fine, Eusebius the historian, who was eye-witness of some of 
 these barbarous scenes, says, that the cruelties exercised 
 against the Christians were innumerable, and exceeded all 
 relation. He also adds, that the people were not suffered to 
 buy or sell any thing, or to draw water from the public foun- 
 
44 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 
 tains, without first offering incense to idols, placed there for 
 that purpose. It would be endless to reckon up the number 
 of martyrs of these times. 
 
 Thus was the persecution carried on by Dioclesian in the 
 East and Maximian in the West, and afterwards by their suc- 
 cessors, for the space of ten years, with some interruptions ; 
 till Constantino, the first Christian emperor, put a stop to it 
 in the year 313, and gave peace to the Church. 
 
 Whoever desires a fuller account of all these persecutions, 
 may have recourse to the writers of Ecclesiastical History, 
 Eusebius, Lactantius le mortibus Persecutorum, Tillemont, 
 Cave, &c. What has been here said, explains sufficiently 
 the meaning of the shower of hail and fire mixed with blood, 
 which fell upon the Christian Church, according to the text 
 of Apocalypse here considered. 
 
 And now may we not, for a moment, take a quiet view of 
 the triumph of the Church over all her enemies ? The 
 Devil, like a fierce lion had closely watched her : and made 
 repeated furious attempts to devour her : but the Lion of the 
 tribe of Juda stood for her protection, and defeated all his 
 assaults. Those haughty princes, the Roman emperors, by 
 Satan's instigation, bore down against her with all the weight 
 of their power, to which the faithful opposed no other arms 
 but patience. Nevertheless, the edifice of the Church could 
 not be thrown down, because he that built it was himself the 
 corner stone, and had declared, it should stand for ever. The 
 Pagans persuaded themselves, that by dint of tortures, and 
 severities, they could totally crush the Christians, and extin- 
 guish their very name ; but their expectations were frustrated, 
 and they saw them daily increase under those very oppres- 
 sions. The more Christians they tortured, or put to death, 
 the more converts were made from the view of such amazing 
 examples of fortitude; and the Christian blood they spilt, as 
 Tertullian told them, was the seed of new Christians, The 
 heavy pressures the Church laboured under, served to purify 
 her members, like gold in the furnace, and from the fire of 
 persecution she rose up, like the Phoenix, more bright and 
 more vigorous. The idolatrous emperors of Rome looked 
 upon the Christian religion as a mere human invention, and 
 in this lay their mistake : they were ignorant that the work 
 was of divine construction, that it was the new kingdom of 
 the God of Heaven which had just been founded, and to which, 
 by the eternal decrees, all other kingdoms were to give place, 
 Dan. ii. 44. It was the stone, foretold by the prophet Daniel, 
 
HISTORY OF THE tlHRISTIAN CHURCH. 45 
 
 "cut out of the mountain without hands," Dan. ii. 34, which 
 should break down all preceding powers, even the great em- 
 pire of Rome itself; that is, it should destroy the empire of 
 idolatry in all nations, and reduce them to the obedience of its 
 own laws, even Rome itself, which w^as to be for a time the 
 chief seat and fortress of idolatry. "This stone," pursues the 
 same prophet, " grew up into a great mountain, and filled the 
 whole earth," Dan. ii. 35, which signifies that the extent of 
 the Christian relio-ion was to have no other bounds but the 
 extremities of the earth. Such beinsr the solid foundation of 
 the Church laid by the Almighty's hand, all human efforts 
 against her must of course prove vain and abortive. The 
 persecutions, however violent, had no other effect but to throw 
 a gloomy veil over her for a while : but that being once re- 
 moved, she appeared with new strength, and like* the sun 
 emerging from an eclipse, she shone forth with greater lustre, 
 and spread her influence over the w^hole earth. 
 
 Prelude to the 'pouring out of the seven Vials. 
 
 ^j9oc. chap. XV. 1. "And I saw," says St. John, "another 
 sign in heaven great and w^onderful : seven angels, having 
 the seven last plagues ; for in them is filled up the wrath of 
 God."*' 
 
 Here is a new vision, great and wonderful, shown to St. 
 John : seven angels holding the figurative symbols of seven 
 plagues or scourges, that is, of seven dreadful punishments. 
 They are called the last, because in them is filled up or com- 
 pleted the wrath of God, being inflicted on mankind in the 
 last period of the world, which is the period of Christianity. 
 Accordingly, the first of these scourges take place, as we shall 
 see, soon after the beginning of the Christian jera, and the 
 seventh puts an end to the world. 
 
 V. 2. " And I saw," continues St. John, "as it were a sea 
 of glass mingled with fire, and them that had overcome the 
 beast, and his image,! ^nd the number of his name, standing 
 on the sea of glass, having the harps of God : 
 
 V. 3. " And singing the canticle of Moses the servant of 
 God, and the canticle of the Lamb, saying : Great and won- 
 derful are thy works, O Lord God Almighty : just and true 
 are thy ways, O King of ages. J 
 
 * In the Greek text, "having seven plagues the last, because in them 
 was fulfilled the wrath of God." 
 + In the Greek is added, " and his character." 
 tin the Greek, "king of saints." 
 
46 HISTORY OF TilE CHKISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 V. 4. " Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and magnify thy 
 name? for thou only art holy. For all nations shall come, 
 and shall adore in thy sight, because thy judgments are mani- 
 fest." 
 
 By the sea of glass is meant, as before explained, the firma- 
 ment that makes the floor of heaven ; which here is said to 
 be mingled with fire, in allusion to the persecutions and trou- 
 bles, which the faithful servants of God, who are seen stand- 
 ing on this sea, have sustained during the whole course of the 
 Christian as^es. For here, it must be observed, we are trans- 
 ferred to the moment of time, when all the seven scourges are 
 completed and past, which is at the end of the world. Sup- 
 posing ourselves therefore at that point of time, we see a great 
 body of Christian saints standing upon the sea of glass. But 
 who in particular are they ? Those who have overcome the 
 beast and his image, and his ch*aracter, or mark, and the num- 
 ber of his name. By a beast is generally meant an animal 
 that destroys mankind, or ravages a country. In allusion to 
 that idea, the beast here stands for idolatry and heresy; both 
 which always make great devastation and desolation in the 
 Church. Pursuant to that double meaning of the beast, its 
 image denotes, either the idols of the pagan gods, or the 
 pernicious tenets of heresy. By the character or mark of the 
 beast, we may understand, either a real distinctive mark of 
 idolatry or heresy, or a special power exercised in defence of 
 either. The number of the name of the beast is appropria- 
 ted, as we shall see hereafter, to the famous abettor of idola 
 try. Antichrist. Those Christian champions, therefore, who 
 have courageously suffered death, or persecution, or other 
 tribulations, rather than join with idolatry or heresy under 
 any respect whatever, are here collected together in heaven, 
 holding in their hands celestial harps to sound the praises oi 
 God. They are employed in singing the canticle of Moses 
 the servant of God, and the canticle of the Lamb ; the first 
 to acknowledge the power and justice of God in the seven 
 terrible plagues or punishments, which he has inflicted upon 
 their enemies, the idolaters and heretics. Thus in that sense 
 they sing : Great and wonderful are thy works, O Lord God 
 Almighty. This canticle is here said to be the canticle ot 
 Moses the servant of Giod, because it bears the sense, and is 
 sung in imitation, of the canticle which the Israelites sung to 
 God, after having passed the Red Sea under the conduct ol 
 Moses, and seen their enemies perish in its gulf For thus 
 sung they : " Let us sing to the Lord ; for he is gloriously 
 
 t 
 
HISTORY Ot TIIK CHRISTIAN" CHURCH. 47 
 
 magnified, the horse and the rider he has thrown into the 
 sea," &c. Exod. xv. 1. To the canticle of Moses the Christ- 
 ian saints immediately join the canticle of the Lamb, sing- 
 ing ; " Just and true are thy ways, O King of saints :" thus 
 extolling his justice and bounty in his dispensations to them, 
 for having subjected them to severe trials, having safely con- 
 ducted them through by his grace, and crowned them witli 
 Victory. Then they conclude their religious hymn in address- 
 ing Almighty God thus : " Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, 
 and magnify thy name? for thou only art holy. For all na- 
 tions shall come, and shall adore in thy sight, because thy 
 judgments, or punishments, on the impious are manifest." 
 
 From what has been exhibited in this scene we learn, that 
 the Almighty is jealous of whatever injuries are offered to 
 his servants, and takes upon himself the judgment of their 
 cause. Though for the proof of their zeal, and for their 
 greater crown, he permits their enemies for a while to exer- 
 cise their tyrannical power over them, yet in his wisdom he 
 reserves to himself a time, in which he will reveno-e the evils 
 done to them, and severely punish their persecutors. Not 
 only former ages furnish a great number of known instances 
 of such punishments, but the word -of God openly declares 
 such to be the tenor of the divine economy. "Will not 
 God," said our Saviour, " revenge his elect who cry to him 
 day and night : and will he have patience in their regard '? 
 I say to you that he will quickly revenge them." Luke xviii. 
 7, 8. Hence we are prepared for what follows. 
 
 Y. 5. " And after these things," proceeds St. John, " I looked 
 and behold the temple of the tabernacle of the testimon}?^ in 
 heaven was opened. 
 
 V. G. " And the seven angels came out of the temple 
 having the sev^en plagues, clothed with clean and white linen, 
 and girt about the breasts with golden girdles." 
 
 Here the scene changes, and is carried back to the period 
 of time that immediately precedes the beginning of the seven 
 plagues or punishments. This removal of the scene St. John 
 insinuates by the unusual circumlocution, "after these things 
 I looked and behold." Then "the temple of the tabernacle of 
 the testimony in heaven was opened." St. John sees in heaven 
 a tabernacle of testimony, similar in form to the ancient 
 Jewish tabernacle; and the temple, that is, the holy of holies, 
 or sanctuary of this heavenly tabernacle, had been shut up 
 on the conclusion of the above canticles, and in it the Deity 
 with the seven angels : but after a short space of time, on the 
 
 * 
 
48 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 commencement of the new scene, the temple or sanctuary 
 opens, and presently come out from the presence of God, the 
 seven angels holding the seven plagues, clothed in clea»n and 
 white linen, the emblem of the immortal glory they enjoy; 
 and girt about the breasts with golden girdles, to show that 
 they are vested with the divine authority, and that they are 
 actually proceeding to execute the work they are charged 
 with. 
 
 v. 7. "And one of the four living creatures gave to the 
 seven angels seven golden vials, full of the wrath of God who 
 liveth for ever and ever. 
 
 V. 8. "And the temple was filled with smoke from the 
 Majesty of God, and from his power ; and no man was able 
 to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven 
 angels were fulfilled." 
 
 Here the seven angels receive seven vials full of the wrath 
 of God : upon the pouring out of which, as we shall see, 
 follow the seven plagues or divine judgments, upon the 
 enemies of religion. The vials are given to the angels by 
 one of the four living creatures, that is, by a prophet, because 
 at that time the effects of the vials have not happened, but are 
 to happen in time to come, and therefore are here announced 
 by the way of prophecy. Then the temple in heaven is filled 
 with smoke, manifesting first, the Majesty of God residing 
 there ; secondly, his power, which he is going to exert in the 
 punishment of idolaters and heretics. A similar scene to this 
 was formerly seen by the prophet Isaiah : " I saw," says he, 
 " the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated. — And the 
 house was filled with smoke." Isai. vi. 1.4, In the present 
 case, such is the overpowering force of the smoke, that no 
 man is able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of 
 the seven angels be fulfilled ; or, no man, soul and body 
 together, is able to enter into the temple, the temple of heaven, 
 till the seven severe scourges of God imported by the pouring 
 out of the seven vials, have been inflicted on the enemies and 
 persecutors of his Church. The Almighty by his power 
 carries on his Church, through the period of time he thinks 
 fit to allot it, and in its progress punisheth its opposers and 
 enemies. When that period of time finishes, and the seven 
 vials are poured out, and the punishments executed, then fol- 
 lows the general judgment; after which, the saints will enter 
 soul and body into the temple of heaven. Almighty God is 
 patient in his anger, and waits for the conversion of his 
 undutiful and rebellious children, but their obstinacy arms at 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CKURCH. 4^ 
 
 'last his justice, and compels him to strike. " The Lord is a 
 Jealous God," says the prophet, "and a revenger; the Lord is 
 a revenger and has v/rath: The Lord takes vengeance 
 on his a/iversaries, and he is angry with his enemies." 
 Nahum, i. 2. 
 
 Apoc. chap, xvi. 1. "And I heard," continties St. John, 
 •" a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels : 
 Oo, and pour out the seven vials of the wrath of God upon 
 the earth." 
 
 A great voice is heard from out of the temple or sanctuary, 
 as coming from God w^ho resides there; and delivering this 
 •order to the seven angels who hold the seven vials : " Go 
 and pour out the seven vials of the wrath of God upon the 
 «arth." 
 
 Conformably to the remarks we made before the opening 
 of the seals, and before the sounding of the trumpets, pp. 32 and 
 35, so here, before the pouring out of the vials, appears another 
 scene of passing from the Jewish establishment to the Chris- 
 tian Church : the Jewish taberna<ile with its sanctuary repre- 
 sented in heaven, being left by the angels going forth to pour 
 out the vials of the wrath of God, which beloKg to th^ 
 Christian age. 
 
 The pouring out of the first Yial of the wrath of God. 
 
 V. 2. ^' And the first (Angel) went, and poured out his vial 
 upon the earth, and there fell a sore and grievous wound upon 
 men, who had the character of the beast, and upon them that 
 adored the image thereof." 
 
 Let us begin with observing that as at the sounding of the 
 first trumpet the shower of hail, fire, and blood, fell upon the 
 earth, that is, on the good part of the eai'th, or the Christian 
 Church, so here the first vial of the wrath of God is like^vise 
 poured out upon the earth, that is, upon the guilty part of the 
 world, or the persecutors of the Christians. The sore and 
 grievous wound here inflicted, means a grievous punishment, 
 which falls upon those who have the character or mark of the 
 beast, that is, on the pagan emperors of Rome and their govern- 
 ors of the Roman provinces, as they bore in a special manner 
 the mark of the beast or of idolatry, by employing their whole 
 power in the support of it, and in persecuting the Christian 
 religion. The same punishment also falls upon those v/ho 
 adore the image of the beast, that is, on the idolatrous people 
 of the Roman empire. The Roman state was the principal 
 seat and bulwark of idolatry. Hence the pou-ring out of the 
 5 
 
 
60 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 first vial of the wrath of God announces the divine judgment 
 on the monarchs of Rome and their subjects, for their support- 
 ing idolatry, an abomination so odious to God, and for perse- 
 cuting his Church and his people. How this was fulfilled, 
 the following short account will discover : 
 
 Nero, the first Roman emperor that imbrued his hands in 
 Christian blood, had by his cruelties made himself the detest- 
 ation of mankind. The people of Rome would no longer 
 bear with him ; his armies revolted from him and set up a nevv* 
 emperor. He was deserted by his own guards, and the 
 Roman senate pronounced sentence of death against him. 
 In this desperate and forlorn condition he fled from Rome 
 into the country, to a house belonging to his freedman, where, 
 by the help of others, not having resolution himself, he got 
 himself despatched with daggers. Thus fell Nero a victim 
 to the vengeance of God. 
 
 But heaven was not appeased with this sole victim. The 
 weight of divine justice, conformably to the tenor of the vial, 
 fell also upon the whole Roman state, which was torn to pieces 
 by intestine convulsions. Galba succeeded Nero : but soon after 
 rose up Otho, who got himself proclaimed emperor by the 
 soldiers. Galba was murdered in the Forum, and the people 
 were trampled under foot in the streets of Rome by the brutal 
 soldiers. During these troubles in the city, the Roman 
 legions in Germany, created their commander Vitellius em- 
 peror. This new contest between two competitors could not 
 be decided but by the sword, and the blood of many thousands 
 of Romans. Four considerable battles were fought witliin 
 the space of a few months, which gave the empire to Vitellius. 
 But that same year the Roman armies in the east vested their 
 own commander Vespasian with the imperial purple in oppo- 
 sition to Vitellius. This continued the civil war, and a battle 
 was fought between the two parties at the gates of Rome, in 
 which the Vitellians lost the day. Rome was made a scene of 
 slaughter, being taken and ravaged by its own subjects, and 
 the Capitol was laid in ashes. 
 
 Eight years after this calamity sprung up a fresh one. 
 Such a terrible plague infected the city of Rome, that accord- 
 ing to Eusebius it swept away ten thousand inhabitants in a 
 day for several days together. 
 
 Domitian, the second persecutor, felt also the weight of 
 divine anger. His own friends and domestics, with his wife 
 Domitia, conspired against him and slew him. And after 
 his death the senate of Rome rescinded "11 his edicts, ordered 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 51 
 
 all his statues to be pulled down, his name to be erasea m all 
 the public registers, and never more to be mentioned. 
 
 The emperors Trajan, Adrian, and Marcus Aurelius, having- 
 rather tolerated than raised persecution, escaped such visible 
 judgments. But the empire itself felt the dismal effects of 
 the Christian blood that had been spilt during these reigns. 
 In the eighteenth year of Trajan there happened a prodi- 
 gious earthquake, which was almost general in the East, but 
 Syria chiefly suffered. Many great towns were ruined. In 
 the city of Antioch, where the Emperor Trajan then resided, 
 almost all the buildings were thrown down, and many thou- 
 sands of people lost their lives; the emperor himself narrowly 
 escaping by leaping out of a window. In the second year of 
 Marcus Aurelius the Tiber overflowed a considerable part 
 of Rome, carried away a multitude of people and cattle, 
 ruined the country, and caused an extreme famine. This 
 inundation was followed by swarms of insects, which devoured 
 all that the flood had spared. Four years after, Lucius Verus 
 coming victorious from the Parthian war, brought the plague 
 along with him, which communicated the contagion to all the 
 Roman provinces through which he passed, and carried oft' 
 multitudes of people. 
 
 Severus, the fifth persecutor, among other misfortunes, had 
 for son Antoninus Caracalla, a most vicious prince, who 
 attempted to take away his father's life by stabbing him with 
 his own hand, but was prevented by some that were present. 
 This behaviour of his son threw Severus into a deep melan- 
 choly, which put an end to his life. The hand of vengeance 
 pursued even his children. Caracalla murdered his brother 
 Geta, and he himself underwent the same fate, which extin- 
 guished the family. 
 
 Maximinus, the sixth persecutor, became odious to the whole 
 empire for his cruelties and his avarice. Africa rebelled 
 against him. The senate of Rome declared him an enemy 
 to the state, and set up new emperors against him. He was 
 so detested, that while he was besieging the city of Aquileia, 
 his own soldiers fell upon him in his tent, slew both him and 
 his son, sent their heads to Rome, and left their bodies to be 
 devoured by dogs and birds of prey. 
 
 During the short reign of Maximinus, neither the city of 
 Rome nor the provinces were free from wars, tumults, mur- 
 ders, and all sorts of calamities. 
 
 Decius the emperor, an execrable beast, as Lactantius styles 
 him, in his war with the Goths being attacked by them, and 
 
52 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 
 
 seeing- his eldest son killed before his face, and a great part of 
 his army cut off, in despair ran into a deep bog where he 
 perished. His body was not allowed comnion burial, but 
 exposed to be devoured by the beasts of the earth and the 
 birds of the air. 
 
 The horrible persecution in this emperor's reign seemed to 
 rouse up afresh the indignation of heaven. The Roman state 
 was harassed by great wars and desolation from the Goths 
 and other barbarous northern nations ; and likewise by a 
 dreadful pestilence, which spread itself over all the provinces, 
 and lasted ten years, destroying incredible numbers of people. 
 In the first year of the Emperor Gallus, Decius's successor, 
 who continued the persecution, the plague raged more furi- 
 ously than ever, particularly at Carthage in Africa. There 
 vast multitudes were swept away every day, and the streets 
 were filled, with the carcasses of the dead. St. Cyprian, bishop 
 of that city, wrote on this occasion his book on the Mortality, 
 or Pestilence, to comfort and encourage his own flock under 
 the general calamity, and he zealously exhorted them not to 
 be wanting in giving all assistance possible to the infected, 
 though pagans and their declared enemies. He also wrote at 
 this time to Demetrianus, a magistrate of Carthage, repre- 
 senting to him that these evils were not, as the pagans pre- 
 tended, punishments inflicted upon them by their gods for 
 their permitting the growth of Christianity ; but on the con- 
 trary, that they were real punishments sent from the true God 
 of heaven and earth for their cruelties to the Christians. St. 
 Cyprian tells him : " Never do we see the Christian name 
 persecuted but we see the divine vengeance soon follows. Of 
 this we have a recent example, when so quick and so remarka- 
 ble a judgment lately appeared in the violent death of the 
 kings, (raeaningDecius and his son,) in the great devastations 
 made by the enemies, and the ruin of the Roman army." 
 
 Valerian, the eighth cruel persecutor of the Christians, in 
 his war w^ith the Persians was taken prisoner by Sapor, their 
 King, who treated him with the utmost indignity, so far as to 
 make him, who had but just before been the greatest monarch 
 in the world, to bow down and serve as a footstool to him, the 
 king to get on horseback. After keeping him seven years in 
 this wretched slavery, Sapor ordered that his eyes should be 
 pidled out, then that he should be flayed alive, and his skin 
 hung up as a trophy in one of the Persian temples. 
 
 After Valerian's persecution, heaven and earth seemed to 
 conspire in the destruction of the Roman empire. Earth- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 53 
 
 quakes overthrew cities, and destroyed great numbers of 
 people. The sea overswelled its boundaries, and broke into 
 many continents, drowning countries, cities, and people; and 
 so violent a pestilence raged, that in Rome no less than five 
 thousand persons died in a day. Besides this, the whole em- 
 pire was inv^aded on all sides. A body of Germans crossed 
 the Alps and broke into Italy. Another body of the same 
 enemies wasted Gaul and entered Spain. The Goths and 
 Scythians ravaged Pontus and great part of lesser Asia :- 
 and in Europe, all Greece, Macedon, and their confines. The 
 Quadi and Sarmatians seized on Dacia and Pannonia ; and 
 the Persians and Parthians took possession of Mesopotamia 
 and a great part of Syria. To complete these disasters, there 
 rose up thirty tyrants, who, assuming the title of emperors, set 
 up in opposition to one another and to the reigning emperor 
 Gallienus, which occasioned the empire to be more harassed 
 and oppressed by its own intestine broils than by foreign 
 devastations. These disasters had been foretold in the time of 
 the persecution by the holy Martyr, St. Marian, when he was 
 carried to execution. He announced them as a scourge im- 
 pending on the state for the innocent blood that was spilt of 
 the Christians. 
 
 The Emperor Aurelian, another persecutor, was assassina- 
 ted by his own secretary and some others, who had formed a 
 conspiracy against him. 
 
 Dioclesian, the tenth persecutor, was compelled by Galerius, 
 whom he had created Caesar, to resign to him the empire, 
 and retire himself to a private life. Afterwards he had the 
 mortification to learn, that Constantine, Avho was become 
 emperor, had pulled down his statues. His wife and daugh- 
 ter were also put to death by Licinius. These disgraces, and 
 the load of guilt that hung upon him, operated so strongly on 
 his mind, that he could neither eat nor sleep. He sighed and 
 groaned continually, often with tears in his eyes, sometimes 
 tumbling himself on his bed, and sometimes on the ground. 
 Thus he who governed the world for twenty years, as Lactan- 
 tius observes, was reduced to so miserable a condition, that 
 he finished his life by hunger and grief. This happened in 
 the year 312. 
 
 Maximian, Dioclesian's colleague in the empire and in the 
 persecution, had been also obliged to abdicate. He made 
 several attempts to resume the purple, but seeing them all 
 defeated, he hanged himself 
 
 The succeeding emperors, Galerius, Maxentius, Maximinus 
 6* 
 
54 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Daia, and Licinius, endeavouring to carry on the persecution 
 begun by Dioclcsian and Maximian, met also with their due 
 punishment. And first, 
 
 The hand of God was very visible upon the abominable 
 Galerios, who had taken so much pains to instigate Diocle- 
 sian against the Christians. He was struck with a dreadful 
 disease. An ulcer consumed the lower parts of his belly, 
 and laid open his very bowels. He was dev^oured by vermin, 
 and the whole mass of his body putrified. The stench that 
 came from him was intolerable. His pains were so violent, 
 that he roared out, and often attempted to kill himself In 
 these agonies he seemed to acknowledge the hand that lay 
 over him, and m order to avert it, he published an edict in 
 favour of the Christians. But heaven did not relent : and his 
 distemper increasing, in a few days put a period to his life. 
 
 Maxentius was routed in a battle he fousfht with Constan- 
 tine on the banks of the Tyber. As he was crossing that 
 river in his flight, the bridge gave way with the weight of 
 the crowd, and he was drowned. 
 
 Maximinus Daia being upon the point of engaging in bat- 
 tle with Licinius, made a vow to Jupiter, that if he got the 
 victory, he would e:^tingaish the very name of Christian. 
 His army was totally defeated by a much lesser number : 
 upon which he threw away his imperial robe, and fled in the 
 habit of a slave. He made different efforts to retrieve him- 
 self, but not succeeding, he resolved to make away with 
 himself For that purpose he eat and drank to great excess, 
 but this not effecting it, he took poison, which burnt him 
 within, and threw him into such a phrenzy that he eat com- 
 mon earth. His pains became so intolerable, that he ran his 
 head against the wall with such violence that his eyes started 
 out. In the end he acknowledged the justice of his punish- 
 ment for his cruelty to the Christians, and in the most exquisite 
 torments he breathed out his last. 
 
 We learn from Lactantius, that not only the forementioned 
 persecutors were all crushed by a superior power, but that 
 their whole race was also cut off The same fate, in like 
 manner, attended many of the governors, of the Roman pro- 
 vinces, who had so Avillingly concurred in executing the cruel 
 and bloody statutes of the emperors for the extirpation of 
 Christianity. The provinces of the east, where Maximinus 
 commanded, had also shared in the disasters that usually 
 followed persecution. A dreadful famine and plague had 
 spread through them a universal desolation. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 55 
 
 At the death of Maximinus Dafa in 313, Licinius remain- 
 ed master in the east. Constantine, who had reigned for some 
 years as emperor in the west, being a Christian, or disposing 
 himself to be so, prevailed upon Licinius to join with him in 
 publishing an edict, \vhich superseded all persecution, and 
 granted full liberty and peace to Christians. This happy 
 time lasted till the year 319, when Licinius altering his con- 
 duct, commenced a new persecution, and in 323 renewed the 
 war he had before waged with Constantine. Licinius was 
 vanquished both by sea and land, and upon his submission 
 was allowed to retire to Thessalonica ,• but as he still medita- 
 ted new disturbance, he was put to death by Constantine's 
 orders in the year 324. 
 
 Thus then at last a period was put to the troubles of 
 the Christians. Religion triumphed over every obstruction, 
 which the idolatrous powers had opposed to it. The Chris- 
 tian Constantine reigned sole emperor: and here is dated the 
 remarkable epocha of the peace and triumph of the Church 
 of Christ. 
 
 What has been said seems to show sufficiently the accom- 
 plishment of the text under consideration, that is, the severe 
 judgments that fell upon the Roman emperors and the people 
 of the empire, for their supporting idolatry, -and persecuting 
 the true worship of God. However, the hand of God did 
 not stop here, nor was it satisfied with the slaughter of the 
 great victims we have seen, nor with the large measure of 
 calamities we have described. We shall see in the sequel the 
 most astonishing stroke, by which the divine vengeance was 
 at last completed. This was the subversion of the great 
 Roman empire, and total destruction of Pagan Rome itself. 
 
 Notwithstanding the preceding explanation of the text, we 
 shall beg leave, in order to elucidate it the more, to add some- 
 thing further, particularly the cessation of the pagan oracles, 
 which chiefly happened in this first age. Christ came into the 
 world not only to subdue all earthly powers by bringing them 
 under the yoke of his doctrine, but also to conquer the devil, 
 and to break down the dominion he had usurped over man- 
 kind. This we learn from our Saviour himself, who said: 
 *' Now is the judgmeut of the world; now shall the prince of 
 this world, the devib be cast out." John xii. 31. It is well 
 known that the devil had long deluded mankind by the ora- 
 cles which he pretended to deliver by the mouths of the idols, 
 or their priests. Many of the answers thus pronounced as 
 oracles, were undoubtedly'^ mere inventions of th'^- pagan 
 
56 HISTORY OF THE CHRiSTJtAN CHURCH. 
 
 priests themselves who by such artifices imposed upon the- 
 ignorant. But the holy fathers and ancient ecclesiastical wri- 
 ters agree, that the demons themselves often spoke through the- 
 idols, and uttered predictions, which, whether true or false, 
 could always, on account of their obscurity and ambiguity, be 
 interpreted conformable to the events. All these oracular 
 powers, even the most celebrated, were observed to decline 
 after our Saviour's coming into the world and the preaching 
 of the gospel, and by degrees entirely ceased giving any 
 more answers. Thus speaks the historian Eusebius, who 
 flourished in the reign of Constantino the Great : " A great 
 proof of the imbecility of the demons is, that their oracles are 
 extinct, and give no more answers as formerly, and that this- 
 happencd about the time of the coming of our Saviour; for as 
 soon as his doctrine was preached throughout the world, th& 
 oracles then ceased." Dem. Evang. lib. 5. The pagan wri- 
 ters themselves universally complain, that their gods had' 
 forsaken their temples, and that their vot-aries did in vain 
 solicit their counsels. Julian the apostate owns, " that the 
 gods now a days seldom inspire any of their ministers, nor can 
 any one scarce obtain that inspiration ; but oracles, like other 
 things, seem to alter with the revolution of times." Apud 
 S. Cyrill. lib. 6. contra .Julian. Even the most celebrated' 
 oracle of Apollo at Delphos, some time before our Saviour's 
 birth, had lost much of its credit, and after his appearance it 
 entirely sunk away. Thus speaks Juvenal of it at the begirki- 
 ning of the second century. Sat. 6. 
 
 -Delphis oracula ces&ant. 
 
 Now the Delphian oracies are dumb. 
 
 Dhvden's Transl. 
 
 Thus also wrote the poet Lucan, a little after the middle oi 
 the first century, lib. 5. 
 
 -Non ullo scecnlci dono 
 
 Nostra carentmajore Deum, quam Delphica sede&quod filuit. 
 Of all the wants with which this age is curst, 
 The Delphic silence surely is the worst. 
 
 Rowe's Transl. 
 
 Plutarch wrote an express treatise to account for the silence 
 of oracles. He employs arguments founded on natural, mo- 
 ral, and political causes, but all his philosophy proved insuf- 
 ficient to give a satisfactory reason. That this silence was- 
 solely owing to the dominion of Christ, and the establishment 
 of his religion, is avowed even by some of the pagans them- 
 selves. Porphyry, an inveterate enemy to Christianity,, \vh© 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 57 
 
 lived towards the end of the third century, says : " It is no 
 wonder if the city for so many years has been aflicted with 
 sickness, ^scuhipius, and the rest of the gods, having with- 
 drawn their former commerce with mankind ; for since Jesus 
 has begun to be worshipped, no one has received any public 
 help from the gods." Euseb. Prsep. Evang. lib. 5. On this 
 subject see also Cave and others. The holy fathers are una- 
 nimous in their opinion, that the superior power of the Chris- 
 tian religion imposed silence on the devil, shut up the mouths 
 of his priests and priestesses, and greatly abridged his in- 
 fluence in seducing mankind. Visible examples are not want- 
 ing in confirmation of this truth. St. Gregory of Nyssa re- 
 lates, that St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, having entered a hea- 
 thenish temple famous for oracles, purified it by the sign of the 
 cross and prayer, and compelled the demon that resided there 
 to leave the place. This the demon himself confessed to his 
 votaries. We also learn from St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, So- 
 zomen, and others, that at Dunhue, in the neighbourhood of 
 Antioch, there was a temple dedicated to Apollo, much cele- 
 brated for its oracles ; but that the body of the holy martyr, 
 St. Babylas, being brought and laid in a church near the place, 
 Apollo was instantly struck dumb. Thus was the devil com- 
 pelled to yield to a force he had not felt before. It was cer- 
 tainly fit, that, when the Son of God, appeared on the earth, 
 then Satan should be obliged to withdraw, and his impostures 
 give place to the light of truth. 
 
 But it ought to be here observed, that this silencing of Sa* 
 tan was only a small part of the victory which Christ claimed 
 over him. The whole system of idolatry, which that enemy 
 of God had introduced into the world, was now by the propa- 
 gation of the Christian faith shaken to the very foundation, 
 and in a little time tumbled wholly to pieces. It was what the 
 Almighty had long before announced by his prophets. Thus 
 speaks Isaias : *' In that day the Lord shall be exalted alone, 
 and the idols shall be utterly destroj-ed." Isai. ii. 17, 18. 
 " The Lord shall consume all the gods of the earth," says 
 another prophet, Sophon. ii. 11. In proportion as the Chris- 
 tian religion was made known, the absurdity and impiety of 
 idolatrous worship became manifest, the idols were thrown 
 down, the fictitious deities they represented were scoffed at and 
 ridiculed, and their ministers treated with the utmost contempt. 
 In the same measure that He, who is the " Light of the world," 
 spread his influence, with the same speed the " Spirit of dark 
 ness" fled away, and retired into obscurity. 
 
58 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 By degrees the devil's power was so weakened, that the 
 meanest Christian could by a word expel him from those 
 miserable creatures he tyrannically possessed, and force him to 
 acknowledge with confusion, that he was a rebel angel, an 
 enemy to God. This practice is fully attested by St. Justin, 
 St. IrensBus, Tcrtullian, St. Cyprian, and all the primitive fa- 
 thers, and was common in the three first centuries of the 
 church. Nor was this power of the Christians over the devil 
 to be wondered at, as it was founded on Christ, who had given 
 his word for it. " These signs," says he, " shall follow them 
 that believe : In my name they shall cast out devils." Mark 
 xvi. 17. 
 
 Facts similar to those above related are seen at this day in 
 the idolatrous nations of the East Indies, where the devil has 
 maintained for a long time a settled worship and dominion. It 
 is common there to see persons possessed, which he manages 
 according to his will, and through their mouths delivers his 
 oracles, and answers the questions put to him by his votaries. 
 It is indeed no matter of surprise that the devil enjoys so 
 much power in places where he is personally worshipped. 
 But at the same time there is seen the same virtue and efficacy 
 residing in the Christian and Catholic religion, as in the pri- 
 mitive ages. The persons possessed are delivered from the 
 evil spirit by the prayers or command of the Christians, and 
 his influence is observed to decline as the gospel gains ground. 
 These facts are certified by unquestionable testimonies of the 
 Catholic missionaries residing in those countries, who are 
 daily eye-witnesses of them. See Lettres Curieuses et JEdi- 
 fiantes. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A FURTHER ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST AGE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 CHURCH. 
 
 The first seal, trumpet, and vial, have exhibited a general 
 descriptions of the first preaching of the Christian religion, the 
 persecution that attended it, and the divine vengeance on the 
 authors of these persecutions. But as the history of the 
 church is highly interesting during this first age, or first three 
 
HISTORY or THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 69 
 
 centuries, in which it took its birth and obtained its establish- 
 ment, Christ is pleased to disclose to us, in chap. xii. of the 
 Apocalypse, more circumstances belonging to this period, and 
 unfolds the origin of all obstructions put to the propagation 
 of the Christian religion, the agents employed for that pur- 
 pose with the progress of their machinations and efforts for 
 the support of idolatry, and for suppressing the worship of 
 God and Christ. 
 
 Apoc. chap. xii. 1. " And a great sign appeared in heaven: 
 a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, 
 and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 
 
 V. 2. " And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, 
 and was in pain to be delivered." 
 
 Here is a " great sign" or a noble figurative representation 
 of the Christian Church. She appears " in heaven," as draw- 
 ing her origin from heaven, by her Author, the son of God : 
 and she is represented under the form of a " woman, clothed 
 with the sun, moon and stars," the most splendid raiment the 
 whole compass of nature can furnish. She is clothed with the 
 sun, as shining with the brightness of her sanctity, and with 
 the glory of her spouse, Jesus Christ, who is the " Sun of 
 Justice." Mai. iv. 2. She holds the " moon under her feet," 
 as victorious over all sublunary beings, over all earthly powers, 
 and worldly charms. She bears on her head " a crown of 
 twelve stars," denoting the twelve apostles, who, after Christ 
 her " Sun," make her principal ornament. She appears in 
 labour, and suffering the excruciating pangs of child-bed in 
 her first bringing forth children to Christ : such are the strug- 
 gles, and such are the difficulties, that obstruct the birth of 
 Christianity, or the first propagation of the Christian faith. 
 On one side human laws, human passions, the general depra- 
 vity of mankind, the pleasures of life : on the other side, the 
 Jews, the Pagans, all conspire to fight against her. But par- 
 ticularly : 
 
 V, 3. " And there was seen another sisfn in heaven: and 
 behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns, 
 and on his head seven diadems. 
 
 V. 4. " And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, 
 and cast them to the earth : and the dragon stood before the 
 woman who was ready to be delivered ; that when she should 
 be delivered, he might devour her son." 
 
 Here the woman, or the Christian Church, sees her chief 
 enemy, the great red or cruel dragon, which is the arch-devil 
 Satan, as St. John explains it below, verse 9th ; and it appears 
 
60 HISTORf OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 in heaven, or the upper region, because Satan draws his orfgm 
 from above, having been formerly a bright angel. This great 
 dragon has seven heads, and upon each a diadem or crown, 
 the types of seven emperors of pagan Rome, whom Satan 
 actuates and employs as his chief agents to oppose the rise of 
 the Christian relioion, and to maintain his own idolatrous 
 worship. That such is the meaning of the heads, we learn 
 from the explication given by the angel, chap. xvii. 9, of the_ 
 Apocalypse : " The seven heads," says the angel, "are seven 
 mountains — And they are seven kings.'' Ancient Rome be- 
 ing here clearly indicated as it was built on seven mountains; 
 The seven kings or emperors here pointed at seem to be, Nero, 
 Domitian, Severus, Decius, Valerian, Dioclesian, and Anti- 
 christ, as being the principal and disting-nished persecutors of 
 the Christian Church. The dragon had also ten horns deno- 
 ting ten provinces, into which the whole Roman empire is 
 here divided. The horns therefore being animated by the dra- 
 gon as well as the heads, the governors of the Roman pro- 
 vinces, and the people, will be also instigated by the devil to 
 persecute the Church of Christ. 
 
 It was said that the dragon with his tail drew the third part 
 of the stars of heaven, that is, the apostate angels whom he 
 had seduced, and he cast them to the earth, to be there em- 
 ployed in seducing mankind. But the greatest part of them 
 were precipitated down into the infernal dungeons, according 
 to that of St. Jude : " The angels who kept not their princi- 
 pality, but forsook their own habitation, he hath reserved 
 under darkness in everlasting chains unto the judgment of 
 the great day." Ep. v. 6. The dragon himself stood before the 
 woman who was ready to be delierved : that Avhen sheshould 
 be delivered, he mio-ht devour her son. Satan seeing his em- 
 pire of idolatry in danger of being dissolved by the publica- 
 tion of the Christian religion, resolves to crush this in its ori- 
 gin, by stirring up the whole Roman power against it, and 
 thus to devour the woman's offspring in its birth. 
 
 V. 5. "And she, the woman, brought forth a man-child, 
 who was to rule all nations with an iron rod : and her son 
 was taken up to God, and to his throne." The woman brings 
 forth a man-child, that is, a masculine race of Christians, a 
 progeny of holy champions, who in conjunction with Christ 
 their head, are to rule all nations with an iron rod by a par- 
 ticipation of his power, which he has promised them after the 
 victory in their conflicts with the dragon. " He that shall 
 overcome, says Christ, and keep my works unto the end, I 
 
4 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 61 
 
 will give hirr; power over the nations, and shall rule them 
 with a rod of iron." Apoc. ii. 26, 27. For such is the power 
 he himself exercises over the impious part of mankind, as 
 St. John tells us. " He shall rule the nations with a rod of 
 iron." Apoc. xix. 15. which had been attributed to him even 
 long before. " Thou shalt rule them, (the nations) with a rod 
 of iron, and shalt break them in pieces like a potter's vessel," 
 Psal. ii. 9. The Almighty Son of God breaks down empires, 
 dissolves states, strikes princes, destroys people that pre- 
 sume to contend with him. And " her son was taken up to 
 God, and to his throne ;" part of the woman's offspring, or a 
 considerable number of the Christians, when put to the trial 
 in the persecutions, generously laid down their lives for Christ 
 their Lord and master, and thus triumphing over the dragon, 
 instead of falling a prey to him, are carried up to heaven to 
 God and to his throne, where they are associated with him in 
 power and judgment, according to what we have just above 
 seen, and according to this other promise : " To him that shall 
 overcome," says Christ, " I will give to sit with me in my 
 throne ; as I also have overcome, and am set down with my 
 Father in his throne," Apoc. iii. 21. 
 
 V. 6. " And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she 
 had a place prepared by God, that there they should feed her 
 a thousand two hundred and sixty days." 
 
 During the cruel persecutions, which the devil stirred 
 up against the woman, or the Christian Church, by his in- 
 struments the heathen Roman emperors and magistrates, 
 many of the Christians fled for shelter into the deserts, to in- 
 accessible mountains, and other lurking places, as we learn 
 from the holy fathers and historians of those times. Great 
 multitudes in particular sought for refuge in the catacombs, 
 at Rome, and in many other places. These subterraneous 
 caverns, termed catacombs, are so prodigiously extensive, 
 branching out into innumerable streets which stretch to a 
 great distance, especially at Rome, that they may be properly 
 called a city under ground. The Christians lay concealed in 
 these dark and dismal retreats, which though originally made 
 for other purposes, were a place prepared by God, were de- 
 signed by him for a place of reception to his persecuted ser- 
 vants. In these various desolate abodes the Christians, though 
 in appearance destitute of all human succour, were neverthe- 
 less fed and supported by a special divine providence for the 
 space of a thousand two hundred and sixty days, or three years 
 and a half, which was the utmost duration of any of the Ro- 
 6 
 
62 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 man persecutions ; some of which did not fill that period, none 
 exceeded it. 
 
 V. 7. " And there was a great battle in heaven : Michael 
 and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought 
 and his angels : 
 
 V. 8. " And they prevailed not, neither was their place 
 found any more in heaven. 
 
 V. 9. " And that great dragon was cast out, that old ser- 
 pent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the 
 whole world : and he was cast unto the earth, and his angels 
 were thrown down with him." 
 
 The dragon, or Satan, had with unrelenting malice stimu- 
 lated the whole Roman power against the Christians by suc- 
 cessive dreadful persecutions, as we have seen; ^but still he 
 saw all his efforts baffled. Notwithstanding the^ immense 
 slaughter that had been made, he found he could not extirpate 
 the woman's offspring, it was so powerfully protected, and 
 supported by the divine hand : and he furthermore saw with 
 deep regret, and to his confusion, that the blood of the mar- 
 tyrs became the seed of the new Christians, and increased 
 their number. The infernal spirit determines therefore to try 
 another expedient ; in pursuance of which he presumes to 
 address the Almighty, challenging him to withdraw his hand 
 and suspend the extraordinary helps by which he supported 
 his people, and then it would soon appear that the Christians 
 had no real zeal or fortitude, but would soon abandon their 
 God and the interests of religion. Such are his malicious 
 insinuations, to get the Christians wholly into his power. 
 The same kind of artifice the malicious spirit had formerly 
 practised against the holy man. Job. Thus Satan accused 
 him before God : " Doth Job fear God m vain ? Hast thou 
 not made a fence for him and his house, and all his substance 
 round about, and blessed the work of his hands, and his pos- 
 session hath increased on the earth?" Job i. 9, 10. 
 
 After thus enumerating God's blessings upon Job, the evil 
 spirit thus pursues : " But stretch forth thy hand a little, and 
 touch all that he hath, and see if he blesseth thee not to thy 
 face," as above, ver. 1 1 ; that is suspend thy favours, and with- 
 draw all that thou hast given him, and see then if he does not 
 fly in thy face. But to return to our own subject : The Almighty 
 refusing to grant Satan his present request, and not being 
 willing to suffer him any more to approach his throne with 
 accusations against his people, orders the archangel, Michael, 
 the protector of the Christian Church, to banish Satan utterly 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 63 
 
 from the heavenly regions : upon which a fierce battle ensues 
 between St. Michael, assisted by an army of angels, and Satan 
 with his associates. These latter are worsted, and cast down 
 to the earth. Upon which, 
 
 V. 10. "And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: 
 Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of oui 
 God, and the power of his Christ ; because the accuser of our 
 brethren is cast forth, who accused them before our God day 
 and night." 
 
 Upon the victory of St. Michael over Satan there foUow^s 
 joy and acclamation of the Christian saints in heaven, say- 
 ing: " Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom 
 of our God, and the power of his Christ," &c. : now the Al- 
 mighty has displayed his power, has assumed victory and 
 dominion, and has ascertained the reign of Jesus, his Christ : 
 for now we see Satan foiled, and no more permitted to appear 
 before the throne of God with accusations against our brethren 
 on earth, as he was wonted to do. 
 
 V. 11. "And they overcame him by the blood of the 
 Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not 
 their lives unto death. 
 
 V. 12. " Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you thai dwell 
 therein." 
 
 The saints in heaven thus continue their exultation, for the 
 fortitude and constancy of their brethren, who by virtue of the 
 blood of the Lamb, that is, by virtue of the plentiful graces 
 purchased for them by the blood of the Lamb, had gene- 
 rously bore testimony to, and laid down their lives for, that 
 faith which Satan endeavoured to extirpate, and thus had 
 overcome him. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, for these new 
 illustrious inhabitants, and rejoice you that dwell therein, for 
 your new happy associates. Thus is celebrated the double 
 victory; that of St. Michael, and that of the Martyrs, over the 
 devil. But on the other hand, 
 
 V. 12. " Wo to the earth and to the sea, because the dev<l 
 IS come down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he 
 hath but a short time." 
 
 A terrifying alarm is here proclaimed to the earth and sea, 
 that is, to the Christians wherever they be, because the devil, 
 now utterly expelled from heaven, is come down in great 
 wrath, to exercise anew his fury against them. The Almighty 
 had rejected the fiend's malicious suggestion of withdrawing 
 his powerful graces and protection from his people, but by an 
 unsearchable determination of his infinite wisdom, permits 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Satan to raise a fresh persecution, much more terrible thai! 
 any before. This is the persecution of the Emperor Diode- 
 sian ; in which, as it was to be the last, the dragon poured oul 
 his utmost venom and rage, as knowing that he had but a- 
 short time left him* 
 
 V. 13. " And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto 
 the earth, he persecuted the woman, who brought forth the 
 man-child." 
 
 And no sooner did this persecution begin to break out, but, 
 
 V. 14. " And there were given to the woman two wings of 
 a great eagle, that she might fly into the desert unto her 
 place ; where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half 
 a time, from the face of the serpent." 
 
 Here the woman, or the general body of the Christians, 
 seeing the storm rising, betake themselves again to their for- 
 mer retreats in the deserts, the catacombs, and other lurking 
 places. And as the violence of this exceeded th,at of all pre- 
 ceding persecutions, so is the woman furnished Avith two 
 wings of a great eagle to enable her to fly with more strength 
 and swiftness, that is, she is favoured in her flight with a more 
 special protection and assistance from God : in a similar 
 manner to what the Israelites experienced, when the Almighty 
 saved them from the fury of the Egyptians: " You have 
 seen," said God to his people, " what I have done to the 
 Egyptians: how I have carried you on the wings of eagles 
 and have taken you to myself" Exod. xix. 4. But further 
 more, Divine Providence fails not to nourish or provide with 
 spiritual and corporal food the Christians in their desolate 
 abodes, where they are obliged to remain for a time, and 
 times, and half a time, that is a year, two years, and half a 
 year, or three years and a half; the utmost period of any one 
 part of this persecution, which indeed in the whole lasted ten 
 years, from 303 to 313, but with some interruptions. 
 
 V. 15. "And the serpent cast out of his mouth, after the 
 woman, water, as it were a river ; that he might cause her to 
 be carried away by the river." 
 
 And now the serpent or devil, in his full rage against the 
 woman, or Christian Church, resolves to overwhelm her, if 
 possible. For that purpose he casts out of his mouth after her a 
 flood or river of water ; he raises a more cruel and bloody per* 
 secution,than had ever been known, through the whole Roman 
 empire, actuating the emperors and governors of the provinces 
 with the most implacable rancour and most savage fury against 
 the Christians, who for ten years together had little respite 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. ^5 
 
 The persecuting emperors were, Dioclesian, Galerius, Maxi- 
 mian, Maxentius, and Maximinus Daia, some of whom reigned 
 at the same time in different parts of the empire. Dioclesian 
 and Galerius, began the persecution in the eastern part of the 
 empire in 303. It was continued for three years and a half; 
 while Maximian carried on the same bloody work in the west. 
 " At this time the whole earth was harassed and tormented," 
 says Lactantius, " and three most cruel beasts" (namely, 
 Dioclesian, Galerius, and Maximian) "raged every where 
 from east to west, exoept in Gaul," Avhere Constantius Chlorus 
 governed and checked very much the violence of the perse- 
 cution. The Christians were diligently sought for; some 
 were discovered and dragged from their lurking places ; and 
 the cruelties and barbarities exercised in this persecution ex- 
 ceeded all description. " If I had a hundred tongues," says 
 again Lactantius, " and a hundred mouths, I should not be 
 able to recount all the different torments that were employed 
 • against the Christians." De mort. Pers. c. 16. After some 
 respite, the persecution was renewed in Italy by Maxentius in 
 308 ; and it raged most violently in the east under the orders 
 of the Emperor Maximinus Daia, the most sanguinary tyrant, 
 as St. Jerome styles him, that ever persecuted the Church. 
 His inhumanity and barbarity in torturing the martyrs sur- 
 passed every thing that had been practised before. This 
 bloody scene lasted also about three years and a half; and 
 after a short interval of rest, the same implacable tyrant 
 revived it in 312, but the next year he himself miserably 
 perished. 
 
 This was a long and severe trial, which it pleased Al- 
 mighty God in his wisdom to subject his people to ; but he 
 had fixed the bounds of it, and now he sends an unexpected 
 relief 
 
 V. 16. "And the earth helped the woman, says St. John, 
 and the earth opened her mouth; and swallowed up the river, 
 which the dragon cast out of his mouth." 
 
 The woman was helped by the earth, that is, by a prince of 
 the earth, Constantino the Great, who came to her succour, 
 and became the first Christian Emperor of Rome. Upon the 
 demise of his father Constantius Chlorus, who died in Great 
 Britain, Constantino was there proclaimed emperor in 306. 
 His first care was, though not yet a Christian, to prohibit all 
 persecution in the western provinces which were under his 
 dominion. He even wrote to his colleagues, the other empe- 
 rors, advising the same, upon which they suspended their 
 
66 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 persecution but soon renewed it. Constantino marched against 
 the tyrant Maxentius, who had declared war against him : 
 but before the encounter, by a special revelation he erected 
 the standard of the Cross at the head of his army, making it 
 his chief ensign. For he saAV in the sky a cross of light 
 wnth this inscription : " In this shalt thou conquer." And 
 efiectually under its auspices he defeated the tyrant in the 
 neighbourhood of Rome in the year 312. Maxentius in his 
 flight being drowned in the Tyber, Constantino entered Rome 
 in triumph, and was declared by the senate the first of the 
 emperors. The consequence of this victory was the restora- 
 tion of peace to the Christians throughout the whole western 
 Roman empire. Maximinus in the east, after being van- 
 quished by Licinms, having put an end to his own life in 313, 
 there remained but two emperors, Constantino who governed 
 in the west, and Licinius in the east. They both concurred, 
 though Licinius was a pagan, to publish an edict, that sup- 
 Dressed all persecution in the eastern empire, and granted full 
 iberty to the Christian religion. Thus at last, by human 
 help, under the divine concurrence and direction, the sunshine 
 of peace was restored to the Church throughout the whole 
 extent of the Roman dominions. And thus it appears how 
 *' the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the river, 
 which the dragon cast out of his mouth." 
 
 V. 17. "And the dragon w^as angry against the woman : 
 and went to make v^^ar with the rest of her seed, who keep the 
 commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 No wonder the dragon, or devil, was angry against the 
 woman, seeing that, instead of his destroying her, she had 
 defeated him ; and that she w^as now entirely rescued from 
 nis power, and under the protection of a prince, upon whom 
 he could have no influence. He was further enraged, to see 
 his own power crushed, his reign of idolatry expiring, his 
 agents, the heathen Roman princes exterminated, and now 
 Christianity established through the whole empire, that is, 
 through the greater part of the then known world. He had 
 Avith infinite regret seen himself driven by Constantino from 
 the western boundaries of the empire to its utmost limits in 
 the east. Satan thus o.vercome, but still swellinfr with rajre 
 and malice against the woman, leaves the Roman dominions, 
 and flies into the kingdom of Persia, there to continue his 
 hellish work in making war with the rest of the woman's 
 seed, the servants of God, who keep his commandments, and 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 67 
 
 bear testimony to Jesus Christ. There he finds new instru- 
 ments fit for his purpose, the barbarous heathen kings of that 
 country, whom he soon excites with fiiry against the woman's 
 seed. 
 
 A most horrible persecution was set on foot "by the cruel 
 tyrant, Sapor II., which raged during forty years without 
 intermission, from the year 340 to his death in 880. St. Ma- 
 ruthas, bishop of Tagrit in Mesopotamia, near the borders of 
 Persia, compiled the acts of many of the martyrs who suffered 
 in this persecution ; and the historian Sozomen, speaking of 
 them, says : " It would be difficult to give an exact account ot 
 them, to specify their names, their- countries, their torments, 
 and the new invented cruelties exercised upon them ; t shall 
 only say, it is assured that sixteen thousand men and women 
 sufiered, whose names were known, and so many others, that 
 their number could not be ascertained." Lib. ii. 14. Forty 
 years after, viz. in 420, the persecution was recommenced by 
 king Isdegerdes, and continued under his successors for thir- 
 ty years. The brutal inhumanity used in torturing the mar- 
 tyrs at this time, is thus described by the historian Theodo- 
 ret : " Some had the skin torn off their hands, others off their 
 backs, and others from their forehead down to the chin. Some 
 had split reeds tied round them very fast, which being plucked 
 away with violence brought the skin along with them, and 
 occasioned exquisite torment. Sometimes the persecutors dug 
 holes in the earth, which they stored with rats and mice, then 
 shut up the Christians in them after tying their hands and 
 feet, and left them to be devoured by the vermin. The ene- 
 my of God and man suggested to them several other more 
 barbarous kinds of torture which they employed upon the 
 holy men, but none could shake their constancy." Lib. v. 
 c. 39. 
 
 Chosroes II. king of Persia, Avas also a bitter enemy to 
 Christianity. When his army took and plundered Jerusa- 
 lem in the year 614, many thousands of clerks, monks, nuns, 
 and virgins, were cruelly massacred, ninety thousands Chris- 
 tians were sold for slaves to the Jews, and afterwards many 
 of them were tortured and slain. In the beginning of the 
 year 628, the king ordered sixty-nine^ Christians to be stran- 
 gled in one day. But this idolatrous king and tyrant was 
 defeated in several battles by Heraclius, emperor of Constan- 
 linople, to whom he had before refused peace, unless the em- 
 peror would renounce Jesus Christ, and adore the sun. Chos- 
 roes was, after wards put to death in 628 by his own son Siroes, 
 
68 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 who stopped all persecution, and made peace with Heraclius ; 
 and within the space of a few years Persia was conquered by 
 the Saracens. 
 
 The machinations of Satan, the indefatig-able supporter of 
 idolatry against the Christian Church of Persia were now 
 quashed, and no room was there left for further attempts by 
 the means of idolatrous princes. Resolving therefore to leave 
 that country, Satan steps to the confines of it. 
 
 V. 18. " And he stood upon the sand of the sea."* He 
 stops upon the shore of the Persian sea, probably meditating 
 a flight into some new country, where he may still prosecute 
 his implacable hatred against the woman's seed. But behold, 
 
 Apoc. chap. XX. 1. "And I saw," says St. John, "an 
 angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the bot- 
 tomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. 
 
 V. 2. " And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, 
 which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand 
 years. 
 
 V. 3. " And he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut 
 him up, and set a seal upon him, that he shuold no more se- 
 duce the nations, till the thousand years be finished. And 
 after that he must be loosed for a time." 
 
 An angel descends from heaven, who seizes the dragon, 
 or Satan, upon the sea shore where he stood, binds him with 
 a chain, casts him into the abyss or bottomless pit of hell, and 
 shuts him up there for a thousand years ; not precisely for 
 that number of years, but for the whole period of his confine- 
 ment, here expressed in the round number of a thousand 
 years : which confinement is to last to the time of Antichrist, 
 in the latter days of the world, when Satan will again be let 
 loose for a little time. 
 
 Here then the Almighty is pleased to put a stop to Satan's 
 power. This happened in the seventh century. His reign 
 had been of long duration, and infinite mischief he had done. 
 He is the dragon that drew down with him the third part of 
 the stars of heaven, or was the chief of the angels that fell, 
 and is their prince in the infernal kingdom. He is here also 
 styled the old serpent, as being the same that seduced Eve in 
 Paradise, and consequently a murderer from the beginning. 
 This inveterate enemy of God and man seduces the whole 
 world, and had done it, by withdrawing the greatest part of 
 
 ♦In the common Greek text, "And I stood," &c. but the reading of the 
 Vulgate is confirmed by the Alexandrian manuscript, by the Synac and 
 Arabic versions, by Tichonius, and the edition of Aldas. 
 
HISTORY OF THB CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 69 
 
 mankind from their obedience and duty to God, and bringing 
 them over to himself, by setting up the banner of idolatry. 
 This abominable worship of the devil had subsisted a long 
 time, but was at last to be suppressed by Him who came to 
 enlighten the world, and said : " Now shall the prince of this 
 world, Satan, be cast out." John xii. 31. At the rise there- 
 fore of Christianity, Satan perceiving his kingdom shaken, 
 set all engines to work for the support of idolatry, and to stop 
 the progress of the gospel : and in this attempt he caused to 
 be spilt an ocean of Christian blood. He had been suffered 
 to proceed so far ; but now the term decreed by the Almighty 
 is come, and Satan is chained up in prison. From the time 
 of his confinement, idolatry, of which he is the parent and 
 chief supporter, fell, and the Church was freed from those ex- 
 treme severities of persecution it felt before, and experienced 
 less opposition in extending its faith and doctrine. This may 
 be seen in the history of the church. From the time even 
 tha.t Satan was forced to retreat from the Roman empire into 
 Persia, the Christian religion made rapid progress in all the 
 provinces of that empire, and stretched gradually into many 
 countries beyond them ; till at last its growth became stupen- 
 dous, and the church shone, like a bright sun, over the most 
 part of the known world. 
 
 Let it be here also observed, that, notwithstanding the nn- 
 prisonment of Satan, prince of the bad angels, we must not 
 conclude that all the devil's power was then superseded. 
 Many of his chief subjects were probably shut up with him, 
 but many also, though of inferior power, were permitted to re- 
 main on earth to tempt mankind and to exercise their virtue. 
 St. John proceeds, 
 
 V. 4. " And I saw seats : and they sat upon them, and 
 judgment was given unto them, and the souls of them that 
 were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of 
 God, and who had not adored the beast, nor his image, nor 
 received his character on their foreheads, or in their hands, 
 and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 
 
 V. 5. " The rest of the dead lived not,* till the thousand 
 years were finished. This is the first resurrection." 
 
 St. John sees seats given to the souls of those who had 
 been beheaded or suffered martyrdom for the testimony they 
 had given, to Jesus and to his holy religion, and for the word 
 of God, or for the observance of the law of God. Seats are 
 also given to those, who had not adored the beast, nor his 
 
   In the Greek text, " revived not," 
 
70 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 image, that is, who had not given into idolatry or heresy, see 
 page 46: likewise to those, who had not received the beast's 
 character on their foreheads or in their hands, that is, who 
 did not bear any particular mark or office appertaining to 
 idolaters or heretics, nor used any contrivance to make them- 
 selves pass for such. For it must be observed that, in the 
 heat of persecution, many Christians, to shelter themselves, 
 would basely buy from the heathen magistrates certificates of 
 their having sacrificed to idols, when they had not done it ; 
 others would eat of the meats that had been offered to idols ; 
 others delivered up the holy scriptures, &c. St. John sees 
 the souls of all the above-mentioned faithful and courageous 
 Christians seated in dignity, and allowed power of judging ; 
 which means that they sit as judges with Christ by a partici- 
 pation of his power, Avhich he graciously communicates to 
 them, according to his promise : " To him that shall over- 
 come, I will give to sit with me in my throne," Apoc. iii. 21. 
 And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, 
 that is, their souls immediately on leaving their bodies were 
 admitted to heavenly bliss, and reign with Christ for a thou- 
 sand years, or for that period of time which is counted from 
 their departure out of this world to the general judgment, 
 when their bodies will be reunited to them. And this admis- 
 sion of their souls into glory without their bodies is called 
 the first resurrection. But the souls of the others, who were 
 guilty of any of the above-named crimes, lived not the life of 
 the before-mentioned happy souls, but w^ere condemned to 
 hell-flames which is the first death. Nor wdll they revive or 
 recover life till the thousand years be finished at the general 
 resurrection, when they wdll indeed be drawn for a moment 
 out of the infernal pit and be reunited to their bodies, but to be 
 replunged together into eternal damnation, which is the second 
 death. In like manner, when at the last day the bodies of 
 the just are made partners with their souls in bliss, that may 
 be termed the second resurrection. We see here inculcated 
 that known maxim of the Christian religion; that the souls 
 of the just who die in the Lord, enter into heavenly glory, 
 though their bodies do not participate of it till after the gene- 
 ral resurrection : and the same holds with regard to the pu- 
 nishment of the souls of the wicked. 
 
 V. 6. " Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first 
 resurrection. In these, the second death hath no power : but 
 they shall be priests of God and of Christ : and shall reign 
 with him a thousand years." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 71 
 
 Here, all those are pronounced blessed and holy, who have 
 part ill the first resurrection, or whose souls are admitted to 
 bliss after their decease, because in them the second death hath 
 no power, that is, because they are in no danger of damnation 
 or second death at the last judgment. Their souls, fr6m the 
 moment of their admission into heaven, become priests of God 
 and of Christ, by being empowered to offer before the throne 
 of God and Christ their pure sacrifices of homage, praise, 
 and thanksgiving, and will reign with him, God, and Christ, 
 for a thousand years, that is, as St. Austin says, " for all the 
 years to the end of the world," De Civit. xx. 7. ; at which time 
 their bodies will be joined with them in the same beatitude. 
 
 From the above passages of the Apocalypse misunderstood, 
 some ancients inferred that the saints will rise again to Hfe a 
 thousand years before the rest of mankind, and in their souls 
 and bodies will reign with Christ upon earth during that 
 spaceof time, inthe enjoyment of all lawful sensual pleasures. 
 This opinion is called the Millenarian system ; which, instead 
 of having any foundation in the present text, is refuted by it. 
 For St. John here speaks of the happiness of the souls only, 
 of those who were beheaded, &c. without hinting the least at 
 the state of their bodies. Whence it appears, that by the first 
 resurrection the apostle understands the glory of heaven, 
 into which the just enter after their death, and which they 
 will enjoy for a thousand years, that is, during the whole 
 course of time to the general resurrection. Besides, the notion 
 of two resurrections of the flesh, or of body and soul, is fully 
 disproved by our Saviour's words: " The hour cometh, where- 
 in all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of 
 God, and they that have done good things shall come forth 
 unto the resurrection of life ; but they that have done evil, un- 
 to the resurrection of judgment," John, v. 28, 29. Here Christ 
 expresses very clearly but one general resurrection of the 
 good and the wicked together. Hence it is no Avonder, that 
 the Millenarian opinion fell early into disrepute, and has been 
 long exploded. But as some moderns have endeavoured to 
 revive it, it may be worth Avhile to read the following brief 
 account of its original rise, progress, and decline, in the 
 learned Dr. Calmet's comment on this chapter of the Apoca- 
 lypse. 
 
 " The system of the Millenarians owes its origin to the 
 Jews. They expected to reign a thousand years with the 
 Messiah on earth, as appears from the fourth book of Esdras, 
 and from the works of some of their most famous rabbins, as 
 
72 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Maimonides, and Manasse-B en- Israel. But he that gave the 
 greatest credit to that opinion, was Papias, a disciple of St. 
 John the Evangelist, and companion of St. Polycarp. He 
 pretended to have received the Millenarian doctrine from the 
 apostles and their disciples. Upon this assertion it was 
 adopted by St. Irenasus, St. Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Victo- 
 rinus, Lactantius, and several others ; while it was on the 
 other hand impugned by others from the first ages of the 
 church. And certainly what Eusebius remarks of the cha- 
 racter of Papias, ought to be sufficient to discredit his autho- 
 rity. He was a man of very moderate understanding, who, 
 for want of comprehending what he heard from the apostles, 
 took literally what was said in a mystical sense. St. Diony- 
 .sius of Alexandria in the third century expressly refuted one 
 Nepos, who had composed a book in defence of the Millena- 
 rian opinion. And Caius, a priest of the church of Rome in 
 the second century, calls it a fable invented by Cerinthus. 
 Origen also rejects it in several places of his works. — In fine, 
 we may conclude with a very able man, M. du Pin, Dissert. 
 suT les Milleiiaires, who has fully discussed the question, that 
 the Millenarian sentiment is contrary to the gospel, to the doc- 
 trine of St. Paul, and is not at all found in the Apocalypse." 
 
 To conclude this part of our present history ; the reader 
 may remark, that the events, which took their rise in the first 
 age of the Church, have been here carried on in a continued 
 series, because connected, far beyond the period of that age, 
 which terminates about the year 320. And in general it 
 must be observed, that the transactions relating to the Church 
 are not confined within the compass of the age which gives 
 them birth, and which they serve to characterize, but continue 
 and extend into the subsequent ages. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE SECOND AGE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 CHURCH. THE OPENING OF THE SECOND SEAL. 
 
 Apoc. chap, vi, 3. " And when he had opened the second 
 seal, I heard," says St. John, " the second living creature, 
 saying : Come and see. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 73 
 
 V. 4. " And there went out another horse, that was red : 
 and to him that sat thereon it was given that he should take 
 peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another, 
 and a great sword was given to him." 
 
 Here is announced the heresy of Arianism, the rise of 
 which opened the second age of the Church, about the year 
 320. 
 
 He who sits on the horse is the Heresiarch, Arius ; and his 
 horse is red, or according to the Greek expression, of a Rery 
 colour, agreeing with the character of heresy, which always 
 kindles a flame of discord and violence. To him, the rider, 
 it was given that he should take peace from the earth, and that 
 they should kill one another. Constantino the Great had pro- 
 cured peace to the Church in 313, by suppressing the Roman 
 idolatrous power, as we have before seen ; but this peace is 
 soon banished by intestine broils, occasioned by Arius 
 broaching, in 319, a new doctrine, which impiously denied 
 the divinity of Christ our Redeemer. This blasphemous 
 doctrine, in progress of time, raised such a flame of conten- 
 tion among the Christians, that there ensued commotions, tu- 
 mults, violences, and bloodshed. A great sword Avas given 
 him, to Arius and the Arian-s, who were supported by the 
 great powers of the earth, as by several Roman emperors, 
 and by several kings of the Goths, the Vandals, &c. who 
 employed the sword in defence of the Arian doctrine, and 
 cruelly persecuted the Catholic Christians. This expli- 
 cation will be elucidated presently by an historical account of 
 that heresy. 
 
 The whole drift of the Arian doctrine being to impugn the 
 divine nature of Christ : in opposition to it was ascribed to 
 the Lamb the attribute of divinity, or riches, according to the 
 Greek text, Apoc. v. 12. see p. 29; that is, the riches of the 
 Godhead, which he shares equally with the Father ; for in 
 him " dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporally," 
 Coloss. ii. 9 ; and Christ speaking to the Father, says ; " all 
 my things are thine; and thine arc mine." John xvii. 10. 
 
 Let it be remarked that, at the opening of the second seal, 
 the second living creature, which, as we have before shown, 
 represents the prophet Jeremias, says to St. John, " come, and 
 see." This invitation comes with propriety from that prophet, 
 who being a priest, here shows to St. John the apostacy of 
 Arius, a priest of the Christian Church. Besides, Jeremias 
 was sent by Almighty God against the false prophets, who 
 deluded the Jews by their pernicious counsels and deceitful 
 7 
 
74 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. • 
 
 promises ; see Jer. c. 23. In a similar manner he here points 
 out Arius, a false teacher in the Christian Church. 
 
 The Sounding of the Second Trumpet. 
 
 Apoc. Chap. viii. 8. " And the second angel sounded the 
 trumpet, and as it were a great mountain, burning with fire, 
 was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became 
 blood. 
 
 V. 9. " And the third part of those creatures died which 
 had life in the sea, and the third part of the ships were de- 
 stroyed." 
 
 In the seal we saw the intestine convulsions and violences oc- 
 casioned by the Arian disputes; here we find described b}^ an ex- 
 pressive allegory, the spiritual mischief done by that same he- 
 resy. And thus the second seal and second trumpet announce to 
 "US distinctly and separately the two dismal eflects, temporal and 
 spiritual, of Arianism. A great mountain burning with fire, 
 or a great heresy, tending to kindle among Christians the fire 
 of discord in their principles of faith, and the flame of mu- 
 tual animosity, is cast into the sea ; that is, published in the 
 Church, which it embroils, and which therefore is now re- 
 presented as a troubled sea. And the third part of the sea 
 becomes blood, by which change its waters become poisonous 
 to the fish that live in them : and in like manner the Catholic 
 doctrine, on which the faithful live, is corrupted by Arianism 
 through a third part of the Church, and becomes poisonous 
 and destructive. The consequence of which is, the third 
 part of those creatures die, which have life in the sea, or the 
 third part nearly of the Christians drink the heretical poison, 
 and die a spiritual death. And even the third part of the 
 ships were destroyed, that is, a third part of the particular 
 churches entire with their pastors, meant here by the ships, 
 imbibe the same poison and perish. 
 
 The natural consequences of heresy are, disputes and con- 
 tentions in the Church ; and therefore we find ascribed to i 
 voices or noises. Apoc. viii. 5. seep. 19. 
 
 The pouri7ig out of the second Vial of the wrath of God. 
 
 Apoc. chap. xvi. 3. " And the second angel," says St. 
 John, " poured out his vial upon the sea, and there came 
 blood as it were of a dead man: and every living soul died 
 in the sea " 
 
 As at the sounding of the second trumpet, a fiery mountain 
 was thrown into the sea, or amonjf the Christians ; so here 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 75 
 
 the second vial of God's wrath is also poured out upon the 
 sea, or on the corrupted and guilty part of the Christians, 
 namely, the Arian heretics. And there came blood as it 
 were of a dead man : on pouring out the vial follows the di- 
 vine judgment. There appears blood like that of a dead man, 
 or blood, which after having flowed with a free and vigorous 
 circulation during the time of health, gradually retards its 
 motion in a dying man, is totally lost and stopped when the 
 man is dead. Thus the Arians, after having subsisted for a 
 while in a vigorous condition and powerful state, are con- 
 demned by a just judgment, to decline, dwindle, and die away. 
 Hence, every living soul died in the sea; the Arians were, in 
 course of time, either destroyed or converted to the Catholic 
 faith, and the heresy extinguished. Such was their case. 
 
 The preceding Explication illustrated by a short account of 
 the Rise, Progress, and Decline of Arianism. 
 
 By the accession of Constantino to the imperial throne ido- 
 latry received a deadly blow, and the Christian religion was 
 established and peaceably practised throughout the whole 
 Roman empire from the year 313. The blessing of so happy 
 a condition was more than could be expected by the Christians 
 to last long, since Christ had fixed that his disciples should 
 follow him, not by a life of ease and prosperity, but through 
 the thorny road of tribulation. Their present situation was 
 too flattering, not to raise the envy of their ever watchful and 
 implacable enemy the devil, " He," to use the words of St. 
 Cyprian, " seeing his idols fallen into disrepute, and his tem- 
 ples deserted, on account of the number of converts to Chris- 
 tianity, invented a new artifice, to deceive the unwary under 
 the disguise of the Christian name itself: this was heresy and 
 schism, which he employed as his instruments to subvert 
 faith, corrupt truth, and dissolve unity. Those that he could 
 not keep in the old dark road of idolatry, he deceived by lead- 
 ing them into the by-path of error." Lib. de Unit. Ercl. 
 Arius, a turbulent ambitious priest of Alexandria in Egypt, as- 
 pired to that see; but finding himself disappointed by the elec- 
 tion of St. Alexander, his jealousy and resentment stimulated 
 him to decry the doctrine of this holy prelate, which was true 
 and orthodox, and to oppose to it a new system of doctrine of 
 his own invention. He began to teach that Christ was not 
 God, but a created being, formed indeed before all other crea- 
 tures, but not from eternity. Arius had a graceful mien, and 
 a modest deportment : He was old, and had a mortified coun- 
 
76 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 tenance : these qualities gave him credit, and contributed to 
 gain him proselytes. 
 
 The holy bishop, Alexander, at first endeavoured to reclaim 
 him by mild remonstrances and entreaties : but these not 
 availing, and his pernicious doctrine gaining ground, Alex- 
 ander assembled a synod of the bishops of Egypt and Lybia, 
 in which Arius and his abettors were condemned and cut off 
 from the communion of the faithful, in the year 320. Of 
 this proceeding St. Alexander gave account by a circular let 
 ter to all the bishops of the Church. Arius fled from Alex- 
 andria into Palestine ; there he procured protection from some 
 bishops : from thence he proceeded to Nicomedia, where he 
 met with a favourable reception from its bishop, Eusebius, 
 who became a warm friend to him, and his principal patron. 
 But the heresiarch was not content with having gained over 
 to his party some of the bishops ; he invented a scheme to 
 propagate his tenets among the vulgar class of people. He 
 composed songs, which he taught them to sing, and in them 
 he mixed the poison of his doctrine, which by that easy 
 means they unwarily sucked in. 
 
 Constantine the emperor, in order to put a stop to the un- 
 happy disputes that divided the Church, wrote letters to 
 Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, and to Arius, exhorting 
 them to be reconciled. But this expedient proving inef- 
 fectual, and the divisions increasing, at the solicitation of 
 the bishops, he willingly concurred in procuring a general 
 council of the Church to be held. The place pitched upon 
 for it was Nice in Bithynia, and the emperor generously 
 defrayed the whole charges of the Clergy, who resorted 
 thither from all parts of the world, to the number of 318, 
 in the year 325. St. Sylvester, pope, not being able to go 
 himself to the council, commissioned Osius, bishop of Cor- 
 duba m Spain, to preside there in his name, and sent him 
 two priests, Vitus and Vicentius, for assistants. Arius was 
 there present, and had two and twenty bishops of his party. 
 Constantine made a short speech to the fathers, in which, 
 among other things, he said : " Let us take care, that after 
 having crushed, by the help of God, our Saviour, the ty- 
 ranny of those who waged war against him, the devil by 
 his jealousy does not expose the gospel to the slander and 
 malevolence of the wicked, by this intestine war which I 
 see rise up in the Church." The fathers then called upon 
 Arius, to explain his doctrine, Avhich shocked them very 
 much. He and his partisans were soon confounded, and 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 77 
 
 in the debate St. Athanasius distinguished himself by force 
 of argument in defence of the Catholic faith. In fine, the 
 Arian doctrine was proscribed, and Jesus Christ declared 
 to be truly God, consubstantial, or having the same eternal 
 substance with the Father, and that the Father is in him, 
 and he in the Father. In consequence of this determina- 
 tion they drew up a profession of the Catholic faith, w^hich ia 
 called the Nicene Creed, to which all subscribed, except a 
 few Arian bishops. These, with Arius and his other ad- 
 herents, were anathematized by the council, and banished 
 by Constantino. 
 
 In this manner the Catholic faith was ascertained, and 
 triumphed over its enemies : but the spirit of heresy, which is 
 always restless, could not be quelled. The Arians, though 
 every way confounded, instead of yielding, employed them- 
 selves in raising fresh troubles. They wrote to the emperor, 
 and by pretending to admit the Nicene faith, they got them- 
 selves recalled from banishment; they then set themselves to 
 poison the emperor's mind by different arts, by slanders and 
 calumnies against the Catholic bishops, and prevailed upon 
 him to banish some of them, among whom was St. Athana- 
 sius, bishop of Alexandria. But not stopping there, they 
 concerted a scheme to get Arius received into the Church, 
 even in the imperial city of Constantinople, and in the pre- 
 sence of the emperor who then resided there, in 336. For 
 that purpose they insinuated to Constantino, that Arius was 
 become orthodox in his doctrine, and they requested he might 
 be called to Constantinople. This being granted, and Arius 
 arrived in the city, the emperor sent for him, and asked him 
 if he received the Nicene faith? the heresiarch answered in the 
 affirmative, and presented to the emperor a written profession 
 of faith, in appearance not different from that of Nice, but 
 conceived in artful and ambiguous terms. The emperor, 
 supposing him sincere, desired Alexander, bishop of Con- 
 stantinople, to receive him into the Catholic Communion. 
 The holy prelate remonstrated pathetically against such a 
 dangerous and uncanonical step, but Arius's friends were 
 clamorous, and insisted on the emperor's desire being com- 
 plied with. The bishop retired immediately into the church, 
 prostrated himself before the altar, and in his fervent prayer 
 thus addressed Almighty God: "Lord, if Arius must be re- 
 ceived into the church, be pleased to take me out of the world; 
 but if you have compassion on your church, as I know you 
 have, permit not your inheritance to become an object of 
 
78 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 contempt." Next morning' Arius's friends assembled, and 
 resolved to conduct him to church in spite of the bishop. 
 They were leading him, as in triumph, through the streets, 
 when on a sudden finding himself pressed by a necessity of 
 nature, he retired into a back place to ease himself; but there 
 with his excrements he voided his bowels, and was found 
 dead. Thus was the hand of God visible upon Arius. 
 
 This ambitious apostate and proud heresiarch had taken 
 peace from the earth, had disturbed the Church of Christ, and 
 created a fatal division among the Christians. " The church 
 was in a flourishing condition," says the historian, Eusebius, 
 speaking of the rise of Arianism, " and the faithful employed 
 themselves in all kinds of holy exercises with comfort and 
 joy ; nor was there the least danger to be feared from any 
 foreign enemy. But a secret jealousy unhappily crept in. 
 It first insinuated itself into the minds of the people, then 
 found its way into the assemblies of the bishops, whom it 
 animated against another, one by raising disputes and alter- 
 cations among them concerning the Christian doctrine. This 
 small beginning gave rise to a great flame, which first broke 
 out at Alexandria," having been there kindled by Arius. De 
 vita Const, lib. 2. c. 61. 
 
 Constantino the Great, dying in 337, left three sons, who 
 divided the empire according to their father's directions. 
 Constantino, the eldest, had Spain, Gaul, and ail the provinces 
 on this side of the Alps, Constantius, the second son, had 
 Thrace, Asia, Egypt, and the eastern countries : and Con- 
 stans, the youngest, had Italy, Sicily, Africa, except Egypt, 
 Greece, and Illyricum. Constantius was soon gained over 
 by the Arians, and his family was chiefly composed of them. 
 From his palace the infection diffused itself, first into private 
 families, and by degrees was propagated into the towns and 
 even distant provinces under his dominion. Many bishops 
 imbibed the contagion, and communicated it to their flocks. 
 This great accession of number increased the Arian power, 
 which they did not fail to exert in persecuting the orthodox 
 Christians. They gave great trouble to St. Athanasius by 
 the calumnies they invented against him, and they intruded 
 into his see of Alexandria, by force of arms, a bishop of their 
 own party in his place. When St. Alexander, bishop of 
 Constantinople, died in 340, Paul, a true Catholic, was chosen 
 his successor, but the Arian faction deposed him with the 
 agreement of the Emperor Constantius, and substituted in his 
 room the arch-Arian, Eusebius of Nicomedia. From that 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 79 
 
 date the Arians were masters in Constantinople, for forty 
 years. They carried on every thing- by violence in the east : 
 relying on the protection of the Emperor Constantius, they 
 arrogated the power of deposing at their pleasure the orthodox 
 prelates, and filling their places with Arians. 
 
 By all these different means, Arianism had very much dif- 
 fused itself through the east, while the west was but little 
 tainted v/ith it. This produced great disunion in the church; 
 which occasioned a council to be held at Sardica, in Illyri- 
 cum, in 347. It was composed of about 250 bishops con- 
 vened from both the eastern and western provinces, of whom 
 170 were orthodox, and fourscore of the Arian party. Several 
 of the bishops and others there showed the wounds they had 
 received from the swords of the Arians ; they comp/ained of 
 the cruel hardship they had been made to suffer, under which 
 some had even perished; they gave account of the violences 
 committed by the soldiers and people, and of the threats of the 
 judges : they represented that the virgins were stripped of 
 their substance, the holy ministers imprisoned, and the 
 churches burned. These and other persecutions, that had 
 been carried on by the Arians, the}'' recapitulated before the 
 council. The Arian party expected to domineer in the coun- 
 cil by means of the secular power, but they found they were 
 disappointed. They saw that the fathers would have full 
 liberty allowed them to judge, and that themselves would be 
 condemned. They therefore retired abruptly, and w^ent to 
 Philippopolis in Thrace. The council nevertheless pro- 
 ceeded to business, and declared their firm adherence to the 
 Nicene faith. They restored St. Athanasius and two other 
 bishops to their sees, from whence they had been expelled, 
 and they pronounced sentence of deposition and excommuni- 
 cation against eleven bishops, who were the chiefs of the 
 Arian faction. Then the fathers despatched deputies to the 
 emperors to press the execution of these decrees, and to en- 
 treat them to put a stop to Arian persecutions. The Oriental 
 heretic bishops, who had retired to Philippopolis, held there 
 a meeting, which they were bold enough to call the council of 
 Sardica, and had the presumption to excommunicate Pope 
 Julius, Osius of Corduba, and several other Catholic bishops. 
 Moreover, when the Arians heard they had been condemned 
 at the true council of Sardica, they redoubled their violences 
 against the orthodox. They caused several to be put to death j 
 some Vv'ere exiled, others scourged, and others imprisoned. 
 
 Constantius, after the death of his brothers, Constantino 
 
80 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 and Constans, having suppressed the usurpers Vertranmo 
 and Magnentius, became master of the whole empire in 353. 
 Two years after he commenced a general persecution against 
 the Catholics. He sent judges through the different pro- 
 vinces to compel the bishops to communicate with the Arians, 
 and to subscribe to the sentence against St. Athanasius, whom 
 he had procured to be condemned in a meeting of some Arian 
 bishops at Milan. The prelates, who refused to comply, 
 were banished, and others of the Arian faction intruded by 
 force of arms. It was upon this occasion that Pope Liberius 
 was exiled to Bersea in Thrace, The judges were also directed 
 to imprison, punish, and confiscate the goods of the people 
 who should take part with the exiled bishops. Macedonius, 
 the Arian bishop and usurper of the see of Constantinople, 
 made himself conspicuous in this scene of persecution. He 
 obtained an edict from the emperor, which he published in 
 Constantinople, and in all the neighbouring towns, and had it 
 executed by force of arms, which ordered that all the Catholics 
 .should be banished, and their churches pulled down. But 
 not content with these violences, he procured several persons 
 to be burned in the forehead, others to be exposed to different 
 torments, of which some died. 
 
 In 359 was held a council at Arminium in Italy, consisting 
 of above four hundred bishops, of whom about fourscore were 
 Arians. They received orders from the Emperor Constantius, 
 \o attempt nothing against the Orientals. The council never- 
 theless confirmed the Nicene faith, and deposed the heterodox 
 bishops that were present. The Arians here dressed up 
 a fraudulent profession of faith, in appearance Catholic, but 
 containing the^rian poison under artful ambiguous expres- 
 sions. The Catholics, not aware of the fraud, and supposing 
 the profession to be orthodox, subscribed it. It was in conse- 
 quence of this subscription that St. Jerome made the following 
 remark : " The world," said he, " was struck with grief, and 
 wondered to find itself become Arian."* But the fathers no 
 sooner perceived the imposition that had been put upon them, 
 than they expressed their detestation of it, retracted their sub- 
 scription, and professed their adherence to the true faith. 
 The formula subscribed at Arminium was sent to all the pro- 
 vinces of the empire, Avith an order from Constantius to all 
 the bishops to sign it, under pain of banishment. This caused 
 great trouble in the Church, and a kind of persecution, ana 
 many bishops in the east signed the formula. 
 
 * legemuit totus orbis, et Ananum se esse miratus esL 
 
HXSTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 81 
 
 About this time great violences were committed at Alexan- 
 dria by the Arians. Numbers of people were trampled to 
 death in the streets by the soldiers, and others slain by their 
 darts. St. Athanasius was forced to leave the place, and one 
 George, an Arian, a brutish and cruel man, was placed in the 
 patriarchal chair. He renewed the scenes of bloodshed and 
 violence ; but two years after, by a just judgment, was massa- 
 cred by the pagans for this cruelty. 
 
 Constantius the emperor died in 361, and with his death 
 ceased for a while the Arian persecution. What has been 
 said of this prince sufficiently shows that he was " a great 
 sword," according to the expression of the Apocalypse, in the 
 hands of the Arians. In 364, Valens was invested with the 
 empire of the east by his brother Valentinian, who kept to 
 himself the west. This last prince was a true Catholic ; but 
 Valens was inclined to Arianism, and openly declared in fa- 
 vour of it in 367, when he was baptized by Eudoxus, the 
 Arian bishop of Constantinople, who made him then swear, 
 that he would always persist in his belief, and persecute those 
 of a contrary persuasion. In conformity to his oath, this 
 emperor became another great sword in defence of the Arians. 
 The devil not being able, as Paulus Orosius observes, lib. 
 vii. c. 29, to persecute the Church any longer by pagan em- 
 perors who no longer existed, found means to do it by the 
 hands of Christian emperors. Valens began his persecution 
 against the orthodox, by ordering the governors of the pro- 
 vinces to banish those bishops, who had been deposed by 
 Constantius, and had recovered their sees under Julian. St. 
 Athanasius among the rest underwent the penalty, and this 
 was tlie fourth or fifth time he had been driven from his 
 church. The Catholics at Constantinople suffered greatly ; 
 they were insulted, wounded, and imprisoned, and some of 
 them even put to death. To get a stop put to these violences, 
 they sent a deputation of fourscore ecclesiastics to Valens at 
 Nicomedia. These, instead of obtaining any redress from 
 the inhuman emperor, were ordered to be put on board a 
 vessel, and the vessel, when out at sea, to be set on fire. Tho 
 barbarous order was executed, and they all perished. Perse- 
 cution was openly carried on in different parts of the east. 
 As the monks in the deserts were known to distinguish them- 
 selves in supporting the true religion, Valens issued out an 
 order that they should be compelled to bear arms, and the 
 officers who were sent upon the commission, massacred a 
 great number of them. 
 
82 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 The Emperor Valens perished miserably in 378, and he 
 being the last of the Roman emperors that favoured Arianism, 
 it lost ground in the eastern provinces, Avhich were chiefly in- 
 fected. And before the end of this century, that is, before the 
 year 400, the Arians began to difl^er among themselves about 
 their tenets, and they divided into different sects, and these 
 divisions contributed to weaken their strength, and were even 
 the occasion of many of them leaving their party, and em- 
 bracing the Christian faith. 
 
 On another side however one may take notice, that the 
 Empress Justina, who favoured the Arians, gave some trouble 
 to the Catholics in the west, particularly to St. Ambrose, at 
 Milan ; and she prevailed upon her young son Valentinian 11. 
 to issue out an edict in support -of the Arians, but as she died 
 soon after, it produced but little efTect. 
 
 The Goths also, who from idolatry had been converted to 
 Christianity, were afterwards brought over to Arianism, 
 about the year 376, by their bishop Ulphilas, who suffered 
 himself to be perverted by Eudoxus, the Arian bishop ot 
 Constantinople. These Goths having overthrown the western 
 empire of Rome, divided themselves into two bodies, one of 
 which settled in Italy, and they Avere called Ostrogoths or 
 eastern Goths; the other proceeded into the southern parts of 
 France, and afterwards into Spain, where they fixed, and were 
 named Visigoths or western Goths. The Ostrogoths were 
 converted by degrees to the Catholic faith, after their domi- 
 nion in Italy was extinguished by Narses, the commander of 
 the Emperor Justinian's troops, who defeated their army and 
 slew their king Totila in 552. The Visigoths in Spain, under 
 their king Reccared, who had been instructed by St. Hermene- 
 gild, were brought over from Arianism to the orthodox faith 
 about the year 587. The Suevi, a German people who settled 
 in Spain, had been also converted a few years before from the 
 Arian heresy : in fine, in this king's reign an end was put to 
 that heresy in Spain, where it had been imported by the bar- 
 barous nations that invaded that country. 
 
 The Lombard's, originally a German people, who conquer- 
 ed part of Italy, and raised to themselves a kingdom there in 
 572, were also Arians ; but Charlemagne vanquished them 
 in 774, and put an end to their dominion. The remainder of 
 them were in course of time converted. 
 
 The Vandals were not only Arians, but cruel persecutors 
 of the Catholic church. In a peace they made with the Ro- 
 man emperor in 435, was ceded to them a large tract of coun- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 83 
 
 try in Africa, into which a considerable body of them passed 
 from Spain, where they had been settled before. Two years 
 after, Genseric, their king, resolved to establish Arianism in 
 his new African kingdom, and with that view began to per- 
 secute the Catholic bishops and to banish them from their sees. 
 He afterwards forbid ordaining any Catholic bishops in his 
 dominions, so that they were reduced in thirty years time to 
 three. In 455 the persecution was so hot, that it crowned 
 many with martyrdom, and their memorial is celebrated by 
 the church on the 5th of April. The Arians were actuated 
 with such rage and animosity, that they committed the most 
 outrageous indignities: knowing that the Catholics were as- 
 sembled at the holy communion, they broke in upon them, 
 threw down the sacred Body and Blood of Christ, and tramp- 
 led it under their feet. 
 
 Huneric, son and successor to Genseric in 477, was, like 
 his father, an Arian, but surpassed him in his barbarous 
 treatment of the orthodox. He seemed to have more the na- 
 ture of a Decius or a Dioclesian, than of a Christian prince. 
 We shall only say in general, that he shut up all the Catholic 
 churches in his dominons, he banished the bishops and clergy 
 to the number of near five thousand, and very numerous were 
 the victims sacrificed to his cruelty in this persecution, some 
 of whom lost their limbs, others their lives, for their adherence 
 to the true faith. But the hand of God overtook him in 485, 
 and he died eaten up by worms. Two other persecutions 
 were afterwards raised against the Catholics by Huneric's suc- 
 cessors, Gondamund and Thrasimund. But the Emperor Jus- 
 tinian in 535 sent his general Belisarius into Africa, who 
 defeated the Vandals, and put an end to their kingdom and 
 power. 
 
 Let this account suffice to show, with how m^uch propriety 
 the Arian heresy is styled in our text of the Apocalypse, " a 
 great mountain, burning with fire," flung into the Church. It 
 now appears Avhat a flame it kindled of discord, intestine con 
 vulsions, and persecution, and that it corrupted the faith of a 
 considerable part, both of its pastors and people. But we must 
 at the same time take notice, that, notwithstanding all the dif- 
 ferent artifices and violences employed by the Arians to in- 
 crease their party, and to suppress that of the orthodox, the 
 greatest portion of the flock of Christ, even in the east, stood 
 firm in their faith, and adhered closely to the determination of 
 the council of Nice. This is attested by St. Athanasius, who 
 lived in the midst of the scene, and bore a great share in it 
 
84 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 The same is asserted by St. Basil in the time of the EmpsTo? 
 Valens. Besides, the western Church was for a considerable 
 time almost unanimous in its detestation of that blasphemous 
 heresy ; till it was imported thither by foreign people, who 
 came and settled in her countries. It is said that the fiery 
 mountain corrupted a part of the waters of the sea ; in like 
 manner Arianism infused its infection into some part of the 
 Church ;. but as the waters of the sea by their natural convulsive 
 motion cast forth the filth they contain in their bosom, and purify 
 themselves ; so the pastors and community of the faithful, as 
 soon as they perceived the lurking poison of Arianism, be- 
 stirred themselves to repel it, by assembling councils, by 
 preaching, praying, &c. which efforts had their full effect, and 
 defeated the enemy. The mighty power of emperors and kings 
 came in to its assistance, but even that fell before infirm de- 
 fenceless- men, the faithful pastors, who stood intrepid against 
 it ; for " the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that 
 he may confound the strong," 1 Cor. 1. 27. How vain and 
 senseless the attempt, in any power below heaven, to force the 
 Church to change her belief! when He, who built her up, 
 had pronounced that "the gates of hell should never prevail 
 against her," Mat. xvi. 18. How is it possible that the Church 
 should ever be prevailed upon to declare against the divinity 
 of Christ, which is the very rock on which she stands 1 The 
 rise of Arianism therefore served only as a touchstone, to dis- 
 tinguish the sound part of Christians from the unsound. It 
 was a useful instrument to separate the chaff from the corn : 
 " There must be heresies," says St. Paul, " that they who are 
 approved may be made manifest," 1 Cor. xi. 19. This me- 
 thod Christ made use of to purge away all dross from his 
 Church, and the pure metal only remaining, she shone with 
 more brightness. While on the other hand Arianism, not be- 
 ing able to stand against such superior lustre, withdrew by 
 degrees, and sunk quite away. 
 
 Such is the history of what relates to the second age of the 
 Church. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 85 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE THIRD AGE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 THE OPENING OF THE THIRD SEAL. 
 
 A.foc. chap. vi. 5. " And when he (the Lamb) had opened 
 the third seal, I heard," says St. John, " the third living crea- 
 ture, saying : Come, and see. And behold a black horse, and 
 he that sat on him, had a pair of scales in his hand. 
 
 V. 6. " And I heard as it were a voice in the midst of the 
 four living creatures, saying; Two pounds of wheat for a penny, 
 and thrice two pounds of barley for a penny, and see thou 
 hurt not the wine and the oil." 
 
 Here is announced a dreadful famine, which is the first step 
 taken by the Almighty for the destruction of the empire of 
 pagan Rome ; and with it commences the third age of the 
 Church, about the year 406 
 
 The voice cries out : " Two pounds of wheat for a penny, 
 and thrice two pounds of barley for a penny." The Roman 
 penny or denarius is, in our money, about seven pence three 
 farthings, (16 cents,) an exorbitant price in those days for two 
 pounds of wheat or six pounds of barley, and shows great 
 scarcity. This famine afflicted the western Roman empire in 
 406 and the following years, when Arcadius reigned emperor 
 in the east, and Honorius in the west : the body of the Roman 
 empire having been divided into two states : the eastern, the 
 capital of which was Constantinople ; and the western having 
 Rome for its capital ; which last is the subject of our present 
 consideration. The famine was occasioned by the irruption 
 of those barbarous nations, the Goths, the Vandals, the Huns, 
 the Alans, &c. who came in swarms from the north, invaded 
 the Roman provinces, and carried devastation along with them. 
 This is attested by all the historians of those times. These 
 people were sent by Almighty God to execute his avenging 
 justice on idolatrous Rome and its empire, to distress it with 
 calamities, to seize its provinces, to hum.ble its pride, and put 
 an end to its power and dominion. 
 
 The black colour of the horse is suitable to the nature of 
 famine, which wastes and dries the body, and tinges the skin 
 Avkh a blackish hue, agreeably to that of Jeremias : " Our skin 
 
 8 
 
86 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 is burnt as an oven, by reason of the violence of the famine," 
 Lament, v. 10. The black or funeral colour of the horse 
 agrees also with the condition here considered of the heathen 
 Roman empire, which is now going into destruction. And he 
 that sits on the horse, is Alaric, king of the Goths, the prin- 
 cipal nation among those that concurred in the subversion of 
 the Roman state : and in Alaric may be comprehended the 
 chiefs of the other nations. The rider holds a pair of scales 
 in his hand to weigh the grain, which indicates that the dearth 
 Avill be so great, that all the grain will be sold by exact weight 
 and measure. And here we may take notice of the propriety 
 of this spectacle being shown to St. John by the third living 
 creature, or the prophet Ezechiel, who had announced to the 
 Jews the like calamity, with which God intended to punish 
 them. Thus spoke God by that prophet: "Behold,! will 
 break in pieces the staff of bread in Jerusalem ; and they shall 
 eat bread by weight, and with care ; and they shall drink wa- 
 ter by measure, and in distress." Ezech. iv, 16. Let us also 
 observe, that the voice which spoke came from the midst of 
 the four living creatures, that is, it was one voice composed of 
 the voices of the four living creatures, or of the four great pro- 
 phets, Isaias, Jeremias, Ezechiel, and Daniel. They severally 
 foretold the fall of ancient Babylon, which was a figure of tht 
 fall of pagan Rome, this city being styled Babylon in the Apo- 
 calypse. On account therefore of their common prediction, 
 their voices are joined in one to announce the approaching fate 
 of Rome. But it is added: Hurt not the wine and the oil. 
 This expression seems to point at the character of the invaders 
 of the Roman territory, who were all northern people, and 
 consequently not being used to wine and oil, which are not 
 produced in their countries, naturally neglected them, while at 
 the same time they swept away all the grain. In northern 
 countries at present both wine and oil are imported, and com- 
 monly used, but it was not so in those days, when little or no 
 commerce or even communication subsisted between the north- 
 ern and southern nations. 
 
 In the subject of this Seal we see shine forth that wisdom, 
 the attribute of the Lamb, Apoc. v. 12. see p. 29. according to 
 the dictates of which he demolishes kingdoms and raises up 
 others. 
 
 The Sounding of the third Trum.'pet. 
 
 Apoc. chap. viii. 10. " And the third angel," says St. John, 
 " sounded the trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven burn- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 87 
 
 ing as it were a torch, and it fell on the third part of the rivers, 
 and upon the fountaiiis of waters : 
 
 V. 11. "And the name of the star is called wormwood: 
 And the third part of the waters became wormwood: and 
 many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter." 
 
 Here is an allegorical description of new calamities that 
 were to be inflicted on heathen Rome and its provinces. A 
 great star falls from heaven: this great star represents the 
 above-named powerful nations of the north; it foils from 
 heaven; they are sent by Almighty God to destroy Rome, as 
 formerly Nabuchodonosor was sent to destroy Jerusalem, and 
 Cyrus to destroy Babylon. This star is said to burn like a 
 torch, on account of the desolation which these barbarians 
 spread in their progress, by laying waste the cities and country 
 by fire. The star fell on the third part of the rivers, and upon 
 the fountains of waters. Those people spread themselves 
 over a third part of the Roman provinces, signified by the 
 rivers; they invaded particularly the western parts ; then fell 
 upon Rome itself, and Italy denoted by the fountains of wa- 
 ters. That the rivers and waters signify the provinces of the 
 Roman empire, appears from the explication given by the angel 
 to St. John in chap. xvii. 15. of the Apocalypse. " The waters 
 which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and 
 nations, and tongues." Furthermore the name of the star is 
 wormwood ; the star may well be called wormwood since it 
 caused such bitter distresses, such bitter calamities, and in fine 
 ruin to the Roman people. The same kind of expression for 
 calamities, sent by the hand of God, we find in the prophet 
 Jeremias : " Behold," said the Lord, " I will feed this people 
 (the Jews) with wormwood, and I will give them water of gall 
 to drink," Jer. ix. 15. Lastly: the third part of the waters 
 became wormwood : and many men died of the waters, be- 
 cause they were made bitter : a great number of the Romans 
 perished by the bitter draught of those calamities. 
 
 The disasters, and devastations by fire, that afflicted the 
 Roman dominions at this time, may therefore very justly be 
 compared to the eftects of lightning. Apoc. viii. 5. see p. 35. 
 
 But here we must observe, that this third trumpet sounded 
 not only war and ruin to the pagan Roman empire, but also 
 a terrible alarm to the Christians in it, as they became in- 
 volved in those general calamities, and suffered extremely. 
 Besides, they had lived for some time with comfort under 
 Christian emperors, and shared their benevolence and pro- 
 tection : but this blessing also was now wrested from them 
 
88 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCK. 
 
 by the northern invaders, who superseded the western Ro- 
 man emperors, and seizing their provinces, set up their own 
 princes, who were either idolaters or Arians. Nay, even his- 
 tory informs us, that about the year 480 there was not one 
 Catholic king in the world. Odoacer, who reigned over 
 Italy, was an Arian ; the same were the kings in Spain, 
 and Genseric in Africa. The different princes in Gaul or 
 France were also either Heathens or Arians. In the East 
 reigned the Emperor Zeno, an abettor of the Eutychian he- 
 resy ; and the kings of Persia were pagans. 
 
 The pouring out of the third Vial of the wrath of God. 
 
 Apoc. chap. xvi. 4. "And the third angel," says St. 
 John, " poured out his vial upon the rivers and the fountains 
 of waters : and there was made blood. 
 
 V. 5. " And I heard the angel of the waters, saying : 
 Thou art just, O Lord, who art, and who wast, the holy one, 
 because thou has-t judged these things : 
 
 V. 6. " For they have shed the blood of saints and pro- 
 phets, and thou hast given them blood to drink ; for they are 
 worthy, 
 
 V. 7. " And I heard another from the altar, saying : Yea, 
 O Lord God Almighty, true and just are thy judgments." 
 
 At the sounding of the third trumpet the great star fell 
 upon the rivers and the fountains of w^aters : so likewise the 
 third vial of the wrath of God is here poured out on the ri- 
 vers and the fountains of waters, this is, on the pagans of the 
 western Roman provinces, and on those of Italy and Rome 
 itself And there was made blood : this is the last stroke, 
 that of the sword employed by the Almighty to complete the 
 overthrow of the Roman empire ; and effectually dreadful 
 was the slaughter the barbarians made of the pagan Roman 
 people. The divine judgment being executed, the justice of it 
 is immediately proclaimed by the angel of the waters, that is, 
 by the angel that presided over the Roman state. He cries out : 
 *' Thou art just, O Lord, who art, and who wast, the holy 
 one, becau-se thou hast judged these things ;" and the reason 
 is added : " For they have shed the blood of saints and pro- 
 phets, and therefore thou hast given them blood to drink : for 
 they are worthy," or deserve it : they, the Romans, have ex- 
 ercised the most cruel persecutions against thy people, the 
 Christians, they have spilt their blood, and that of thy apos- 
 tles and ministers of thy gospel, and now by a just retaliation 
 thou hast given them blood to drink, and by bringing upon 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 89 
 
 them other people, as cruel as themselves, to pour out their 
 blood. Then the angel, who presides over the altar of holo- 
 causts, at the foot of which, according to the Jewish rites, was 
 poured out the blood of the victims, joins agreeably to his 
 function in acknowledging the divine justice in the effusion 
 of the Roman blood. He addresses the Almighty, saying : 
 " Yea, O Lord God Almighty, true and just are thy judg- 
 ments." We may here take notice that the above-mentioned 
 calamities are very plainly intimated in few terms by our pro- 
 phet in chap, xviii. 8. of the Apocalypse, where, speaking 
 of the punishment of heathen Rome, he says : " Her plagues 
 shall come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine ;" 
 famine being the subject of the present seal, mourning that 
 of the trumpet, and death that of the vial. 
 
 Such are the events, which characterize the third age of 
 the Church, and make up its history. 
 
 The preceding Explication illustrated hy a brief Historical 
 account of the fall of ancient Rome loith its Empire. 
 
 The Roman empire, like all other human structures, was 
 built upon a perishable foundation. It had its rise and its de- 
 cline. In its first ages it supported itself by wisdom and mo- 
 deration, and owed its amazing growth to its prowess, forti- 
 tude and perseverance : but in the latter part of its period, 
 which we here consider, these qualities were no more found 
 in it. Its progress was like that of an elegant human shape, 
 which had reached maturity of perfection, but whose beauty 
 was now in the wane. The prophet Daniel had, long before 
 its existence, described its nature. He compares it first to 
 iron, Dan. ii. 20, &c. As iron is the strongest of metals, so 
 the Roman state was to perform greater achievments than any 
 of the preceding empires, and was to subdue them all. Then 
 he compares it to iron mixed with elay. The mixture of iron 
 and clay exhibits the subsequent decline of that state, clay 
 being put for a sign of its weakness, and want of solidity. 
 Such then was the nature of the Roman state. We see it 
 therefore extending its dominion, and gaining universal 
 empire during the time of its consuls and first emperors : 
 but after that period, we see it distracted with interior convul- 
 sions and civil wars. The military grew licentious, the pa- 
 tricians luxurious and effeminate, the plebeians mutinous, and 
 the emperors cruel and debauched. Hence it is plain, its 
 constitution was growing old, and was tending to a decay, 
 from its own infirmities and disorders. But though its case 
 
90 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 seemed aimost desperate, a tolerable recovery mig-ht have 
 been hoped for from active and valiant governors, who might 
 have reformed its defects, and revived in the people a share 
 of the spirit of their ancestors. But this was not tO be. 
 Rome had provoked the indignation of the supreme Ruler of 
 "empires. It had bent its whole power to the supporting of 
 idolatry, and to the suppressing of the establishment of the 
 Christian religion. An invisible hand was therefore depress- 
 ing it, and it was doomed to drink the full cup of the wrath of 
 the Almighty, and even in the most conspicuous manner. 
 
 Many were the instruments employed by the hand of God 
 for this purpose. He brought down upon the empire a mul- 
 titude of barbarous nations, which being almost destitute of 
 humanity, tore out its bowels without mercy. Among these 
 the Goths bore a principal share. They were originally a 
 people of Gothland, in Sweden, where finding themselves too 
 closely confined for their number, a large body of them 
 passed into Pomerania, where Tacitus places them : thence 
 they advanced to the neighbourhood of Palus Mseotis : and 
 afterwards bent their route westerly, and extended themselves 
 along the north side of the Danube. From thence they made 
 incursions into the Roman empire, carrying famine and deso- 
 lation along with them. The emperors, harassed with wars 
 on every side, were compelled to come into terms with them, 
 and allowed to part of them a settlement in Thrace. In con- 
 sideration of this indulgence, they remained quiet for a while, 
 and even assisted the Romans asfainst their other enemies. 
 But new pretences of complaint soon rising, they made new 
 incursions, and were of all the northern nations the most 
 troublesome to the Romans. 
 
 Alaric, whom they chose for their king, an enterprising 
 ambitious adventurer, animated with the success of former 
 invasions, conceived a design in the year 402, of seizing on 
 the beautiful fertile country of Italy, and attacking Rome it- 
 self Claudian, the Roman poet who lived at that time, in 
 his book on the Gothic war, introduces Alaric speaking thus 
 
 Per tot populos urbesque cucurri : 
 
 Fregi Alpes, galeisque Padum victricibus hausi: 
 Quid restut nisi Roma mihi 7 
 
 "I have run over," says Alaric, "so rnany countries and cities, I have 
 crossed the Alps and the river Po, carrying every where victory with my 
 arms: what then remains for me to conquer, but Rome itself?" 
 
 Alaric entered Italy in 402 at the head of his Arian Goths, 
 Honorius being then emperor in the west, and Arcadius in 
 the east, but was defeated in two different battles near Pollen- 
 
HISTORY OP THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. - 01 
 
 tia and Verona by Stilico, Honorius's general, and was com- 
 pelled to retire out of Italy into Ddlmatia. This victory was 
 celebrated by the before-mentioned poet, who being- a pagan, 
 boasted much of the pretended special protection given by the 
 pagan deities on this occasion to Rome. Thus speaks he : 
 
 Hanc Tirbem insano nullus qui marte petivit, 
 
 Laetatus violasse redit. Nee Numina sedem destitunnt. 
 
 Lib. de hello Get. 
 
 "No one," says he, "has presumed to attack Rome, that has not re- 
 turned from it confounded at his own folly and madness. For the gods 
 cease not to protect their seat." 
 
 Claudian, when he wrote this, was little aware of what was 
 to follow, and it is doubtful whether he lived to see the sack- 
 ing of Rome by the same Alaric, which happened within a 
 fev/ years after. 
 
 In the year 406 Radagaisus, another Gothic prince, a pa- 
 gan, assembled together an immense army of Goths and other 
 barbarous people inhabiting the north side of the Rhine and 
 Danube, (some say four hundred thousand men,) and advanced 
 into Italy under pretence of revenging the slaughter of their 
 countrymen made at Pollentia and Verona. All Italy and 
 Rome itself were thrown into the utmost consternation. The 
 heathens, who were still numerous in the city, though their 
 idols had been taken away by the emperor's order in 399, 
 raised an uproar, saying Radagaisus would certainly prevail, 
 on account of his devotion to the gods, and Rome had los 
 their protection by neglecting their worship. St. Austin, who 
 was then at Carthage, was informed of these things^ and men- 
 tions the pagans of the city of Rome making their complaint 
 in the followins: manner ; " We offer no more sacrifices to the 
 gods, while Radagaisus sacrifices to them every day. What 
 can we then expect, but to fall into the hands of this barbarous 
 but religious prince?" De cir. Dei. lib. 5. c. 23. To these 
 complaints they added blasphemies against the name of 
 Christ. That great army advanced as far as Florence, 
 where Stilico, at the head of the Roman legions, assisted by 
 a body of Huns and Alans, fell suddenly upon it and entirely 
 routed it. Radagaisus himself was soon after taken by the 
 Romans and put to death, and his whole army perished. 
 Thus Almighty God would not suffer, as St. Austin remarks, 
 that a pagan prince should be the executor of his justice, lest 
 the idolatrous people of Rome should ascribe his success to 
 the false gods he adored. — 
 
 At the end of the year 406, three different nations of the 
 north joined their arms together, the Vandals from the north 
 
92 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 of Germany, the Suevi also from Germany, and the Alans, 
 people of Sarmatia or Poland ; and having passed the Rhine, 
 they spread themselves through the Roman provinces of Gaul. 
 They sacked the towns, they plundered the country, they put 
 lo death many christians, and carried desolation and slaugh- 
 ter wherever they went. These were soon followed by ano- 
 ther swarm from Germany, composed of Burgundians, 
 Franks, Saxons, and others : so that the whole country of 
 Gaul or France was overspread with barbarians. St. Je- 
 rom, who lived at that time, thus describes these irruptions : 
 " A multitude of barbarous nations have possessed themselves 
 of all Gaul. The Gluadi, the Vandals, the Sarmatians, the 
 Alans, the Gepidi, the Heruli, the Saxons, the Burgundians, 
 the Alemanni, and the Pannonians,* have laid waste the 
 whole country between the Alps and the Pyrenees, between 
 the ocean and the Rhine." Epist. xi. ad. Ager. He goes 
 on with specifying the deplorable devastations and massacres 
 committed by this shoal of savages. The author of a poem 
 on Providence, who bore a share in these calamities, says 
 that, " if the ocean itself had broken through its bounds and 
 overflowed all Gaul, it could not have done more mischief" 
 It appears then that the people of the western part of the em- 
 pire were compelled to swallow a full draught of wormwood, 
 and w^ould have been glad to purchase two pounds of wheat 
 for a Roman penny, or at an excessive price. 
 
 Alaric, after his retreat, as w^e have seen, into Dalmatia, 
 agreed to assist the Emperor Honorius with his troops 
 against the enemies of Rome, but when the work was done, 
 he could not obtain from the emperor the reward he thought 
 due for his services. Upon this disappointment he in 408 
 invaded Italy at the head of his army. It was upon this oc- 
 casion, as the historians Socrates and Sozemon relate, that' 
 a holy hermit met him, and exhorted him to spare Rome, 
 and not bring upon himself the guilt of so much blood and 
 destruction ; to w^hom Alaric made this answer : " I con- 
 stantly feel an impulse within me, that gives me no rest, but 
 presses me to go and destroy that city." He pillaged the 
 country as he went, pitched his camp in the neighbourhood 
 of Rome, and besieged it. This occasioned a famine to rage 
 in that city ; the famine gave birth to a plague which carried 
 off numbers of people. In this extremity, the senate of 
 Rome offered him a large sum of money, with such other ad- 
 
 * By the Pannonians St. Jerora seems to understand the HunSj and tha 
 Suevi by the Alemanni. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 93 
 
 vantageous proposals, that he thought fit to desist from his 
 enterprise, and retired into Tuscany. 
 
 During these times inexpressible were the devasiationb 
 and barbarities committed in different parts of the empire by 
 numerous invaders, the northern wolves, as St. Jerom styles 
 them. Thus speaks he : " It shocks me to relate the mise- 
 ries of our present times. For twenty years past and more, 
 from Constantinople to the Julian Alps, we see the Roman 
 blood every day spilt. Scythia, Thracia, Macedonia, Darda- 
 nia, Dacia, Thessalonica, Achaia, Epirus, Dalmatia, and all 
 the Pannonians, are plundered and laid waste by the Goths, 
 the Sarmatians, the Q,uadi, the Alans, the Huns, the Vandals, 
 and the Marcomans. How many matrons, virgins, and per- 
 sons, of noble birth have been abused by these beasts ! The 
 bishops are carried into captivity, the priests and others of 
 the clergy murdered. The churches are thrown down, 
 horses tied to the altars of Christ, and the ashes of the mar- 
 tyrs are dug up from their tombs. Every where groans and 
 lamentations ; every where death appears in various shapes. 
 The whole Roman empire is tumbling." Eplst. 3. ad He- 
 Hod. 
 
 In 409, the next year after his retiring into Tuscany, Ala- 
 ric, impatient that some articles of the treaty made with him 
 were not fulfilled, complained to Honorius, but met with a 
 repulse. Enraged at this usage, he assembled his troops and 
 marched towards Rome. The emperor, to oppose him, took 
 into pay ten thousand Huns, and sent Valens with six thou- 
 sand men to reinforce the garrison of Rome : but this officer 
 fell into an ambush laid for him, and all his men were either 
 killed or taken. Alaric advanced to Rome, and laid close 
 siege to it. 
 
 And now the time approached, which the Almighty had 
 fixed, for delivering that city into the hands of Alaric. ' The 
 day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes haste to 
 come ;" Deut. xxxii. 35. The Pagans were still numerous 
 there, and averse to Christianity. May we not then inter- 
 rupt for a moment the thread of our narrative, and consider 
 the Almightyas making the same challenge to these pagans, 
 which he formerly did to those who obstructed the establish- 
 ment of the Jews 1 " Where are your gods, in whom you 
 trust? — Let them arise and help you, and protect you in 
 your distress. See ye, that I alone am, and there is no other 
 God besides me. — If I shall whet my sword as the lightning, 
 and my hand take hold on judgment, I will return vengeance 
 
94 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 on my enemies, and repay them that hate me. I will mak© 
 my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour 
 flesh." Deut. xxxii. 37, &c. 
 
 While Alaric lay before Rome, Heraclion, governor of Afri- 
 ca for the Emperor Honorius, being informed of the siege, 
 forbade all provisions being sent from Africa to the city of 
 Rome, which used to be chiefly supplied from thence. This 
 caused a famine, which raged to a degree that had never been 
 felt before. " Rome," says St. Jerom, " perished by famine 
 before it perished by the sword. Such was the force of hun- 
 ger, that they fed upon the most execrable meats ; the people 
 tore one another to pieces to devour their flesh, and mothers 
 did not even spare the infants at their breasts, inhumanly eat- 
 ing what they had lately brought into the world." Epist. 16. 
 ad. Princip. At length, Alaric availing himself of this dis- 
 tress, assaulted the town, and took it. This happened in the 
 year 410. Thus Rome, that proud city, the mistress of the 
 world, which had subsisted eleven hundred and sixty years, 
 had raised to herself the greatest empire that had ever exist- 
 ed, fell a prey to an obscure Goth, who could scarce be said 
 to be master of a foot of land. Rome was now exposed 
 to the rage of a barbarous exasperated enemy. Therefore 
 " wo to thee, O City that plunders, shalt not thou thyself be 
 also plundered?" Isai. xxxiii. 1. The soldiers were allowed 
 to plunder every thing, and to carry off* the immense riches, 
 which had been amassed there, and were the spoils of all the 
 countries of the world. In consequence of such unbounded 
 liberty being granted, shocking were the barbarities commit- 
 ted by the soldiers to extort from the inhabitants their trea- 
 sures. They not only plundered, but slaughtered the inha- 
 bitants on all sides. That renowned people, that had given 
 laws to all mankind, were now become the prey of fire and 
 the sword. The number of the dead was so great, that they 
 lay unburied ; and St. Jerom tells us, that Rome was buried 
 in its own ashes. The august palace of the emperors, and 
 the greatest part of the so much admired elegant buildings, 
 were consumed by the flames. The historian Procopius even 
 says, the conflagration was such that there scarce remained 
 one single house entire. In a word, Rome perished by the 
 four greatest plagues that can afliict the human species, famine, 
 pestilence, sword, and hre. 
 
 Here then appears conspicuous the judgment of God upon 
 ancient Rome, and how the Roman people, conformably to 
 our text, were drenched with their own blood, in conse- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 95 
 
 quence of their forefathers having shed in their persecutions 
 the blood of his saints. Here also we see fulfilled that pro- 
 phecy of Daniel, where, speaking of the fourth beast, which 
 represented Rome with its dominion, he says : " I saw that 
 the beast was slain, and that its body was destroyed, and 
 given to the fire to be burnt.'' Dan. vii. 11. 
 
 The fall of Rome was equally an object of surprise and 
 sorrow to many nations, on account of the extraordinary fig- 
 ure it had made m the world. St. Jerom, who was then at 
 Bethlehem, and learned the whole account from some Chris- 
 tians who had escaped out of the dismal scene and come to 
 him, laments the dreadful fate of that ancient and powerful 
 city, and describes it by the following verses, with which 
 Virgil describes the conflagration and destruction of Troy. 
 
 Q,uiscladem illius noctus, quis funera fando 
 Explicit aut possit lacrymis aequare labores 7 
 Urbs antiqua fuit, multos dominuta per annos 
 Plurima perque vias sternuntur inertia passim 
 Corpora perque domes, et plurima mortis imago. 
 
 JEneld, lib. 2. 
 
 What tongue can tell the slaughter of that night 1 
 
 What eyes can weep the sorrows and affright 7 
 
 An ancient and imperial city falls, 
 
 The streets are filled with frequent funerals : 
 
 All parts resound with tumults, plaints, and fears, 
 
 And grisly death in sundry shapes appears. 
 
 Dry den's Transl. 
 
 We shall beg leave to add one verse more out of the same 
 
 poem : 
 
 Venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus. 
 
 • The fatal day, th' appointed hour is come. 
 
 It is however to be observed, that in this terrible calamity 
 and severe judgment of heaven. Almighty God showed a pe- 
 culiar regard to his own people ; for Alaric had ordered that 
 the two churches of St. Peter and St. Paul should be places 
 of refuge, and that whoever retired there should be safe. The 
 Christians therefore fled thither, and with them some also of 
 the pagans, who by that means sustained no hurt. 
 
 For three days, the city lay under the tyranny of the 
 Goths; who then leaving it, passed into the provinces of 
 Campania, Lucania, and Calabria, wasting the country, and 
 loading themselves with the spoils of it. But being arrived 
 at Consentia, a town of Calabria, as if the Almighty chose 
 to drop the rod of justice he made use of, there Alaric sick- 
 ened and died in a few days. Athaulph his successor, made 
 peace with the emperor, and obtained for himself and his 
 Goths a settlement in the southern parts of France. 
 
96 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 But the anger of God was not yet assuaged. The "Van- 
 dals, the Alans, and the Suevi, not content v/ith having ra- 
 vaged Gaul, had passed the Pyrenean mountains in 409, and 
 entering Spain, another province of the empire, defeated the 
 Roman armies there. The calamities caused by these savage 
 people in that country were most dreadful. Besides the de- 
 struction made by the sword, the famine became so excessive, 
 that many did not scruple to eat human flesh, and even mo- 
 thers murdered their own children to feed upon them. To 
 these miseries was also added the plague, which carried off 
 multitudes ; and the w41d beasts accustomed to human flesh 
 from the number of carcasses that had perished by the sword, 
 famine, and plague, assaulted even the living and devoured 
 them. This account we have from Idatius, a bishop of Spain, 
 in that century. The three above-mentioned barbarous na- 
 tions, after the reduction of the country, in 411, divided its 
 provinces among themselves, and settled there. 
 
 Attila, king of the Huns, a pagan people of Scythia, now 
 Tartary, broke into different provinces of the empire with a 
 prodigious army, called himself the " Scourge of God," and 
 answered that name by his devastations and barbarities, de- 
 stroying all before him by fire and sword. He was feared as 
 a more fierce and savas^e barbarian, than either Alaric or 
 Radagaisus. In the year 451 he invaded Gaul, and was 
 there beat by the Roman army assisted by the Goths, Alans, 
 Franks, and Burgundians. Upon his defeat he retired into 
 Pannonia, which became the seat of the Huns, part of that 
 country being called from them Hungaria. Attila having 
 reinforced his army, marched into Italy, where he spread 
 destruction. As he advanced in his career, he was met by 
 St. Leo, pope, who addressed him with so much energy, elo- 
 quence, and dignity, that the barbarian let himself be per- 
 suaded to retire out of Italy. 
 
 The Vandals had got footing in Africa from the year 427, 
 and afterwards a fixed settlement there by agreement with the 
 emperor. In 455, Genseric, their king, was invited into 
 Italy by the Empress Eudoxia, through a disgust she had 
 taken to Maximus, her husband, who forced her to marry 
 him. Genseric had accepted with pleasure the invitation, 
 and landed in Italy with an aryiy of Vandals and Moors. 
 Maximus, who had usurped the empire, fled ; and Genseric 
 entering Rome without opposition, delivered it up to his sol- 
 diers, who pillaged it for fourteen days, and then set fire to 
 it. Genseric left the place loaded with riches, and at his 
 
HISTORY or THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 97 
 
 return into Africa seized upon the whole remains of the Ro- 
 man dominions there. 
 
 Odoacer, king of the Heruli, a people of that part of Ger- 
 many now called Mecklenburgh, invaded Italy in the year 
 47G with a powerful army. He defeated the Roman troops 
 under the command of Orestes, took the city of Pavia by 
 force, and exposed it to the pillage of his soldiers, who de- 
 stroyed all with fire and sword. Here Odoacer was saluted 
 king of Italy. He then advanced to Rome, where he deposed 
 the Emperor Augustulus, and thus effectually established his 
 own regal title. 
 
 In Augustulus ceased the Roman empire in- the west. 
 The imperial title was now lost, the authority of Rome was 
 extinguished, its dignity trampled under foot, and its extensive 
 doma.j.1. torn to pieces, and parcelled out among a set of bar- 
 barous people. Spain was divided among the Goths, Alans, 
 Suevi, and others. Africa was possessed by the Vandals. 
 JBritain having been before abandoned by the Romans, was 
 subdued by the Saxons, who had lately assisted the Britons 
 ao-ainst their enemies, the Scots and the Picts. The Goths, 
 Burgundians, and Franks, had erected their several kingr- 
 doms in Gaul : and now at last Rome itself, with Italy, the 
 fountains of waters, that had triumphed over the rest of the 
 world, became enslaved to a barbarous king. In these latter 
 times Italy, by the ravages of the invaders, had been depopu- 
 lated, and the imperial armies had consisted chiefly of barba- 
 rians, as Goths, Huns, Alans, Heruli, Suevi, and others, hired 
 under the name of auxiliaries. These soon saw their own 
 strength, and the weakness of their masters. They therefore 
 shared out to themselv^es such morsels of the empire as they 
 most relished. 
 
 Theodoric, king of those Goths that w-ere settled in Italy, 
 got Odoacer treacherously murdered in 493, and himself 
 proclaimed king of all Italy. This country from that time 
 remained under the power of the Goths, till Justinian the 
 Great, emperor of Constantinople, sent thither his general, 
 Belisarius, who subdued a considerable part of it, reduced 
 the Gothic power to a low ebb, and united Rome to the east- 
 ern empire. Thus was that unhappy city tossed from hand 
 to hand, and now become a member of that empire, of which 
 she had formerly been the head. However, Totila being 
 chosen king of the Goths in Italy, found means to retrieve the 
 declining state of their affairs. He recovered a great part of 
 the country, and in 546 invested Rome, w^hich he blocked up 
 9 
 
98 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 SO closely, that it could receive no provisions. This occa- 
 sioned such a raging famine, that the inhabitants were reduced 
 to the utmost extremity of distress, feeding upon the most filthy 
 things, even their own excrements. Belisarius attempted to 
 send in provisions, but the attempt proved unsuccessful. The 
 arm of God was still lifted up against Rome, and was to strike 
 another blow, before the divine justice could be finally satisfied. 
 By a piece of treachery in the sentinels posted at one of the 
 gates, Totila was admitted in the night into the city, which he 
 gave up to the pillage of his soldiers. The Goths spent 
 several days in plundering the inhabitants ; and the senators 
 and richest people were even stripped of every thing, that they 
 were necessitated to beg their bread of the very Goths who 
 had thus reduced them. The walls of Rome were thrown 
 down, the public monuments demolished, the city was burnt, 
 and Totila carried away with him all the inhabitants; so 
 that the place remained desert for above forty days. Procop. 
 lib. 3. c. 12. lib. 4. c. 13. and Evagr. lib. 2. c. 7.— Thus 
 was completed the destruction of ancient Rome, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A FURTHER ACCOUNT OF THE THIRD AGE. 
 
 Having in the preceding chapter elucidated by plain his- 
 tory, the brief enigmatical description of the fall of the Ro- 
 man empire, which St. John gives us in the third seal, trum- 
 pet, and vial ; we are now better prepared to understand the 
 other, more explicit account, he has added in the 17th and 
 18th chapters of the Apocalypse. The event is so interesting 
 to the Christian Church, that he enlarges on the circum- 
 stances of it, particularly on the ruin of Rome herself, as she 
 had been the greatest enemy of Christ upon earth, the instru- 
 ment of Satan in opposing the worship of God, and in fine 
 the centre of idolatry. — Thus speaks our prophet: 
 
 Apoc. chap. xvii. 1. " And there came one of the seven 
 angels, who had the seven vials, and spoke with me, saying: 
 Come, I will show thee the condemnation of the great harlot, 
 who sitteth upon many waters. 
 
 V. 2. " With w^hom the kings of the earth have committed 
 fornication : and they who inhabit the earth have been made 
 i^runk with the wine of her whoredom. 
 
HISTORY OF TUB CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 99 
 
 V. 3. *' And he took me away m spirit into the desert. 
 And I saw a woman sitting" upon a scarlet-coloured beast full 
 of names of blasphefny, having seven heads and ten horns. 
 
 y, 4. " And the woman was clothed round about with 
 purple and scarlet, and gilt with gold, and precious stones and 
 pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of the abomina- 
 tion and filthiness of her fornication. 
 
 y. 5. " And on her forehead a name was written ; a mys- 
 tery ; Babylon the great, the mother of the fornications, and 
 the abominations of the earth. 
 
 y. 6. " And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the 
 saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And I 
 wondered, when I had seen her, with great admiration." 
 
 St. John is here invited, ver. 1. to be a spectator of the divine 
 punishmxcnt upon the great harlot, who represents pagan Rome, 
 as we shall see presently. The invitation comes with propriety 
 from one of the seven angels who held the vials of the wrath 
 of God, as it was the function of those angels to execute the 
 divine judgments on mankind. The Apostle is therefore taken 
 up, as he thought, by the angel, v. 3, into a desert, that very 
 desert where Rome stood. The country round that metropo- 
 lis of the world was filled with towns and inhabitants while 
 she maintained her power, but when the barbarous nations 
 came upon her like furious lions, they laid waste the lands 
 all around for many miles, they razed the towns to the ground, 
 and thus reduced the whole country to a desolate desert. In 
 this condition it was when Rome was destroyed, and thus 
 nearly it has remained ever since, as a lasting monument of 
 the divine wrath. St. John being placed in this desert sees 
 the great harlot or the woman, sitting upon a scarlet-coloured 
 beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten 
 horns, &c. and being struck with amazement at so extraordi- 
 nary a sight, 
 
 V. 7. " The angel said to me : why dost thou wonder ? I 
 will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast which 
 carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns ; 
 which the angel does by parts thus : 
 
 y. 18. " The woman which thou sawest, is the great city, 
 which hath kingdom over the kings of the earth." 
 
 This great city, which has dominion over the kings of the 
 earth, can bo no other but imperial Rome, which had con- 
 quered almost all the kingdoms of the known world. Impe- 
 rial heathen Rome is therefore evidently meant and represented 
 by the woman or great harlot. And thus it has been under- 
 
100 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIA.N CHURCH. 
 
 Stood by the ancient fathers and by the modern interpreters 
 of the Catholic Church But furthermore, 
 
 V. 15. " And he (the angel) said to me," says St. John: 
 " the waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are 
 peoples* and nations and tongues." 
 
 The harlot was said, v. 1, to sit upon many waters, which 
 the angel here interprets to represent the many kingdoms, 
 states, and countries, over which she ruled. Again, the angel 
 tells him, that the seven heads are seven mountains, on which 
 the woman sitteth, v. 9, which is to say clearly, the seven 
 mountains on which ancient Rome was built. These hills 
 are, the Capitoline, Palatine, Aventine, Caelius, Esqueline, 
 Gluirinal, and Viminal, some of which can scarce be deemed 
 a part of modern Rome, as being now very little inhabited. 
 
 The woman being now well knoAvn, we are next presented 
 with a description of her person and qualities. She appears 
 dressed in purple and scarlet, and gilt with gold and precious 
 stones and pearls, v. 4. : the imperial lady is thus decked out 
 in the most sumptuous manner, proudly displaying the great 
 abundance of her riches, amassed from the spoils of the whole 
 world. Purple was the usual robe of the emperors of Rome, 
 and her scarlet shows her stained with the blood of the mar- 
 tyrs. She holds in her hand a golden cup full of the abomi- 
 nation and filthiness of her fornication, v. 4, a common scrip- 
 tural expression for the abominations of idolatry ; and with 
 these she had notoriously polluted herself For Rome, not 
 content with worshipping her own heathenish gods, she 
 adopted those of all the countries and nations she subdued. 
 She thought by this extravagant religious worship to render 
 all the deities propitious to her, and to this she ascribed the 
 success of her arms. " Thus it is," said the Romans, "that this 
 city has extended her empire beyond the rising and setting 
 sun, and beyond the bounds of the ocean, because she venerates 
 the gods she conquers, she makes foreign deities her own, 
 and even raises altars to those that are unknown to her." 
 Mm. Fel. Oct. In this manner were her idolatrous abomina- 
 tions so multiplied, that there are said to have been 420 hea- 
 thenish temples in that city. Thus writes a Roman poet : 
 
 Sed quae de septern totum circumspicit orbem 
 Montibus, Imperii, Roma, Deuimque locus. 
 
 Ovid. lib. 1. Trist. 
 
 " Rome, which from seven mountains overlooks the whole world, 
 Is the centre of empire, and the abode of the gods." 
 
 She even carried her superstition so far, lest any unknown 
   In the Greek text, " peoples and multitudes." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 101 
 
 god should not receive due worship, as to build a temple, 
 which she dedicated to all the deities, calling it on that ac- 
 count, Pantheon, " the temple of all the gods." " This city," 
 said St. Leo, "not knowing the Author of her elevation, while 
 she ruled over almost all the nations of the earth submitted to 
 serve all their gods : and she imagined herself tii be the more 
 religious, as she rejected no kind of idolatrous worship." — 
 " Insomuch, that whatever superstitions had place in other 
 countries, they were all carefully transplanted to Rome." — 
 Horn. I. Nat. in Ap. Petri et Pauli In fine, such was the 
 filthiness of her fornication, such the excess of her prostitution 
 to idolatry, that she even deified her impious emperors, raised 
 statutes to them to which incense was offered, and built tem- 
 ples to their memories. 
 
 Such Avas ancient Rome, the great Harlot, with whom the 
 kings of the earth committed fornication ; and they who in- 
 habited the earth, were made drunk with the wine of her 
 whoredom, v. 2. She was not only intoxicated herself with all 
 the delusions of idolatry, but she offered her golden cup all 
 round to others. The unparalleled degree of power and 
 grandeur to which she was elevated, raised her to such a 
 height of admiration in the eyes of all nations, that they 
 vieAved her with the utmost deference and respect, and readily 
 embraced whatever superstition she herself followed or re- 
 commended. She had moreover the disposal of kingdoms, 
 governments, riches, and dignities : what wonder then, if with 
 such charms she debauched the kings and people of the 
 earth ? 
 
 This same woman is farther said to carry on her forehead 
 the following inscription : a mystery : Babylon the great, the 
 mother of the fornications, and the abominations of the earth, 
 V. -5. Here is a mystery, or an Qnigma to be unravelled, viz. 
 Babylon the great, the mother of the fornications, and the 
 abominations of the earth. The reader, we apprehend, is 
 already prepared in great measure for the solving of this 
 enigma. Babylon the great, is the great imperial city of pagan 
 Rome. And she is the woman, as we have just above shown, 
 who is the mother of the fornications and abominations of the 
 earth. This is the explanation of the proposed mystery. But 
 to make it more clear, that by Babylon the great is here 
 meant idolatrous Rome, we appeal to the angel's words : The 
 woman which thou sawest, is the great city, which hath king- 
 doms over the kings of the earth, v. 18. ; which, as we have 
 before observed, plainly points out the great ancient city of 
 9* 
 
102 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Rome, that domineered over the greatest part of the kingdoms 
 of the then known world. The woman therefore is the image 
 of that city, and in the inscription on her forehead she is styled 
 Babylon the great : consequently Babylon the great, is here 
 the same with the city of Rome. In the primitive ages this 
 figurative name of Babylon was frequently given to heathen 
 Rome by the Christians, on account of the resemblance of the 
 characters of those two cities, for their idolatry, and for theii 
 oppressing, the one the Jews, the other the Christians. St 
 Peter dates his first letter from Babylon, 1 Pet. v. 13, that is, 
 from Rome, as St. Jerom and Eusebius tell us. " The appel- 
 lation of Babylon," said Tertullian, "is used by St. John for 
 the city of Rome, because she resembles ancient Babylon, in 
 the extent of her walls, m her haughtiness on account of her 
 dominion, and in persecuting the saints." Lib. Adv. Jud. 
 " Rome is a second Babylon," says also St. Austin, " and a 
 daughter of the ancient Babylon," De Civit, lib, 22. c. 18, 
 Babylon the great is therefore sufficiently distino-uished : but 
 her character is completed, and she appears in plain colours, in 
 what follows : " And I saw," says St. John, " the woman drunk 
 with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs 
 of Jesus," v. 6. This inhuman woman, this impious Jezabel, 
 this cruel persecutrix, has drenched herself with so much 
 Christian blood, which she has spilt, that she appears to be 
 drunk with it. Who is this but idolatrous persecuting Rome ? 
 Innumerable were the martyrs she put to death, throughout 
 the vast extent of her dominions, and even in her own bosom, 
 the ciiy itself Innumerable likewise were the other saints or 
 holy confessors, who, though not slain, were by her condemned 
 to lose some of their limbs, and had an eye bored out, their 
 tongues plucked away, or the sinews of a leg or a thigh cut, 
 &c. or in fine, were put to tortures that tore away their flesh 
 and drained their blood. We have seen the account of ten 
 dreadful persecutions, which swept away an infinite multitude 
 of Christians ; and all these persecutions were the work of 
 the Roman emperors, and their substitutes in the provinces. 
 It is then apparent who the woman is, that was seen drunk 
 with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs 
 of Jesus. 
 
 After the description of the woman, we are then favoured 
 with an account of the beast that carries her, v, 7. The woman 
 being the image of the city of Rome, the beast on which she 
 sits, naturally represents the Roman empire. And as the wo- 
 man was styled the mother of fornication or idolatry ; consC' 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 103 
 
 quently Rome was the seat and centre of idolatry ; and in like 
 nianner by the beast the Roman empire is represented as the 
 empire of idolatry. The colour of the beast is scarlet, v. 3, 
 an emblem of its sanguinary disposition : and it is said to be 
 full of names of blasphemy, or marked over with the names 
 of the heathenish Roman gods, the greatest indignity that can 
 
 be offered to the majesty of the Supreme Bemg. Then the 
 
 angel, who promised to St. John to discover to him, v. 7. the 
 mystery both of the woman and the beast, tells him : 
 
 V. 8. *' The beast, which thou sawest, was, and is not, and 
 shall come up out of the bottomless pit, and go into destruction : 
 and the inhabitants on the earth (whose names are not written 
 in the book of life from the foundations of the world) shall 
 wonder, seeing the beast, that was, and is not."* 
 
 Behold a very mysterious explication of a mystery. But 
 to unfold it : here is expressed the state of the beast, as it pass- 
 es through different periods of time. The beast or the Roman 
 idolatrous empire was, that is, existed for a term of time : then 
 is not, or exists no more as the empire of idolatry, but is 
 changed into a Christian empire ; which happened when Con- 
 stantine the Great became emperor, suppressed the power of 
 idolatry'-, expelled Satan, and established Christianity. Bat it 
 is added, " and the beast shall come up out of the bottomless 
 pit, and go into destruction :" the Roman idolatrous empire 
 will rise up again under Antichrist from the bottomless pit or 
 hell, because Satan will be loosed before the end of the world, 
 and will revive idolatry chiefly by means of that wicked man, 
 Antichrist, who will become master of the ancient Roman do- 
 minions. And the inhabitants on the earth — shall wonder, 
 seeing the beast, that was, and is not, and yet is ; all the world 
 will be struck with amazement, at seeing the idolatrous Roman 
 empire re-appear, which had been so long ago destroyed. But 
 the reign of Antichrist will soon go into destruction, as it will 
 last no more than three years and a half This last period 
 of the beast will be more fully explained in its due place. 
 The angel proceeds in his explication : 
 
 V. 9. " And here is the understanding, that hath wisdom. f 
 The seven heads, are seven mountains, upon which the wo- 
 man sitteth, and they are seven kings. 
 
 V. 10. "Five are fallen, one is, and the other is not yet 
 come : and when he is come, he must remain a short time." 
 
 Let the understanding, that is endowed with wisdom here 
 
 * In the Greek text is addded, "And yet is." 
 
 tin tlie Greek, "here the understanding that hath wisdom." 
 
104 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 take notice : the seven heads, which are upon the beast, are> 
 seven mountains on which the woman sitteth ; we have already 
 observed that ancient Rome stood upon seven mountains. But 
 besides, they, the seven heads, are seven kings, or seven Ro- 
 man emperors who are particularly distinguished as the chiel 
 supporters of idolatry, and the most virulent persecutors of 
 the Christian religion. These are, as we have already re- 
 inarked, Nero, Domitian, Severus, Decius, Valerian, Diode- 
 sian, and Antichrist. Five are fallen : we saw, before, the suc- 
 cessive periods of the beast with regard to its existence ; here 
 we have the succession of its heads. Five of them are fallen 
 or gone; namely, Nero, Domitian, Severus, Decius, and Va- 
 lerian, by whom the idolatrous empire was supported for a 
 time ; one is, the sixth or last of that period, viz. Dioclesian^ 
 with w^hom the reign of idolatry falls : and so it happened, by 
 the accession of Constantino to the imperial throne. Here 
 then is interrupted the succession of the heathen and persecut- 
 ing emperors for a long space of time; for the other is not yet 
 come, the seventh Roman emperor, Antichrist, who will come 
 only in the latter days ; and when he is come, he must remain 
 a short time, three years and a half, as we shall see in the 
 sequel. No notice is here taken of Julian the apostate, who 
 broke indeed the series of the Christian emperors, and attempt- 
 ed to re-establish idolatry, but was taken off after a short 
 reign of less than two years — The angel continues; 
 
 V. 11. " And the beast, which was, and is not, the same also 
 is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into destruc- 
 tion." 
 
 Here is a new state of the beast, which begins at the fall of 
 fehe sixth head, or Dioclesian, with whom the beast itself or the 
 power of idolatry also fell. On this account the former sim- 
 ple appellation of the beast, is now changed into the beast, 
 which was, and is not, as being now no more what it was, 
 having lost all power, and that power being transferred into 
 the hands of Christian emperors. In this situation the beast 
 is said to be an eighth king, that is, the Roman idolatrous peo- 
 ple, though left without a heathen prince at their head by the 
 death of Dioclesian and succession of Constantino, are never- 
 theless to be reputed equivalent to an eighth pagan emperor, 
 because they retain still their former attachment to paganism 
 and their hatred to Christianity. And thus they are of the 
 seven, as being alike in their dispositions to the seven above- 
 mentioned heathen emperors. But they go into destruction : 
 this idolatrous people will soon disappear, as we shall see» 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 105 
 
 either by being destroyed, or by their conversion to the Chris- 
 tian religion. 
 
 After the account of the beast and its seven heads, the angel 
 proceeds to explain to St. John the meaning of the ten horns 
 of the beast. 
 
 V. 12. " And the ten horns which thou sawest, are ten kings, 
 which have not yet received kingdom, but shall receive power 
 as kings, one hour after the beast.* 
 
 V. 13. "These have one design: and their strength and 
 power they shall deliver to the beast." 
 
 The ten horns denote then ten kings or ten powers, namely, 
 the Goths, Huns, Alans, Vandals, Saxons, Burgundians, 
 Franks, Heruli, Suevi, and Quadi, the chief of the barbarous 
 nations that invaded the western Roman empire in the fifth 
 century. These have not yet received kingdom or dominion, 
 viz. at the beginning of this period of the Christian emperors, 
 or of the beast that was and is not ; but they will receive power 
 as kings one hour with the beast, that is, they will be command- 
 ed by their own chiefs, and will engage by treaty to serve for 
 one hour or a while as auxiliaries to the beast, that is, to the 
 pagan Roman armies. Thus the Prophet continues to de- 
 scribe the succession of the changes that were to happen in 
 the Roman empire. The above mentioned nations come all 
 with one design of relinquishing their own barren northern 
 countries, and settling themselves in the rich provinces of the 
 Roman empire. But before they accomplish this design, their 
 strength and power they shall deliver to the beast: they effec- 
 tually served as auxiliaries to the Roman armies, according to 
 agreement, and helped to defend the empire against its enemies; 
 as we have seen in the history above given. In this quality 
 they served under the emperors Constantius, Valens, Theodo- 
 sius, Honorius, &c. 
 
 V. 14. " These shall fight with the Lamb, and the T^mb 
 shall overcome them : because he is the Lord of lords, and 
 King of kings ; and they that are with him, are called, and 
 elect, and faithful." 
 
 All those different people, signified by the ten horns, were 
 either pagans or heretics. Being therefore bitter enemies to 
 the Catholic Christians, the}?- in their irruptions wreaked their 
 malice and rancour upon them: they plundered their towns 
 and country, and destroyed them with fire and sword. (See 
 the history above given.) And thus these barbarous people 
 fought against the Lamb, or Christ, but the Lamb will over- 
 
   In the Greek, " with the beast," and so read St. Iraeneus and others. 
 
106 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 come them, in turning their hearts, and converting them into 
 his votaries. And in effect, some time after they had settled 
 themselves in the Roman provinces, a part of them were de- 
 stroyed in the wars that ensued, and the rest gradually abjured 
 their idolatry and errors, the pagans becoming Christians, 
 and the Arians and other heretics going over to the Catholics. 
 Among other writers, thus speaks Orosius, an historian of 
 that age : " Who know^ but Providence thus permitted the 
 barbarians to become masters of the Roman provinces, with 
 a view to effect their salvation? Do not we see that the 
 churches of Christ, both in the eastern and western parts, are 
 filled with Huns, with Suevi, with Vandals, with Burgundians, 
 and with divers other people, who have been converted to the 
 flaith." Such was the victory of the Lamb; for Christ is Lord 
 of lords, and King of kings : he is a Sovereign over all king- 
 doms and states: he is Master of the human mind, and he can 
 call to the faith whom he pleases. To work the conversion 
 of those people, he employed his servants, the ministers of 
 his Church, whom he called to that function, elected them or 
 culled them out of the whole body of his people for that pur- 
 pose, and they approved themselves faithful to their charge. 
 Incredible indeed was the zeal exerted by the church in those 
 times for the conversion of the above-mentioned pagans and 
 heretics. To mention only a few instances : St. Remigius and 
 others converted the Gauls in the fifth and sixth centuries. 
 The Arian Visigoths in Spain were brought over to the Ca- 
 tholic faith about the year 600, in the reign of their king Rec- 
 cared. About the same time the Saxons in Britain received 
 the Christian doctrine from St. Austin and his companions. 
 St. Willibrod carried the faith into Friseland; and St. Rupert 
 and St. Boniface with his associates converted many nations 
 of Germany in the seventh and eight centuries. 
 
 V. 16. " And the ten horns, which thou sawest on the beast," 
 continues the angel: "these shall hate the harlot, and shall 
 make her desolate, and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall 
 burn her with fire." 
 
 Here we see the general disposition of the above-mentioned 
 northern nations, denoted by the ten horns. They will hate 
 the harlot, Rome, the great capital of the empire, because she 
 has shown herself a universal domineering tyrant, and has in 
 particular ill requited them for the important help they had 
 lent her against her enemies. Thus stimulated with rancour 
 and resentment, they will make her desolate, that is, they will 
 invest her walls, they will preclude all succours both of men 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 107 
 
 and provisions from her, and reduce her to the utmost state of 
 distress. They will make her naked, by stripping her of her 
 shining- ornaments, her gaudy palaces, Egyptian obelisks, 
 magnificent temples, theatres, triumphal arches, &c. and all 
 her ostentatious pageantry. They will eat her flesh, by plun- 
 dering her of her wealth and riches, with which she had fed 
 herseTf by plundering the rest of the world. And lastly, they 
 will burn her with fire. All which was done, as we have 
 seen in the history above given.* — Thus was foretold by the 
 angel, before it happened, the fate of that heathen imperial 
 city, under the emblem of a woman, prostituted to vice and ad- 
 mitting no control, because she is the empress of the world. 
 But her jealous enemies will not rest, till they have found 
 means to humble her pride, and to effect her ruin. They will 
 first deprive her of every human succour and comfort, they 
 will then strip her naked, devour her flesh, and when thus 
 reduced to a skeleton, they will consume her by fire. 
 
 That the greatest power on earth should be thus reduced and 
 crushed by foreign barbarians, whom it had before held in con- 
 tempt and neglect, may seem strange to our understanding, 
 and not according to the standard by which we generally mea- 
 sure human events. But this extraordinary fact is not to be 
 ranked in the class of common human transactions: it was 
 conducted by another hand. 
 
 V. 17. "For God hath given into their hearts, to do that 
 which pleaseth him: that they give their kingdom to the beast, 
 till the words of God be fulfilled." 
 
 Under the divine direction, therefore, those barbarians acted 
 in the demolition of Rome and its empire; and thus they exe- 
 cuted what pleased him, or Avhat he had designed. According 
 to the decrees of his infinite wisdom and justice, the Almighty 
 sent Nebuchodonosor to punish the guilty Jews, and Cyrus to 
 do the same to the Babylonians. In like manner the northern 
 nations became the instrument of his vengeance upon the Ro- 
 man state for the guilt of its idolatry and persecutions. These 
 agents had indeed no other view in w^hat they did, than to 
 gratify their hatred, their avarice, and other passions ; and 
 this the Almighty permitted them to compass, but for other 
 purposes which they did not see into. But besides; in that 
 latter period when, agreeable to the perdiction in ver. 12, they 
 had received kingdom, that is, when they had possessed them- 
 selves of the Roman provinces, and erected them into so many 
 
 * Whoever has been upon the place, has seen sufficient proof of the 
 same, in the miserable shattered ruins of old Rome. 
 
108 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 kingdoms, they were still allowed to give their kingdom or 
 join their power and armies with those of the beast which was 
 and is not, that is, with the pagan Romans then governed by- 
 Christian emperors : the view of which union was the defence 
 of the country against new invaders. This was permitted for a 
 while, till the words of God were fulfilled, till the time pre- 
 ordained by God was come, for the final destruction of pagan 
 Rome, and the rise of new Christian Rome in its place, and 
 for the happy conversion of these barbarians and the remain- 
 der of the pagan Romans to the faith of Christ. 
 
 We have now seen, in the course of this 17th chapter of 
 the Apocalypse, the different changes that successively hap- 
 pened in the western Rom.an empire, to its total dissolution. 
 We saw ancient Rome in its glorious state commanding all 
 nations, upholding idolatry with its whole power, and oppo- 
 sing and persecuting the Christian religion. This power is 
 then lost, by passing into the hands of Christian emperors: 
 and this was the first step towards the fall of the empire of 
 idolatry. The body of the people still retaining their former 
 attachment to paganism and aversion to Christianity, the next 
 step was : the Almighty brought down upon them swarms 
 of northern barbarous people, whom the empire was forced to 
 admit into its boAvels, and to avert its own ruin for a while, 
 by buying them off and hiring their service against other 
 such like enemies. But these northern savages retaining all 
 along their first hostile disposition against the Romans, found 
 pretences to turn their arms against them, defeated their troops, 
 shared out the western provinces among themselves, and thus 
 overturned the body of the empire. When in possession of 
 the Roman territories, they then, for their own interest, and 
 upon their OAvn bottom, employed their forces in conjunction 
 with those of the Roman people in defence o-f the countrj^ 
 But they could not rest satisfied, till they had attacked and 
 demolished the head, that overbearing mistress of the world, 
 the city of Rome itself — This demolition was announced 
 above, ver. 16, as to be; and in what follows we see it exactly 
 executed. 
 
 Apoc. chap, xviii. 1. "And after these things I saw," says 
 St. John, " another angel come down from heaven, having 
 great power: and the earth was enlightened with his glory, 
 
 V. 2. " And he cried out with a strong voice, saying: Baby- 
 lon the great is fallen, is fallen: and is become the habitation 
 of devils, and the hold of every unclean spirit, and the hold of 
 every unclean and hateful bird : 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 109 
 
 V. 3. " Because all nations have drunk of the wine of the 
 wrath of her fornication: and the kings of the earth have 
 committed fornication with, her: and the merchants of the 
 earth have been made rich by the power of her delicacies." 
 
 Here appears an angel descending from heaven vested with 
 great power, because he comes to destroy the great imperial 
 city of Rome. He is also surrounded with a glorious circle 
 of light, which illuminates the earth; an image of the ma- 
 jesty of God, who exercises his sovereign dominion in so stri- 
 king a manner on this occasion. The heavenly messenger 
 cries out with a strong voice, that all the earth may hear : and 
 indeed all the earth heard of the fall of Rome, and confessed 
 the hand that did it. He thus cries out: " Babylon the great 
 is fallen, is fallen; idolatrous Rome is fallen. The angel 
 struck her, and she is fallen. That mighty seat of power and 
 dominion is fallen. That metropolis of nations, that capital 
 of the world, is fallen. That great school of heroes, and pa- 
 rent of conquests, is fallen and crushed. The long fixed abode 
 of voluptuousness and luxury, for the merchants of the earth 
 have been made rich by the power of her delicacies, is laid 
 waste by famine and devastation. She had provoked the Al- 
 mighty by her unbounded attachment to idolatry, and by her 
 efforts to support and propagate it; for all nations* had drunk of 
 the wine of the wrath, or vehemence of her fornication : and the 
 kings of the earth had committed fornication with her; and now 
 the hand of God has struck her. She had glutted herself 
 with the blood of the servants of God: and he in his wrath 
 has sent against her the executors of his justice, who have 
 made her desolate, have stripped her naked, eat her flesh, and 
 burned her with fire." Apoc. xvii. 16. See. p. 106. We have 
 seen how all this was gradually executed upon her. Alaric 
 took the city, plundered it for three days, and burned it in 
 410. Genseric plundered it for fourteen days together in 455, 
 and then set fire to it. Odoacer took it in 476, deposed the 
 emperor, and extinguished the imperial title. La.stly, Totila 
 in 546 burned it and reduced it into a solitude : " Totila," 
 says the historian Procopius, "left not one human creature in 
 the city." Lib. 3. de hell. Goth. And in this condition it re- 
 mained for upwards of forty days. And thus it became like 
 an accursed place, given up for a habitation of devils, and 
 a hold of every unclean spirit, or of frightful spectres and 
 ghosts, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird, as of 
 owls, ravens, vultures, &c. 
 
   la the Greek " all the nations," subject to the Roman empire. 
 10 
 
110 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 V. 4. " And I heard," pursues St. John, " another voice 
 from heaven, saying : Go out from her, my people : that you 
 be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her 
 plagues." The people of God, that is, the Christians, are 
 here told to leave the falling city, lest they should be parta- 
 kers of her sins, and receive of her plagues, tha.t is, lest they 
 should be involved in the punishment and ruin she has drawn 
 upon herself by her iniquities. At the time of Alaric's sack- 
 ing Rome, many fled away, as we saw in the history, to St. 
 Jerom, who was then in Judasa. Others fled into other parts, 
 as the same holy father testifies. He also informs us, Ep. 7, 
 that St. Paula and several illustrious Christian families had 
 before left Rome, as by a particular inspiration, and retired to 
 Bethlehem in Judoea. "The holy Pope Innocent," says Oro- 
 sius, " was withdrawn by a particular providence out of the 
 city, as Lot out of Sodom, that he might not see the ruin of a 
 guilty people." Lib. 7. c. 39. We read that St. Melania, as 
 if she foresaw the approaching catastrophe, had prevailed 
 upon many Christians to retire with her from a city doomed 
 to destruction. Hist. Laus. c. 118. In fine, when the storm 
 burst, the Christians that remained there, took refuge in the 
 Churches of SS. Peter and Paul, which Alaric had allowed 
 to be places of safety. Thus, then, as the Christians had for- 
 merly avoided being involved in the ruin of Jerusalem by re- 
 tiring out of it, conformably to our Saviour's admonition ; so 
 here, many withdrew in the same manner from the scene of 
 divine vengeance which so deservedly fell upon Rome. 
 
 v. 5. " For her sins have reached unto heaven, and the 
 Lord has remembered her iniquities." 
 
 Her iniquities have called to heaven for vengeance, and 
 God will bear Avith them no longer. 
 
 V. 6. " Render to her as she hath also rendered to you : 
 and double unto her double according to her works : in the 
 cup wherein she hath mingled, mingle ye double unto her. 
 
 V, 7. " As much as she hath glorified herself, and lived in 
 delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to her." 
 
 It is not to be understood, that the Almighty here tells the 
 Christians to take revenge on their enemies, the pagan Ro- 
 mans ; but by this kind of prophetic language he apprizes 
 them, that Rome shall be drenched with a full cup of misery, 
 double of that she had tyrannically forced upon them. And 
 in proportion as she had proudly exalted herself, and lived in 
 delicacies, or luxury and pleasure, so shall be the measure of 
 her torment and sorrows. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. lU 
 
 V. 7. " Because she saith in her heart ; I sit a queen, and 
 am no widow, and sorrow I shall not see. 
 
 V. 8. " Therefore shall her plagues come in one day; 
 death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be burnt with 
 fire : because God is strong who shall judge her." 
 
 Here we have a picture of the intolerable arrogance and 
 pride of the woman, imperial Rome. She says in her heart: 
 I sit upon my throne as a queen: I am empress of the world. 
 I am no widow ; my power is fixed and established for ever. 
 And sorrow I shall never see ; as no one can wrest mv 
 power from me, I am beyond the reach of sorrow and afflic- 
 tion. That such were the sentiments of haughty Rome, we 
 learn from the Roman authors themselves. Thus the poet 
 Virgil introduces Jupiter promising unlimited and eternal 
 dominion to the Romans : 
 
 His ego nee metas rerum, nee tempora pono, 
 Imperiuni, sine fine dedi. JSneid. I 
 
 To them, no bounds of empire I assign, 
 Nor term of years to tlieir immortal line. 
 
 Dryden's Transl. 
 
 Horace speal^s in the same strain. Carm. Scec. Floru.* 
 also writes, that " the gods had promised, the Roman state 
 should remain unshaken and eternal." I. Tarq. Superb. 
 Ammianus Marcellinus, in his history, calls Rome " eternal^ 
 to last as lonsf as the race of mankind." 
 
 For such extravagant presumption, which flies in the face 
 of the supreme Creator and the Lord of the universe, he pro- 
 nounces the following plagues or calamities shall come upon 
 her together in one day: Famine, which was announced in 
 the third seal; mourning, as described in the third trumpet; 
 and death, or the sword, as denounced by the third vial ; and 
 her faith shall be completed by fire, which shall lay her in 
 ashes. All these calamities fell at once upon heathen Rome, 
 as we have seen. They came from an all-powerful and irre 
 sistible hand, which threw her down from her throne, and 
 reduced her to extreme pangs of sorrow and affliction, and 
 then crushed her, for her intolerable pride and impiety : for 
 God is strong who judges her. " Though thou be exalted as 
 an eao-le, and though thou set thy nest among the stars : 
 thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord." Abd. v. 4. 
 
 V. 9. " And the kings of the earth who have committed 
 fornication and lived in delicacies with her, shall weep, and 
 bewail themselves over her, when they shall see the smoke 
 of her burning. 
 
112 HISTORY OP THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 V. 10. •' Standing afar off for fear of her torments, saying: 
 Alas ! Alas ! that great city Babylon, that mighty city : for 
 in one hour is thy judgment come." 
 
 Here the kings and princes of the earth, who have shared 
 with her in her idolatry, cruelty, and luxury, are introduced 
 as standing afar off, lamenting and bewailing the dreadful 
 fate of that once great and powerful city, and which they now 
 see in flames. St. Austin informs us, that " the people of the 
 eastern provinces and the remotest cities mourned in a public 
 manner on this occasion." De civ. lib. 1. c. 33. 
 
 V. 11. " And the merchants of the earth shall weep, and 
 mourn over her: for no man shall buy their merchandise 
 any more. 
 
 V. 12. " Merchandise of gold and silver and precious 
 stones ; and of pearls and of fine linen, and purple, and of 
 silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner of vessels 
 of ivory, and all manner of vessels of precious stones, and of 
 brass, and of iron, and of marble, 
 
 V. 13. " And cinnamon, and odours, and ointment, and 
 frankincense, and Avine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, 
 and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, 
 and souls of men. 
 
 V. 14. " And the fruits of the desire of thy soul are de- 
 parted from thee, and all fat and goodly things are perished 
 from thee, and they shall find them no more at all. 
 
 V. 15. " The merchants of these things, who were made 
 rich, shall stand afar off from her for fear of her torments, 
 weeping and mourning. 
 
 V. 16. "And saying: Alas! Alas! that great city, which 
 was clothed with fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and was 
 gilt with gold, and precious stones, and pearls : 
 
 V, 17. " For in one hour, are so great riches come to 
 nought." 
 
 The merchants and tradesmen, who had enriched them- 
 selves by the luxury and extravagance of the Romans, are 
 likewise here deploring the fate of the city, because there is 
 now no more sale for their merchandise. We see here enu- 
 merated the articles of their luxury, in dress, in ornaments, in 
 furniture, in equipage, in the sumptuousness of their tables, 
 &c. The emperors embellished Rome with magnificent 
 palaces, theatres, &c., which were enriched with the most 
 costly furniture and ornaments. The whole earth was ran- 
 sacked to supply the extravagancy of that one city. Nero in 
 particular built an immense palace, which occupied Mount 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 113 
 
 Palatine, part of Mount Esquiline, and the large space be- 
 tween. This palace was so richly furnished and so splendidly- 
 decorated, that it was styled " the golden palace of Nero." 
 Excessively extravagant was also the luxury and profusion of 
 some of the Roman emperors at their tables. Caius Caligula 
 once spent, according to Seneca, for a supper, one hundred and 
 fifty thousand crowns. Suetonius tells us, the Emperor Vi- 
 telius would feast himself three, sometimes four times a day, 
 spending ten thousand crowns at each meal. He had at his 
 table dishes made up of the brains of pheasants and peacocks, 
 others of the tongues and livers of rare birds, others of the 
 milts of some particular fish. And so of other instances, 
 but now, what an alteration in the scene ! all these delicious 
 and expensive dainties are perished, and no more to be found. 
 All the fine linen, purple silk, precious stones, pearls, &c., the 
 costly dress of the emperors, empresses, magistrates, and citi- 
 zens, are vanished. All the pompous train of equipage of horses, 
 and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men or free men, is plun- 
 dered and carried away. All the stately palaces, and shining 
 ornaments of gold and silver, of marble, and brass, and ivory, 
 &c. are now the fuel of fire. In fine, all the riches of this most 
 opulent city of the world are in one hour come to nought. 
 
 V. 17. "And every ship-master, and all that sail into the 
 lake,* and mariners, and as many as work in the sea, stood 
 afar off, 
 
 V. 18. " And cried, seeing the place of her burning,! say- 
 ing ; what city is like to this great city ? 
 
 V. 19. " And they cast dust upon their heads, and cried 
 weeping and mourning, saying : Alas ! Alas ! that great city, 
 wherein all were made rich, that had ships at sea, by reason 
 of her prices : for in one hour she is made desolate." 
 
 The masters of ships, their crews the seafaring men, all 
 join their lamentations in seeing from afar ofT the conflagra- 
 tion of that great city, which never had an equal. They 
 mourn, and deplore the loss of the great profits they gained by 
 conveying to her all sorts of rich goods, which she bought in 
 abundance and at high prices. All this lucrative traffic is 
 now vanished ; for in one hour she is made desolate. — In fine, 
 the fall of this idolatrous, proud, and tyrannical city, is thus 
 concluded : 
 
 v. 20. " Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles 
 and prophets: for God hath judged your judgment on her." 
 
 * In the Greek, " and all the company upon the ships." 
 t Gr. " the smoke of her burning." 
 
 10* 
 
114 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Heaven, those holy apostles, and those prophets or ministers 
 of the gospel and holy men, whom Rome had put to death, 
 are here invited to rejoice ; because the divine justice is ac- 
 complished in the ruin of that guilty city. — Upon which 
 breaks out the following exultation : 
 
 Apoc. chap. xix. 1. "After these things I heard," says St. 
 John, "as it were the voice of much people* in heaven, saying: 
 Alleluia ; salvation, and glory, and power, is to our God : 
 
 V. 2. " For true and just are his judgments who hath 
 judged the great harlot, which corrupted the earth with her 
 fornication, and hath revenged the blood of his servants, at 
 her hands. 
 
 V. 3. " And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke 
 ascended for ever and ever. 
 
 V. 4. " And the four and twenty ancients, and the four 
 living creatures, fell down and adored God that sitteth upon 
 the throne, saying: Amen: Alleluia. 
 
 V. 5. " And a voice came out from the throne, saying . 
 Give praise to our God, all ye his servants : and you that 
 fear him, little and great." 
 
 From all that has been said, this text is sufficiently clear. to 
 need no further explanation. 
 
 May we not now reflect with astonislynent on the dreadful 
 fate of this city. Rome, the greatest of all cities, the most 
 opulent of all cities, the queen of the world, is struck down 
 from the pinnacle of power, is laid in ruins, and left without 
 an inhabitant. " How doth the city sit solitary that was full 
 of people ? How is the mistress of nations become as a Avi- 
 dow?" Jer. Lamen. i. 1. That mighty city, which seemed 
 to be invigorated with more than human strength, and had 
 carried her conquests almost to the bounds of the known 
 world, was laid in ashes by Alaric ; and though afterwards 
 allowed somewhat to recover, it was only to take breath, and 
 then to be utterly laid waste, and her walls and fortresses to be 
 thrown down. " The Lord has kindled in me," as it were, "a 
 flaming fire devouring round about. — The Lord is become as 
 an enemy : he hath cast me down head-long, he hath over- 
 thrown all my walls, and hath destroyed my strong-holds." 
 Lamen. ii. 35. Those northern nations, which she had before 
 held in contempt and not thought worth a conquest, now as- 
 sault her like ravenous wolves, and raging with rancour and 
 fury, they strip her naked, and tear out her bowels without 
 mercy ; nor is she able to prevent her fate. " AH thy ene- 
 
 * In the Greek, " of a great multitude." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 115 
 
 mies have opened their mouth against thee : they have hissed, 
 and gnashed with the tetth, and have said : we will swallow 
 her up : lo, this is the day which we looked for." Ibid. ii. 16. 
 " Her adversaries are become her lords, her enemies are en- 
 riched. — My strength is weakened : The Lord hath delivered 
 me into a hand, out of which I am not able to rise." Ibid. i. 
 5, 14. Who could have imagined that stately city, the me- 
 tropolis of the world, which had long been the admiration of 
 all nations, and to which they resorted to view her grandeur 
 or to share in her pleasures, would one day be reduced into 
 desolation and made a solitude ? " Is this the city of perfect 
 beauty, the joy of all the earth?" Ibid. ii. 15. But it was 
 clear, she Avas the victim of God's anger, and her fate was just. 
 For " the Lord had spoken against her for the multitude of 
 her iniquities." Ibid. i. 5. 
 
 Thus, then, in fine, fell ancient Rome like Babylon, but with 
 this difference, that Babylon was never to rise again ; where- 
 as Rome, when the anger of God was satisfied, was designed 
 to emerge from her ashes : and though not allowed to recover 
 her former temporal dominion, splendour, and riches, nor to 
 rise in her outward appearance, scarce above the condition of 
 a village, when compared to her former extent and multitude 
 of people ; yet in her depressed state she is privileged with a 
 higher dignity of another kind, of being not only a Chris- 
 tian City, but appointed the head and centre of spiritual do- 
 minion. 
 
 We have now seen the full accomplishment of the predic- 
 tions, contained in the Apocalypse, respecting the destruction 
 of ancient Rome and its empire. But we must not leave the 
 subject without observing, that the same had been before in a 
 general manner foretold by the prophet Daniel, and by what 
 hand it was done. Thus spoke that prophet to Nabuchodo- 
 nosor: "Thus thou sawest, till a stone was cut out of a 
 mountain without hands, and it struck the statue upon the feet 
 that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. — And the 
 stone that struck the statue became a great mountain, and filled 
 the whole earth." Dan. ii. 34, 35. Christ is the stone cut 
 out of the mountain without hands ; and the Roman empire, 
 the fourth and greatest of the empires, represented by the four 
 parts of the statue, is here figured by the feet of that statue. 
 Hence, the circumstance of the statue's feet beinsf broken to 
 pieces by the stone, shows that Christ was the hero, who 
 should one day overthrow the mighty empire of Rome. He, 
 by his superior might, threw down that great colossus, be* 
 
116 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 
 cause, it had arrogantly bent its power against him, and had 
 endeavoured, by supporting idolatry, -to obstruct that dominion 
 which he himself claimed over the whole earth. Christ could 
 suffer no competitor : " I beheld," says Daniel, " in the vision 
 of the night, and lo, one like the Son of man came with the 
 clouds of heaven, and he came even to the ancient of days : 
 and they presented him before him. And he gave him power, 
 and glory, and a kingdom ; and all people, tribes, and tongues 
 shall serve him." Dan. vii. 13, 14. This Son of man there- 
 fore, in vindication of his right to universal monarchy, crush- 
 ed his proud enemy, Rome, and with it the empire of idolatry. 
 He threw down the seat which Satan had so long held there, 
 and he fixed in its place his own throne, to which all people, 
 tribes, and tongues, were to bend. To show his supreme 
 power, this divine monarch chose to convert the centre of idola- 
 try into the centre of divine worship and religion, and there 
 he placed his viceroy to govern his holy kingdom, and to su- 
 perintend his people to the end of the world. " The saints 
 of the most high God," continues Daniel, "shall take the 
 kingdom: and they shall possess the kingdom for ever and 
 ever." Ibid. v. 18 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE FOURTH AGE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 CHURCH. THE OPENING OF THE FOURTH SEAL. 
 
 Apoc. chap. vi. 7. " And when he, (the Lamb,) had opened 
 the fourth seal, I heard," says St. John, "the voice of the 
 fourth living creature, saying: Come and see. 
 
 V. 8. " And behold a pale horse, and he that sat upon him, 
 his name was Death, and hell followed him. And power was 
 given to him over the four parts of the earth,* to kill with 
 sword, with famine, and with death, and with the beasts of 
 the earth." 
 
 This seal discloses to us the rise of the Mahometan empire, 
 which opens the fourth age of the Church, about the year 
 622. 
 
 * In the Greek text, "power was given them over the fourth part of the 
 earth." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 117 
 
 Here appears to St. John a pale horse, and he that sits upon 
 him is called Death. The pale colour of the horse evidently 
 agrees with the character of the rider, who is styled Death. 
 This rider is Mahomet and his successors. He is named 
 death, because he destroys mankind, as it is here said, with 
 sword, with famine, with death, and with the beasts of the 
 earth. It is well known from history, what destruction and 
 desolation Mahomet, and his followers, the Saracens, and after- 
 wards the Turks, have made in the world. Their two first 
 instruments of destruction here named, are the sword, and 
 famine or devastation. The sword was appropriated to the 
 second age in the second seal ; and famine was appropriated 
 to the third age in the third seal. Their third destructive in- 
 strument is styled Death, a general term, which in this place 
 we apprehend means " Gunpowder ;" and is in like manner 
 appropriated to the fourth age, as it was invented in that period, 
 and then employed by the Mahometans in a terrible man- 
 ner. In fine, the last instrument of destruction here mentioned 
 is. the beasts of the earth, that is, horse-troops or cavalry, 
 which though generally numerous in the eastern countries, 
 will be much more used by the Turks "hereafter, as we shall 
 see particularly in the account of the sixth age. 
 
 It is said that hell follows him, that is, the infernal spirits 
 accompany Mahomet and assist him, and his followers, 
 through many succeeding ages. For, power was given to 
 him over the four parts of the earth, or, as the Greek text ex- 
 presses it, power was given to them, viz. : to death and hell, 
 or to the Mahometan princes, and the evil spirits, over a fourth 
 part of the earth. Who is ignorant of the number of na- 
 tions the Mahometans have conquered in Europe, Asia, and 
 Africa ? Who does not know, that in those countries they 
 have almost extinguished Christianity, and planted by force 
 in its room a sensual and abominable religion ? How many 
 fair churches in Asia, founded by the apostles themselves, have 
 been ruined by the Mahometans, and now scarce a handful of 
 Christians to be found scattered through the vast countries of 
 Minor Asia, Syria, Persia, &c.? What remains are there 
 now of Christianity in Africa, where formerly it flourished 
 so much, and where were seen to shine such great lights of 
 the Church, as a St. Athanasius, a St. Cyprian, a St. Auo-us- 
 tine, &c. ? Those regions, having been subdued and over- 
 run by the Mahometans, have received their superstitions and 
 impostures. The same has also been the fate of that part of 
 Europe, which has fallen under the dominion of the Turks. 
 
118 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 How could such wide encroachments be made upon religion, 
 but by the help and co-operation of the devil? 
 
 We must, however, here observe, that this prophecy, though 
 already fulfilled in some measure in Mahomet and the Ma- 
 hometan nation, will still be more fully accomplished, as we 
 shall show hereafter, in Antichrist, who will be one, the 
 greatest, and the most cruel, of Mahomet's successors. And 
 hence appears the reason, why St. John is invited to the view 
 of the present spectacle by the fourth living creature, which, 
 as we have observed, represents the prophet Daniel; the 
 reason is, because that prophet had foretold the coming of 
 Antichrist and his great power, as we shall see in the sequel. 
 
 Here then we discover the rise and progress of a power, 
 which in the course of time will become the mighty empire 
 of Antichrist; the destruction of which is reserved to be the 
 work of Christ himself, and thus the Lamb will show that 
 strength, which he was said to receive, Apoc. v. 12. Seep. 29. 
 
 Let us here further remark, that in each of the four pre- 
 ceding seals there appeared a horse, for his strength the natu- 
 ral emblem of power or empire: that in the first seal the 
 horse exhibited the empire of Christ ; in the second, that of 
 heresy; in the third, the empire of Rome falling away; and 
 in this fourth, the rise of the Mahometaa empire, which, as 
 no horse appears in any of the subsequent seals, we may 
 conclude to be the last great temporal power that will exist 
 upon the earth, an enemy to the Christian Church. 
 
 The preceding Explication illustrated, by a brief Account 
 of Mahomet and the Mahometan Empire. 
 
 Mahomet was born at Mecca in Arabia, in the year 571, 
 of poor parents, who were of the race of Ismael. His father 
 was a heathen, and his mother a Jew. Being very young 
 when his parents died, he was educated by an uncle, who 
 put him to trade. He afterwards married a ricn widow, 
 whose business he managed. Being arrived at about forty 
 years of age, he commenced prophet, and set to compose a 
 new religion. He said, that the true religion had been cor- 
 rupted by the Jews and the Christians, and that therefore God 
 had sent him, as his prophet, to restore it to its purity. 
 
 He taught them that there was one only God, but no dis- 
 tinction of persons in the deity. He exploded the incarnation 
 and all the other mysteries of the Christian religion. He 
 adopted circumcision, and prescribed abstinence from wine, 
 blood, and pork. On another hand he allowed every man to 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 119 
 
 have four wives, and concubines without restriction ; but he 
 reserved to himself the liberty of marrying as often as he 
 pleased, and he is said to have had at least fifteen wives, and 
 ten of them together. He exhorted people to take up arms 
 for religion, promising a paradise of all the sensual pleasures 
 to those who should die fighting in that cause. To make war 
 against unbelievers he declared to be of high merit before 
 God. He taught predestination, affirming that every man's 
 fate was absolutely decreed ; and that the term of every man's 
 life was fixed by God, not to be shortened by any accidents, 
 or prolonged by any means whatever. 
 
 These and other impious tenets, which he pretended to 
 have received from the angel Gabriel, he procured a per- 
 son to pen down, as he could neither read nor write ; and the 
 book he called " Alcoran." When seized with epileptic fits, 
 to which he was subject, he was then visited, as he divulged, 
 by the angel Gabriel ; whose appearance being more than he 
 could bear, occasioned him to fall into those trances and con- 
 vulsions. Such was his imposture. His doctrine met with 
 much opposition from some of his countrymen of Mecca. 
 They called him a madman, an impostor, and said he was 
 possessed by the devil. But his partisans increasing daily, 
 the magistrates of the town began to be alarmed, and suspect- 
 ing he had a design upon the government, they resolved to 
 take away his life. Mahomet, having intimation of their de- 
 sign, fled to Medina. This retreat, which happened in the 
 year 622, gives date to the Mahometan aera, called Hegira, or 
 " the flight." At Medina he was joined by new proselytes, 
 chiefly thieves and fugitive slaves, who the more freely flock- 
 ed to him on account of the latitude he allowed them in indulsr- 
 ing their sensual desires. Having formed a small body, 
 he set himself at the head of them, as their chief and legisla- 
 tor. He told them he was not sent to do miracles, but to pro- 
 pagate religion by the power of the sword. He first attacked 
 the caravans, that travelled through the country for trade ; 
 and meeting with success, he enriched his followers, and en- 
 larged his projects. His little army being soon increased, he 
 proceeded against the town of Mecca, took it, and put his 
 principal opponents to death. He then subdued one tribe of 
 people after another, carrying the sword of destruction through 
 the country, and forcing the people to submit to him, and to 
 receive his religion, or pay him an annual tribute. His pro- 
 gress was such, that he was master of almost all Arabia, 
 when he died in G31. His followers were called " Saracens," 
 
120 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 or " Mussulmans." From his actions and his maxims, one 
 may conchide, that ambition, lust, and cruelty, were the cha- 
 racteristics of this famous impostor. 
 
 Abubeker, one of Mahomet's first adherents, succeeded him 
 in command, and taking the name of caliph or lieutenant, car- 
 ried on his late master's conquest over other Arabian nations. 
 Amron, one of his generals, having advanced into the territory 
 of Gaza, and laid siege to that town, the governor asked him 
 the reason of such an act of hostility. Amron answered, *' We 
 come by the order of our prince to propose to you the accept- 
 ance of our religion. If you choose to embrace it, we shall 
 be brethren : if not, pay us tribute, and you shall be our allies. 
 But if you agree to neither, the sword must decide, and we 
 shall wage war against you, to execute the order of God." 
 
 Abubeker dying in 634, was succeeded* by Omar. This 
 caliph completed the conquest of the rest of Arabia. Then 
 he invaded Syria, where he defeated the imperial army com- 
 manded by Theodorus, brother to Heraclius, emperor of Con- 
 stantinople. Heraclius fearing the success of the Arabian's 
 arms, quitted Syria, an<i went to Jerusalem, from whence he 
 removed the holy Cross, with other valuable things to Con- 
 stantinople. His brother hazarded a second battle, which he 
 lost, and the Saracens became masters of Damascus, and after- 
 wards of the country of Phoenicia. The caliph then divided 
 his army ; one part of which he sent against Egypt, which 
 they subdued and dismembered from the eastern Roman em- 
 pire, of which it had been a considerable province, ever since 
 Augustus's days. In the mean time, Omar himself took the 
 route of Jerusalem, which he resolved to besiege ; and unfor- 
 tunately the Emperor Heraclius had not in those parts suffi- 
 cient forces to oppose him. About this time St. Sopronius, 
 bishop and patriarch of Jerusalem, in a letter to Sergius, pa- 
 triarch of Constantinople, wrote : " Pray for the emperors, 
 (Heraclius and his son,) that God may make them victorious 
 over all the barbarians: but especially that he may be pleased 
 to humble the pride of the Saracens, who on account of our 
 sins have suddenly broke in upon us, and ravage all the coun- 
 try with terrible cruelty and impious arrogance." 
 
 Jerusalem, after maintaining a siege of two years, surren- 
 dered to Omar in 636, upon condition, that the inhabitants 
 should remain in the peaceable possession of their fortunes 
 and liberty, and the free exercise of the Christian religion. 
 However, some time after, this caliph ordered a mosque to be 
 built on the very spot where had stood the temple of Solo- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 121 
 
 men. From Jerusalem Omar marched to Antioch, capital of 
 Syria, which for want of forces and provisions was forced to 
 surrender. This conquest made him soon master of all Syria. 
 And thus the Roman empire was dive.sted of another province, 
 which it had been in possession of for 700 years. In 639 the 
 Saracens crossed the Euphrates, and over-ran Mesopotamia. 
 From thence they advanced into Persia, defeated Isdegerdes 
 the king, drove him out of his dominions, and seized upon the 
 Persian empire. This caliph's progress was such, that he 
 also subdued the greatest part of Armenia, with some other 
 neio-hbourinof countries. But in the midst of all this success 
 he was assassinated in 643. 
 
 Othman, of the race of Mahomet, was chosen Omar's suc- 
 cessor. He carried on the conquests; took Cyprus, Rhodes, 
 and other islands in the Mediterranean sea. His generals in 
 Africa defeated Gregory, the imperial commander in those 
 parts, and extended their conquest all along the coasts on the 
 Mediterranean sea to the straits of Gibraltar. Othman was 
 murdered hy his own rebellious subjects after twelve years 
 reign, in 655. At this chief's death, the Saracen empire com- 
 prehended all Arabia, Persia, Corasan, Diarbeck or Mesopo- 
 tamia, Irac or Chaldsea, Syria, Phcsnicia, Palestine, Egypt, 
 with extensive countries in Africa. 
 
 Such was th« amazing growth of the Mahometan power 
 within the space of 33 years. This rapid progress of a peo- 
 ple sprung from so mean and obscure an origin astonished 
 mankind, as few examples of the like could be discovered in 
 the annals of the world; nor even could be compared with it, 
 the singular success of the first daring invincible Romans. 
 In this manner was exerted the power of the sword in the de- 
 struction of mankind, and in propagating an impious doctrine 
 and rooting out Christianity. 
 
 After such a course of extraordinary success, the Arabs or 
 Saracens, instead of sitting down to enjoy their acquisitions, 
 were animated to attempt new conquests. In 662 they invaded 
 several other territories of the Constantinopolitan or eastern 
 Roman empire, which if they did not reduce under their 
 power, they at least brought from them a great number of cap- 
 tives, and laid waste the country. In 712 and 713, they passed 
 from Africa into Spain, of Avhich they conquered a consider- 
 able part, giving a sad specimen of their cruelty ; for they burn- 
 ed the young people and the children, and spread terror over 
 all the country. Here they made settlements, and were called 
 *' Moors," because they came from Mauritania in Africa. Wa 
 11 
 
122 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 shall pass over their incursions into France and Italy, and the 
 barbarities they there committed. 
 
 By so many conquests this new empire grew at last to such 
 a bulk, that it became too unwieldiy in the hands of one ruler. 
 This did not escape the observation of the governors, who 
 had been appointed by the caliph over the different provinces 
 with large corps of troops under their command. Sensible at 
 the same time of their own strenijth, and ambitious to be them- 
 selves masters, they renounced their subjection to the Arabian 
 caliph, and set up their own authority. These rebellions gave 
 rise to civil wars, which divided the empire into a number of 
 independent principalities. But notwithstanding the Maho- 
 metan power was thus weakened, the several princes still re- 
 tained the same ambition to enlarge their dominions. In that 
 view, about the beginning of the eleventh century, some of 
 them carried their arms into the vast country of Indostan, and 
 reduced a great part of it. 
 
 Afterwards others of these princes or sultans, as they were 
 then called, made farther irruptions into the Asiatic provinces 
 of the Greek or Constantinopolitan empire, where they ob- 
 tained new acquisitions. They were aided in these conquests 
 by different tribes of Tartars, or Turks, that came to them from 
 the northern countries above the Caspian sea, and quitting idol- 
 atry embraced Mahometanism. Aladin, sultan of Iconium in 
 lesser Asia, had in particular received such considerable ser- 
 vices from a tribe of these Tartars under the command of 0th- 
 man, that he made this chief his lieutenant general. Upon 
 Aladin's death, Othman obtained the sovereignty of his country, 
 and thus laid the foundation of the Turkish monarchy at Ico- 
 nium, about the year 1300. From him is the imperial Turk- 
 ish family called Othman or Ottoman. He conquered a great 
 part of Cappadocia and Bytbinia, in which last province he 
 fixed his residence at the town of Prusa, which remained the 
 imperial seat, till the Turks transferred it to Adrianople in 1 404, 
 and afterwards to Constantinople in 1453. Othman died in 
 1326. 
 
 The succeeding Turkish sultans inherited the warlike spirit 
 of Othman their founder, and quarrelling with the Saracen 
 princes, took from them in process of time many countries, 
 which they hold at this day. They likewise continued their 
 conquests upon the Greeks, that is, upon the eastern Roman 
 empire, and attempted even Constantinople itself, the emperor's 
 seat, several times, but were repulsed or bought off by con- 
 cessions. At last Mahomet II. resolved to reduce that city, 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 123 
 
 laid siege to it in 1453, with a land army of 300,000 men, and 
 above a hundred galleys, with 130 other smaller vessels. The 
 garrison consisted of no more than five thousand Greeks and 
 two thousand strangers, the command of which Constantine 
 Pal^ologus the emperor gave to Justinian, an experienced 
 Genoese officer. Nothing Avas omitted by the emperor, to put 
 the place in a good posture of defence. The city-wali being 
 double and very strong, Mahomet prepared an artillery of 
 fourteen batteries, procured some pieces of cannon of a prodi- 
 gious size, that shot stone bullets of two hundred pounds.* 
 These pieces had been cast by a Hungarian founder, a Christ- 
 ian, who having offered his services to Constantine, and met 
 with little encouragement, went over to the sultan. These 
 horrible engines of destruction were fired night and day, and 
 carried with them such force, that they soon made large 
 breaches in the wall. Under such extraordinary difficulties, 
 the besieged, however, made a vigorous defence, repaired as 
 much as possible the breaches, and made successful sallies, in 
 which they killed many Turks, and burned some of their 
 works. 
 
 Mahomet, finding that his fleet was hindered from approach- 
 ing the town by a great chain that crossed the entrance of the 
 port, and which was defended by ships posted there for the 
 purpose, is said to have practised an incredible expedient 
 suggested by a renegade Christian, of conveying seventy of 
 his ships, by means of engines, over the land for the space of 
 eight miles into the haven. On another hand, to encourage 
 his men, he promised them they should share among them- 
 selves the whole plunder of Constantinople, and that he who 
 first mounted the wall, should be entitled to the governjnent 
 of the town. He told them there had appeared a stream of 
 light over the city three nights together, which was a certain 
 presage, that God had now withdrawn his protection from it. 
 These promises and speeches animated surprisingly his troops, 
 and he resolved upon a general assault. The emperor, who 
 had intimation of the sultan's design, resolved on his side to 
 make the most vigorous opposition and harangued so patheti- 
 cally his officers and men, that they all seemed ready to 
 second his intention. 
 
 The dispositions being made for the attack, on the 29th of 
 May, early in the morning, the general assault began, both by 
 
 * See the Greek historians, Phranzes and Chalcondylas; of whom 
 Phranzes was master of the wardrobe to the emperor, and in the town du- 
 ring tlie siege. 
 
124 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 sea and land. The Turkish land forces advanced, under the 
 fire of their cannon, with surprising- resolution, and were re- 
 ceived with equal resistance by the Greeks, who performed 
 prodigies of valour. The ditches were soon filled with the 
 dead bodies of the Turks that were slain ; and the emperor 
 and Justinian exhibited such skill and heroic bravery, that 
 the assailants were obliged to retire back. But the Janizaries 
 coming to their assistance, they rallied, renewed the charge, 
 and through the most violent fire of the besieged, and a storm 
 of darts and stones, they gained the top of the wall, where a 
 Janizary immediately planted the Turkish standard. This 
 unexpected success inspired the Turks with new vigour, and 
 damped the spirit of the Greeks. 
 
 The Mahometans had likewise the advantage on the side 
 of the sea. But what completed the ruin of the besieged, 
 was their being abandoned by their general, Justinian, who 
 finding himself w^ounded, retired without appointing any one 
 to command in his room ; nor could he be prevailed upon to 
 return by the most pressing remonstrances of the emperor. 
 This retreat of Justinian so discouraged the Greeks, that they 
 began to give wa}\ and presently fled in great disorder and 
 precipitation. The Turks imm^ediately pouring in, like a 
 torrent, at the breach, pursued the fugitives, slaughtering 
 them, and pressing them so closely, that eight hundred of 
 them were trodden to death. Among these was the emperor, 
 who having placed himself at the breach, and made prodi- 
 gious efforts to stop. the inundation of the barbarians, was 
 carried away by the multitude, and perished with them. 
 Thus ended the reign of Constantino Palaeologus in 1453; 
 and in him expired the empire of the Greeks, that is, the 
 eastern Roman empire, Avhich had lasted 1123 years from its 
 first establishment l3y Constantine the Great, in the year 330. 
 
 After the death of the emperor, the Turks met with no 
 more resistance ; and those, who had attacked the town at 
 the side of the port, having also made good their entrance, 
 the Greeks had their enemies both before and behind, and 
 were slaughtered without mercy. Then the ruffians trans- 
 ferred their fury against the inhabitants, of whom they butch- 
 ered such a number, that it is reckoned there perished in this 
 sack of Constantinople, forty thousand Greeks, and sixty thou- 
 sand were afterwards sold for slaves. On this unhappy oc- 
 casion, the churches were profaned ; bishops were seen pri- 
 soners in their pontifical habits ; and nuns, in their religious 
 dress, tied as slaves. The holy vestments were used as trap- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 125 
 
 pings for the horses. Meat was served up to the table in the 
 sacred vessels, and chalices were used to drink out of. In 
 fine, the barbarians gave a loose to all the human passions, 
 and rioted with such licentiousness for three days, that they 
 committed all kinds of excesses, and the most enormous and 
 execrable crimes, that history has ever informed us to have 
 been perpetrated on such occasions. 
 
 Thus Mahomet and his successors added to their conquest 
 many other countries, both in Asia and Europe, which the 
 Turks are still in possession of To pursue this history any 
 further, seems therefore unnecessary, and we may conclude 
 with observing in general, that the Mahometan power and 
 religion have prevailed to a prodigious extent, taking in the 
 greatest part of Asia, many spacious countries in Africa, and 
 not a small share of Europe ; so that the event demonstrates 
 that power was given to him, to Mahomet and his succes- 
 sors, over the fourth part of the earth, that is, already over 
 the fourth part of the old world. 
 
 The sounding of the fourth Trumpet. 
 
 Apoc. chap. viii. 12. "And the fourth angel sounded tne 
 trumpet, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the 
 third part of the moon, and third part of the stars, so 
 that the third part of them Avas darkened, and the day 
 did not shine for a third part of it, and the night in like 
 manner." 
 
 At the sounding of the fourth trumjfet, behold! the third 
 part of the sun, and of the moon, and of the stars, is eclipsed, 
 or struck with darkness: a noble figure, indicating, that, while 
 the Church of Christ is in the most flourishing state, and shi- 
 ning like those glorious luminaries, a third part of it becomes 
 unfortunately obscured by the fatal heresy and schism of the 
 Greeks. This schism was first broached by Photius at Con- 
 stantinople in the year 866. It infected all orders of Christ- 
 ians, the clergy, the princes, and the body of the faithful, sig- 
 nified respectively by the sun, moon, and stars; and it lopped 
 ofT nearly one third part of the Church, spreading itself from 
 Constantinople over a great number of the eastern Christian 
 countries. Hence it happened that the Catholic Church was 
 robbed of a third part nearly of her members of all ranks 
 and degrees, and Avas consequently despoiled of a third part of 
 her lustre, which the prophet expresses by saying, that the 
 day did not shine for a third part of it, and the night in like 
 manner. 
 
126 HISTORY OF THB CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 It is plain the defection of the Greeks gave such a shock 
 to the Catholic Church, and tore away such a large portion 
 of her, that it may by a just metaphor be called a great 
 earthquake. Apoc. viii. 5. See p. 35. 
 
 At the opening of the fourth seal, we saw the rise of 
 Mahometanism, which ushered in the fourth age : here we 
 see the birth of the Greek schism, a second remarkable 
 event, w^hich distinguishes what may be deemed another 
 period of the same age, commencing about the year 866. 
 
 The preceding Explication elucidated hy a succinct History 
 
 of the Greek Schism. 
 
 Photius, a eunuch, a man equally remarkable for his high 
 birth, his abilities, and learning, was honoured wath consi- 
 derable employments at the imperial court of Constantinople: 
 but he disgraced his talents and dignities by his base fraudu- 
 lent practices and ambition. 
 
 He was a favourite of Bardas Caesar, who was uncle to 
 the young emperor, Michael, and governed the state for him. 
 This Bardas having been reprimanded and even excommuni- 
 cated by St. Ignatius, patriarch of Constantinople, for his 
 scandalous debauched life, resolved upon this prelate's ruin. 
 Having much influence with his nephew, the emperor, he 
 prevailed upon him to banish the patriarch from Constantino- 
 ple. All means were then used to extort from Ignatius the 
 resignation of his see. but he constantly refusing, Bardas bad 
 the presumption to nominate Photius, then a layman, to the 
 patriarchate, in the year 858. But this nomination not being 
 warranted by a previous election, and consequently contrary 
 to the canons of the Church, no bishop would ordain Photius, 
 till he had promised upon oath to acknowledge Ignatius as 
 lawful patriarch, and not to act without his concurrence and 
 direction. Nevertheless, in less than two months after his 
 ordination he persecuted, violently all those of the clergy that 
 adhered to Ignatius, and some he caused to be scourged, and 
 others otherwise tormented. And in order to destroy Ignatius, 
 he persuaded Bardas to commence an information against him, 
 as having secretly conspired against the state. But nothing 
 could be proved against the holy patriarch ; who nevertheless 
 was removed to a prison in the suburbs of Constantinople, 
 and there cruelly tortured. 
 
 In consequence of such unchristian proceedings, several 
 bishops of the province of Constantinople assembled and 
 excommunicated Photius. On the other side, Photius, sup- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 127 
 
 ported by Bardas, in a synod of some of his adherents, pro- 
 nounced sentence of deposition and excommunication against 
 Ignatius, who thereupon was loaded witli chains, and banish- 
 ed to Mytelene in the isle of Lesbos. To colour so unjusti- 
 fiable a step, Pliotius sent messengers with a letter to Pope 
 Nicholas, in which he signified, that Ignatius had resigned 
 his see on account of his age and infirmities, and that himself 
 had been chosen for it by the metropolitan bishops, and had 
 been compelled by the emperor to undertake that heavy 
 burthen : then he desired, that the pope would ratify both the 
 resignation and election. As the pope received no account 
 from Ignatius, who was not suffered by his enemies to send 
 any, his holiness despatched two legates with orders only to 
 take informations, and transmit them to him. The legates 
 being arrived at Constantinople, Photius and the emperor 
 found means to gain them over after a long resistance. Upon 
 this a synod was held at Constantinople in 8Gi, in Avhich, by 
 the prevarication of the legates, St. Ignatius, who had been 
 sent for, was unjustly deposed^ and afterwards imprisoned and 
 most barbarously treated. Photius even advised the emperor 
 to compel Ignatius to read his own condemnation in the 
 Church, and then to have his eyes pulled out and Piis hand 
 cut oft' But Ignatius, suspecting some sinister design was 
 hatched against him, disguised himself, made his escape out 
 of prison, and fled. 
 
 Ignatius had by this time found means to inform the pope 
 of what had passed at Constantinople.' His holiness com- 
 plained of the prevarication of his legates, condemned what 
 had been done, and in his letters to the emperor and Photius, 
 insisted that Ignatius was the lawful patriarch, and Photius's 
 nomination every way irregular and void. Then in a letter 
 addressed to all the faithful in the east, the pope orders the 
 patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioeh, and Jerusalem, and the 
 metropolitans and other bishops, to hold the same sentiments 
 with himself in regard to Ignatius and the intruder. Photius, 
 like a daring impostor, suppressed the letter he had received 
 from the pope, and forged another, couched in terms favourable 
 to himself; but the cheat was discovered. In fine, finding it 
 impossible to make the pope propitious to his cause, he re- 
 solved to wreak his revenge upon him : for which purpose, 
 having secured the emperor in his Interest, he held a council 
 of his adherents at Constantinople in 866, in which he pre- 
 sumed to pronounce sentence of deposition and excommuni- 
 cation against Pope Nicholas : and this was the origin of the 
 
128 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Greek Schism.* He got the acts of this pretended synod, 
 signed by twent^j-'One bishops; but he added false subscript 
 tions of others to the number of about a thousand. Then he 
 wrote a circular letter to the eastern patriarchs and bishops, 
 containing a charge against the Latin Church. First, he 
 found fault with some points of discipline which before his 
 rupture with the Church he had approved in his confession of 
 faith which he sent to the pope seven years before this period. 
 Then he proceeded to accuse the Latins of an error in faith, 
 for teaching that the Holy Ghost proceeds, not from the 
 Father only, but from the Father and the Son : which tenet 
 had been taught by the Greek Fathers as well as the Latin. 
 It had been approved in the third general council held at 
 Ephesus, and in several subsequent general councils, and w^as 
 expressly defined in the QEcumenical council of Florence in 
 1439. By rejecting this article, Photius, and those Greeks 
 who adhered to him, added heresy to schism. But as their 
 separation from the unity of the Catholic Church began by 
 schism, it has retained that name. 
 
 Basil becoming emperor in 867, banished Photius to the isle 
 of Scepe, and restored St. Ignatius to his see of Constantino- 
 ple after an exile of nine years. At this prelate's solicitation 
 with the pope and emperor, a general council of the Church 
 was held at Constantinople in 869, at which presided the 
 legates of pope Adrian II. who had succeeded Nicholas. The 
 schismatical synod, which had been held by Photius as men- 
 tioned before, was here condemned ; and he himself having 
 been sent for to appear before the council, after a long hear- 
 ing, was excommunicated. Then Photius, by the emperor's 
 orders, was sent back into banishment ; but eight years after 
 he prevailed upon the emperor to permit him to return to 
 Constantinople, 
 
 Upon the death of St. Ignatius in 878, Photius, with armed 
 men, took possession of the Church of St. Sophia, and kept 
 possession of the see of Constantinople, though repeatedly 
 condemned by different popes, till Leo the wise succeeding 
 Basil in the empire in 886, banished Photius into a monastery 
 in Armenia, where, he died, after having lived full twenty 
 years in open schism. 
 
 ♦As the body of the Roman dominions had been divided into two 
 empires; the western, having Rome for its metropohs; and the eastern, 
 which had Constantinople for its capital: so the same division was usually 
 admitted in the Church; the western part being often called the Latui 
 Church, from the language used there; and the eastern was styled the 
 Greek Church, Ukewise from its language. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 129 
 
 After the expulsion of Photiiis, the breach between the 
 Latin and Greek Churches was made up and harmony tole- 
 rably well restored; though in several instances the Greeks 
 betrayed a spirit of animosity against the Latins. The wound 
 had not received a perfect cure, and in 1053 it was opened 
 afresh by Michael Cerularius, patriarch of Constantinople, 
 who upon frivolous pretences and groundless accusations 
 against the Latins, revived' the schism, and drew into his 
 party among others the patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem. 
 The emperors themselves then joining in the cause, contri- 
 buted much in the sequel to spread the infection through the 
 eastern empire. And thus the Greeks were separated a se- 
 cond time from the unity of faith, and from the centre and 
 prop of that unity, the church of Rome. In 1269 Michael 
 PalcBologus, emperor of the Greeks, alarmed by the victorious 
 arms of Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily, and fearing being 
 attacked by him, applied to the pope, desiring his holiness 
 would prevail with Charles not to direct his arms against the 
 Greeks. The better to gain his end, Michael promised the 
 pope to come into measures for putting an end to the schism 
 and re-uniting the Greek to the Latin Church. This propo- 
 sal was agreeable to his holiness, as it offered what had been 
 several times attempted, but in vain, by the preceding popes. 
 They had repeatedly exhorted the emperors and patriarchs of 
 Constantinople to recognize their ancient mother, and unite in 
 faith. This salutary advice had been rejected, but now cir- 
 cumstances appeared more favourable than ever for a union: 
 in hopes therefore of success, a council was held in 1274 at 
 Lyons, consisting of five hundred bishops. Pope Gregory X. 
 presiding at it in person. Michael Palseologus, emperor of Con- 
 stantinople, sent ambassadors to the council to press the union 
 of the tAvo churches. They being arrived, and the council 
 assembled, the emperor's letter was read, containing his pro- 
 fession of the true orthodox faith; after which he added: 
 "We acknowledge this to be the true, holy, Catholic, and 
 orthodox faith, and we receive and confess it with heart and 
 mouth, the same as the Church of Rome teaches ; and we 
 promise to keep 'it inviolably. We acknowledge the supre- 
 macy of the Roman Church," &c. Then was read the 
 letter of the Greek prelates, written in the names of thirty- 
 five archbishops with their sufTragans, who nearly made 
 up the v/hole number of the schismatic bishops. In this 
 letter they expressed their concurrence to the re-union of 
 the two Churches. In consequence therefore of these pro 
 
130 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 fessions and declarations, the union was concluded and rati- 
 fied. 
 
 This was a fair prospect, but soon vanished. The Greek 
 emperor had used violent methods to extort the consent of the 
 orientals, for the union ; and therefore for want of sincerity it 
 could not be expected to hold. In effect, as soon as the 
 Greeks saw they might have a protector in the person of the 
 duke of Patras, who was an enemy to. the union, they openly 
 declared against it, and joining the duke, rebelled against 
 their sovereign. Their party was strengthened by many of 
 the emperor's own family ; and his nearest relations, whom 
 he sent at the head of his troops against the malecontents, 
 some would not act, and others revolted froni him. Such was 
 the animosity and insolence of the schismatics, that having 
 assembled a synod, they presumed to anathematize the pope 
 and the emperor and their adherents. This violent renuncia- 
 tion of the union was afterwards further confirmed by Andro- 
 nicus, -who succeeding his father Michael in the empire, 
 retracted what he had formerly done in favour of that trans- 
 action, saying he had been compelled to it by the authority of 
 his father. 
 
 Many attempts were made in the sequel by the popes to 
 renew the union, but they proved unsuccessful; till at last in 
 1437 a fresh negotiation being set on foot between the Greek 
 emperor John Pal^eologus and pope Eugenius IV. it was 
 agreed that a general council should be held, of both the 
 Greeks and Latins, in the west, for that important object. In 
 pursuance of this determination, a council being appointed 
 and opened at Ferrara by the pope himself in 1438, the 
 emperor and the patriarch of Constantinople, with twenty 
 oriental archbishops and bishops, and a great number of other 
 Greek clergy of distinguished abilities and merit, repaired 
 thither. The patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusa- 
 lem, sent also their deputies. Some inconveniences happening 
 at Ferrara, the council was transferred with the consent of 
 the Greeks to Florence. There all difficulties being discuss- 
 ed, the emperor, the patriarch of Constantinople, and the 
 Greek bishops, professed, according to the faith of the Roman 
 Catholic Church, that the Holy Ghost proceeded from the 
 Father and the Son, and that the pope was head of the univer- 
 sal Church, &c. Then the re-union of the two Churches was 
 agreed to, and a decree drawn up for that purpose. In this 
 decree were contained the articles of faith above-mentioned, 
 and other points which the Greeks had consisted, and whicb 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 131 
 
 Were now defined conformable to the Catholic doctrine. The 
 pope, the emperor, and all the Greeks, as well as Latins, sub- 
 scribed the decree, except Mark, archbishop of Ephesus, who 
 alone among the Greeks refused to sign it. Then they all 
 kissed the pope's hand, and embraced one another in token of 
 union and mutual charity. Thus was this momentous afiair 
 concluded in 1439. 
 
 The eyes of all Christendom had been attentively fixed on 
 this council, and the happy issue of it diffused universal joy 
 through the Catholic Church. What event indeed could 
 possibly be more desirable, than that so large a body of 
 Christians, separated for so many ages from the unity of 
 faith, should at length be brought back, and re-enter into the 
 bosom of their mother-Church? But this bright sunshine of 
 concord and joy had only emerged from one cloud, presently 
 to be intercepted by another. When the emperor and the 
 Greeks arrived at Constantinople, they found the clergy of 
 that city violently prepossessed against the union, and had in- 
 spired the people with the same disposition. They reviled 
 bitterly all those who had signed it, calling them traitors and 
 apostates, and they extolled with the highest encomiums Mark 
 of Ephesus, for his courage in refusing alone his consent. 
 This obstinate prelate seeing the tide run thus in his favour, 
 availed himself of it, to declaim and write against the union. 
 In fine, the schismatics worked themselves up to such a 
 degree of rage, that an inundation of libels soon appeared, 
 fraught with virulence, calumnies, and falsehoods. So much 
 opposition and ill-treatment those met with who had been at 
 the council of Florence and assented to the union, made such 
 impression upon them, that many lost courage, yielded to the 
 stream, and gave up the cause. They even renounced what 
 had been done, and setting up to oppugn the faith they had 
 embraced, they greatly contributed to increase the party. To 
 complete the misfortune, the patriarchs of Alexandria, Anti- 
 och, and Jerusalem, stirred up by the schismatic bishop of 
 Caesarea in Cappadocia, assembled a synod in 1443, in which 
 they condemned what had been done at Florence, and threat- 
 ened to excommunicate the emperor if he continued to adhere 
 to the Latins. The deference which the orientals paid to 
 these patriarchs, influenced them to receive their determina- 
 tion, and to remain in schism. Russia likewise and Muscovy, 
 which had adopted some centuries before the schism of the 
 Greek, followed now their example, rejected the union, and 
 imprisoned the pope's legate who came to propose it to them. 
 
132 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Thus was a third part of the sun, moon, and stars, smitten and 
 darkened a second time, or at least remained eclipsed. And 
 thus vanished the fair prospect of a noble triumph for the 
 Catholic faith. 
 
 A few years after this period, that is, in the beginning* of 
 the year 1451, Pope Nicholas V., a pontiff of remarkable piety 
 and learning, grieving at the invincible obstinacy of the 
 Greeks, and reflecting on the repeated labours taken for their 
 conversion, wrote to them a letter, in which after mentioning 
 the preparations the Turks were making against them, and 
 the succours they might hope for from the Catholic princes, 
 he then exhorted them in a pathetic manner, not to render use- 
 less by their ingratitude to God these succours, but to open 
 their eyes upon their past stubbornness, and to unite them- 
 selves to the Catholic Church, according to the agreement 
 made at Florence. He addressed himself in particular to 
 Constantino Palasologus, then emperor of Constantinople, to 
 the following tenor: " That the Greeks had abused too long 
 the patience of both God and men, in persisting still in heres;y 
 and schism; that, conformably to the parable in the gospel, 
 God would further wait, to see if the tig-tree, after so much 
 care and attendance in vain, would at last yield fruit: that 
 if it did not within the space of three years, w.hich God stilt 
 allowed them, the tree would be cut down by the root, and the 
 Greek nation entirely ruined by the ministers of divine jus- 
 tice, who would be sent to execute the sentence already pro- 
 nounced in heaven against them." We shall presently see 
 the literal accomplishment of this prediction. 
 
 The pouring out of the fourth Vial. 
 
 Apoc. chap. xvi. 8. " And the fourth angel poured out his 
 vial upon the sun, and it was given unto him to afflict men 
 with heat and fire: 
 
 V. 9. " And men were scorched with great heat, and they 
 blasphemed the name of God, who hath power over those 
 plagues, neither did they penance to give him glory." 
 
 Here is the punishment of the Greek schismatics for their 
 long and obstinate rebellion against the Catholic Church. 
 
 In the prophecy of the fourth trumpet the sun was intro- 
 duced to represent the principle of light, here it is employed 
 as the principle of heat, which are known to be the two 
 chief qualities of the sun. The vial is therefore poured out 
 on the sun, to convert its quality of heat or fire into an instru- 
 ment of divine vengeance against the Greeks. And in conse- 
 
HISTORY 0*F THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 133 
 
 quence, it is given unto him, the sun, to afflict men with heat 
 and fire. In effect, this people suffered extremely by the de- 
 structive fire of terrible engines of war, that were worked by 
 gunpowder. We have seen, p. 123, that no less than four- 
 teen batteries of cannon were employed to fire against the 
 'town of Constantinople, besides the ships of war; and that in 
 this dreadful artillery were some such huge pieces of cannon 
 as had never been seen or heard of before. With these w^ere 
 the walls of the city shattered to pieces, and the Greeks them- 
 selves miserably cut off They were the more terrible, as 
 cannon were at that time a recent invention, and but newly 
 brought into use in the eastern countries. Hence it appears 
 how the Greeks were scorched with great heat. And thus the 
 taking of Constantinople by the Turks, being the most fatal 
 and finishing stroke upon the Greek empire, which was then 
 put an end to, the vial here chiefly points at that event. 
 
 "And they blasphemed the name of God who has power 
 over those plagues. They blasphemed the name of God," 
 that is, they spoke impiously against religion and its minis- 
 ters. They uttered the most virulent invective against the 
 Roman Church, presumed to condemn its doctrine, and to 
 treat with ignominy those Greeks "who espoused it. They 
 would not even pray in the same Church with those who had 
 signed the union. Two years before the siege, that is, in 
 1451, the schismatics of Constantinople had written to those 
 Bohemians, Avho had adopted the errors of John Huss, appro- 
 ving the part they had taken against the Church of Rome, 
 and inviting them to a coalition with themselves in religious 
 tenets. The year after, perceiving that the emperor had 
 embraced the union, and prevailed upon a few to follow his 
 example, they rose up tumultuously, both clergy and people, 
 and cried out anathema upon all those who had united them- 
 selves with the Latins. This spirit of animosity against the 
 Catholic faith and the supremacy of the Church of Rome 
 continued to rage, even at the time of the siege. Notaras, 
 admiral of the Constantinopolitan fleet, seeing the people 
 struck with consternation at the view of Mahomet's immense 
 army, scrupled not to cry out, he would rather choose to see 
 the turban in Constantinople than a cardinal's hat. In this 
 manifold manner they blasphemed the name of God. And 
 thus they persevered in rebellion against God, who has power 
 over those plagues, that is, who sent those calamities with a 
 view to punish and reclaim them. Instead of corresponding 
 with the design of heaven, and taking admonition from the 
 12 
 
134 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 fcourge they felt, to renounce their errors, and associate 
 themselves to the body of the faithful and to the centre of 
 unity; they on the contrary hardened themselves in their 
 obstinacy, nor would they do penance to give God glory. 
 What wonder then, that the avenging hand of God, which 
 they had armed against themselves, fell at last as a thunder- 
 bolt upon them, and crushed them. In the general wreck, 
 the fate of Notaras, the above-mentioned impious admiral, 
 appeared somewhat conspicuous. After the town was taken, 
 having surrendered himself to Mahomet, and presented him 
 with a rich treasure to gain his good graces, he was never- 
 theless received with contempt, and by the sultan's order was, 
 with his two sons, beheaded. 
 
 The third vial, in the preceding age, poured out the wrath 
 of God on ancient Rome and the Roman empire ; the fourth 
 vial here in like manner pours out the divine indignation on 
 the guilty Greeks, which pursues them first through their 
 several provinces, and then finishes their ruin at Constanti- 
 nople itself, the seat of their empire, in 1453. The Russian 
 nations which had espoused the Greek schism, and persevere 
 in it to this day, have they not reason to apprehend a share 
 in this vial, and being involved sooner or later in the punish- 
 ment of those, in whose guilt they participate ? 
 
 The Almighty is the disposer of kingdoms. He raises 
 them up like huge fabrics for the execution of his designs ; 
 and he equally throws them down, when they presume to ri- 
 val his power, or to disobey his commands. " The Most 
 High rules in the kingdom of men ; he will give it to whom- 
 soever it shall please him, and he will appoint the basest 
 man over it." Daniel, iv. 14. 
 
 Of the vast empire of Rome, the western part had been sa- 
 crificed, as we saw, for the extinction of idolatry ; and now 
 the eastern part, having made itself the fortress of heresy 
 and schism, becomes obnoxious to the jealousy of the Most 
 High and undivided Deity, and therefore is sentenced to be 
 equally a victim of destruction. It may be said, that idol- 
 atry is an offence more injurious to supreme Majesty than he- 
 resy or schism : we allow it, and for that reason Constanti- 
 nople sustained one calamity less than pagan Rome, namely, 
 that of fire, by which Rome was reduced to ashes, but which 
 Mahomet prohibited, perhaps by superior direction from Con- 
 stantinople. But, on another hand, if pagan Rome was 
 burned, from its ashes arose up a Christian Rome, with a 
 new kind of power and dignity peculiar to itself, which was 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 135 
 
 to last to the end of the world ; whereas, though Constanti- 
 nople was spared from destruction, it was enslaved by a bar- 
 barous people, the greatest enemies to Christianity. The 
 Jews had formerly rejected the preaching and miracles of the 
 Son of God, for which reason they were delivered over to 
 the sword of the pagans, their inveterate enemies. In like 
 manner, all the intreaties, exhortations, and labours of the 
 Catholic Church, to reclaim the Greeks from their errors, 
 they rejected with disdain ; and on that account they fell a 
 just sacrifice to the anger of God. He had waited many 
 years, to give them time to resume a spirit of obedience and 
 produce good fruit, but finding their obstinacy invincible, he 
 cut them down like the barren fig-tree, as Pope Nicholas had 
 foretold them. They refused the jurisdiction of a spiritual 
 superior, whom Christ has appointed over his whole flock ; 
 and they fell into the hands of tyrannical masters, from whom 
 they have nothing to expect, but oppression, slavery, and de- 
 spair. No kingdom can stand that opposes the kingdom of 
 Christ; for "he is the Lord of lords, and King of kings," 
 Apoc. xvii. 14. and "a two-edged sword proceeds from his 
 mouth," Apoc. i. 16. See 'p. 21. for the destruction of his ene- 
 mies. 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE FIFTH AGE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 CHURCH. THE OPENING OF THE FIFTH SEAL. 
 
 Aj)oc. chap. vi. 9. " And when he (the Lamb) had opened 
 the fifth seal, I saw," says St. John, " under the altar the souls 
 of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the tes- 
 timony which they held. 
 
 y. 10. "And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How 
 long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and revenge 
 our blood on them that dwell on the earth ? 
 
 V. 11. "And white robes were given to every one of 
 them one : and it was said to them, that they should rest yet 
 for a little time, till their fellow-ser\'ants and their brethren, 
 who are to be slain, even as they should be filled up." 
 . The Lamb having opened the fifth seal, St. John hears the 
 complaints of those who had been slain for the word of God, 
 
186 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHt/RClI. 
 
 that is, for the observance of the law of God, and for the tes- 
 timony which they held, or for the testimony which they had 
 rendered to Christ in preaching- and defending his doctrine. 
 These martyrs are seen under the altar in heaven, similar to 
 the altar of holocausts, which stood in the Jewish tabernacle. 
 On that altar the victims, called holocausts, were burnt, and 
 their remains, the ashes, fell under the altar. In allusion to 
 this, the souls, or precious spiritual remains of those whose 
 bodies had been slain and sacrificed in the fire of persecu- 
 tion, are here seen under the altar. Who are the martyrs 
 spoken of in this seal, we are now to examine; and it must 
 be observed, that under the name of martyrs we comprehend 
 all those who have sufTered death for religion, whether they 
 have been declared martyrs of the church or not. In the 
 first place, it is v/ell known that the reformation, introduced 
 by Luther and other new teachers, has had too mlich share 
 in the spilling of blood for the cause of religion. We do not 
 pretend to produce an account of all the individuals that have 
 suffered by their hands. The history of the reformation, in 
 many cases, relates only in general the massacres committed 
 on the Catholics. The Anabaptists in Germany opened the 
 cruel scene, very soon after the birth of the protestant reli- 
 gion. They were actuated Avith such rancour against those 
 whose communion they had left, that in 1525 they plundered 
 the country, set fire to the churches and monasteries, and 
 murdered the priests, monks, and noblemen. Arnoldus Me- 
 sov. Hist, des Anabap. Dupin. The Calvinists, on another 
 hand, Avherever they came, committed unheard of violences 
 and barbarities. Dreadful was the tragedy in France, Hol- 
 land, in some parts of Germany, &c. Nicholas Froumen- 
 teau, a reformed minister, confesses that the Calvinists mas- 
 sacred, in the province of Dauphine only, 256 priests and 112 
 monks and friars. Des financ. de Franc. In Holland we 
 find that nineteen priests and religious men were taken by 
 the Calvinists in Gorcum, and after being- made to sufTer 
 many insults, were hanged for their religion at the town of 
 Bril, on the same day, 1572. See their History in W. Estius 
 Batavia sacra. 
 
 England also showed itself very forward in persecuting 
 those who were attached to the ancient faith. Sir Thomas 
 More, lord high chancellor, and Fisher, bishop of Rochester, 
 two illustrious ornaments of the nation, and distinguished as- 
 serters of the Catholic religion, were beheaded in 1535, for 
 refusing to subscribe to the spiritual supremacy which Henry 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 137 
 
 VIII. usurped over the Church in England. Besides, that 
 despotic and cruel monarch put to death thirteen abbots and 
 priors, about seventy-seven monks and religious persons, and 
 many of the laity, HeylorHs Hist, of the Reformation. 
 
 Violent was the persecution in Queen Elizabeth's reign ; 
 it was even aggravated with severities used in the heathenish 
 times, as tortures were sometimes applied to the generous vic- 
 tims, before they were allowed to receive the stroke of death. 
 There have been found to have suffered death for the testi- 
 mony they held in this reign, at least 124 priests and 57 lay 
 persons : besides others who perished in prison. Under king 
 James I., though the persecution somewhat abated, it did not 
 cease. No less than twenty-seven persons of different deno- 
 minations were put to death for the Catholic faith in this 
 reign, Charles I. was naturally of too humane a disposition 
 to incline to persecution ; but such was the iniquity of the 
 times and the importunity of malevolent persons, that he was 
 forced away with the tide, and ordered the execution of the 
 penal laws against his Catholic subjects. Twenty-two were 
 sacrificed in this period. The temper of the times was nearly 
 the same during a part of Charles XL's reign, and such un- 
 happily was his compliant disposition, that twenty-four per- 
 sons were put to death for the Catholic faith, and many died 
 in prison. Thus the annals of England are stained with the 
 blood of many of its own subjects, immolated to the cause of 
 religion. See a 'particular account of these persecutions in 
 the " Memoirs of Missionary Priests,''^ <^c. 
 
 We shall now remove the scene to a distant part of the 
 world. St. Francis Xavier planted the Catholic faith in the 
 idolatrous kingdom of Japan, in 1549, baptized great num- 
 bers, and whole provinces received the gospel. In 1592 a 
 persecution was raised against the Christians by the Emperor 
 Cambacundono, who usurped the honours of a deity ; and se- 
 veral Japanese converts received the crown of martyrdom. 
 The Emperor Tageosama, one of the proudest and most vi- 
 cious of men, revived the persecution in 1597, and three Je- 
 suits, six Franciscans, and seventeen converts, were con- 
 demned to be crucified. As they hung upon the crosses, the 
 executioners, at a signal given, pierced their bodies with 
 lances ; upon which they expired, and went to receive a re- 
 ward " for being slain for the word of God, and for the testi- 
 mony which they held." Their blood and garments were 
 procured by Christians, and miracles were wrought by them. 
 In 1602, the pagan emperor, Cumbosama, renewed again 
 
 12* 
 
138 HISTORY OP THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 the bloody tragedy, and many Christians were beheaded, 
 crucified, or burned. In 1614, new cruelties were employed 
 to overcome the fortitude of the Christian heroes, as bruising 
 their feet between pieces of wood, cutting off or squeezing 
 their limbs one after another, applying red-hot irons or slow 
 fires, flaying off the skin of their fingers, putting burning 
 coals to their hands, tearing off the flesh with pincers, or 
 thrusting reeds into different parts of their bodies : all which 
 innumerable persons, even children, bore with invincible con- 
 stancy till death. In 1616, Xogun succeeding his father 
 Cumbosama in the empire, surpassed him in cruelty. By his 
 orders fifty martyrs suffered together, of whom nine were Je- 
 suits, four Franciscans, and six Dominicans ; the others lay- 
 men. Twenty-five were burned, the rest beheaded. Many 
 others suffered variously, being either burned at slow fires, 
 crucified, beheaded, or thrown into a burhing mountain, or 
 hung with their heads downwards in pits. In 1639, all Eu- 
 ropeans, except the Dutch, were forbid entrance into Japan. 
 Five Jesuits landed there secretly in 1642, but being disco- 
 vered, after cruel tortures, they were hung down in pits till 
 they expired. 
 
 St. Francis Xavier, after having established Christianity 
 in Japan, was desirous also of carrying the standard of the 
 cross into the great pagan empire of China, but died before 
 he reached it. His religious brethren, the Jesuits, inspired 
 with a truly apostolic spirit, pursued the design, and after 
 many fruitless attempts, at last got admittance into the coun- 
 try in 1583. They soon converted many, and numerous 
 churches of Christians began to flourish in several provinces 
 of China: But the inveterate enemy of Christianity, the de- 
 vil, irritated at seeing his owm power decline in a kingdom 
 he had so long kept in captivity, set himself to work, in order 
 to extirpate the Christian religion, or at least to stop its growth. 
 He wreaked his first fury on Father Francis Martinez, a 
 Chinese Jesuit, who having converted a famous doctor, was 
 beaten several times, and at length expired under the torment 
 Then he proceeded against the Dominican friars, who had 
 likewise entered China, and converted great numbers to the 
 faith. Four of them received the crown of martyrdom in 
 the year 1647, and a fifth in 1648. Chunchi, who ascended 
 the imperial throne of China in 1650, was favourable to the 
 Christians ; but after his demise, the four regents of the em- 
 pire put to death five Christian mandarins for their faith: but 
 the young emperor, Camhi, coming of age, put a stop to the 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 139 
 
 persecution, and gave liberty to the Christians in 1671. The 
 Emperor Kien-long renewed the persecution in a most cruel 
 manner. A great number of Christians of all ages and sexes 
 were banished, beaten and tortured divers ways. Many 
 priests and others died of their torments, or of the hardships 
 of their imprisonment. Peter Sanz, a Dominican friar and 
 bishop, was beheaded in 1747. Four Dominicans were 
 seized, beaten with clubs, buffeted on the face with leather 
 gauntlets, and after twenty-eight months imprisonment, were 
 strangled privately in their dungeons in 1748. In the same 
 persecution two Jesuits, after repeated tortures, were also 
 strangled in prison. 
 
 In Tonquin, a kingdom south west of China, also enslaved 
 to idolatry, the Christian religion had taken deep root by the 
 zealous labours of religious missionaries. But in the year 
 1743 a persecution was set on foot, in which 150 churches 
 were demolished, many converts were beaten on their 
 knees with a hammer, and tortured various other ways, and 
 tw^o priests of the order of St. Dominick suffered martyr- 
 dom for the faith. See the Histories of Trigault, Charle- 
 voix, 6fC. 
 
 There have likewise been martyrs within the two last cen- 
 turies in other kingdoms of the East Indies, as in the Carna- 
 tic, Tanjour, Medura, &c. And the new discovered continent 
 of America has also been sprinkled with Christian blood. See 
 Lettres curieuses et edifiantes. 
 
 We have now seen who they are "that have been slain for 
 the word of God, and for the testimony which they held." 
 These martyrs are the objects represented under the fifth seal. 
 As those who suffered by the hands of the protestants, appear 
 to be the first in time, we may fix the fifth epocha, or commence- 
 ment of the fifth age of the Church, at the year 1525, or at 
 the rise of Luther's reformation about the year 1520. 
 
 We must further observe, that the blood here spilt in the 
 cause of religion is a remarkable characteristic of this fifth 
 age ; as, before that period, for eight or nine hundred years, 
 few are to be found who suffered for the faith. 
 
 We now proceed with the text. " And they (the above- 
 mentioned martyrs,) cried with aloud voice, saying: How 
 long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and revenge 
 our blood on them that dwell on the earth ?" How long, O Lord, 
 do you defer judging our cause, you, who are holy and must de- 
 test the cruelties exercised upon us ; you, who are true, and have 
 told us, YOU will revenge the injuries done to your servants? 
 
140 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 
 
 *' Will not God revenge," says Christ, " his elect who cry to 
 him day and night, and will he have patience in their regard ? 
 I say to you, that he will quickly revenge them." Luke xviii. 
 7, 8. The martyrs therefore prefer their complaint to the 
 throne of God, requesting the judgment of their cause, not 
 in a spirit of revenge, but that the justice and sanctity of 
 God, who is holy and true, may be vindicated. 
 
 And white robes were given, to every one of them ; a sym- 
 bol of the heavenly beatitude, into which they are received 
 in coming from their conflicts. And it was said to them, that 
 they should rest yet for a little time, till their fellow-servants 
 and their brethren, who are to be slain, even as they, should 
 be filled up. They are told here to wait a little while, till the 
 number be completed of their fellow-servants, that is, of the 
 bishops, priests, and other clergy, and of their brethren, that 
 is, of the laity ; who are to suffer martyrdom, as they have 
 done. Thus they are told to wait a little while, that is, to the 
 time of the persecution raised in France in 1791, &c. and the 
 horrible massacres then committed of the clergy and others, 
 in hatred to religion : to which may perhaps be added other 
 persecutions that may happen in that or other countries during 
 this fifth period of the Church. When thus the number of 
 these victims immolated to religion shall be filled up, then 
 the Almighty will revenge the blood of them all. 
 
 What human oblation can be more grateful and glorious 
 to the divine Author of the Christian religion, than the sacri- 
 fice of holy victims slain for his sake ? And this is the ho- 
 nour which the Lamb was entitled to receive, and here actu- 
 ally receives. Apoc. v. 12. Seep. 29. 
 
 Before we proceed to the prophecy of the fifth trumpet, it 
 is proper to take notice of what St. John prefixes to it. 
 
 Apoc. chap. viii. 13. " And I beheld," says he, " and heard 
 the voice of one eagle* flying through the midst of heaven, 
 saying with a loud voice : Wo, wo, wo, to the inhabitants of 
 the earth, by reason of the rest of the voices of the three 
 angels, who are yet to sound the trumpet." 
 
 Behold an eagle, a suitable bird on this occasion on account 
 of its swiftness, flies through the midst of the sky, announ- 
 cing with a loud voice a wo on each of the three succeeding 
 ages, namely, the fifth, sixth, and seventh : by which we may 
 understand, that greater disasters remain to be sustained by 
 the Church of Christ in these three last than in the prece- 
 ding ages. 
 
   In tliQ Greek text, " an angeL" 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 141 
 
 The Sounding of the Fifth Trumpet. 
 
 Apoc. chap. ix. 1. "And the fiftli angel sounded the trum- 
 pet, and I saw," says St. John, " a star fall from heaven unto 
 the earth, and there was given to him the key of the bottom- 
 less pit. 
 
 V. 2. *' And he opened the bottomless pit : and the smoke 
 of the pit arose, as the smoke of a great furnace : and the 
 sun and the air were darkened with the smoke of the pit. 
 
 V. 3. " And from the smoke of the pit there came out lo- 
 custs upon the earth: and power was given to them, as the 
 scorpions of the earth have power : 
 
 V. 4. " And it was commanded them that they should not 
 hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree ; 
 but only the men who have not the sign of God on their 
 foreheads. 
 
 V. 5. " And it was given unto them that they should not kill 
 them ; but that they should torment them five months : and 
 iheir torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he stri- 
 keth a man. 
 
 V. 6. " And in those days men shall seek death, and shall 
 not find it ; and they shall desire to die, and death shall fly 
 from them. 
 
 V. 7. " And the shapes of the locusts, were like unto horses 
 prepared unto battle; and on their heads w^ere as it were 
 crowns like gold ; and their faces were as the faces of men. 
 
 V. 8. " And they had hair as the hair of women ; and 
 their teeth were as of lions. 
 
 V. 9. " And they had breast plates as breast plates of iron ; 
 and the noise of their wings was as the noise of chariots of 
 many horses running to battle. 
 
 V. 10. "And they had tails like to scorpions, and there 
 were stings in their tails : and their power was to hurt men 
 five months. And they had over them, 
 
 V. 11. "A king, the angel of the bottomless pit, whose 
 name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon : in 
 Latin Exterminans, that is, Destroyer." 
 
 Here is a description of the rise and progress of the re- 
 formation. This trumpet begins with announcing to us the 
 fall of a star from heaven ; a very just emblem of the apostacy 
 of Luther, who, in quality of a priest and religious man, is 
 styled a star, but renouncing his faith and vows, in which he 
 had hitherto virtuously lived, may truly be said to have fallen 
 from heaven. This star fell upon the earth, that is, upon the 
 
142 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Church, compared to the fixed soHd earth, because she was 
 then in a state of peace. 
 
 Martin Luther, an Augustinian friar, a bold man and a ve- 
 hement declaimer, having imbibed erroneous sentiments from 
 the heretical writings of John Huss of Bohemia, took occa- 
 sion from the publication of indulgences promulgated by pope 
 Leo X. to break with the Catholic Church, and to propagate 
 his new errors in 1517, at Wirteraburg in Saxony. He first 
 inveighed against the abuse of indulgences ; then he called 
 in question their efficacy ; and at last totally rejected them. 
 He proceeded to broach new opinions, contrary to the Catho- 
 lic doctrine ; as, that remission of sins was not founded on 
 contrition, but on faith alone; that good works were not ne- 
 cessary for salvation ; and other tenets, which will occur in 
 the sequel. He threw off his religious habit, renounced the 
 solemn vows he had made to God, abandoned his cloister, and 
 returned to the world. He declaimed against the supremacy 
 of the see of Rome, and condemned the whole Church, pre- 
 tending that Christ had abandoned it, and that it wanted re- 
 forming, as well in faith as discipline. Thus this new evan 
 gelist commenced that fatal defection from the ancient faith, 
 which was styled " Reformation," and which afterwards over- 
 spread so large a part of Avestern Christendom. Such was 
 the dismal alarm sounded to the Church by the fifth trumpet. 
 
 The fifth seal exhibited to us only a particular interesting 
 circumstance of the reformation, but now we shall see that 
 the trumpet unfolds its whole history. 
 
 " There was given to him the key of the bottomless pit," 
 V. 1. To St. Peter were given the keys of heaven, but to Lu- 
 ther is given the key of the bottomless pit, or, hell. Alas ! 
 what a woful difference, and what disparity is here indicated 
 in the characters and functions of the apostle and the reform- 
 er ! Christ assured St. Peter, that he and the other apostles, 
 who had quitted all to follow him, should, at the last day, " sit 
 on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel," Matt. xix. 
 28. But Luther, instead of meriting such a happy pre-emi- 
 nence in heaven, by having renounced all temporal enjoy- 
 ments for Christ, unfortunately retracts the renunciation he 
 had made, returns to the world, and therefore is cast down 
 like a fallen star, from heaven to earth, forfeiting the glorious 
 crown he had seemed before to grasp in his hands. To St. 
 Peter Christ gave a super-eminent power and heavenly func- 
 tion. " To thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of hea- 
 ven : and whatsoever thou shall bind upon earth, it shall be 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 143 
 
 bound atso in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shall loose on 
 earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven. Matt. xvi. 19. But 
 how opposite is the power and function of Luther! namely, 
 to open the bottomless pit, or infernal abyss, from whence 
 flowed a stream of calamities that fell upon the kingdom of 
 Christ upon earth. Our Saviour said to St. Peter, "Thou art 
 Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the 
 gates of hell shall not prevail against it," Matt. xvi. 18. But 
 Luther boldly opened the bottomless pit or the gates of heil,' 
 to endeavour to prevail against that Church. St. Peter was 
 constituted by Christ the chief pastor of his whole flock ; 
 " feed my lambs, feed my sheep," John xxi. 16, 17, said Christ 
 to him. But our reformer, by his own authority, declared 
 himself head and ring-leader of a multitude of sectaries, v/ho, 
 like devouring wolves, have laid waste the fold of Christ. 
 
 " And he opened the bottomless pit : and the smoke of the 
 pit arose, as the smoke of a great furnace," v. 2. Luther 
 therefore opened the door of hell, and there issued out a thick 
 smoke as from a great furnace. What can this thick smoke 
 be, but a strong spirit of seduction, which had been hatched in 
 hell, or had the devil for its parent, and which, at Luther's 
 opening hell's door, immediately burst out. Impregnated with 
 this steam, or spirit of seduction, he brought forth a doctrine, 
 big with delusion and error. And as the steam he imbibed 
 wa.s hot, as coming from a great furnace, he propagated his 
 doctrine with heat, violence, and insolence. " I now declare," 
 says he, speaking to the bishops, " that for the future I will not 
 vouchsafe you so much honour, as to submit myself or doctrine 
 to your judgment, or tliat of an angel from heaven." (Pre- 
 face to his book, Adversus falso noniinatum ordinem Episco- 
 poruni.) He wrote a book which he entitled, " Against the 
 execrable Bull of Antichrist :" meaninp- the bull of hi? condem- 
 nation by pope Leo X. ; this book he concluded in these words : 
 *' In the same manner that they excommunicate me, I excom- 
 municate them again." In another book, which he published in 
 defence of the articles condemned by the above-mentioned bull, 
 " Forbear ye," says he, " to make the war against the Turk, 
 until the name of the Pope be taken rom beneath the heavens. 
 I have said it." Nevertheless othtij- instances of his violence 
 and fury might be alleged. Such was his spirit of pride, that 
 he made open profession of contempt for the authority of the 
 Church, councils, and fathers ; whilst he arrogated an infalli- 
 bility to himself, and anathematized all, whether Catholics or 
 Protestants, that dissented from him. The other reformers 
 
144 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 imbibed the same hot steam, that issued out of the infernal 
 abyss. They in consequence broached new doctrines, which 
 they propagated and defended with such heat and vehemence, 
 as to occasion every where seditions and insurrections, which 
 they seemed to glory in. Their patriarch Luther openly 
 boasted of it. " You complain," said he, " that, by our gospel, 
 the world is become tumultuous ; I answer, God be thanked 
 for it, these things I would have so to be ; and wo to me, if such 
 "things were not." 
 
 " And the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke 
 of the pit," v. 2. The spirit of seduction, denoted by the 
 smoke of the pit, produced a multitude of erroneous doctrines, 
 that darkened the light of faith, signified by the sun, and the 
 purity of morals indicated by the air. The light of faith, 
 which is the word of God, may well be represented by the 
 sun, the great luminary of the universe, according to that of 
 Psalm 118, V. 105. " Thy word, O Lord, is a lamp to my 
 feet, and a light to my paths." And as the air is the spring of 
 man's respiration and life, it may be a just type of morality, 
 which gives spiritual life and worth to all human actions. 
 One principal design of the reformation was, to free men from 
 two troublesome restraints, of subjecting their understanding 
 to the mysteries of faith, and of being bound down in their 
 actions to the strict laws of morality. The new teachers 
 preached up a hitherto unheard of " evangelical liberty," as 
 they styled it, by virtue of which they were masters to model 
 their belief and practice as it suited their inclinations. In 
 pursuance of this commodious doctrine, they dissected the Ca- 
 tholic faith till they reduced it to a mere skeleton ; they lopped 
 off the reality of the body and blood of Christ in the holy 
 Eucharist, the divine Christian sacrifice offered in the Mass, 
 confession of sins, most of the sacraments, penitential exer- 
 cises, several of the canonical books of the scripture, the in- 
 vocation of saints, celibacy, most of the general councils of the 
 Church, and all present Church authority ; they perverted 
 the nature of justification, asserting that faith alone suffices to 
 justify man ; they made God the author of sin, and maintained 
 the observance of the commandments to be impossible. 
 
 These and other errors were taught by most of the modern 
 reformers ; and they all agreed in renouncing all submission 
 to the see of Rome. 
 
 In this manner were the sun and air darkened, or faith and 
 morality obscured and perverted. For a few specimens of 
 Luther's doctrine, take the following. " God's commandments 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 145 
 
 are all equally impossible." De Lib. Christ. T. 2. fol. 4. 
 *' No sins can damn a man, but only unbelief." Z>€ Captiv. 
 Bah. T. 2, fol. 171. " God is just, though by his own will he 
 lays us under a necessity of being damned ; and though he 
 damns those that have not deserved it." Totii. 2. fol. 434 and 
 466. *' God works in us both good and evil." Tom. 2. fol. 
 444. " Christ's body is in every place no less than the 
 Divinity itself" Tom. 4. fol. 37. 
 
 Then for his darling principle of justification by faith in his 
 1 1th article against Pope Leo, he says : " Believe strongly that 
 you are absolved, and absolved you will be, whether you have 
 contrition or no." Again in his 6th article : " The contrition, 
 that is acquired by examining, recollecting, and detesting one's 
 sins; whereby a man calls to mind his life past in the bitter- 
 ness of his soul, reflecting on the heinousness and multitude 
 of his offences, the loss of eternal bliss, and condemnation to 
 eternal wo ; this contrition, I say, makes a man a hypocrite, 
 nay, even a greater sinner than he was before." Thus after 
 the most immoral life, you have a compendious method of 
 saving yourself by simply believing, that your sins are re- 
 mitted through the merits of Christ. As to his sentiments in 
 regard to the pope, bishops, councils, &c. hear what he says in 
 the preface to this book De abroganda Missa privata. " With 
 how many powerful remedies and . most evident scriptures 
 have I scarce been able to fortify my conscience so, as to dare 
 alone to contradict the pope, and believe him to be Antichrist, 
 the bishops his apostles, and the universities his brothel- 
 housf s." In his book De judicio Ecclesi^e de gravi doctriiia : 
 *' Christ takes from the bishops, doctors, and councils, both the 
 right and power of judging controversies, and gives them to 
 all Christians in general," Lastly, hear his modest censure 
 on the Council of Constance and those that composed it. " All 
 John Huss's articles were condemned at Constance by Anti- 
 christ and his apostles," meaning the pope and bishops, " in 
 that synod of Satan, made up of most wicked sophisters ; and 
 you, most holy vicar of Christ, I tell you plainly to your face, 
 that all John FIuss's condemned doctrines are evangelical 
 and Christian, but all yours are impious and diabolical." 
 Many more instances might be brought of the head-re- 
 former's extravagant opinions and assertions, but these may 
 suffice. 
 
 To enumerate the errors of all the reformers would exceed 
 the limits of this work, I shall therefore only add the principal 
 heads of the doctrine of Calvin and the Calvinists, viz. 1. 
 13 
 
146 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 That baptism is not necessary for salvation. 2. Likewise, 
 good works are not necessary. 3. Man has no free will. 4. 
 Adam could not avoid his fall. 5. A great part of mankind 
 are created to be damned, independently of their demerits. 6. 
 Man is justified by faith alone : and that justification, once 
 obtained, cannot be lost, even by the most atrocious crimes. 
 7. The true faithful are also infallibly certain of their sal- 
 vation. 8. The Eucharist is no more than a figure of the 
 Body and Blood of Christ. — Thus was the whole system ol 
 faith and morality overturned. 
 
 The above short detail shows a palpable reason why our 
 modern apostles set such a real value on their new discovered 
 principle of " evangelical liberty," as it opened to them so 
 spacious a lawn, in which they could range at their ease. 
 The hardships of mortification, the painful restrictions of 
 penance, were not to be admitted into the Elysian fields : the 
 sensual appetities claimed here their right abode. All Church 
 authority was banished from this realm of liberty. They 
 professed themselves judges of every thing relating to religion, 
 and its foundations and fences they levelled at their pleasure. 
 Tradition they totally abolished ; and though they could not 
 reject the whole canon of the scriptures, as being universally 
 acknowledged to be the word of God, they had however the 
 presumption to expunge some books of it that did not coincide 
 with their own opinions : and the rest they assumed a right to 
 explain as they thought fit. Hence followed various arbitrary 
 explications of the most important texts, which became so many 
 fountains that issued out troubled streams of doctrine. But 
 this was a natural consequence. For, if a man consults only 
 himself; his passions and conceits will certainly dictate to him 
 what may serve for their own gratification, and which must of 
 course contradict the doctrine of revelation, which tends to 
 bridle them. What wonder then, if the comments and glosses 
 of these new interpreters have so m.uch obscured and dis- 
 figured the face of religion ? Moreover, to complete the work, 
 and to conciliate people's minds more easily to their inno- 
 vations, they pretended to charge the old doctrines with absur- 
 dities and errors, as if Christ had sufi^ered his Church to be 
 totally eclipsed and lost ; whereas he had told his apostles, 
 and in them their successors, the pastors of his church : 
 •♦ Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation 
 of the world." Matt, xxviii. 20. But it plainly appeared 
 that the objected absurdities and errors had no reality, and 
 were no more than misrepresentations contrived on purpose. 
 
HI9TOKY or THE CHmiSTULS- CHTTRCH- 147 
 
 In this riew how many notorioiB febehoods wcare fmlili whi il, 
 which are ^ill kepe op. conceming' the CarhoKr irhsIi^ of 
 relics and images, coDceming' conlessiati ol'siii!^ ]iidii]§<eDcea; 
 pai^oiy, &C. I And thus again theycndeaTonred to throw 
 a cioud orer the &ce oi the Cathcdic xdigiaL Fron what 
 has he€n said it aj^ieais then fbHr. how the sxm and the air 
 were darkened with the smoke of the pit 
 
 -* And £pDin the smc^e of the pit there came ooi iocasts 
 npon che esurth,*^ rer. '? F-~~ The amc^e of the abjss is 
 generated a swarm of icAzuf - --^■eiae thcwMcJua orei the 
 
 earth: the meaning of w_._ - : the spirit of seductian 
 
 denoted br the smoke c^ the sbr^ Tiised op a nnmbo' of 
 sectaries or relbnnars. as they niaelTes, who ^pvead 
 
 themselres into all parts c»i trie ^ jjimich. Lather 
 
 was first intoxicated w: which preseudr 
 
 alter insinuated its»r _ -? ^~•^^^la^^- 
 
 padias. >''"'" ''v~'\ ; ' - - *» iJL of 
 
 Rng-iaii_. - ^-.. . -rstiarerf 
 
 kv.i?t5 th-??-? fc!-?^i. : j'ed BO 
 
 5 e thcfDselTes- :.:. widli 
 
 r. T jilt difert .es; and scarce 
 
 2 - eu m any other tiung. out in their t : ~5 to d'estroy 
 
 -iKiattt iuth. and cornipl the C ~ f mo- 
 
 In this indeed they ;: ~r«t 
 
 _ "^*- equal to the Toracit *^ 
 
 : - .o Idrasts." says S-:. 7 ? 
 
 ^. species c^ insects extranehr 1 gad. as Aey 
 
 sion famine, eat op the haiTes:^ . ;. ? the tiees sjKi 
 
 the Tines, " In cmp. 13- Offer. T-.t :ines. ; 
 
 cakuiateii to > liie ricioiis ^ 
 
 *• he - "iffusec — i^- - - with the 
 
 Fivvi.^ck. -^'^^ — - '■". John 1 ^ . :. 
 
 and Phiii]., _^... ,. .esse, Kx ^- 
 
 and theii re;^»e<iive sraies :l\Iowe\i . : - ;; 
 
 Erieos, kine of Sweden, and Chrisdem liL. ^ 
 mark, declared ako in &Toiir :: T^uaism. it hkewiso 
 
 j[ot lootiriSf ia Hungarv. and sprrau iiself by de^r>?es into 
 Brtir Poraeraan, MecV - : \ Hobttm, <&<. Po- 
 
 ^i"l v: .ac^^il^ crf" a fTPM*. '^ vtrioesL cfHild pifck 
 
 n: - '-Tit kft to ev^--*v v-t\- of ehoosiB^ 
 
 I: Four c-.: ^ eoMTied Z«in> 
 
 . glius s Creed, at the cc -e %feld at Bern, in 15:iS, These 
 
 canjons afterw^H - g" aiitance wirh Genev:i. e3:chEUiged 
 
 their doctrine fc Calvin. And now of the th irtiju a 
 
148 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 cantons, that compose the states of Switzerland, six of them 
 are protestant. Mancer, a disciple of Luther, deserting from 
 his master, set up for doctor himself, and with Nicholas 
 Stark gave birth to the sect of anabaptists, which was propa- 
 gated in Suabia and other provinces of Germany, in the Low 
 Countries, &c. Calvin, a man of bold obstinate spirit, artful 
 and indefatigable in his labours, in imitation of Luther, com- 
 menced also reformer. He procured his new tenets to be 
 received at Geneva in 1541. After his death the same doc- 
 trine was carried on by his successor Beza, and it made its 
 way into several provinces of France, where its professors 
 obtained the appellation of Huguenots. It insinuated itself into 
 some parts of Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, and became the 
 established religion of Holland. Calvinism was also im- 
 ported by John Knox into Scotland, where, under the name of 
 presbyterianism, it took deep root, and overspread the whole 
 face of that kingdom. In fine, to such a degree prevailed the 
 licentious spirit of dogmatizing, that every one thought he had 
 an equal right with Luther, Zuinglius, or any other, to inter- 
 pret the scriptures, and form his own creed. On this princi- 
 ple the different sects split into a multitude of parties, following 
 different heads, who every day coined new religions. Thus, 
 the body of anabaptists alone became divided into at least 
 thirty-two different sects. By these divisions the principal 
 leaders found themselves frustrated in the attachment of their 
 proselytes, who upon every occasion left them to follow new 
 teachers. Though this defection was no more than they 
 themselves had given example of, in relinquishing the faith of 
 their ancestors and the Catholic communion, they were never- 
 theless greatly mortified at it, and published their complaints. 
 Such was even the case with Luther, the great author and 
 patriarch of the reformation ; and he resented so much the 
 freedom taken by Carlostadius, Oecolampadius, and Zuin- 
 glius, in preaching a different doctrine from his own, that he 
 reviled them, according to his custom, in the most virulent 
 terms. Some time after, when the reforming spirit had almost 
 reached its full growth, thus wrote Dudithius, a learned pro- 
 testant divine, in his epistle to Beza. " What sort of people 
 are our protestants, straggling to and fro, and carried about 
 with every wind of doctrine, sometimes to this side, sometimes 
 to that ? You may perhaps know what their sentiments in 
 matters of religion are to-day : but you can never certainly tell 
 w^hat they will be to-morrow. In what article of religion do 
 these churches agree which have cast off the bishop of Rome^ 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 149 
 
 Examine all from top to bottom, and you will scarce find one 
 thing affirmed by one, which was not immediately condemned 
 by another for wicked doctrine." The same confusion of 
 opinions was described by an English protestant, the learned 
 Dr. Walton, about the middle of last century, in his preface 
 to his polyglott, where he says, " Aristarchus heretofore 
 could scarce find seven wise men in Greece ; but with us, 
 scarce are to be found so many idiots. For all are doctors, 
 all are divinely learned ; there is not so much as the meanest 
 fanatic or jackpudding, who does not give you his own dreams 
 for the word of God." 
 
 But among the reformed nations none drank more deeply 
 of the cup of error, than England. This country had been, 
 during many centuries, conspicuous in the^ Christian world 
 for the orthodoxy of its belief, as also for the number of saints 
 it had sent to heaven. But by a misfortune never to be suffi- 
 ciently lamented, and by unfathomable judgment from above, 
 its Church shared a fate which seemed the least to threaten 
 it. The lust and avarice of one despotic sovereign threw 
 down the fair edifice, and tore it off from the rock on which it 
 had hitherto stood. Henry VIII., at first a valiant asserter of 
 the Catholic faith against Luther, giving way to the violent 
 passions which he had not resolution to curb, renounced the 
 supreme jurisdiction which the pope had always held in the. 
 Church, presumed to arrogate to himself that power in his 
 own dominions, and thus gave a deadly blow to religion. He 
 then forced his subjects into the same fatal defection, and thus 
 opened the way to his successors to pour in upon the kingdom 
 the whole spirit of the reformation. Once introduced, it soon 
 overspread the land. Being, from its nature, limited by no 
 fixed principle, but depending upon the arbitrary determination 
 of every private man, it has since taken a hundred different 
 shapes, in Protestants, Presbyterians, Anabaptists, Quakers, 
 Arians, Moravians, Hutchinsonians, Methodists, and many 
 more. Such' was the swarm of locusts that eclipsed the face 
 of religion, which had long shone so bright in that island. 
 
 In taking a general view of the infinite variety of new 
 teachers that sprung up at this time, jarring among them- 
 selves, corrupting the genuine sources of faith and morals, 
 and deluding their fellow-creatures with poisonous novelties, 
 one cannot help observing wuth how great propriety they had 
 been long before described by the Apostle St. Jude in the fol- 
 lowing manner : " These are clouds without water, which 
 are carried about by winds ; trees of the autumn, unfruitful, 
 13* 
 
150 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 twice dead, plucked up by the roots ; raging waves of the sea, 
 foaming out their own confusion ; wandering stars." Epist. 
 12, 13. They are first compared to clouds without water, or 
 that promise water, but are carried about by winds without 
 giving any ; that is, these new teachers promise genuine apos- 
 tolical doctrine, w^hich they call reformation, but it is mere de- 
 ceit. They are termed autumnal trees, unfruitful, twice dead, 
 plucked up by the roots, that is, they are become barren Chris- 
 tians, bringing forth no fruit, twice dead by the want of faith 
 and morality. Like dead trees plucked up from the earth, 
 they are banished out of the Church, from which they ought to 
 receive their spiritual life and nourishment. They are like 
 the raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own confusion : 
 they are turbulent, proud, rebellious against their mother, the 
 Church, which they furiously assault with slander, calumny, 
 and blasphemy. Lastly, like wandering stars, they wander 
 about in mazes of imaginary knoAvledge, passing from one 
 error to another without knowing where to fix their steps. 
 
 " And power was given to them, (the locusts,) as the scor- 
 pions of the earth have power," ver. 3. These locusts have 
 peculiar qualities, not to be found in the common locusts. 
 They have the power of scorpions, that is, a power of sting- 
 ing. This allegory shows, that the reformed sects, here sig- 
 nified by the locusts, were empowered, by the divine permis- 
 sion, to sting or violently to torment those of the Catholic 
 communion, whom they had left, and against whom they 
 conceived and still retain a rancorous animosity. 
 
 " And it was commanded them, (the locusts,) that they 
 should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, 
 nor any tree : but only the men who have not the sign of 
 God on their foreheads," ver. 4. The locusts, or the sects of 
 protestants, are not allowed by Almighty God to hurt the grass 
 of the earth, that is, the whole body of the common faithful ; 
 nor every green thing, as the Greek and Latin texts express 
 it, that is, not all the vegetable greens that shoot up higher 
 than the grass, denoting the princes, magistrates, and others 
 superior in dignity to the commonalty ; nor are they allowed 
 to hurt every tree, or all the pastors with their clergy. In 
 short they are not permitted to pervert the whole of any of 
 the three different classes of the faithful, namely, ministers of 
 religion or the clergy, the princes and persons and civil dig- 
 nity, and the common people. 
 
 The expression however of all or every one indicates that 
 some of all these sorts will be ensnared. In general, they 
 
HISTORY OF THK CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 151 
 
 will not be allowed to seduce any others of the Church's 
 members, but those who have not the sign of God on their 
 foreheads, that is, those who are not solidly fixed in their faith 
 and morals, but suffer themselves to be influenced by their 
 passions, by worldly views or pleasures, and who consequently 
 have not courage to withstand the temptation, nor to fight 
 under the banner of religion. These have not the sign of 
 God on their foreheads: they cowardly give up this charac- 
 teristic sign, the Cross of Christ, with its persecutions, self- 
 denials, and mortification : they go over to their enemies who 
 seduced them, and from them learn to have a horror of im- 
 printing that salutary mark on their foreheads, which was so 
 much the practice of antiquity, as Tertullian informs us. 
 " At every step," says he, " whenever we come in or go out, 
 when we put on our clothes or shoes, when we wash, when 
 we sit down to table, when we light a candle, when we go to 
 bed — we imprint on our foreheads the sign of the cross." — 
 hit. de Coroti. Milit. c. 3. 
 
 From the present texts o{ the apocalypse under our con- 
 sideration, it appears then that, though Almighty God, in the 
 unsearchable ways of his wisdom, allows the protectant sects 
 to have a certain degree of power, yet in his goodness he puts 
 a bridle to this power, and prescribes to it determinate limits, 
 lest it should over-run too great a part of Christ's kingdom. 
 " Hitherto shalt thou come and shalt go no further, and here 
 thou shalt break thy swelling waves." Job c. 38. v. 11. 
 Mahometanism and the Greek schism had already torn away 
 a large body of the Catholic community ; but the supreme 
 Ruler of the universe had promised, that his Church should 
 stand as visible as if seated on a mountain,* and that hell itself 
 should not prevail against it.f These assurances are a se- 
 cure bulwark to it, and though the Sovereign Disposer has 
 permitted the new generated poison of the present age to 
 infect some part of his church, the greater part is preserved 
 sound and untainted, and shines forth with brighter lustre to 
 the world. Many large countries rejected the reformation, 
 and steadfastly adhered to the ancient faith, and even in most 
 of those kingdoms, which adopted the innovation, there are 
 still remaining, by the providence of God, some that refuse to 
 bow their knees to Baal; and though few, like grapes remain- 
 ing after the vintage, they stand as a testimony against the 
 others who ouofht to have maintained the same truth with them. 
 
 Besides the above-mentioned particulars, we ought not to 
 
   Isaias, c. 2. v. 2. Dan. c, 2. v. 35. t Matt. c. 16. v. 18. 
 
152 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 overlook another check, which has been put upon the efforts 
 of the reformation. While powerful princes and great ar- 
 mies undertook to propagate the protestant religion, the 
 Almighty thought fit to interpose, and gave to the Catholic 
 powers sufficient strength to oppose the invasion, and has 
 ever since supported them in such manner as to make them 
 a match against their enemies. 
 
 "And it was given unto them, (the locusts,) that they 
 should not kill them ; but that they should torment them five 
 months ; and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion 
 when he strikes a man," v. 5. Here is a second curb put 
 upon the power of the reformed societies. In the last article 
 we saw, that their power of seducing others to embrace their 
 doctrine was confined to those who had not the sign of God 
 on their foreheads, or who by their depravity or bad disposi- 
 tions lay open to such seductions. 
 
 Sach was the extent of their power in the spiritual way. 
 
 Here the boundary of their temporal power is fixed. 
 
 They are not permitted to kill them, that is, utterly to destroy 
 and exterminate the Catholics. 
 
 In the first heat of the reformation, such was the violence 
 of the protestants, that they breathed nothing less than war 
 and destruction. In their progress they murdered great 
 numbers of the Catholics, demolished their churches and 
 monasteries, and carried devastation through the land. B.ut 
 the Almighty in his eternal wisdom, had resolved to restrain 
 their power, and by his apostle St. John had long ago 
 published his decree, contained in the present text, that they 
 should not proceed beyond the limits w^hich he had fixed. 
 Their expectations were consequently frustrated, and they were 
 obliged to sit down with less extent of conquest than they had 
 grasped in their thoughts. In a similar manner. Almighty 
 God had often permitted his favourite people the Jews to be 
 harassed and oppressed by the foreign nations their enemies, 
 but he never suffered them to be extinguished. 
 
 In fine, experience shows that, notwithstanding the pro- 
 testant princes have taken such pains to extirpate the Catholic 
 religion in their respective states, tliey have not been able to 
 compass it. The Catholics have been grievously oppressed, 
 and many even put to death ; nevertheless, though much re- 
 duced in some of those countries, by the divine protection 
 they still there subsist. 
 
 But it was given unto them, (the locusts,) that they should 
 torment them five months. The kind of torment here meant^ 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 153 
 
 is expressed in the subsequent words: and their torment was 
 as the torment of a scorpion when he strikes a man. Cer- 
 tainly a very sharp torment or pain, to be like that occasioned 
 by the sting of a scorpion. This comparison shows plainly, 
 that though the power of the protestants was limited by the 
 providence of God, they were nevertheless allowed to molest 
 and bitterly persecute those of the Catholic communion. 
 They Avere restrained, as we have just now seen, from exter- 
 minating the body of the Catholics, but by their persecutions, 
 seditions, and wars, they cut off many, and the rest were made 
 to suffer extreme hardships and miseries. In those countries, 
 where the sovereigns embraced the reformation, they general- 
 ly seized upon the revenues of the Church, and thus reduced 
 the clergy to the pinching anguishes of want..^ The bulk of 
 the Catholics were forced to adopt the religion of their princes, 
 or fly their native country, or in fine be doomed to lie under 
 the most heavy oppression. Are not these sufferings well 
 compared to the sting of a scorpion? Besides, who is igno- 
 rant of the cruel persecuting laws, that were in those times 
 enacted in most of the Protestant states asfainst the Catholic 
 religion? Among the rest, who is not acquainted with the 
 severe laws of England and Ireland ? They are such, as to 
 be owned by those of their own people who have a sense of 
 humanity, to be barbarous, to be a scandal to the Christian 
 religion, and a disgrace to civilized nations. In consequence 
 of these statutes, how many persons have been stripped of their 
 estates ? How many individuals have been imprisoned, ba- 
 nished, even put to death? How many families have been 
 reduced to beggary, and ruined ? Are not such hardships 
 and oppressions to be deemed severe, and as acute in the pain 
 they cause, as the stinging of a scorpion? 
 
 It is said, this torture Avas to last five months. Here the 
 Almighty prescribes a term to that great severity the Pro- 
 testants were permitted to exercise against the true servants of 
 God. This term is five months, or one hundred and fifty 
 days, giving thirty days to every month, Avhich way of 
 reckoning by round numbers is usual with the prophets. 
 But it is to be observed, that days in the prophetic style are 
 sometimes used for years. Thus it is in that celebrated pro- 
 phecy in Daniel of seventy w^eeks, or four hundred and ninety 
 days, understood by all the interpreters to mean four hundred 
 and ninety years, which were to run from the term mentioned 
 in that prophecy to the death of Christ the Messiah. Dan. ix. 
 24, Another instance of the same way of reckoning occurs 
 
154 HISTORY OF TH£ CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 in the book of Ezechiel, where God speaks to that prophet in 
 this manner : " Thou shalt take upon thee the iniquity of 
 the house of Juda for forty days. A day for a year, yea, a 
 day for a year I have appointed to thee." Ezek. iv. 6. On 
 this principle therefore, as the space of five months, taken 
 according- to the common acceptation, gives too short a period 
 to comprise all the transactions mentioned in our text con- 
 cerning the reformation, we shall count one hundred and fifty 
 years for the one hundred and fifty days contained in five 
 months ; during which time the locusts were empowered to 
 sting, that is, the Protestants were allowed to torment so rigo- 
 rously the Catholics. If then the one hundred and fifty years 
 be counted from the year 1525, about which time'^ those vio- 
 lences began, to take place, they will bring us to the year 
 1675. Some part of the history of the reformation relating to 
 this period has been presented to us in the preceding texts, 
 and the rest will appear, as we shall presently see, in subse- 
 quent verses of our prophetic author. 
 
 " And in those days men shall seek death, and shall not 
 find it : and they shall desire to die, and death shall fly from 
 them," V. 6. Here is a lively picture of the extreme miseries, 
 that the Catholics suffered in consequence of the violence and 
 fury with which the reformation was carried on. And does 
 not the history of those times evince the truth of it ? On one 
 side, many finding themselves rifled and stripped of all that 
 belonged to them, actuated by the sting of misery, equal to 
 that of the scorpion, took up arms to recover by force what 
 they could not hope for by any other means. The poor and 
 distressed also, who received their subsistence from the chari- 
 table and constant liberalities of the monasteries, being de- 
 prived of all resource by the dissolution of those houses, 
 drew courage from despair, 
 
 Una salus victis nullum sperare salutem Virgil. 
 
 Despair of life, the means of living shows Dryden. 
 
 and fled to arms, though unjustifiably, and joining with the 
 others, sought for death in battle, rather than die by hunger, 
 though perhaps it was not their lot to find that death. 
 
 Likewise how miserable was the condition of that multi- 
 tude of religious people of both sexes, who were ejected from 
 their houses, and robbed of all their possessions! They had 
 abandoned the world, and consecrated themselves to God in 
 solitary retreats. Unacquainted with manual labour, and 
 unaccustomed to every art of providing subsistence, they 
 solely attended to the service of God, and to the preparing 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 155 
 
 themselves for another world, depending entirely for the sup- 
 port of present life on the pious benefactions of those persons, 
 who to promote the divine worship and all the heroic virtues 
 of the Christian religion, had endowed those houses with 
 suitable revenues. But now a storm, like a hurricane, rose 
 and burst upon them. One would have thought that an army 
 of Goths or Danes had invaded the land. The recluses saw 
 themselves assaulted by brutish ruffians, and forcibly driven 
 out of their sanctuaries. They saw their churches violated, 
 together with their houses plundered and pulled down to the 
 ground. Thus were those ancient nurseries of piety and 
 learning reduced to aheap of ruins: a lasting monument 
 of the spirit that guided the reformation. Such were the 
 extravagances of fanaticism and violence at that period, that 
 not a few were scandalized even of those Avho favoured the 
 change of religion.* Thus, for instance, Sir John Denham, 
 speaking of the demolition of monasteries in England, cries 
 out : 
 
 Who sees these dismal heaps, but will demand, 
 What barbarous invader sack'd the land ! 
 But when he hears, no Goth, no Turk, did bring 
 This desolation, but a Christian king; 
 When nothing but the name of zeal appears 
 'Twixt our best actions, and the wocst of theirs, 
 What does he think our sacrilege would spare, 
 Since these th' effects of our devotion are. 
 
 Cooper's Hill. 
 
 Let us hear another protestant writer: "England sate 
 weeping," says Camden, " to see her wealth exhausted, her 
 coin debased, and her abbeys demolished, which were the 
 monuments of ancient piety." Introd. to the Annals of Q.ueen 
 Eliz. 
 
 By such inhuman proceedings a great number of religious 
 men and women saw themselves stripped of evrey commodity 
 of life. They saw themselves exposed to the injclemency of 
 the weather, to the distresses of want, to the insults of an in- 
 solent populace worked up to enthusiasm ; in fine, they found 
 themselves turned out into a wide world, without knowing 
 which wav to direct their steps. What wonder, if in this 
 destitute forlorn condition they should rather desire to die, 
 than drag on so wretched a life? Had the executioner 
 been sent instead of a commissioner, and required the lives 
 of all those who refused to sacrifice their conscience to the 
 new religion, they would have esteemed themselves happy in 
 
   See Stowe's Annals, Fuller's and Collier's Church Histories* 
 
156 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 acquiring the crown of imartyrdom. But to be exposed to all 
 sorts of temptations, to lasting wretchedness, and to see the 
 Church of God trampled under foot, were more cruel afflic- 
 tions to them than death. These however they were con- 
 demned to bear, and to be deprived of the blessing of giving 
 up their lives. They desired to die, and death fled from 
 them. 
 
 " And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses pre- 
 pared unto battle," v. 7. Here is expressed the spirit of 
 sedition and rebellion that animated the reformers and their 
 proselytes. Luther proclaimed himself the leader in this as 
 well as other articles of the new discipline, and he levelled 
 his first attacks against the Church. He set out with in- 
 veighing against all Church government, he declaimed 
 against the clergy, and especially against the superiority of 
 the pope, though but a little before he had professexl all obe- 
 dience to him. Having gained for disciple and protector, 
 John Frederick, elector of Saxony, he kept no further mea- 
 sures, but declared open war against the bishops, and the 
 whole ecclesiastic order. In his rage, he composed a hook 
 on the subject, in which he said, " All those who will ven- 
 ture their lives, their estates, their honour and their blood, in 
 so Christian a work, as to root out all bishopricks and 
 bishops, who are the ministers of Satan, and to pluck up by 
 the roots all their authority and jurisdiction in the world: 
 these persons are the true children of God, and obey his com- 
 mandments." Contra statum Ecclesia et falso noviinatum 
 ordinem Episcoporu7)i. Again, in his book against Sylvester 
 Prieras. " If," says he, " we despatch thieves by the gallows, 
 highwaymen by the sword, heretics by fire ; why do we not 
 rather attack with all kinds of arms these masters of perdi- 
 tion, these cardinals, these popes, and all this sink of the 
 Romish Sodom, which corrupts without ceasing the Church of 
 God, and wash our hands in their blood." Thus preached 
 the new religionist, nor did he cease, till he got the bishops 
 expelled from Saxony, and Hesse, and their authority extin- 
 guished. 
 
 Not content with having thrown off contemptuously the 
 spiritual authority of the pope, the bishops, and of the whole 
 Church, Luther next attempted to subvert the temporal power 
 of princes. The new teachers totally differed from the pri- 
 mitive preachers of the gospel. These, during their whole 
 ministry, had before their eyes the charge which Christ gave 
 to his apostles. " Behold, I send you," said he, " as sheep 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 157 
 
 in the midst of wolves." Matt, x. 16. Whicli they all under- 
 stood as an order to preserve the meekness and gentleness of 
 sheep, whatever wolves or persecutors they might meet with. 
 And this rule they invariably followed. But Luther, though 
 at first he professed an aversion to violence, finding the way of 
 patience did not succeed, soon altered his maxims. The gospel, 
 he then said, and the rest of the reformers said the same after 
 him, " the gospel has always caused disturbances, and blood 
 is requisite for its establishment." De serv. arb. When 
 therefore he had done as much as he was able, to abolish the 
 clergy, canon law, and the universities, he then proceeded to 
 attack the emperor and temporal princes, both by his writings 
 and preaching. " You must know," said he, '' that from the 
 beginning of the world to this day, it has ever been a rare 
 thing to find a wise prince ; but more rare to find one that 
 was honest : for commonly they are the greatest fools and 
 knaves in the world." De Sceculari Potest. Again : " You 
 must know, my good lords," said he, " that God will have it 
 so, that your subjects neither can, nor will, nor ought any 
 longer to endure your tyrannical governments." Contra 
 Rusticus. Nay, even he could not refrain from expressing 
 the same contempt and rebellious disposition towards his own 
 patron, and protector, John Frederick, elector of Saxony ; 
 having been slighted, as he thought, by his highness. " If it 
 is lawful for me," said Luther, " for the sake of Christian li- 
 berty, not only to neglect, but to trample under my feet the 
 pope's decrees, the canons of councils, the laws and man- 
 dates of the emperor himself, and of all princes ; think you, 
 I shall value your orders so much as to take them for laws ?" 
 Contra Amhr. Catharin. 
 
 These sorts of lessons found easy entrance into the minds 
 of people, who had already drunk plentifully of the spirit of 
 " Evangelical liberty." Their dispositions were soured and 
 worked up by this inflammatory doctrine of their ministers 
 to such a degree, that they were ready for any enterprise of 
 sedition and rebellion. Erasmus thus describes them : " I 
 saw them come forth from their sermons with fierce looks 
 and threatening countenances," like men "that just come 
 from hearing bloody invectives and seditious speeches." Ac- 
 cordingly we found " these evangelical people always ready 
 to rise up in arms, and equally as good at fighting as at dis- 
 puting." How different is this spirit from that of the first 
 ages of Christianity ! The faithful then learned from the 
 apostles and their successors no other doctrine, but the doc- 
 14 
 
158 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 trine of patience, humility, meekness, obedience to the sove- 
 reign powers ; and these lessons they invariably adhered to. 
 They said : " Our hopes are not fixed on the present world, 
 and therefore we make no resistance to the executioner that 
 comes to strike us." S. Justin. Apol. 2. ad Imper. Anton, 
 pium. They said, " We adore one only God, but in all other 
 things we cheerfully obey you," the emperors. Ibid. They 
 said again : " We Christians pray to God, that he may grant 
 to the emperors a long life, a peaceable reign, safety at home, 
 victorious arms, a faithful senate, virtuous subjects, universal 
 peace, and every thing that a man and emperor can desire." 
 Tertul. Apol. In fine, the heats occasioned by Luther's sedi- 
 tious doctrine were so much fomented and increased by his 
 disciples and other new reformers, that they soon kindled into 
 a flame. The peasants in Germany rose up in arms, flocked 
 together, and, like horses prepared unto war, they proceeded 
 in a body, carrying devastation through the provinces of Sua- 
 bia, Franconia, and Alsatia, and ransacked many of the im- 
 perial towns. The ringleaders of this multitude, chiefly com- 
 posed of Anabaptists, were Muncer and Phiffer. Muncer 
 pretended he had received from God "the sword of Gedeon," 
 in order to depose idolatrous magistrates, and to compel the 
 world to acknowledge the new kingdom of Jesus Christ. 
 These fanatic insurgents in their progress plundered and 
 burned churches, monasteries and castles, killed priests monks 
 and noblemen. The elector of Saxony and other princes, 
 to put a stop to these disorders and desolations, confederated 
 together, and joining their forces, cut off' and dispersed some 
 parties of the rebels, and defeated the chief body of them at 
 Frankhusen with great slaughter in 1525. Muncer and 
 Phiffer, the chiefs, being taken, were executed a few days 
 after. 
 
 No part of the German empire was free from these tu- 
 mults. The people were universally intoxicated with the 
 notion of reforming religion, and bent upon removing such 
 magistrates as would not conform to their new systems. At 
 Erford they degraded and secured all the officers of the town. 
 At Frankfort, after having pillaged the churches, and banish- 
 ed the clergy, they expelled the old senators, committed the 
 government of the city to twenty-four commoners, and made 
 a new set of laws, composed from the doctrine of Luther. 
 Their brethren in Cologne, Mentz, and Triers, had also 
 taken up arms for the same purpose, but failed in their at- 
 tempts. Such were the extremes of licentiousness the people 
 
HISTORY OF THE CttRlSTlAN cHl/RCtt. 159 
 
 proceeded to at this period, from their new conceived notion 
 of " liberty," that the Emperor Charles V. found it very ditB- 
 cult to stem the torrent, nor could he effectually compass it 
 till many years after. These transactions may be seen more 
 at large in Sleidan, Cochlseus, and other historians. 
 
 The Lutherans of Germany, who received the name of 
 Protestants, from their protesting against a decree made in 
 favour of the Catholic religion in the diet held at Spires in 
 1529, drew up in opposition to it, their confession of faith, 
 called the Augsburg Confession, ^nd entered into a league of- 
 fensive and defensive at Smalstald against the Emperor and 
 Catholic princes of Germany. Luther had sounded the 
 trumpet of war, and set all Germany in a flame. The heads 
 of this formidable league were, the Electors of Saxony and 
 Brandenburgh, the Landgrave of Hesse, the Dukes of Wir- 
 temburg and Lunenburg, and the Prince of Anhalt. Allured 
 by the boundless liberty and enjoyment of the Church pos- 
 sessions, which they acquired by the reformation, they re- 
 solved to secure them by the point of the sword. They there- 
 fore assembled troops, and brought into the field an army of 
 seventy thousand men, commanded by the Elector of Saxony 
 and the Landgrave of Hesse, and a hundred and twelve 
 pieces of cannon. Some other German princes, besides the 
 above-mentioned, either joined them personally, or sent them 
 forces. They likewise received succours from the imperial 
 towns of Augsburgh, Ulm, Strasburgh, and Frankfort. Thus 
 they were prepared to depose the Emperor Charles V. and to 
 extirpate from Germany the Catholic faith, which had been 
 the established religion of the empire for many ages past. 
 The ejT^es of all Europe were intent upon the issue of this 
 war. The emperor with a much smaller army marched 
 with resolution against them, engaged them near the Elbe, 
 and gained a complete victory in 1547. The two generals, 
 the Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse, were 
 taken prisoners. Thus was the Catholic religion secured in the 
 empire, and Protestantism, though checked, kept its ground. 
 
 A similar scene Avas acted in Switzerland, where Zuin- 
 glius had introduced the reformation, as we have already re- 
 lated. The reformed cantons, not content with having them- 
 selves adopted Zuinglianism, would also force it upon the 
 other cantons that remained Catholic. This occasioned a 
 war to ensue, and a battle was fought, in which the Protest- 
 ants were defeated, and Zuinglius himself at their head slain 
 in 1531 
 
IbO HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Calvin's reformation at Geneva began by ejecting the 
 prince bishop of the place, and dispossessing him of his so- 
 vereignty and temporal dominions. Calvin, who modelled 
 the state of Geneva, declared himself an enemy to monarch- 
 ical government, and ever commended the advantages of a 
 commonwealth. " They are," said he, " beside their wits, 
 quite void of sense and understanding, who desire to live un- 
 der absolute monarchies ; for it cannot be, but that order and 
 policy must decay, where one man holds such an extent of 
 government." Comment, in Dan. c. 2. v. 39. By degrees he 
 expressed more openly his aversion to kings, and endea- 
 voured to disgrace their characters by the most scurrilous 
 abuse. " These kings," says he, " are in a manner all of 
 them a set of blockheads and brutish men," Ibid. c. 6. v. 3, 
 Thus he trod upon the steps, and imitated the language of 
 his forerunner Luther. Again ; " Princes," says Calvin, 
 " forfeit their power when they oppose God in opposing the 
 reformation, and it is better, in such cases, to spit in their 
 faces than to obey." Ibid. v. 22. What can be the purport 
 of such doctrine, but to inspire a contempt for sovereigns, 
 and to encourage the people to cast off their government, un- 
 der the cloak of religion 1 
 
 Theodore Beza, Calvin's scholar and successor at Geneva, 
 supported his master's doctrine, and enforced it by his own 
 writings, as may be seen in the preface to his translation oi 
 the New Testament ; and again in his book, " Vijidicce con- 
 tra Tyrannos,^'' where he says : " We must obey kings for 
 God's sake, when they obey God ;" but otherwise, " as the 
 vassal loses his fief or tenure, if he commit felony, so does 
 the king lose his right and realm also ;" thus speaks our 
 modern Junius Brutus, In this same work may be seen a 
 hundred other assertions of the same nature, the natural ten- 
 dency of which can be no other, but to arm subjects against 
 their sovereign, and to introduce anarchy and confusion into 
 the world. How different is the doctrine of these two mo- 
 dern apostles from that of the ancient great apostles, SS. Pe- 
 ter and Paul ! " Be ye subject," says St. Peter, " to every 
 human creature for God's sake : whether it be to the king, 
 as excelling ; or to governors, as sent by him for the punish- 
 ment of evil doers, and for the praise of the good." Ep- L 
 c. 2. V. 13, 14. *' Let every soul," says St. Paul, "be sub- 
 ject to higher power : for there is no powers, but from God : 
 and those that are, are ordained of God." Therefore he that 
 resists the power, resists the ordinance of God. And they 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 161 
 
 that resist purchase to themselves damnation." Ejp. ad Rom. 
 xiii. 1, 2. 
 
 Geneva, having settled the plan of her principles accord- 
 ing to the instructions of Calvin and Beza, became a school 
 of rebellion to the western parts of Europe, and the princi* 
 pal nursery of the civil wars in France. This country soon 
 found its bowels convulsed by the poisonous seeds of the re 
 formation, that had clandestinely been sown, and taken deep 
 root, in Dauphine, Gascony, Languedoc, and other provinces. 
 In 1560, the Calvinists, or Huguenots, formed what is called 
 " the conspiracy of Amboise," which was a scheme to seize 
 the person of Francis II. king of France, and to murder the 
 duke of Guise and his brother the cardinal of Lorrain, who 
 had the chief management of affairs in the kingdom, and 
 were attached to the Catholic religion. They had prepared 
 a body of troops for the purpose ; but the plot was discovered, 
 and prevented from taking effect. However a civil war 
 broke out in 1562, in which the prince of Conde was de- 
 clared chief of the Huguenots. This great general at the 
 head of a body of them, surprised and took the city of Or- 
 leans, while other protestant corps made themselves masters 
 of Rouen and several other towns. But the constable Mont- 
 morency and the duke of Guise advancing against them at 
 the head of the Catholics, for Charles IX., who had suc- 
 ceeded Francis II., a battle ensued near the town of Dreux, 
 in which the Huguenots, who gave the attack, were de- 
 feated, and their commander, the prince of Conde, taken pri- 
 soner. 
 
 Though the protestants had thus miscarried in their rebel- 
 lion against their sovereign, yet Beza, who for his warmth 
 in the cause had accompanied them, and been present at the 
 battle of Dreux, boasted of that battle, as having served to 
 lay the foundation of the reformation in France. Thus he 
 addressed Q,ueen Elizabeth in the preface to his translation of 
 the New Testament : " Upon which day, (the day of the bat- 
 tle 2A Dreux,) two years since, the nobility and gentry of 
 France, under the command of his excellency the prince of 
 Conde, being assisted with your majesty's auxiliary troops, 
 and some others from the princes of Germany, laid the first 
 foundation of the true reformed religion in France, with 
 their own blood." He in the same place commends the re- 
 bellious transactions of the Huguenots at Meaux, Orleans, 
 &c. and glories in having had a share in them. " Which I 
 speak," says he, "the more freely, because I myself, as it 
 14* 
 
 Ill 
 
162 histoHy of the christian church. 
 
 pleased God, was present at most of those deliberations and 
 actions." 
 
 The year after the battle at Dreux, the duke of Guise was 
 assassinated by Poltrot, a fanatic Calvinist. Notwithstanding 
 -- the bad success the Huguenots had met with, they resolved 
 not to rest, till they should compel the king to come into their 
 own terms. They therefore contrived another scheme to 
 seize his person, on his going from Meaux to Paris : but the 
 design being discovered and frustrated, the civil war recom- 
 menced, and they were vanquished a second time near St. 
 Dennis, in 1 567. They were worsted again at Jarnac in 1 569, 
 and the same year were overthrown in a very bloody engage- 
 ment at Moncontour. 
 
 Many were the insurrections and rebellions of the Cal- 
 vinists in France in the subsequent reigns, which cre- 
 ated infinite perplexities to the kings, and produced in- 
 expressible calamities in that kingdom. It is sufficient in 
 this place to have shown their origin from the principles 
 of the reformation, and their first progress. And what 
 has been said, is no more than is acknowledged by protest- 
 ants themselves of other sects. Thus are the Calvinists de- 
 scribed by Dr. Heylin, a learned protestant of the Church 
 of England, in his Cosmography, book I. " Rather than their 
 discipline should not be admitted, and the episcopal govern- 
 ment destroyed in all the churches of Christ, they were re- 
 solved to depose kings, ruin kingdoms, and to subvert the fun- 
 damental constitutions of all civil states." When people pro- 
 ceed upon such schemes of violence, can they wonder, that 
 princes or their officers in their wrath sometimes retaliate 
 upon them ! Violence necessarily gives provocation, which 
 in its turn exerts itself^ though perhaps by unjustifiable me- 
 thods. When sovereigns perceive their lives to be in dan- 
 ger from conspiracies, when they see their states ransacked, 
 and thrown into confusion by the arms of rebellious subjects, 
 can we be surprised if these sovereigns, without consulting 
 religion, sometimes repel the evil by rough and cruel means ? 
 Such was the so much talked of massacre of the Huguenots, 
 at Paris and other places in France, in 1572, on St. Bartho- 
 lomew's day, in the reign of Charles IX. 
 
 The massacre also of the protestants in Ireland in 1641, 
 has been often objected against the Catholic Church. When 
 people are driven to despair by excessive hardship and op- 
 pression, and even threatened with utter extirpation, what 
 wonder if an insurrection follows ? Such was the case with 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 163 
 
 the Irish Catholics. The insurgents even were not the body 
 of Catholics, they were no more than an exasperated rabble 
 in the province of Ulster, who acted against the inclination 
 of the community, and in opposition to the exhortations of 
 their clergy : and indeed all such violences are utterly con- 
 demned by the Catholic doctrine. It is also clear from au- 
 thentic records and testimonies, that this massacre has been 
 exceedingly exaggerated, and that not one hundredth part of 
 the number were murdered that were reported. These par- 
 ticulars are proved at length by a learned protestant writer 
 of the kingdom of Ireland, in a book entitled : " The trial of 
 the cause of the Roman Catholics. Dublin, 1761." 
 
 The nature of Calvinism being so opposite to the Catholic 
 religion, it produced in its proselytes a rancorous aversion to 
 every thing belonging to the latter communion. The conse- 
 quence of this could be no other, when once they had arms 
 in their hands, but to spread desolation, and exercise cruelties 
 upon those whose religion they hated. And such was the real 
 fact. It is impossible to read the history of the Calvinists, 
 without being shocked at the disorders and barbarities com- 
 mitted by them. It is computed, that in the course of those 
 wars, they destroyed twenty thousand churches. In the pro- 
 vince of Daaphine alone, they killed two hundred and fifty- 
 five priests, and one hundred and twelve monks and friars, 
 and burnt nine hundred towns and villages. If the maxims 
 of Calvinism warranted such proceedings, could its gospel 
 be the gospel of Christ ? 
 
 As Beza had been the chief instrument of propagating 
 Calvinism in France, and a great agent in fomenting the 
 seditions and combustions it occasioned in that country ; in 
 like manner Knox, another disciple of Calvin, carried the 
 same doctrine into Scotland, where he planted it by sedition 
 and rebellion, by fire and sword. Fle, Buchanan, Goodman, 
 and other associates, having consulted together, agreed to 
 reform the Church of Scotland according to the standard of 
 Geneva ; when a sufficient party was formed, they began their 
 work of reformation by murdering Cardinal Beaton in 
 1546, the principal supporter of the Catholic Religion. 
 Knox harangued the people, declaimed against the ancient 
 faith and clergy, and inflamed the multitude to that degree 
 of rage, that they immediately ran to the Churches, over- 
 turned the altars, defaced the pictures, broke to pieces the 
 statues, carried off the ornaments, and then proceeded 
 against the monasteries, which they almost laid level with 
 
164 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 the ground. This sort of Avork Knox carried on in dif- 
 ferent parts of Scotland. In a little time these fanatics, who 
 were styled Presbyterians, finding themselves growing nu- 
 merous, rose up, like horses prepared unto battle, in re- 
 bellion against the queen regent, and bringing armies into 
 the field, committed horrible disorders. They were supported 
 by Glueen Elizabeth of England ; and having convoked a 
 general assembly of the party, they concluded, conformably 
 to the opinion of Knox, who declared it lawful, to depose 
 the queen mother from her regency. After her death, which 
 happened in the year 1560, Queen Mary being then in 
 France, they enacted a law, by the instigation of Knox, 
 prohibiting the exercise of the Catholic religion in Scotland. 
 They got this law afterwards confirmed by a Parliament 
 in 1567, and they excluded the queen from all govern- 
 ment. The succeedino" calamities which this unfortunate 
 queen and her kingdom sustained from that seditious set 
 of people, who Avere grown too strong to be controlled, 
 are too well known to need any relation. It is equally 
 notorious, that the spirit of Presbyterianism, at first con- 
 fined to the north, insinuated itself by degrees into the 
 neighbouring kingdom of England, where it soon created 
 divisions among the people, and raised such commotions, 
 as in the end overturned the state, and brought a king to 
 the block. The world has too much experienced, that 
 kings, queens, bishops, and priests, could never be allowed 
 a share in their friendship. 
 
 Lutheranism having insinuated itself into the Nether 
 lands, several states of that country confederated toge- 
 ther at Utrecht in 1578, and agreed to twenty articles, as 
 the foundation of their union, the first of which was "to 
 support one another against all force that should be exer- 
 cised upon them in the king's name or for religion." This 
 league was confirmed at the Hague under the auspices of 
 the Prince of Orange in the year 1581. The scheme was, 
 to renounce all obedience to their liege lord the king of 
 Spain, and to withdraw themselves entirely from his power^ 
 which they did by a public edict. Pursuant to this, they 
 proceeded to hreak the king's seal, to pull down his arms, 
 to take possession of his lands and rents, and to coin 
 money in their own names. With the same usurped au- 
 thority they seized the Church-livings, and abolished the 
 Catholic religion. Such were the steps taken under the 
 Standard of Lutheranism; but when the Calvinistical doc- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 165 
 
 trine got footing-, the flame spread with the utmost vio- 
 lence. The people, regardless of all laws, by which they 
 were bound to their sovereign, take up arms and mutiny 
 every where against his magistrates. The churches are 
 plundered, the religious men and women are expelled by 
 force from their monasteries, which are rifled and pulled 
 down. To quell these rebellious insurrections, and to put 
 a stop to these disorders, Philip, king of Spain, to Avhom 
 the low countries belonged, sent a body of Spanish forces 
 under the command of the Duke of Alva. A bloody war 
 ensued, in which the Prince of Orange was the chief di- 
 rector of the affairs of the confederates. The duke reduced 
 ten of the revolted provinces to their former obedience and 
 subjection to the king of Spain; but seven others, since 
 styled the " United Provinces," found means to maintain 
 their ground against the Spanish efforts, and formed them- 
 selves into an independent commonwealth, the only go- 
 vernment that Calvinism admits of 
 
 In England, Denmark, and Sweden, the reformation 
 was introduced by the kings themselves, who compelled 
 their subjects to receive it. Thus ushered in by the su- 
 preme temporal power, it stood in no need of insurrec- 
 tions and tumults among the people, to gain admittance ; 
 the sword and authority of the prince performed the whole 
 function. Those individuals, who dared to continue in the 
 practice of the ancient religion, were declared traitors to 
 their sovereign, and rebels to the state. 
 
 Thus much may be sufficient for the explanation of our 
 text, that the shapes of the locusts were like horses pre- 
 pared unto battle. 
 
 •' And on their heads (the heads of the locusts,) were as 
 it were like crowns of gold," v. 7. The locusts bore upon 
 their heads something that resembled crowns, which crowns 
 appeared to be of gold. This allusion points at the pride 
 and presumption of the new sectaries, who assumed to 
 themselves the high function of preaching the gospel, with- 
 out having any lawful mission : they pretended to be the 
 true ministers of God, without showing any credentials 
 from him ; they set up for apostles of Christ, but could 
 not produce his commission. Luther styled himself " by 
 the grace of God, ecclesiastes or preacher of Wirtemburg." 
 Epist. ad fals. nominat. Epis. He treated with the ut- 
 most contempt the pope and the bishops, as we have al- 
 ready seen. As to the Fathers of the Church, he said, 
 
166 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 ••they were all blind." Lib. de servit Arbit. And " he con 
 cerned not himself what Ambrose, Augustin, the councils, 
 or practices of ages, said." Lib. contra Regem Anglice. 
 Then he boasted of his own merits : " The gospel," says 
 he, "has been so fully preached by us, that even in the 
 times of the apostles it was not so well understood," Serm. 
 de Evers. Jerusalem. In this manner Luther set a crown 
 upon his own head, and the whole troop of reformers after 
 him crowned themselves in the same manner. Such crowns, 
 the work of self-conceit and arrogance, could not be real 
 crowns, but only as it were crowns, that is, the mere appear- 
 ances of such. 
 
 It was said of the apostles of Christ : " Thou shalt esta- 
 blish them princes over all the earth." Psalm 44. 17. The 
 conversion of numberless nations to Christ by their ministry, 
 had merited to them the title of princes and the right of 
 wearing crowns. The reformers claimed the same honours. 
 But the crowns of the apostles were of pure gold, because 
 their doctrine, which flowed from Christ the source, was pure 
 and genuine. Whereas the doctrine of our modern apostles, 
 being derived from no other source but their own invention, 
 and being contrary to the doctrine preserved in that Church 
 which was planted and formed by the primitive apostles : 
 such new-devised doctrine, I say, can be nothing else but er- 
 ror and delusion, and consequently their apparent crowns 
 are not of pure but of counterfeit gold, or, as the text ex- 
 presses it, they are like to gold, or really mere tinsel. — These 
 crowns on their heads, also show clearly their general spirit 
 of independency. 
 
 " And their faces (the faces of the locusts) were as the faces 
 of men," v. 7. The locusts appeared to St. John with faces of 
 men. Here is marked out the delusive appearance of the 
 modern sectaries. They pretended that faith had been adul- 
 terated, and that the morals of mankind were guided by 
 erroneous principles. They therefore assumed the province 
 of rectifying both, by preaching up a " reformation." For 
 this purpose these "reformers" framed new systems of reli- 
 gion. They proposed each of them their own creed for set- 
 tling the articles of belief, and a new plan of morality for the 
 direction of human actions. All this was devised, as they al- 
 leged, to correct the defects and errors of the Catholic doc- 
 trine. Thus they put on the faces of men, that is, they an- 
 nounced themselves as teachers of orthodox and holy doctrine ; 
 and by this means they deluded those who had not the sign o 
 
HISTORY OF TUB CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 167 
 
 God upon their foreheads; that is, the careless and vicious. 
 But it soon appeared that these faces of men were no more 
 than vizards resembling human faces, that the specious name 
 of " reformation" was only a mask made use of to instil their 
 treacherous doctrine with more ease and subtlety. The mask 
 was soon removed, and their doctrine, when applied to the 
 true criterion, was evidently discovered to be false. It disa- 
 greed with that which Christ had deposited with his apostles, 
 and which he charged them to impart to the rest of mankind ; 
 •at the same time assuring them and their successors that, in 
 order to enable them to execute their commission with fidelity, 
 " he would himself be with them to the end of the world." 
 Matt, xxviii. 20. And that "the spirit of truth should abide 
 with them for ever." John xiv. 16, 17. That the new-in- 
 vented maxims were of bad tendency, the effects soon proved. 
 Instead of a reformation, they produced a general licentious- 
 ness. This appeared in the seditions, insurrections and vio- 
 lences committed on all sides. Complaints were also heard 
 from all quarters, of excessive looseness of manners. The 
 Lutheran magistrates of several imperial cities in Germany, 
 petitioned the Emperor Charles V. to re-establish by his au- 
 thority auricular confession, as a check upon the then pre- 
 vailing libertinism. And indeed it was highly probable, that 
 from the pretended " Christian liberty" which was then 
 preached, a deluge of vice would have diffused itself, had not 
 the civil power stepped in to stem it. The reformers themselves 
 Avere so ashamed of the progress of immorality among their 
 proselytes, that they could not help complaining against it. 
 Thus spoke Luther: "Men are now more revengeful, covet- 
 ous, and licentious, than they were ever in the papacy." 
 Poslil. super JEvang. Dom. 1. adv. Thus again: "Hereto- 
 fore when we were seduced by the pope, every man willing- 
 ly performed good works, but now no man says or knows 
 anything else, but how to get all to himself by exactions, pil- 
 lage, theft, lying, usury," &c. Postil. super Evang. Dom. 
 26. post. Trin. Calvin wrote in the same strain : " Of so many 
 thousands," said he, " who, renouncing popery, seemed eager- 
 ly to embrice the gospel, how few have amended their lives ? 
 Nay, what else did the greater part pretend to, but by sha- 
 king off the yoke of superstition, to give themselves more li- 
 berty to follow all kinds of licentiousness." hih. de Scandalis. 
 Others of the German reformers repeated the same re- 
 proaches. But have those a right to complain of an inun- 
 dation who have themselves cut open the banks of the river ? 
 
 1^ * 
 
i.68 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Dr. Heylin, in his history of the reformation, complains also of 
 "the great increase of viciousness" in England in the re- 
 forming reig-n of Edward VI. Erasmus, though no zealous 
 advocate for the Catholics, could not help ohserving the de- 
 generacy of morals brought on by the change of religion : 
 " Take a view," says he, " of this evangelical people, the pro- 
 testants. — Perhaps 'tis my misfortune ; but I never yet met 
 with one, who does not appear changed for the worse." 
 JEpist. ad Vultur. Neoc. And again : " Some persons," says 
 he, " whom I knew formerly innocei^t, harmless, and without 
 deceit, no sooner have I seen joined to that sect, (the protest- 
 ants,) but they began to talk of wenches, to play at dice, to leave 
 off prayers, being grown extremely worldly, most impatient,- 
 revengeful, vain, like vipers tearing one another. I speak by 
 experience." Ep. ad Fratres infer. Germanice. 
 
 " And they (the locusts,) had hair as the hair of women," 
 V. 8. In describing the heads of the locusts, from the fore- 
 part of the face which resembled that of man, St. John pro- 
 ceeds to the back-part, which is found covered with hair like 
 woman's hair. This latter allusion, unhappily for the sec- 
 taries, betrays too plainly their sensual disposition towards 
 that sex, their shameful doctrine on that score, and the scan- 
 dalous example of their practice. Luther, in despite of the 
 vow he had solemnly made to God of keeping continency, 
 married, and married a nun, equally bound as himself to that 
 sacred religious promise. But as St. Jerome says, *' It is rare 
 to find a heretic that loves chastity." Luther's example had 
 indeed been anticipated by Carlostadius, a priest and ring- 
 leader of the Sacramentarians, who had married a little be- 
 fore ; and it was followed by most of the heads of the reform- 
 ation. Zuinglius, a priest and chief of tlie sect that bore his 
 name, took a wufe. Bucer, a religious man of the order Tjf 
 St. Dominick, became Lutheran, left his cloister, and married 
 a nun. Oecolampadius, a Brigittin monk, became Zuinglian, 
 and also married. Craiimer, archbishop of Canterbury, had 
 also his wife. Peter Martyr, a canon regular, embraced the 
 doctrine of Calvin, but followed the example of Luther, and 
 married a nun. Ochin, general of the Capuchins, became Lu- 
 theran, and also married. Thus the principal leaders in the 
 reformation went forth preaching the new gospel, with two 
 marks upon them, apostacy from faith, and open violation 
 of the most sacred vovi^s. The passion of lust, it is also well 
 known, hurried Henry VIII. of England into a separation from 
 the Catholic Church, and ranked him among the reformers. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. i69 
 
 As Luther foresaw the scandal that would rise from his own 
 and such like sacrilegious marriages, he prepared the world 
 for it, by \vriting against the celibacy of the clergy^ and 
 against all religious vows. He proclaimed that all such vows 
 " were contrary to faith, to the commands of CTod, and to evan- 
 gelical liberty." De votis Monast. He said again : '• God 
 disapproves of such a vow, of living in contingency, equally 
 as if I should vow to become the mother of God, or to create 
 a new world." Ep- ad Wolfgang Reisemb. And again : 
 " To attempt to live unmarried, is plainly to fight against God." 
 Ibid. How does such doctrine agree \\\t\\ the commenda- 
 tions our Saviour gives to celibacy, when speaking of it he 
 says : ** All men take not this word, but they to whom it is 
 given." Matt. xix. 11. Or with the advice of St. Paul, who 
 being himself unmarried, said : " I say to the unmarried and 
 widows : it is good for them if they so continue, even as I." 
 I Cor. vii. 8. And this has been practised through all the 
 ages of Christianity. But when men give a loose to the de- 
 pravity of nature, what wonder if the most scandalous prac- 
 tices ensue? Accordingly, besides what has been above- 
 mentioned, a striking instance of this kind appeared in the li- 
 cense granted in 1539 to Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, to have 
 two wives at once : which license was signed by Luther, Me- 
 lanchton, Bucer, and five other divines. On another hand, 
 a wide door was laid open to another species of scandal : 
 the doctrine of the reformation admitted divorces in the 
 marriage state in certain cases, contrary to the doctrine of the 
 gospel, and even alio v/ed the parties thus separated to marry 
 other wives and other husbands. 
 
 " And their teeth (the teeth of the locusts,) were as of lions," 
 V. 8. In the preceding article w^e had a figure of the incon- 
 tinency of the reformers, here we are presented with a sym- 
 bol of their avarice. It was not sufficient to have named 
 them locusts, and to intimate their ravenous temper by the 
 greediness of those insects ; they are here represented with 
 teeth of lions, ready to devour with violence whatever prey 
 they can come at. What is more known than the truth of 
 this representation ? Did not the protestants, wherever they 
 got footing, pillage the churches, seize the church possessions, 
 destroy the monasteries, and appropriate to themselves the 
 revenues? Such was the case in Germany, in Holland, in 
 France, in Switzerland, in Scotland, as we have seen in rela- 
 ting the protestant wars in those countries. In England 
 likewise, what a scene of rapine ! Without descending to a 
 
 15 
 
170 HISTORY or THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 detail of particulars, it may be sufficient to say, that in thp 
 reign of Henry VIII. were suppressed no less than 645 mon- 
 asteries, 90 Colleges, 110 hospitals, and of chantries and free 
 chapels 2374, Baker's Chron. ; the lands and revenues of all 
 which were confiscated to the king. Is not this, to devour 
 with lion's teeth ? The same course of rapine was carried 
 on under Edward VI., which swept away what remained from 
 the preceding reign. Dr. Heylin, in the preface to his his- 
 tory of the reformation, speaking of this prince and his reign, 
 says : " Such was the rapacity of the times, and the misfor- 
 tune of his condition, that his minority was abused by many 
 acts of spoil and rapine, even to an high degree of sacrilege, 
 to the raising of some, and the enriching of others, without 
 any manner of improvement to his own estate." The hungry 
 courtiers began their sacrilegious rapine, by plundering the 
 images and shrines of the saints, and seizing upon the orna- 
 ments, plate, and jewels of the churches. These spoils not 
 being sufficient to glut their leoiiine avidity, they invaded the 
 bishopricks, which they stripped of many of their possessions. 
 The detail of all which may be seen in the above-mentioned 
 historyof Dr. Heylin. 
 
 In Sweden, Gustavus Erickson introduced the Lutheran 
 reformation, and seized the church-lands and revenues, leav- 
 ing the clergy but a slender maintenance. The same did 
 Christiern III., king of Denmark, in his dominions. Thus 
 *obbing people of their property, demolishing their habita- 
 tions, public buildings, &c. which violences in all civilized 
 countries are punished with death, were, in the course of the 
 reformation, practised with impunity ; and the perpetrators 
 gratified their avarice, which they masked with the pretend- 
 ed vindication of religion. The testaments of the dead, 
 which even among heathens are sacred, were in these times 
 contemptuously violated, and the donations, which the testa- 
 tors had dedicated to the service of God, and to the relief of 
 the sick and distressed, were scandalously diverted to other 
 purposes. 
 
 " And they had (the locusts had,) breast-plates as breast- 
 plates of iron," v. 9. In the two last articles, we saw the 
 spirit of incontinency and avarice of the reformers and their 
 societies : here we are presented with a picture of their ob- 
 stinacy, under the figure of iron breast-plates. Whoever is 
 not joined with the protestants in their persuasion, knows full 
 well that their obstinacy is incredible in defending their doc- 
 trine ; that for that purpose they are not ashamed to make use 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 171 
 
 of any arguments, though ever so frivolous, inconsistent, or 
 absurd, and to asperse the Catholic communion with slanders, 
 misrepresentations, and calumnies. It also appears from the 
 account we have before given of the wars of the reformation, 
 that the protestants were always ready to maintain their new 
 adopted religion at any rate, even with arms, and at the risk of 
 their lives. In that view the protestant princes of Germany 
 entered into a league offensive and defensive against the Empe- 
 ror Charles V., rose up in arms, nor could they be prevailed up- 
 on to sit down quiet, till they had established the reformation. 
 I'hus they carried breast-plates of iron. Many other wars 
 succeeded in Germany between the Catholics and Protestants. 
 After a similar manner in other countries, where the reforma- 
 tion got footing, its abettors so obstinately supported it by se- 
 dition, disturbance, and war, that no peace could be purcha- 
 sed from them, till their religion was admitted and ratified by 
 the laws of the respective kingdoms. Such was the case not 
 only in Germany, but in Holland, in several provinces of 
 France, in Scotland, &c. And I believe every one presumes 
 such would be more or less the case at this day, if any dan- 
 ger threatened the reformation. 
 
 " And the noise of their wings (the wings of the locusts) was 
 as the noise of chariots of manj^ horses running to battle,"' v. 9. 
 Here the prophet points at the turbulent, murmuring, cla- 
 morous disposition of the reformed, properly expressed by the 
 noise of the wings of the locusts, which was as loud as the 
 noise of chariots of many horses running to war. Did not 
 that inflammatory spirit of uneasiness, loud murmur, and 
 sedition, appear in all those kingdoms where the reformation 
 was received ? How often has the public tranquillity been 
 convulsed by that baleful poison ? What fatal disturbances 
 have been raised, and what troubles have princes sustained to 
 quell them ? Some of the sects are inspired with a relentless 
 hatred to government; their complaints are clamorous and 
 unceasing, and they brood upon mischief, devising how to 
 destroy superior power, and reduce all mankind to a level. 
 What intestine murmurs have been heard, what tumultuous 
 scenes have been seen in England, Scotland, and France ? 
 
 On another hand, the unhappy effects of this uneasy and 
 ungenerous disposition have been severely fell by those of the 
 Catholic communion, living in protestant countries. Though 
 all the reformed sects agreed in preaching up " Christian 
 liberty," the Catholics have seemed to be envied the least 
 share of that invaluable blessing. Without any just pro- 
 
172 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 vocation, alarming" outcries have been often throi^rn out 
 against them : they have been threatened with the rigour of 
 the laws, and persecution even has sometimes been set on 
 foot. We see then that the loud noise of the wings of the 
 locusts, like the loud rumbling noise of chariots of many 
 horses running to battle, very fitly represents that restless 
 turbulent spirit, which continued in the reformed societies, 
 and banished peace from governments as w^ell as from the 
 Church of Christ. 
 
 Here terminates the period of five months, or 150 years, 
 mentioned above in verse 5th; within which space of time is 
 comprehended, as we have seen, one share of the history of 
 the reformation, and in reality the principal part of it. During 
 this period, which commenced, as w^e have said, about the 
 year 1525, and consequently ended 1675, the reformed religion 
 was forcibly introduced, took its full growth, and was finally 
 settled. In Germany, Holland, and Switzerland, borne upon 
 the shoulders of sedition and rebellion, it became so far vic- 
 torious as to procure its establishment by the celebrated 
 treaty of Munster in Westphalia in 1648. The Calvinists 
 or Huguenots in France made their way by detestable plots 
 and dreadful civil wars, till they procured from Henry IV. 
 the edict of Nantes, for the toleration of their religion, hi 
 1598: which edict was confirmed by Louis XIII. in 1622, 
 though afterwards repealed in 1685 by Lewis XIV. In 
 other countries where the sovereigns received the reform- 
 ation, it was settled more early. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 THE CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE FIFTH AGE. 
 
 Apoc, chap. ix. 10, " And they (the locusts,) had* 
 tails like to scorpions, and there were stings in their tails, and 
 their power was to hurt men five months. And they hadf 
 over them, 
 
 V. 11. "A king, the angel of the bottomless pit; whose 
 name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon : m 
 Latin, Exterminans, that is. Destroyer." 
 
 ^ * In the Greek te.xt, " have." t In the Greek, " have." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 173 
 
 We shall now proceed to the second period of time, which 
 begins with the above lOth verse, and is of equal duration 
 with the first, that is, consists of 150 years. 
 
 That here begins a new period of five months, or 150 
 years, different from that mentioned in verse the 5th, is not a 
 groundless supposition, but is proved by the following reasons. 
 First, the expression of five months being twice used, 
 namely, in verse 5th and verse 10th, sufficiently argues a 
 double period. For whoever studies the Apocalypse, will 
 find in it such extreme precision, that the same thing is never 
 repeated in the same circumstances ; that every word ex- 
 presses some particular object, and is so necessary in its place, 
 that it cannot be taken away without maiming the sense. 
 One may therefore conchide from the nature of this divine 
 revelation, that the repeated mention of five months indicates 
 the distinction of a double period. Sir Isaac Newton ac- 
 knowledged the same distinction, but applied it to a different 
 subject. Secondly, the Greek text shows the same very 
 plainly, and even the place where the first period expires 
 and the second begins. In the verses 8th and 9th, the de- 
 scription proceeds by the repeated expression, they had ; but 
 at the 10th verse the expression is suddenly changed into 
 they have, and continues so to the end of the description. This 
 sudden change of time from they had, to they have, clearly 
 points out a transition from one period to another. And in 
 this very same 10th verse, where the transition takes place, 
 is immediately subjoined the second mention of five months. 
 
 The distinction of two periods, each of 150 years, being 
 thus stated : as the first began with the reformation about the 
 year 1525, and expired at 1675, the second will reach to 1825. 
 We are now to see what account our inspired writer gives of 
 the reformation in this latter period. It is mostly contained 
 in the 10th verse, which we shall here put down conformable 
 to the Greek text. " They (the locusts,) have tails like unto 
 scorpions, and there were stings in their tails : and their power, 
 was to hurt men five months." Here the locusts are said to have 
 tails, that resemble whole scorpions with stings in them. 
 This allegory describes very emphatically the angry temper 
 of the protestants, and their implacable enmity to those of the 
 Catholic communion. Whoever presumes to abridge that 
 "evangelical liberty," which is their idol, thev immediately 
 declaim against the attempt, chafi] and threaten, like scor- 
 pion.s, to sting. They still retain a good share of that 
 factious and violent temper, with which they first propagated 
 15* 
 
174 HISTORY or THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 their religion, and which during this period breaks out on 
 different- occasions, to the disturbing of public peace, and 
 alarming the sovereigns, as experience sufficiently shows. 
 On another hand, though the reformation, as we have seen, 
 was settled and secured, and in some kingdoms is the re- 
 ligion of the state ; yet it retains a persecuting spirit against 
 those of the ancient faith. The protestants show they are 
 armed with scorpion's stings, with which they angrily threaten, 
 and they have still a power to hurt very sorely. They have, 
 in this latter period, increased the number of inhuman laws 
 made before against the Catholics ; and these laws, perhaps 
 indeed less severe than the former, have been at times mors 
 or less put in execution. In the preceding period they 
 were allowed " to torment mankind," v. 5 ; but in the present 
 period it is said, their power is to hurt mankind. The ex- 
 pression of hurting, as it is of a milder import than that of 
 tormenting, indicates an abatement of their first rage, and a 
 more moderate behaviour towards those they repute their 
 enemies. This is a blessing, for which the Catholics offer 
 just tribute of thanks to the Almighty, and acknowledge the 
 humanity of those from whose hands the favour immediately 
 comes. But, notwithstanding the moderate and generous 
 disposition of some, there are always other malevolent indi- 
 viduals, who cannot wholly drop that animosity they imbibed 
 in a misguided education, and will endeavour to force the 
 mag-istrates to the execution of the laws ao^ainst their fellow- 
 creatures. Thus they threaten with their stings, or on oc- 
 casions exercise against the Catholics their ill-wall and 
 power of hurting, as evidently appeared by the violence 
 committed in the riots of the year 1780 [in England.] But 
 this disposition of providence ought to be received by the 
 sufferers in the view for which it is designed, namely, for 
 quickening and maintaining their zeal ; and it brings with it 
 this comfort, that the suffering of persecution has always 
 been the characteristic of the Church of Christ. " If they 
 have persecuted me, they will also persecute you." John xv. 20. 
 We have now seen the prophetical history of the reformation. 
 The description is full and circumstantial, and takes in the 
 period of 300 years. In the first place was exhibited to us 
 its rise ; then the general character of it ; and thirdly, the 
 nature and degree of its power. These accounts are com- 
 prised in the six first verses of the ninth chapter. Then fol- 
 lows the description of the character, temper, and spirit of the 
 chief reformers, and their proselytes, with the successive altera- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 475^ 
 
 tion of their power, as settled by the Almighty hand. Which 
 account is traced out in the verses 7th, 8th, 9ih, and 10th, in an 
 admirable manner, by the progressive description of the locusts 
 from head to tail. This allegorical delineation is drawn with 
 such exquisite art, that it cannot, we believe, be equalled by 
 any thing produced from profane writers. But of this ex- 
 traordinary picture there yet remains to be exhibited the last 
 stroke of the prophetic pencil, which is: And they (the locusts) 
 have over them a king, the angel of the bottomless pit, whose 
 name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon ; in 
 Latin, Exterminans, that is, Destz'oyer. St. John, after giving 
 us the history of the surprising revolution made in the Church 
 by the Reformation, closes it by letting us into the secret of the 
 means, by which it was contrived, was carried on, and is still 
 preserved. He tells us, the locusts or the people of the re- 
 formation have over them a king, who is an angel of the 
 bottomless pit, that is, an angel of hell, or a devil. Here then 
 we see the original contriver and director of the whole work. 
 Here we see who has been through the -s^-hole progress their 
 prompter, their chief, and their king. But who would envy 
 them such a king? or who would choose to be a subject of 
 such a sovereign ? The name of this infernal spirit is even 
 given ; he is called Abaddon, or Exterminator, Aboiisher, 
 Destroyer. By this name his character is sufficiently clear. 
 As pride is attributed to Lucifer, and to other fiends are 
 ascribed special qualities ; so here the evil spirit, who is the 
 king of the reformation, is distinguished by the character of 
 exterminating and destroying. One cannot but lament the 
 misfortune of the protestants, in voluntarily admitting over 
 them such a king, and enlisting under his banner. A second 
 misfortune is, they have been too faithful in their allegiance. 
 We have already given a sufficient relation of their violent 
 proceedings in the different countries, where the reformation 
 got entrance. We specified some part of the conspiracies, 
 tumults, rebellions, and civil wars it gave rise to, and the 
 subversion of states which ensued. Could such scenes be 
 conducted by another but the king Abaddon the destroying 
 angel 1 
 
 With respect to the Church, how many articles of faith, 
 which are reckoned essential to religion, have they not ex- 
 ploded, as may be seen in the Council of Trent ? The holy 
 sacraments also, those chamiels of divine grace, have they not 
 reduced to two, or rather one, viz. Baptism? the Eucharist in 
 the opinion of many of their sect containing nothings mor« 
 
176 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 than mere bread and wine 1 Even baptism itself is afRrmed 
 by some of them to be only a ceremony, not necessai-y for 
 salvation. The rites and ceremonies which form the exterior 
 part of religion, and which greatly contribute to raise its dig- 
 nity, and by impressing an awful respect on the minds of the 
 faithful, increase their devotion, the reformation has almost 
 entirely abolished. They have exterminated the spiritual 
 jurisdiction of the see of Rome, acknowledged in all foregoing 
 ages, and they have chosen Abaddon for their governor and 
 king, instead of Christ's vicegerent. In the same manner 
 they have exploded pnrt of the canonical scriptures, church 
 traditions, councils, fathers, the ecclesiastical canons and dis- 
 cipline. They have abrogated the most noble and august 
 sacrifice which Christ bequeathed to his church, and thus 
 have reduced the Christian community to a worse condition 
 than either the Mosaic or patriarchal state, by leaving it with- 
 out any sacrifice at all. They have also abrogated most of 
 the exercises of mortification, so much recommended by our 
 Saviour, and practised by the apostles and all antiquity; such 
 as fasting, abstinence, continency, penance, self denial, &c. 
 They have exterminated confession, that great bridle to licen- 
 tiousness and vice. They have condemned religious vows of 
 poverty, chastity, and obedience : that path of Christian per- 
 fection, which has been trodden by thousands, and entitled so 
 many of them to the beatitude of saints. They have de- 
 stroyed monastaries, pulled down churches, trampled under 
 foot the images of Jesus Christ, of his holy Mother, and his 
 Saints. They have robbed the faithful of that salutary and 
 comfortable help they had always found in the Invocation 
 of the Saints, by whose intercession, through the merits of 
 Christ, such plentiful graces and blessings have derived to 
 men. They even dared to profane with sacrilegious hands 
 the sacred remains of the martyrs and confessors of God. 
 In many places they forcibly took up the saints' bodies from 
 the repositories where they were kept, burned them, and 
 scattered their ashes abroad. What can be a more atrocious 
 indignity ? Are parricides, or the most flagitious villians, 
 ever worse treated ? Thus, among other instances, in the 
 year 1 562 the Calvinists broke open the shrine of St. Francis 
 of Paula, at Plessis-lestours, and finding his body uncorrupted 
 fifty-five years after his death, they dragged it about the 
 streets, and burned it in a fire which they had made with the 
 wood of a great crucifix ; as Billet and other historians relate. 
 Thus, at Lyons^ in the same year, the Calvinists seizLed upon 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 177 
 
 the shrine of St. Bonaventure, stripped it of its riches, burned 
 his relics in the market-place, and threw his ashes into the 
 river Saone, as is related by the learned Possevinus, who was 
 then in that city. The bodies also of St. Irenosus, St. Hilary, 
 and St. Martin, as Surius asserts, were treated in the same 
 ignominious manner. Such also was the treatment offered to 
 the remains of St. Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, whose 
 rich shrine, according to the words of Stowe, in his annals, 
 " was taken to the king's use, and the bones of St. Thomas, 
 by command of Lord Cromwell, were burnt to ashes, in Sep- 
 tember, 1538, of Henry VHI. the thirtieth." Thus the re 
 formation waged war against the dead and against the elect of 
 God ; as if sanctity had become infamous, and to have spilt 
 their blood in the cause of Christ was now to be judged 
 criminal. 
 
 Thus the facts evince the universal devastation, carried 
 through the Christian Church by the reformed religion. 
 And thus it appears who was the founder of that new religion, 
 its architect, its king, namely, the angel of the bottomless pit, 
 Abaddon, the exterminator. One may however further ob- 
 serve that, in order to manifest more clearly the accomplish- 
 ment of this prophecy about the locusts, Almighty God seems 
 to have ordained that the chiefs of the reformation should 
 themselves give testimony of it. Luther, the primary head, 
 avowed and proclaimed to the world, that he had a conference 
 with the devil about some articles of the reliijion he was then 
 devisnig, that he had been convinced by the arguments of that 
 spirit of falsehood, and directed in the determinations he should 
 take. Thus he opens that famous colloquy : " Some time since/' 
 says Luther, " I awaked from my sleep, and behold the devil, 
 who had made it his business to occasion me many sorrowful 
 and restless nights, began a dispute with me in my mind." 
 " Dost thou hear," said he, " most excellent doctor ?" " Dost 
 thou not know, that thou hast said private masses almost 
 every day for fifteen years together? and what, if in those 
 masses thou hast practised downright idolatry," &c. ? Lib. 
 de Missa privata, et sacerdotum unctione. Luther answers 
 the devil in defending what he had done. The fiend pretends 
 to prove his charge, by telling Luther, he must have been 
 guilty of idolatry, because he had no true faith at that time, 
 and consequently no ordination. By which it seems that the 
 devil's attempt was to persuade the reformer, that there was 
 neither true faith nor true ordination in the Catholic Church 
 at that time, when he professed himself a member of it and 
 
178 HlSTORV of THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 said mass. As if the Church of God had been extinguished, 
 notwithstanding the solemn promise of Christ that " the gates 
 of hell should never prevail against it." The spirit of dark- 
 ness urges likewise the unlawfulness of saying a mass, in 
 which no one communicates but the priest : as if Christ had 
 given any precept on this head. But without taking the 
 trouble to confute minutely the devil's arguments, I presume 
 every sensible man will allow that Luther, instead of giving 
 any assent to them, should have rejected them with contempt, 
 as so many certain impostures, and charged his antagonist 
 with being the known enemy of truth. He should have re- 
 buked him at once with the words of our Saviour, " Away 
 with thee, Satan." Matth. iv. 10. " Thou wast a murderer 
 from the beginning, and thou stoodest not in the truth ; be- 
 cause truth is not in thee; when thou speakest a lie, thou 
 speakest from thy own, for thou art a liar, and the father of 
 lies." John viii. 44. But the reformer, instead of foilins: his 
 adversary with these arms, gives him up the victory, allows 
 his own conviction, and triumphs in the imaginary discovery; 
 concluding thus : by these means " we are freed from private 
 masses, and from the ordination of bishops — Let them con- 
 sider how they can defend their Church." And from that 
 time he desisted from saying mass. 
 
 Zuinglius, in like manner, while he was in great perplexity 
 and deep meditation how to explode the real presence in the 
 Eucharist, was furnished with an argument for that purpose 
 by a nocturnal monitor, " whether black or white he did not 
 remember;" as he relates himself. Lib. de subsidio Euchar. 
 
 The whole explication here given of the allegory of the 
 locusts, we presume, appears so consonant to the history of 
 the reformation, that the propriety of it will not be denied. ^ 
 Nor ought the author to be censured for presumption, since 
 he is not the first v/ho has thus applied that prophecy. La 
 Chetardie did so, about the end of the last century. Bellar- 
 mine did the same towards the end of the century before, and 
 others had preceded him, as he testifies. In general, it appears 
 from the Avriters of that period, that, no sooner did the nume- 
 rous tribe of reformed religionists spring forth, than the Catho- 
 lics, as if by a sudden inspiration, judged they saw the locusts 
 of the Apocalypse. The application is even so obvious, that the 
 learned protestant divine, Dr. Walton, used it for describing the 
 multitude of new sectaries, that swarmed out of the English 
 Church. Thus speaks he in the preface to his Polyglot: 
 ** The bottomless pit seems to have been set open, from whence 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 179 
 
 a smoke has arisen which has darkened the heavens and the 
 stars, and locusts are come out with sting's, a numerous race 
 of sectaries and heretics, who have r mewed all the ancient 
 heresies, and invented many monstrous opinions of their own. 
 These have filled our cities, villages, camps, houses, nay our 
 pulpits too, and lead the poor deluded people with them to the 
 pit of perdition." 
 
 The short sketches we have given from the general history 
 of the reformation for the illustration of the text, we hope 
 will be deemed sufficient, especially considering the limits of 
 this work. It would be endless to attempt a narrative of all 
 the different parties into which the reformation has been split. 
 They are not even to be enumerated. But one may in general 
 observe, that its case is the same with that of all the heresies 
 in preceding ages. Variation was always their character. 
 Thus it was with the Arians, with the Pelagians, with the 
 Eutychians, &c. They never remained steady to their first 
 plan of religion, nor could they keep their proselytes within 
 the boundaries they first prescribed to them. St. Hilary, 
 writing to the Emperor Constantius, thus speaks of the Ari- 
 ans : " Your case is the same with that of unskilful architects, 
 who are never pleased with their own work ; you do nothing 
 but build up arid pull down. — There are now as many models 
 of faith as men, as great a variety of doctrines as manners ; 
 we have yearly and monthly creeds ; we repent of our old 
 creeds, we frame new ones, and those again we condemn." 
 Such was the confusion among the Arians. The number of 
 different confessions of faith made by the Lutherans and the 
 other reformed churches, demonstrates in like manner the in- 
 stability of their doctrine. They never could agree among 
 themselves, nor could they ever settle their tenets ; as is fully 
 shown and relate^d in the " History of the Variations" by the 
 celebrated Bishop of Meaux. Not content with what they 
 pretended to have reformed, they would still go on reforming, 
 without knowing where to stop. But indeed what wonder 
 that people are bewildered, when they have no sure guide to 
 direct them ? The Church which Christ had commanded 
 every body to hear,* they had left, and thus became solitary, 
 they wandered in unknown paths into which the spirit of se- 
 duction led them. Faith is one, but error easily multiplies, 
 having the devil for its parent, who hates truth and concord. 
 Abaddon, who contrived and conducted the reformation, was 
 also the author of its divisions and contradictions, and the 
 
 • Matt, xviii. 17. and Luke x. 16. 
 
180 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 " lying spirit in the mouth of all its prophets." 3 Kings xxxii 
 22. He still continues to actuate it in the same manner ; and 
 hence we see rise up every day new teachers, who, dissatisfied 
 with what they find established, are ever proposing amend- 
 ments and innovations. What idea can we form of a religion 
 or an institution composed of such a number of dissonant parts ; 
 and, cameleon like, varying its colours every day ? What 
 idea, I say, can we form of it, but of a monster, such as St. 
 John describes it under the type of a frightful deformed locust, 
 which has a man's face, a woman's hair, a lion's teeth, an 
 iron breast, and a scorpion for its tail ? In fine, the license of 
 judging for himself being the claim of every member of the 
 new religion, what could it produce, but what experience 
 shows to have really happened, a defection from all religion ? 
 Some, uneasy under any restraint, declare themselves indiffer- 
 ent to every form of doctrine and worship, and are styled 
 *' Latitudinarians ;" others, contenting themselves with the 
 simple belief of a God, renounce all divine revelation, and 
 are denominated " Deists" or " Free-thinkers ;" and some are 
 even said to be sunk into mere materialism, that is, to believe 
 no future state at all. " They who have made bold Avith one 
 article of faith," said St. Vincent of Lerins in the fifth century, 
 " will proceed on to others ; and what will be the cojisequence 
 of this reforming of religion, but only that these refiners will 
 never have done, till they have reformed it quite away?" 
 Common, c. 29. 
 
 How different is the gov^ernment and proceeding of the 
 Catholic Church ! Founded on the rock which is Christ, and 
 governed by him' according to his promise, she is always uni- 
 form and unanimous in her doctrine. Her faith is always the 
 same. She received it from her divine Founder, and she pre- 
 serves the sacred depositum inviolable. No jarring opinions, 
 no innovations are allowed on that head. When a dogmati- 
 cal point is to be determined, she speaks but once, and her 
 decree is irrevocable. The first general council of Nice de- 
 clared her faith against the Arians ; the council of Constanti- 
 nople against the Macedonians ; the council of Ephesus 
 against the Nestorians ; that of Chalcedon against the Eu- 
 tychians; the second of Nice against the Iconoclasts : and so 
 through the whole period of the Christian sera. These 
 solemn determinations have remained unalterable, and v/ill 
 ever be so. Pursuing invariably the same course, she assem- 
 bled in a general council at Trent in 1545, where, having 
 examined the principal articles of the new reformed doctrine, 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 181 
 
 she pronounced them heretical, and condemned them as such : 
 and this decision will stand an unperishable monument of 
 the true faith against the protestant religion to the end of the 
 world. 
 
 Now we must add another observation. Let us take notice 
 that the angel of the bottomless pit, who was the author of 
 the reformation, is by our prophet named in Hebrew, Abad- 
 don, and in Greek, Apollyon.* Now, though the Greek 
 word Apollyon means the same as the Hebrew word Abad- 
 don, viz. destroyer, nevertheless, from the extraordinary con- 
 ciseness used throughout the whole Apocalypse, one may cer- 
 tainly conclude that St. John means something particular in 
 giving the name of that hellish fiend in two languages. Let 
 us now observe, that the Hebrew language preceded the Greek. 
 That fiend therefore acted his part, first, under his name 
 Abaddon, in setting up the reformation. Let us now take a 
 view of the second of his mischievous operations under the 
 name of Apollyon, or destro3^er. To see this we need only 
 cast our eyes upon what has lately happened in several coun- 
 tries, as in Germany, and especially in France, where Apol- 
 lyon has raised such a spirit of licentious liberty, wild 
 independence, and introduced such a decay of religion, that 
 immense evils have followed. What excesses ! What extrava- 
 gances have thence originated ! What blasphemies against 
 the Almighty ! What contempt of his worship! both diAane 
 and human laws trampelled under foot. What Luciferian 
 pride and arrogance in rebelling against their Creator and 
 their God, and even denying his existence. What impious 
 and inhuman proceedings against his vicegerent ! Combina- 
 tions and conspiracies against sovereign princes and go- 
 vernments ! Persecutions against the ministers of religion ! 
 Cruelty in despoiling their fellow-creatures of their property, 
 and spilling their blood by murders and massacres! 
 
 These are the horrible devastations operated by that infer- 
 nal fiend under his character of Apollyon, destroyer, which 
 make up the second part of his agency. — In the primitive 
 ages of Christianity, Satan upheld idolatry, and opposed with 
 all his might the establishment of the Christian religion. He 
 raised cruel persecutions against the Christian proselytes: 
 but finding himself foiled and defeated in all his eflforts, he 
 then turned his hellish malice another way, and set to work 
 
 *His Latin name, Exterminans, there subjoined, is not in the original 
 text : it has been added merely by way of interpreting the meaning of the 
 words, Abaddon and Apollyon, 
 16 
 
1$2 HlStORV OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCtt. 
 
 to divide the Christians among themselves, to suscitate intes* 
 tine quarrels, heresies, flames of mutual hatred, and exciting 
 them to persecute one another with furious violence. — In a 
 similar manner that angel of the abyss, Avhich Satan has 
 employed as his agent in this fifth period of the Christian 
 Church, in his character of Abaddon, effected his first de- 
 structive work of the reformation. When stopped and not 
 allowed to make further progress in that pursuit, he then in 
 the latter part of his agency has machinated and contrived to 
 throw division among the Catholics themselves in different 
 countries, particularly in that ancient and once flourishing 
 Catholic kingdom of France ; and it is well known through- 
 out the whole world, what pernicious effects have been the 
 consequence 
 
 V. 12. " One wo is past." The period of 300 years as- 
 signed to the power of the locusts, being expired, St. John 
 then adds : " one wo is past." Before the angel sounded 
 the fifth trumpet, see p. 141, three woes were pronounced to 
 follow the sounding of the three last trumpets, namely, fifth, 
 sixth, and seventh. And now the prophet tells us, that the 
 first of these woes, which was announced by the fiflh trumpet, 
 is past. This wo therefore is the calamity occasioned by the 
 swarm of locusts. I leave it to the reader to determine, 
 whether the breaches and desolation made in the Church of 
 Christ, as we have seen, by the reformation, be not truly a dis- 
 mal woe, and worse than any that has happened in the fore- 
 going ages. Some part of this wo must also be referred to 
 the convulsions that happened in different countries, particu- 
 larly in France, and the impious attacks made there upon 
 religion, as explained above. 
 
 When one reflects that, of the three hundred years allowed 
 to the reign of the locusts, there remain only fifty or fifty-five 
 to run,* one cannot but wish with an earnest heart that the 
 people represented by those insects would enter into a serious 
 consideration of that circumstance. What a happiness ! if, 
 Hnrmnr this .^hort remaining interval, some part of them at 
 least would submit to see their errors, and the great mischief 
 that has been done to the Church by their revolt against it. 
 It is full time to lay down all animosity against their ancient 
 mother, think of a reconciliation, and ask to be received again 
 into her bosom. She is an indulo-ent parent, and her arms 
 are always open, even to her rebellious children, when they 
 come in tears to implore her forgiveness. They should be 
 ♦This work was first printed in the year 1771. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHtJRCH. 183 
 
 sensible, that Christ is not only the protector of his beloved 
 spouse, the Church, but also the avenger of the injuries done 
 to her. This power he has frequently exerted. The four 
 preceding ages furnish us with the most evident proofs of it, 
 under the respective four vials of the wrath of God. She was 
 revenged in the punishment of her persecutors, the Roman 
 emperors, in the first age. The Arians, who impugned her 
 faith and harassed her cruelly in the second age, felt also the 
 avenging hand of the Son of God, whom with his Church 
 they had blasphemed: after sore calamities, they were doomed 
 to sink into annihilation. The third age exhibited to us a 
 most conspicuous exertion of a two-edged sword of Christ, in 
 the destruction of the cruel idolatrous Romans, for their 
 having spilt the blood of his and his spouses children. The 
 fourth age was distinguished by the punishment of the Greeks 
 for their rebellion against the same Church, and the world 
 still sees them groaning under slavery for their inflexible 
 obstinacy. Such having been the conduct of the supreme 
 guardian of his Church through the course of all the Christ- 
 ian ages, is it not an object of consideration highly interesting 
 to the protestants, lest some such disaster should also be their 
 fate? The Saviour of mankind waits with patience for the 
 return of his strayed sheep, but their obstinacy at last forces 
 his hand to strike. Unhappy children of the reformation ! 
 refuse not to hear the v/holesome advice of the prophet 
 Isaiah : " Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found ; call 
 upon him, while he is near," Iv. 6. Hear the voice of God 
 speaking of Israel, and make the application : " Return, O 
 virgin of Israel, return to thy cities," Jerem. xxxi. 21. And 
 again: "Be converted, O house of Israel, and do penance 
 for all your iniquities; and iniquity shall not be your ruin. 
 Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you 
 have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and 
 a new spirit: and why will you die, O house of Israel ? For 
 I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God ; 
 return ye, and live." Ezech. xviii. 30, 31, 32. But if, deaf 
 to all admonitions, they continue hardened in their own ways, 
 what remains to be done but to lament their misfortune, and 
 in bitterness of soul turn our eyes from the pouring out of 
 the following vial : 
 
 The pouring out of the fifth Vial of the Wrath of God. 
 Apoc. chap. xvi. 10. "And the fifth angel, (says St. John,) 
 
184 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 poured out his vial upon the seat* of the beast : and his king* . 
 dom became dark, and they gnawed their tongues for pain. 
 
 V. 11. "And they blasphemed the God of heaven, because 
 of their pains and wounds, and did not penance for their 
 works." 
 
 Here the angel pours out the fifth vial of the wrath of 
 God on the seat of the beast, or rather, according to the Greek 
 text, on the throne of the beast. We have observed in the 
 prelude to the vials, see page 34, that the general term beast, 
 has a double meaning, signifying idolatry or heresy, accord- 
 ingly as either, like to a wild beast, makes its ravages in 
 the Church. In the first and third ages it denoted idolatry, 
 the subject of the history of those two ages. Here it is the 
 image of heresy, the heresy of the reformation, the charac- 
 teristic of the fifth age. Upon the throne therefore of this 
 beast the vial is poured out, that is, upon the kings and go- 
 ernors of the protestant states, as they are the persons that sit, 
 vested with power, upon the thrones of those heretical king- 
 doms. They, however, are themselves subordinate to their 
 chief Abaddon, who, as was specified in the text of the trum- 
 pet, commands over all, and sits upon the throne as king par- 
 amount. The protestant states become, of course, involved 
 with their princes in the calamities poured out from the vial, 
 as we shall see presently. 
 
 But furthermore we may observe that, besides the single 
 and general appellation of beast used here to express heresy, 
 the prophet exhibits to us in the trumpet of this age a particu- 
 lar beast, by which he represents and describes the heresy of 
 the reformation, namely, a locust-monster, which is partl}'^ lo- 
 cust, partly human, partly leonine, and partly scorpionic. 
 
 Besides the obvious propriety of the above explication oi 
 the vial, a further argument may be adduced in confirmation 
 of it. Though the different prophecies of the Apocalypse are 
 involved in obscurity, yet one may observe the inspired wri- 
 ter generally throws in some glimpses of light to guide the 
 solicitous inquirer. Thus may be remarked a fixed connex- 
 ion between the trumpets of the different ages and the respec- 
 tive vials, of which we have already taken some notice. This 
 consists in the use of the same expression in the trumpet and 
 vial of the same age; which naturally leads us to the distin- 
 guishing of the object on which the vial is poured. This ob- 
 ject, if not precisely the same as mentioned in the trumpet, it 
 has at least a direct relation to it. In general, the vial has for 
 
 * In the Greek " the throne." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 185 
 
 object the guilty part which is to be punished, and which is 
 always pointed out in the trumpet. Examples will elucidate 
 the present observation. In the first trumpet it is said, that 
 hail and fire, mixed with blood, were cast upon the earth. 
 In like manner the first vial w^as poured out upon the earth. 
 The same term, the earth, occurring in both, indicates that, 
 as the trumpet described the persecutions exercised by the 
 Roman emperors and magistrates on the Christian part of the 
 earth, so these emperors and magistrates, who are the guilty 
 part of the earth, and plainly alluded to in the trumpet, are 
 the object of punishment on which the vial is poured. After 
 the same manner, at the sounding of the second trumpet, a 
 great fiery mountain Avas cast into the sea ; and the second 
 vial is also poured out upon the sea. From whence one may 
 collect that, as Arianism, signified by the fiery mountain, in- 
 fected a third part of the Christian sea ; so upon the Arians, 
 who are there exhibited as the guilty part of the sea, the vial 
 is poured. Again, the third trumpet announced a great star, 
 burning like a torch, falling upon the rivers and fountains of 
 waters. In like manner the third vial is poured upon the ri- 
 vers and fountains of waters. The trumpet here describes the 
 desolation carried on by the barbarians through the guilty 
 heathen Roman empire ; therefore on this same empire is the 
 vial poured. Lastly, at the sounding of the fourth trumpet 
 the sun was smitten ; and the fourth vial was also poured out 
 upon the sun. The allegory, used here in the trumpet, de- 
 notes the schism of the Greeks ; upon them, therefore, as the 
 guilty, the vial is poured; or rather, it is poured on the in- 
 strument of the scourge, to fit it for execution. This con- 
 stant relation observed between the above-mentioned trumpets 
 and vials, holds equally between the fifth trumpet and vial. 
 In the trumpet we see the locusts are ruled by a king, the an- 
 gel of the bottomless pit, whose name is Abaddon. The vial 
 is poured out upon the throne of the beast, and his kingdom 
 becomes dark. On one side then we have the king of the 
 locusts : on the other side we have the throne and the king- 
 dom. Hence appears the connexion between the fifth trum- 
 pet and fifth vial. This vial is therefore poured out upon the 
 princes and the states of the locust kingdom. 
 
 In fine, we saw in the first trumpet the Roman emperors 
 persecuting the Christian religion ; and the first vial was 
 poured upon them. In the second trumpet we saw the Ari- 
 ans rebelling against the Church ; and the second vial was 
 poured upqn them. In the third trumpet we saw the Roman 
 
 16* 
 
186 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 empire declining on account of its idolatry and enmity to 
 Christianity ; and the third vial was poured upon it, to ex- 
 tinguish it. In the fourth trumpet we saw the revolt of the 
 Greeks against the Church, and the fourth vial punished 
 them. In the fifth trumpet we see the protestants revolting 
 against the Church ; upon whom then must the fifth vial fall? 
 
 The vial being poured upon the throne of the beast, it flows 
 down from thence over his whole kingdom, the realm of the 
 reformation. For, " his kingdom became dark, and they 
 gnawed their tongues for pain." But with respect to the na- 
 ture of this punishment, we shall be entirely silent, and leave 
 it to be disclosed by the event. Vv"e shall only remark that, 
 to judge from the expression of the text, the scourge seems to 
 be severe, and we are extremely sorry it will be so ill recei- 
 ved : " And they blasphemed the God of heaven, because of 
 their pains and wounds, (or sores,) and did not penance for 
 their works." 
 
 We shall here add another remark. The expression, they 
 gnawed their tongues for pain, or rather, as it is in the Greek 
 original, they did gnaw their tongues for pain, seems to refer 
 to a time prior to that which follows, and is thus expressed, 
 they blasphemed, &c. and ma}^ therefore relate to the first 
 part of the punishments imported by this vial, which may be 
 the scourge inflicted on the French people, and perhaps others, 
 and seems to indieate distress of famine, &c. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE SIXTH AGE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 CHURCH. 
 
 Hitherto the account we find in history of the different 
 ages, has contributed to explain the prophecies relating to 
 them : but with respect to the age we are now entering upon, 
 as it yet remains sealed up in the womb of futurity, we can 
 have no light but what must be drawn from the prophecies 
 themselves. And because prophecies are generally concei- 
 ved in few words, and those veiled with obscurity, it cannot 
 be expected we should give so clear and comprehensive a his- 
 tory of the sixth age, as has been done in the preceding pe- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 187 
 
 riods. We may however acknoAvledg-e here an unexpected 
 assistance, which was not allowed us before, inasmuch as that 
 part of the Apocalypse which treats of the sixth age, seems 
 to be expressed in somewhat clearer terms than any other, at 
 least it appears so to us. The reason we may conceive to be, 
 that the Almighty revealer of it is willing to give us before- 
 hand a tolerable intellisrence of transactions that will touch us 
 so nearly, and will be more terrible and trymg to human na- 
 ture, than any that have ever happened. By a previous, 
 though imperfect, knowledge of dreadful calamities, we are 
 warned to prepare for them. An impending evil, even the 
 sentence of death itself, is less alarming when foreseen and 
 expected. On that account therefore the divine bounty is 
 pleased to be more copious and explicit in the revelations 
 about the sixth age ; and our prospect of it is further enlarged 
 by many particular scenes to be found in the ancient prophets, 
 which concur to throw an additional light over the whole pic- 
 ture. These are helps which, doubtless, serve in some mea- 
 sure to promote and facilitate the present work ; but it must be 
 confessed, the obscurity that still remains is such, and other 
 difficulties so numerous, as necessarily to demand the indul- 
 gence of the critic. 
 
 The preceding five ages opened with the transactions con- 
 tained under their respective seals. In like manner we shall 
 now begin the epocha of the sixth and the last age of the 
 Church in this world, with the events announced at the open 
 ing of the sixth seal. 
 
 The Ojpe7iing of the Sixth Seal. 
 
 Apoc. chap. vi. 12. " And I saw," says St. John, " when 
 he (the Lamb) had opened the sixth seal : and behold there 
 was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sack- 
 cloth of hair : and the whole moon became as blood. 
 
 V. 1 3. " And the stars from heaven fell upon the earth, as 
 the fig-tree casteth its green figs when it is shaken by a great 
 wind : 
 
 V. 14, "And the heaven departed as a book folded up ; 
 and every mountain and the islands were moved out of their 
 places. 
 
 V. 15. " And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and 
 tribunes, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman, 
 and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens, and in the 
 rocks of mountains. 
 
 V 16. " And they say to the mountains, and the rocks: 
 
188 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 fall upon us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on 
 the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. 
 
 V. 17. "For the great day of their wrath* is come, and 
 who shall be able to stand ?" 
 
 Here are stupendous prodigies and dreadful disasters an- 
 nounced, many of which cannot be now clearly explained, 
 but will be very conspicuous to those who shall exist at that 
 time. They are the forerunners of the approaching general 
 dissolution of the world, and are employed to announce the 
 last terrible judgment, and to admonish mankind to prepare 
 for it. If the idea, which is conveyed to us by the simple 
 description of these wond,ers, strikes us with terror, how 
 dreadful must they appear when they really happen ! great 
 earthquakes ; the sun darkened to such a degree as if 
 covered with black hair-cloth, and the moon reddening like 
 blood : the stars seeming to fall from the heavens as thick 
 as green figs are shaken from the trees in a hurricane of 
 wind : the sky appearing to fold up like a roll of parchment ; 
 and all the mountains and islands moved out of their places, 
 perhaps by earthquakes and extremely vehement agitations of 
 the sea. These tremendous phenomena, some real, others 
 appearing to the human eye, show the violent convulsions 
 nature will sustain, and the general confusion of the whole 
 created system. At the sight of such events, what wonder 
 if the wicked of every rank and denomination run to hide 
 themselves for fear, as St. John tells us, and from the con- 
 sciousness of their guilt suspect the great day is arrived, and 
 that the Almighty is coming to judgment, which will make 
 them wish that the mountains and rocks would fall upon them, 
 to shelter them from the face of their angry God, and from the 
 wrath of the Lamb. 
 
 The description here given by our Christian prophet seems 
 to specify only the principal and most terrible of the signs 
 and calamities that will happen in the last period of the 
 world: and in them one may understand are comprehended 
 those that are of a less destructive and terrifying nature. 
 Some or other of these alarms we may suppose will open the 
 sixth age, and will serve to fix the date of the epocha. They 
 will continue to alarm mankind at different times during 
 the course of that period, to remind them of the approaching 
 end of the w^orld. We may also observe that some of these 
 striking events are likewise announced by the ancient pro- 
 phets, and shall be taken notice of in proper places. The 
 
   In the Greek, ■" his wrath." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 189 
 
 extraordinary signs and prodigies both in the heavens and 
 on the earth here described, evidently speak the majesty and 
 power of him, whose approaching coming they are de- 
 signed to announce. They therefore necessarily tend to 
 reflect that glory on the Lamb, which was said to be his due. 
 Apoc. V. 12. 
 
 Thfe nature of the subject seems to require we should sub- 
 join to the preceding account that other, which our Saviour 
 himself gives of the same or similar prodigies. The assem- 
 blai^e of both will contribute, to enlars^e our knowledge of 
 that interesting subject ; and the comparison of them may 
 serve as a proof, that the expressions used by St. John are to 
 be taken in their natural acceptation, and not in a metapho- 
 rical sense, as some might imagine ; many of his expressions 
 being similar to those of our Saviour, which have been 
 generally understood in their natural sense. 
 
 The account which Christ delivered of the prodigies we 
 are speaking of, is to be found in St. Matthew, chap. 24. St. 
 Mark, chap. 13, and St. Luke, chap. 21. His disciples 
 having asked him by what signs they should know the ap- 
 proaching ruin of Jerusalem, and also what signs would 
 precede the general dissolution of the world, Christ answers 
 both questions. But in the first part of his answer he seems 
 to assign the same prodigies for announcing both those 
 events : as the destruction of Jerusalem may be a very ex- 
 pressive figure of the destruction of the world. And in this . 
 sense the holy fathers have explained his discourse. In the 
 latter part of his answer, Christ seems to confine himself 
 solely to the pointing out of the signs, which will be the 
 presages of the approaching end of all things. 
 
 He thus begins his discourse : " Take heed that no man 
 seduce you. For many will come in my name, saying, I am 
 He, I am Christ ; and the time is at hand ; and they will 
 seduce many: go you not therefore after them." The ap- 
 pearance of false Christs or false Messiahs was then the first 
 mentioned by our Saviour, and first warning of the ap- 
 proaching fate of Jerusalem. That many such impostors 
 rose up in Judea before the demolition of Jerusalem by the 
 Romans, we learn from Josephus, in his history of the Jewish 
 wars. It is here the opinion of the holy fathers, that Christ 
 intended also to intimate by the preceding words, that false 
 Christs will arise in a similar manner in the last age of the 
 world, and be a sign of its approaching end. 
 
 Our Saviour proceeds : " You shall hear of wars 
 
190 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 and rumours of wars : See that you be not troubled. For 
 these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 
 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against 
 kingdom ; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and 
 great earthquakes in divers places, and terrors from heaven, 
 and there shall be great signs." These calamities happened 
 before the ruin of Jerusalem, as the above-mentioned Jewish 
 historian testifies. The same will likewise be experienced, 
 it is supposed, in the last age. But Christ adds : " Now all 
 these things are the beginnings of sorrows." Though great 
 evils, they are only to be deemed the prelude of greater. 
 Then he goes on : " But before all these things they will lay 
 their hands on you, and persecute you, and put you to death," 
 &c. Here are the persecutions foretold, which fell upon 
 the apostles and first Christians. The same will likewise 
 rage in a more fierce manner hereafter under Antichrist. 
 
 " And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce 
 many: and because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of 
 many shall grow cold." From this rise of false prophets or 
 teachers of false doctrine, and the abounding of wickedness, 
 before the fall of the Jewish nation, it is concluded by 
 the holy fathers that similar unhappy circumstances will take 
 place before the finishing of the world. And; indeed, that 
 false prophets or false teachers will then arise, we shall see it 
 again expressed in the sequel of our Saviour's discourse; and 
 that iniquity will likewise abound, is fully intimated by what 
   Christ said on another occasion : " When the Son of Man 
 cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on the earth ?" 
 Luke xviii. 8. 
 
 " And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the 
 whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall 
 the consummation come." A new people of Christians was 
 to be formed by preaching the gospel, before the Jews, the 
 ancient people of God, were rejected, and their city and 
 temple abolished. The gospel will likewise be preached with 
 extraordinary 2eal in the latter times over the whole earth, 
 to stem the prevalence of imposture and depravity of morals, 
 and to oppose in particular the furious efforts of Antichrist 
 against religion. 
 
 " When therefore you shall see the abomination of deso- 
 lation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing 
 in the holy place, he that readeth, let him understand. When 
 you. shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army, 
 then know that the desolation thereof is at hand." Here 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 191 
 
 our Saviour points out to his disciples the most immediate 
 sign by which they might know, that the ruin of Jerusalem 
 was near at hand ; namely, when they should see an idolatrous 
 army arrive, with its heathenish gods, which are the abomi- 
 nation of desolation, and invest Jerusalem, that city which 
 was always styled the holy place, or holy city. We shall see 
 hereafter that Antichrist will also set up what is called " the 
 abomination of desolation." 
 
 " Then they that are in Judea," continues Christ, " let 
 them flee to the mountains. For there shall be then great 
 tribulation, such as has not been from the beoinnino- of the 
 world until now, neither shall be. For these are the days of 
 vengeance, that all things may be fulfilled that are written. 
 There shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon 
 this people. And unless those days had been shortened, no 
 flesh would be saved : but for sake of the elect, those days 
 shall be shortened. And they (the Jews) shall fell by the 
 edge of the sword ; and shall be led away captives into 
 all nations : and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the 
 gentiles till the times of the nations be fulfilled." Thus 
 then the calamities and signs having all happened that had 
 been foretold by our Saviour, the fatal time fixed for the ven- 
 geance of the Almighty was come, and Jerusalem was taken 
 and razed to the ground by the Roman army under the com- 
 mand of Titus Vespasian ; the temple was burned, the Jews 
 slaughtered to an immense number, a few were reserved by 
 Titus to be carried in triumph to Rome, and the rest were sold 
 for slaves, and dispersed into all nations. This happened in 
 the year 70 of the Christian sera. Extreme were the cala- 
 mities and miseries that people suliered in this war, by 
 the plague, famine, and sword : they were even such as no 
 nation had ever felt before. The Jews must have all cer- 
 tainly perished, had not God in his mercy shortened those 
 days of vengeance for the sake of the elect, that is, for the 
 sake of reserving a remnant of that people, who are to 
 remain in captivity till the times of the nations be fulfilled, 
 that is, till the nimiber of the Gentiles, whom God \vill call 
 to the Christian faith, be fiUed up ; and then that remnant of 
 the Jews will be converted, and acknowledge Christ for their 
 Messiah. 
 
 In like manner, before the lastcominsf of Christ to dissolve 
 the fabric of the world, the calamities of war that will fall 
 upon mankind will be very great, though perhaps somewhat 
 inferior to those the Jews experienced on the above occasion. 
 
192 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH* 
 
 But the persecution which will be exercised by Antichrist 
 against the Christians, will exceed in severity and cruelty 
 the persecutions of all past ages. But this dreadful period will 
 be shortened by the mercy of God for the sake of his elect, 
 and reduced to three years and a half 
 
 Christ having thus carried on his predictions to the ruin of 
 Jerusalem and the captivity of the Jews, which is to last to 
 the latter time of the world, the sequel of his discourse na- 
 turally falls upon the transactions of that last period. " Then 
 if any man," says he, "shall say to you: lo, here is Christ, 
 or there ; do not believe- him. For there shall arise false 
 Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and 
 wonders, insomuch as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 
 Behold, I have told it you before hand. If therefore they 
 shall say to you : behold, he is in the desert, go ye not out : 
 behold, he is in the closets, believe it not," Here is a full 
 warning, which ought to be taken notice of, against the false 
 Christs and false prophets that will rise up in the last age ; the 
 chief of whom will be Antichrist and the false prophet his 
 attendant. And what is very alarming, they will have 
 power of showing great signs and wonders, in so much as to 
 deceive, if possible, even the elect. We shall see the same 
 confirmed, by the Apocalypse, in the two above-mentioned im 
 posters. 
 
 A more full account of all these seducers, and of their 
 infamous character, is given us in the Epistles of St. Peter and 
 St. Paul. " In the last days," says St. Peter, " there shall 
 come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying, 
 where is his promise of his coming ? for since the time that 
 the fathers slept, all things continue as they were from the 
 beginning of the creation." 2 Ep. iii. 3, 4. " Know also 
 this," says St. Paul, " that in the last days shall come on dan- 
 gerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, 
 haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrate- 
 ful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, in- 
 continent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, 
 puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God ; having 
 an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power 
 thereof" 2 Tim. iii. 1, &c. The same admonition is given 
 us by St. Jude in his Epistle, v. 17, &c. "But you, my 
 dearly beloved," says this apostle, "be mindful of the words 
 which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ ; who told you, that in the last time there should 
 come mockers, walking- according to their own desires in 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 193 
 
 unf^odliness. These are ihey, who separate themselves, sen- 
 sual men, having not the spirit." 
 
 To proceed with our Saviour's discourse : " And immedi- 
 ately after the tribulation of those days," says he, " the sun 
 shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and 
 the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven 
 shall be moved. And there shall be upon the earth distress 
 of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the 
 sea and of the waves, men withering away for fear, and 
 expectation of what shall come upon the whole world." 
 These previous signals of the end of the world are analogous 
 to those described in the Apocalypse, under the sixth seal, as 
 will appear by the comparison of the two texts. See the text 
 of the Ajjocalypse given above, page 195. Our Saviour 
 says: "The sun shall be darkened." St. John, after the 
 opening of the sixth seal, says : " The sun became black as 
 sack-cloth of hair." Christ says : " The moon shall not give 
 her light." St. John says: "The moon became as blood." 
 Christ continues : " The stars shall Hill from heaven." St. 
 John in the above-mentioned place: " The stars from heaven 
 fell upon the earth, as the fig-tree casteth its green figs when 
 it is shaken by a great wind." Christ again: "And the 
 powers of heaven shall be moved." St. John : " And the 
 heaven departed as a book folded up." Christ again: "And 
 there shall be upon the earth distress of nations, by reason of 
 the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves." 
 St. John in the above place: " And every mountain, and the 
 islands, were moved out of their places." Our Saviour pro- 
 ceeds : " Men withering away for fear, and expectation of 
 what shall come upon the whole world." St. John: "And 
 the kings of the earth, and the princes, and tribunes, and the 
 rich, and the strong, and every bondman, and every freeman, 
 hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of mountains. 
 And they say to the mountains and the rocks: fall upon us, 
 and hide us from the foce of him wlio sitteth upon the throne, 
 and from the wrath of the Lamb." Hence it appears that the 
 words of our Saviour may be applied as the best interpretation 
 of the text of St. John contained under the sixth seal. 
 
 Thus then it appears that the discourse of Christ to his 
 disciples, and the text of the xVpocalypse under the sixth seal, 
 exhibit to us an epitome of the prodigies and disastrous events 
 that will distinguish the sixth or last period of time. They 
 will be sent as so many warnings of the approaching great 
 day of wrath, when Christ will come in his power and ma- 
 17 
 
i94 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 jcsty to judge the living- and the dead, and put an end to the 
 present world. " When you shall see these things come to 
 pass," continues Christ, speaking- to his disciples, " know that 
 the kingdom ef God is at hand." Luke xxi. 31. 
 
 Narrative preparatory to the Prophecy of the Sixth Trumpet. 
 
 The sixth or last period of time exhibits many great and 
 extraordinary events, which are not all related by St. John, as 
 some part of them had already been revealed in former pro- 
 phecies. On that account we find it necessary to premise a 
 narrative of those facts, which are previous to what is laid 
 down in the Apocalypse. If the order, in which we have 
 ranged the particulars of this prophetic history, should not 
 be approved by the reader, we desire him to reflect, we travel 
 through the dark paths of futurit}^ 
 
 One event, that vv'ill chiefly distinguish the sixth age, and 
 will be a prelude to the final period of the human race in 
 this world, is the appearance of that extraordinary man, Anti- 
 ..christ. But the way is to be opened for his coming by two 
 previous incidents, which we learn from St. Paul, and which 
 will enable him to bring on those mischiefs upon mankind, 
 and that desolation upon the earth, which the prophets have 
 foretold. St. Paul thus writes to the Thessalonians in his 
 second epistle, chap. 2, 
 
 V^. 1. "And we beseech you, brethren, by the coming 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of our gathering together unto 
 him, 
 
 V. 2. " That you be not easily moved from your mind, nor 
 be frighted, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by epistle as 
 sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand. 
 
 V. 3. " Let no man deceive you by any means : for unless 
 there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the 
 son of perdition, 
 
 V. 4. " Who opposeth and is Jifted up above all that is 
 called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the 
 temple of God, showing himself as if he were God. 
 
 V. 5. " ReiTiember you not, that when I was yet with you, 
 I told you these things ? 
 
 V. 6. " And now you know" what withholdeth, that he may 
 he revealed in his time. 
 
 V. 7. " For the mystery of iniquity already worketh; only 
 that he who now holdeth, do hold until he be taken out of 
 the way. 
 
 V. 8. " And then that the wicked one shall be revealed, 
 
 ex 
 u 
 
HlarOKY OF THE CHKlaTlAN CHURCH. 195 
 
 whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the breath of his mouth, 
 and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." 
 
 Here the apostle admonishes the Thessalonians, not to give 
 way to terrors, as if the last day was near at hand, assurhig 
 them that last day would not come, " till there came a revolt 
 first, and the man ' oi' sin were revealed, the son of per- 
 dition, who opposeth, ajid is lifted up above all that is called 
 God, .or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of 
 God, showing himself as if he were God," v, 3, 4. "By the 
 man of sin, the son of perdition," &c. ail Christian antiquity 
 and the subsequent ages have ever understood that superla- 
 tively wicked man, Antichrist. The end of the world there- 
 fore will not happen till after this man's appearance; and also 
 after what St. Paul calls a revolt, which, it seems, will be pre- 
 vious to Antichrist's comino-. This revolt, or, rather accordino- 
 to the Greek text, the apostac}^ denotes a defection from faith as 
 the generality of the scripture-interpreters have understood it. 
 Alas ! we have already seen a great flood of apostacy spread 
 itself through the western part of Christendom, within the 
 last two centuries and a half, by the rise of Lutheranism, 
 Calvinism, &c. And this had been preceded in the eastern 
 part of the Church by the Greek schism, Mahometanism, 
 Arianism, &c. Even St. Paul assures us, he himself saw 
 this apostacy, or defection from faith, ushering into the world : 
 " for the mystery of iniquity already worketh," says he,, v. 7. 
 The seeds of it were sown, and had sprung up in the apostle's 
 time, in the heretics called Simonians, Nicholaites, Gnostics, 
 &c. But it will continue to gain ground and to ripen, till it 
 comes to full maturity in the time of Antichrist, who by his 
 extraordinary power, cruel persecutions, and insidious machi- 
 nations, will to5>'<-^ther with his false prophet, seduce a prodi- 
 gious immber of Christians. This we shall see in the follow- 
 ing part of the Apocalypse; and it is sufficiently intimated 
 by our Saviour, as we observed under the sixth seal, in these 
 words: " There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, 
 and sliall show great signs and great wonders, insomuch as 
 to deceive, if possible, even the elect." Matth. xxiv. 24. - 
 
 Under the term, apostacy may be comprehended, not only 
 a defection from faith, but also a general degeneracy of 
 morals, which already shows itself in the surprising growth 
 ,of licentiousness and irreligion, in a tide of luxury, extrava- 
 gance, and profligacy. This inundation of vice paves the 
 way for worse, and will spread more and more with the pro- 
 gress of time, till it rises to a general flood of wickedness in 
 
196 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 the infamous dissolute reign of Antichrist. This seems to be 
 also pointed at in the following- words of Christ: "And 
 because iniquity has abounded, the charity of man shall 
 grow cold," Matt. xxiv. 12. In fine, this general apostacy, 
 with respect to both faith and morality, was likewise fully in- 
 sinuated by our Saviour when he said : " When the Son of 
 man cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on the earth?" 
 Luke xviii. 8. ' „ • 
 
 The second circumstance, which will announce the coming 
 of Antichrist, is obscurely expressed thus by St. Paul in the 
 above cited text: "And now you know what withholdeth, 
 that he, (the man of sin, or Antichrist,) be revealed in his 
 time. Only that he who now holdeth, do hold, until he be 
 taken out of the way, and then that wicked one, (Antichrist,) 
 shall be revealed," v. 6, 7, 8. The generality of the holy 
 fathers have explained this text of the destruction of the Ro- 
 man empire, which Avas to take place before Antichrist should 
 be revealed. The same interpretation has also been trans- 
 mitted throusfh all tne Christian aoes by a uniform tradition ; 
 the ground of which can be no other but the explication St. 
 Paul himself had given to the Thessalonians by word of mouth, 
 as he tells them in this place: " Remember you not, (says he,) 
 that when I was yet with you, I told you these things?" v. 5. 
 According to the sense here exposed, the Roman empire, 
 which held when St. John wrote, was therefore the thing that 
 withheld, and was to be taken away, before Antichrist should 
 appear. 
 
 " Who holds," says Tertullian, "but the Roman empire? 
 the division of which into ten kintrdoms will brino- on Anli- 
 christ : and then, according to the apostle, that wicked one 
 shall be revealed." De Resurrect. Carnis cap. 24. St. Jerome, 
 relating the above words of the apostle, " only that he who now 
 holdeth, doth hold, until he betaken out of the way," writes 
 thus : " The apostle by this expression. He who now holdeth, 
 indicates the Roman empire: he says it in obscure terms, be- 
 cause if he had spoken openly, he would imprudently have 
 raised the rage of the persecutors against the Christians, and 
 against the Church which was then beginning to rise." In Je- 
 rern. c. 25. Again, the same learned doctor of the Church, in 
 another place explaining the same passage, says: " Only that 
 the Roman empire which holds now all nations under its pow- 
 er be taken away, and then Antichrist will come." Epist. 151. 
 ad Algas. qu. 1 1. St. John Chrysostom, interpreting the same 
 text, speaks thus : " It may be asked, what St. Paul means 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 197 
 
 when he says ' you know 'vhat withholdeth, that he may be 
 revealed ;' and then, why the apostle speaks so obscurely. He 
 has in view the Roman empire : and therefore it is with good 
 reason he speaks in obscure enigmatical terms, for fear of ir- 
 ritating the Romans. The apostle says then : only that he 
 who now holdeth, do hold, until he be taken out of the way ; 
 that is, when the Roman empire shall be removed from the 
 face of the earth, then Antichrist will come." In 2 Thess. 
 Horn. 4. Lactantius, speaking of the last period of the world, 
 says : " At that time devastation will overspread the whole 
 earth, destroying every thing : the cause of which desolation 
 will be, that the Roman name (I shudder to say it, but I must 
 because it is to be) Aviil be taken away from the earth, and the 
 empire will return into Asia : the East will domineer again, 
 and the West be subdued." Lib. 7. c. 15. St. Cyril of Jeru- 
 salem writes : " The devil will raise up a fam.ous man, who 
 will seize upon the dominion of the Roman empire. That 
 man or Antichrist will appear, when the Roman empire is 
 come to its period." Catech. 15. St. Augustine, other fathers, 
 and the scripture expositors of latter ages, have explained St. 
 Paul's text in the same sense. From hence then it appears 
 that St. Paul has disclosed this particular circumstance viz, 
 that the Roman empire was to be dissolved before Antichrist 
 appeared, and that its dissolution would be a sign of the ap- 
 proach of that impious man. 
 
 We have already seen in the history of the third age, that 
 the great body of the Roman empire became divided in two : 
 the western, which had Rome for its capital ; and the eastern, 
 of which Constantinople was constituted capital. We have 
 likewise seen, that the western empire was torn in pieces by 
 different swarms of northern invaders, Goths, Vandals, Huns, 
 Alans, &c. who parcelled out its provinces among themselves, 
 and even burned Rome itself Upon the destruction of the 
 western part, it is plain it could not be said that the whole Ro- 
 man empire was extinguished, since the large eastern part 
 still subsisted. Besides, it must be remembered, we related 
 how the western Roman empire was revived and raised up 
 anew^ though not to its former grandeur, by Charlemagne, 
 who was crow^ned emperor of it in the year 800. It has con- 
 tinued to exist ever since that epoch, and is swayed at present 
 by the august house of Austria, and has its seat in Germany. 
 
 Nevertheless, upon the above-mentioned ruin of the western 
 state, with Rome its imperial head, which had been looked 
 upon as the mighty centre and metropolis of the whole world, 
 17* 
 
198 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CRURCH. 
 
 some of the Christians apprehended that, in conformity to the 
 above prophecy of St. Paul, the time of Antichrist would soon 
 succeed. This seemed to be the sentiment of St. Jerome, who 
 lived at that period. " He that held," says he, "is taken out 
 of the way, and yet we do not understand that Antichrist must 
 be coming." Ep. xi. ad Eger. This opinion, though false 
 for the reasons just now mentioned, yet was not totally devoid 
 of foundation For Rome, the principal head and ancient cen- 
 tre of all dominion, was then no more, and the most notable 
 partof the empire, namely, the western, was suppressed. What 
 wonder then, that the time of Antichrist was supposed, from 
 the expression of St. Paul, to be approaching? And in effect 
 we soon after see the birth of a man, viz. Mahomet, who, 
 though not himself Antichrist, yet laid the foundations of a 
 great power, which Ave conceive will form hereafter the Anti- 
 christian empire. The reason for this opinion will appear in 
 the sequel. The ruin of ancient Rome was ultimately com- 
 pleted by Totila, king of the Goths, in the year 546; and not 
 long after Mahomet was born, viz. 571, and began his con- 
 quests about the year 622. From that date the Mahometan 
 power advanced with great rapidity and success, and grew 
 to a prodigious height of dominion under the Saracens; 
 as we have shown in the account of the fourth seal. Af- 
 terwards, the chief part of that vast empire fell by conquest 
 into the hands of the Turks, where it remains at this 
 day. These warriors, actuated by an insatiate thirst of power, 
 enlarged their conquests upon the eastern Roman empire, 
 which at last they entirely subdued, and took the imperial 
 city of Constantinople in 1453, where the conquering suhan, 
 Mahomet II., fixed the seat of his own monarchy. Thus was 
 taken out of the way or extinguished one part of that empire ; 
 the existence of which withholds or hinders the coming of 
 Antichrist. And in this manner did the Turkish power in- 
 crease, and as we apprehend, will continue its progress, to 
 pave the way to universal dominion under a ruler or empe- 
 ror, who will in the end become Antichrist. 
 
 The fourth seal, as we have seen, gave us the origin of the 
 Mahometan monarchy, of which it was there said : " Power 
 was given to him, (its rulers,) over the four parts of the 
 earth," Apoc. vi. 8. In the Greek indeed we read, " over 
 the fourth part of the earth." If the text of the vulgate be 
 followed, it is clear that the Mahometan dominion will extend 
 over the four parts of the earth ; and this will be further con- 
 firmed hereafter. The accomplishment of this prophecy is 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 199 
 
 advancing, but not yet adequately fulfilled. The Turks have 
 already in their possession a considerable part of Asia, a great 
 extent of country in Africa, and a spacious territory in Eu- 
 rope. On the pouring out of the fourth vial, we saw the 
 divine justice fall upon the schismatic Greeks by the hands 
 of the Turks, who thereupon greatly enlarged their empire. 
 
 The great empire of Turkey, thus enlarged, having pre- 
 pared the way for the coming of this impious prince, we shall 
 
 .now look out for his birth and orio-in ; for which we must 
 have recourse to the book of Daniel. This prophet in the 
 
 . seventh chapter tells us, he saw in a vision four beasts rise 
 up out of the sea, which have been generally understood to 
 represent four great empires that should succeed one another, 
 namely, the Chaldean, Persian, Greek, and the Roman. 
 The fourth beast, which denotes the ancient Roman empire, 
 Daniel thus describes, ver. 7. " I beheld in the vision of the 
 night, and lo ! a fourth beast, terrible and wonderful, and ex- 
 ceedingl}'- strong ; it had great iron teeth, eating and breaking 
 in pieces, and treading down the rest with its feet ; and it was 
 unlike to the other beasts, Avhich I had seen before it, and it 
 had ten horns." An angel explains to the prophet the mean- 
 ing of this mysterious terrible beast in the following manner, 
 ver. 23. " The fourth beast will be the fourth kingdom upon 
 earth, which shall be greater* than all the kingdoms, and 
 shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and 
 break it in pieces." Further, ver. 24. " And the ten horns 
 of the same kingdom will be ten kings." This fourth king- 
 dom, or Roman empire, was then to surpass in power and 
 dominion all the preceding kingdoms. And effectually, it 
 conquered the dominions of the three above-named empires, 
 and even subdued the greatest part of the then known world. 
 The ten horns of the beast are said by the angel to be ten 
 kings, that is, ten proconsuls or governors placed by the em- 
 perors over the ten provinces, into which the whole Roman 
 state might be supposed to be divided. These proconsuls or 
 governors might well be termed kings, as their power was 
 very great, and the provinces under their command equal to 
 larore kino-doms. 
 
 Daniel proceeds, ver. 8. " I considered the horns, and 
 behold, another little horn sprung out of the mids^t of them : 
 and three of the first horns were plucked up at the presence 
 thereof" Which the angel explains to him thus, ver. 24. 
 
   The Chaldaic text, in which language this prophecy was written, has, 
 umike to all kingdoms." 
 
 
200 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 " And another (king) shall rise up after them, and he shall 
 be mightier than the former,* and he shall bring down three 
 kings." The little horn here, which the angel explains to be 
 a king, \dll be that king who will become Antichrist. And 
 such is the opinion of St. Jerom, and several other holy fathers 
 and interpreters. This little horn, or this petty king, who at 
 last will be Antichrist, must therefore spring out of the midst 
 of the ten horns, or wdll be born and rise up from without the 
 midst of the ten provinces that composed the ancient Roman 
 empire, that is, will rise up in a country, out of the boundary 
 of the Roman empire, but answering to the middle of it. This 
 circumstance, joined with the other before mentioned, of his be- 
 coming emperor of the Turks, serves to point out to us the place 
 of his birth. Whoever will take the pains to view the map of 
 the ancient Roman empire, will see that the country formerly 
 called Taurica Chersonesus, now Crim Tartary, on the north 
 side of Pont Euxin or Black sea, corresponds very nearly to 
 the middle of that empire, while at the same time it lies without 
 its limits. And this latter circumstance is necessary, as the 
 little horn ought to be independent on the other ten horns, 
 which could not be if it was placed within the sphere of their 
 power. In the country then of Crim Tartary, we conceive 
 the Antichristian prince will be born, heir to that petty king- 
 dom, and will succeed to it as kan or king of Crim and little 
 Tartary. On another hand, we learn from Prince Cantemir, 
 in his history of the Ottoman empire, that the Mahometan 
 family upon the throne of Crim Tartary is descended, by a 
 younger branch, from the same stock as the Ottoman fiimily 
 that sits upon the throne of Constantinople, and the Turks have 
 often declared that if the Ottoman family fail, that of Crim 
 Tartary is to succeed to their empire. We suppose therefore 
 that the present Ottoman race, which now sways the Turkish 
 sceptre, will somehow or other be removed or extinguished ; 
 upon which the Antichristian prince, king of Crim Tartary, 
 will claim his right, and mount the imperial throne of Tur- 
 key. This simple course of events shows therefore the com- 
 pletion of Daniel's prophecy ; a king of so small a country as 
 Crim and little Tartary, may well be reputed the little horn 
 that sprang out of the midst of the ten horns ; and this petty 
 king's succeeding to the Turkish empire, explains how the 
 little horn grew mightier than the other horns. 
 
 Before we explain the rest of the above prophecy, it may 
 not be amiss to add something more concerning the origin of 
 
 * The Chaldaic, " and he shall be unlike to the former." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 201 
 
 this famous future prince. It is the opinion of many of the 
 ancients, that Antichrist will be a Jew, born of the tribe of 
 Dan. They allege as a probable proof of it ; first, the pro- 
 phecy of Jacob about his son Dan. Thus spoke tliat patri- 
 arch : " Dan shall judge his people like another tribe m Israel. 
 Let Dan be a snake in the w-ay, a serpent in the path, that 
 biteth the horse's heels, that his rider may fall backward." 
 Gen. xlix. 16, 17, Upon which St. viugustine says: " When 
 Jacob gave his last blessing to his sons, he spoke in such 
 manner of Dan, as to give reason to think that Antichrist will 
 be born of that tribe." Qu. 22. in Josue. But this prediction 
 seems to have been accomplished in that extraordinarj^ man, 
 Sampson, who was born of the tribe of Dan, became judge of 
 Israel, and was truly a snake in the way to the Philistines; 
 for he met them every where, and sorely tormented them. 
 And in this sense St. Jerome explains it. T/i Qucest. Hebr. 
 
 The second argument adduced in favour of the same 
 opinion, is drawn from the seventh chapter of the Apocalypse, 
 where, in the enumeration of the Jews who in each tribe 
 were to be signed with the sign of the living God, the tribe 
 of Dan is omitted, as if it was excluded from that favour on 
 account of its giving birtii to that most wicked of all men, 
 Antichrist. But this argument does not seem to be suffi- 
 ciently grounded. For, in the first place, St. John, before he be- 
 gins that enumeration, says, " that there were a hundred and 
 forty-four thousand, or, twelve times twelve thousand, signed 
 out of all the tribes of Israel," vii. 4. He therefore meant to 
 enumerate all the twelve tribes. Secondly, in that enumera- 
 tion we may observe there is mention made of the tribe of 
 Joseph, and of Manasse, but no mention of that of Ephraim ; 
 we must also observe that the tribe of Joseph comprehended 
 both the tribes of Ephraim and Manasse, who were Joseph's 
 two sons. Therefore either the tribe of Joseph would have 
 been solely mentioned, without that of Manasse ; or else the 
 two separate tribes of Ephraim nnd Manasse would have been 
 mentioned, without that of Joseph. It appears then that, as 
 the text stands, the mention of tiie tribe of Manasse is super 
 fluous, being included in that of Joseph. Indeed, a mistake 
 seems to have crept into the text through inadvertency of the 
 copier, who, instead of AA'N in the Greek original, wrote 
 MA N in his copy, as the Greek letters A and M are not so 
 very difierent : and in subsequent copies MAN might be 
 lengthened out into MANASSE, for which it was supposed 
 to stand. Therefore it would seem, that Dan stood in the 
 
I 
 
 202 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. J 
 
 crig-inal text instead of Man or Manasse. Besides, upon the 
 supposition even tliat Antichrist was to spring from the tribe 
 of Dan, we do not see wliy the whole tribe should be accursed 
 for that. We may then conclude, with respect to this article, 
 that, as there appears nothing in holy writ to determine the 
 origin of Antichrist, we may suppose lie will be born of Ma- 
 hometan parents, such being at present the prince and people 
 of Crim Tartary. 
 
 But to resume the prophecy of Daniel. " I considered the 
 horns," says he, "and behold, another liltle horn sprung out 
 of the midst of them : and three of the first horns were plucked 
 up at the presence thereof," vii. 8. The last part, which 
 alone remains to be considered, and three of the first horns 
 were plucked up at the presence thereof, is thus explained to 
 him by the angel: " and he shall bring down three kings," 
 V. 24; that is, the Antichristian king, represented by the little 
 horn, will subdue three kings or three kingdoms, which must 
 be provinces of the ancient Roman empire ; because, as we 
 observed, that empire is represented by the beast, and its pro- 
 vinces are signified by the beast's horns. And thus by his 
 reducing three kingdoms under his power, three horns of the 
 beast will be plucked up by him. This Antichristian prince, 
 at his accession to the imperial crown of Constantinople, will 
 find the Turkish empire in actual possession of seven of th" 
 ten provinces that made up the whole ancient Roman state 
 These acquisitions, and that of most of the northern countries 
 of Europe, will have been the work of his predecessors, as 
 we have already remarked, and he will enter upon a do- 
 minion of vast extent. But there will still remain three pro- 
 vinces or kingdoms, unsubdued, within the compass of the 
 old Roman empire. These are reserved for his own con- 
 quest. 
 
 It may now be asked, which may be supposed to be the 
 three kingdoms here spoken of? To answer the question ; 
 it appears pretty clear, that tlie present Glerman empire must 
 be one of the three, as it was formerly a Roman province, and 
 is still the representative of the Roman empire; and conse- 
 quently, according to the above cited prophec}?- of St. Paul, it 
 must be taken out- of the way. The cthtn- two kingdoms we 
 apprehend may be France and Spain ; because they consti- 
 tuted formerly two provinces of the Roman state, and seem to 
 be almost the only considerable powers remaining, which 
 will not have been before swallowed up in the Turkish do- 
 minion. This however cannot be certainly ascertaii^ed : as 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 203 
 
 perchance Italy may be one of these' two kingdoms, unless on 
 account of its being divided into a number of petty states, it 
 may not be reputed to form a kingdom. Thus then by the 
 reduction of the tl:iree kingdoms, he who held will be taken 
 out of the way, conformably to the prophecy of St. Paul ; that 
 is, the Roman empire will be wholly put down, and incorpo- 
 rated in the dominion of the Antichristian emperor. But it 
 must be observed, all these things happen while he is a suc- 
 cessful conquering prince, before he declares himself Anti- 
 christ ; as follows from the apostle's words, already cited : 
 *' Only that he who now holdeth, do hold until he be taken 
 out of the way ; and then that wicked one (Antichrist) shall 
 be revealed.'' 
 
 According to the above account, deduced from the predic- 
 tions of Daniel and St. Paul, the Antichristian prince becomes 
 master of all those spacious countries that constituted the an- 
 cient Roman empire: and of course he may be truly styled 
 Roman emperor. And that such he will one day be, may be 
 further confirmed from the x4pocalypse. We have seen, page 
 98, in the explication of the 17th chapter of the Apocalypse, 
 that the seven heads of the beast which represents the Roman 
 empire, denote seven Roman emperors, of whom Antichrist 
 himself is the seventh or last. The same will likewise appear 
 hereafter in the exposition of chapter the loth, which evi- 
 dently relates to Antichrist. Such also we find to have been 
 the general sentiment of the ancients. Thus speaks St. John 
 Chrysostom : " As those empires, which preceded the Roman, 
 were destroyed ; that of the Babylonians by that of the Per- 
 sians, that of the Persians by that of the Macedonians, that of 
 the Macedonians by that of the Romans ; so will likewise the 
 empire of the Romans be destroyed by Antichrist." 2 Tkess. 
 Horn. 4. St. Cyril of Jerusalem says : " The devil will raise 
 up a famous man, Antichrist, who will seize upon the do- 
 minions of the Roman empire." Catech. 15. St. Irenseus, 
 St. Jerome, and others, might be quoted for the same purpose, 
 
 Constantinople, which has been the seat of the Turkish 
 monarchs, ever since it fell under their dominion, will con- 
 tinue to remain so under this Turkish Antichristian, and Ro- 
 man emperor. That city, though very large at present, upon 
 the, vast accession of empire will probably increase to a great 
 degree, in magnitude, grandeur and riches. As the ancient 
 Romans could never sit down to enjoy their acquisitions in 
 the sweets of peace, but were constantly stimulated by insa- 
 tiate lust of power to add to their dominion ; in like manner 
 
'204 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 this neAv Roman emperor, as if with the acquisition of their 
 territory he inherited their restless ambition, will pursue his 
 destructive view of aggrandizing his power and empire. The 
 reduction of one country after another will whet his appetite 
 for conquest, and each conquest will facilitate the way to fur- 
 ther success. Having added Europe to his other dominions, 
 he will have at command the naval power of all the great 
 maritime states. His numerous fleets may therefore fly from 
 one continent to another, from one island to another, and strike 
 terror wherever they come. What wonder, then, if he en- 
 larges his empire with fresh conquests in Africa, America, in 
 the East and West Indies ? 
 
 In these times iniquity will abound. Universal will have 
 been the propagation of infidelity, irreligion, and immorality, 
 as we have before observed from the words of our Saviour 
 and St. Paul. Defection from faith, disregard for its teachers, 
 licentiousness in opinions, depravity in morals, will so far at 
 last deaden the influence of religion, and cause such degene- 
 racy in mankind, that many will be so base as even to espouse 
 idolatry. This assertion may seem incredible to some at this 
 day, and may be esteemed an absurdity ; but we shall see 
 idolatry expressly mentioned in the Apocalypse, as existing in 
 the time of Antichrist. And indeed, I apprehend our surprise 
 will much abate, if we take into consideration the temper and 
 disposition of the present times. When men divest them- 
 selves, as they seem to do at present, of all fear of the Supreme 
 Being, of all respect for their Creator and Lord ; when they 
 immerse themselves in the gratification of sensuality; when 
 they give full loose to the human passions, and direct their 
 whole study to the pursuits of a corrupt world, with a total 
 forgetfulness of a future state, may we not say that the tran- 
 sition is easy to idolatry ? When all the steps are taken that 
 lead to a mark, what wonder if we arrive at it? Such was 
 the gradual degeneracy of mankind in the early ages of the 
 world, that brought on the abominable practices of idol wor- 
 ship. I am aw'are it will be said, we hav-e the happiness to 
 live in the most enlightened of all ages, our knowledge is 
 more perfect, our ideas are more improved and refined, the 
 human faculties are now better cultivated than ever before, 
 and, in fine, the present race of mankind may be reckoned a 
 society of philosophers, when compared to preceding genera- 
 tions : how then can such a stupidity seize the human mind, 
 as to sink it into idolatry ? But I apprehend, this kind of 
 reasoning is more specious than solid. For, allovying the 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 205 
 
 present times to surpass the former in refinement and know- 
 ledge, it must be said tliey are proportionably more vicious. 
 Refinement of reason has contributed, as every one knows, to 
 refine upon the means of gratifying the human passions. 
 Besides, how much soever enlightened the mind may be sup- 
 posed to be, if the heart is corrupted, what excesses the man 
 will run into, daily experience teaches. If the philosopher is 
 not governed by the power of religion, his conduct will be 
 absurd, and even despicable to the most ignorant individual of 
 the lowest rank. A Socrates, a Cicero, a Seneca, are said to 
 have been acquainted with the knowledge of one supreme 
 God; but they had not courage to profess his worship, and 
 in their public conduct basely sacrificed to stocks and stones 
 with the vulvar. When men have banished from their heart 
 the sense of religion, and despise the ties of justice, (and is 
 not this the case of numbers ?) will many of them scruple to 
 incense a statue, if doing so will serve their ambition, their 
 interest, or whatever may be their favourite passion ? Where 
 is then the surprise, that infidelity and irreligion be succeeded 
 by idolatry '? That pride alone, when inflamed with a con- 
 stant flow of prosperity, may raise a man to the extravagant 
 presumption of claiming to himself divine honours, we have 
 the example of Alexander, the celebrated Macedonian con- 
 queror, and of several emperors of Babylon and ancient Rome. 
 From suggestions of that same principle of pride, may it not 
 happen, that the Turks in future time, elated by a long series 
 of success, by a continued course of victories and conquest, 
 may it not happen, I sa\% that they will ascribe all this good 
 fortune to the imaginary protection of their great Mahomet, 
 and thence set him up for a God ? " By the vanity of men," 
 says the Book of Wisdom, " idols came into the world," xiv. 
 14. If it should so happen, in the vast bulk of people then 
 under the yoke of that empire, how many individuals may 
 yield to the same absurd impiety, some out of fear for what 
 they may lose, others out of a view to gain what they covet? 
 
 The unparalleled success, which will attend the arms of 
 this domineering prince, the Amichristian hero, the greatness 
 of his power, and the extent of his dominion, superior to every 
 thing that has been seen before, will strike with amazement 
 the whole world, and in particular the Jews, who have been 
 ever expecting such a glorious conqueror. Thej^ will be 
 dazzled by the appearances of such extraordinary prosperity, 
 and will view this great monarch with minds suspended in 
 doubt, whether he be not the Messiah thev have so long waited 
 18 
 
206 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 for. Such has been the misfortune of the Jews to be always 
 inflexibly fixed in the opinion, that the Messiah is to be a 
 prince of the highest temporal grandeur and power, and who 
 will not only restore them to their ancient land and possessions, 
 but also raise them to such a pitch of eminence as to domineer 
 over the whole world. The Antichristian emperor, knowing 
 this their carnal disposition, and by his unbounded ambition 
 coveting to be acknowledged master, and revered by all classes 
 of men, will craftily encourage the Jews in their delusive no- 
 tions, and draw them into the snare. lie will pretend to be 
 the great personage promised to them by the prophets. He 
 will pretend to be lineally descended from king David, who 
 wae foretold to be the parent of the Messiah. He will feign to 
 be attached to the law of Moses, to be zealous in the observance 
 of its rites, and will allege, for proof of his sincerity, his 
 having been circumcised ; which circumstance will be true, 
 as circumcision has always been in use among the Maho- 
 metans. 
 
 Thus he will put on the mask of dissimulation ; " Antichrist 
 will be," says St. Gregory the Great, " the chief of all hypo- 
 crites. That seducer will pretend to sanctity, that he may 
 draw others into iniquity." In Job. lib. 25. c. 14. St. Am- 
 brose, in Luc. 12. is of opinion, that he will allege the sacred 
 scriptures to prove to the Jews that he is their Messiah and 
 the Christ. "Before the end of the world," says St. Cyril of 
 Jerusalem, "Satan will raise up a man, who will falsely as- 
 sume the name of Christ, and bv that means will seduce the 
 Jews." Catech. 15. Masked under the title of their glorious 
 Messiah, he will flatter them with promises of restoring them 
 to their ancient inheritance, the possession of the whole coun- 
 try of Judea, and in particular to their beloved city of Jeru- 
 salem. He will promise to rebuild their temple, and reinstate 
 the Mosaic religion in its primitive splendour. He will pre- 
 tend to make them the most glorious people upon earth, and 
 that the great expectations they have so long waited for shall 
 now be fulfilled. To ^ive o-reater weio-ht to all his fictitious 
 pretences, the arch-impostor will place himself at Jerusalem, 
 where the Jews expect their Messiah will hold his residence. 
 Thither he will invite them to resort, that they may receive, 
 the effect of his promises. Thus allured, they will repair 
 thither in great number, and will acknowledge him for their 
 king and Messiah. That such will be the illusion of the 
 Jews, is the general opinion of the ancient fathers of the 
 Church, and of the subsequent interpreters of holy writ. 
 
 \ 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 207 
 
 They ground their sentiment on those words of our Saviour 
 to the Jews : " I am come in the name of my Father, and you 
 receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him 
 you will receive," John v. 43. By this other v/ho will come in 
 his own name and be received by the Jews, the above writers 
 understand Antichrist. 
 
 But while the Antichristian impostor is carrying on this 
 farce at Jerusalem, and the Jews moving from all parts of the 
 o-lobe to resort thither, it seems that some sudden accident 
 wlW happen, that will alarm him, and oblige him to set out 
 for the east to assemble an army. For, at the sounding of 
 the sixth trumpet, we shall see an immense body of troops 
 cross the Euphrates from the East. This may come to pass, 
 if we suppose that the European nations combine altogether at 
 this time to revolt, and to rescue themselves from his ty- 
 rannical government. In which view they may join their 
 forces, and make up a most formidable army. Upon this 
 news reaching him at Jerusalem, he will drop all his pro- 
 jects concerning the Jews, and without executing any of 
 the promises made to them, he will set out in great wrath 
 for the East, to raise a large body of forces, to chastise in 
 the severest manner his rebellious subjects of Europe. In 
 his absence, the Jews will continue to flock in great crowds 
 to Jerusalem. But, instead of meeting with the Messiah 
 they expected, they will soon find that their assembling to- 
 gether was designed to serve other purposes of Divine Pro- 
 vidence. 
 
 For now the term was expiring, which the Almighty had 
 fixed for the duration of the Jewish captivity; now the time 
 was come, which in the decrees of his mercy he had 
 settled for recalling to himself that people who had been so 
 long estranged from him. By a particular mark of bounty, 
 they had been chosen in former ages by him as his peculiar 
 people, and adopted preferably to any other nation. They 
 shared his favours in great abundance, and in the most con- 
 spicuous manner ; and though in their infidelities and gross 
 deviations from their duty he used the rod of correction, 
 yet he always retained the disposition of a merciful Father 
 for them. " Many a time did he turn away his anger, and 
 did not kindle all his Avrath. And he remembered that they 
 are flesh." Psalm Ixxvii. 38, 39. He had forewarned 
 them and told them : " If you despise my laws and contemn 
 my judgments, so as not to do those things which are ap- 
 pointed by me, and to make void my covenant : I also will 
 
208 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 quickly do these things to you : I will quickly visit you with 
 poverty, &c. I will set my face against you, and you shall 
 fall doAvn before your enemies. And I will scatter you 
 among the gentiles." But then the Almighty presently aftei 
 adds : " And yet for all that, when they were in the land of 
 their enemies, I did not cast them off altogether, neither did 
 X so despise them, that they should be quite consumed, and I 
 should make void my covenant with them. For i am the 
 Lord their God." Levit. xxvi. 15, &c. 
 
 He spoke again by his prophet Amos : " Behold, the eyes 
 of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will 
 destroy it from the face of the earth : but yet I will not 
 utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord." Amos 
 ix. 8. Unfaithful to their God, they frequently offended, he 
 frequently punished them ; and as often as they returned and 
 implored his forgiveness, as often he forgave and again che- 
 rished them. When their ingratitude had grown to such a 
 height, as totally to abandon their indulgent Father and 
 their God, and by a base prostitution to transfer to stocks 
 and stones the worship due to him, and even obstinately to 
 persist in their idolatry, notwithstanding the constant re- 
 proaches he made them : he in his just anger banished 
 them from their native land, and delivered them over to 
 their enemies. The ten tribes, which formed the kingdom 
 of Israel, were carried away slaves into Assyria ; whence 
 they afterwards dispersed themselves into other countries. 
 
 The tribes of Juda and Benjamin, of which consisted the 
 kingdom of Juda, were removed to Babylon by Nabucho- 
 donosor, where they were subjected to a severe captivity for 
 seventy years. These bounds of time God set to his justice, 
 and then the affection of the Father returned. They re- 
 pented of their iniquities ; he replaced them in their country, 
 and renewed his blessinos to them. Some of the Israelites 
 returned also from Assyria, and uniting themselves to the 
 Jews, formed one body with them. 
 
 After a period of years, the term arrived, in which their 
 fidelity was to be put to the strictest test. The principal of all 
 the divine dispensations to man, the redemption of the world, 
 was now to be performed. The great personage, the Son of 
 God, who was to execute the work, had been announced to 
 the Jews by their prophets, and was to be born of their 
 race. A command from heaven had been given them, 
 through the channel of the same prophets, to receive him as 
 their promised Messiah, to acknowedge him for their new Le- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 209 
 
 gislator, and to accept his doctrine and laws in lieu of those 
 they had hitherto followed ; and that they might not mistake 
 his person, their prophets had given them a full description 
 of his character, of the time of his coming, of the tenor of 
 his life, and his extraordinary miraculous works. But when 
 he appeared, his character and garb not ansAvering to the 
 carnal notions they had formed to themselves of his supposed 
 power and grandeur, they refused to receive him. They 
 expected in their Messiah, a mighty conqueror, a potent 
 monarch, who would raise them above all other nations. 
 They would not understand that the blessings designed by 
 the divine wisdom to adorn and signalize the Messiah, were of 
 a far nobler, sublimer, and more lasting nature, than all 
 that worldly pomp and imaginary dominion their hearts 
 were set upon. As therefore these temporal views and ex- 
 pectations they did not find in the humble and low condition 
 in which Christ appeared, they rejected their God and 
 Saviour, they despised his doctrine, they contemned and blas- 
 phemed his miracles, they treated his sacred person with the 
 utmost indignity, and even proceeded to such an unparalleled 
 instance of impiety, as to put him to death. This enormous 
 crime, the greatest they had been or could be guilty of, drew 
 the whole torrent of divine wrath upon them. They had 
 said: *' His blood be upon us, and upon our children." Matt, 
 xxvii. 25. And effectually their horrible imprecations fell 
 upon their own heads and upon their children also. Within 
 less than the space of forty years after, the Almighty sent 
 upon them his scourge ; the Romans, who ravaged their 
 country, destroyed their city and temple ; and after that an 
 innumerable multitude of them had perished by famine, 
 plague, and the sword, the remainder were expelled Judea, 
 and scattered over the whole face of the earth, conformably to 
 the prediction of our Saviour : " There shall be great dis- 
 tress in the land, and wrath upon this people, (the Jews.) 
 And they shall Ml by the edge of the sword; and shall be 
 led away captives into all nations." Luke xxi. 23, 24. In 
 this desolate condition, without any fixed abode or govern- 
 ment, the contempt of mankind, they have remained for 1700 
 years, and thus they still continue a dreadful and lasting mo- 
 nument of the divine indignation. 
 
 But it must be observed that, notwithstanding this most 
 
 terrible, most severe, and most lasting of all the punishments 
 
 the Almighty has inflicted upon the Jews, nevertheless he 
 
 has not utterly exterminated them. Their race subsists, and 
 
 18* 
 
210 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 is very numerous. The calamities and oppression they have 
 undergone, would probably have extinguished any other 
 people, but they are still preserved by a special protection for 
 a future great purpose. I'he manifold benefits the Saviour of 
 mankind came to confer on the world, were first otiered to the 
 Jews, but being rejected, they were transferred to the Gentiles 
 who took the place of that people in the favour of God. 
 "Therefore I say to you, (the Messiah told them,) that the 
 kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given 
 to a nation yielding the fruits thereof" Matth. xxi. 43. In 
 consequence of this divine determination, the light of faith 
 and the happy tidings of salvation were carried to other na- 
 tions, that lay buried in gross ignorance, and in the darkness 
 of idolatry; they were taught the true knowledge of God, 
 and of Christ their Saviour, which they embraced, and be- 
 came the people of God by becoming Christians. But when 
 the merciful dispensations of heaven to the Gentiles shall be 
 completed, that is, when the gospel of Christ shall have been 
 fully preached to mankind, and the number of converts to 
 Christianity, designed by the Almighty, shall be filled up, 
 and the end of the world approaching, then the last posterity 
 of the Jewish people shall experience that bounty, which the 
 Almighty has hitherto suspended for many ages, but in his 
 mercy has kept in reserve for them. 
 
 He will then take from them their heart of stone, and give 
 them a heart of flesh : he will make them sensible of their past 
 blindness and obstinacy, will open their eyes to acknowledge 
 Christ their Messiah and Saviour, and in fine by making 
 them Christians, will receive them anew into his favour. 
 This doctrine we learn from St. Paul : " hath God cast away 
 his people," (the Jews,) says he; " God forbid. — For I would 
 not have you ignorant, brethren, of this mystery, lest you 
 should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part 
 hath happened in Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles 
 should come in ; and so all Israel shall be saved, as it is 
 written : there shall come out of Sion, He that shall deliver, 
 and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob : and this is to 
 them my covenant : when I shall take away their sins." 
 Rom. xi. 25, 26, 27. This passage of St. Paul expresses so 
 fully the future conversion of the Jews to Christianity, that on 
 it, as chief basis, is built the sentiment of the fathers of the 
 Church, who are so unanimous on that head, that it is need- 
 less to quote any of them. 
 
 The dispersion therefore of the Jews and their long captivi- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 211 
 
 ty are to have a period, but a period determined by that event, 
 the vocation of the Gentiles to the faith, which when fulfilled, 
 the Jews are to be re-assembled from all the corners of the 
 earth, will be converted to Christianity, and re-established in 
 that same land they formerly inhabited, and which was given 
 by the Almighty himself to their ancestors. This singular 
 economy of God towards that people is also in part made 
 known to us by our Saviour, in those his words : " They 
 (the Jews) shall be led away captives into all nations ; and 
 Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, till the times 
 of the nations be fulfilled." Luke xxi. 24. But the whole is 
 beautifully described by many of the ancient prophets. A 
 few of those instances shall here be put down. Thus pro- 
 phesied Azarias, in the reign of Asa, king of Juda : " Many 
 days shall pass in Israel, without the true God, and without a 
 priest or teacher, and without the law. And when in their 
 distress they shall return to the Lord, the God of Israel, and 
 shall seek him, they shall find him." 2 Paralip. xv. 3, 4. 
 Thus spoke the prophet Osee, about 800 years before Christ : 
 *' The children of Israel shall sit many days without king, 
 and without prince, and without sacrifice, without altar, and 
 without Ephod, and without theraphim : and after this the 
 children of Israel shall return, and shall seek the Lord their 
 God, and David their king : and they shall fear the Lord 
 and his goodness, in the last days," c. 3. v. 4, 5. Here the 
 prophet first describes the present forlorn state of the Jew^s, 
 without either fixed settlement or government, temple or sa- 
 crifice : then he informs us, that in the last days they will 
 return to God and seek David their king, that is, the true 
 Messiah, Jesus Christ, w'ho is of the race of David and his 
 successor in the kingdom of Juda. " And it shall come to 
 pass in that day," says the prophet Isaiah, " that the Lord 
 shall set his hand the second time to possess the remnant of 
 his people, which shall be left from the Assyrians, and from 
 Egypt, and from Phetros, and from Ethiopia, and from Elam, 
 and from Senaar, and from Emath, and from the Islands of the 
 sea; and he shall set up a standard unto the nations, and shall 
 assemble the fugitives of Israel, and shall gather together the 
 dispersed of Juda, from the four quarters of the earth," xi. 11. 
 The prophet Jeremiah prophesies on the same subject, in the 
 foUowinof strain : " Behold the whirlwind of the Lord, his 
 fury going forth a violent storm, it shall rest upon the head of 
 the wicked. The Lord will not turn away the wrath of his 
 indignation, till he have executed and performed the thoughts 
 
212 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 of his heart. In the last days you shall understand these 
 things. At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all 
 the families of Israel, and they shall be my people," xxx. 23, 
 24, and xxxi. 1. Here the anger of God is announced to fall 
 upon the head of the wicked, that is, upon Antichrist and his 
 society ; which the Jews will understand, or see executed in 
 the last days. About that time the Lord will become the God 
 of all the families or tribes of Israel, and they will become his 
 people. In like manner, by the mouth of the prophet Eze- 
 chiel, we hear the Almighty speaking thus to the Jews: " I 
 will take you from among the Gentiles, and will gather you 
 together out of all the countries, and will bring you into your 
 own land. And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit 
 within you: and I will take away the- stony heart out of your 
 flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh. And you shall dwell 
 in the land which I gave to your fathers ; and you shall be my 
 people, and I will be your God," xxxvi. 24, &c. We shall 
 close these prophecies with a passage from Micheas : " It 
 shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the 
 house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of mountains, 
 and high above the hills, and people shall flow to it. In 
 that day, saith the Lord, I will gather up her that halteth ; 
 and her that I had cast out I will gather up, and her whom I 
 had afilicted. And I will make her that halted, a remnant ; 
 and her that had been afflicted, a mighty nation : and the Lord 
 will reign over them in Mount Sion, from this time now and 
 for ever," iv. 1, 6, 7. 
 
 It being then the gracious design of the Almighty to receive 
 again the Jews into his favour, by their conversion to Christ- 
 ianity, at the period we are speaking of, when they are gather- 
 ing together at Jerusalem ; it is now to be examined by what 
 means that great work is to be efl^ected, and who is to be the 
 happy instrument of it. All antiquity and tradition tells us, 
 that Elias is the person. And these vouchers are grounded 
 on the express word of the scripture. Thus spoke God to the 
 Jews by the mouth of his prophet Malachy : " Behold I will 
 send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great 
 and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of 
 the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to 
 their fathers : lest I come and strike the earth with anathema," 
 iv. 5, 6. Here the Almighty promises, that before the great 
 and dreadful day of judgment, he will send the prophet Elias, 
 who shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the 
 heart of the children to the fathers, that is, he will convert the 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 213 
 
 Jews, by convincing- them that their Messiah is that very Jesus 
 whom they have rejected, and by such conviction he will re- 
 concile them to their fathers the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob : who believed in Christ to come, expected him, 
 and desired to see his day, (John viii. 56,) while the Jews by 
 the preachingof Elias will believe in him already come: and 
 thus will ensure a mutual reconciliation ; the fathers and the 
 children, who had been divided from the time of Christ's 
 coming, will be re-united in the same faith and obedience to 
 God. This work will be done lest I come, says the Lord, 
 an«l strike the earth with anathema, or, with utter destruc- 
 tion ; that is, lest the whole body of the Jewish people perish 
 , at the last day for want of faith in their Saviour ; and also 
 lest there should be found at that time so few amon"^ men 
 deserving mercy, on account of their infidelity and irreiigion, 
 as to oblige the Almighty to strike the earth with utter de- 
 struction, or in other words, to condemn almost the whole bulk 
 of mankind. 
 
 The conversion therefore of the Jews to Christianity is to 
 be the principal function of Elias. For this design he has 
 been reserved by the wisdom and bounty of God, and not been 
 suffered to die. While Eliseus was walkinp- with him, he 
 was taken away by the divine hand^from the earth, and con- 
 veyed to some place unknown to mankind. " As they (Elias 
 and Eliseus) went on, walking and talking together, behold, 
 a fiery chariot and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and. 
 Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven." 4 Kings ii. 11. 
 Elias therefore still exists in life, and will remain so, till he 
 returns again upon earth, in full vigour, vested with that 
 extraordinary commission from the Most High, to remove the 
 veil of darkness that hangs before the eyes of the Jews, to 
 show them their past error, and introduce them into the fold 
 of Christ their God and Redeemer. 
 
 That such will be the office committed to Elias, we also 
 learn very clearly from the book of Ecclesiasticus, chap, 
 xlviii. V. 4, 9, 10, where it is said: " Who can glory like to 
 thee, Elias? Who wast taken up in a whirlwind of fire, 
 in a chiriot of fiery horses. Who art registered in the 
 judgments of times, to appease the wrath of the Lord, to re- 
 concile the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the 
 tribes of Jacob.'' Elias is here said by the inspired writer, 
 to be registered in the judgments of times, that is, destined 
 to be, at an appointed time, a kind of mediator, to appease 
 the wrath of the Lord, irritated against the Jews for their in- 
 
214 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 fidelity; to reconcile the heart of the father to the son, by- 
 bringing- them to the faith and the holy sentiments of the 
 patriarchs their ancestors, as we said above ; and in fine, he 
 is destined to restore the tribes of Jacob to the favour of God, 
 by teaching them to acknowledge his divine son Jesus for 
 their Messiah. He will restore the tribes of Jacob, by re-en- 
 grafting them on the true olive tree, from whence, according 
 to the Apostle, they had been cut off for their infidelity. 
 "Because of unbelief," says St. Paul, " they were broken 
 off And if they abide not in unbelief, they shall be grafted 
 in : for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou 
 (Gentile) wert cut off the wild olive tree, which is natural to 
 thee ; and contrary to nature, were grafted into the good olive 
 tree ; how much shall they, the Jews, that are the natural 
 branches, be grafted in their own olive tree ? For, 
 blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fulness of 
 the Gentiles should come in ; and so all Israel should be 
 saved." Rom. xi. 20, 23, &c. The same account of Elias 
 is confirmed by our Saviour, who told his disciples: " Elias 
 indeed shall come, and shall restore all things." Matth. 
 xvii. 11. But let us here observe, that the expression of the 
 book of Ecclesiasticus, Elias will restore the tribes of Jacob, 
 and that of our Saviour, Elias will restore all things, seem 
 to indicate more than the conversion of the Jewish nation to 
 the faith, as this conversion is sufficiently insinuated in the 
 expression of Elias, appeasing the wrath of God, and recon- 
 ciling the heart of the father to the son. It appears there- 
 fore probable, that Elias will, by divine instruction, discover 
 to the Jews the original distinction of their tribes, which 
 they seem to have confounded and lost ; then that he will 
 restore the tribes to their primitive possessions, by re-esta- 
 blishing them in their ancient land of Judasa, each tribe in 
 his new respective partition, as marked out by Ezekiel, 
 ch. 48. The execution of this work will not at all be im- 
 possible to the prophet, as he will be endued with so ample 
 a degree of authority from God, and so extraordinary a 
 power of working miracles. This observation will be con- 
 firmed in the sequel from the ancient prophets, who represent 
 the Jews in full possession of the Holy Land after the time of 
 Antichrist. 
 
 But if the Almighty, through his special mercy to the 
 Jews, appoints them a teacher in Elias, to bring them back 
 into the true path, from which they have so long strayed, it 
 is not to be imagined he leaves the rest of the world without 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 215 
 
 the same kind of assistance. A teacher of extraordinary- 
 power and virtue will be more wanted, as iniquity will 
 abound in these times, and even the good will be exposed to 
 dangerous and most severe trials. To answer this exigency, 
 the all-bountiful God will send another agent, namely, 
 Henoch. We learn from Moses that this patriarch by a par- 
 ticular privilege was preserved from death : " Henoch 
 walked with God, and was seen no more, because God took 
 him." Gen. v 24. We learn the same from St. Paul : 
 •' By faith Henoch was taken away that he should not see 
 death ; and he was not found because God had taken him 
 away." Rom. xi. 5. In the whole class of mankind Henoch 
 and Elias are the only two persons to be found, that have not 
 paid the debt of nature ; which is deferred, till they shall 
 have completed the functions to which they are destined, 
 and which are not to take place till the latter days. They 
 will then have, each, their separate commission. That of 
 Elias will be, ' as we have seen, the conversion of the Jews, 
 &c., or, to restore the tribes of Jacob; while Henoch will be 
 sent to preach to the Gentiles, as we learn from the book of 
 Ecclesiasticus : " Henoch pleased God, and was translated 
 into Paradise, that he may give repentance to the nations," 
 xliv. 16. The object therefore of Henoch's ministry is to 
 give repentance to the nations, to withdraw idolaters from 
 idolatry, to move bad Christians to repentance and bring 
 them back into the ways of virtue, and in fine to stem the 
 prevailing tide of iniquity. In the same manner then as 
 St. Peter was appointed the apostle of the Jews, and St. 
 Paul the apostle of nations, Gal. ii. 7, 8 ; so Elias will be 
 sent, chiefly to the former, and Henoch to the latter ; but 
 as the preaching of each of the two apostles was not en- 
 tirely confined to either body of people, but sometimes ex- 
 tended to both ; so likewise Elias and Henoch will some- 
 times mix their labours in favour of both Jews and nations. 
 It is here further to be observed, that Henoch represents the 
 ancient patriarchs and people who lived under the law of 
 nature ; and Elias the Jewish prophets with that people, 
 v\'ho were bound to the Mosaic institution: so that by their 
 preaching the Christian religion we understand that both 
 the patriarchs and the prophets, both the law of nature ana 
 the Mosaic, will appear again, if the expression be allowed, 
 upon the stage of the world, to concur in giving testimony to 
 Christ. 
 
 The two messengers of God, Henoch and Elias, are the 
 
216 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 two witnesses, whose appearance and functions are described 
 by St. John in the Apocalypse : " And I will give unto my two 
 witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred 
 sixty days, clothed in sackcloth," xi. 3. God will give 
 unto these, his two witnesses, the spirit of preaching and 
 prophecy : by virtue of which they will preach and prophesy 
 for a time, that is limited to a thousand two hundred and sixty 
 days, thai is forty-two months of thirty days each, or three 
 years and a half During this period of their ministry 
 they will imitate the conduct observed by St. John Baniist 
 on his preaching, by showing in themselves the examples of 
 a penitential life, and practising the austerities of mortiii- 
 cation, as appears by the expression, that they will be clothed 
 in sackcloth. And such example, doubtless, will add great 
 weight to their preaching. 
 
 St. John continues to describe the two witnesses : " These are 
 two olive trees, and the two candlesticks that stand before the 
 Lord of the earth," xi. 4. Henoch and Eliasare compared to 
 olive trees ; because, as olive trees yield the unctious sub- 
 stance of oil, so these two powerful preachers will enrich 
 mankind with the streams of the grace of God, aptly repre- 
 sented by the richness of oil. They are also said to be the 
 two candlesticks that stand before the Lord, or God, of the 
 earth ; because as candlesticks are set up to diffuse light, so 
 they will carry the light of faith to the nations of the 
 earth. Here the apostle applies to them a passage in the 
 prophecy of Zachary : " These are two sons of oil, who 
 stand before the Lord of the whole earth." Zach. iv. 14. 
 
 St. John proceeds : " And if any man will hurt them, (the 
 two witnesses,) fire shall come out of their mouths, and shall 
 devour their enemies : And if any man will hurt them, in this 
 manner must he be slain." 
 
 " These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the 
 days of their prophecy : and they have power over waters to 
 turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues 
 as often as they will." Apoc. xi. 5, 6. Here are expressed the 
 miraculou-s powers, with which the two witnesses, Henoch and 
 Elias, will be vested. Such powers will be necessary, to 
 enable them to prove their mission, and to give weight to their 
 preaching. Every messenger, who appears with a new com- 
 mission from God, is always furnished with unquestionable 
 proofs of such his commission : and these proofs are no other 
 than miraculous works. Thus did our Saviour, the Apostles, 
 and first planters of Christianity, prove the divine authority of 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 217 
 
 their mission, and the truth of their doctrine. Every new 
 teacher, who comes destitute of such a sanction, can claim no 
 credit, but will be deemed an impostor. 
 
 Among the numerous miracles Henoch and Elias will per- 
 form, here is particular mention of some. If any one offers to 
 hurt them, to injure them, or attempt to seize them in order to 
 put them to death, fire will come out of their mouths, or, they 
 will command fire to come forth and devour those enemies. 
 The same terrible punishment Elias, while on earth, inflicted 
 upon the fifty men, whom king Ochozias sent to apprehend 
 him. The captain of the fifty men, said to Elias : " Man of 
 God, the kinsf has commanded that thou come down. Elias 
 answering, said to the captain of the fifty : If I be a man of 
 God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and 
 thy fifty. And there came down fire frojn heaven and con- 
 sumed him and the fifty that were with him." 4 Kings i. 9, 
 10. The second miracle of Henoch and Elias mentioned in 
 our text is, that they will shut heaven, that it rain not in the 
 days of their prophecy. At their command, no rain will fall 
 during the three years and a half of their preaching : which 
 drought will naturally produce a famine. This calamity they 
 will probably be inspired to call for, in order to make man- 
 kind sensible of the wrath of God that is armed against them, 
 to induce them to enter into themselves, and withdraw from 
 their evil ways. Elias had formerly worked the same won- 
 der, as we learn from the third book of Kings, where he is 
 introduced speaking to Achab, king of Israel, in the following 
 manner : " Elias the Thesite said to Achab : As the Lord 
 liveth, the God of Israel, in whose sight I stand, there shall 
 not be dew no.r rain these years, but according to the words 
 of m.y mouth " 3 Kings xvii. 1. This drought, announced 
 by Elias, lasted three years and a half, as we learn from St. 
 Luke's Gospel, c. 4. v. 2.5, and St. James' Epistle, c. 5. v. 17. 
 The third miracle ascribed to the two wonder-workers is the 
 turning waters into blood. This was also performed in Egypt 
 by Moses, In fine, it is said they will have power to strike 
 the earth with all plagues as often as they will. Here is then 
 a general power put into their hands to inflict on mankind 
 whatsoever calamities and disasters they may judge proper, 
 either for their own defence, or to punish the enemies of God, 
 or to bring men back to a sense of religion. Such surpri- 
 sing wonders worked by the hands of Henoch and Elias will 
 undoubtedly make impression upon mankind, and being en- 
 forced by a vigorous preaching will bring many to repentance, 
 19 
 
218 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 The preceding observations show us, then, who are the two 
 witnesses spoken of by St. John, and what will be at least, in 
 part, the object of their mission. If a further confirmation be 
 demanded, we have for vouchers all antiquity. We may 
 begin with St. Justin, who says : " our Saviour himself teaches 
 that Elias will come ; and we know that will happen towards 
 the time that our Lord Jesus Christ is to come from heaven 
 in his glory." Dial, cum Tryph. TertuUian speaks in the 
 following manner : " Henoch and Elias have been taken 
 away, nor do we find any account of their dying, because their 
 death has been delayed : but they must however one day die, 
 that by their blood Antichrist may be extinguished." De 
 anima, c. 50. St. Hyppolitus martyr, says : " St. John Bap- 
 tist was the precursor of the first coming of Jesus Christ, and 
 Elias and Henoch will be the precursors of the second." Orat. 
 de Antichristo. St. Ephrem comforts us by saying ; " God 
 in his mercy will send Henoch and Elias, who will exhort 
 mankind not to believe in Antichrist." Strm. de Antichr. 
 Lactantius seems to indicate Elias in the following words ; 
 " When the end of time will be approaching, God will send a 
 great prophet, to recall mankind to the knowledge of their 
 God, and who will have power of doing great wonders." 
 Instit. lib. 7. c. 17. St. Hilary, explaining the words of our 
 Saviour, says: "Christ told his disciples that Elias would 
 come and re-establish all things, that is, that Elias would 
 come to bring back all the Israelites that remain, to the 
 knowledge of their God." Cap. 17. in Matt. St. Jerom tells 
 that, " according to the prophecy of Malachy, Elias will 
 appear before the second coming of our Saviour, and will an- 
 nounce the approach of judgment." In Matth. xi. And in 
 another place : " When the fulness of the Gentiles will be 
 come in, all Israel shall be saved ] because then the prophet 
 Elias will come, and will reconcile and turn the heart of the 
 fathers to their children, and the heart of the children to the 
 fathers, and the new people will be re-united to the ancient." 
 Ifx cap. 4 Zach. And in his letter to St. Marcella, he tells 
 her that, " according to the Apocalypse, Henoch and Elias 
 are to come again and then to die." We read in St. Am- 
 brose that, " the beast which is Antichrist, will rise up from 
 the abyss to fight against Elias and Henoch, who will have 
 been sent again upon earth to give testimony to Jesus Christ, 
 as we learn from the Apocalypse of St. John." In Psalm 45. 
 St. Augustin informs us of the opinion of his times : " Nothing 
 is more common," says he, " in the discourse of the faithful, 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 219 
 
 than that the Jews will be converted to the faith of Christ by 
 the great prophet Elias : for it is with reason believed, that he 
 is yet living, and is expected to appear before the coming of 
 our Saviour to judgment." De civ. Dei, lib. 20. c. 19. And 
 again: " It is believed that Henoch and Elias wdll return to 
 pay the common debt of nature, that, though their death has 
 been deferred, they will nevertheless die." Ad. cap. 6 Gen. 
 St. John Chrysostom tells us : " The prophets announce two 
 comings of Christ, and say that Elias will be the forerunner 
 of the second." In Matth. horn. 58. St. Prosper writes as 
 follows; "As God sent ^ against Pharaoh two witnesses, 
 Moses and Aaron; and against Nero two witnesses, St. Peter 
 and St. Paul, so likewise he will send against Antichrist two 
 witnesses, Henoch and Elias." Dimid. Teiwp. c. 13. In 
 fine, St. Gregory the Great speaks thus on the same subject ; 
 '* Those two eminent preachers, Henoch and Elias have been 
 taken away, and their death delayed, that they may return to 
 preach in the last days It is of them that St. John says in 
 the Apocalypse : These are the two olive trees, and the two 
 candlesticks that stand before the Lord of the earth : of whom 
 Christ has promised one in the gospel, saying: Elias will 
 come and will restore all things : They are two stars that are 
 covered, and do not appear at present, but will appear here- 
 after for the advantage of the world, and great numbers of 
 Jewish people will be converted to the Faith." In Job. lib. 9. 
 c. 3. Thus do the ancient fathers aofree in assertino- the re- 
 turn of Henoch and Elias, and in explaining the functions of 
 their mmistry. The same has been the general language of 
 ecclesiastical writers, in all succeeding ages. 
 
 Hence, then, appears the absurd presumption of those, who, 
 from their enmity to the Catholic communion, have asserted 
 the two witnesses to be, not two single persons, but the whole 
 succession of heretics, who in different ages have revolted 
 from the Mother-Church, and abused her doctrine. 
 
 These two messengers of God, these two candlesticks that 
 stand before the Lord of the earth, will therefore be two great 
 lights that will shine in the Church of Christ in the last age. 
 Vested with the divine commission, they will enter upon their 
 ministry with extraordinary vigour and zeal. Henoch will 
 proceed forth to preach penance to different nations ; while 
 Elias will chiefly employ his labours at Jerusalem and in 
 Judaea for the conversion of the Jews, which he will success- 
 fully effect by the energy of his preaching, by the power of 
 his miracles, and the abundance of divine graces which will 
 
220 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 then flow in upon that people. They, recovering themselves 
 as'from a profound sleep, and opening their eyes to the bright 
 light which Elias will expose to them, they will see their past 
 blindness, will be confounded at their past errors, a«d will be 
 deeply touched at their long ingratitude to their God. They 
 will then recollect, in bitterness of heart, what the Almighty 
 had formerly urged to them, pre-admonishing them of their 
 late unhappy state. " Behold, the hand of the Lord is not 
 shortened that it cannot save, neither is his ear heavy, that it 
 cannot hear. But your iniquities have divided between you 
 and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that 
 he should not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, 
 and your fingers with iniquity." Isai. lix. 1, 2, 3. They will 
 acknowledge the justice of this reproach, making the follow- 
 ing humble reply: "Therefore has judgment been far from 
 us. — We looked for light, and behold darkness : brightness, 
 and we have walked in the dark. We have groped for the 
 wall, and like the blind, we have groped as if we had no 
 eyes : we'have stumbled at noon-day, as in darkness." Ihid. 
 V. 9, 10. From the full and clear instructions of Elias, they 
 will evidently see that all the different characters, ascribed by 
 the prophets to the Messiah, are found in Jesus Christ; they 
 will acknowledge his miracles ; and in deep anguish will 
 bewail the obstinacy of their forefathers, who shut their eyes 
 to such evidence, and with unparalleled impiety put to death 
 the author of life, and in consequence entailed upon their pos- 
 terity such long and severe judgments. In viewing that 
 horrible crime, committed against the sacred person of Christ, 
 they w^ill break out into sorrowful lamentations and tears of 
 compunction. " I will pour out upon the house of David, 
 (says God,) and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit 
 of grace and of prayers : and they shall look upon me, whom 
 they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one 
 mourneth for an only son : and they shall grieve over him, 
 as the manner is to grieve for the death of the first-born. In 
 that day there shall be a great lamentation in Jerusalem." 
 Zach. xii. 10, 14. In fine, the Jews, now totally convinced of 
 the whole truth of Christianity, will unite in offering up their 
 adoration to Jesus Christ, and with a full heart confess him to 
 be the eternal Son of God, the seed of Abraham, the race of 
 David, the king of Israel, the desired of all nations, the pro- 
 mised Messiah and Saviour of the world. 
 
 I'hus that new-modelled people, after passing through the 
 successive steps of surprise, confusion, and repentance, will at 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 221 
 
 last rise up to a state of gladness and exultation, at the view 
 of their present happiness. In a tide of joy they will send up 
 their praises to heaven, and will sing a canticle of thanks- 
 giving, which the Almighty himself has composed for them, 
 purposely as it would seem for this occasion, and has delivered 
 by the pen of his prophet Isaiah. 
 
 Chap. 12. V. 1. " I will give thanks to thee, O Lord: for 
 thou wast angry w^ith me : thy wrath is turned away, and 
 thou hast comforted me. 
 
 V. 2. " Behold God is my Saviour, I will deal confidently, 
 and will not fear ; because the Lord is my strength, and my 
 praise, and he is become my salvation. 
 
 V. 4. " Praise ye the Lord, and call upon his name : make 
 his intentions known among the people — remember that his 
 name is high. 
 
 V. 5. " Sing ye to the Lord, for he has done great things — 
 show this forth in all the earth. 
 
 V. 6. " Rejoice and praise, O thou habitation of Sion : for 
 great is He that is in the midst of thee, the holy One of Is- 
 rael." 
 
 To which thanksgiving they will probably join this other: 
 
 " Lord, thou hast blessed thy land : thou hast turned away 
 the captivity of Jacob. 
 
 " Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people : thou hast 
 covered all their sins. 
 
 " Thou hast mitigated all thy anger : thou hast turned 
 away from the wrath of thy indignation." Psalm 84. 
 
 The great prophet and apostle, Elias, having thus com- 
 pleted that remarkable work so long before foretold, of break- 
 ing down the wall of separation that stood between the Christ- 
 ian and Jewish people, and uniting them in one society; of 
 " converting the heart of the fathers to the children, and the 
 heart of the children to their fathers, of restoring the tribes of 
 Jacob" to the favour of their God, and so saving all Israel ; 
 the happy event will be carried upon the Avings of the wind 
 over all Christendom, and the voice of exultation and praises 
 of the Almighty will resound in every quarter of the Church. 
 
 And now Elias, having fulfilled this part of his ministry, 
 will be at leisure to convert his attention and labours to other 
 nations. Nor can we sufficiently admire the divine mercy, 
 in sending such powerful preachers as Henoch and Elias, to 
 reform mankind at a time that they will have become so uni- 
 versally corrupt, and that even idolatry will have made its 
 appearance again upon the earth. They will admonish 
 19* 
 
222 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 mankind of the approaching- end of the world, will reprove 
 them for their profligate morals and infidelity. " The axe is 
 now laid to the root," will they say : " every tree, therefore, 
 that doth not 3n*eld good fruit, will be cut down and cast into 
 the fire." Matth. iii. 10. They will explain the prophecies, 
 showing what part of them has been accomplished, and what 
 remains to be fulfilled ; and they themselves will prophesy. 
 Apoc. xi. 3. They will give notice of the then near approach 
 of Antichrist, of his satanic efforts to make the world aposta- 
 tize from God, and of the dreadful persecution he will exer- 
 cise against the whole body of Christians. The}/- will exhort 
 the people, with all the energy of eloquence, and with a full 
 exertion of their miraculous powers, to return from their ini- 
 quities, to do penance, to embrace the mercy of God, which 
 soon will be no more in their power, and to guard against the 
 terrible disasters that are ready to fall. In order to give 
 more extent to their labours, they will stir up the zeal of the 
 pastors and priests, and will send them forth with the com- 
 mission to renew the face of the earth. The Church will 
 therefore, at this time, exert itself on all sides with extraordi- 
 nary fervour. Its ministers, endued with the apostolic spirit, 
 will, in imitation of the apostles, spread themselves every 
 where, even to the remotest countries, and will make the 
 gospel again resound in all parts of the earth. " This gospel 
 of the kingdom (says Christ) shall be preached in the whole 
 world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the con- 
 summation come." Matth. xxii. 14. 
 
 This general preaching of the Christian doctrine in the 
 sixth or last age of the Avorld, we also find sublimely set 
 forth, with other particulars, by our apostle and prophet, in 
 the tenth chapter of the Apocalypse. 
 
 V. 1. "I saw," says he, " another mighty angel come down 
 from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow on his head, 
 and his face was as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire." 
 The appearance of this mighty angel is very remarkable. 
 The different parts of his attire are formed to bear a relation to 
 the events he comes to announce. He is clothed with a cloud 
 to indicate that a cloud of persecution is soon to overspread 
 the Church. He is crowned Avith a rainbow, as a symbol of 
 the alliance Christ has made with his Church : first, to ex- 
 tend her kingdom over the whole earth ; " this Gospel of the 
 kingdom," said he, " shall be preached in the whole world." 
 Matt. xxiv. 14 : secondly, to guide her in all difficulties, " be- 
 hold I am with you to the end of the world." Matt, xxviii. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 223 
 
 20 : thirdly, to protect her against whatever attacks may 
 be made upon her, " the gates of hell shall not prevail 
 against her." Matt. xvi. 18. Such is the similitude between 
 this rainbow and that which Almighty God established after 
 the deluge for the sign of his alliance or engagement with 
 mankind, never more to destroy the earth by water. The 
 angel's face was as the sun; a lively image of the brightness 
 with which the Church will shine in coming forth victorious 
 from the great persecution of Antichrist ; a brightness, arising 
 from her invincible faith and the number of her glorious mar- 
 tyrs ; a brightness, that will receive an additional lustre from 
 the extraordinary zeal and sanctity produced in the Christians 
 by the persecution. Lastly, the angeFs feet were as pillars of 
 fire ; the feet being the e.xtremity of the body, here is signified 
 the ending of the world by fire. 
 
 V. 2. " And he (the angel) had in his hand a little book 
 open." The little book in the angel's hand represents the 
 book of the Gospel, which is not voluminous; and it is open, 
 as ready to be divulged and preached over the whole world. — 
 Thus in the shape and equipment of the angel we read an 
 epitome of vrhat will principally concern the Christian Church 
 from that moment, in which the angel is supposed to appear, 
 to the end of time. 
 
 V. 2. " And he (the angel) set his right foot upon the sea, 
 and his left foot upon the earth. 
 
 V. 3. " And he cried with a loud voice, as when a lion 
 roareth " The angel stands with one foot upon the land and 
 the other upon the sea, to show that what he is going to an- 
 nounce, relates to the whole earth. And he cries with a 
 loud voice, as when a lion roareth, to make himself heard 
 over the whole globe. 
 
 V, 3. " And when he (the angel) had cried, seven thun- 
 ders had uttered their voices. 
 
 V. 4. " And when the seven thunders had uttered their 
 voices, I was about to write : and I heard a voice from heaven 
 saying to m.e : Seal up the things, which the seven thunders 
 have spoken, and write them not." Here St. John is permitted 
 to write, but ordered to seal up the things which the seven 
 thunders had spoken ; which circumstance seems to insinuate, 
 that the things spoken by the seven thunders were seven par- 
 ticulars of Antichrist's persecution ; as the word thunder is 
 generally used in the Apocalypse to denote some disaster ; 
 and these seven particulars being most dreadful and severe, 
 the Almighty chose to have them sealed up or kept eoncealed. 
 
224 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 lest the foreknowledge of them should too much terrify and 
 damp the human mind. 
 
 V. 5. " And the angel, whom I saw standing upon the 
 sea, and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, 
 
 V. 6. " And he swore by him that liveth for ever and ever, 
 who created heaven, and the things which are therein : and 
 the earth, and the things which are in it : and the sea, and the 
 things w^hich are therein : that there should be time no longer: 
 
 V. 7. " But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, 
 when he shall begin to sound the trumpet, the mystery of 
 God should be finished, as he has declared by his servants 
 tlie prophets." 
 
 Here the ang"el announces in the most solemn manner the 
 end of the world, swearing by the eternal God, Creator of 
 heaven and earth, that time shall soon be no more : and that 
 at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the mystery of God 
 shall be finished or consummated, that is, that the whole sys- 
 tem of divine dispensations, which the Almighty had in view 
 in creating the world, shall then be totally fulfilled, and all 
 that he had revealed to or declared by his prophets, relative to 
 his providential economy towards mankind, shall then be en- 
 tirely accomplished : upon which a period will be put to the 
 world. The earth then will be burned, as signified by the 
 angel standing upon it with feet which were as pillars of fire. 
 
 We may here observe that St. John says, in the days, and 
 not in the day, of the voice of the seventh angel sounding the 
 trumpet ; which expression seems to indicate two soundings 
 of the trumpet, with some interval between tiiem : the first 
 sounding being destined to put an end to time, and to the 
 breath of all then living ; and the second, to call up the dead 
 to judgment. 
 
 V. 8. " And I heard a voice from heaven again speaking to 
 me, and saying : Go, and take the book that is open, from the 
 hand of the angel, who standeth upon the sea and the earth." 
 
 St. John is here ordered, by a voice from heaven, to go and 
 take the book ; the little book according to the Greek text ; 
 the same book as mentioned above, A^er. 2, in the angel's hand. 
 The little book is the gospel, as we have said ; and St. John 
 himself here represents the ministers of the Church, who will 
 be stirred up and stimulated by the voice of Henoch and 
 Elias, and of the Church itself, to take the little book, or the 
 gospel, in hand, and to undertake the preaching of it, which 
 will be so particularly wanted in this depraved and dangerous 
 tune. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 225 
 
 V. 9. " And I went to the angel, saying unto him that he 
 should give me the book. And he said to me, take the book, 
 and eat it up: and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy 
 mouth, it shall be sweet as honey." St. John goes and asks 
 of the angel the little book : that is, a numerous clergy of all 
 degrees animated by the above voice, and inspired with a new 
 zeal and an apostolic spirit, ask a commission from the 
 Church, to go and preach the gospel to all the nations of the 
 earth. This commission is given them, as the book was 
 given to St. John: and they are enjoined "to go into the 
 whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 
 xvi. 15. And as St. John is told to eat up the book, these 
 new preachers are exhorted to proceed to announce the word 
 of God with the same ardour and eagerness with which 
 the hungry man flies to his food. St. John is further told by 
 the angel, that the book will be sweet as honey in his mouth, 
 but will make his belly bitter ; both which the apostle expe- 
 rienced, V. 10. " And I took the book," says he, " from the 
 hand of the angel, and eat it up : and it was in my mouth 
 sweet as honey, and when I had eaten it, my belly was bitter." 
 The new troop of apostolic men, in setting out on their mis- 
 sion, feel an inexpressible satisfaction in undertaking a work, 
 30 much to the glory of God, and to which are promised such 
 high rewards. In this sense is the gospel as honey in their 
 mouths. But afterwards, when swallowed, it makes their 
 belly bitter, or causes them pains in the bowels ; a figurative 
 expression of the persecutions and severities the preachers 
 were to suffer in consequence of their ministry. Thus then it 
 '- appears, their fate will be alike to that which our Saviour 
 destined for his apostles and foretold them : " They shall de- 
 liver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death :" This 
 will be done in the great persecution of Antichrist, the cloud 
 which clothed the angel. 
 
 V. 11. " And he," the angel, "said to me, (St. John,) thou 
 must prophesy again to many nations, and peoples, and 
 tongues, and kinsfs."* Here then the above-mentioned minis- 
 ters of the gospel, represented by the person of St. John, after 
 having received their commission, are told to enter upon their 
 work of preaching : " Thou must prophesy again to many 
 nations," &c. Let us however observe, that the expression of 
 prophecying implies preaching accompanied with the gift of 
 prophecy, and of interpreting prophecies. We must observe 
 
 * In the Greek, " Thcu must prophesy before nations, and peoples, and 
 many tongues, and many kings." 
 
226 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 also, that St. John is told, he must prophesy again ; the mean- 
 ing of which is, that as St. John himself, with the other apos- 
 tles and preachers, had carried the gospel through the world 
 in the first age of Christianity, in the same manner the minis- 
 ters of Christ must announce it again in the last age. In this 
 general preaching, St. John's gospel and his other writings 
 will be chiefly made use of 
 
 In this manner will the Almighty display the riches of his 
 mercy for the conversion of mankind, by sending them zealous 
 preachers endued with miraculous powers, and by such an 
 abundant effusion of his graces, as will be proportioned to 
 conquer the influence of the then prevailing wickedness; 
 though the greater part of men will remain hardened in their 
 iniquity. And now the holy work will be in some measure 
 advanced, and a select number of people will be prepared for 
 the afflictions and calamities that the Almighty is upon the 
 point of permitting, in his anger, to break out and burst upon 
 mankind. " Behold there come yet two woes more hereaf- 
 ter." Apoc. ix. 12. Of these two remaining woes, the first 
 follows on the sounding of the sixth trumpet : and the second 
 or last belongs to the seventh trumpet, the sounding of which 
 will put an end to the world. We shall now see of what 
 kind is the wo, announced by the sixth trumpet. 
 
 The sounding of the Sixth Trumpet. 
 
 Apoc. chap. ix. 13, " And the sixth angel sounded the 
 trumpet : and I heard," says St. John, " a voice from the 
 four horns of the golden altar, which is before the eyes of 
 God. 
 
 V. 14. " Saying to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet ; 
 loose the four angels, who are bound in the great river Eu- 
 phrates. 
 
 V. 15. "And the four angels were loosed, who were pre- 
 pared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year ; for to 
 kill the third part of men. 
 
 V. 16. " And the number of the army of horsemen was 
 twenty thousand times ten thousand. — And I heard the num- 
 ber of them. 
 
 V. 17. " And thus I saw the horses in the vision: and 
 they that sat on them, had breast plates of fire, and of hya- 
 cinth, and of brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as 
 the heads of lions : and from their mouths proceeded fire, and 
 smoke, and brimstone. 
 
 V. 18. "And by these three plagues was slain the third 
 
HISTORY Ot THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH- 227 
 
 part of men, by the fire and by the smoke, and by the brim- 
 stone, which issued out of their mouths. 
 
 V. 19. " For the power of the horses is in their mouths 
 ■and in their tails. For their tails are like to serpents, and 
 have heads : and with them they hurt. , ' 
 
 V. 20. '* And the rest of the men, who were not slain by 
 these plagues, did not do penance for the works of their hands, 
 that they should not adore devils and idols of gold and silver, 
 and brass and stone, and wood, which neither can see, nor 
 hear, nor walk. 
 
 V. 21. " Neither did they penance from their murders, nor 
 from their sorceries, nor from their fornication, nor from their 
 thefts." 
 
 As the object of the sixth vial is closely connected with that 
 of the sixth trumpet, we shall here immediately subjoin the 
 pouring of that vial. 
 
 The 'pouring out of the sixth vial of the wrath of God. 
 
 Apoc. chap. vi. 12. " And the sixth angel," says St. John, 
 " poured out his vial upon that great river Euphrates : and 
 dried up the water thereof, that a way might be prepared for 
 the kings from the rising of the sun." 
 
 To return to the first text. The sixth trumpet sounds, and 
 St. John hears a voice, according to the Greek text " one voice, 
 from the four horns of the golden altar" of incense, that is, 
 one voice composed of four voices issuing from the four horns, 
 that adorned the corners of the altar, in resemblance to the 
 altar of incense in the temple of Jerusalem. The four horns 
 or corners of the altar denote the four, that is, all the quarters 
 of the globe ; and the four voices that come from thence re- 
 present the voices of the guardian angels* of all the kingdoms 
 of the earth. These angels finding themselves frustrated in 
 their continued labour to reform the people committed to their 
 patronage, at last leave them as incorrigible, in the same 
 manner as w^as done by the tutelar angels of Babylon and the 
 pro\'inces of its empire : " w^e would have cured Babylon," 
 said they, " but she is not healed : let us forsake her." Jerem. 
 li. 9. The angels therefore in the present case flying from 
 their respective countries, and confessing the justice of the 
 
 * It is sufficiently intimated in Scripture, that empires and nations have 
 their tutelar angels. St. Michael is said to be the prince of the Jewish 
 people. Dan. x. 21. The Christian Church has likewise chosen the same 
 archangel for her patron. Daniel mentions the prince of Persia, which is 
 understood to be its guardian angel. Most of the ancient fathers have in 
 the same manner ascribed the care of kingdoms to angels. 
 
228 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 punishments now to be executed, join in one voice to tell the 
 angel who had sounded the trumpet, to loose the four angels 
 Avho were bound in the great river Euphrates. These four 
 angels, who are tied fast on the river Euphrates, are four evil 
 spirits, representing four barbarous great kingdoms or powers, 
 which they stir up to war. And these powers chiefly lie on 
 the eastern side of the Euphrates with respect to Europe, or 
 with respect to St. John, who was at the time of this revela- 
 tion in the isle of Patmos, in the Archipelago. They are said 
 to be bound in the river Euphrates, because the Almighty had 
 hitherto restrained them, and withheld them from rising up 
 and crossing the Euphrates, to bring mischief to mankind, till 
 the time he had fixed for executing his judgments was come. 
 Then he lets them loose. 
 
 " And the four angels weire loosed, who were prepared for an 
 hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to kill the third 
 part of men," v. 15. Here we see the cruel and bloody dispo- 
 sition of these four nations, as being ready to kill the third part 
 of men. They are said to be ready at an hour, a day, a month, 
 and a year, to destroy mankind; because, of these four nations, 
 one will inhabit the banks of the Euphrates, and consequently 
 will be ready, as may be said, at an hour's warning, to cross 
 that river. A second nation, lying at some distance, will require 
 a day, that is, a longer time to prepare and m.arch to the Eu- 
 phrates. A third more distant nation, and a fourth the most 
 distant of all, will respectively require still a longer space of 
 time, expressed by a month, and a year, to reach the Eu- 
 phrates, cross it, and meet in the field, in order to enter upon 
 the execution of their murderous designs. 
 
 This explication is confirmed by what is exhibited under the 
 sixth vial. '• And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon 
 that great river Euphrates ; and dried up the water thereof, 
 that a way might be prepared for the kings from the rising of 
 the sun." As at the sounding of the sixth trumpet, the four an- 
 gels or powers, who had been tied upon the river Euphrates, 
 are loosed ; so the sixth vial is poured out upon the Euphrates; 
 and that river is immediately dried up, or the passage is made 
 easy to the kings who come from the east. Both the trumpet 
 and the vial conspire to announce four great powers or kings, 
 coming from the eastern countries of Asia, with their hands 
 ready for destruction. And these are the agents employed by 
 the avenging hand of God to punish mankind for their wick- 
 edness, which will have grown to be excessive at this time. 
 It may here be asked, which are the powers here spoken of? 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 229 
 
 If we may be allowed to conjecture from the present situation 
 of empires in Asia, which however may alter, the four great 
 powers in question may be, the Turks, whose dominions ex- 
 tend over the Euphrates and beyond the Tigris, the Persians, 
 the Moguls, and the Chinese with the Chinese Tartars. 
 
 The time of loosing the four angels that were tied upon the 
 Euphrates, seems to indicate the moment in which Satan 
 himself is loosed from the abyss or hell, where we saw, f. G8, 
 he was chained up for a thousand years. " And when the 
 thousand years shall be finished," says St. John, " Satan shall 
 be loosed out of his prison, and he shall go forth, and seduce 
 the nations, which are over the four quarters of the earth." 
 Apoc. XX. 7. The prince of hell is therefore, by the permis- 
 sion of God, at this time let loose with his hellish crew, and 
 is allowed to employ his art and power in seducing mankind 
 to idolatry, impiety, war, and mischief And here we date the 
 revival of idolatry. But we have this comfort, that his time 
 will be short : " He must be loosed a little time." Apoc. xx. 3. 
 Whoever considers the circumstance of Satan being loosed, 
 needs not wonder if strange and extraordinary events fol- 
 low. The first age of Christianity exhibited to us a dismal 
 scene of his power and action. On one hand he deceived 
 mankind by his oracles and other delusive arts ; while a num- 
 ber of individuals groaned under the weight of his malevo- 
 lence, from their being possessed by devils, as we read in the 
 gospels and other books of the New Testament. On another 
 hand we saw with what efforts he opposed the birth and 
 growth of the Christian religion; with what fury and malice 
 he instigated the whole Roman empire against it ; what per- 
 secutions he suscitated ; what torments and horrible cruelties 
 he suggested to be employed against the Christians, and what 
 an ocean of their blood he procured to be spilled. If such, then, 
 was the power of Satan at that time, and if so much he could 
 do by means of his infernal agents, and by his instruments, 
 the emperors, Nero, Domitian, Dioclesian, &c. why shall we 
 be surprised to see his last efforts still stronger in the time of 
 Antichrist, " whose commg," as St. Paul says, " is according 
 to the working of Satan ?" 2 Thess. ii. 9. The Antichristian 
 period is described by the ancient fathers as the most dreadful 
 of all, and the Apocalypse plainly shows it to be so, as we 
 shall see. 
 
 Four of Satan's associates are the four bad angels we saw 
 bound fast upon the river Euphrates, but now are united and 
 permitted to go and raise up the four above-mentioned barba- 
 20 
 
230 MISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHTJRClt. 
 
 rous nations, which they will instigate to carry destruction 
 and devastation through the world. 
 
 These nations therefore arrive at different times at the Eu- 
 phrates, which they cross without obstruction, and assemble in 
 the plains on this side that river. The Antichristian prince, 
 who had summoned them to his standard, as before related, 
 assumes the command, and glories in being master of such a 
 prodigious army. " And the number of the an.iy of horse- 
 men," says St. John, " was twenty thousand times ten thou- 
 sand. And I heard the number of them," v. 15, See text of 
 the sixth Trumpet. 
 
 This army is here described as wholly consisting of caval- 
 ry : I suppose for despatch ; and the eastern people have 
 always used much cavalry. But the number is excessive, 
 such as has never been heard of in any instance before. We 
 read in history of Xerxes, the Persian king, invading Greece 
 with an army of one million of men. But an army of two 
 hundred millions, or twenty thousand times ten thousand, is 
 altogether impossible ; as it is doubtful whether there be that 
 number of men, capable of bearing arms, upon the whole 
 globe of the earth ; whereas this body of men is chiefly col- 
 lected from the Asiatic countries that lie on the eastern side of 
 the Euphrates ; and yet St. John assures us he heard their 
 number named. " And I heard the number of them." Such 
 an immense multitude cannot therefore be accounted for, but 
 by supposing a great part of it to consist of the infernal beings. 
 And that it is so, we have reason to conclude : first, from Sa- 
 tan's having been let loose, as we have just now seen, and pro- 
 bably with him a numerous crew of his associates : secondly, 
 from the fourth seal, which relates, as we observed, to the 
 Antichristian prince, and thus describes him : " Behold a pale 
 horse, and he that sat upon him, his name was Death, and hell 
 followed him." Apoc. vi. 8. Here it is expressly said, that 
 hell follows him. Thirdly, the same we shall see, by and by, 
 confirmed by the prophet Joel. 
 
 Such is the immense horrid army of the Antichristian mo- 
 narch, composed of men and devils in human shape. With this 
 he moves westwards, and is met in the neighbourhood of Je- 
 rusalem by those powers, which we mentioned had rebelled 
 against him, and wh ich have advanced in a body to dispute their 
 liberty with him. Dispositions being made, both armies come 
 to an engagement. The appearance of the monarch's troops 
 on this occasion, and the arms they fight with, are described in 
 a very peculiar manner by St. John in the above-given text of 
 
HISTORV OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCtt. 231 
 
 the sixth trumpet, ver. 17. "And thus I saw the horses in 
 the vision ; and they that sat on them had breast-plates oi 
 fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the 
 horses were as the heads of lions ; and from their mouths 
 proceeded fire, and smoke, and brimstone." The horsemen 
 appeared to St. John with breast-plates of fire and of hyacinth 
 and of brimstone. By this expression is indicated the firing 
 of carabines or such fire-arms as cavalry use; which are ap- 
 plied to the breast when shot off! He saw the firing of these 
 guns, in the manner that it is done now a-days, but not being 
 acquainted with such operations, as gunpowder was unknown 
 in his time, he took the fire, that issued out of the muskets, to 
 come from the horsemen's breasts, on which the muskets 
 rested, and so thought the horsemen had breast-plates of fire. 
 The prophet, here, even describes to us the composition of 
 gunpowder, with its three several ingredients, viz. brimstone 
 or sulphur, fire, or charcoal, the properesi matter of fire; and 
 hyacinth or saltpetre. Hyacinth, a precious stone of a purple 
 colour, is here made use of to represent saltpetre, because 
 saltpetre, when set on fire, emits a flame of a fine purple co- 
 lour, similar to the colour of the hyacinth stone. Here then 
 we see revealed to St. John both the composition and use of 
 gunpowder, to which he and all mankind at that time were 
 strangers. 
 
 Then it is said : " and the heads of the horses were as the 
 heads of lions, and from their mouths proceeded fire, and 
 smoke, and brimstone." Before, we saw the description of 
 the muskets and their fire ; here is pointed out the artillery 
 of the army, or cannon. But, as St. John had not naturally 
 any notion of such things, which did not exist in his time ; and 
 as he saw, in this vision, the whole army drawn up at a dis- 
 tance, and the artillery placed upon a line with the cavalry, 
 he seemed to confound the cannon with the horses, and the 
 cannon's mouths with the mouths of the horses, as the height 
 of both from the ground is nearly the same.* When there- 
 fore he says, the heads of the horses were as the heads of 
 lions, it is the same as if he said, the mouths of the cannon 
 were, as to the noise they made, like the mouths of roaring 
 lions ; and from their mouths proceeded fire, and smoke, and 
 brimstone, that is, the fire of gunpowder. Hence it appears, 
 that St. John, in his vision, both saw the fire of the cannon, 
 and heard the explosion. One may further remark, that he 
 points out here a nice difference between musket gunpowder 
 
   He describes the appearances, as he saw in the vision, not the reaUty. 
 
232 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 and that used in cannon. The first he describes as composed 
 of fire, hyacinth or saltpetre, and brimstone ; the second, as 
 composed of fire, smoke, and brimstone ; that is, the musket 
 gunpowder, which is finer, has in its composition a larger 
 proportion ( f saltpetre : and the cannon gunpowder, which is 
 coarser, corj«ains a larger share of charcoal which produces 
 the smoke. And such, it is known, is really the composition 
 used ai this day. 
 
 This explanation is further confirmed by what follows in 
 the text : " For the power of the horses is in their mouths and 
 in their tails. For their tails are like to serpents, and have 
 heads ; and with them they hurt," v. 19. The power of the 
 imagined horses, or real cannon, lying in their mouths and 
 in their tails, signifies, that the mischievous power of the can- 
 non is directed to the object by their mouths, but takes its 
 birth in the tail or breech of the cannon, where the charge is 
 lodged ; whence the cannon's breech is here compared to the 
 serpent's head, which contains his venom. 
 
 " And by these three plagues was slain the third part of 
 men, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, 
 which issued out of their mouths," v. 18. This destructive 
 instrument, gunpowder, the invention of latter ages, will there- 
 fore be employed by the Antichristian army, all along in its 
 progress, to slay the third part of men, probably the wicked. 
 And this is conformable to what we read under the fourth 
 seal: " Power was given to him, to kill with sword, with 
 famine, and with death, (or gunpowder,) and with the beasts 
 of the earth," (or cavalry.) Apoc. vi. 8. See the explication 
 ofi/iat seal. 
 
 As we left the two armies engaged, a question may be asked 
 about the issue of the battle. What it will be with respect to 
 the great hero, the Antichristian emperor, we learn from St. 
 John, who, however, so closely connects this event with that 
 prince's alliance to the Roman empire, that we must beg leave 
 to follow our inspired writer in joining the accounts of both 
 together. 
 
 Chap. xiii. v. 1. " And I saw," says St. John, •' a beast 
 coming up out of the sea, having seven heads, and ten horns, 
 and upon his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of 
 blasphemy. 
 
 V. 2. " And the beast, which I saw, was like to a leopard, 
 and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the 
 mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his own strength 
 and great power. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 233 
 
 V. 3. " And I saw one of his heads as it were slain to 
 death." 
 
 The heast which St. John sees here rising up from tlie sea, 
 or from the tumultuous scenes of war and the fluctuations of 
 the world, represents the ancient pagan empire of Rome. For 
 the beast he says has seven heads and ten horns ; we have 
 before shown, seven heads are seven heathen Roman empe- 
 rors, persecutors of Christianity, the last of whom will be 
 Antichrist ; and the horns are the northern powers that de- 
 stroyed and divided among themselves the western part of 
 that empire. " Upon his horns.were ten diadems or crowns ;" 
 whereas in chap. 12. v. 3, on his heads were seven diadems. 
 This passing of the diadems from the heads to the horns, 
 shows that old Rome had lost her sovereignty which had 
 been wrested from her emperors by those northera people 
 who had crowTaed themselves with it. And the beast had 
 upon his heads names of blasphemy ; blasphemies, which 
 the heathen emperors spoke against Christ ; blasphemies, or 
 pagan gods which they set up in opposition to him ; blas- 
 phemies, or divine honours, which those emperors required to 
 be paid to themselves. 
 
 Let us take notice that St. John here gives us in abridg- 
 ment the successive periods of the Roman empire. It is de- 
 scribed, as first ruling under a succession of idolatrous heads 
 or emperors, and then pulled down and divided among a num- 
 ber of invaders denoted by the horns. From them it passes 
 to become the Antichristian empire, as appears by what fol- 
 lows: "And the beast which I saw," says St. John, "was 
 like to a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and 
 his x.iouth as the mouth of a lion." But here -we must pre- 
 viously observe, that this extraordinary beast is in its exterior 
 form made up of the three animals, the leopard, the bear, and 
 the lion ; because the empire of Rome had reduced under its 
 dominion the countries belonofinof to the three successive 
 empires of Babylon, of Persia, and of Greece, which are ex- 
 hibited by the prophet Daniel under the types of those three 
 animals. " I saw," says Daniel, " in my vision — And four 
 great beasts, different one from another, came up out of the sea. 
 The first was like a lioness — And behold another beast like a 
 bear — After this I beheld, and lo another like a leopard." 
 Dan. vii. 3, &c. Which three beasts here specified have 
 always been understood to denote the three above-named em- 
 .pires. These empires preceded that of Rome, and then passed 
 into its dominion ; for which reason it is here represented as 
 20* 
 
234 HISTORY OF THfi CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 composed of them. Great empires are indicated by the pro- 
 phets under the figure of beasts, on account of the devastation 
 and havoc they make, like wild beasts, in the world, to raise 
 up their dominion. 
 
 This observation premised, St. John says : " and the. beast 
 which I saw, w^as like to a leopard ;" the body of the beast 
 was like unto a leopard, that is, the centre and capital part of 
 the Roman empire under Antichrist will be the Grecian em- 
 pire denoted by the leopard. After the division of the ancient 
 Roman state, the eastern part chiefly consisted of the territory 
 of the ancient empire of Macron or Greece. The Turkish 
 emperor, Antichrist, will one day be in possession of it ; and 
 from it wmU arise the Antichristian kingdom. Rome was 
 destroyed with the western empire : Constantinople then be- 
 came the capital of the remaining part of the Roman empire ; 
 it will be also Antichrist's capital city : and it is now the 
 centre and seat of the Turkish, or formerly Grecian monar 
 chy ; and from this centre, conquest will be carried into those 
 countries that formed the western part of the ancient Roman 
 empire, and over the whole world. Thus, then, the Antichrist- 
 ian empire is founded on the empire of ancient Greece, at 
 present the Constantinopolitan empire. Hence, it appears 
 why the body of the beast is like to a leopard. 
 
 St. John's description of the beast may receive a further 
 elucidation from the prophecy of Daniel concerning the Ro- 
 man empire, which was also represented to him under the 
 figure of a beast, the fourth of those which he saw in a vision. 
 " After this I beheld," says he, " in the vision of the night, 
 and lo a fourth beast, terrible and wonderful, and exceeding 
 strong ; it had great iron teeth, eating and breaking in pieces, 
 and treading down the rest with its feet," vii. 7. Which an 
 angel explained to the prophet thus : " The fourth beast will 
 be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be greater than 
 all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall 
 tread it down and break it in pieces." Ibid. v. 23. It is 
 plain, that what Daniel here says of the Roman empire, has 
 never yet been completely fulfilled. For, though the power 
 of ancient Rome extended into Europe, Asia, and Africa, yet 
 there remained vast countries unsubdued in each of those 
 parts, besides America, which was not then known: conse- 
 quently, the Roman power did not reach over the whole earth, 
 as Daniel here specifies it should. Then, though Rome 
 sometimes treated the conquered people with severity and 
 haughtiness, yet it cannot be said that she devoured the whole 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. ' 235 
 
 earth, and trod it down, and broke it in pieces. Daniel's pro- 
 phecy havinjTf therefore been but partially accomplished in tht 
 ajicient empire of Rome, it remains to be completed in that 
 Roman empire, of which Antichrist will be the head, and which 
 will extend over the whole earth. — And now it will appear 
 that the texts of the two prophets help to explain one another. 
 The beast, says St. John, had a mouth as the mouth of a lion, 
 a proper animal to devour, as Daniel terms it. The beast, 
 again, according- to St. John, had feet as the feet of a bear, an 
 animal that treads down its prey with its feet, as Daniel speaks 
 of it. Lastly, the beast, according- to St. John, was like to a 
 leopard, which with its teeth of a lion and claws of a bear, may 
 break in pieces, as Daniel says of it, or tear in pieces whatever 
 it seizes. Such will be the violence and tyranny of Anti- 
 christ's dominion when he becomes universal monarch. 
 
 But we must here further observe, that not only the ulti- 
 mate accomplishment of what belongs to the Roman empire* 
 will have its place at the time of Antichrist, but the same must 
 be applied to the ancient empire of Greece, now represented 
 b)'' the Constantinopolitan or Ottoman empire, which we have 
 shown to be the foundation and centre of the Antichristian 
 kingdom. For, Daniel speaking of the empire of Greece, 
 says : " It shall rule over all the world," ii. 39 ; to which also 
 alludes what he applies to it in another place : " Power was 
 given to it," vii. 6. But it is well known, that Alexander the 
 Great, Avho reared up the Grecian empire, never ruled over 
 the whole world. The extent of his dominion fell far short 
 of it. This prophecy remains therefore to be finally com- 
 pleted in Antichrist, who will be the last head of both Roman 
 and Grecian empires. 
 
 To return to our text: St. John said, " And the draofon crave 
 
 I'll* o O 
 
 him (the beast) his own strength, (here the Greek adds, and 
 his throne,) and great powers," v. 2. The dragon, or Satan, 
 prince of the infernal kingdom, gives his own strength to the 
 beast or the Antichristian empire; that is, to its emperor, the 
 Antichristian prince, and his agents ; the dragon or Satan 
 gives him, I say, his own strength, or his armies of hellish 
 fiends to fight and act for him ; in the same manner as the 
 northern powers (Apoc. xvii. 13.) gave their strength to the 
 beast, that is, their armies to the Romans for their assistance. 
 And this is conformable to what was said under the fourth 
 seal : " And hell followed him." Apoc. vi. 8. The dragon 
 furthermore gives to the Antichristian emperor his throne, by 
 constituting him his visible substitute, representative, and dele- 
 
236 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 gate to rule and command as he pleases. In fine, the drag-on 
 gives him great power, or a surprising faculty of working 
 counterfeit miracles and imposing upon mankind by art and 
 deceit ; his coming (Antichrist's) being, as St. Paul tells us, 
 according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, 
 and lying wonders. 2 Thess. ii. 9. — St, John proceeds, 
 
 V. 3. " And I saw one of his heads as if it were slain to 
 death ; and his death's wound was healed. And all the earth 
 was in admiration after the beast." 
 
 This head of the beast is the Antichristian monarch, as 
 fiilly appears by the description that follows in this chapter : 
 and here St. John sees him as it were slain to death, that is, 
 wounded mortally, or at least so in appearance. Such, then, 
 is the issue of the above-mentioned battle. This accident un- 
 doubtedly spreads consternation throughout his army, and 
 raises exultation and courage in his enemies. But these dis- 
 positions are soon reversed in consequence of what is added, 
 "and his death's wound was healed," his deadly wound is 
 cured by Satan, who constantly attends him.* " And all the 
 earth was in admiration after the beast:" the whole world is 
 astonished at seeing or hearing the account of this extraor- 
 dinary cure, which exceeded all human power and art ; and 
 thereupon a great part of mankind embrace the party of the 
 beast or of the Antichristian .king. The denomination of 
 beast was before appropriated to his empire, and he was one 
 of its heads ; but now he himself is -styled the beast, because 
 he is the sole and last head by which the beast lives and be- 
 comes a single animal, the other six heads of former emperors 
 being dead. He may be also said to come up out of the sea, 
 as was said of the beast in ver. 1, because we suppose him to 
 be born in Crim Tartary upon the Black Sea, and to succeed 
 
 * If with St. Jerom, Theodoret, and others, we understand Antichrist to 
 be the shepherd and idol spoken of in the following passage of the prophet 
 Zachary : " Behold I will raise up, says the Lord, a shepherd in the land, 
 who shall not visit what is forsaken, nor seek what is scattered, nor heal 
 what is broken, nor nourish that which stands : and he shall eat the fiesh 
 of the fat ones, and break their hoofs. O shepherd and idol, that forsakes the 
 flock ! the sword upon his arm and upon his right eye : his arm shall quite 
 wither away, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." Zach. xi. 16, 17. 
 This passage, we apprehend, may point out to us how and in what manner 
 the Antichristian king is wounded, viz. the sword upon his arm and upon 
 his right eye; and St. John tells us, " he had the wound by the sword." 
 Apoc. xiii. 14. Perhaps he receives a stroke upon the head, which reaches 
 down to the right eye, and opens the skull. And though he is cured by the 
 operation of the devil, yet, as diabolical operations usually are, the cure 
 may remain imperfect; as seems to be indicated by what is added: "his 
 arm shall quite wither away, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." 
 How dilTercnt are the works of the finger of God ; uot done by halves^ but 
 complete and perfict. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 237 
 
 to the Ottoman empire of Constantinople, which city also 
 stands on the sea. 
 
 The people were seized with astonishment, as just above- 
 mentioned, ver. 4. " And they adored the dragon, which gave 
 power to the beast : and they adored the beast, saying : who 
 is like to the beast ? and who shall be able to fight with him ?" 
 
 They suppose the cure of the deadly wound to have been 
 performed by the dragon, or Satan ; and they immediately 
 worship the dragon, for his having show^n such a visible pro- 
 tection to this monarch, and vested him with powder, authority, 
 and dominion, beyond any monarch that ever existed. Upon 
 these considerations they also proclaim this prince superior to 
 every other creature, invincible, a God, and adore him, say- 
 ing : " who is like to the beast ? and who shall be able to fight 
 with him ?" This abominable idolatrous worship may the 
 more easily take place, as we have already observed that 
 idolatry will probably have been revived in the world some- 
 what before this time by the working of Satan, from the mo- 
 ment of his havinof been let loose. 
 
 Before we proceed further, let us observe from what we 
 have already related out of the 13th chapter of the Apocalypse, 
 that the Roman empire, which had been long ago destroyed, is 
 here revived anew under the Antichristian monarch, who is 
 here styled the head of the beast. And this is a^^reeable to 
 the prediction of chap. 17. v. 8, of the Apocalypse, {see page 
 103 :) " The beast, \vhich thou sawest, was, and is not, and 
 shall come up out of the bottomless pit, and go into destruc- 
 tion: And the inhabitants of the earth (whose names are not 
 written in the book of life from the foundation of the world) 
 shall wonder, seeing the beast, that was, and is not ;" here the 
 Greek text adds, and yet is, which makes the sense more 
 complete : the Roman empire in its last period, that is, the 
 Antichristian empire, is here said to rise from the bottomless 
 pit or abyss of hell, because Satan, who lately came from 
 thence, is the soul and actuater of that empire, as he was of 
 the same Roman empire in its first period : and we have just 
 now seen, that efTectually the dragon or Satan gave him, the 
 Antichristian emperor, his own strength, and his throne, and 
 great power. Besides, by Satan this Roman and Antichristian 
 empire is also made the empire of idolatry, as it had been 
 under the ancient Roman emperors ; for, we saw above, that 
 they adored the dragon, who gave power to the beast ; and 
 they adored the beast. This extraordinary re-appearance of 
 that powerful and idolatrous empire, so long ago lost, and its 
 
238 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH* 
 
 »- 
 
 signal elevation by the power and management of the devil, 
 seem to form a subject of great astonishment to the world, and 
 the chief inducement to idolatry; for it is here said, the inha- 
 bitants of the earth (whose names are not written in the book 
 of life) shall wonder, seeing the beast, that was, and is not, 
 and yet is ; and again : and all the earth was in admiration 
 after the beast. Above, v. 3. But here the servants of God 
 ought to admire the divine bounty and providence, and may 
 receive comfort, from what is here aflded, that the beast or 
 idolatrous Antichristian empire will soon go into destruction — 
 ^ye now likewise see appear in the course of the Apocalyp- 
 tical history that remarkable personage, the Antichristian 
 emperor, who is the seventh and last head of the idolatrous 
 Roman empire, conformably to what we were admonished to 
 expect, in chap. 17. v. 10, five (of the heads) are fallen, one is, 
 and the other is not yet come : and when he is come, he must 
 remain a short time. See page 103. Happy indeed for 
 mankind that he must remain but a short time. 
 
 To return to the issue of the battle fought in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Jerusalem, between the Antichristian emperor's 
 army and that of his enemies, we saw him, as it were mortally 
 wounded, then cured by Satan, and soon re-appearing at the 
 head of his troops, upon w^hich follows almost a general de- 
 fection of the people, and of his enemies, who came over to 
 his party. In consequence of this, we suppose that the small 
 remainder of the adverse army flies before him, and he enters 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 And now we are arrived, as we conceive, at the period 
 when this ambitious and impious hero declares himself for- 
 mally Antichrist, that is, enemy to Christ. Enraged, on one 
 side, at his having been wounded and thrown into the jaws of 
 death, perhaps by Christian troops ; enraged again by the 
 defection of the Jews from him, who before had owned him 
 for their Messiah, but w^hom he finds now become Christians, 
 and renouncing all connexion with him, looking upon him as 
 the most audacious and basest of impostors : on the other 
 hand, elated by his extraordinary cure, and seeing himself 
 guarded and supported by the whole power of the devil, and 
 multitudes all around him acknowledging the same, he swells 
 with the spirit of pride and arrogance, with which he is in-' 
 spired by Satan, who has entered into him. He thinks him- 
 self all-powerful. In these satanic dispositions he resolves to 
 acknowledge no superior, in heaven or on earth ; and in that 
 view he proceeds to a temple in Jerusalem, some Christian 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 239 
 
 Church, which he enters, and there extol h'ng his own supreme 
 authority, his dominion, his unlimited power over every thing, 
 he proclaims himself God, and ordains divine homage and 
 worship to be paid to his person. This we learn from St. 
 Paul, who thus speaks of him: " The man of sin, the son of 
 perdition, who opposeth and is lifted up above all that is called 
 God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of 
 God,* showing himself as if he were God,"t 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4. 
 
 * In the Greek, "He sitteth in the temple of God as God." 
 
 t Would not one suspect that the devil has suggested the titles usually 
 assumed by the sultans or Turkish emperors of Constantinople, viz. " God 
 upon earth, the shadow of God, the giver of all earthly crowns," &c. ; as 
 thus these emperors anticipate in some measure what belongs to their last 
 successor, Antichrist, who w^ill arrogate to himself the real deity and power 
 expressed by these titles. 
 
 I shall here add a copy of such like assuming titles, translated verbatim 
 from the Arabic language, as appears in the following assent for the ar- 
 mistice agreed on and sent by the Grand Vizier to his Excellency Count 
 Peter Alexander Romanzow : 
 
 " Firmly relying upon the assistance of the onlv, indivisible, one God, to 
 whom nothing is comparable, and who created all things, and declared and 
 revealed his divine will through the great Mahomet." Amen. 
 
 "The most righteous, and most powerful, and great emperor and sultan, 
 created to this dignity by the eternal election of the Almighty; gifted with 
 the imperial and philanthropic qualities for exhibiting the vvelfare and pros- 
 perity of the holy state of Mecca ; and invested with the highest power, 
 and reigning over an infinite multitude of nations, both by land and sea; 
 who is the wisest among the righteous sultans, the most deservedly elected, 
 and worthiest among all the regents; Sovereign Lord and Ruler over all 
 the princes in the world ; the only legislator and sovereign, cliosen to it 
 out of the most serene pedigree in the world; all his servants, that is to 
 Bay, all the inhabitants of the world, return him hearty thanks for the least 
 prace he shows to them, and especially for the grace he shows to them by 
 the present declaration, through me, Mahomet, his unworthy servant and 
 slave. Whereas, the extreme need and mistry of his subjects, which are 
 intrusted to him, by the eternnl Creator himself, went to his heart. Accord- 
 ing to his imperial philanthropy, be all the world witness, and learn, mo- 
 rals. How violent the love for his subjects, being in his most noble heart, 
 by thus condescending, through the great love he bjcars towards his ser- 
 vants, to agree upon the present armistice: He declares, before the eyes of 
 the wise and virtuous men, whom he has made free, and exempted from 
 their servitude, that, had it been possible, according to his honour and glory, 
 he would have laid before them the circumstances and events which have 
 pleased God and the great Mahomet, and which have been the cause of 
 breaking the peace between the everlasting Ottoman empire and the Rus- 
 sian inhabitants. After which unreasonable and unclear behaviour in the 
 eyes of God from the Russian side, the sovereign of the globe, my master, 
 lighted tlie fire of war; but, alas! what homicide and bloodshed on both 
 sides hath there been during these last four or five years? 
 
 "And although it has been predestinated so to be in the eternal council 
 of God, yet as it requires a reconciliation through the great prophet Maho- 
 met, and seeing that at last the most famous prince, the greatest of the 
 princes who believe in Jesi's, the pnly elected man of the people of the 
 Messiah, the only decider of the business and rights of the nations of Na- 
 zareth, to whom my master allows glory and majesty during his pious will ; 
 the high, the happiest governor, and emj)eror of Germany, and likewise the 
 king of Prussia, the end of both which princes, so tliat they may be led into 
 the way of salvation ; and they haying looked into the terrible bloodshed- 
 ding, and written constantly to their minister, residing at the court of tho 
 
240 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURfcH. 
 
 He thus imitates, but far surpasses in arrogance, Caius Cali- 
 gula and other Roman emperors, his ancient predecessors, 
 who impiously claimed to themselves divine honours. 
 
 From the above passage of St, Paul, some have inferred 
 that Antichrist will rebuild the great temple of Jerusalem. 
 But, if that temple is ever to be rebuilt, probably it will not 
 be done until after the ravages and persecution of Antichrist^ 
 according to that prophecy of Daniel : "And there shall be in 
 the temple the abomination of desolation : and the desolation 
 shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end," ix. 
 27. Besides, one may observe that in the New Testament 
 the great temple of Jerusalem is always expressed by the 
 Greek word iepon, and a common temple or church by the 
 word NAOE, as in the present passage of St. Paul ; which 
 gives us reason to think, that the apostle does not here speak 
 of the great temple. 
 
 However that may be. Antichrist proceeds to forbid any 
 other deity to be acknowledged but himself, and prohibits all 
 worship of the Supreme Being, all exercise of the Christian 
 religion, and particularly the sacrifice of the altar, because 
 Christ is there personally adored as God. These presump- 
 tuous extravagancies, were, in general, foretold by the prophet 
 Daniel. " From the time," says he, " when the continual sacri- 
 fice shall be taken away, and the abomination unto desolation 
 
 most illustrious Porte, to cry for mercy before the most brilliant and glo- 
 rious throne of my master, whose unworthy slave I am. And as it w'as' at 
 the same time the most ardent wishes and longing from the throne of the 
 glorious princess who is so high esteemed by the princes who believe m 
 Jesus, who reigns over many nations of Nazareth, and governs the people 
 of the Messiah with honour, and with heroic mind ; and who acknowledges 
 her errors and unjust contrivances against the most illustrious Porte, name- 
 ly, the empress of Russia, whose enti also be blessed, and may she be led 
 into the way of salvation ! What a glory for the great and high, mighty, 
 just, wise, and virtuous sultan, to see all the nations of Europe represented 
 by tlie ministers of the princes surrounding his throne, and sighing for his 
 gracious will ! but not to gain the favour of all those princes, nor yet influ- 
 enced by their power or magnificence, hath been the cause of his gracious 
 v/ill ; for nothing but the love for his subjects in particular, and for man- 
 kind in general, liath he declared his most pious and gracious will to agree 
 upon an armistice, as a beginning and the first stone to peace and harmony, 
 ^yhich he haying thus accepted of, the whole world is rejoiced, and the na- 
 tions bring him thanks to his most glorious throne; and to me, his unwor- 
 thy slave, he gave a full power, to wliich I have appointed one of the mem- 
 bers of the highest divan, the president of the college of Revillon, a com- 
 mander of six regiments of horse, the most worthy Sen Abdal Rerim Ef- 
 fendi, whose glory may increase ! who sent to me the nine articles of it 
 after it was agreed upon : and as I found them consisting with the honour, 
 glory, and magnificence of my master, whose unworthy slave I am, and 
 who gave me full power to give my assent in his gloriful name, therefore 
 I say, with joy and praise to God, and to the great prophet Mahomet, he 
 may continue the peace among mankind, and increase the glory of the 
 wisest and most just sultan, &c. 
 
HISTOHY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 241 
 
 sliall be set up, there shall he a thousand two hundred ninety 
 days," xii. 11. The continual or daily sacrifice of the altar, 
 is here said to be taken away ; and the abomination unto deso- 
 lation is set up, that is, the abominable worship of a man is 
 set up in the place of that of God. A similar impiety and 
 abomination was formerly practised by the idolatrous king 
 and implacable enemy of the Jews, Antiochus Epiphanes, 
 who " forbade holocausts and sacrifices and atonements to be 
 made in the temple of God — and set up the abominable idol 
 of desolation* upon the altar of God." 1 Maccab. i. 47, &c. 
 57. We seem to be also forewarned of Antichrist's abomina- 
 tion, as we observed under the sixth seal, by our Saviour him- 
 self, when he said : " When therefore you shall see the abomi- 
 nation of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the pro- 
 phet, standing in the holy place, he that readeth, let him un- 
 derstand : Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the 
 mountains." Matth, xxiv. 15, 16. Upon these words of out 
 Saviour St. Chrysostom speaks thus : " For three years and 
 six months the Christian sacrifice must be taken away by An 
 tichrist, and the Christians flying away before him into the 
 deserts, there will be no one to frequent the Church, or to offer 
 the oblation to God." Homil. 49. in Matth. 24. 
 
 It is worth our notice what we further learn from the 
 above-cited passage of Daniel, that from the time when the 
 daily sacrifice will be suppressed, and the abomination set up, 
 there will be a thousand two hundred and ninety days, to the 
 end of Antichrist's persecution, which Daniel had spoken of 
 in the preceding verse. That persecution will last three years 
 and a half, as we shall see hereafter. Hence, then, if the year 
 be supposed to consist of 365 days, three years and a half 
 make 1278 days, which the number 1290 exceeds by twelve^ 
 so that there will be an interval of twelve days between the 
 time when Antichrist sets himself up for God in the temple, 
 and the beginning of his nersecution. But this interval will 
 be thirty days, if the year be reckoned only of 360 days, or 
 forty-two months of thirty days each, w^hich round way of 
 counting is usual with the prophets. 
 
 As therefore a most cruel persecution is soon to follow, and 
 all sorts of other means will likewise be employed by that 
 monster of iniquity. Antichrist, to force the worship of his 
 pretended divinity upon the world, the Almighty sends a most 
 strong and pathetic admonition to mankind to warn thenl 
 against that seduction : " And I saw," says St. John, " another 
 
 * The statue of Jupiter Olympius. 
 21 
 
242 HISTORY OP THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 angel flying- through the midst of heaven, having the eternal 
 gospel, to preach unto tliem that sit upon the earth, and over 
 every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people : 
 
 " Saying with a loud voice : fear the Lord, and give him 
 honour, because the hour of his judgment is come : and adore 
 ye him, that made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains 
 of waters." Apoc. xiv. 6, 7. 
 
 The angel here may represent Henoch and his attendants, 
 the pastors of the Church, who with great vigour will preach 
 up, first in Jerusalem, and then in all other nations, the eter- 
 nal gospel or everlasting covenant, Isai. xxiv. 5 ; that is, the 
 eternal law, founded in nature itself, that forbids divine wor- 
 ship to be paid to any creature, as being the incommunicable 
 right of the Supreme Being. They will say : adore not this 
 impostor, who deceitfully pretends to a power over heaven, 
 earth, sea, and fountains of water ; but " adore him that really 
 made heaven, and earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters," 
 and has power to do with them what he pleases. These ex- 
 hortations the preachers will enforce with that peculiar rea- 
 son here given, " because the hour of his judgment is come," 
 because the time will soon come, in three years and a half) 
 when the judgment of God will fall upon this " man of sin, 
 this son of perdition," Antichrist, and he shall be exter- 
 minated. 
 
 Antichrist finding that many, particularly the Jews, refuse to 
 pay him divine honour, he wull first endeavour to bring them 
 over by persuasive methods. For that purpose he will avail 
 himself of the " power which the dragon gave him," as we 
 saw above, of performing wonders and working false miracles. 
 Many prodigies, therefore, and extraordinary performances, 
 by the devil's operation, he will exhibit; "whose coming," 
 says St. Paul, " is according to the working of Satan, in all 
 power, and signs, and lying wonders," 2 Thess. ii. 9. By 
 the dazzling appearance of these wonderful operations, many 
 will be staggered in their faith, and will be seduced to wor- 
 ship this mock-God, as we seem to learn from our Saviour, 
 who said : " There shall arise false Christs and false pro- 
 phets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as 
 to deceive, if possible, even the elect," Matth. xxiv. 24. But 
 Christ, whose providence is never wanting to his Church, will 
 interpose his power to baffle that of the devil and Antichrist. 
 He will invest many of the Christian preachers, particularly 
 Henoch and Elias, with extraordinary miraculous powers. As 
 Moses and Aaron were sent by the Almighty to contend with 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 243 
 
 Pharaoh and his magicians, and to rescue the Israelites from 
 slavery : so will Elias and Henoch be the two chief messen- 
 gers, whom Christ will employ to oppose his enemy Anti- 
 christ, and to preserve the elect from falling into his snares. 
 And as the magicians of Egypt, with all their demoniacal 
 charms and incantations, were vanquished by the signal supe- 
 riority of the miracles of Moses and Aaron; so will the pro- 
 digies of Antichrist be eclipsed and confounded by the far 
 greater number and splendour of the miracles of Elias and 
 Henoch. " And 1 will give," says Christ, " unto my two wit- 
 nesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred sixty 
 days, clothed in sackcloth. And if any man will hurt them, 
 in this manner must he be slain. — These have power to shut 
 Heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy; and 
 they have power over waters to turn them into blood, and to 
 strike the earth with all plagues as often as they will." Apoc. 
 xi. 3, 5, 6. These miracles we have before explained, see 
 page 140. In conformity to this passage St. Ephron speaks 
 thus: "God in his mercy will send Elias and Henoch, who 
 will openly exhort the people not to believe in Antichrist." 
 Serm. de Antichr. And St. Ambrose : " Henoch and Elias 
 are destined to be the Apostles of the last times ; for they are 
 to be sent before the last coming of Christ, to prepare the 
 people of God, and to animate all the Churches to resist An- 
 tichrist." In Ep. 1. ad Corinth, c. 4. — St. Gregory the Great 
 likewise says, that " Elias and Henoch will appear upon the 
 stage of the world to oppose Antichrist." In Job, lib. 15. c. 
 36. When the powers of the Almighty and Satan come in 
 competition, the latter must certainly vanish. — Whence it fol- 
 lows, that those only will be deluded, who wdlfuUy shut their 
 eyes to the clear light of evidence; and so we are informed 
 by St. Paul; "whose coming," Antichrist's, " is according to 
 the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying won- 
 ders, and in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish ; be- 
 cause they receive not the love of the truth that they might be 
 saved. Therefore God shall send them ihe operation of error, 
 to believe lying; that all maybe judged who have not be- 
 lieved the truth, but have consented to iniquity." 2 Thess. ii. 
 9,10,11. 
 
 Antichrist seeing all his wonderful operations baffled by the 
 shining evidence of Henoch's and Elias's miracles, and per- 
 ceiving that multitudes of Christians refuse to acknowledge 
 his godhead, he swells with anger, and being actuated by the 
 hellish fiend that possesses him, he arrogantly boasts of his pre- 
 
244 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 eminence over all other men that have ever existed, of the 
 greatness of his empire, of the number of his armies, of his 
 command over all the beings and works of nature, and even 
 presumes to extol his own povv-er above that of the Almighty; 
 as it seems to follow from what St. John proceeds to say of 
 him: 
 
 Chap. xiii. 5. "And there was given to him a mouth 
 speaking great things, and blasphemies." And St. Paul calls 
 him, "the man of sin, the son of perdition, who opposeth and 
 is lifted up above all that is called God, or that is worshipped." 
 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4. Daniel also gives us much the same pic- 
 ture of him : "And behold," says that prophet, " eyes like the 
 eyes of a man were in this little horn, and a mouth speaking- 
 great things," vii. 8. We have before observed, that Anti- 
 christ is meant by the little horn, Avhich is here said to have 
 eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great 
 things ; the eyes of a man and a mouth indicate a man, one 
 individual man, who speaks great things, as we have just 
 heard from St. John. Daniel goes on painting his character : 
 " and he shall think himself able to change times and laws," 
 vii. 25. He will imagine himself powerful enough to change 
 times, the course of times and seasons of the year, as night 
 into day, winter into summer, &c., and to change laws, to alter 
 the laws by which nature acts, by which the sun, and moon, 
 and other planeta, move, to alter their times of rising and set- 
 tino-, to raise up the harvest in winter, and to make the earth 
 
 Till" 
 
 barren in summer, and to command the clouds to ram, or not, 
 at his pleasure ; in fine, he will boast of having power to re- 
 verse the whole order of nature. And perhaps he will attempt 
 some particular of this sort, which by the devil's aid he may 
 apparently effect. 
 
 V. 5. "And power was given him to do two and forty 
 months." He is permitted by the Almighty to do what he 
 pleases during two and forty months, or three years and a 
 half; or else, as the Greek text has it, poAver was given him 
 to make war two and forty months, which he resolves to do 
 with the utmost violence and cruelty. 
 
 V. 6. "And, he opened his mouth unto blasphemies, 
 against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and 
 them that dwell therein." Here is a shocking picture of An- 
 tichrist's superlative arrogance and unparalleled impiety. In- 
 flated with the venom that Satan instils into his heart, and 
 furious against the Christians, whom, with all his art and 
 feigned miracles, he has not been able to gain over, he now, 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 245 
 
 in rage, flies in the face of heaven. He pours out blasphe- 
 mies against God ; Lucifer-like, he revolts against God, and 
 blasphemes him ; he blasphemes his name, that is, religion, 
 which commands homage to be paid to the Supreme Being 
 alone ; he blasphemes his tabernacle, or heaven, the seat of 
 God, and his Church on earth ; he blasphemes them that 
 dwell in heaven, that is, the angels and saints. Thus this 
 monster of iniquity, like a swollen sea that overtops all boun- 
 daries, rises up against God and every thing that is holy. — - 
 Daniel with one stroke of his pencil draws much the same 
 picture of him : " And he will speak words against the Most 
 High," vii. 25. He seems to have sucked up all the virulence 
 and spirit of impiety of the preceding ages. In the fourth 
 vial, Ave heard blasphemies against the name of God, Apoc. 
 xvi. 9 ; and in the fifth vial, blasphemies against the God of 
 heaven, Apoc. xvi. 11. Both these sorts of blasphemy Anti- 
 christ uses, and adds others to them. 
 
 St. John seems to intimate in his first Epistle, some parti- 
 cular instances of this man's presumption and opposition to 
 Christ. He will deny that Jesus is the Christ or the Messiah, 
 and will thereby endeavour to take away the belief of the 
 blessed Trinity. " Who is a liar,* but he who denieth that 
 Jesus is the Christ? This is Antichrist,! who denieth the 
 Father and the Son." 1 Ep. ii. 22. He will deny that the 
 Son of God took human flesh: " Every spirit that dissolveth 
 Jesus.J is not of God ; and this is Antichrist,^ of whom you 
 have heard that he comes and is now already in the world." 
 1 Ep. iv. 3. — Here St. John says that Antichrist, who they 
 have heard will one day come into the world, " is now already 
 in the world ;" that is, there are already in the world men, 
 who broach such impious doctrine about Christ, as Antichrist 
 himself will do. Such were the Simonians and Corinthians 
 in St. John's time. St. Paul has likewise sufficiently described 
 the detestable character of Antichrist, calling him, "the man 
 of sin, that sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself as 
 if he were God — whose coming is according to the working 
 of Satan." 2 Thess. c. 2. Aftd in a similar strain have also 
 the ancient fathers spoken of him. " Satan," says St. Jerom, 
 "will wholly possess Antichrist," in Dan. c. 7. St. Chrysos- 
 tom says : " Antichrist will be a man, that will possess all 
 
 * In the Greek text, (the Itar.) 
 + In the Greek, (the Antichrist.) 
 
 t In the Greek, (that doth not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the 
 flesh.) 
 § In the Greek, (and this is the spirit of Antichrist.) 
 
 21* 
 
246 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 
 the power of Satan." St. Irenseus is very ample in the de- 
 scription of his character. Adversus HsBr. lib. 5. c. 25. 
 
 St. John proceeds, 
 
 V. 7. " And it was given unto him to make war with the 
 saints, and to overcome them." Here Antichrist has power 
 allowed him to persecute "the saints," or good Christians, 
 "and to overcome them," or put them to death with great 
 cruelty and torments ; and this Ave shall soon see him putting 
 in execution. 
 
 V. 7. " And power was given him over every tribe, and 
 people, and tongue, and nation." 
 
 His power, his dominion will extend over every nation and 
 people of the globe. Already monarch of a great part of the 
 kingdoms of the earth, when he commences Antichrist ; the 
 rest he will now subdue, and thus will become master to 
 tyrannize over mankind, and persecute religion in every 
 corner of the world. We shall here just remark, that the 
 reason why St. John in this and several other places of the 
 Apocalypse uses the four terms, tribe, people, tongue, and 
 nation, seems to be to indicate the four great divisions of the 
 earth, Europe, Asia, Africa, and America; the term people, 
 probably being put for Europe; nation, for Asia; tongue, for 
 Afri'.a ; and tribe, for America. And the order in which the 
 above terms stand in this place, perhaps indicates the progres- 
 sive course of Antichrist's conquests. 
 
 V. 8. " And all that dwell upon the earth, adored him,* 
 whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, 
 w^hich was slain from the beginning of the world." 
 
 Here we see such a general apostacy of mankind, that, ex- 
 cept those whose names are written in the book of life of the 
 Lamb, which was slain from the beginning of the world in 
 the decrees of God, that is, except the predestined, all the rest 
 yield to the tyranny and persecution of Antichrist, and adore 
 him as a God. 
 
 The preceding account of Antichrist's character, power, and 
 actions, doubtless, must appear to every one very alarming : 
 nevertheless we further learn from St. John, that this man of sin, 
 this son of perdition, notwithstanding his exorbitant power 
 and Satanic malice, as if yet not sufficiently armed for mis- 
 chief, will acquire an associate of the same stamp as himself, 
 who will perform the function of his principal minister, and 
 be his chief aid in the course of his future proceedings. 
 
 Chap. xiii. IL " And I saw," says St. John, " another beast 
 
   In the Greek text, (will adore him.) 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 247 
 
 coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns, like* a 
 lamb, and he spoke as a dragon." The first beast, ver. 1, ap- 
 peared to St. John rising- out of the sea, because it was the 
 figure of a great empire, or a great emperor, viz. Antichrist: 
 this second beast, therefore, rising out of the earth, denotes a 
 private man. And he had two horns, like a lamb ; horns are 
 an emblem of strength or power, and these two horns signify 
 the power of speech, and the power of false miracles, with 
 which this man is endued. These powers are similar, but 
 only in appearance, to those which the true Lamb, or Jesus 
 Christ, eminently possessed ; the miracles of this new man 
 or second beast being no more than impostures, works 
 performed by the intervention of the devil ; and his speech, 
 though eloquent and engaging, is artful, hypocritical, mali- 
 cious, and deceitful; for he speaks like a dragon, or like the 
 devil that deluded Eve. This man is the false prophet, as 
 St. John calls him in chap. xix. 20, and other places, that at- 
 tends Antichrist, is his principal agent, and, like him, receives 
 all his power from the devil. St. Irenasus mentions him thus: 
 "St. John, in the Apocalypse, speaking of Antichrist's attend- 
 ant, whom he calls the false prophet, says, he spoke like a 
 dragon, and executed all the power of the former beast in his 
 sight," &c. as in the following verse. Adv. Haer. 1. v. c. 28. 
 
 V. 12, "And he executed all the power of the former beast 
 in his sight: and he caused the earth, and them that dwell 
 therein, to adore the first beast, whose wound to death was 
 healed." The false prophet, to enhance the credit of his mas- 
 ter, will perform in his presence the same wonders that Anti- 
 christ himself is capable of doing, and thus will prevail on 
 them that dwell on the earth, to adore the first beast, whose 
 wound to death was healed, that is, Antichrist, w^ho had been 
 mortally wounded, and cured. Perhaps also from the ex- 
 pression, he caused the earth to adore the first beast, it may 
 be inferred, that the false prophet by his enchantments will 
 make the inanimate beings, such as trees and other things, 
 appear to pay a kind of homage to Antichrist. 
 
 V. 13. " And he did great signs, so that he made also fire 
 come down from heaven unto the earth in the sight of men." 
 Such then w^ill be the power of the false prophet, that he w'ill 
 make fire come down from the sky, by the help of the devil. 
 " What w^e read in the book of Job," says St. Ambrose, " that 
 the devil brought down fire from heaven by the divine per- 
 mission, he will do the same in the last days by his instru- 
 ments. Antichrist and Antichrist's followers." 
 
•248 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 
 The false prophet seems here to imitate one of Henoch^ 
 and Elias's miracles ; hut the miracles of these two witnesses 
 far outshine his in number, lustre, and evidence, and will be 
 the means of preserving from seduction the men of good will» 
 but will be the instrument of error to those, who, as St. Paul 
 says, " receive not the love of truth that they may be saved." 
 For, 
 
 V. 14. "And he seduced them that dwell on the earth, for 
 the signs which were given him to do in the sight of the beast, 
 saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make 
 the image of the beast,* which had the wound by the sword, 
 and lived." By them that dwell on the earth, seem to be un- 
 derstood those who wilfully shut their eyes to the truth, and 
 them he seduces by the signs which he is allowed power to 
 do in the sight of the beast, and prevails with them to raise 
 an image or a statue to Antichrist, and to adore it. He en- 
 forces his wonderful performances, by representing his master 
 as certainly God, since he had been mortally wounded by the 
 sword, and was nevertheless alive and well. But this sophister 
 is not able to prove the cure to have been complete, for it is 
 here said that the beast which lived, has the wound by the 
 sword, that is, hath the cicatrix, or mark of the wound remain- 
 ing after the cure ; an argument of its being the work of an 
 imperfect operator. This agrees with what was remarked, 
 p. 236. 
 
 V. 15. " And it was given him to give life to the image of 
 the beast, and the image of the beast should speak : and should 
 cause, that whosoever will not adore the image of the beast, 
 should be slain." The false prophet has further power, by 
 the divine permission, to give apparent life to the image or 
 statue of Antichrist, insomuch that it shall speak, or rather 
 the devil in it, and deliver his oracles, which was often done 
 in the ancient times of paganism ; and that the image shall 
 cause, that whosoever will not adore the image of the beast, 
 or Antichrist, shall be slain, that is, at the command of the 
 devil, speaking by the statue, those who refuse to adore it 
 will be put to death. This will be done in the persecution. 
 
 V. 16. "And he shall make all, both little and great, rich 
 and poor, freemen and bondmen, to have a character in their 
 right hand, or on their foreheads." The same wicked minis- 
 ter of Antichrist will oblige people of all denominations, such 
 will be the general apostacy, to let him imprint a character 
 or particular mark in their right hand or on their foreheads^ 
 
   In the Greek, (an image to tlie beast» which hath the wouad*) &o 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 249 
 
 by which they will be distinguished as the votaries of Anti- 
 christ. 
 
 V. 17. "And that no man mig-ht buy or sell, but he that 
 hath the character, or the name of the beast, or the number 
 of his name." No one will be allowed to buy or sell any 
 commodity, unless he shows the above mentioned mark, or 
 the name of the beast, that is, the print upon himself of Anti- 
 christ's name, or of the number of his name. A similar 
 severity was used in Dioclesian's persecution, when it was 
 forbid for any one to buy or sell in the public market, unless 
 he firat offered incense to an idol erected there for that purpose. 
 
 Thus will this other beast, or wicked minister of Antichrist, 
 exert all his skill and power to enforce the execrable and ab- 
 surd opinion of bis master's divinity. Thus will he employ 
 every diabolical art, both of persuasion and force, to prevail 
 with his detestable enemy. And thus, as Tertullian says, 
 •' will the beast Antichrist with his false prophet oppress the 
 Church with persecution." De Resur. Carnis, c. 25. 
 
 It was said above that no one would be allowed to buy or 
 sell, unless he bore the mark of Antichrist, or his name, or 
 the number of his name. His name then is something mys- 
 terious, as the letters of it will contain a particular number, 
 which God in his bounty here gives as one characteristic 
 among others, by which he may be known, and consequently 
 rejected and abhorred. For thus proceeds St. John, 
 
 V. 18. " Here is wisdom." He that hath understanding, 
 let him count the number of the beast. For it is the number 
 of a man : and the number of him is six hundred sixty-six. 
 
 Here is wisdom, here it is proper to take notice. He that 
 has understanding, he that has a share of skill and knowledge, 
 let him count the number of the beast, which he may do, for 
 it is the number of a man ; that is, it is the number of the 
 name of a man, conformably to what is said m the preceding 
 verse. And the number of him is six hundred sixty-six ; the 
 number thereof contained in Antichrist's name will be 666. 
 According to the account we have given of that impious man, 
 he will be born a Mahometan prince, and will rise to the head 
 of the Turkish empire. We may therefore be allowed to 
 suppose him to bear the name of Mahomet, a name which so 
 many emperors, his predecessors, will have borne before him, 
 in honour of the first founder of the Mahometan religion and 
 empire. This name expressed in the Greek language, be- 
 cause St. John wrote the Apocalypse in Greek, is maometie, 
 or MOAMETiL, as Euthymius, and the Greek historians Zono- 
 
250 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Tas and Credenus write it ; and according to the Greek nu- 
 meration it stands thus : 
 
 M 
 A 
 O 
 M 
 E 
 T 
 I 
 S 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 70 
 
 40 
 
 5 
 
 300 
 
 10 
 
 200 
 
 666 
 
 It may be here observed, how contrary to the sense of scrip- 
 ture is the opinion of some moderns, who, in the spirit of op- 
 position to the Catholic religion, assign for the name of Anti- 
 christ a generical term, containing indeed the number 666, but 
 not expressing a determinate man : and this indeterminate 
 name they apply to a succession of many persons ; whereas 
 St. John plainly says ; " it is the number of a man, the num- 
 ber of his name ;" it is therefore the number of the single 
 name of a particular man. And in like manner is Antichrist 
 evidently described by St. Paul as an individual man. For 
 in what other sense, partiality apart, can the apostle be under- 
 stood, when he styles him, " the man of sin, the son of perdi- 
 tion, the opposer, who sitteth as God in the temple of God ; 
 the wicked one, whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the 
 spirit of his mouth," &c. 2 Thess. 2. The description of 
 him, which we have seen in Daniel, is likewise of the same 
 tenor. The fathers of the Church join also in the same 
 opinion, and are very copious in their account of his charac- 
 ter. The whole series we have hitherto given of his history, 
 drawn from those sources, plainly points him out as one indi- 
 vidual being, an extraordinary man ; and it will be further 
 confirmed in the sequel. In fine, such has been the constant 
 ana unanimous tradition from the rise of Christianity through 
 all ages ; as may be seen in the series of the scripture inter- 
 preters and ecclesiastical writers. Nay, even so universal 
 and fixed has always been that notion of Antichrist, that it 
 may be put upon a level with the belief of the former exist- 
 ence of an Alexander or Julius Caesar ; nor can hardly be 
 found now an individual in the common class of people, and 
 of the narrowest education, but knows in general the charac- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 251 
 
 ter of that enemy of Christ, and expects his coming in the 
 last period of the world. This tradition is therefore traced 
 '.ip to the time of the apostles, and owes its existence to what 
 they taught. St. Paul is an express voucher, that he had in- 
 structed the Thessalonians on that head. " Remember you 
 not," says he, "that when I was yet with you, I told you these 
 things?" 2 Thess. ii. 5, 
 
 To return to the transactions of Antichrist : — Finding him- 
 self so powerful by Satan's aid, and seconded by so able a 
 minister, his false prophet, while on the other hand he sees 
 the converted Jews, and other Christians refusing him divine 
 homage, and so fortified by the exhortations and miracles of 
 their teachers, that all his pretended wonders and persuasive 
 arts can make no impression upon them ; he resolves, by the 
 instigation of Satan, to compel them by force into compliance, 
 to show no mercy to the refractory, but to destroy them, and 
 utterly abolish the Christian name. Full of self-conceit and 
 rage, he is determined to suffer no ri^^l in heaven or on earth, 
 but that all mankind shall bow in homage to him as God, 
 and as the sole monarch of the whole world. This he de- 
 signs to effect by the invincible force of his immense army, 
 with which he purposes to carry ravage, devastation, and de- 
 struction, throughout every nation that resists him. Such are 
 the hellish determinations he fixes ; but before he commences 
 the execution of them, Christ, the faithful governor of the 
 Church, and supreme in his power, is pleased to give a spe- 
 cial warning to his beloved servants, and for their suppor* 
 proclaims the following senlence: 
 
 Chap. xiii. 9. "If any man have an ear, let him heari" 
 let every one give attention. 
 
 V. 10. " He, that shall lead into captivity, shall go into 
 captivity: he, that shall kill by the sword, must be killed by 
 the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints." 
 That is, in the following persecution and war of Antichrist, 
 those that force others into captivity, shall themseh^es be made 
 captives: and those that cruelly put others to death shall 
 undergo the same fate. Judgment is therefore already pro- 
 nounced against Antichrist and his agents, that as they deal 
 with others, they shall be dealt with themselves. Then it is 
 added, Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. Here 
 is the motive of the patience and the faith of the saints, or the 
 servants of God in this world. By faith they rely on the pro- 
 mises of God for the reward of their patience, and leave him 
 to vindicate, as he may judge fit, their cause with respect to 
 
252 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 their persecutors. Such is the previous instruction Christ 
 sends to his servants, before the dreadful day of persecution. 
 But as the converted Jews are destined to stand foremost in 
 the battle, and to be the first victims of Antichrist's fury, and 
 must therefore set forth a glorious example of fortitude to the 
 other Christians, they are provided with an extraordinary 
 share of grace, and a peculiar degree of courage and con- 
 stancy for their terrible conflict. For thus we hear this sin- 
 gular favour announced by St, John: 
 
 Chap. vii. 1. "After these things, I saw four angels stand- 
 ing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds 
 of the earth, that they should not blow* upon the earth, nor 
 upon the sea, nor on any tree. 
 
 V. 2. " And I saw another angel ascending from the rising 
 of the sun, having the sign of the living God : and he cried 
 with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to 
 hurt the earth and the sea, 
 
 V. 3. "Saying: hurt not the earth, the sea, nor the trees, 
 till we sign the servants of our God in their foreheads." 
 
 Here are four angels, standing on the four corners of the 
 earth, holding the four winds of the earth, which they are 
 ready to let go, and which are to cause desolation over the 
 whole globe. By the four winds of the earth are meant the 
 persecutions which are going to rise in every part of the earth, 
 and which will form the general persecution of Antichrist, as 
 the four winds join to compose one general wind. But this 
 persecution is withheld for a while by a divine command, 
 which is carried by an angel ascending from the east, as 
 coming from Him who ascended above the heaven of heavens 
 to the east." Ps. Ixvii. 34. The wind of persecution will 
 hurt the earth and the sea, that is, will fall upon the Christian 
 people wherever they are, and the trees, or their pastors and 
 clergy. But this alarming disaster is suspended, till the angel 
 has marked the servants of God in their foreheads with the 
 sign of the living God, that is, with the sign of the cross of 
 Christ, who having died upon it, rose again to life. But who 
 those servants of God are, we are told in the ne' * verse. 
 
 V. 4. "And I heard the number of them that were signed; 
 a hundred forty-four thousand were signed, of every tribe of 
 the children of Israel." No sooner almost have the Jews 
 tasted the comfort of having recovered the iavour of their God 
 by embracing Christianity, but behold ! 144,000 of them are 
 marked out and destined to be immolated to Christ by martyr- 
 
 * In the Greek, " that a wind should not blow," <Lc. • 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 253 
 
 dom, and are therefore signed on the forehead by the minis- 
 ters of the Church with the sign of the cross, or confirmed in 
 faith and fortitude, as the sacrament of Confirmation is always 
 conferred with makino' the siq-n of the cross on the forehead. 
 Thus, then, this great number of converted Jews are prepared 
 to grace Christianity by their triumph over torments and death. 
 But as we learn from St. Paul, that " all Israel will be saved," 
 {Rom. xi. 26,) it is plain that, considering the vast body of the 
 Jewish people, the number of martyrs here mentioned, must 
 fall much short of the number of converted Jews. The rest 
 therefore will remain to reflect honour on the Christian reli- 
 gion by their zeal in promoting it, and by their exemplary 
 lives. This select number of 144,000 champions, or twelve 
 times twelve thousand, is made up by culling twelve thousand 
 out of each tribe, as follows: 
 
 V. 5. " Of the tribes of Juda were twelve thousand signed. 
 Of the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand signed. Of the tribe 
 of Gad, twelve thousand signed. 
 
 V. 6. " Of the tribe of Aser, twelve thousand signed. Of 
 the tribe of Nephthali, twelve thousand signed. Of the tribe 
 of Manasses, twelve thousand signed. 
 
 V, 7. "Of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand signed. Of 
 the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand signed. Of the tribe of 
 Issachar, twelve thousand signed. 
 
 V. 8. " Of the tribe of Zabulon, twelve thousand signed. 
 Of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand signed. Of the tribe 
 ef Benjamin, twelve thousand signed," 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE SIXIH AGE. 
 
 The Almighty having prepared his faithful servants for 
 the terrible conflict he proposes to subject them to, he an- 
 nounces the great persecution and terrible war, and exhibits 
 the state of the Church at the time they begin, in the follow- 
 ing manner : 
 
 "chap. xi. 1. " And there was given me," says St, John, " a 
 reed like unto a rod: and it was said to me:* Arise, and 
 measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that adore 
 therein. 
 
 * In the Greek, " And the angel stood, saying." 
 22 
 
254 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 V. 2. '* But the court, which is without the temple, cast out, 
 and measure it not : because it is given unto the Gentiles,* 
 and the holy city they shall tread under foot two and forty 
 months." The churches consecrated to the true service of God, 
 at this time, so far diminished in number, or so little filled, on 
 account of the general apostacy and degeneracy of mankind, 
 that all these churches are here represented to St. John as re- 
 duced into one single church or temple. The faithful minis- 
 ters of God are also become so few, as to be represented as 
 officiating at one altar in this Church; and all the good and 
 zealous Christians make up so small a number, with respect 
 to the whole bulk of mankind, that they are shown to St. John 
 as collected in this one temple, paying their adoration to God. 
 There is therefore given to St. John a reed, or a small slender 
 measuring rod, as sufficient for the few inconsiderable mea- 
 sures he has to take, and he is told to measure the temple of 
 God, and the altar, and them that adore therein, that the small 
 size of both temple and altar may appear, and the little com- 
 pass in which are comprised those who are there adoring God. 
 
 But for the court, which is without the temple, that is, the 
 great multitude of those who for want of the spirit of religion, 
 enter not the temple, but stand in the court without the tem- 
 ple, St. John is told not to measure them, but cast them out, 
 or to banish them from the neighbourhood of the temple, be- 
 cause it (the court) is given to the Gentiles, because God de- 
 livers this wicked multitude to be punrshed and destroyed by 
 the Gentiles, that is, by Antichrist and his cruel and barbarous 
 troops. The execution of this divine judgment commences very 
 soon. For now Antichrist, mad with fury, declares war against 
 the whole Avorld, resolves to be sole master, to spare neither 
 those that resist him, nor those who have given him any pro- 
 vocation, or against whom he has conceived an ill will. 
 Actuated by Satan, he feels no more sense of humanity, and 
 breathes only blood and destruction. In this situation he is 
 in some measure pictured by Nebuchodonosor, that haughty 
 king of Assyria, who in the pride of his heart proclaimed 
 "that his thoughts Avere to bring all the earth under his em- 
 pire," Judith ii. 3, and gave orders to the general of his 
 armies: "Go out against all the kingdoms of the west, and 
 against them especially that despised my commandment. 
 Thy eye shall not spare any kingdom, and the strong cities 
 thou shalt bring under my yoke." Ibid. v. 5, 6. This war 
 
 * In the Greek, the punctuation stands thus : "And measure it not, be- 
 cause it is given uuto the Gentiles, and the holy city," &c. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 255 
 
 of Antichrist, the most bloody of all wars since the existence 
 of the world, as in it are killed the third part of men, Apoc. 
 ix. 15, will last three years and a half, as observed before from 
 St. John : " and power was given him to do* two and forty 
 months," xiii. 5. 
 
 But, furthermore, in our present text is added: "And the 
 holy city they shall tread under foot two and forty months." 
 No sooner has the haughty monarch, Antichrist, declared war 
 against mankind, but Avith the same breath he proclaims a 
 general persecution, which he himself intends to carry on, 
 and despatches his orders to have the same executed in every 
 part of the earth. For it is now allowed to him and his 
 bloody agents to tread under foot the holy city, that is, the 
 whole body of the holy Christians, for forty-two months, or 
 three years and a half. This space of time Christ has set 
 apart, to purify his Church, and to try his servants, and for 
 that purpose allows them to fall under the power of this mer- 
 ciless tyrant : " And it was given unto him," says St. John, 
 " to make war with the saints, and to overcome them." Apoc. 
 xiii. 7. We are admonished of the same by the prophet 
 Daniel : " I beheld," says he, " and lo that horn (Antichrist) 
 made war against the saints, and prevailed over them," v. 21. 
 And again, "And he shall speak words against the Most 
 
 High, and shall crush the saints of the Most High And 
 
 they shall be delivered into his hand until a time, and times, 
 and half a time." Ibid. v. 25. The period of the persecution, 
 Daniel here expresses by a time, and times, and half a time, 
 that is, a year, two years, and half a year, or three years and 
 a half, the same with St. John. 
 
 Antichrist being at this time in Jerusalem, and implacably 
 irritated against the Jews, who had deserted from him, looked 
 upon him with abomination, and had espoused the Christian 
 religion which he hates, he resolves to begin his bloody per- 
 secution and massacre with them. He therefore sacrifices to 
 his rage the above-mentioned multitude of a hundred forty-four 
 thousand; but in what manner we are not told. On this 
 striking catastrophe and deluge of blood, how justly may the 
 body of converted Jews that remain, send up to heaven their 
 lamentations and cries in those pathetic strains which their 
 forefathers used upon the destruction and havoc made by 
 Nabuchodonosor, a figure of what Antichrist would one day- 
 do. " O God, the heathens are come into thy inheritance , 
 
 * In the Greek, " to make war." 
 
256 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 they have defiled thy holy temple ; they have made Jerusalem 
 as a place to keep fruit. 
 
 " They have given the dead hodies of thy servants to he 
 meat for the fowls of the air, the flesh of thy saints for the 
 beasts of the earth, 
 
 " They have poured out their blood as water, round about 
 Jerusalem ; and there was none to bury them." Ps. Ixxviii, 
 
 Such a number of holy victims, doubtless, breathed forth 
 from the earth the most fragrant odour, and were so acceptable 
 to the heavenly court, that immediately St. John sees them in 
 company with Christ, and their triumph celebrated. 
 
 Chap. xiv. 1. "And I beheld, and lo a Lamb stood upon 
 mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty-four thousand, 
 having his name,* and the name of his Father, written on 
 their foreheads." 
 
 Behold the Lamb, that is, Jesus Christ, standing surrounded 
 with this numerous multitude upon mount Sion, perhaps the 
 theatre of their martyrdom. They are distinguished to be 
 the same body of people we saw before, prepared for the com- 
 bat by the angels imprinting the sign of the living God on 
 their foreheads ; as now after their victory they appear before 
 the Lamb with his name, and the name of his Father, written 
 on their foreheads, to show that they have proved themselves 
 faithful to the sign they had received, by giving testimony, 
 with their blood, both to the Father and to the Lamb. Per- 
 haps also did they carry, before their martyrdom, some such 
 inscription on their foreheads, in opposition to the mark of 
 Antichrist. 
 
 V. 2. " And I heard a voice from heaven, as the noise of 
 many waters, and as the voice of great thunder : and the 
 voice which I heard,! was as the voice of harpers harping on 
 their harps. 
 
 V. 3. " And they sung as it were a new canticle, before the 
 throne, and before the four living creatures, and the ancients ; 
 and no man could say| the canticle, but those hundred forty- 
 four thousand, who were purchased from the earth." 
 
 Here are the heavenly choirs celebrating the triumphs of 
 these martyrs. In this exultation St. John hears a multitude 
 of voices ; a voice, like that of many waters, that is, of the 
 angels that preside over all the nations, denoted by many 
 
 * In the common Greek edition, "his name" is omitted, but it is found 
 m many ancient manuscripts of great authority. 
 
 t In the Greek, " and 1 heard the voice of harpers," «fec. 
 
 * " Could learn." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 257 
 
 waters, according' to Apoc. xvii. 15, from whence the Jews 
 had been gathered together ; a voice, like that of great thun- 
 der, or of the a»gel that, according to chap. xiv. 18, presides 
 over fire, which, as employed in military engines, by its ex- 
 plosion resembles thunder ; and perhaps by such thundering 
 fire were these champions of religion put to death. St. John 
 also hears the " voice" of a number of harpers singing a new 
 hymn or canticle, which no one could learn to repeat but the 
 144,000 martyrs. This special privilege is owing- to their 
 peculiar character, as having- been through former ages the 
 chosen and beloved people of God, and now at last have also 
 acknowledged Christ, the Lamb, for their Saviour and God, 
 and laid down their lives the first for him. He by his own 
 blood had " purchased them from the earth," that is, had pur- 
 chased for them these singular favours of conversion and mar- 
 tyrdom, for which purpose they have been collected from all 
 parts of the earth. This melodious jubilation is performed 
 before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the 
 ancients, as a thanksgiving homage to the Almighty : and a 
 kind of congratulation to the four great prophets, Isaiah, Je- 
 remy, Ezechiel, and Daniel, who had prophesied so much 
 concerning the Jews ; and to the ancients or patriarchs and 
 other saints of the times preceding Christianity, who from 
 their former connexion with the Jews and the expected Mes- 
 siah, are particularly interested in the present happy condition 
 of the converted Jews. — St. John goes on, 
 
 V. 4. " These are they who were not defiled with women : 
 for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb whithersoever 
 he goeth. These were purchased from among men, the first 
 fruits to God and the Lamb." 
 
 These martyrs were not defiled with women, but are vir- 
 gins, because they never yielded to adore, either the dragon, 
 or the beast. Antichrist, or his image, as multitudes of other? 
 did, nor polluted themselves with any species of idolatry, 
 which in the Apocalypse and other books of scripture, is 
 styled fornication or prostitution. They have therefore ac- 
 quired a right to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth ; 
 for he came into the w^orld to destroy idolatry. They were 
 likewise purchased by the blood of the Lamb, from among 
 men, from among all the rest of mankind, to be the first fruits 
 to God and the Lamb, that is, the first victims immolated 
 to God and the Lamb, in Antichrist's persecution. Who is 
 not sensible what a distinguished favour this will be to the 
 Jews ? That as they, in their ancestors, had renounced their 
 22* 
 
258 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 divine Messiah, and even put him to death, so upon their con- 
 version they shall redeem that enormous crime, by spilling 
 the first of their blood for liim. 
 
 V. 5. " And in their mouth was found no lie : for they are 
 without spot before the throne of God." They had practised 
 no dissimulation, but openly professed the Christian religion 
 in the presence of Antichrist with the utmost intrepidity, and 
 rejoiced to lay down their lives for Him, whom they had so 
 long blindly disowned to be their Saviour. By this complete 
 sacrifice of themselves they washed off all guilt, and there- 
 fore stand without spot before the throne of God. 
 
 The prophet Sophonias seemed to announce in a far distant 
 age this future auspicious sacrifice of the converted Jews, and 
 the general admiration it would raise through the world. " I 
 will get them (the Jews) praise, saith the Lord, and a name, 
 in all the land, where they had been put to confusion ; at that 
 time, when I will bring you, and at the time that I will gather 
 you. For I will give you a name, and praise among all 
 people of the earth, when I shall have brought back your 
 captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord." Sophon. iii. 19, 20. 
 
 Thus then the Jews, become zealous Christians, will sig- 
 nalize their fortitude in a peculiar manner, and will be distin- 
 guished b}^ the glorious mark of being the first victims of 
 martyrdom offered to our Saviour, in the persecution of Anti- 
 christ ; in the same manner as the innocent children of their 
 forefathers, put to death by Herod, were the first sacrifice 
 made to Christ, after he came into the world. And as those 
 innocents were truly virgins in a natural sense, so will the 
 converted Jews be virgins in the prophetic meaning, of not 
 being defiled by any kind of idolatrous prostitution. — Thus 
 again we see, that as St. Stephen, a converted Jew,^was the 
 first martyr among the new-formed Christians, so will the 
 converted Jews in the last period of the world, and in the last 
 persecution, appear conspicuous by walking foremost in the 
 rank with the palm of martyrdom. 
 
 Antichrist having performed the above-recited bloody exe- 
 cution at Jerusalem, prepares next to march his army of two 
 hundred million horsemen, Apoc. ix. 16, with design to lay 
 waste the whole earth, and to extirpate the Christians. But 
 as the Almighty, even in the height of his anger, remembers 
 mercy, he bountifully forewarns mankind of the scourge he 
 is going to let loose upon them, in order to give them still an 
 opportunity of preventing it by their conversion to him. Thus 
 he proclaims the impending scourge by his prophet Sophonias. 
 
 I 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 259 
 
 Chap. i. 14. " The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, 
 and exceeding swift : the voice of the day of the Lord is bit- 
 ter, the mighty man shall there meet with tribulation. 
 
 V. 15. " That day is the day of wrath, a day of tribulation 
 and distress, a day of calamity and misery, a day of darkness 
 and obscurity, a day of clouds and whirlwinds : 
 
 V. 16. "A day of trumpet and alarm against the fenced 
 cities, and against the high bulwarks. 
 
 V. 17. "And I will distress men, and they shall walk like 
 blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and 
 their blood shall be poured out as earth, and their bodies as 
 dung. 
 
 V. 18. " Neither shall their silver and their gold be able to 
 deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord : all the land 
 shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy, for he shall make 
 even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land." 
 
 Then the Almighty exhorts them to avert his anger by 
 having recourse to his mercy. 
 
 Chap. ii. 1. "Assemble yourselves together, be gathered 
 together, (to implore mercy,) O nation not worthy to be loved. 
 
 V. 2. " Before the decree bring forth the day as dust pass- 
 ing away, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, 
 before the day of the Lord's indignation come upon you." 
 
 As if this was not a sufficient proof of God's merciful dis- 
 position, he is pleased to send a second pathetic warning of 
 his approaching armies by his prophet Joel. 
 
 Chap. ii. 10. "At their presence the earth has trembled, 
 the heavens are moved ; the sun and moon are darkened, and 
 the stars have withdrawn their shining. 
 
 V. 11. " And the Lord has uttered his voice before the face 
 of his army: for his armies are exceeding great, for they are 
 strong and execute his word : For the day of the Lord is very 
 great and very terrible: and who can stand it?" 
 
 Here are several of those signs, which our Sa\T[our fore- 
 warns us shall happen in the last period of the world. These 
 mentioned here are sent as forerunners announcing the coming 
 of the destructive army of Antichrist. At its appearance the 
 earth has trembled, says Joel ; or, as our Saviour says, " there 
 shall be great earthquakes." Luke xxi. 21. " The heavens 
 are moved:" Christ says, "the powers of heaven shall be 
 moved." Matt. xxiv. 29. " The sun and moon are darken- 
 ed," continues Joel, " and the stars have withdrawn their 
 shining ;" and Christ, " the sun shall be darkened, and the 
 moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from 
 
260 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 
 heaven." Matt. xxiv. 29. This is the voice the Lord has 
 uttered before the face of his army, to strike terror into man-> 
 kind and bring them to themselves. " For his armies are 
 exceeding great," said Joel, " they are strong, and execute his 
 word : For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible : 
 
 and who can stand it?" Again, the Almighty throws in 
 
 another energetic exhortation to penance, desirous that the 
 scourge may be taken out of his hand before he strikes : 
 
 V. 12. "Now therefore saith the Lord," continues Joel, 
 " be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in 
 weeping, and in mourning. 
 
 V. 1 3. " And rend your hearts, and not your garments, 
 and turn to the Lord your God : for he is gracious and mer- 
 ciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the 
 evil. 
 
 V. 14. " Who knows but he will return, and forgive, and 
 leave a blessing behind, sacrifice and libation to the Lord 
 your God? 
 
 V. 15. " Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a 
 solemn assembly. 
 
 V. 16. "Gather together the people, sanctify the Church, 
 assemble the ancients, gather together the little ones, and them 
 that suck at the breasts : let the bridegroom go forth from his 
 bed, and the bride out of her bride-chamber. 
 
 V. 17. "Between the porch and the altar the priests, the 
 fjord's ministers, shall weep, and shall say: spare, O Lord, 
 spare thy people ; and give not thy inheritance to reproach, 
 that the heathens should rule over them. Why should they 
 say among the nations, where is their God?" 
 
 These divine admonitions not prevailing with mankind, 
 who have hardened themselves in iniquity, and carried it to 
 a greater pitch than was ever seen in any former period of 
 the world, the Almighty in his wrath lets loose the reins to 
 Antichrist. This devouring beast and raging tyrant sets out 
 with his army, to ravage and desolate: first, the country of 
 Judaea, then all Christendom, and in fine, to trample under 
 foot all the powers of the earth. The march and progress of 
 this horrible army, Avith the havoc it makes, is described in 
 most pathetic and lofty strains by the prophet Joel. The 
 description, indeed, is applied by some commentators to a vast 
 swarm of devouring insects ; by others, to the Chaldean troops 
 coining against Jerusalem under Nabuchodonosor ; but who- 
 ever will attentively view the particulars of the narrative, will 
 see that they do not tally with either of those cases, but agree 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 261 
 
 very properly with the army of the Apocalypse. — Thus cries 
 out Joel : 
 
 Chap. i. 2. " Hear this, ye old men, and give ear all ye 
 inhabitants of the land : did this ever happen in your days, 
 or in the days of your fathers? 
 
 V. 3. " Tell ye of this to your children, and let your child- 
 ren tell their children, and their children to another gene- 
 ration. 
 
 V. 4. " That which the palmer-worm has left, the locust 
 has eaten ; and that which the locust has left, the bruchus has 
 eaten ; and that which the bruchus has left, the mildew* has 
 destroyed (has eaten.) 
 
 V. 5. " Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep, and mourn, 
 all ye that take delight in drinking sweet wine ; for it is cut 
 off from your mouth. 
 
 V. 6. " For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and 
 without number ; his teeth are like the teeth of a lion : and 
 his cheek teeth, as of a lion's whelp. 
 
 V. 7. " He has laid my vineyard waste, and has pulled off 
 the bark of my fig-tree : he has stripped it bare, and cast it 
 away; the branches thereof are made white." 
 
 The four insects, palmer-worm, locust, bruchus, and grass- 
 hopper, ver. 4, represents the four great nations, which we 
 saw crossing the Euphrates, to form Antichrist's army.' As 
 they march at present in four separate bodies, it is said that 
 what one leaves, the other eats up, to show that they leave 
 famine behind them wherever they go. 
 
 They are strong and without number, v. 6, and as furious 
 lions, they root up all the vineyards and fruit trees, v. 7, after 
 having devoured the fruit. Joel goes on : 
 
 V. 8. " Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the 
 husband of her youth. 
 
 V. 9. " Sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house ot 
 the Lord : the priests, the Lord's ministers, have mourned. 
 
 V. 10. " The country is destroyed, the ground hath mourn- 
 ed : for the corn is wasted, the \vine is confounded, the oil 
 hath languished. 
 
 V. 11. " The husbandmen are ashamed, the vine-dressers 
 have howled for the wheat and for the barley, because the 
 harvest of the field is perished. 
 
 V. 12. " The vineyard is confounded, and the fig-tree hath 
 languished : the pomegranate-tree, and the palm-tree, and the 
 
 * Most interpreters understand the Hebrew word, here rendered by mil' 
 dew, to mean a species of grasshopper, or other insect. 
 
262 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 apple-tree, and all the trees of the field are withered : because 
 joy is withdrawn from the children of men. 
 
 V. 17, " Tlie beasts have rotted in their dung: the barns 
 are destroyed, the storehouses are broken down: because the 
 corn is confounded. 
 
 V. 18. " Why did the beasts groan, Avhy did the herds of 
 cattle low 7 because there is no pasture for them : yea, and 
 the flocks of sheep are perished." 
 
 Here, then, the corn, wine, oil, and fruit, are all swept 
 away by these rapacious wolves, and such universal devasta- 
 tion and desolation overspread the land, that the people are 
 reduced to lamentation, famine, and despair, v. 8, the priests 
 have not even bread and wine sufficient for the holy sacrifice, 
 V. 9, and the beasts of the field perish for want of food, v. 17, 
 18. Joel continues. 
 
 Chap. ii. 1. " Blow ye the trumpet in Sion, sound an alarm 
 in my holy mountain, let all the inhabitants of the land trem- 
 ble: because the day of the Lord cometh, because it is nigh 
 at hand. 
 
 V. 2. "A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of 
 clouds and whirlwinds: a numerous and strong people, as 
 the morning spread upon the mountains: the like to it hath 
 not been from the beginning, nor shall be after it even to the 
 years of generation and generation. 
 
 V, 3. " Before the face thereof a devouring iire, and behind 
 it a burning fiame : the land is like a garden of pleasure be- 
 fore it, and behind it a desolate wilderness, neither is there 
 any one that can escape it." 
 
 At the approach of this tremendous army, the alarm is 
 sounded, ver. 1, 2, to give notice that the day of the Lord 
 cometh, the day of darkness is nigh at hand, that is, the terri- 
 ble day of the wrath of God, who is now going to pour out 
 his judgments upon mankind in a more severe manner than 
 ever before. A numerous and strong people comes, ver. 2, a 
 prodigious army appears, the like to it hcis not been from the 
 beginning, nor shall be after it even to the years of genera- 
 tion and generation, which shows it to be the army of Anti- 
 christ, the most numerous that has been or will be, consisting, 
 according to St. John, of two hundred million, Apoc. ix. 16. 
 It overspreads the land with a swiftness, like to that of the 
 aurora or morning light expanding itself over the tops of the 
 mountains, ver. 2. This is done by means of incorporeal 
 devils, that make part of this army, as we have before obser- 
 ved. Before the face thereof proceeds a burning fire, v. 3, the 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 263 
 
 fire of gunpowder with which they destroy mankind ; and 
 behind it a devouring flame, arising from their setting fire to 
 every thing as they march, and thus reducing the whole 
 country into a desert, or as the prophet beautifully expresses 
 it, the land is like a garden of pleasure before it, and behind 
 it a desolate wilderness. 
 
 V. 4. "The appearance of them," continues Joel, "is as 
 the appearance of horses, and they shall run like horsemen, 
 
 V. 5. " They shall leap like the noise of chariots upon the 
 tops of mountains, like the noise of a flame of fire devouring 
 the stubble, as a strong people prepared to battle. 
 
 V. 6. " At their presence the people shall be in grievous 
 pain : all faces shall be made like a kettle." 
 
 The picture here drawn of the army is similar to that we 
 saw from the hand of St. John. Joel does not say the army 
 consists wholly of cavalry, but the appearance of them is as 
 the appearance of horses, ver. 4, including the artillery or 
 cannon under the appearance of horses, in the same manner 
 as St. John saw them. {See page 230.) The carriages of 
 the cannon, as they are drawn up the mountains, make a noise 
 like the noise of chariots, v. 5, and a crackling like that of a 
 flame of fire devouring stubble, as they are dragged over the 
 stones and rocks. These carriages are moreover said to leap 
 up upon the tops of the mountains, by the celerity with which 
 the hellish spirits move them forwards. Consternation, ter- 
 ror, and despair, are the vanguard of such an army, all faces 
 shall turn black like a kettle with fear and dread, v. 6. 
 
 V. 7. " They shall run like valiant men," continues Joel, 
 "like men of war they shall scale the wall: the men shall 
 •march every one on his way, and they shall not turn aside 
 from their ranks. 
 
 V. 8. " No one shall press upon his brother: they shall 
 walk every one in his path : yea, and they shall fall through 
 the windows, and shall take no harm. 
 
 V. 9. " They shall enter into the city: they shall run upon 
 the wall, they shall climb up the houses, they shall come in 
 at the windows as a thief" 
 
 Here is the last part of the description of this strange army. 
 Their intrepidity is unparalleled. They run upon danger, or 
 scale the walls of fortified towns, without the least concern, 
 V. 7; and in their march they keep their ranks without press- 
 ing one another, every one walking in security in his path Avith- 
 out the least fear of enemies, v. 7, 8. Their agility is such, 
 that they come in at the windows as a thief, and if they fall 
 
264 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 through them, they take no harm, v. 8, 9. They insinuate 
 themselves into towns, though the gates be shut; they run 
 upon the walls, as upon plain ground ; they get upon the tops 
 of houses, as if they had wings. It is plain, such actions are 
 not human actions, and consequently the agents are not men, 
 but infernal spirits, as we have so often remarked. At the 
 head, then, of such troops, the furious tyrant and general enemy 
 of mankind. Antichrist, carries ravage and desolation through 
 the land, burns the cities, reduces the strongest fortresses with- 
 out difficulty, and levels them to the ground. He will seem to 
 imitate the proud and haughty king of Assyria, Nabuchodo- 
 nosor, who may be well deemed a figure of him. That 
 monarch said to his general, Holofernes : " Go out against all 
 the kingdoms of the west, and against them especially that 
 despised my commandment. Thy eye shall not spare any 
 kingdom, and all the strong cities thou shalt bring under my 
 yoke." Judith ii. 5, 6, In consequence of these orders, Holo- 
 fernes " went forth, he and all the army, with the chariots, 
 and horsemen, and archers, who covered the face of the earth, 
 like locusts. — He came to the great mountains of Ange, w^hich 
 are on the left of Cilicia: and he went up to all their castles, 
 and took all the strong places. — And he passed over the 
 Euphrates, he came into Mesopotamia; and he forced all the 
 
 stately cities that were there. And he carried away all the 
 
 children of Madian, and stripped them of all their riches, and 
 all that resisted him he slew with the edge of the sword. And 
 after these things he went down into the plains of Damascus 
 in the days of the harvest, and he set all the corn on fire, and 
 he caused all the trees and the vineyards to be cut down." 
 Judith ii. 11, &c. And though the inhabitants of the cities, 
 went out to meet him and make their submission, " they could 
 not for all that mitigate the fierceness of his heart : for he both 
 destroyed their cities, and cut down their groves. For Nabu- 
 chodonosor the king had commanded him to destroy all the 
 gods of the earth, that he only might be called God by those 
 nations, which could be brought under him by the power of 
 Holofernes." Judith iii. 11, 12, 13. Here is an imperfect pic- 
 ture of the proceedings of Antichrist, who, according to the 
 accounts above given of Joel and St. John, will far surpass, 
 in rage and barbarity, Holofernes or his master Nabuchodo- 
 nosor. Antichrist will have a more powerful and pernicious 
 instrument in hand, namely, gunpowder, which he will make 
 so much use of, according to St. John, " as to kill the third 
 part of men by it." Apoc. ix. 18. And all obstacles seem 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 265 
 
 to vanish before him, as being- easily removed or surmounted 
 by the devils that attend him : for the dragon, Satan, gave him 
 his own strength, or his own armies. Apoc. xiii. 2. All this 
 is permitted by Almighty God in his wrath for the execution 
 of his judgments, as he formerly permitted the northern bar- 
 barous nations in like manner to assist Rome for a while with 
 their armies, " For God hath given into their hearts," said 
 St. John, " to do that which pleaseth him : that they gave their 
 kingdom to the beast till the words of God be fulfilled." Apoc, 
 xvii. 17. The iniquities of mankind having filled up their 
 measure at this period, Antichrist is the rod of punishment 
 in the hand of God ; who therefore allows him an extraordi- 
 nary destructive power, such as had never been permitted to 
 fall into the hands of any mortal before. *' And power was 
 given him," says St. John, " over every tribe, and people, and 
 tongue, and nation." Apoc. xiii. 7. Thus then the beast be- 
 comes irresistible, and with the feet of a bear and the mouth 
 of a lion, as St. John says, Apoc. xiii. 2, or with claws and 
 teeth of iron, according to Daniel, vii. 9, the beast devours the 
 whole earth, treads it down, and breaks it in pieces, Dan. vii. 
 23. Thus we see how fully he answers the character given 
 him in the fourth seal. " Behold a pale horse," says St. John, 
 *' and he that sat on him, his name v»'as Death, and hell follow- 
 ed him. And power was given to him over the four parts of 
 the earth, to kill with sword, with famine, and with death, and 
 with the beasts of the earth." Apoc. vi. 8. And thus he be- 
 comes universal monarch.* 
 
 Both the ancients and moderns speak of Antichrist as domi- 
 neering over the whole world. Lactantius says, " he will tor- 
 ment the world with an insupportable tyranny." Inst. I. 7. c. 
 16. Sulpitius Severus tells us he had heard from St. Martin, 
 that "the whole earth and all mankind will be reduced under 
 the power of Antichrist." Dial. 2. de vita S. Mart. St. Jerom 
 says, that " Antichrist will reign over the whole world." In 
 Dan. ix. St. Austin and St. Hyppolytus, martyr, hold the same 
 sentiment. 
 
 Among the moderns, Bellarmine, Cornelius a Lapide, and 
 others, speak the same language. 
 
 Several of the preceding articles, relating to the character 
 and actions of Antichrist, being also intimated to us with other 
 
 * If the prince of darkness be allowed an insight into futurity by means 
 of the prophecies, he may have suggested to the Turkish monarchs the 
 prophetic motto which they inscribe upon their military standard, ^'^ Donee 
 totum impleat orhevi, till it fills the whole earth." 
 23 
 
266 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 particulars in a passage of the prophet Daniel, Avhich has been 
 applied to Antichrist by St. Jerom, Theodoret, and other an- 
 cient and modern interpreters, we shall here give it. 
 
 Chap, xi, 36. " The king," says Daniel, " shall do accord- 
 ing to his will, and he shall be lifted up, and shall magnify i 
 himself against every God : and he shall speak great things 
 against the God of gods, and shall prosper, till the wrath be 
 accomplished. For the determination is made." Here is 
 Antichrist's power of doing according to his will; here is his 
 arrogance, his luciferian pride, his rebellion and his blasphe- 
 mies against the Almighty, just as St. John and St. Paul have 
 described them. And it is added, that he shall prosper, till 
 the wrath be accomplished, that is, till the Almighty has exe- 
 cuted, by him, his judgments upon mankind for their wicked- 
 ness. For the determination is made ; for such is the decree 
 of heaven. 
 
 V. 37. " And he shall make no account of the God of his 
 fathers," continues Daniel, "and he shall follow the lust of 
 women, and he shall not regard any gods : for he shall rise 
 up against all things." Antichrist is here represented as an 
 atheist, and addicted to lust. Daniel proceeds, 
 
 V. 38. " But he shall worship the god Maozim in his 
 place: and a god whom his fathers knew not, he shall wor- 
 ship with gold and silver, and precious stones, and things of 
 great price." Antichrist, though he was said before not to 
 regard any gods, yet he worships in his place, or privately, 
 the god Maozim, that is, the god of fortresses ; for so the 
 word Maozim is translated by Theodotion and Aquila, by the 
 authors of the Syriac and Arabic versions, and by Vatable and 
 others. It would seem that Antichrist, on his astonishing 
 success in reducing the strong holds and fortified places, be- 
 ond that of any conqueror the world ever saw, will acknow- 
 edge it, but not publicly, to be owing to the aid and operation 
 of Satan, who attends him, and whom on that account he will 
 privately worship with gold and silver, and precious stones, 
 &c. under the name of the god of fortresses. That such will 
 be his success over fortresses, we have seen in the prophecy 
 of Joel. — Lastly, 
 
 V. 39. " And he shall do this to fortify Maozim with a 
 strange god, whom he hath acknowledged, and he shall in- 
 crease glory, and shall give them power over many, and shall 
 divide them the land for nothing." He will fortify his god 
 Maozim with a strange god, whom he hath acknowledged, 
 that is, with another infernal spirit, from whom he acknow- 
 
 I 
 
HISTORY OP THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 267 
 
 ledges to have received particular assistance ; probably that 
 spirit which attends his false prophet enables him to perform 
 such extraordinary feats and wonders for promoting- Anti- 
 christ's credit and the M'orship paid to him. And he shall 
 increase glory, and shall give them power over many, and 
 shall divide them the land for nothing. Here the Antichrist- 
 ian monarch distributes his favours to his partisans. To some 
 he gives glory, that is, title and pre-eminence ; on others he 
 confers power over many, that is, kingdoms, or governments 
 of provinces, towns, &c. ; and to others he divides the land 
 for nothing, giving them large possessions or estates, gratis. 
 Thus, in quality of universal monatch, he disposes of the 
 earth, of dignities, and riches, at his pleasure. As a pre- 
 lude to his future power of Antichrist, may not the devil have 
 suggested to the Turkish emperors the title, which they 
 now assume by anticipation, of " Bestowers of all earthly 
 crowns?" — See note, p. 239. 
 
 But now we must return to consider, that such is the gene- 
 ral and dreadful calamity of the times we are describing, that, 
 while Antichrist spreads abroad a flood of desolation and 
 slaughter by his army, and thus becomes the instrument of 
 punishment to the Avicked, he is to be understood to exercise 
 at the same time a most sanguinary persecution against the 
 servants of God. He had begun it with putting to death 
 144,000 converted Jews. But now the four winds are let 
 loose, which we saw held by the angels, Apoc. vii. 1, and they 
 carry with their innate velocity the rage of persecution into 
 every corner of the globe. Hell and earth combine ; the de- 
 vil. Antichrist, and the false prophet, confederate together to 
 extirpate Christianity. They set all engines at work, to 
 abolish all worship of God, and to establish idolatry. St. 
 Austin, speaking of this dreadful period, saj's: " This perse- 
 cution will be the last, it will happen towards the approach 
 of the last judgment, and it will fall upon the Church in 
 every part of the world ; that is, the whole city of Christ will 
 be persecuted by the whole city of the devil, as far as both 
 are extended upon the earth." De. Civ. liv. 20. c. 11. The 
 barbarous tortures employed in the primitive persecutions, 
 are revived, and new ones more cruel invented. The racks, 
 torches, gridirons, fire, and other instruments of torment, are 
 reproduced. The Christians are dr;agged before the statue of 
 Antichrist, which if they refuse to adore, certain death is 
 their punishment, Apoc. xiii. 15. We are shocked in read- 
 ing the account of the barbarities used by Nero, Domitian, 
 
268 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Dioclesian, &c. against the Christians, but these will be much 
 exceeded by the cruelties of this last persecution. Some of 
 those Roman emperors, for their inexpressible violence against 
 religion, were thought by a part of the Christians to be Anti- 
 christ ; but in the time we are speaking of, the Christians will 
 experience the rage of the real Antichrist, to which nothing 
 in the preceding ages will have been found equal. He is 
 permitted to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, 
 as St. John informs us, Apoc. xiii. 7. He is now in his full 
 career of power, and crushes the saints of the Most High, as 
 Daniel forewarned us, vii. 25. This ferocious monster, as in 
 his war he seemed to imitate the cruel tyrant Nabuchodono- 
 sor; so in his hatred to religion he resembles the impious 
 Syrian king, Antiochus Epiphanes, who by the Christian 
 writers has been always marked out as the figure of him. 
 That prince was an avowed enemy to the worship of God, 
 and exercised a most horrible persecution upon the Jews, 
 inasmuch that, having taken the city of Jerusalem by force 
 of arms, he commanded the soldiers to kill, and not to spare 
 any that came in their way, and to go up into the houses 
 to slay. 
 
 " Thus there was a slaughter of young and old, a destruc- 
 tion of women and children, and killing of virgins and infants. 
 
 " And there were slain in the space of three whole days four 
 score thousand, forty thousand were made prisoners, and as 
 many sold. 
 
 " And when Antiochus had taken away out of the temple 
 a thousand and eight hundred talents, he went back in all 
 haste to Antioch, thinking, through pride, that he might now 
 make the land navigable, and the sea passable on foot : such 
 was the haughtiness of his mind." 2 Mach. v. 
 
 Antiochus, though retired out of the country, did not abate 
 in his enmity to the Jews. For he sent Apollonius with an 
 army of twenty-two thousand men, who made another dread- 
 ful slaughter of the people in Jerusalem. And, 
 
 " Not long after," continues the sacred writer, '* the king 
 sent a certain old man of Antioch, to compel the Jews to de- 
 part from the laws of their fathers and of God : and to defile 
 the temple that was in Jerusalem, and to call it the temple of 
 Jupiter Olympius. 
 
 " And there went out a decree — to oblige them to sacrifice, 
 (to the idol of Jupiter Olympius,) and whosoever would not 
 conform themselves to the ways of the heathens should be 
 put to death." 2 Mach. vi. Let these actions of Antiochus 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 269 
 
 against the Jews be looked upon as a faint draught of those 
 violences which Antichrist will exercise upon the Christians. 
 But on account of the weakness of human nature, and to 
 moderate our terror at the sight of such an unexampled per- 
 secution, our Saviour himself has also been pleased to give 
 us previous notice of it. " For there shall be then great 
 tribulation," says he, " such as hath not been from the begin- 
 ning of the world until now, neither shall be. And unless 
 those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved ; for 
 the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened." Matth. 
 xxiv. 21, 22. — Happily, amidst this frightful prospect, there 
 I shines a ray of comfort. These extreme difficulties and rigor- 
 ous trials, this war and slaughter, which, if continued, would 
 sweep away the whole race of mankind, our Saviour informs 
 us, shall be shortened, that is, contracted to the compass of 
 three years and a half, for the sake of the elect, or, out of re- 
 gard for his faithful and beloved servants, in the same manner 
 as formerly Almighty God offered to spare the wicked city of 
 Sodom, in case ten just men could be found in it. When 
 mankind are brought to so severe a test, what wonder if, in 
 an age of infidelity and irreligion, numbers give up their faith 
 in Christ, and go over to the enemy, the beast, and adore him 
 as a god ? And such, we learn from St. John, will be unhap- 
 pily the case. " And all that dwell upon the earth, adored 
 him, whose names are not wTitten in the book of life." Apoc. 
 xiii. 8. 
 
 But besides what we have seen concerning this persecution, 
 as the Almighty has judged extraordinary admonitions neces- 
 sary for us in proportion to the rigour of the trial, he has 
 vouchsafed to impart to us a further account of it by his pro- 
 phet Daniel, xii. 1. "At that time," says this prophet, " shall 
 Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the child- 
 ren of thy people : and a time shall come such as never was 
 from the time that nations began even until that time. And 
 at that time shall thy people be saved, every one that shall be 
 found written in the book." Here the angel tells Daniel, that 
 at the time of the terrible persecution of Antichrist, the arch- 
 angel Michael, who is the patron of the Christian Church, as 
 he was of the Jewish, will rise up to the succour of the Christ- 
 ians, and fight against the powers of hell for them, in the 
 same manner as we saw he did in the first persecutions under 
 the Roman emperors, Apoc. xii. 7 ; that the persecution will 
 also be such as never was from the time that nations began 
 even until that time; and that those only shall be saved who 
 . 23* 
 
270 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 shall be found written in the book of life, as St. John has just 
 told us; which indicates, that few will stand the trial and gain 
 the crown of martyrdom, in comparison to the number of those 
 who will give up the cause. — Then Daniel asked, 
 
 V. 6. " How lonof shall it be to the end of these wonders ? 
 
 V. 7. " And I heard," says he, " the man, that was clothed 
 in linen, that stood upon the waters of the river, when he had 
 lifted up his right hand, and his left hand to heaven, and had 
 sworn by Him who liveth for ever, that it should be unto a 
 time, and times, and half a time." 
 
 Here, then, the answer is given in the most solemn man- 
 ner, and God called to witness, (which shows the importance 
 of the thing,) that this dreadful period will last for a time, and 
 times, and half a time, or three years and a half That by 
 the expression of a time, the prophet means a year, appears 
 from another passage, where the same prophet, speaking of 
 the sentence the Almighty had passed upon Nabuchodonosor, 
 he says : " They shall cast thee out from among men, and 
 thy dwelling shall be with cattle and with wild beasts, and 
 thou shalt eat grass as an ox, and shall be wet Avith the dew 
 of heaven : and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou 
 know that the Most High ruleth over the kingdom of men, 
 and giveth it to whomsoever he will." Dan. iv. 22. The 
 seven times here fixed for the duration of that proud king's 
 punishment are acknowledged by all interpreters to mean 
 seven years. The same period of three years and a half, as 
 we have before observed, is given to the persecution by St. 
 John, when he says : " And the holy city they shall tread un- 
 der foot two and forty months." Apoc. xi. 2. Here it is ex- 
 pressed in months, and again in the same manner: "and 
 power was given to him (Antichrist) to do two and forty 
 months." Apoc. xiii. 5. We likewise see the same period 
 expressed in days for the duration of Henoch's and Elias's 
 preaching, which may be naturally supposed to equal the time 
 of the Church's oppression : " And I will give unto my two 
 witnesses; and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred 
 and sixty dav.**." Apoc. xi. 3. In fine, Daniel, speaking of 
 the Church's sufferings at this time, says: "from the time 
 when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away, and the 
 abomination unto desolation shall be set up, there shall be a 
 thousand two hundred and ninety days," xii. 1 1. Upon which 
 St. Jerom writes thus : — " Therefore from the time that the 
 continual sacrifice shall be taken away, and that Antichrist, 
 being master of the world, shall prohibit the worship of God, 
 
n:iSl"DRY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 271 
 
 to the time of his destruction, there will be three years and a 
 halfi that is, 1290 days." In Dan. xii. There can then be 
 no real doubt, that the time of Antichrist's persecution is con- 
 fined to three j^ears and a half, or 1260 days, and not extended 
 to 1260 years, as some moderns have pretended, with a view 
 of calumniating the Catholic Church. For, though in some 
 particular places of the scriptures, a day may be found to de- 
 note a year, or a month to denote a month of years, that is, 
 thirty years, or a week to signify a week of years, or seven 
 years ; yet there is no instance of a period of time mentioned 
 in scripture under the three denominations of years, months, 
 and days, that is not to be taken in its natural sense. Besides, 
 the nature and circumstances of the case, as appears from the 
 preceding history, evince the same ; and in this sense it has 
 been understood by the fathers of the Church. " That the 
 reign of Antichrist," says St. Chrysostom, " will last three 
 years and six months, the scripture in several places testifies, 
 but particularly the Apocalypse of St. John." Horn. 49. iri. 
 Matt. 24. — See also St. Irenceus adv. H^r. I. 5. c. 30. St. Cy- 
 ril, Catech. 25. S. Hyppol. de co?isum. sccculi^ St. Austin de 
 civ. I. -20. c. 25. St. Jerom, Theodoret, and others. 
 
 But to resume the instructions given to Daniel concerning 
 this interesting time. 
 
 Chap. xii. 7. "And when the scattering," continues he, 
 " of the band of the holy people shall be accomplished, all 
 these things shall be finished." That is, these severe trials 
 and calamities will be- put an end to, after that the Christians 
 shall have been scattered for an appointed time, by flying into 
 deserts and caverns, as formerly, for shelter from the face of 
 persecution. But in the mean time, 
 
 V. 10. "Many shall be chosen, and made white, and shall 
 be tried as fire." The Christians will be tried, and made 
 white or purified, as silver in the fire : such will be the seve- 
 rity of the persecution. Conformably to Daniel speaks also 
 the prophet Zachary : " And there shall be in all the earth, 
 saith the Lord, two parts in it shall be scattered, and shall 
 perish : but the third part shall be left therein. And I will 
 bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as 
 silver is refined ; and I will try them, as gold is tried," xiii. 
 8, 9. This persecution will be distinguished, as we observed 
 before, by seven particular scenes more shocking than the 
 rest : that are intimated by the seven thunders, which St. John 
 heard speak, but w^as not permitted to write what they said, 
 Apoc. X. 3, 4. — Daniel proceeds. 
 
272 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 V. 10. "And the wicked shall deal wickedly, and none of 
 the wicked shall understand, but the learned shall under- 
 stand." The wicked therefore will make no advantage of the 
 times, but will continue to be wicked, through hardress of 
 heart; nor will they understand, through their own wilful 
 blindness, the meaning of those scourges and trials sent upon 
 mankind : whereas the learned, who are truly virtuous and 
 instructed in these prophecies, will understand the reason of 
 the divine judgments, and wdll turn them to their own profit, 
 and to the gaining of an immortal crown. 
 
 Notwithstanding the dreadful aspect, under which appears 
 Antichrist's persecution according to the preceding account, 
 we should not however be dejected or dismayed. Confidence 
 in the mercies and providence of God should allay our fears 
 and support our fortitude. That all bountiful Being, in his 
 severest judgments, never forgets mercy ; and when he sends 
 trials, he furnishes assistance proportioned to the exigencies. 
 We have already seen that the archangel Michael will come, 
 by the order of God, to the defence of the Christians, and 
 will check the exorbitant power of Satan. Besides, we are 
 assured that boisterous storm w^ill not last beyond threes years 
 and a half But the principal support in these extreme dis- 
 tresses will be, the abundant graces infused by the Almighty 
 into the hearts of the faithful, which will inspire them with 
 the most heroic fortitude and invincible constancy. These 
 dispositions will also be nourished and animated by the inces- 
 sant preaching of the ministers of God, who will be enabled 
 to enforce their exhortations with many shining miracles. 
 Among these apostolic labourers, Henoch and Elias w^ill sig- 
 nalize their zeal. By such means not only the faithful will 
 be supported, but many conversions made. The Church there- 
 fore at this period, though in appearance so much oppressed, 
 will shine more glorious than in any former age, by the num- 
 ber of Christian champions, who will not fear to make open 
 profession of their faith, will bafile by their invincible fortitude 
 all Antichrist's arts and torments, and will soar in triumph to 
 heaven with the crown of martyrdom. 
 
 It would seem that as the Christians will be fully instructed 
 in the prophecies relating to the time, some of them, perhaps 
 imdcr their torments, will admonish Antichrist of his impend- 
 ing fate ; in a similar manner as the above-mentioned king 
 Antiochus w^as forewarned, by three pf the seven Machabees 
 whom he put to death, of the divine vengeance that would 
 soon overtake him. The fifth of them, in his tortures, said to 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 273 
 
 Antiochus : " Whereas thou hast power among men, though 
 thou art corruptible, thou dost what thou wilt : but think not 
 that our nation is forsaken by God. But stay patiently a 
 while, and thou shalt see his great power, in what manner he 
 will torment thee and thy seed." 2 Mach. vii. 16, 17. Anti- 
 christ raging with fury at hearing from the expiring Christ- 
 ians the supreme decree which dooms him with all his men 
 to be slain by Jesus Christ and his celestial army of saints, 
 he resolves upon the most daring and most impious scheme, 
 that ever entered the heart of man, and which, by the concur- 
 rence of Satan and his false prophet, he puts in execution. 
 
 Chap. xvi. 13. "And I saw," says St. John, "from the 
 mouth of the dragon, and from the mouth of the beast, and 
 from the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like 
 frogs. 
 
 V. 14. "For they are the spirits of devils working signs, 
 and they go forth unto the kings of the whole earth* to gather 
 them to battle against the great day of the Almighty God." 
 The dragon or Satan, the beast or Antichrist, and the false 
 prophet, send forth, each of them, an unclean vSpirit or devil. 
 These they depute to all the kings and potentates, to all the 
 great and little states of the earth, to gather them to battle 
 against the great day of the Almighty God, that is, to engage 
 them to assemble their troops and join Antichrist, who has 
 determined to encounter with the omnipotent God, by whom 
 they will on that great day be crushed and utterly destroyed. 
 What audacious temerity, surely, the advice of Satan, to dare 
 challenge the Almighty to battle ! But what wonder that those 
 proud angels who had rebelled against their God in heaven, 
 should now excite mankind to a similar impiety 7 These three 
 ambassadors, spirits of devils, conceal themselves under human 
 shapes, and, like frogs, which are amphibious, proceed both 
 by land and sea to every state on the continents and in the 
 islands, and by their power of working signs or wonders, im- 
 pose upon the princes, and prevail with them to embark in the 
 mad design of their great master Antichrist. 
 
 The earth w^as now reeking every where with the blood of 
 Christian victims. The persecution raged with the utmost 
 violence, and daily swept away multitudes. The pastors es- 
 pecially are picked out for slaughter, being more obnoxious on 
 account of their zeal, in opposing Antichrist, in animating the 
 Christians, and fortifying them under their conflicts. And this 
 
 * In the Greek. " the kings of the earth and of the whole inhabited 
 world." 
 
274 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHtTRCH. 
 
 is exhibited to us with strong colours by the prophet Jeremy: 
 "Howl, ye shepherds," says he, "and cry: and sprinkle 
 yourselves with ashes, ye leaders of the flock : for the days 
 of your slaughter and dispersion are accomplished, and you 
 shall fall like precious vessels. And the shepherds shall have 
 no way to flee, nor the leaders of the flock to save themselves," 
 XXV. 34, 35. But this persecution was to be distinguished in 
 a particular manner by the martyrdom of the two great mes- 
 sengers of Christ, his two witnesses, Henoch and Elias. Their 
 Saviour and master had assigned them 1260 days, or three 
 years and a half, to prophecy or to perform the function of 
 his special ministers ; during which time he screened them 
 from all attempts of Antichrist and other enemies. But that 
 period being now elapsed, he withdraws that special protection 
 from them, and requires that they shall finish their work by 
 sealing it with their blood. He therefore delivers them over 
 into the power of Antichrist. 
 
 Chap. xi. 7. " And when they (the two witnesses) shall 
 have finished their testimony," says St. John, " the beast, that 
 ascendeth out of the abyss, shall make war against them, and 
 shall overcome them and kill them." Henoch and Elias then 
 having finished their testimony, or time appointed them to 
 give testimony to Christ by their preaching, they are to be 
 put to death by order of Antichrist, who is impelled to it by 
 Satan, the beast that ascendeth out of the abyss, or bottom- 
 less pit. 
 
 V. 8. " And their bodies shall lie in the streets of the great 
 city, which is called, spiritually, Sodom and Egypt, where 
 their Lord also was crucified." Their dead bodies lie exposed 
 in the streets of the great city, which is Jerusalem, as appears 
 by what is added, where their Lord was crucified ; and our 
 Saviour had said: " it cannot be that a prophet perish out of 
 Jerusalem." Lukexiii. 33. Jerusalem is styled, spiritually or 
 mystically, Sodom and Egypt : Sodom, because, as that city was 
 burned by fire from heaven for its iniquities, so was Jerusalem 
 doomed by heaven to be burned by the Romans in consequence 
 of its crucifying its Lord. Jerusalem is also styled Egypt, in 
 allusion to the persecutions the Jews suffered under the Pha- 
 raohs in Egypt, and which they will suffer in a more severe 
 manner at Jerusalem under Antichrist. 
 
 V. 9. " And they of the tribes, and peoples, and tongues, 
 and nations, shall see their bodies for three days and a half: 
 and they shall not suffer their bodies to be laid in sepulchres. 
 
 V. 10. "And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice 
 
HISTORV OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 275 
 
 over them, and make merry: and shall send gifts one to an- 
 other, because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt 
 upon the earth. For three days and a half the bodies of He- 
 noch and Elias will remain exposed to the sight of an infinite 
 multitude of people from all nations of the earth, who will be 
 then in Jerusalem : nor will they suffer the bodies to be buried, 
 for the hatred they will have conceived to the two holy pro- 
 phets. Xh5§e that -dwell on the earth, or the bad sort of peo- 
 ple, will ev'ery where rejoice at their death, and will send 
 presents to congratulate one another on being freed from such 
 importunate preachers, and from the dreadful effects of their 
 miraculous powers. But, 
 
 V. 11. "And after three days and a half," continues St. 
 John, " the spirit of life from God entered into them. And they 
 stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them that saw 
 them. 
 
 V. 12. " And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying 
 to them: come up hither. And they went up to heaven in a 
 cloud ; and their enemies saw them." Here we see the Al- 
 mighty hand raising the two dead heroes to life ; and they are 
 called to the reward of their labours, a happy immortality ; 
 their enemies seeing them with astonishment mount into hea- 
 ven. In fine, 
 
 V. 13. "And at that hour there was made a great earth- 
 quake, and the tenth part of the city fell ; and there were 
 slain in the earthquakes names of men seven thousand: and 
 the rest were cast into fear, and gave glory to the God of 
 heaven." At the time that the two resuscitated martyrs will 
 ascend to heaven, an earthquake will happen, which will throw 
 :H5wn a tenth part of the city of Jerusalem, and destroy seven 
 thousand of Antichrist's adherents, who deserve no more than 
 the mere name of men. But those that remain will be struck 
 with terror, will acknowledge the hand of the Almighty in 
 this dreadful event, and, deserting the wicked party, will be 
 converted to God. Such will be the glorious triumph of He- 
 noch and Elias. It will happen some time before the close 
 of the persecution; because the period of their ministry is 
 the same in length with that of the persecution, viz. three 
 years and a half, and they had employed some share of their 
 time in converting the Jews before the persecution commenced. 
 
 Whether some nations of Africa will revolt from the do- 
 minion of the Antichristian tyrant, or whatever else will be 
 the provocation, it seems that he will himself also carry his 
 arms into that country. This appears from a passage of the 
 
276 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 prophet Daniel, which St. Jerom and some other ancient in- 
 terpreters have so understood. 
 
 Chap. xi. 40. "And at the time prefixed," says Daniel, 
 *' the king of the south (the king of Egypt) shall fight against 
 him, and the king of the north (Antichrist) shall come against 
 him like a tempest, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with 
 a great navy, and he shall enter into the countries, and shall 
 destroy, and pass through. 
 
 V. 41. "And he shall enter into the glorious land, and 
 many shall fall : and these only shall be saved out of his 
 hand, Edom and Moab, and the principality of the children of 
 Ammon. 
 
 V. 42. " And he shall lay his hand upon the lands : and 
 the land of Egypt shall not escape. 
 
 V. 43. " And he shall have power over the treasures of 
 gold, and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt: and 
 he shall pass through Lybia and Ethiopia." During these 
 exploits. 
 
 V. 44. " And tidings out of the east, and out of the north 
 shall trouble him : and he shall come with a great multitude 
 to destroy and slay many." Antichrist will be alarmed with 
 tidings out of the east and out of the north, probably of na- 
 tions revolting against him, as the sixth age is full of such 
 confusion, according to that of our Saviour : " Nation shall 
 vise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." Matt. 
 xxiv. 7. The exasperated tyrant will therefore leave Africa, 
 and proceed with his prodigious army into Asia, the provinces 
 of which lie to the east and north of Egypt, and there he will 
 destroy and slay many. He is yet in the full gale of pros- 
 perity, and therefore will bear down all before him. Among 
 his present Asiatic expeditions, it seems he will vent his rage 
 a second time against Jerusalem, Provoked, perhaps, that 
 such a number of his partisans had perished in the earth- 
 quake which happened at the triumph of Henoch and Elias, 
 and that the rest had deserted him to become the servants of 
 God, he* will lay siege to Jerusalem, and take it, as we learn 
 from the prophet Zachary. 
 
 Chap. xiv. 1. "Behold the days of the Lord shall come, 
 and thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee. 
 
 V. 2. " And I will gather all nations to Jerusalem to bat- 
 tle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses shall be rifled, 
 and the w^omen shall be defiled : and half of the city shall 
 go forth into captivity, and the rest of the people shall -not be 
 
   Or one of his generals. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 277 
 
 (aken away out of the city." On this occasion the prophet 
 informs us that some Jews will be found in Antichrist's army ; 
 for he says, v. 14, "And even Juda shall fight against Jeru- 
 salem." 
 
 Antichrist thus goes on, regaling himself with the destruc- 
 tion and havoc he makes every where, and drenching himself 
 with the blood of martyrs. But, notwithstanding all the 
 miseries of war, famine, pestilence, &c. that at this period like 
 a torrent poured in upon mankind, notwithstanding the un- 
 paralleled tyranny of the furious beast, notwithstanding that 
 these excessive calamities are known to proceed from the 
 avenging justice of an angry God ; still, who would believe 
 it ! the wicked remain incorrigible, and those that have basely 
 sunk into the abomination of idolatry, take not warning to re- 
 trieve themselves, but continue hardened in their iniquity. For 
 thus speaks St. John, 
 
 Chap. ix. 20. "And the rest of the men, who were not slain 
 by these plagues, did not do penance from the works of their 
 hands, that they should not adore devils, and idols of gold and 
 silver and brass and stone and wood, which neither can see, 
 nor hear, nor walk. 
 
 V. 21. " Neither did they penance from their murders, nor 
 from their sorceries, nor from their fornications, nor from their 
 thefts." 
 
 Antichrist having, by the strength of his armies and by the 
 assistance of the infernal associates, borne down all opposition, 
 we may now view him raised up to the pinnacle of human glo- 
 ry, to the summit of power. He reigns the greatest monarch 
 the world ever saw, and a short period of time has carried him 
 through all his conquests, and placed him upon a throne that 
 commands the whole earth. He has prevailed upon or com- 
 pelled a great part of mankind to adore him as a god, and of 
 those that refused he has sacrificed an infinite number to his 
 rage and jealousy. But, unhappy being ! now approaches the 
 period which the Supreme Being, the Almighty, has fixed to 
 his dominion. The three years and a half allowed him to 
 tyrannize over mankind, are noAv expiring. And it had been 
 pronounced : "judgment shall sit, that his power may be taken 
 away, and be broken in pieces, and perish even to the end." 
 Dan. vii. 26. Intoxicated however with pride and power, and 
 stimulated by Satan, he pursues his former resolution to suffer 
 no rival, but to contend for superiority with the Sovereign of 
 heaven, contemning what he had heard from the Christians, 
 that all power shall be wrested from him by Christ, and him- 
 24 
 
278 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHTTRCH. 
 
 self laid in the dust. In this view he proposes to cope with 
 Christ and all his heavenly attendants, by a proportionable 
 army assembled from the whole earth by the three evil spirits 
 that had been sent, as we have seen, for that purpose. His 
 thoughts are now wholly bent upon preparations for this daring 
 encounter. He therefore drops the persecution, and ceases 
 the war. — And now the second wo is past, that is, the perse- 
 cution and war of Antichrist : and behold the third wo, or day 
 of judgment, will come quickly, Apoc. xi. 14, Here the pro- 
 phet Daniel pronounces : " Blessed is he that waiteth, and 
 Cometh unto a thousand three hundred thirty-five days," xxii. 
 12. He had said in the preceding verse : " from the time, 
 when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away," and the 
 abomination unto desolation be set up, " there shall be a thou- 
 sand two hundred ninety days." These 1290 days, which 
 are dated from the time of Antichrist setting himself up for 
 God and forbidding all Christian worship, now expire with 
 the close of his persecution; and that number being taken 
 from 1335, there remain 45 days from the close of his perse- 
 cution to the day of his destruction: and therefore Daniel 
 pronounces him blessed who lives to see that day. This space 
 of 45 days Antichrist employs in collecting together all his 
 armies. 
 
 We may on our sides employ a share of this time in taking 
 a view of the great body of martyrs, the glorious victims of 
 this persecution. To separate the good from the bad members, 
 Christ has subjected his Church to the severest trial she ever 
 underwent, and streams of holy blood have been flowing to 
 appease the divine anger irritated against mankind for the ex- 
 cess of their wickedness. St. John thus exhibits to us the 
 sight he was favoured with of that blessed company, after they 
 were crowned. 
 
 Chap. vii. 9. " After this I saw a great multitude, which 
 no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, 
 and tongues : standing before the throne, and in sight of the 
 Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands." 
 A numberless multitude appears to St. John, consisting of 
 people of all nations from the four parts of the earth, clothed 
 in white robes in token of their present bliss, and with palms 
 in their hands, the known emblems of victory. In this attire 
 they are presented before the throne, and the Lamb. 
 
 V. 10, "And they cried with a loud voice, saying: salva- 
 tion to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb." 
 They break forth into loud acclamations, saying : '* Salvation 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CttURCH. 279 
 
 (or victory) to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and to 
 the Lamb," victory and triumph to the Almighty and to our 
 Saviour over their enemies. 
 
 V. 1 1. ** And all the angels stood round about the throne, 
 and the ancients, and the four living creatures : and they fell 
 down before the throne upon their faces, and adored God. 
 
 V. 12. "Saying: Amen. Benediction, and glory, and wis- 
 dom, and thanksgiving, honour, and power, and strength to 
 our God for ever and ever. Amen." The angels here join 
 in the profoundest homage to Almighty God. They acknow- 
 ledge and praise his providential dispensations to his Church 
 on ear^h, with the seven same expressive terms, except one 
 which were applied to the Lamb. Apoc. v. 12. 
 
 These terms of acclamation to the Almighty are : Benedic- 
 tion or praise for the immortal bliss he imparts to his saints: 
 Glory, that is reflected upon him for his bountiful admonitions 
 to mankind, conveyed by extraordinary signs and threaten 
 ing prodigies in the heavens and in the earth : Wisdom, in 
 raising up kingdoms and demolishing others according to the 
 wise determination of his justice : Thanksgiving, for his pro- 
 tection of the Church against the power of heresy and schism* 
 Honour, which he receives, from the glorious conflicts and 
 victory of his martyrs : Power, which he has so fully mani- 
 fested in subduing the world by the word of his gospel : and 
 Strength, which he exhibits in his t(?rrible scourges upon the 
 wicked part of his people. St. John proceeds, 
 
 V. 13. "And one of the ancients answered, and said to 
 me : these that are clothed in white robes, who are they ? and 
 whence came they ? 
 
 V. 14. "And I said to him. My Lord, thou knowest. And 
 he said to me : these are they who are come out of great* 
 tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made 
 them white in the blood of the Lamb." St. John not know- 
 ing in particular what that holy troop w^as, is here informed 
 that they came from the great tribulation, that is, from the 
 great persecution of Antichrist, and that they have washed 
 their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the 
 Lamb : they have w^ashed them by martyrdom, and they have 
 made them white by entering into glory, both which favours 
 were purchased to them by the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 V. 15. " Therefore they are before the throne of God, and 
 they serve him day and night in his temple : and he, that 
 
 * In the Greek, " the great tribulation." 
 
280 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 sifteth on the throne, shall dwell over them." The martyrs 
 are placed in the presence of their God, to whom they offer 
 constant homage and adoration: and he will dwell over them, 
 by infusing- the joy of beatitude into their souls, and being 
 their liberal Lord and gracious governor for ever. Lastly, 
 
 V. 16. " They shall no more hunger and thirst, neither 
 shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat. 
 
 V. 1 7. " For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, 
 shall rule* them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the 
 waters of life, and God shall wipe away all tears from their 
 eyes." Their afflictions and hardships are now all over. 
 They are now promised to be no more subject to the tor- 
 ments or sufferings they have undergone, either from hunger 
 or thirst, or from the sun or any heat falling upon them, that 
 is, from any sort of fire, natural or artificial ; many of them 
 having probably been famished to death, others burned, and 
 others shot. On the contrary, their bodies after the general 
 resurrection will enjoy a most pure and perpetual feast, in 
 being fed by the Lamb and refreshed by the most pleasant 
 living waters, in such manner as is suitable to their glorified 
 state. Before, St. John said; they are before the throne of 
 God, &c. to indicate the happiness of their souls immediately 
 after their passage to the other life : But here he says : they 
 shall no more hunger and thirst, &c. to denote the future 
 period after the general resurrection, when their bodies which 
 were associated in the hardships, will likewise enjoy their 
 share of beatitude. Furthermore, one may here observe the 
 suppression of the word " and," which is so constantly re- 
 peated through the Apocalypse. In verse the 15th was ex- 
 pressed the beatitude of the soul, and in verse ihe 1 6th that of 
 the body: the disparity of these two beatitudes could not well 
 admit of the conjunctive particle and, while the terms of soul 
 and body were not expressed. — And God will wipe away 
 their tears of sorrow : by filling them Avith the abundance of 
 the sweetest joy and most perfect happiness for all eternity. 
 
 On the expiration of the forty-five days above-mentioned, 
 Antichrist having collected together all the forces, assembled 
 by the three evil spirits who " had gone forth unto the king 
 of the whole earth to gather them to battle against the great 
 day of the Almighty God," Apoc. xvi. 14, he encamps them 
 in the valley of Josaphat, between Jerusalem and Mount Oli- 
 vet, and pitches his own tent on that mountain. He had 
 
 * In the Greek, " shall feed them." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 281 
 
 probably been forewarned by the Christians, that this would 
 be the theatre of his destruction, and therefore he chooses it in 
 defiance of heaven. That this will be really the place, we 
 seem to learn, first, from St. John, who, after the words just 
 above cited, adds : " And he shall gather them together, into 
 a place, which in Hebrew is called Armagedon." Apoc. xvi. 
 16. The word Armagedon is interpreted the mountain of 
 fruits, which may indicate the mountain of Olives. The same 
 is pointed out by the prophet Daniel, who speaks thus : 
 " And he shall fix his tabernacle Apadno between the seas, 
 upon a glorious and holy mountain ; and he shall come even 
 to the top thereof, and none shall help him," xi. 45. Anti- 
 christ will fix his tabernacle Apadno, that is, his magnificent 
 tent, called Apadno, upon a mountain, viz. Mount Olivet, 
 which has been made glorious and holy by the Ascension and 
 other sacred transactions of our Saviour, and stands between 
 the Mediterranean and Dead Seas. There he will arrogantly 
 fix his standard, but none will be able to help him against the 
 power of the Almighty. 
 
 We have likewise in the prophet Joel, not only express 
 mention of the same place of encampment, but also a remark- 
 able description of the assembling of this army and its im- 
 pending fate. 
 
 Chap. iii. 1. " For behold," says the Lord, " in these days 
 and in that time when I shall bring back the captivity of Judea 
 and Jerusalem. 
 
 V. 2. " I will gather together all nations, and will brinj^ 
 them down into the valley of Josaphat."* The Almighty then 
 says that, soon after he shall have brought back the Jews 
 from their captivity, an event we have before related, he will 
 collect all nations into the valley of Josaphat, the place in- 
 sinuated by St. John and Daniel. — The Almighty continues 
 to speak, 
 
 V. 2. " And I will plead with them there for my people 
 and my inheritance Israel, whom they have scattered among 
 the nations, and have parted my land. 
 
 V. 3. "And they have cast lots unto my people: and the 
 boy they have put in stews, and the girl they have sold for 
 wine that they might drink," &c. &c. The Almighty 
 will there plead with them or reprove them for the injuries 
 they have done to his people the Christians, and to his inherit- 
 ance the Israelites, during the tyranny of the Antichristian 
 
 * Josaphat sigiiifies the judgment of the Lord. 
 
 24* 
 
282 HISTORY OF THK CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 power. He proceeds to enumerate several of those injuries, 
 which he declares he will retaliate upon them. After which 
 he continues, 
 
 V. 9. " Proclaim ye this among- the nations : prepare war, 
 raise up the strong : let them come ; let all the men of war 
 come up. 
 
 V. 10. "Cut your ploughshares into swords, and your 
 spades into spears. Let the weak say : I am strong. 
 
 V. 11. "Break forth, and come, all ye nations from round 
 about, and gather yourselves together." Here the Almighty 
 challenges them to battle ; after which he pronounces, 
 
 V. 12. " There will the Lord cause all thy strong ones to 
 fall down." There Avill the Lord, the Almighty Son of God, 
 crush thee, O Antichrist, and all thy strong men. Hitherto 
 God had spoken to them altogether, challenging them to bat- 
 tle; but here he suddenly changes his discourse, and address- 
 es solely their commander. Antichrist: there will the Lord 
 cause all thy strong ones to fall. Joel goes on, 
 
 V. 13. " Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, 
 and go down, for the press is full, the fat runs over; for their 
 wickedness is multiplied." The harvest and vintage are 
 ready; and therefore people are called to reap the corn, 
 and to gather and tread the grapes. An allusion, showing 
 that the wickedness of these nations is so multiplied, that they 
 are ripe for the slaughter which is going to be made of 
 them. — .Toel continues, 
 
 V. 14. " Nations, nations in the valley of destruction: for 
 the day of the Lord is near in the valley of destruction. 
 
 V. 15. " The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars 
 have withdrawn their shining. 
 
 V. 16. " And the Lord shall roar out of Sion, and utter his 
 voice from Jerusalem : and the heavens and the earth shall be 
 moved: and the Lord shall be the hope of his people, and the 
 strength of the children of Israel." Numberless nations, 
 immense armies, now appear gathered together in the valley 
 of Josaphat, the valley of destruction, all which the Lord has 
 determined quickly to destroy. 
 
 And when he shall come down from heaven to execute his 
 judgments upon these armies, the sun and moon shall be 
 darkened, and the stars shall withdraw iheir shining, and he 
 will pass over Jerusalem with a dreadful noise, that will 
 strike them with terror and dread : " the Lord shall roar out 
 of Sion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem." 
 
 To this we may add a sublime, pathetic, and short de- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 283 
 
 scription of the same tremendous scene from the prophet 
 Isaiah. 
 
 Chap, xxxiv. 1. "Come near, ye Gentiles, and hear ; and 
 hearken, ye people : let the earth hear, and all that is therein ; 
 the world, and every thing that comes forth of it. 
 
 V. 2. " For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, 
 and his fury upon all their armies : he has killed them and 
 delivered them to slaughter. 
 
 V. 3. " Their slain shall be cast out, and out of their car- 
 casses shall rise a stink : the mountains shall be melted with 
 their blood. 
 
 V. 4. " And all the hosts of the heavens shall pine away, 
 and the heavens shall be folded together as a book : and all 
 their hosts shall fall down, as the leaf falls from the vine, and 
 from the fig-tree." Here the Almighty declares in the most 
 solemn manner, his indignation is going to fall upon all na- 
 tions, and his fury upon their armies, and he will deliver them 
 up to slaughter, v. 1, 2. Such will be soon the fate of Anti- 
 christ and his armies. What is added of their slain being 
 cast out, and a stench rising from their carcases, &c. v. 3, 
 seems to belong to the destruction of Gog and Magog, which 
 we shall see afterwards. But before these terrible judgments 
 happen, " all the host of the heavens shall pine away, v. 4, 
 and shall fall down, as the leaf falls from the vine, and from 
 the ficr-tree : and the heavens shall be folded together as a 
 book." These threatening signs in the heavens, which were 
 also just above-mentioned in Joel, are here expressed nearly 
 in the same terms, as we saw them in the Apocalypse under 
 the sixth seal, where we read, " The sun became black as 
 sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood : and the 
 stars from heaven fell upon the earth, as the fig-tree casts its 
 green figs when it is shaken by a gi'eat wind. And the 
 heaven departed as a book folded up." Apoc. vi. 12, 13, 14. 
 Isaiah had forewarned us in another place : " The day of the 
 Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and high- 
 minded, and upon every one that is arrogant, and he shall be 
 humbled — And the loftiness of men shall be bowed down, 
 and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled, and the Lord 
 alone shall be exalted in that day. — And they shall go into 
 the holes of rocks, and into the caves of the earth from the 
 face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his Majesty, 
 when he shall rise up to strike the earth," ii. 12, 17, 19. St. 
 John speaks in the same tenor under the sixth seal : " The 
 kings of the earth," says he, " and the princes — hid them- 
 
284 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 selves in the dens and in the rocks of mountains : and they 
 say to the mountains and the rocks, fall upon us, and hide 
 us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from 
 the wrath of the Lamb." Apoc. 15, 16, — See the explication 
 of the sixth seal. 
 
 Antichrist therefore having seated himself upon Mount 
 Olivet, with his armies round him extended over the valley ol 
 Josaphat and adjacent plains, he haughtily thinks himselt 
 equal to cope with all the powers of heaven. This man ot 
 sin, this son of perdition, this enemy of God and men, though 
 upon the brink of destruction, persists in his resolution to de 
 fend his impious and insolent pretensions. He claims to 
 himself the power and honours that belong to the supreme 
 Deity, and will permit no other but him.self to be thought 
 master of the world. He has, for the space of three years 
 and a half, exercised the most despotic and cruel tyranny 
 over mankind, and now he braves the Almighty himself. 
 But, behold ! 
 
 Chap. xix. 11. " And I saw heaven opened," says St. John, 
 " and behold a white horse : and he that sat upon him, was 
 called faithful and true, and with justice doth he judge and 
 fight. 
 
 V. 12. " And his eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his 
 head were many diadems, and he had a name written, which 
 no man knows but himself 
 
 V. 13. "And he was clothed w^ith a garment sprinkled 
 with blood: and his name is called. The Word of God." 
 The heavens open, and St. John sees Jesus Christ, the Son of 
 God, descending ; seated on a white horse, in the same man- 
 ner as we saw him first set out on his conquests ; which shows 
 him to have been all along continuing them : " He went forth 
 conquering that he might conquer." Apoc. vi. 2. He is 
 known by the peculiar appellations here attributed to him : 
 faithful and true, v. 11, faithful in protecting his servants and 
 revenging their injuries upon their enemies, and he is ever 
 true to his promises. As the father has given all judgment 
 to the Son, John v. 22, so the Son with justice doth judge 
 and fight, which he is coming to do at present. But what 
 eminently distinguishes him, is his name. The Word of 
 God, v. 13, which is well understood to belong solely to him : 
 but it is so comprehensive in its meaning, that human reason 
 cannot fathom it, and no man knows it but himself, v. 12. 
 His eyes were as a flame of fire, indicating his anger ; and 
 on his head were many diadems, the mark of his power over 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 285 
 
 all those nations he is now coming to punish : and as this will 
 be done by a great slaughter of all Antichrist's armies, he 
 therefore, appears clothed with a garment sprinkled with 
 blood. — St. John proceeds, 
 
 V. 14. "And the armies that are in heaven followed him 
 on white horses, clothed in fine linen white and clean." The 
 celestial armies of saints follow the son of God, as their cap- 
 tain and commander ; they are all like him, mounted on white 
 horses, and clothed in fine linen white and clean, a symbol 
 of their merit and glory. 
 
 V. 15. "And out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two- 
 edged sword : that with it he may strike the nations. And 
 he shall rule them with a rod of iron : and he treadeth the 
 wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of God the 
 Almighty. 
 
 V. 16. "And he hath on his garment and on his thigh 
 written, King of kings and Lord of lords." A sharp two- 
 edged sword is the weapon Christ will use to strike the na- 
 tions, which are assembled with Antichrist against him. 
 The sword is said to proceed from his mouth, because it exe- 
 cutes his command. The son of God is the sovereign mas- 
 ter and judge of all mankind, and therefore he rules his re- 
 bellious subjects with a rod of iron, by scourging them in 
 this life, and subjecting them to everlasting punishments in 
 the next. And he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness 
 of the wrath of God the Almighty, that is, he is the minis- 
 tor of the Almighty's wrath, and executes his terrible judg- 
 ments upon the wicked. In fine, the son of God is entitled 
 to all his power, because he is King of kings and Lord of 
 lords ; which name is written on his garment, that it may be 
 visible to every eye; and on his thigh, to show that he is pos- 
 sessed of strength to vindicate his sovereign title, the thigh 
 being commonly put for the emblem of strength in man. 
 Some of the attributes here mentioned are also ascribed to 
 Christ by the prophet Isaiah : " Why then is thy apparel 
 red," says he; "and thy garments like theirs that tread in 
 the wine-press ? I have trodden the wine-press alone, and 
 of the Gentiles there is not a man with me : I have trampled 
 on them in my indignation, and have trodden them down in 
 my wrath, and their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, 
 and I have stained all my apparel," Ixiii. 2, 3. — St. John pro- 
 ceeds, 
 
 V. 17. "And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he 
 cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that did fly 
 
286 HISTORY OP THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 through the midst of heaven : Come, gather youi selves together 
 to the great supper of God.* 
 
 V. 18. " That you may eat the flesh of kings, and ^,he flesh 
 of tribunes, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of 
 horses and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all free- 
 men and bondmen, and of little and of great." While Christ, 
 the divine hero, is advancing to battle with his celestial army, 
 an anoel in the sun with a loud voice invites all the birds of 
 the air to a most plentiful entertainment which is preparing 
 for them ; where they may fill themselves with human flesh 
 of all kinds, from that of kings to that of slaves, and with 
 the flesh of horses and that of their riders ; an expressive pic- 
 ture of the immense slaughter that is going to be made. It 
 would seem that this bloody scene will terminate in the even- 
 ing of the day, as the invitation is given to a supper. — Then, 
 
 V. 19. " And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, 
 and their armies gathered together, to make war with him 
 that sat upon the horse, and with his army." We have just 
 now seen the heavenly captain on horseback at the head of his 
 holy troop marching to battle ; and now we see who are the 
 enemies he comes to encounter. Here is the beast, or Anti- 
 christ, with prodigious armies gathered from all parts of the 
 earth, and headed by their kings and princes. Here they 
 are met with that satanic design of engaging in battle with 
 him who sits upon the horse, the omnipotent Son of God. 
 " The kings of the earth," says the royal psalmist, "have 
 stood up, and the princes have met together, against the 
 Lord, and against his Christ: but thou, O Christ, shall 
 break them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Psalm ii. 2, 9. 
 No more is man than a potter's vessel, when he contends 
 with the Almighty. The decisive moment is come. This 
 is the day of the Lord in the valley of destruction. Joel, 
 iii. 14. This is the great day of the Almighty God, Apoc. 
 xvi. 14, in which he will show to whom belong empire and 
 victory. For, 
 
 V. 20. " And the beast was taken," pursues St. John, 
 •' and w^ith him the false prophet, who wrought signs before 
 him, wherewith he seduced them who received the character of 
 the beast, and who adored his image. These two were cast 
 alive into the pool of fire burning with brimstone." At the 
 terrible appearance of Christ descending through the skies 
 with his army, his enemies are struck with dread and con» 
 
 * In the Greek, " to the supper of the great God." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 287 
 
 sternation ; and by his order the beast Antichrist, is seized 
 and made captive, and with him the great impostor, his false 
 prophet, who by delusive signs and wonders had seduced such 
 numbers to become the beast's votaries. Christ with the 
 sole breath of his mouth hurls down Antichrist alive into 
 hell-fire, " that wicked man, whom," as St. Paul informs us, 
 " the Lord Jesus shall kill (or exterminate) with the breath 
 of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his 
 coming." 2 Thes. ii. 8. The prophet Isaiah had likewise 
 said : " with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked 
 man," xi. 4. The false prophet is also precipitated down 
 along with his master. Thus will be exterminated that beast. 
 Antichrist, the greatest monster of impiety the earth ever 
 bore, the declared enemy of Christ, the man of sin, the son 
 of perdition, as St. Paul styles him, an idolater, a mock god, 
 a more cruel persecutor of the Christians than Nero or Dio- 
 clesian. From the pinnacle of arrogance and power he will 
 be flung down, and in a moment buried alive in the bottom- 
 less pit. " I have seen the wicked man," says the psalmist, 
 •' highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus. 
 And I passed by, and lo he was not : and I sought him, and 
 his place was not found." Psalm xxxvi. 35. — Lastly, 
 
 V. 21. " And the rest were slain," continues St. John, " by 
 the sword of him that sitteth upon the horse, which pro- 
 ceedeth out of his mouth : and all the birds were filled with 
 their flesh." Immediately upon the destruction of Antichrist 
 and the false prophet, the whole army is slaughtered ; Christ 
 commanding his two-edoed sword, or g-ivinof it to an anjjel, 
 to do the execution. In such a wide field of carnag-e, the 
 birds of the air, which had all been invited to this supper, 
 are now filled and sated with the flesh of the dead bodies. "If 
 I shall whet my sword as the lightning," said the Lord, 
 *' and my hand take hold of judgment : I will render ven- 
 geance to my enemies, and repay them that hate me. My 
 sword shall devour flesh. Praise his people, ye nations, for 
 he will revenge the blood of his servants." Deuter. xxxii. 41, 
 42, 43. And thus we see executed the sentence, taken 
 notice of before, which Christ pronounced at the beginning of 
 Antichrist's persecution and war : " He that shall kill by the 
 sword, must be killed by the sword." Apoc. xiii. 10. 
 
 Such will be the dreadful vengeance, the almighty Son of 
 God, the King of kings and Lord of lords, will take upon his 
 enemies, and in this conspicuous manner will he vindicate 
 his sovereign dominion, and rescue his faithful servants from 
 
288 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 that intolerable tyranny they have laboured under for three 
 years and a half. This exploit of the almighty Son of God, 
 we see expressed beautifully by his prophet Isaiah : Dixistis 
 enim — Idcirco h(EC dicit Dominus Deus ; delebiiur fcedus ves- 
 irum, &c. Isaiah xxviii. 15, 18. But we seem to be furnished 
 with further interesting circumstances of this memorable day 
 by the prophet Zachary, if we understand right his following 
 prophecy : 
 
 Chap. xix. 1. "Behold the days of the Lord shall come, 
 and thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee. 
 
 V. 2. " And I will gather all nations to Jerusalem to battle, 
 and the city shall be taken, and the houses shall be rifled, and 
 the women shall be defiled : and half of the city shall go forth 
 into captivity, and the rest of the people shall not be taken 
 away out of the city." This siege and taking of Jerusalem 
 by a body of Antichrist's troops, we have explained before. — 
 Zachary goes on, 
 
 V. 3. " Then the Lord shall go forth, and shall fight against 
 those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 
 
 V. 4. " And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount 
 of Olives, which is over against Jerusalem towards the east : 
 and the mount of Olives shall be divided in the midst thereof 
 to the east, and to the west, with a very great opening, and 
 half of the mountain shall be separated to the north, and half 
 thereof to the south. 
 
 V. 5. " And the Lord my God shall come, and all the 
 
 saints with him." The Lord my God, the almighty Son of 
 God, will come, accompanied by all the saints, v. 5, as St. John 
 represented him, and he will destroy at once all those nations, 
 V. 3, as he destroyed in the day of battle, the Egyptians in 
 the Red Sea. Mount Olivet, it is here said, v. 4, shall be split 
 in two ; in order perhaps to open a passage to Antichrist and 
 his false prophet, at the moment they are cast down alive into 
 the infernal pit. Christ will stand upon the mountain : and 
 while he is in this posture, the immense heap of slain lying 
 in the plains below him, may not his enemies then be truly 
 said to be made his footstool? Psalm cix. I. 
 
 V. 6. "And it shall come to pass in that day," continues 
 Zachary, " that there shall be no light, but cold and frost. 
 
 V. 7. " And there shall be one day, which is known to the 
 Lord, not day nor night: and in the time of the evening there, 
 shall be light." That one day, known to the Lord, is the day 
 of vengeance upon Antichrist and his people, which properly I 
 wh. neither be day nor night, the sun, moon, and stars, being 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHtTRCH. 289 
 
 obscured and veiled over, as we learned frGrn Joel, saying- of 
 that day " the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars 
 have withdrawn their shining," iii. 15. The light that will 
 then illuminate the earth, will be that resplendent brightness 
 with which our Saviour will come down to do the execution. 
 While the rays of the sun are thus intercepted, no wonder the 
 air grows cold and frosty. But in the evening there will be 
 light, that is, when the scene is over, and Christ mounted up 
 back to heaven, the sun's light will return, viz. in the evening, 
 the time indicated also by St. John in the invitation of the birds 
 to a supper, 
 
 V. 12. " And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord 
 shall strike all nations that have fought against Jerusalem^ 
 the flesh of every one shall consume away while they stand 
 upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their 
 holes, and their tongues shall consume away in their mouth." 
 While Antichrist's armies in the vale of Josaphat are slain 
 by the sword, those troops which took Jerusalem in the above- 
 mentioned siege, and treated there the servants of God so 
 barbarously, will be punished by their flesh melting and con- 
 suming avt^ay, &c. and thus the people will be preserved from 
 any stench of the carcasses. 
 
 V. 16. "And all they that shall be left of all nations that 
 came against Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year, to 
 adore the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the least of 
 tabernacles. 
 
 V. 17. " And it shall come to pass, that he that shall not 
 go up of the families of the land to Jerusalem, to adore the 
 King, the Lord of hosts, there shall be no rain upon them." 
 Those that join not Antichrist's army, but remain in their 
 country, will be ordered to depute a certain number of per- 
 sons to go ever)r year to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of 
 tabernacles : and if any country neglect this obligatory devo- 
 tion, it will be punished by the want of rain. The feast of 
 Tabernacles was kept by the Jews in memory of their so- 
 journing forty years in the desert, and this place may signify 
 the solemn festival, which will be annually observed by the 
 Christians at Jerusalem, in memory of their deliverance 
 from Antichrist, by the destruction of him and his people in 
 and near that city. And as the feast of the tabernacles was 
 kept on the fifteenth of the Hebrew month Tizri, which an- 
 swers to the moon of our September ; this may indicate that 
 the great day of destruction will happen about the autumnal 
 eciuinox ; in which case counting back three years and 
 25 
 
290 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHUliCn, 
 
 a half, Antichrist will begin his war and persecution in 
 spring. 
 
 Though we have already seen a pretty ample account of 
 the fate of Antichrist, we seem however to be presented with 
 another beautiful picture of it, illustrated even with some new 
 scenes, b];" the prophet Isaiah. Thus speaks he : 
 
 Chap, xiv, 3. " And it shall come to pass in that day, that 
 when God shall give thee rest from thy labour, and from thy 
 vexation, and from the hard bondage, wherewith thou didst 
 serve before, 
 
 V. 4. "" Thou shalt take up this parable against the king 
 of Babylon, and shalt say : How is the oppressor come to 
 nothing, the tribute hath ceased ? 
 
 V. 5. " The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the 
 rod of the rulers, 
 
 V. 6. " That struck the people in wrath with an incurable 
 wound, that brought nations under their fury, that persecuted 
 in a cruel manner. 
 
 V. 7. " The whole earth is quiet and still, it is glad and 
 hath rejoiced." 
 
 Though this prophecy may in some measure relate to the 
 king of ancient Babylon, yet it seems to be principally spo- 
 ken of Antichrist, king of the last Babylon, and to be finally 
 completed in him. It is usual with prophets to join in the 
 same description two objects that have a relation one to the 
 other. Here then the Almighty tells his people that, when 
 they shall be freed from their labour, vexation, and hard 
 bondage under Antichrist, v. 3, they shall address heaven in 
 a hymn of praise and thanksgiving, saying : How is the 
 oppressor (Antichrist) come to nothing? The Lord hath 
 broken ihe staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers that 
 struck the people in wrath with an incurable Avound, that 
 brought nations under in fury, that persecuted in a cruel 
 manner: and now the whole earth is quiet and still, it is glad 
 and hath rejoiced, v. 4, 5, 6, 7. 
 
 V. 9. " Hell below," continues the prophet, '• w^as in an 
 uproar to meet thee at thy coming, it stirred up the giants 
 for thee. All the princes of the earth are risen up from 
 their thrones, all the princes of nations. 
 
 V. 10. " All shall answer and say to thee : Thou also art 
 wounded as well as we, thou art become like unto us. 
 
 V. 11. *' Thy pride is brought down to hell, thy carcass is 
 fallen down : under thee shall the moth be strewed, and 
 worms shall be thy covering." Here we see the reception 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTAN CHURCH, 291 
 
 Antichrist meets with at his arrival in the infernal regions. 
 All hell is in an uproar, the princes, the giants or famous war- 
 riors whom he had slain, rise up and advance to meet him, 
 addressing him with derision : Oh ! Thou art also wounded 
 then as well as we, thou art at last dealt with as thou deat 
 with us: Thy pride is brought dow^n to hell, &c, 
 
 V. 12. " How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who 
 didst rise in the morning? how art thou fallen to the earth, 
 that didst wound the nations ? 
 
 V. 13, " And thou saidst in thy heart: I will ascend to 
 heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will 
 sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north. 
 
 V. 14. "I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I 
 will be like the Most High, 
 
 V. 1.5. " But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into 
 the depth of the pit." The princes in hell continue to insult 
 Antichrist, saying: How art thou fallen, thou that shone in 
 majesty and brightness like Lucifer, the morning star? They 
 remind him of his former pride, arrogance, superlative inso- 
 lence, his proclaiming himself God, &c., all which they paint 
 in lively colours: After which with a contemptuous triumph 
 they tell him : But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell 
 into the depth of the pit. 
 
 V. 16. " They that shall see thee, shall turn towards thee, 
 and behold thee : is this the man that troubled the earth, that 
 shook kingdoms. 
 
 V. 17. " That made the world a wilderness, and destroyed 
 the cities thereof, that opened not the prison to the prisoners? 
 
 V. 18. " All the kings of the nations have all of them slept 
 in glory, every one* in his own house. 
 
 V. 19. " But thou wert cast out of thy grave as an unpro- 
 fitable branch defiled, and wrapped up among them that are 
 slain by the sword, and are gone down to the bottom of the 
 pit as a rotten carcass." 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 THE CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE SIXTH AGE. 
 
 Notwithstanding the vengeance of God has thus mani- 
 fested itself in the total extermination of Antichrist and his 
 
292 
 
 HISTORY OT THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 armies, his wrath is not yet satisfied, but requires more vic- 
 tims to atone for the injuiy done to his holy worship by the 
 establishment of idolatry and for the cruelties exercised upon 
 his servants. The Almighty had formerly poured out his 
 indignation upon the Roman emperors, many of whom were 
 struck, and perished under the visible marks of his judgments. 
 But this was not sufficient, he devoted haughty imperial Rome, 
 their capital, to destruction, and laid it in ashes. It had parti- 
 cipated with its masters in the crime of supporting idolatry, 
 and waging war against the saints, and therefore like them 
 was to be cut off In the same manner Constantinople, the 
 centre and metropolis of the Antichristian empire, must also 
 fall under the weight of the hand of God. This we learn 
 from St. John : for thus speaks he, 
 
 Chap. xiv. 8. " And another angel followed, saying. That 
 great Babylon is fallen, is fallen :* which made all nations to 
 drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." This Ba- 
 bylon has been supposed by many interpreters to mean pagan 
 Rome, but whoever studies the Apocalypse with attention, will 
 see the error of that opinion. For St. John gives the destruc- 
 tion of heathen Rome in the beginning of the 18th chapter, 
 as we have before seen, and in the same terms nearly, not 
 entirely, as are used here : and as St. John never repeats the 
 same event, this second Babylon must be another city, the 
 great city, which has made all nations to drink of the wine of 
 her fornication or idolatry. This Babylon therefore can be no 
 otherthan Constantinople, the imperial city of Antichrist, which 
 has so readily joined him in admitting idolatry, and so hotly 
 concurred to propagate it over the whole earth. Besides, the 
 same conclusion follows from observing, that the transactions 
 related in this 14th chapter belong to the last period of the 
 world. Other proofs will also presently occur. 
 
 But our Christian prophet has not only announced to us in 
 general the fall of this last Babylon, but even gives us a spe- 
 cial description of its destruction. This is found in the latter 
 part of the 18th chapter. St. John, after carrying on his nar 
 rative of the fate of old Rome, in the first part of the same 
 chapter, proceeds in verse 20th, to invite heaven and the saints 
 to rejoice and exult on the occasion. " Rejoice over her," says 
 he, " thou heaven and ye holy apostles and prophets : for 
 God has judged your judgment on her." This indicates that 
 iiere concludes his description of the fall of Babylon or pa- 
 
 • In the Greek, " Babylon the great city is fallen, is fallea ' 
 
HISTORY OF THK CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 293 
 
 gkn Rome. What follows, belongs therefore to the second 
 Babylon or Constantinople, and is related thus : 
 
 Chap, xviii. 21. " And a mighty angel took up a stone, as 
 it were a great mill-stone, and cast it into the sea, saying: 
 with such violence as this shall Babylon that great city be 
 thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." Here then 
 Constantinople falls, and the manner of her fall is expressed 
 in clear and energetic terms. As a mill-stone thrown with 
 violence into the sea sinks to the bottom in a moment, so will 
 Constai:itiuople be swallowed up by the sea in an instant, ne- 
 ver more to be seen. 
 
 This description cannot, it is evident, belong to Rome, which 
 does not stand upon the sea. Besides, ancient Rome after its 
 destruction was in some degree rebuilt and still subsists, 
 whereas this last Babylon after its fate shall be found no more 
 at all. 
 
 The prophet goes on, 
 
 V. 22. " And the voice of harpers, and of musicians, and 
 of them that play on the pipe and on the trumpet, shall no 
 more be heard at all in thee, and no craftsmen of any art 
 whatsoever shall be found any more at all in thee, and the 
 sound of the mill shall be heard no more at all in thee. 
 
 V. 23. " And the light of the lamp shall shine no more at 
 all in thee, and the voice of the bridegroom and bride shall 
 be heard no more at all in thee : for thy merchants were the 
 great men of the earth, for all nations have been deceived by 
 thy enchantments." Neither music, nor dancing, of which 
 the eastern nations are fond, nor other diversions, shall ever 
 more be heard or seen in that city, &c. All is profound si- 
 lence, and utter desolation. No more vestiges even of that 
 great city remaining than of Sodom and Gomorrha, the very 
 place buried in the deep. Her crimes had grown to their full 
 measure. Her luxury had been excessive, to serve which 
 the great men and the princes of the earth had been compelled 
 to strip themselves and to furnish her with every thing that 
 was valuable. Her voluptuousness was such that she seduced 
 all nations by her riches and her pleasures, which, like an 
 enchantment, fascinate the minds of men. By these allure- 
 ments she had, like ancient Rome, ensnared mankind into her 
 vices and idolatry. 
 
 Such is the general view of the state of that imperial city, 
 as it will be at the time of her fall. But what completed to 
 make her infinitely odious in the sight of God, and to force 
 down the divine vengeance upon her, was, 
 
 25* 
 
294 HISTORY Of THE CHRISTIAN CHtTRCH. 
 
 V. 24. " And in her," says St. John, " was found the blooil 
 of prophets and of saints, and of all tlmt were slain upon the 
 earth." In the exultation for the fall of pagan Rome in verse 
 20th, the apostles were mentioned, because their blood was 
 found there, as having- been spilled by her emperors and ma- 
 gistrates. This not being the case of the last Babylon or 
 Constantinople, in her is found the blood of prophets and of 
 saints, of Henoch and Elias, and of an infinite multitude of 
 Christian martyrs, cruelly put to death by her emperor, Anti- 
 christ, and his magistrates ; blood, which cried to heaven for 
 vengeance, and in which he had a share. It is even said that 
 in her was found the blood of all that were slain npon the 
 earth. All this blood is imputed to the city of Constantinople, 
 because she was the capital of Antichrist's empire, which ex- 
 tended over the whole earth. In this same sense it was said 
 that heathen Rome " was drunk with the blood of the saints, 
 and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus," Apoc. xvii. 6, 
 not only of those who had been put to death within her walls, 
 but likewise of all others who had suffered in the extent of 
 her dominions through the whole period of the persecutions. 
 
 As the subversion of the Antichristian Babylon, in the pro 
 phetic history, follows immediately that of the Roman Baby- 
 lon; in like manner the exultations in heaven for both are 
 joined to one another. The jubilation for the fall of pagan 
 Rome begins thus : " After these things I heard as it were the 
 voice of a great multitude in heaven saying Alleluia," &c. 
 Apoc. xix. I. And that for the fall of Constantinople, thus : 
 " And I heard as it were the voice of a great muhitude — say- 
 ing. Alleluia," &c. ibid. v. 6. The same mode of speech 
 used in both these places, as St. John never repeats the same 
 thing, shows that these expressions of jubilation relate to two 
 different objects, that is, to the fall of two different Babylons. 
 This observation premised, the present exultation is. 
 
 Chap. xix. 6. "And I heard," says St. John, "as it were 
 the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many wa- 
 ters, and as the voice of great thunders, saying, Alleluia: for 
 the Lord our God the Almighty hath reigned." St. John 
 heard the voice of a great multitude in heaven, of that great 
 multitude of martyrs which he had seen standing before the 
 throne, and who had come out of the great tribulation, or per- 
 secution of Antichrist, Apoc. vii. 9, 14. To these is joined a 
 voice, as the voice of many waters, that is, of the angels that 
 preside over nations, denoted by waters, which had all before 
 groaned under the tyranny of Antichrist : and also another 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 295 
 
 voice, like the voice of great thunders, or of the angel that 
 presides over fire, which, as employed in military engines, by 
 its explosion resembles thunder ; and such thundering fire 
 was the instrument Antichrist made use of to kill the third 
 part of men, Apoc. ix. 18. All these different personages 
 have therefore reason to rejoice on this occasion, and to join 
 their voices in singing, Alleluia; for the Lord our God Al- 
 mighty hath reigned, has asserted his sovereign power, and 
 crushed his enemies. 
 
 The prophet Isaiah, in denouncing the divine wrath upon 
 Babylon of Chaldaea, seems also to have annexed the judg- 
 ment that is to fall upon the last or Antichristian Babylon. 
 The fall of the first is fully described in chapter 1 3th, and 
 w hat follows in the subsequent chapter must therefore belong 
 to another cit}'- ; which is confirmed by particular circum- 
 stances there related. Part of the preamble used bv that 
 prophet seems also to be referred to the last Babylon. Thus 
 speaks he. 
 
 Chap. xiii. 9. " Behold the day of the Lord shall come, 
 a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, 
 to lay the land desolate, and to destro3?" the sinners thereof 
 
 V. 10. " For the stars of heaven, and their brightness, shall 
 not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his 
 rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light." These 
 signs indicate the last age of the world. 
 
 V. 11. "And I will visit the evils of the world, and 
 against the wicked for their iniquity, and I will make the 
 pride of infidels to cease, and will bring down the arrogance 
 of the mighty." 
 
 Then in the next chapter the prophet, after describing the 
 character of Antichrist and the divine judgment upon him, 
 proceeds to relate the destruction of his Babylon, thus : 
 
 Chap. xiv. 22. " And I will raise up against them, said 
 the Lord of hosts : and I will destroy the name of Babylon, 
 and the remains, and the bud, and the offspring, saith the 
 Lord. 
 
 V. 23. " And I will make it a possession for the ericius* 
 and pools of waters, and I will sweep it, and wear it out 
 with a besom, saith the Lord of Hosts." The remains of 
 Babylon ; the bud of Babylon, perhaps the children in the 
 womb ; and the offspring, are all doomed to be utterly extir- 
 pated. This did not happen to the Chaldaean Babylon, which 
 
 * A water-bird. 
 
§St> HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 was gradually abandoned by its inhabitants ; and will only 
 therefore be completed in Babylon, the great city of Anti- 
 christ. 
 
 We have now seen the execution of the divine judgment* 
 upon Antichrist's armies and his great city. But as his ma- 
 gistrates and his adherents who are dispersed in all the dif- 
 ferent countries of the earth, may be deemed equally guilty 
 with those that have perished, it seems to appear that the. 
 hand of divine vengeance will also reach them. This is an- 
 nounced immediately after the sentence passed upon the last 
 Babylon, and is as follows, 
 
 Chap. xiv. 9. " And the third angel followed them, saying 
 with a loud voice : if any man shall adore the beast and his 
 image, and receive his character in his forehead, or in his 
 hand ; 
 
 V. 10. " He also shall drink of the w^ine of the wrath of 
 God, w^hich is mingled with pure wine in the cup of his 
 wrath, and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the 
 sight of the holy angels, and in the sight of the Lamb." 
 I'hose therefore that have adored the beast, or Antichrist, and 
 his image, and received his character, or mark, are con- 
 demned to drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is 
 mingled with pure wine in the cup of his wrath, that is, 
 those who have been guilty of all the three above-named crimes 
 they will be slain, in the same manner as Antichrist's army. 
 To drink of the wine of the wrath of God, denotes the divine 
 punishment on the body or corporeal part of man, as wine 
 itself is not a pure substance, but contains gross lees ; and the 
 mixture of pure wine in the cup of the wrath of God, in- 
 dicates the simultaneous punishment of the soul, which is a 
 pure substance, and which on the slaughter of the body is vio- 
 lently separated from it. When both these component parts, 
 soul and body are reunited at the general judgment, then the 
 whole man shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in hell 
 in the sight of the holy angels, and in the sight of the Lamb. 
 But, 
 
 V. 11. " And the smoke of their torments," proceeds St. 
 John, " shall ascend up* for ever and ever : neither have they 
 rest day nor night, who hath adored the beast and his image, 
 and whosoever receives the character of his name." Here is 
 the present fate of the soul, which at the instant of death is 
 tormented in hell fire, without intermission or rest : which is 
 
 • * In the Greek, " ascends ud." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 297 
 
 the sentence pronounced upon all those who have adored the 
 beast, &c. whatever may be their death, and whenever it may 
 happen. Then St. John adds, 
 
 V. 12. " Here is the patience of the saints, who keep the 
 comm.andments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Here is the 
 motive, on which is founded the patience of the true servants 
 of God, namely, in bearing with all trials, hardships and per* 
 secutions in this life, with the view of avoiding the eternal 
 torments, and purchasing the eternal rewards, of the other 
 world. . 
 
 The preceding dreadful judgment of God on the votaries 
 of Antichrist, wherever they be, seems to be also foretold ex- 
 plicitly by the prophet Jeremy, as follows : 
 
 Chap. XXV. 15. " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of 
 Israel : take the cup of wine of this fury at my hand : and 
 thou shalt make all the nations to drink thereof, unto v/hich I 
 shall send thee." Expressions similar to what we saw above 
 in St. John. 
 
 V. 30. "And thou shalt prophesy unto them all these 
 words, and thou shalt say to them : the Lord shall roar from 
 on high, and shall utter his voice from his holy habitation : 
 roaring he shall roar upon the place of his beauty : the shout 
 as it were of them that tread the grapes, shall be given out 
 asfainst all the inhabitants of the earth. 
 
 V. 31. "The noise is come to the ends of the earth: for 
 the Lord entereth into judgment with the nations: he enter- 
 cth into judgment with all flesh, the wicked I have delivered 
 up to the sword, saith the Lord. 
 
 V. 32. " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts : behold evil shall 
 go forth from nation to nation : and a great whirl-wind shall 
 go forth from the ends of the earth. 
 
 V. 33. " And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day 
 from one end of the earth even to the other end thereof: they 
 shall not be lamented, and they shall not be gathered up, nor 
 buried : they shall lie as dung upon the face of the earth." 
 Here is the tremendous roaring noise, v. 30, 31, before ta- 
 ken notice of from Joel, of Christ coming down from heaven 
 to destroy Antichrist and his people. The Lord entereth into 
 judgment with all flesh, and delivers the wicked up to the 
 sword, V. 31, and the slain of the Lord shall be at that day 
 from one end of the earth even to the other end thereof, v. 33. 
 Hence it appears, that not only Antichrist's armies, assembled 
 in the valley of Josaphat, shall be slain by the sword, but all 
 his principal idolatrous abettors shall be cut off in the same 
 
298 HiSTORV OF TriE CHRISTtAf* CtttRCtt. 
 
 manner in every part of the earth. Moreover we are here 
 told, they shall not be lamented, and they shall not be gathered 
 up, nor buried : they shall lie as dung upon the face of the earth. 
 The same we also learn from the prophet Isaiah : " And they 
 (the people) shall go out," says he, "and see the carcasses of 
 the men that have trans^^ressed aofainst me : their worm shall 
 not die, and their fire shall not be quenched ; and they shall 
 be a loathsome sight to all flesh," Ixvi. 24. It may seem 
 strange that the inhabitants of Jerusalem should not be an- 
 noyed with the stench of such a heap of dead bodies lying so 
 near them in the vale of Josaphat ; but the infection is pre- 
 vented by the birds devouring the flesh, as St. John told us, 
 and leaving the bodies mere skeletons. 
 
 By the destruction of Antichrist, his armies, officers, and 
 chief associates, we now see his kingdom dissolved, his power 
 totally extinguished, and consequently the Roman empire 
 finally put an end to. The prophet Daniel had foretold that 
 Christ, or the stone that was cut out of the mountain without 
 hands, should break down the statue, the legs and feet of which 
 represented the Roman empire. This was executed in part 
 by the fall of pagan Rome with its dominion, and by the es- 
 tablishment of Christianity upon its ruins. But this prophecy 
 seems to receive a further, adequate, and final completion in 
 the extermination of Antichrist, the last and greatest of the 
 Roman emperors, in the destruction of Constantinople, his 
 imperial city, and in the total suppression of the Anlichristian 
 power. From such a complete victory over its enemies rises 
 then the completes! triumph of the Christian religion. Such 
 appears to be the import of that prophecy, in which Daniel 
 speaks thus to Nabuchodonosor : •' Thus thou sawest, till a 
 stone was cut out of a mountain without hands: and it struck 
 the statue upon the feet thereof that were of iron and of clay, 
 and broke them in pieces : then was the iron, the clay, the 
 brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and 
 became like the chaff of a summer's threshing floor, and they 
 were carried away with the wind: and there was no place 
 found for them : but the stone that struck the statue became a 
 great mountain, and filled the whole earth," ii. 34, 35. 
 
 Here then we may congratulate ourselves for having seen 
 at last an end put to the innumerable evils and miseries, which 
 Antichrist brought upon mankind, and which St. John de- 
 nominates the second wo, chap. xi. 14. "The second wo," 
 says he, " is past: and behold the third wo will come quick- 
 ly."   The above dismal scene being over, the respite will not 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 299 
 
 be of very long duration; for behold, the third woe, or day 
 of judgment, will come quickly, is not far off. 
 
 But now the servants of God seemed at last to be rescued 
 from their intolerable slavery, and were much rejoiced at the 
 prospect of a happy peace. They saw their persecutors had 
 all perished under the hand of the Almighty, they saw idola- 
 try^ crushed, and that religioh had regained its liberty. This 
 bright gleam of happiness must however suffer some obscu- 
 rity yet for a little while, before it shines forth in all its lus- 
 tre. An unforeseen storm arises, which alarms them, espe- 
 cially those that inhabit Judea and Jerusalem. Satan, foiled 
 in his prior designs before he could bring them to perfection, 
 retires at seeing the divine vengeance coming to break on the , 
 head of Antichrist, and resolves to try another effort, if not 
 effectual for recovering his power, at least to annoy and dis- 
 tress those he hates, the Christians. He therefore sets for- 
 ward to raise up new enemies. This we learn from St, John, 
 who says, 
 
 Chap. XX. 7. " And when the thousand years shall be 
 finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go 
 forth, and seduce the nations which are over the four quarters 
 of the earth, Gog, and Magog, and shall gather them together 
 to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." We 
 have already seen how Satan stirred up the nations which are 
 over the four quarters of the earth, and what desolation and 
 havoc they made. He now instigates another great prince, 
 named Gog, to rise with his people, who are called Magog, 
 and with other nations, and to proceed against the people of 
 God. The omission here of the usual conjunctive particle 
 and before the name of Gog, may be one among other indica- 
 tions, that this is a different army from that of the nations just 
 before mentioned, and will come at a different time. But of 
 this prince and his army and their march, we have a more 
 explicit account in the prophet Ezechiel, who gives it thus : 
 
 Chap, xxxviii. 1. "And the word of the Lord came to me, 
 saying : 
 
 V. 2. *' Son of man, set thyself against Gog, the land of 
 Magog, the chief prince of Mosoch and Thubal: and prophecy 
 of him, 
 
 V. 3. "And say unto him: Thus saith the Lord God. 
 Behold I come against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Mo- 
 soch and Thubal. 
 
 V. 4. " And I will turn thee about, and I will put a bit in. 
 thy jaws : and I will bring thee forth, and all thy army, hor* 
 
300 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 ses and horsemen all clothed with coats of mail, a great mul- 
 titude, armed with spears and shields and swords. 
 
 V. 5. " The Persians, Ethiopians, and Lybians with them, 
 all with shields and helmets. 
 
 V. 6. " Gomer, and all his bands, the house of Thogorma, 
 from the northern parts, and all his strength and many peo- 
 ple with thee. 
 
 V. 7. " Prepare and make thyself ready, and all thy muhi- 
 tude that is assembled about thee: and be thou commandei 
 over them." Here then the Almighty challenges to battle 
 the prince Gog with all his great multitude, or as St. Johs 
 says, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea, consist- 
 ing of the people of Magog, that is, as commonly understood, 
 of a people of ancient Scythia, or what is now called Great 
 Tartary, and of other Asiatic provinces under the names of 
 Mosoch, Thubal, Gomer, and Thogorma. He will be also 
 attended by the Persians, Ethiopians, and Lybians. — The 
 Almighty continues to speak, 
 
 V. 8. "And after m.any days thou shalt be visited: at the 
 end of years thou shalt come to the land that is returned from 
 the sword, and is gathered out of many nations, to the mount 
 ains of Israel which have been continually waste ; but it hath 
 been brought forth out of the nations, and they shall all oi 
 them dwell securely in it." Gog therefore will come at the 
 end of years, or in the last period of time, to the land that is 
 returned from the sword, and is gathered out of many nations, 
 &c. that is, he will come to invade Judaea, from whence the 
 Jews had been formerly expelled by the Roman sword, but 
 are now returned and become Christians, and are settled in 
 their land, in the possession of which they will be secured 
 by the divine hand against all attempts. 
 
 V. 9. " And thou, Gog, shalt go up and come like a storm, 
 and like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy bands and 
 many people with thee. 
 
 V. 10. "Thus saith the Lord God: In that day projects 
 shall enter into thy heart, and thou shalt conceive a mis- 
 chievous design. 
 
 V. 11. "And thou shalt say: I will go up to the land 
 which is without a wall, I will come to them that are at rest, 
 and dwell securely: all these dwell without a wall, they 
 have no bars nor gates." This refers to w^hat St. John relates 
 of Gog and his army: "and they came upon the breadth of the 
 earth, and encompassed the camp of the saints, the good 
 Christians, and the beloved city of Jerusalem." Apoc. xx. 8. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 301 
 
 It also refers to the future prosperous state of that city as 
 foretold by the prophet Zachary : '* Jerusalem shall be inhabit- 
 ed without walls,'' says he, "by reason of the multitude of 
 men, and of the beasts in the midst thereof," ii. 4. — Ezechiel 
 proceeds to give the reason of Gog's invading Judaea. 
 
 V. II. *' To take spoils and lay hold on the prey, to lay 
 thy hand upon them that had been wasted, and afterwards 
 restored, and upon the people that is gathered together out of 
 the nations, which hath begun to possess and to dwell in the 
 midst of the earth." Here is the intent of Gog's coming, viz. 
 to plunder the converted Jews and Christians that are settled 
 in Judaea, and who are come into possession of the immense 
 spoils of Antichrist's army, as we learn from the prophet 
 Zachary, who speaks thus of the abundance of those spoils: 
 *' And the riches of all nations round about shall be gathered 
 together, gold, and silver, and garments in great abundance," 
 xiv. 14. 
 
 V. 16. "And thou, Gog, shalt come," continues Ezechiel, 
 " upon my people of Israel like a cloud, to cover the earth. 
 Thou shalt be in the latter days, and I will bring thee upon 
 my land : that the nations may know me, when I shall be 
 sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. 
 
 V. 17. "Thus saith the Lord God: Thou then art he, of 
 whom I have spoken in the days of old, by my servants, the 
 prophets of Israel, who prophesied in the days of those times 
 that I would bring thee upon them :" namely by the prophets 
 Isaiah and Joel, as we shall see presently, besides Ezechiel. 
 
 V. 18. " And it shall come to pass in that day, in the day 
 of the coming of Gog upon the land of Israel, saith the Lord 
 Gog, that my indignation shall come up in my wrath. 
 
 V. 19. " And I have spoken in my zeal, and in the fire of 
 my anger, that in that day there shall be a great commotion 
 in the land of Israel. 
 
 V. 20. " So that the fishes of the sea, and the birds of the 
 air, and the beasts of the field, and every creeping thing that 
 creeps upon the ground, and all men that are on the face of 
 the earth, shall be moved at my presence : and the mountains 
 shall be thrown down, and the hedges shall fall, and every 
 wall shall fall to the ground." Here is mention of different 
 alarming signs that will happen about that time, some of which 
 are similar to the following, related by St. John, under the 
 sixth seal : " every mountain, and the islands were moved out 
 of their places : and the kings of the earth, and the princes, 
 and the tribunes, and the rich, and the strong, and every 
 26 
 
302 HISTORY Ot tht CMRIStlAK CJHURCtt. 
 
 bondman, and every freedman, hid themselves in the dens and 
 in the rocks of mountains." Apoc. vi. 14, 15. 
 
 V. 21. " And I will call in," continues Ezechiel, " the sword 
 against him in all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every 
 man's sword shall be pointed against his brother. 
 
 V. 22. " And I will judge him with pestilence, and with 
 blood, and with violent rain, and vast hailstones : I will rain 
 fire and brimstone upon him and upon his army, and upon 
 the many nations that are with him." Here we see in what 
 manner the Almighty will destroy Gog with all his army in 
 the mountains of Judsea, by turning every man's sword against 
 his brother, by pestilence, by violent rain, and vast hailstones; 
 and in fine, he will rain fire and brimstone upon them. To 
 the same the royal psalmist seems to allude, saying : " The 
 Lord shall rain snares upon sinners : fire and brimstone and 
 storms of wind shall be the portion of their cup." Psalm x. 7. 
 St. John also gives us their destruction in few words, but to 
 the same purpose : " And there c&me down fire from God 
 out of heaven," says he, " and devoured them." Apoc. xv. 9. 
 And thus is fulfilled what God had promised by his prophet 
 Zachary : " I will be to Jerusalem, saith the Lord, a wall of 
 fire round about," ii. 5. The Almighty again, speaking by 
 his prophet Isaiah, after proclaiming his future vengeance 
 upon the Anti-christian Babylon, proceeds to announce also 
 his judgments upOn Gog in the same terrible language, styling 
 that prince the Assyrian, on account of his reigning over the 
 country formerly called Assyria : " So shall it fall out," says 
 God, " that I will destroy the Assyrian in my land, and upon 
 my mountains tread him under foot : and his yoke shall be 
 taken away from them, and his burthen shall be taken off their 
 shoulders." Isaiah xv. 25. And again : " And the Lord 
 shall make the glory of his voice to be heard, and shall show 
 the terror of his arm, in the threatening of wrath, and the 
 flame of devouring fire ; he shall crush to pieces with whirl- 
 wind and hailstones. For at the voice of the Lord the Assy- 
 rian shall fear being struck with the rod." Isa. xxx. 30, 31. 
 
 Ezechiel having described the fate of Gog by anticipation, is 
 told to return to the historical account of him : 
 
 Chap, xxxix. 1. " And thou, Son of man, prophecy against 
 Gog, and say : thus saith the Lord God : behold I come 
 against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Mosoch and Thubal. 
 
 V. 2. " And I will turn thee round, and will lead thee out, 
 and will make thee go up from the northern parts, and will 
 bring thee upon the mountains of Israel. 
 
^. HlSTOftV OF THE CHRlStUJj CtlURC«. 303 
 
 V. 3. " And 1 will break thy bow in thy left hand, and I 
 will cause thy arrows to fall out of thy right hand. 
 
 V. 4. " Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, 
 and all thy bands, and thy nations that are with thee : I have 
 g-iven thee to the Avild beasts, to the birds, and to every fowl, 
 and to the beasts of the earth to be devoured. 
 
 V. 5. " Thou shalt fall upon the face of the field: for I 
 have spoken it, saith the Lord God." With this account 
 coincides what the Almighty promises the Jews by the pro- 
 phet Joel : " I will remove far off from you," says he, " the 
 northern enemy : and I will drive him into a land unpassable, 
 and desert, with his face towards the east sea, and his hinder 
 part towards the utmost sea : and his stink shall ascend, and 
 his rottenness shall go up, because he has done proudly," ii. 
 20. Here the northern enemy points out G'og, who, accord- 
 ing to Ezechiel, comes from the northern parts, v. 2. He is 
 driven into a land unpassable, that is, into the mountains of 
 Israel, v. 2, where he is placed between the east or Dead sea, 
 and the utmost or Mediterranean sea. In these mountains, 
 after that fire from heaven has slain him and his people, their 
 carcasses shall lie to infect the air with stench and rottenness. 
 — The Lord continues to speak b^^ Ezechiel : 
 
 V. 6. " And I will send a fire on Magog, and on them 
 that dwell confidently in the islands : and they shall know 
 that I am the Lord." Does not this perhaps mean, that at 
 the time that Gog perishes, fire will also be sent to make de- 
 struction in Magog, his own country, and in the islands that 
 are confederated with him ? 
 
 V. 7. " And I will make my holy name known in the midst 
 of my people Israel ; and my holy name shall be profaned 
 no more : and the Gentiles shall know that I am the Lord, 
 the holy one of Israel. 
 
 V. 8. " Behold it cometh, and it is done, saith the Lord 
 God : this is the day whereof I have spoken. 
 
 V. 9. " And the inhabitants shall go forth of the cities of 
 Israel, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, the shields, 
 and the spears, the bows and the arrows, and the hand staves, 
 and the pikes: and they shall burn them with fire seven 
 years. 
 
 V. 10. "And they shall not bring wood out of the coun- 
 tries, nor cut down out of the forests : for they shall burn the 
 weapons with fire, and shall make a prey of them to whom 
 they had been a prey, and they shall rob those that robbed 
 them, saith the Lord God. 
 
304 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH./ 
 
 V. 11. "And it shall come to pass in that day that I will 
 give Gog a noted place for a sepulchre in Israel : the valley of 
 the passengers on the east of the sea, which shall cause as- 
 tonishment in them that pass by : and there shall they bury 
 Gog, and all his multitude, and it shall be called the valley 
 of the multitude of Gog. 
 
 V. 12. " And the house of Israel shall bury them for seven 
 months to cleanse the land. 
 
 V. 13. " And the people of the land shall bury him, and it 
 shall be unto them a noted day, wherein I was glorified, saith 
 the Lord God. 
 
 V. 14. "And they shall appoint men to go continually 
 about the land, to bury and to seek out them that were re- 
 maining upon the face of the earth, that they may cleanse it: 
 and after seven months they shall begin to seek. 
 
 V. 15. " And they shall go about passing through the land* 
 and when they shall see the bone of a man, th-ey shall set up 
 a sign by it, till the buriers bury it in the valley of the multi- 
 tude of Goof. 
 
 V. 16. "And the name of the city shall be Amona,* and 
 they shall cleanse the land. 
 
 V. 17. "And thou, O son of man, saith the Lord God, say 
 to every fowl, and to all the birds, and to all the beasts of the 
 field : Assemble yourselves, make haste, come together from 
 every side to my victim, which I slay for you, a great victim 
 upon the mountains of Israel ; to eat flesh, and drink blood. 
 
 V. 18. "You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and you 
 shall drink the blood of the princes of the earth : of rams, 
 and of lambs, and of he-goats, and bullocks, and of all that 
 are well fed and fat. 
 
 V. 19. " And you shall eat the fat till you be full, and shall 
 drink blood till you be drunk, of the victim which I shall slay 
 for you. 
 
 V. 20. " And you shall be filled at my table with horses, 
 and mighty horsemen, and all the men of war, saith the Lord 
 God. 
 
 V. 21. "And I will set my glory among the nations: and 
 all nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and 
 my hand that I have laid upon them." 
 
 Thus is Gog and his whole army exterminated. They are 
 not allowed to reach Jerusalem, but are stopped by the divine 
 hand at a distance in the mountains of Judaea, where by fire 
 
 * Multitude. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 305 
 
 from heaven and other terrible judgments, they all perish. 
 And thus ends that impious enterprise of Gog, of which we 
 have been reading in Ezechiel a full history rather than a 
 prophecy. 
 
 Satan is here again defeated ; nor is he now allowed to 
 make further attempts. He has done immense mischief, by 
 seducing mankind into idolatry, and raising up a most hoi • 
 rible persecution against the faithful servants of God. He 
 has by his agents desolated countries, and destroyed a prodi- 
 gious multitude of the human race : " for he was a murderer 
 from the beginning." John viii. 44. But, though he has act- 
 ed by the suggestion of his own malice and hatred against 
 God and man, yet it has not been done without the Almighty's 
 permission, and it all serves the unfathomable purposes of di- 
 vine wisdom. But now the period of the releasement of Satan 
 is elapsed, in consequence of which St. John informs us : 
 
 . Chap. XX. 9. " And the devil who seduced them, was cast 
 into the pool of fire and brimstone, 
 
 V. 10. " Where* both the beast and the false prophet shall 
 be tormented day and night for ever and ever." Here the 
 prince of the infernal regions is cast down again into his pri- 
 son, there to be closed up ; and is plunged into the lake of 
 hell-fire, there to be tormented for evermore with Antichrist 
 and the false prophet. One may suppose that the greatest 
 part of his hellish crew are banished along with him, to under- 
 go the same fate. Some determinate number of them may 
 perhaps be permitted to remain upon earth to tempt mankind : 
 as seemed to be the case when Satan was bound up in the 
 abyss after the persecutions of the first Christian ages : but 
 the power of these fiends will be circumscribed within much 
 narrower bounds than it was before. 
 
 One cannot but here take notice, that our incomparable 
 prophet opens to us a particular piece of history, which we 
 were little acquainted with, namely, that of Satan, the prince of 
 the apostate angels. In chapter xii. we see him falling down 
 from heaven with his proud associates. We see his charac- 
 ter described, and among other names there given him, he 
 is styled the old serpent, that is, the very serpent which de- 
 ceived Eve, and by her seduction ruined all mankind. After 
 having done that mischief, he proceeded by crafty insinuation 
 to work upon mankind, and prevailed upon the greatest part 
 
 * In the Greek, " where the beast and false prophet are. And they 
 shall be tormeated day and night for ever and ever." 
 
 26* 
 
 
306 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCtt. 
 
 of them to abandon the worship of their Creator, and to sub- 
 stitute idolatry in its place ; that is, in reality, the worship of 
 Satan himself, and thus he seduced the whole world. At the 
 rise of Christianity, we see him exerting his utmost efforts to 
 crush it in its birth : for which purpose he stimulated the Ro- 
 man emperors, and others, to oppose with all their might the 
 propagation of the Christian religion. Christ, with his supe- 
 rior power, frustrated all these attempts; and expelled Satan 
 from the face of the earth, and confined him in the infernal 
 dungeon, Apoc. ch. xx. ; where he is to remain for an appoint- 
 ed period of time, after the expiration of which he will be re- 
 leased for a short while. His employment will then be to re- 
 establish idolatry, and to persecute the Christian religion. 
 Antichrist will be his great instrument for these purposes. 
 But after the extermination of that son of perdition, and the 
 destruction of Gog, Satan himself will then be remanded back 
 to his infernal prison, never more to go forth from it. — Now 
 to resume the thread of our history : -* 
 
 The expulsion of Satan from the earth, who was the author 
 of idolatry, and the extermination of Antichrist, who was its 
 supporter, are followed by the extirpation of idolatry itself 
 For such seems to be the language of the prophets : " The 
 loftiness of men shall be bowed down," says Isaiah, "and the 
 haughtiness of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall 
 be exalted in that day. And idols shall be utterly destroyed," 
 ii. 17, 18. Thus also speaks the prophet Sophonias: " The 
 Lord shall be terrible upon them, and shall consume all the 
 gods of the earth," ii. 11. In like manner we see the same 
 work of the divine hand announced to us by the prophet Za- 
 chary: " And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord 
 of Hosts, that I will destroy the names of idols out of the earth, 
 and they shall be remembered no more," xiii. 2. It is fit the 
 offspring should follow the parent, and that idolatry should 
 disappear with Satan. 
 
 And now we seem to be arrived at the glorious epocha of 
 the triumph of the Church over all her enemies. The tyrants, 
 that domineered over her, are crushed ; the boisterous winds 
 of persecution are ceased; and the anger of God, before in- 
 flamed by the excessive wickedness of mankind, is now ap- 
 peased and gives way to mercy. Idolatry is vanished, and 
 the Cross of Christ is the sole standard that is acknowledged 
 and resorted to. Christ has suppressed all adverse powers, 
 both earthly and infernal, and now extends his dominion from 
 one extremity of the earth to the other. People and kings 
 
IIISTORy OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 307 
 
 equally bow down to receive his commands, and join in pro- 
 fessing their submission to his Church, as we learn from 
 Daniel: "And judgment shall.sit," says he, "that the king- 
 dom and power, and the greatness of the kingdom, under the 
 whole heaven, may be given to the people of the saints of the 
 Most High : whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and 
 all kings shall serve him and shall obey him," vii. 26, 27. 
 " He shall rule from sea to sea," says the psalmist speaking 
 of Christ, " and from the river unto the ends of the earth — 
 And all the kings of the earth shall adore him ; all nations 
 shall serve him." Psalm Ixx. 8, 11. 
 
 The prophet Zachary acquaints us of the same, thus : 
 " And the Lord shall be king over all the earth : in that day 
 there shall be one Lord, and his name shall be one," xiv. 9 : 
 his name shall be one, or there shall be but one religion over 
 the whole earth. These are the halcyon days of the Christ- 
 ian people, during which the Almighty pours forth the abun- 
 dance of his spiritual and temporal blessings. To the storms 
 of persecution and war succeed the calm of peace and the 
 sunshine of joy and prosperity. And to this period seems to 
 belong the following admonition: 
 
 Apoc. xiv. 13. " And I heard," says St. John, " a voice from 
 heaven, saying to me : Write, blessed are the dead who die 
 in the Lord. For henceforth now, saith the spirit, that they 
 may rest from their labours: for their works follow them." 
 Or rather, according to the Greek text : " Blessed are the 
 dead who die in the Lord from henceforth. Certainly, saith 
 the spirit, that they may rest from their labours : but their 
 works follow them." Those are here pronounced blessed, 
 who from henceforth, that is, from the time of the extermina- 
 tion of Antichrist and all external enemies, or who, during 
 the time of peace, having no expectations of the crown of mar- 
 tyrdom, nevertheless live in the constant practice of virtue, 
 and so merit to die in the favour of their Lord. The Spirit 
 or Holy Ghost confirms the sentence of their happiness, not 
 only because at the moment of their departure their hard la- 
 bours and penitential exercises cease, but their souls are ad- 
 mitted to a glorious immortality, the recompense of their good 
 works. 
 
 Such is the extraordinary happiness of this period of time, 
 that, as in the days of the birth of Christianity, so now the 
 supernatural gifts of the Holy Ghost descend plentifully upon 
 the zealous Christians. " And it shall come to pass after this," 
 says the Lord by Joel, *' that 1 will pour out my spirit upon 
 
308 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 all flesh : and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy : 
 your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall 
 see visions. Moreover, upon my servants and handmaids in 
 those days I will pour forth my Spirit. And I will show 
 wonders in heaven, and in earth, blood, and fire, and vapour 
 of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the 
 moon into blood ; before the great and dreadful day of the 
 Lord does come," ii. 28, &c. While the bounties of God 
 flow in a full stream upon mankind, we see nevertheless he 
 thinks fit to send, at times, warnings of the approaching great 
 and dreadful day of the Lord, by signs, and wonders in hea- 
 ven and earth, agreeably to what we read in the Apocalypse 
 under the sixth seal. The all-bountiful God desires, that all 
 should watch and be prepared for the great day of judgment, 
 which may be supposed not to be far distant at that time. 
 For the same reason Christ, after "the battle of the great day 
 of the Almighty God," Apoc. xvi. 14, immediately proclaims; 
 " Behold I come as a thief Blessed is he that watcheth, and 
 keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his 
 shame." Blessed is the man, that keepeth solicitously his 
 garments of virtue and good works, lest at Christ's coming 
 he be found naked and exposed to shame and condemnation. 
 
 If we turn our eyes on another side, we see a beautiful pic- 
 ture, exhibited to us by the prophets, of the temporal prosperi- 
 ty which will be enjoyed at this period of time by the Jews, 
 that is, the Jews changed into Christians, under whose name 
 may be comprehended the whole body of the Christian peo- 
 ple. Among the many passages relating to this subject, we 
 shall recite a few. 
 
 Joel, after describing the great slaughter in the vale of Josa-. 
 phat, thus continues, 
 
 Chap. iii. 17. " And you shall know that I am the Lord 
 your God, dwelling in Sion, my holy mountain: and Jerusa- 
 lem shall be holy, and strangers shall pass through it no more. 
 
 V. 18. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the 
 mountains shall drop down sweetness, and the hills shall flow 
 with milk: and waters shall flow through all the rivers of 
 Juda : and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the 
 Lord, and shall water the torrent of thorns. 
 
 V. 19. "Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom a wilder- 
 ness destroyed : because they have done unjustly against the 
 children of Juda, and have shed innocent blood in their land. 
 
 V. 20. "And Judaea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jeru- 
 salem to generation and generation " 
 
HISTORY OP THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 309 
 
 Ezechiel speaks in the following manner : 
 
 Chap, xxxvii. 21. "And thou shalt say to them: thus 
 saith the Lord God: behold, I will take the children of Is- 
 rael from the midst of the nations whither they are gone: 
 and I will gather them on every side, and will bring them to 
 their own land. 
 
 V. 24. "And my servant David* shall be king over them, 
 and they shall have one shepherd, they shall walk in my 
 judgments, and shall keep my commandments, and shall do 
 them, 
 
 V. 25. *' And they shall dwell in the land which I gave to 
 my servant Jacob, wherein your fathers dwelt, and they shall 
 dwell in it, they and their children, and their children's child- 
 ren, for ever: and David my servant shall be their prince for 
 ever, 
 
 V. 26. "And I will make a covenant of peace with them; 
 it shall be an everlasting covenant with them : and I will es- 
 tablish them, and will multiply them, and will set my sanc- 
 tuary in the midst of them for ever," &c. 
 
 The same prophet, after relating the destruction of Gog, 
 pursues thus, or rather the Almighty by his mouth : 
 
 Chap, xxxix. 22. " And the house of Israel shall know 
 that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. — 
 
 V. 26. " And they shall hear their confusion, and all the 
 transgressions wherewith they have transgressed against me, 
 when they shall dwell in their land securely, fearing no man. — 
 
 V. 28. " And they shall know that I am the Lord their 
 God, because I caused them to be carried away among the 
 nations : and I have gathered them together unto their own 
 land, and have not left any of them there. 
 
 V, 29. " And I will hide my face no more from them, for 
 1 have poured out my spirit upon all the house of Israel, 
 saith the Lord God." 
 
 The prophet Amos gives us also a pleasing description of 
 the same prosperity. 
 
 Chap. ix. 13. " Behold the days come, saith the Lord, 
 when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader 
 of the grapes of him that soweth seed : and the mountains shall 
 drop sweetness, and every hill shall be tilled. 
 
 V. 14. " And I will bring back the captivity of my people 
 Israel : and they shall build the abandoned cities, and inhabit 
 them : and they shall plant vineyards, and shall drink the 
 
 * Christ, the Messiah. 
 
310 HISTORY or THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 wine of them ; and shall make gardens, and eat the fruits of 
 them. And I will plant them upon their own land : and I 
 will no more pluck them out of their land, which I have given 
 them, saith the Lord thy God." Such is this remarkable sera 
 of peace, prosperity, and spiritual blessings. 
 
 One may naturally suppose that the Christians, at their 
 emerging from the severe trials they had been subjected to, 
 were uncommonly full of zeal and religious fervour: and so 
 it seems to be intimated by the above-cited passages out of the 
 prophets. But the human mind from its native inconstancy 
 soon forgets the greatest troubles, when they are passed. 
 Prosperity also is a charm generally productive of inattention 
 and neglect, and contributes much to revive in man his natu- 
 ral propensity to licentiousness. Such will be the case of this 
 last period of time, in which mankind will gradually relax in 
 their fervour, and degenerate in their morals. Our Saviour 
 has told us to beware of the last day, to watch, and be ready 
 to appear before him at the bar of judgment: " Watch ye," 
 says he, " because ye know not what hour your Lord will 
 come. Be you ready, because at what hour ye know not, 
 the Son of man will come." Matt. xxiv. 42, 44. And again 
 he speaks in the Apocalypse : — " Behold I come as a thief," 
 xvi. 15. St. Peter also gives us the same warning: " The 
 day of the Lord will come as a thief" 2 Pet. iii. 1 0. But 
 these admonitions will by degrees lose their influence, and be 
 forgotten, the human passions will recover their power, and 
 the pleasures of the world will become again the common 
 pursuit of men; as we learn from our Saviour's own words; 
 " As in days of Noe," says he, " so shall also the coming of 
 the Son of man be. For as in the days before the flood, they 
 were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, 
 even till that in -which Noe entered into the ark. And they 
 knew not till the flood came, and took them all away : so also 
 shall the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. xxiv. 37, 38, 
 39. Thus then the generality of mankind having degene- 
 rated into a state of forgetfulness of God, employed now in 
 indulging themselves in sensual gratifications, unmindful of 
 all the ominous alarming signs that had preceded, and the 
 repeated admonitions given them, Behold ! The seventh seal 
 is opened. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 311 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE SEVENTH AGE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 CHURCH. 
 
 The seventh Seal is opened. 
 
 Apoc. viii. 1. " And when he (the Lamb) had opened the 
 sev^enth seal, there was silence in heaven, as it were for half 
 an hour." The Lamb having opened the seventh seal, there 
 follows a silence in heaven for a while, in appearance about 
 half an hour. During this time the Almighty thinks fit to 
 disclose to the whole heavenly court of angels and saints, his 
 eternal and inscrutable decrees respecting mankind and the 
 existence of this world.* The heavenly auditory attend in 
 silence and with profound respect, while he graciously un- 
 folds to them the whole system of economy, by which he has 
 governed the world* ever since its creation, and the whole 
 course of his great and merciful dispensations to man. The 
 Almighty is willing to display before them the immense and 
 superabundant store of blessings, that have flowed from the 
 inexhaustible source of his paternal affection upon mankind, 
 ever since the first moment of their existence. He shows 
 that his tenderness and bounty towards mankind have been 
 without measure, and that if a great number of them perish, 
 their perdition is owing to themselves. He then makes known 
 his intention of putting an immediate stop to the whole human 
 race, and bringing them to judgment; he signifies, that the 
 time he had fixed for the existence of the world is now ex- 
 pired, and he is now going to put an end to it.f Upon which 
 
 The seventh Trumpet sounds. 
 
 Chap. xi. 15. "And the seventh angel sounded the trum- 
 pet: and there were great voices in heaven, saying: the 
 
 * This he does, not in words, but by secret interior communication, such 
 as is suitable to the nature of spirits. 
 
 t That such are, in part, the divine intimations on this occasion, may be 
 collected from the applauses of the heavenly choirs expressed in the fi)l- 
 lowing trumpet. As upon the opening of the seventh seal the period of the 
 world finishes, it is just that at that time tlie wise and bountiful economy 
 of Christ through the whole government of his Church should be ac- 
 knowledged. For that reason benediction or praise was solemnly offered 
 to the Lamb. Apoc. v. 12, See page 43, 
 
312 HISTORY Of TBS CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 kingdom of this world is become our Lord's and his Christ's, 
 and he shall reii>-n for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 V. 16. "And the four and twenty ancients, who sit on 
 their seats in the sight of God, fell on their faces, and adored 
 God, 
 
 V. 17. "Saying: We give thee thanks, O Lord God Al- 
 mighty, who art, and who wast, and who art to come : be- 
 cause thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and thou 
 hast reigned, 
 
 y. 18. "And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is 
 come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, 
 and that thou shouldst render reward to thy servants the 
 prophets and the saints, and to them that fear thy name, little 
 and great, and shouldst destroy them who have corrupted* 
 the earth. 
 
 V. 19. "And the temple of God was opened in Heaven: 
 and the ark of his Testament was seen in his temple, and 
 there were lightnings, and voices,! and an earthquake, and 
 great hail." ^ 
 
 On the sounding of the seventh trumpet, which follows on 
 the Almighty concluding the communication of his councils, 
 all the heavenly choirs break out into acclamations and ap- 
 plause, saying: "The kingdom of this world is become our 
 Lord's and his Christ's, and he shall reign for ever and 
 ever:" or, praise be to the Lord, because he is going to take 
 possession of all the kingdoms of the earth, &c. Thus, they 
 acknowledge it is time that he should suffer no long-er any 
 human power to reign; but that He, Omnipotent, with his 
 eternal Son, the Christ, should assume all dominion, and 
 sway for ever. Then the four and twenty ancients, v. 16, 17, 
 whom we saw from the beginning sitting round the throne of 
 God, fall down prostrate before the Almighty, and offering 
 their homage, give him thanks also for assuming all power 
 into his hands, as belonging solely to himself, who is, who was, 
 and who is to come; that is, who is the beginning and end of 
 all things, who was the Creator, is the Conservator, and will 
 come presently as the Judge, of all mankind. The ancients 
 continue to say: "the nations were angry," v. 18., mankind 
 in different ages abandoned thee, their God, rebelled against 
 thee, and set up the infamous worship of idols ; they endea- 
 voured to exterminate thy holy name from the earth, and 
 
 * In the Greek " who destroy the earth." 
 t Here the Greek text adds, " thunderings." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 313 
 
 tliey waged war against thy people ; but thy wrath is come, 
 and it is just it should now at last overtake them, and punish 
 them according to their deserts. We are glad the time of the 
 dead is come, that they should be judged, &c. the course of 
 human nature has run a sufficient period; it is now fit and 
 just, that judgment should be passed upon the whole race of 
 men, that your faithful servants may receive the full rev/ard 
 they have deserved, and your enemies be destroyed, or a final 
 period be put to the efforts of the wicked, who are labouring 
 to subvert your holy worship, and again to corrupt mankind. 
 Thus the whole company of angels and saints express their 
 approbation of the divine decrees and declarations which the 
 Almighty had condescended to communicate to them. 
 
 Then " the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark 
 of his testament (or covenant) was seen in his temple," v. 19. 
 This passage alludes to the sanctuary or holy of holies of the 
 temple in Jerusalem, which was kept shut, and contained the 
 ark of the covenant. The ark Avas ordered by Almighty God 
 to be thus kept as a monument and testimony of the covenant 
 he had made with the Jews. And as the opening of the sane 
 tuary at Jerusalem, when the veil that hung before it, was 
 rent in two at our Saviour's death, showed that the Jewish 
 covenant was then fulfilled and terminated j so here, the tem- 
 ple or sanctuary of God in heaven is opened, and the ark of 
 his covenant with the whole human race is exposed fully to 
 view, to indicate that God has now fulfilled his covenant or all 
 his en'gagements with mankind relative to this world, which 
 is therefore now to be put an end to. 
 
 We had heard the angel that stood upon the sea and land, 
 Apoc. X. 5, 6, solemnly proclaim, that at the sounding of the 
 seventh trumpet, time shall be no more. The trumpet has 
 sounded, and here then is finishing the period of time allotted 
 for the existence of the Avorld. The destruction of the whole 
 frame of the universe follows, and is ushered in by the terri- 
 fying alarms mentioned above : and there were lightnings 
 and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail, 
 V. 19. Upon which immediately 
 
 The seventh vial of the wrath of God is poured out. 
 
 Chap. xvi. 17. " And the seventh angel poured out his vial 
 upon the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple 
 from the throne, saying : ' It is done !' • 
 
 V. 18. " And there were lightnings, and voices, and thun 
 ders, and there was a great earthquake, such a one as never 
 27 
 
314 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. '^ 
 
 had been since men were upon the earth, such an earthquake, 
 so great. 
 
 V. 19. " And the great city was divided into three parts : 
 And the cities of the Gentiles fell. And great Babylon came 
 in remembrance before God, to give her the cup of the wine 
 of the indignation of his wrath. 
 
 V. 20. "And every island fled away, and the mountains 
 were not found. 
 
 V. 21. "And great hail like a talent came down from hea- 
 ven upon men : and men blasphemed God for the plague of 
 the hail : because it was exceeding great." 
 
 The seventh vial is poured upon the air, which lies be- 
 tween the earth and the heavens, to indicate that the judg- 
 ments of God are going to fall upon both the heavens and the 
 earth, that is, on the whole system of the creation. " And 
 there came a great voice out of the temple, v. 17, from the 
 throne where sits the Almighty, saying : it is done : all is 
 over : this is the last hour ; time shall be no more !" Then 
 follow the dreadful calamities of the last hour. And there 
 were lightnings, v. 18, and voices, and thunders, and there 
 was a great earthquake, such a one as never had been since 
 men were upon the earth, such an earthquake, so great. Here 
 is enough to strike all the living at that time with dread, hor- 
 ror, and consternation. We saw the same sort of disasters 
 happen at the sounding of the trumpet, but here they are re- 
 newed and aggravated to the most terrible degree. The hea- 
 vens echo with the loudest and most terrifying thunder ; the 
 sky is rent in every part with most dreadful flashes of light- 
 nino- ; and the whole air resounds with horrible voices or 
 noises. 
 
 The earth is shaken from its foundations with an earthquake, 
 such as has never been felt before, nor has ever entered into 
 man to imagine such a one. The whole" compages or fabric 
 of the world is unhinged and falls to pieces. All is confusion, 
 wreck and ruin. The great city of Jerusalem, v. 19, is split 
 into three parts, and the other cities of the world fall to the 
 ground. But such is the weight of God's anger against the 
 great Babylon, that is, the two Babylons, viz. pagan Rome 
 and pagan Constantinople, or against the heathen Roman em- 
 'perors and their people, and against Antichrist and his peo- 
 ple, for their impiously opposing the worship of him to give 
 place to idolatry, and for their spilling so much of the blood 
 of his faithful servants ; such, I say, is the weight of God's 
 anger against them, that they stand as the prmcipal detestable 
 
HISTORY or THK CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 315 
 
 object in his sight, and he now resolves to make them drink 
 the full cup of the wine of the indignation of his wrath, by 
 completing the measure of their punishment, in dooming their 
 bodies together with their souls to burn in the most scorching 
 flames of fire and sulphur for ever. 
 
 Such is the general concussion caused by the above-men- 
 tioned earthquake, that all the islands immediately vanish, v. 
 20, being perhaps either sunk in the deep, or thrown against 
 the continent ; and of the mountains, some tumble to pieces, and 
 are levelled with the surface of the earth by the same cause;, 
 others burst out into volcanoes, and by their internal fire are 
 dissolved and melted into a fluid matter.* Then follows a 
 storm of hail, v. 21, infinitely exceeding what had ever been 
 heard of: the hailstones are of the weight of a talent, or four- 
 score pounds : which doubtless must kill a great number of 
 people. But, notwithstanding such a shocking catastrophe — 
 strange ! — many will persist obstinate in their wicked dispo- 
 sitions, will not yield to turn their hearts to repentance and 
 sue for pardon in these last moments, but will even complete 
 their impiety by blaspheming. God for these calamities which 
 they suffer. 
 
 As all mankind are sentenced to die, those that are not car- 
 ried off by the disasters just mentioned, will probably be des- 
 patched by the fire which will go before the Son of man when 
 he comes to judgment : for so it seems to be specified by the 
 royal psalmist with other circumstances relating to this terri- 
 ble day: "A fire shall go before him, (the Lord,) and shall 
 burn his enemies round about. His lio'htnings have shone 
 forth to the world : the earth saw and trembled. The moun- 
 tains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord ; at the pre- 
 sence of the Lord all the earth. The heavens declared his 
 justice, and all people saw his glory." Psalm xcvi. And again 
 in another place: '* The earth shook and trembled : the foun- 
 dations of the mountains were troubled and were moved be- 
 cause he (the Lord) was angry with them. There went up 
 a smoke in his wrath: and a fire flamed from his face: coals 
 were kindled with it. He bowed the heavens and came down, 
 
 and darkness was under his feet. And the Lord thundered 
 
 from heaven, and the Highest gave his voice, hail and coals of 
 fire. And he sent forth his arrows, and he scattered them : 
 he multiplied lightnings and troubled them. Xhen the foun- 
 
 * Before we saw the islands, and mountains "moved out of their 
 places," Apoc. vi. 14., but here they entirely disappear. 
 
316 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 tains of water appeared, and the foundations of the world were 
 discovered." Psahn xvii. It is plain that many of the dread- 
 ful events and convulsions of nature here expressed are the 
 same with those related above by St. John. Such will be the 
 friofhtful scenes, the universal confusion and destruction in 
 that day of wrath, that day of tribulation and distress, that day 
 of calamity and misery. The prophet Isaiah has also sketch- 
 ed out to us the outlines of that same terrifying picture: 
 
 Chap. xxiv. 17. " Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon 
 •thee, O thou inhabitant of the earth. 
 
 V. 1 8. " And it shall come to pass, that he that shall flee from 
 the noise of the fear, shall fall into the pit ; and he that shall 
 rid himself out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare ; for the 
 floodgates from on high are opened, and the foundations of 
 the earth shall be shaken. 
 
 V. 19. " With breaking shall the earth be broken, with 
 crushing shall the earth be crushed, with trembling shall 
 the earth be moved. 
 
 V. 20. " With shaking shall the earth be shaken as a 
 drunken man, and shall be removed as the tent of one night ; 
 and the iniquity shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and 
 shall not rise again." 
 
 The beautiful frame of the universe being therefore now 
 totally disfigured, broken, torn to pieces, and reduced to a mere 
 wreck, fire will be the instrument the Almighty will use to 
 dissolve the whole mass ; as Ave learn from St. Peter, 
 2 Epist. iii. 10. " The day of the Lord shall come as a thief, 
 in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, 
 the elements shall be meited with heat, and the earth and the 
 works that are in it, shall be burnt up. 
 
 V. 11. "Seeing then that all these things are to be dis- 
 solved, what manner of people ought you to be in holy con- 
 versation and godliness ? 
 
 V. 12. " Looking for and hasting unto the coming of 
 the day of the Lord, by which the heavens being on fire 
 shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with the burn- 
 ing heat." Here then we see that the world will be set on 
 fire, that the heavens will be quickly dissolved by the prodi- 
 gious activity of the fire, and so vanish : that the earth will be 
 likewise burned, with the works that are in it, with all that 
 it contains within it or upon its surface; and that the elements, 
 namely, water and air, will lose their fluidity, and their sub- 
 stantial parts will be dissolved or melted. " Heaven and 
 earth shall pass away," said our Saviour. Luke xxi. 33. But 
 
 vi 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 317 
 
 we miisl observe it is not said that they will be wholly con- 
 sumed and annihilated, but dissolved or burned, and conse- 
 quently transformed into a different appearance, as God shall 
 direct. 
 
 But while these stupendous operations of fire are subvert- 
 ing nature, and changing the whole face of the universe, the 
 Son of man descends from the highest heaven to come and 
 judge mankind. For, " the Father doth not judge any man ; 
 but hath given all judgment to the Son. John v. 22. 
 
 Apoc. XX. 11. "And I saw," saj-s St. John, "a great 
 white throne, and one sitting upon it, from whose face the 
 earth and heaven fled away and there was no place found for 
 them. 
 
 V. 12. " And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in 
 the presence of the throne, and the books were opened : and 
 another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the 
 dead were judged by those things which were written in the 
 books, according to their works." 
 
 I'he son of God appears in the firmament seated on a 
 great and bright white throne, and at his presence the earth and 
 heaven flee away, or disappear, that is, the earth, the atmos- 
 phere, and all belonging to the sky, are not only enwrapped 
 in flames; but entirely pass away and vanish out of sight, so 
 that their place is not found nor can be distinguished. No- 
 thing is now visible of the works of the creation. The sole 
 object thai fills the expanse of heaven, is the resplendent majesty 
 of the Son of God sitting on his throne. The dead then, 
 both great and small, of all ranks and degrees, appear before 
 h*im, namely, the last generation of the human race, who 
 have just expired in the general destruction of the world. This 
 prodigious multitude of souls are summoned to undergo th® 
 particular judgment which is fixed for all mankind at the 
 hour of their death. *' It is appointed unto men once to die, 
 after this, the judgment." Ep. to the Hebr. ix. 27. This 
 particular judgment must be here meant by St. John, and not 
 the general judgment which is described in the next verse, 
 as our prophet never repeats the same thing. The books are 
 opened, and will remain open during the general judgment 
 that is quickly to follow. In these books are recorded the 
 actions of every individual man, according to which sentence 
 will be passed upon him. The Son of God, from his own 
 infinite knowledge, is equally acquainted with the works of 
 every man, as if they vrcre registered in a book ; but this 
 figurative expression shows the rigour and exactness of his 
 27* 
 
318 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 
 
 scrutiny, which will not let the least fault or good work 
 escape his notice. Another book is likewise opened, viz. the 
 book of life, in which are written the names of all the pre 
 destined or elect. 
 
 This numerous company of souls being therefore judged 
 by those things which were written in the books according to 
 their works, Christ sends forth his messenger, an archangel, 
 who by his order blows the last trumpet ; the sound of which 
 echoes to all the extremities of the earth. At this sound, in 
 an instant, all the dead rise up from their graves, never more 
 to die. " In a moment," says St. Paul, " in the twinkling of an 
 eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet yet shall sound, and 
 the dead shall rise again incorruptible." 1 Cor. xv. 52 The 
 general resurrection is likewise thus briefly described to us 
 by St. John : 
 
 Apoc. XX. 13. " And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; 
 and death and hell gave up their dead that were in them." The 
 sea is first here said to deliver up its dead. By the sea, in 
 our prophet's language, we must understand the Avhole ex- 
 tent of the terraqueous globe, in as much as it contains the 
 dead bodies of the saints, who may be said to have waded 
 through the tempestuous sea of this world, or through a long 
 course of tribulations, persecutions, and hardships, which 
 sanctified their lives. Their bodies therefore rise up the first, 
 and this is confirmed by St. Paul: " The dead who are in 
 Christ, shall rise first." 1 Thes. iv. 15. Heaven presents 
 their souls, and by the happy union of soul and body, the 
 saints stand vested with complete immortaljty. Then death 
 and hell give up their dead ; death here signifying the graves 
 of the wicked, as containing the mortal part of those whose 
 souls lie in the death of damnation. These bodies likewise 
 rise to life, and are joined to their souls which hell vomits 
 up, and thus they become inseparable companions of the 
 same eternal fate which they Avill soon be doomed to undergo. 
 Every individual of mankind being thus raised to life, from 
 Adam to the last of the human race, they will all see the Al- 
 mighty Son of God coming down through the upper regions 
 of the sky, seated on bright clouds as upon a throne, sur- 
 rounded with the splendour of his divine Majesty, attended 
 by the angels, and his cross, the instrument of the world's 
 redemption, carried before him : " And then," says Christ 
 himself, "shall appear the sign of the Son of man in hea- 
 ven : and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn ; and they 
 shall see the Son of man coming* in the clouds of heaven 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 319 
 
 with much power and majesty." Matt. xxiv. 30. And our 
 prophet in the Apocal3^pse also says of him: "Behold he 
 cotneth with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and 
 they also that pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth 
 shall bewail themselves because of him," i. 7. The appear- 
 ance then of the Son of God coming in his majesty to judg- 
 ment will strike the wicked with dread and consternation. 
 The different tribes of them will mourn and bewail their 
 miserable condition : the Jews, that pierced him or put him to 
 death, and those who had refused to acknowledge him for 
 their Saviour and Messiah: the infidels, who would not be 
 converted, and who had persecuted him in his servants ; in 
 fine, the rest of the wicked, who had made no use of the re- 
 demption he had purchased for them, but on the contrary had 
 heinously injured him by their repeated crimes and impiety. 
 But on the other hand, what a consolation, what an auspi- 
 cious moment, will it be for the just, to see their Redeemer 
 coming to reward them, and to make their happiness com- 
 plete, for all eternity ! They will fly to meet him, as their 
 Father and Saviour, with inexpressible alacrity and joy; as 
 we learn from St. Paul : *' The Lord himself shall come 
 down from heaven with commandment, and with the voice of 
 an archangel, and with the trumpet of God : and the dead 
 who are in Christ, shall rise first. Then we who are alive, 
 who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the 
 clouds to meet Christ, into the air, and so shall we be always 
 with the Lord." 1 Thes. iv. 15, IG. 
 
 All the individuals of the human race appear now existing 
 at once and together, a wonderful spectacle that never was 
 seen before, nor will be seen after. For this great company- 
 will soon be divided into two bodies that must separate, never 
 more to be joined. They are called up and cited to appear 
 at the bar of the throne and judgment-seat of the Son of God. 
 There "they are judo-ed every one according to their works." 
 Apoc. XX. 13. To the just are adjudged eternal rewards for 
 their labours: and this may be styled, the second resurrec- 
 tion, as the prior admission of their souls to beatitude, on the 
 death of their bodies, was called by St. John, "the first resur- 
 rection." Apoc. XX. 5. The saints having thus receiv^ed their 
 happy sentence, are admitted to attend Christ and to sit with him 
 in judgment over the wicked, according to what he had pro- 
 mised : "Amen, I say unto you, that you who have foliov/ed 
 me, in the reofeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the 
 seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judg^mg^ 
 

 320 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 the twelve tribes of Israel." Matt. xix. 28. Then follows the 
 sentence upon the wicked, by which they are doomed to the 
 unquenchable flames of hell for ever, or, as St. John ex- 
 presses it, 
 
 Che. p. XX. 14. "And hell and death were cast into the pool 
 of fire. This is the second death." 
 
 Hell and death, before, denoted the places where the souls 
 and bodies of the reprobate lay, but here, by an easy transi- 
 tion, they are employed to signify these souls and bodies them- 
 selves, which are cast into the infernal pool of fire : and this 
 damnation of both together, at the last judgment, is here de- 
 nominated, the second death; while that of the soul only, 
 which had preceded at the time of her separation from the 
 body, may receive the name of first death. — Thus much 
 from the Apocalypse. 
 
 But the general arraignment of all mankind before the tri- 
 bunal of Christ at the last day, and the special judgment he 
 will pass upon them, are more clearly and explicitly exhibited 
 us by Christ himself in his following words : " When the 
 Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with 
 him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty ; and all 
 nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall 
 separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth 
 the sheep from the goats : and he shall set the sheep on his 
 right hand, but the goats on his left. Then shall the king- 
 say to them that shall be on his right hand : ' Come ye blessed 
 of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you 
 from the foundation of the world. ' For I was hungry and 
 you gave me to eat : I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink,' 
 &c. — Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left 
 hand : ' Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire 
 which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was 
 hungry, and you gave me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you 
 gave me not to drink,' tfec. — And these shall go into ever- • 
 lasting punishment : but the just into life everlasting," Matt. 
 XXV. 31, &c. And again, our Saviour speaking on the same 
 subject in another place, says : " As tares are gathered up and 
 burnt with fire, so shall it be at the end of the world. The 
 Son of man shall send his angels, and they shall gather out 
 of his kingdom all scandals, and them that work iniquity : 
 and shall cast them into the furnace of fire : there shall be 
 weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the just shine as 
 the sun, in the kingdom of their Father." Matt, xiii, &c. In 
 fine, the general judgment finishes by 
 
 r^ 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 321 
 
 Cliap. XX, 15. " And whosoever," says our prophet, "was 
 not found written in the book of life, was cast into the pool of 
 fire." All those who have not " by good works made sure 
 their calling and election," 2 Pet. i. 10, and so have not got- 
 ten their names registered in the book of life, are condemned 
 to hell fire for all eternity. 
 
 The general judgment is an event so tremendous and so 
 interesting to mankind, that our Saviour frequently inculcated 
 it in his discourses, as we see in the gospel : and St. John in 
 the Apocalypse, besides the natural description of it above 
 cited, gives us a second allegorical one, with new circum- 
 stances, under two elegant expressive figures of harvest and 
 vintage. Thus paints the admirable and exact pencil of our 
 incomparable prophet: 
 
 Chap. xiv. 14. "And I saw, and behold a white cloud: 
 and upon the cloud one sitting like to the Son of man, having 
 on his head a crown of gold, and in his hand a sharp sickle. 
 
 V. 15. " And another angel came out from the temple, cry- 
 ing with a loud voice to him that sat upon the cloud : Thrust 
 in thy sickle, and reap, because the hour is come to reap, for 
 the harvest of the earth is ripe. 
 
 V. 16. " And he that sat on the cloud, thrust his sickle into 
 the earth, and the earth was reaped. 
 
 V. 17. " And another angel came out of the temple which 
 is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 
 
 V. 18. " And another angel came out from the altar, who 
 had power over fire : and he cried with a loud voice to him 
 that had the sharp sickle, saying : Thrust in thy sharp sic- 
 kle, and gather the clusters of the vineyard of the earth' 
 because the grapes thereof are ripe. 
 
 V. 19. " And the angel thrust in his sharp sickle into the 
 earth, and gathered the vineyard of the earth, and cast into 
 the great press of the wTath of God. 
 
 V. 20. " And the press was trodden without the city, and 
 bloed came out of the press, up to the horses' bridles for a 
 thousand six hundred furlongs." 
 
 The Son of man, v. 14, or Christ, is seen by St. John sit- 
 ting on a white cloud, as we saw him before, bearing on his 
 head a crown of gold for a mark of his sovereign power and 
 dominion over the world, and in his hand a sharp sickle, an 
 instrument for cutting down corn.* Then an angel comes 
 out from the temple in heaven, v. 15, from the Almighty who 
 
 * In Great Britain and Ireland all kinds of grain are called by the gene- 
 ral term Corn.— Am. Ed. 
 
 ♦, 
 
322 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 sits there enthroned, and brings orders to the Son of man to 
 thrust in his sickle and reap ; because the hour is come to reap, 
 for the harvest of the earth is ripe; the number of saints pre-or- 
 dained by the Almighty is completed," and the period allotted 
 to the existence of the human species is run out. Christ, in 
 obedience to his eternal Father, thrusts his sickle into the earth, 
 and the earth is reaped, v. 16; he puts an end to the world, 
 and reaps the harvest of his elect, by withdrawing them from 
 all further labours, and gathering them to himself, as the hus- 
 bandman gathers his corn into his granary. " And he (the 
 Son of man) shall send his angels with a trumpet, and a great 
 voice : and they shall gather together his elect from the four 
 winds, from the farthest part of the heavens to the utmost 
 bounds of them." Matt, xxiv, 31. The harvest being made, 
 follows the vintage. 
 
 An angel comes out, v. 17, from the temple in heaven, as 
 sent by the Almighty, with a sharp sickle in his hand, and 
 presently comes forth, v. 18, from the altar of holocausts 
 where fire was perpetually kept, a second angel who hath 
 power over the fire, and who is commanded, because perpetual 
 fire is to be the punishment of the wicked, to tell the first an- 
 gel to thrust in his sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of 
 the vineyard of the earth : because the grapes thereof are ripe. 
 The angel executes the order, cuts off in an instant the clusters 
 of grapes over the whole earth, v. 19, gathers them together, 
 and casts them into the great press or wine-press of the wrath 
 of God : that is, the angel collects together the vv^hole troop of 
 the reprobate, and casts them, as being ripe for punishment, 
 into the deep pit of hell. This is conformable to what we hear 
 from our Saviour: •' The Son of man," says he, "shall send 
 his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all scan- 
 dals, and them that work iniquity : and shall cast them into 
 the furnace of fire." Matt. xiii. 41, 42. St. John then adds, 
 V. 20, " And the press was trodden without the city, and blood 
 came out of the press, up to the horses' bridles for a thousand 
 six hundred furlongs." Here is a striking allegorical expres- 
 sion of the effusion of God's anger upon the damned, who are 
 represented as trodden in the lake of hell, in the same manner 
 as grapes are trodden in the wine-press : and the person*that 
 thus treats them, we are told, is Christ himself; "he treadeth 
 the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Al- 
 mighty." Apoc. xix. 15. Christ is constituted the avenger 
 of the injuries done to his almighty Father, and is his minis- 
 ter to execute his judgments upon the impious. The allusion 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 323 
 
 of the treading of the wine-press is carried on, and as if it 
 were supposed that the whole heap of the damned lodged in 
 the pit of hell, were there trodden, there would issue out from 
 their bodies a quantity of blood that would cover a space of 
 ground, all around, to the distance of a thousand six hundred 
 furlongs, or two hundred miles, and to such a height, that the 
 blood would reach to the horses' bridles, if waded through. 
 This sea of blood would not, however, affect the city or man- 
 sion of the blessed, which is placed at a great distance. One 
 cannot but shudder at the picture here exposed to us, as it sug- 
 gests the dismal idea of such an immense multitude o/ the 
 human species devoted to the flames of hell without hope of 
 redemption. For, in effect, if a circular space, of four hun- 
 dred miles diameter, be covered with blood to four feet height, 
 which is about the height of a middle-sized horse's bridle from 
 the ground ; and if we suppose fifteen pounds to be, at an 
 average, the quantity of blood in a man ; the density of blood 
 being nearly one 25th greater than that of water, a foot cubic 
 of which weighs a thousand ounces ; we shall find, by making 
 the computation, that the number of men's bodies, requisite to 
 give the mass of blood above mentioned, will be upwards of 
 60,000,000,000,000. 
 
 We have now seen, on one side, the body of the reprobate 
 banished from the presence of Christ, and doomed to their 
 perpetual prison : while on the other side the whole company 
 of saints shine with all the noble qualities belonging to bodies 
 clothed with immortality. They now see the happy moment 
 arrived for the accomplishment of all their expectations. That 
 part of them, who adorned the world before the Saviour of 
 mankind appeared in it, are called into the heavenly mansions 
 with angelical acclamations. They enter, singing in jubila- 
 tion : " Come, let us praise the Lord with joy : let us joyfully 
 sing to God our Saviour. Let us come before his presence with, 
 thanksgiving : and make a joyful noise to him with psalms." 
 Psalm xciv. The other body composed of the Christian 
 saints, are gratified in a peculiar manner with the gracious 
 countenance of Christ, their Lord and Master, who invites 
 them to reign with them in bliss for all eternity. On so happy 
 an Occasion that crowns all their wishes, the heavens resound 
 with the loudest acclamations of joy and exultation : 
 
 Chap. xix. 7. " Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory 
 to him, (God,) for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his 
 wife has prepared herself 
 
 V. 8. "And it was granted to her that she should clothe 
 
324 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 herself with fine linen, glittering- and white. For the fine 
 linen are the justifications of saints. 
 
 V. 9. " And he said to me : Write, blessed are they that are 
 called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." The heavenly 
 choirs thus break out into jubilation and transports of joy, be- 
 cause the time is come for the nuptials of the Lamb, that is, 
 for Christ to espouse his Church, which is the society of his 
 saints, by taking her to himself, by freeing her from all ene- 
 mies, by removing all evils for ever from her, by enriching her 
 with every blessing, and in fine by cherishing her as a spouse 
 does his beloved consort. The wife or bride of the Lamb, 
 that is, the company of Christian saints, appears in a suitable 
 garb for the marriage. She is dressed in fine linen, the symbol 
 of the justifications or the good works and merits of her holy 
 members ; the most pleasing attire in which she can present 
 herself to the Lamb. Her robe is glittering and white, be- 
 cause she has been purified as silver in the furnace, and 
 washed white in the waters of tribulation and persecution. 
 Here then follows the marriage of the Lamb, or the gracious 
 and affectionate union of Christ with his saints. He then in- 
 troduces them into heaven, and presents them, as- his bride, 
 before the throne to his eternal Father. Then may be truly 
 said, Blessed are they, v. 9, that are called to the marriage 
 supper of the Lamb ; the saints are seated in glory, and filled 
 with ineffable and endless bliss, which is the marriage supper, 
 the ultimate term of all. 
 
 After so glorious a conclusion of the marriage feast, St. 
 John proceeds, 
 
 V. 9. " And he saith to me : these words of God are true." 
 The angel of Christ, that is, St. John Baptist, who in the form 
 of an angel attends the apostle during this prophecy, gives tes- 
 timony to what has been just pronounced : Blessed are they 
 that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. The an- 
 gel afhrms that these are the words of God, and consequently 
 true, or will infallibly have their accomplishment at the ap- 
 pointed time, viz. at the last day. 
 
 The apostle supposing this to be the conclusion of all that 
 was to be revealed to him, turns to the angel : 
 
 V. 10. "And I fell down," says he, "before his feet, to adore 
 him. And he saith to me: See thou do it not: I am thy 
 fellow-servant, and of thy brethren who have the testimony of 
 Jesus. Adore God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit \ 
 of prophecy." St. John, in token of gratitude, offers to pay 
 to the angel such homage as is due to a being of his rank, 
 
 * 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 325 
 
 which the angel however refuses to accept, giving for reason, 
 that he is a fellow-servant of the apostle and of the apostle's 
 brethren who bear testimony to Jesus Christ. This speech 
 evidently agrees with the character of the Baptist, but not 
 with that of a real angel. Then St. John is told to adore 
 God, as the author of all prophecy : after which the angel 
 adds : for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, that 
 is, the testimony which you give to Christ by suffering for his 
 holy name and the profession of his doctrine is of equal value 
 with the spirit of prophecy, by which I reveal to you these 
 future events. 
 
 Though the divine incomparable revelation, here imparted 
 to St. John, seemed in this place to terminate, as havinp- car- 
 ried on the history of the Christian Church from its birth to 
 its triumphant state after the resurrection, yet we see further 
 discoveries communicated, and new scenes shown to the apos- 
 tle. He has described to us the wreck and dissolution of the 
 world, the resurrection of mankind, the judgment passed upon 
 them, with the punishment of the wicked and the recompense 
 of the good. The prophet now proceeds to lay before us a 
 series of new pictures, the objects of which are of so uncouth 
 a nature, so different from any thing we are acquainted with, 
 that it is beyond the power of man to explain them to full 
 satisfaction. " The first of these pictures he exhibits to us is 
 the following: 
 
 Chap. xxi. 1. "And I saw, says he, a new heaven and a 
 new earth. For the first heaven, and the first earth was 
 gone, and the sea is now no more." Here is a total change 
 in our system of nature. The earth, that was, the heaven or 
 sky, with its atmosphere, its clouds, &c. had passed away and 
 vanished ; but now a " new heaven and a new earth" appear. 
 The same we are taught by St. Peter ; " We look," says he, 
 "for new heavens and a new earth, according to his promises 
 in which justice dwelleth." 2 Ep. iii. 13. This new heaven 
 and new earth are not of new creation, but the former heaven 
 and earth, purihed by fire, renewed by the hand of C4od, and 
 made much more perfect, "not other heavens and another 
 earth," says St. Jerom, "but the former ones changed into 
 better." In Isai. Ixv. And St. Gregory the Great, speaking 
 of the same, says : " Others are not to be created, but these 
 same renewed." Lib. xvii. Moral, in Job. c. 5. This senti- 
 ment is founded on Scripture. The psalmist represents the 
 heavens and the earth growing old and wearing away like a 
 garment, and then to be changed. " In the beginning, O Lord, 
 28 
 
826 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 thou foundedst the earth : and the heavens are the works of 
 thy hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest : and all 
 of them shall grow old like a garment: and as a vesture thou 
 shalt change them, and they shall be changed." Ps. ci. "26, 
 &c. Solomon also seems to assure us, that every thing shall 
 remain that has been created : " I have learned," says he, 
 " that all the Avorks which God has made, continue for ever." 
 Eccl. iii. 14. Upon which St. Gregory the Great's comment 
 is: " they will pass, as to their present figure or appearance, 
 but as to their substance they will ren)ain for ever." Lib. xvii. 
 Moral, in Job. c. 5. St. Austin tells us, that " by the change 
 of things the world will not entirely perish or be annihilated. 
 Its form or external appearance will be changed, but not its 
 substance." Lib. xx. de Civ. c. 14. And again more amply: 
 " The figure of this world will pass aw^ay by the general con- 
 flagration. — The qualities of the corruptible elements, of 
 which our world is composed, which were proportioned to 
 our corruptible bodies, will be entirely destroyed by the fire : 
 and the substance of those elements will acquire new qualities 
 which will be suitable to our immortal bodies : and thus the 
 world, by becoming more perfect, will be proportioned to the 
 then improved state of the human body." Ibid. c. 16. After 
 the same manner speak St. Justin, St. Basil, and other holy 
 fathers. Hence we may conclude that our new world, as to 
 its substance, will be the same as the old ; but its qualities 
 will be totally altered, so as to be no more pernicious to the 
 human body, offensive to the senses, or obnoxious to unsea- 
 sonable vicissitudes. Every part will then appear bright, glo- 
 rious, pleasing to the senses, and inspiring happiness. They 
 will form as it were a paradise. Whether the superior hea- 
 vens, that contain the sun, moon, and stars, will undergo the 
 same change, is uncertain ; and the writers on this subject are 
 divided in their opinions. 
 
 St. John adds in this place a particularity worthy our no- 
 tice; and the sea is now no more; being perhaps wholly 
 dried up, as to its fluidity, by the fire; and its component solid 
 parts reduced into the same state with the rest of the terrestri- 
 al globe. Thus the sea will be no more, as being of no 
 further use. This entire suppression of the sea may give a 
 reason, why the angel, whose feet were as pillars of fire, 
 when he announced the end of the world, stood with his right 
 foot upon the sea, and his left upon the land, Apoc. x, 1, 2. 
 The right foot denoting a greater power of strength, which is 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 327 
 
 here required to consume water, so much more opposite in 
 its nature to fire than dry land. 
 
 The scene of nature being- now totally changed, and 
 the* new heavens and the new earth being formed, St. John 
 proceeds. 
 
 Chap. xxi. 2. " And I John saw the holy city, the new 
 Jerusalem, coming down out of hea.ven, from God." Here 
 our prophet begins* a new period, which is, the period of 
 eternity. He had hitherto related the history of the Christ- 
 ian church in a regular course from its first rise to its pass- 
 ing away with time itself and with the destruction of the 
 world. He does not however stop here, but eagle-like, with a 
 new flight carries us into the regions of eternity, and shows 
 us a sketch of the glorious state the blessed will enjoy during 
 that endless period. The account of this new period St. John 
 now begins, and for that reason says not simply, I saw, as is 
 usual with him : but I John saw, in the same manner as he 
 began the first part of his history, with, " I John, your 
 brother — was in the spirit on the Lord's day," &c. Apoc. i. 
 9, 10. From what we have seen it appears, that St. John's 
 prophecy is almost confined to the history of the Christian 
 Church, but that he has nevertheless gone bej^ond that bounda- 
 ry, in the instance of relating to us the general judgment of 
 all mankind. In like manner he is now going to describe the 
 heavenly triumphant state of the whole Church of God, that 
 is, of the whole body of the saints. But we must here take 
 notice of the plan which he follows, which is, to divide them 
 into two societies. The first is of the saints that lived in the 
 aaes prior to Christianity, and who worshipped the supreme 
 Deity in the unity of Godhead. The second society compre- 
 hends all Christian saints, who adored God in Trinity of 
 persons. These observations premised, we now return to the 
 text. 
 
 Chap. xxi. 2. "And I John saw," says he, "the holy city 
 the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, from God, 
 prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 
 
 V. 3. " And 1 heard a great voice from the throne, saying: 
 Behold the tabernacle of God Avith men, and he will dwell 
 with them. And they shall be his people: and God himself 
 with them shall be their God. 
 
 V. 4. " And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: 
 and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor 
 sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed 
 away. 
 
828 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 V. 5. " And he that sat on the throne, said : Behold, I 
 make all things new." 
 
 This holy city, this new Jerusalem, that is seen descending 
 from heaven, from God, and appears so bright and shining, 
 like a bride dressed up to meet her husband, is the heaven or 
 the glorious and happy mansions of all the saints that existed 
 before our Saviour, or that lived under the law of nature and 
 the Mosaic: and it is newMn alkision to the former Jerusalem 
 w^hich had been their habitation on earth. This heavenly 
 Jerusalem may therefore be styled the patriarchal and Jewish 
 Jerusalem. We shall see in the sequel the Christian Jeru- 
 salem. This new city of the blessed is seen coming down 
 out of heaven from God, to the new earth where it fixes, to 
 show that now heaven and earth are joined, and that heaven 
 is there wherever God is. To express the extraordinary de- 
 gree of light, with w^hich this heavenly city wall be illumi- 
 nated, Isaiah says: "The light of the moon shall be as the 
 light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven fold, 
 as the light of seven days," xxx. 26. The expressions 
 that follow in verse 3: "behold the tabernacle of God with 
 men, and he will dwell with them," &c. apparently belong to 
 the Jewish and patriarchal ages, and frequently occur in the 
 Old Testament, and particularly in the ancient prophets; 
 which shows that this is the patriarchal and Jewish heavenly 
 Jerusalem. The holy inhabitants of this city w411 be blessed 
 with complete felicity, arising from the presence of God dwell- 
 ing with them, and will experience no more sorrow nor any 
 other misery, v. 4. " God shall Avipe away all tears from 
 their eyes : and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor 
 crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things 
 are passed away. And he that sat on the throne, (God,) said : 
 Behold I make all things new." The prophet Isaiah had 
 said nearly the same things: "The Lord," says he, "shall 
 cast death down headlong for ever : and the Lord God shall 
 wipe away tears from every face," xxv. 8. And, " Behold," 
 says God by the same prophet, " I create new heavens and 
 a new earth : and the former things shall not be in remem- 
 brance, and they shall not come upon the heart. But j^ou 
 should be glad and rejoice for ever in these things, which I 
 create : for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and the 
 people thereof joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy 
 in my people, and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard 
 in her, nor the voice of crying," Ixv. 17, &c. The Almighty 
 makes all things new to these blessed beings, a new Jerusa- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 329 
 
 lem or seat of bliss, a new state of existence quite different 
 from what it had been in this world : all is now happiness, 
 glory, and exultation. — St. John proceeds, 
 
 V. 5. " And he said to me : write, for these words are most 
 faithful and true," Here is the sanction of the Almighty. He 
 gives testimony to the truth of what has been said of the hap- 
 piness and glory of the Jewish and patriarchal Church in 
 heaven, and he professes to be faithful in the execution of 
 these promises. 
 
 V. 6. " And he said to me : It is done. I am Alpha and 
 Omega: the beginning and the end." The Almighty again 
 speaks, and says: It is done; time is past and eternity is be- 
 gun. I am Alpha and Omega : the beginning and the end : 
 I framed the universe, I destroyed it, and renewed it at my 
 pleasure : All mankind received their existence from me, and 
 they ultimately return to me to be rewarded or punished : I 
 called the patriarchs, and I chose the Jews, I was their God, 
 and of all the just of those ages, and I shall be their God and 
 reward for all eternity. The Almighty proceeds, 
 
 V. 6. " To him that thirsteth I will give of the fountain of 
 the water of life, freely. 
 
 V. 7. " He that shall overcome, shall possess these things, 
 and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." 
 
 To those that shall have thirsted, says God, after the water 
 of life, after heavenly beatitude, and endeavoured to deserve 
 it, I will give it ; and my gift will be free or gratuitous, be- 
 cause human merit can never equal the reward which I be- 
 stow, nor is there any human merit withput the concurrence 
 of my grace. 
 
 I shall give them plentifully to drink of this water of life, 
 by replenishing them with that abundance of sweet satisfac- 
 tion, which surpasses all conception. " They shall be inebri- 
 ated with the plenty of thy house," says the psalmist; " and 
 thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy pleasure," 
 Psalm XXXV. 9. And whoever shall have overcome, v. 7, 
 that is, Avhoever shall have courageously fought in the cause 
 of religion, or who shall have preserved himself free from 
 idolatry, injustice, and works of iniquity, and shall have 
 walked in the observance of my precepts, he shall inhabit this 
 city, this mansion of immortality, and shall possess for ever 
 the ineffable blessings of felicity that abound in it, and I will 
 be his God, and he shall be my son. Such will be the happy 
 state of the courageous and zealous servants of God. 
 
 V. 8. " But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abomina- 
 
 2a* 
 
330 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 ble, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and 
 idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the 
 pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second 
 death." . ' 
 
 The account being here concluded of the future state of that 
 part of mankind which preceded the age of Christianity, we 
 are now invited to a nev*^ spectacle. 
 
 V. 9. " And there came one of the seven angels, who had 
 the vials full of the seven last plagues, and spoke with me, 
 saying : Come, and I will show thee the bride, the wife of the 
 Lamb. 
 
 V. 10. " And he took me up in spirit to a great awd high 
 mountain: and he showed me the holy city of Jerusalem* 
 coming dow^n out of heaven from God, 
 
 V. 11. " Having the glory of God: and the light thereof 
 was like to a precious stone, as to the jasper-stone, even as 
 crystal." 
 
 Here w^e are favoured with a sight of the heavenly Jeru- 
 salem, or seat of bliss of the Christian saints. The ground 
 of this distinction of tw^o Jerusalems appears, not only from 
 the prophet's invariable rule of not repeating the same thing, 
 but also from their respective descriptions. The first, which 
 we saw above, agrees with the nature and terms of the cove- 
 nant of God with mankind relatively to the ages before the 
 asra of Christianity ; and this latter Jerusalem is particularly 
 distinguished by being styled the bride and wife of the Lamb, 
 which evidently characterizes the Christian Church. The 
 view of this seat of heavenly beatitude is offered to St. John 
 by one of the seven angels who had the vials full of the seven 
 last plagues, it being fit that the rewards of the just should be 
 proclaimed by the same angels, w^ho before had poured the 
 vials of divine punishments on the Avicked. These vials ap- 
 pertain solely to the Christian Church. St. John is carried 
 in spirit to the top of a great and high mountain, to be ena- 
 bled to see over the high wall into this great city, the holy 
 Jerusalem of the Christian saints, w^hich he sees coming down 
 out of heaven from God, to fix upon the earth. It is filled 
 with the brightness of the glory of God ; and its light is as 
 shining as the lustre of the finest precious stone, and as agree- 
 able to the eye as the view of the most transparent green jas- 
 per sto le. 
 
 V. ^ I. "And it had a wall great and high, having twelve 
 
 In the Greek text, " the great city, the holy Jsrusalera." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 331 
 
 gates, and in the gates twelve ang-els, and names written 
 thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the child- 
 ren of Israel. 
 
 V. 13. " On the east, three gates; and on the north, three 
 gates ; and on the south, three gates ; and on the west, three 
 gates." 
 
 This heavenly city is surrounded with a great and high 
 wall, and has twelve gates, three to the east, as many to the 
 west, to the north, and to the south. They are guarded by 
 twelve angels in the same manner as an angel was appointed 
 to guard the gate of the terrestrial Paradise : and upon each 
 gate is inscribed the name of one of the twelve tribes of the 
 children of Israel, because from them the Christian Church 
 was first formed, and thus they became the leaders or gate of 
 entrance to all succeeding Christians. 
 
 V. 14. " And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, 
 and in them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the 
 Lamb." The wall stands, on twelve foundations raised one 
 upon another, on which are severally inscribed the names of 
 the twelve apostles of the Lamb ; they being, after Christ, the 
 foundations of his Church. 
 
 V. 15. "And he that spoke with me, had a measure of a 
 reed of gold, to measure the city and the gates thereof, and 
 the wall. 
 
 V. 16. " And the city lieth in a four-square, and the length 
 thereof is as great as the breadth : and he measured the city 
 with a golden reed for twelve thousand furlongs : and the 
 length, and the height, and the breadth thereof are equal. 
 
 V. 17. " And he measured the wall thereof an hundred 
 forty-four cubits, the measure of a man which is of an angel." 
 
 The angel who shows and explains these things to St. 
 John, measures with a golden rod the city, its walls and gates, 
 and finds the plan of the city to be an exact square, and its 
 whole circuit to be twelve thousand furlongs, or fifteen hun- 
 dred miles. The wall of each side of this square is therefore, 
 three thousand furlongs, or three hundred and seventy-five 
 miles long ; and what is strange, its height is said to be equal 
 to its length ; so that the wdiole fabric of the city forms an 
 exact cube, the length, breadth, and height of which are, each 
 severally, three hundred and seventy-five miles. What a 
 prodigious city! but, "In my father's house," says our Sa- 
 viour, "there are many mansions." John xiv. 2. Such an 
 extensive habitation, w'e hope, indicates the vast multitude that 
 will be of Christian citizens. The angel likewise measures 
 
332 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 the thickness of the wall, v. 17, and finds it to be an hun- 
 dred and forty-four cubits, or two hundred and sixteen feet ; a 
 cubit being the measure from the elbow to the extremity of 
 the hand of an ordinary man, or a foot and a half nearly, 
 which is the measure used by the angel. 
 
 V. 18. "And the building of the wall thereof was of jas- 
 per-stone : but the city itself pure gold, like to clear glass." 
 St. John having described the dimensions of this great city, 
 the basis of which being a square and the structure a cube, 
 form the most elegant and most perfect figure of an edifice ; 
 he now proceeds to give us an account of the materials of 
 w^hich the whole is built, which are the richest that can be 
 imagined. The wall is built of fine green jasper-stone, the 
 colour best suited to the eye. The city itself, by which Ave 
 suppose are meant the buildings of the city, is constructed 
 wholly of pure gold as transparent as crystal. 
 
 V. 19. "And the foundations of the wall of the city, were 
 adorned with all manner of precious stones. The first foun- 
 dation was jasper : the second, sapphire : the third, a chalce- 
 dony : the fourth, an emerald : 
 
 V. 20. " The fifth, sardonyx : the sixth, sardius : the se- 
 venth, chrysolite : the eighth, beryl : the ninth, a topaz : the 
 tenth, a chrysoprasus : the eleventh, a jacinth: the tw^elfth, an 
 amethyst." The twelve foundations that support the wall of 
 the city, are adorned with the most shining and most beauti- 
 ful precious stones, which are here particularly specified: As 
 the names of the twelve apostles are inscribed upon them, v. 
 14, perhaps the qualities of each stone bear some relation to 
 the peculiar endowments of the apostle whose name is upon 
 it ; but this relation we cannot pretend to discover, 
 
 V. 21. "And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, one to 
 each : and every several gate Avas of one several pearl. And 
 the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent 
 glass." The twelve gates of the city in their jambs and ex- 
 ternal structure and decorations are made of so many beau 
 tiful pearls, a pearl for each gate : and the door of each gate 
 is formed of one single pearl. And the streets and whole area 
 of the city are paved with pure gold, transparent as chrystal. 
 What can be more rich, splendid, or sumptuous? 
 
 V. 22. " And I saw no temple therein. For the Lord God 
 Almighty is the temple thereof, and the Lamb. 
 
 V. 23. " And the city has no need of the sun, nor of the 
 moon, to shine in it. For the glory of God hath enlightened 
 it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof" This heavenly city 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 333 
 
 wants no temple : Almighty God and the Lamb residmg in it 
 supply the place of a temple : they are always present to the 
 blessed inhabitants, who thus see their God and Saviour face 
 to face, and offer their homage immediately to them. Nor is 
 there any occasion for the light of the sun or moon: the city is al- 
 ways illuminated by the resplendent glory and brightness of the 
 Deity which serve in the place of the sun, and the Lamb him- 
 self is the great luminary of it, in lieu of the moon. The same 
 glorious perfections of this city are also painted to us in the 
 same colours by the prophet Isaiah ; " Thou shalt no more 
 have the sun for thy light by day, neither shall the brightness 
 of the moon enlighten thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee 
 for an everlasting light, and thy God for thy glory," Ix. 19. 
 
 V. 24. " And the nations* shall walk in the light of it: and 
 the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honour into 
 it." The citizens, who shall enjoy these blessings will be se- 
 lected from all the nations that have espoused the Christian 
 law. And the kings of the earth who have truly served Christ, 
 the King of kings, shall there offer their homage to the Al- 
 mighty and to the Lamb, and lay their crowns and honours 
 at the foot of the throne, 
 
 V. 25. " And the gates thereof shall not be shut by day : 
 for there shall be no night there. 
 
 V. 26. "And they shall bring the glory and honour of the 
 nations into it." The gates of the city will always be open, 
 as it can suffer no danger from enemies, nor any disturbance. 
 Nor will there be ever the least obscurity or darkness, its 
 light, which proceeds from God and the Lamb, remaining al- 
 ways equally intense and inextinguishable. Some of all ranks 
 and conditions, out of all the nations of the earth, will there 
 be found offering to the supreme Deity their glory and honour, 
 that is, their riches, their dignities, or whatever blessings they 
 had been possessed of in life. The same glorious things we 
 hear from the mouth of that ancient prophet, who always spoke 
 with rapture of Christ and his kingdom : " Thy gates shall 
 be open 'continually : they shall not be shut day nor night, that 
 the strength of the Gentiles may be brought to thee, and their 
 kings may be brought." Isaiah Ix. 11. 
 
 V. 27. " There shall not enter into it any thing defiled, or 
 that worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they that are 
 written in the book of life of the Lamb." Such is the holi- 
 ness of the place, that nothing defiled, unclean, nothing stain- 
 
 • In the Greek text, " the nations of those that are saved." 
 
334 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 ed with the abomination of idolatry, injustice, lying or impos- 
 ture, or any other species of iniquity, can enter there. It is a 
 mansion of bliss for those only whose names are written in 
 the book of life of the Lamb, that is, for those only who 
 have been called and chosen by the Lamb, and whom he has 
 registered in his book. Such expressions repeatedly prove 
 that the city here described is the Christian Jerusalem. 
 
 Chap. xxii. 1. " And he showed me a river of water of life, 
 clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of 
 the Lamb. 
 
 V. 2. "In the midst of the street thereof, and on both sides 
 of the river, was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding 
 its fruits every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the 
 healinof of the nations." 
 
 Through this celestial abode runs a river of water of life, 
 clear as crystal, which rises from the foot of the throne of God 
 and the Lamb. On the banks of this river, as it runs through 
 the middle of the streets, grows the tree of life, bearing tw^elve 
 different sorts of fruit which ripen every month; the food of 
 which nourishes the inhabitants, preserves their bodies from 
 all tendency to corruption, and keeps them in full vigour and 
 strength without the least impair for all eternity. The leaves 
 even have the virtue of healing, or of securing the body against 
 the least attack of sickness or disease. An emblem of this 
 was the tree of life in Paradise. With such fruit and such 
 water the heavenly citizens eat and drink immortality. 
 
 V. 3. "And there shall be no curse any more: but the 
 throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants 
 shall serve him. 
 
 V. 4. " And they shall see his face: and his name shall be 
 on their foreheads." In this blissful habitation there will be 
 no curse, there will be no danger of experiencing the anger of 
 God or his punishments. He and the Lamb will fix their 
 throne in the midst of them, to gratify them forever with their 
 amiable presence : while they with boundless affection will 
 offer their praise and thanksgiving. Thus will the saints 
 see their God face to face, and enjoy the possession of him 
 with expressible and never-ceasing joy. And they will 
 bear on their foreheads his name, that is, the names of God 
 and the Lamb expressed in one name, as both are one God : 
 and thus they will carry an honourable and distinctive mark 
 of their bavin 2f been the devoted servants of God and the 
 Lamb. — We may 9bserve, that in this and other places of the 
 Apocalypse, where St. John names together God and the Lamb, 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 835 
 
 he always proceeds to speak of them in the singular number, 
 to show the unity of Godhead. 
 
 V. 5. " And night shall be no more : and they shall not 
 need the light of the lamp, nor the light of the sun, because 
 the Lord God shall enlighten them, and they shall reign for 
 ever and ever." We saw above, xxi. 23 and 25, nearly the 
 same things applied to the city, which are here promised to 
 the inhabitants, who will never more be troubled with the vi- 
 cissitude of day and night, but will be cheered with perpetual 
 day. Nor will they want a sun, a lamp, or any other created 
 light ; because the Almighty himself will enlighten them with 
 the glory and lustre of his divinity, and they will reign with 
 him in an ocean of happiness for ever and ever. 
 
 Thus we have seen a full description of the heavenly Jeru- 
 salem, that is, of the triumphant state of the Christian Church, 
 which, when once begun, will last for evermore. The saints 
 here will be filled with all those gratifications that can 
 soothe and make happy the soul and body. Both these com- 
 ponent parts of the human individual, as they concurred to 
 advance the glory of God in the world, so they will have both 
 their respective objects of delight and happiness. But it must 
 here be observed that, though our explication has been most 
 literal, we cannot pretend to determine how far the prophet's 
 glorious description of the heavenly city is to be understood in 
 the literal, how far in the allegorical sense. We are certain 
 that the happiness of the saints will be complete, but it is not 
 allowed to man to investigate the particulars of that future 
 state ; for " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it 
 entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared 
 
 for them that love him." 1 Cor. ii. 9. To return to the 
 
 text, St. John says : 
 
 V. 6. *' And he said to me : " These words are most faith- 
 ful and true." Here is the seal put to the whole preceding 
 account of the heavenly Jerusalem : The angel gives testi- 
 mony that it is most faithful and true, or that it will certainly 
 take place, as God's \A'ord and promise cannot fail. This 
 conclusion is always subjoined to those parts of the prophecy 
 which treat of the ultimate state of man, namelj% a happy 
 eternity. Then is added, 
 
 V. 6. " And the Lord God of the spirits of the prophets 
 sent his ang-el to show his servants the things which must be 
 done shortly." That is, God who inspires the prophets or is 
 the author of all prophecy, has vouchsafed to send his angel, 
 St. John the Baptist, to signify the preceding prophecy of the 
 
336 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Apocalypse to his servants, agreeably to what was notified in 
 the very beginning of it, ch. i. 1. Here,then seems to terminate 
 the prophetical history of the Christian Church We have 
 seen her described, in her rise, in her progress, and in the 
 principal events that related to her. The whole course of her 
 existence and transactions was aptly divided into seven ages, 
 the last of which shows her triumphing in heaven, and 
 crowned with immortal glory. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CONCLUSION OF THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 The remaining part of the Apocalypse contains several 
 useful admonitions which claim our attention, and with them 
 the book concludes. 
 
 Apoc. xxii. 7. " Behold I come quickly. Blessed is he 
 that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book." Here 
 Christ himself speaks : Behold I come quickly, to execute the 
 things delivered in this prophecy: therefore blessed is he who 
 keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book, or who attends 
 to what is contained in this book, and takes warning and in 
 struction from the important events therein described. The 
 same admonition had been given at the beginning, i. 3 ; a 
 repeated argument of the extraordinary usefulness of this book. 
 
 V. 8. " And I John, who have heard and seen these things." 
 Here St. John speaks : I John am the person that heard and 
 saw all these things : by which declaration he gives testimony 
 of having received from the angel the whole preceding pro- 
 phecy. And then he proceeds, 
 
 V. 8. " And after I had heard and seen, I fell down to 
 adore before the feet of the angel, who showed me these 
 things: 
 
 V. 9. " And he said to me : See thou do not : for I am thy 
 fello vv -servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them 
 that keep the words of the prophecy of this book. Adore 
 God." St. John offers, as he had done before, xix. 10, his 
 homage of gratitude to the angel, St. John Baptist, who had 
 "shown him these things." The angel refuses it, and tells 
 him to offpr his adoration and thanks to God, who is the au- 
 
 ■* 
 
HISTORY OF THE CnRISTIAN CHURCH. 837 
 
 tlior and giver of this prophecy. The angel furthermore 
 plainly insinuates, that he has no title to the apostle's thanks, 
 nor is he of a nature superior to the apostle : for he tells him, 
 he is his fellow-servant, having- been formerly so on earth ; 
 and fellow-servant of his brethren the prophets, that is, of the 
 ministers of Christ's Church : and fellow-servant of them 
 that keep the words of the prophecy of this book, that is, of 
 all the faithful Christians from the beginning of Christ's 
 Church to the end of time. 
 
 V. 10. "And he saith to me: Seal not the words of the 
 prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand." The angel, 
 or perhaps Christ, says to St. John : Seal not the words of 
 this prophecy of the book ; leave the book open, that every 
 one may read it, and be informed of the contents ; because 
 the time is at hand for their accomplishment to begin, or 
 which is already begun, and which will continue successive- 
 ly, till the whole be completed. 
 
 V. 1 1, " He that hurteth, let him hurt still : and he that is 
 jfilthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is just, let him be 
 justified still: and he that is holy, let him be sanctified still." 
 That is, the unjust and the wicked, who are obstinately so, 
 may make haste, says Christ, to complete their injustice and 
 iniquity: and the just and the holy should endeavour to 
 hasten their steps in sanctifying and perfecting themselves 
 more ; for, 
 
 V. 12. "Behold I come quickly; and my reward is with 
 me, to render to every man according to his works." Behold, 
 I shall soon summon them by the writ of death, to appear be- 
 fore me, says Christ, and shall reward these according to 
 their merits ; and those, the impious, I shall punish in the ri- 
 gour of justice, according to the measure of their iniquity. 
 Let us then be prepared for the summons. 
 
 V. 13. "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the 
 beginning and the end." Christ here attributes to himself the 
 same divine qualities, which were assumed by Almighty God. 
 Chap. xxi. 6. I am, says Christ, the beginning and the end. 
 I existed from all eternity, and shall exist to all eternity. I 
 am the creator of the universe, the conservator of it, and shall 
 put an end to it. " I am the first and the last," as he had be- 
 fore said, Chap. i. 17. I am prior to all mankind, they die 
 and return to dust, but I am living for ever and ever. I am 
 the first founder of the new Church on earth, and I shall be 
 the last and eternal reward of the same. 
 
 V. 14. "Blessed are they, that wash their robes in the 
 29 
 
$88 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 blood of the Lamb:* that they may have a right to the tree 
 of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city, 
 
 V. 15. "Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and unchaste, 
 and murderers, and servers of idols, and every one that loveth 
 and maketh a lie." Christ continues to speak, and pronounces 
 blessed those Christians, that wash their robes in the blood of 
 the Lamb by suffering martyrdom, or by preserving them- 
 selves clean from the filth of sin, and by the observance of his 
 commands. These will be entitled to be admitted through 
 the gates into the city, that is, into the mansions of the Christ- 
 ian heavenly Jerusalem ; where they will have a right to the 
 tree of life, to eat the fruit of immortality. But all those 
 others will be excluded from this heavenly city, who, after the 
 nature of snarling dogs, calumniate and slander their neigh- 
 bour ; also, all sorcerers, unchaste, murderers, idolaters, and 
 those that love and make lies, or impostors and teachers of 
 false doctrine. 
 
 V. 16. " I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you these 
 things in the churches." Jesus Christ here speaks and says : 
 I have sent my angel, John the Baptist, to deliver to you, John 
 the Apostle, this my revelation, and to give testimony to it ; 
 that you may transmit it in an authentic manner to the seven 
 churches of Asia, and they to others. — Christ continues, 
 
 V. 16. "I am the root and stock of David, the bright and 
 morning star." I am the root and stock or stem that spring 
 from David : I am that son of David, of whom it was said : 
 " The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his 
 father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever, and 
 of his kingdom there shall be no end." Luke i. 32, 33. To 
 me then were decreed all power and dominion : and from me 
 flow the divine blessings to all nations, both of redemption 
 and future immortality. These are my rights. I am also 
 the bright and morning star ; the true morning star that shines 
 so bright above all other stars, and that " enlighteneth every 
 man that comes into the world." John i. 9. " I am that star, 
 the Orient, that enlighteneth them who sit in darkness, and in 
 the shadow of death." Luke i. 78, 79. I am the bright morn- 
 ing star, that guides mankind to the gate of heaven. " I am 
 the way, the truth, and the life." John xiv. 6. — Christ con- 
 tinues, 
 
 Y. 17. "And the spirit and the bride say: Come. Ana 
 he that heareth, let him say : Come. And he that thirsteth, 
 
   In the GrG«k, " that observes his commandments." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 339 
 
 let him come : and he that will, let him take the water of life 
 freely." The Spirit or Holy Ghost, wlio directs the Church, 
 and the bride of Christ or the Church herself, cry to me, say- 
 ing: Come, hasten the general judgment, put an end to the 
 labours of your servants, and admit them into the heavenly 
 city. Whoever heareth this cry of the holy Spirit and the 
 Church, let him also say: Come. Let every one join in the 
 same request, because it is for the ultimate and greatest bless- 
 ing. And if any one thirsteth after the water of life, after the 
 glory which I give, let him come and meet me, let him hasten 
 to me in fervour and sanctity. And he that will, let him take 
 the water of life freely ; he that desires to drink of the water of 
 life, and will take the pains to come at it, may have it freely 
 or gratis, without money, without any other price but faith 
 and good works, both which proceed from the gratuitous gift 
 of my grace : for " without me you can do nothing." John xv. 
 5 : when I crown your merits, I crown my own gifts. — The 
 same invitation to eternal beatitude, which alone will satisfy 
 all our desires. Almighty God formerly gave by his prophet 
 Isaiah : " All you that thirst, come to the waters : and you 
 that have no money, make haste, buy, and eat : come ye, buy 
 wine and milk, without money, and without any price," Iv, 1. 
 
 V. 18. "For I testify to every one that heareth the words 
 of the prophecy of this book: If any man shall add to these 
 things, God shall add unto him the plagues written in this 
 book. 
 
 V. 19. " And if any man shall take away from the w^ords of 
 the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of 
 the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from these things 
 that are written in this book." Christ had said just before, 
 V. 16, that he had sent his angel to give testimony to his pro- 
 phecy ; and therefore he here denounces a severe punishment 
 upon all those, who shall presume to add any thing to, or de- 
 tract from, this prophecy of the Apocalypse. Hence it ap- 
 pears, with what respect and caution it ought to be read and 
 handled. And indeed whoever has studied the Apocalypse 
 with attention, must have observed the precision of it to be 
 such, that a word cannot be added or retrenched without dan- 
 ger of derogating from the sense. 
 
 V. 20. " He that gives testimony of these things, saith : 
 Surely, I come quickly : Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." Christ 
 here gives testimony of these things, that is, he bears wit- 
 ness and gives his sanction to all that is written in this pro- 
 phecy: and then concluding, proclaims for the third time: 
 
340 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Surely, I come quickly : I shall certainly come soon, for good 
 and all, to judge the whole body of mankind at the last day, 
 and to recompense the just, and punish the wicked. St. John 
 answers his divine master : Be it so, O Lord Jesus : come 
 and grant us, your servants, the favour of enjoying you foi 
 all eternity. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 REFLECTIONS ON THE SEVEN AGES OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 CHURCH. 
 
 Thus have we taken a view of the whole prophetic history 
 of the Apocalypse. We have travelled through the whole 
 tract of duration, which reaches from the rise of Christianity 
 to the fixed state of eternity after the close of all time. We 
 have seen the most remarkable transactions, that take place 
 in the Christian Church during that Avhole period. And 
 thus we are arrived at last to enjoy a full view of the plan of 
 economy which Christ, the supreme governor, observes in the 
 administration of his Church. This plan appears truly grand 
 and admirable. It consists of three parts, contained under 
 the seals, the trumpets, and the vials. The trumpets exhibit 
 to us the painful trials he thinks fit to subject his people to. 
 The vials describe the punishments Avhich he inflicts on their 
 enemies. The nature therefore of both these parts of his 
 conduct towards his Church is sufficiently clear : but that of 
 the seals, it must be allowed, is not so obvious, and may re- 
 quire some elucidation. In the prelude to the seals the Lamb 
 was introduced, all power was given him, the period of his 
 sovereignty was opened, and his reign commenced. This clue 
 leads us to the understanding of the general tendency of the 
 seals. In them we see Christ proceed to the work of forming 
 and establishing his kingdom or Church, which he carries on 
 through all ages. But as every prince, who undertakes to 
 conquer to himself a new kingdom, must necessarily encoun- 
 ter many enemies and obstacles ; so here we see enemies rise 
 up against Christ, the prince of the Christian kingdom, and 
 oppose his undertaking. Thus, in the first seal, Christ sets 
 out upon his conquests to form his kingdom upon earth. The 
 second seal shows us the rise of a body of heretics, the Arians, 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 341 
 
 Christ's own subjects, who rebel against him, and attempt to 
 wrest from him part of his kingdom. The third seal opens 
 to us the scene of the subversion of pagan Rome with its em- 
 pire, which is the triumph of Christ over that mighty idola- 
 trous power, and the establishment of his kingdom in its place. 
 In the fourth seal we see again the rise of another powerful 
 enemy of Christ, namely, the Mahometan or Antichristian 
 empire, which deprives him of some part of his dominions 
 for a time. The fifth seal exhibits to us the martyrs of the 
 fifth age, who are told that vengeance will in due time be taken 
 on their persecutors, for the spilling of their blood : and in the 
 mean time they are clothed with the robe of beatitude. This 
 shows Christ's economy with regard to these his faithful and 
 valiant soldiers. Under the sixth seal we see dreadful prodi- 
 gies and signs, and the heavens and the earth in confusion. 
 By these, Christ, the bountiful King, alarms the impious and 
 rebellious part of his people, and tries by terror to bring them 
 back to their allegiance and duty, and to reform them into 
 good subjects, before he comes to judge them. The seventh 
 seal opens the scene, in which he completes his work by 
 taking possession of the whole earth, and putting an end to 
 all other power. In consequence of this he is acknowledged 
 universal Lord and Master of the world, and receives the ap- 
 plauses and acclamations of the heavenly choirs, who sing: 
 " The kingdom of this world is become our Lord's and his 
 Christ's, and he shall reign for ever and ever." Apoc. xi. 15. 
 Thus then we see described in the seals the series of Christ's 
 operations for the formation and establishment of that king- 
 dom which was promised him upon earth. " I beheld," says 
 Daniel, " and lo one like the Son of man came with the clouds 
 of heaven, and he came'even to the Ancient of days : and they 
 presented him before him. And he gave him power, and 
 glory, and a kingdom: and all people, tribes, and tongues, 
 shall serve him : his power is an everlasting power, that shall 
 not be taken away: and his kingdom, that shall not be de- 
 stroyed," vii, 13, 14. Such in fine is the abstract of the his- 
 tory, that is written in detail in the book sealed with seven 
 seals, where this new powerful King, the Son of man, had 
 laid down before hand the whole plan of the work he design- 
 ed to carry on during all future ages. 
 
 Here it may bo further proper to remark, that the prophe- 
 cies contained under the seals are delivered in natural histori- 
 cal language ; whereas those under the trumpets and vials are 
 expressed in allegories : the reason of which seems to be, that 
 29* 
 
342 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH^ 
 
 as the seals exhibit to us the abstract of a history contained 
 in the book sealed with seven seals, this abstract must be sup- 
 posed to be written in the same natural historical style as the 
 full history itself The style of the trumpets is allegorical, 
 because, as the trumpets sound alarms, troubles, and persecu- 
 tions to the Church, a previo.us general notion of them would 
 be useful and at the same time sufficient, and such is convey- 
 ed to us by obscure allegory : but a clear and minute detail of 
 those calamities would naturally terrify and make too much 
 impression upon the mind. Likewise, if the punishments an- 
 nounced by the vials were clearly and fully expressed, such 
 might be the malice and perversity of some among the guilty 
 part of mankind, as to attempt to frustrate the decrees of God 
 and oppose their execution. Such punishments therefore are 
 purposely covered with the veil of allegory, the meaning of 
 which remains more or less uncertain. 
 
 In fine such a compass of knowledge, imparted to us through 
 the channel of the Apocalypse, ought to inspire us with the 
 warmest sense of gratitude for so signal a favour, and should 
 be a powerful motive for making good use of it. We see laid 
 open to us the course of the dispensations of God towards man ; 
 and what subject can furnish us with more useful instructions, 
 for admiring the bounty of this sovereign administrator, for 
 contemplating his wisdom, and dreading his justice? To pro- 
 mote this sort of consideration, we shall here subjoin a few 
 reflections upon each of the seven ages, to which we recom- 
 mend the reader to add his own, 
 
 I. 
 
 In the first age of the Christian Church, which compre- 
 hended little more than the space of three hundred years, we 
 saw the gospel preached to the greatest part of the known 
 world, notwithstanding all the opposition that earth and hell 
 could contrive against it. The divine power shone in its full 
 lustre, and confounded all the enemies of religion. Miracles 
 were so frequent, that every day was distinguished by some 
 illustrious marks of supernatural interposition. The meridi- 
 an sun could not appear clearer and brighter than the divine 
 power operating in favour of the new promulgated doctrine. 
 In this manner Christ builded his Church on such a firm 
 foundation as nothing could ever shake, and he established 
 his religion by such incontestable proofs as no pretences could 
 invalidate. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCfl. 343 
 
 But the sanction of the Christian religion was not only di- 
 vine and irrefragable, its intluence on the minds of its profes- 
 sors was altogether astonishing. It inspired them with such, 
 firmness of fortitude, that they were ready on all occasions to 
 shed their blood in defence of it. When put to the trial, they 
 resigned all temporal advantages, they were deaf to all entrea- 
 ties and offers, they viewed without emotion the racks and cru- 
 dest torments, and bowed down their heads with joy to the ex- 
 ecutioner. Such was the behaviour of not a few only, but of 
 prodigious numbers. As Adam had first yielded to sin, through 
 want of courage, and infinite calamity had fallen upon all his 
 posterity, it would seem that Almighty God designed that 
 fault should be retrieved, as far as possible to human nature, 
 by the eminent fortitude of his new servants, the Christians; 
 v/hom for that purpose he made pass through most severe per- 
 secutions, the acutest tortures, and death itself in its most dread- 
 ful shapes. Thus the earth was bathed with Christian blood, 
 but the souls of the generous victims went to share immortal 
 glory and power with the Lamb : " And 1 saw seats," says 
 St. John, " and they sat upon them, and judgment was given 
 unto them, and the souls of them that were beheaded for the 
 testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God. — And they lived 
 and reigned with Christ a thousand years." Apoc. xx. 4. The 
 spirit of the Christian doctrine was no less manifest in those 
 that were left on the stage of life. They appeared by the 
 sanctity of their conduct to form a new community entirely 
 different from the rest of mankind, and they practised such 
 transcendent virtues as before were deemed impossible. Some 
 entered into courses of the severest austerities, of mortifica- 
 tion and fastinof. Others retired into remote solitudes, conse- 
 crating their whole time to God, with little or no allowance 
 to nature ; spending days, weeks, and years, in contemplating 
 the perfections of the Supreme Being, in meditating on his 
 bountiful dispensations to mankind, and in aspiring after that 
 state of bliss which they hoped to succeed to after this mortal 
 life. Thus the infancy of the Church was decorated with all 
 the hiw^hest ornaments of reliq-ion. This was the aa^e of Chris- 
 tian perfection : and Christ set up the most eminent models of 
 all the virtues human nature is capable of, that he might make 
 appear to the world the power of his grace, the excellence of 
 his doctrine, and that all future ages might have before their 
 eyes perfect examples for their encouragement and imitation. 
 
 On another hand it is necessary to observe, that if such be 
 the all wise economy of the Almighty to put the fidelity of 
 
o4'4 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 many of his servants to the test, by conducting them throngfe 
 the fiery trials of persecution, he nevertheless views with de- 
 testation the hands that inflict those severities on them. The 
 persecutions crown the faith and fortitude of the sufferers. 
 But the persecutors are guilty of malice and cruelty, and in 
 consequence draw the divine vengeance upon them. And 
 thus it happened to the heathen Roman emperors and people, 
 who for spilling the Christian blood, felt, as we have seen, the 
 weight of God's judgments. Many examples likewise of this 
 sort in prior ages are recorded in holy writ. Among others, 
 Sennacherib, the Assyrian king ; Nabuchodonosor the Baby- 
 lonian, and Antiochus the Syrian, were punished by the hand 
 of God for their malicious attempts, and inhumanities, against 
 his people, the Jews. The course of his providence we see is 
 the same under the Christian dispensation. For from the 
 Apocalypse we learn, that seven vials of the wrath of God are 
 poured out for the punishment of the enemies of the Christian 
 Church. Ought not this reflection be sufficient to deter the 
 evil-minded from directing their malice and power against the 
 people of that community ? 
 
 11. 
 
 In the second age of the Church, which begins about toe 
 year 320, and contains nearly 100 years, we see rise up a 
 scene of a different kind. This age may be styled the age of 
 heresy. In the preceding period we saw a strenuous contest 
 between religion and idolatry, between Christianity and pa- 
 ganism, or as one may say, between the Almighty and Satan, 
 which should claim the worship of mankind. The Almighty 
 having vanquished his enemy, and exploded idolatry by 
 the preaching of the Christian religion, and establishing 
 the adoration of the one supreme Deity; Satan, to pursue his 
 unrelenting malice, shifts his ground, and reneW'S his strata- 
 gems, still to defraud the Almighty of his right, and to rob 
 him, if possible, of his favourite creature man. For that pur- 
 pose this infernal fiend, by his wiles, prevails upon an ambi- 
 tious man, to renounce his alleofiance to Christ and submis- 
 sion to Christ's Church. Arius is inspired by that spirit of 
 falsehood with sentiments wholly incompatible with the di- 
 vine nature and perfections of the Son of God, and by divulg- 
 ing those sentiments he sows the seeds of rebellion and here- 
 sy. Though some heretical principles had been set forth 
 in the preceding age, yet they had been confined to narrow 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 345 
 
 limits of place, and to a small number of abettors: but now 
 they show themselves with open effrontery, they seize whole 
 cities, provinces and kingdoms. They are espoused by kings, 
 emperors, and bishops. The malignant spirit of heresy 
 raises dissension and animosity among the Christians, the 
 Church is laid waste by her own children, and the seamless 
 garment of Christ is torn in pieces. The flame of division 
 blazes so high, that Christians do not fear to seize the sword 
 and destroy one another. And what is the utmost misfor* 
 tune, great numbers are seduced into the snare of eternal per- 
 dition. For, as no one escaped perishing in the deluge, who 
 was not in Noah's ark, as St. Cyprian remarks, lib. de Unit 
 Eccl. so no one can hope to be of the company of the saints, 
 who separates himself from the unity of the Church. 
 
 The rise of Arianism is therefore the second general alarm 
 which Christ sounds to his Church, to try the fidelity of his 
 people, and to give occasion of meriting a reward to those 
 who remain stanch in their faith, and continue firm in fight- 
 ing under his standard. The crown of immortal glory and 
 happiness is of too high a value to be wholly a gratuitous gift. 
 We must purchase it by labour, by suffering, by maintaining 
 our fortitude and constancy in the different trials sent us by 
 Providence. No one will be crowned but he that has fought 
 well. 
 
 If on one hand Christ is fliithful to his promises in reward- 
 ing his servants, on the other those escape not his indigna- 
 tion, whether heretics or idolaters, that seduce his people by 
 false doctrine, or lay waste his fold by the sword of persecu- 
 tion. Thus the Arians, the strongest body of heretics that 
 ever assaulted the Church, sunk in proportion to their former 
 power, even so as to vanish from the face of the earth. In a 
 period of about 340 years from their first appearance, they 
 were no more to be found. This and the other examples of 
 divine judgments, which the vials discover to us, make a con- 
 v-incing proof, that no nation, no collective body of people ever 
 rebel against the Church, or persecute it with impunity. The 
 divine vindictive hand in due time overtakes them, and for- 
 ces them to acknowledge from their own sad experience, that 
 Christ is the faithful protector of his Church, and the certain 
 scourge of her enemies. 
 
 III. 
 
 The third age, which commences about the year 406, and 
 contains 220 years nearly, is remarkable for the judgments of 
 
346 HlSTOftY of THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 
 
 God upon ancient Rome and the western empire. The Al- 
 mighty, who is the Creator of the universe and sole Lord of 
 all, necessarily claims all homage from his creatures, nor can 
 he suffer that greatest of all impieties, the transferring to any 
 other being, the honour that is due to himself alone. Rome 
 had Sacrilegiously employed its great power for the support 
 of idolatry ; it had also opposed with its Avhole might the 
 establishment of Christ's kingdom, and had most inhumanly 
 persecuted his servants, and shed the innocent blood of an 
 infinite number of them. The Almighty, after such enor- 
 mous provocations, at length rises up in his wrath, and pours 
 down the whole torrent of it upon that guilty empire. He 
 had before, as we have seen, struck those emperors, who had 
 notoriously pursued the same impious and audacious courses. 
 But now the sovereign punisher of iniquity sends out against 
 the whole empire of Rome a multitude of barbarous people, 
 who pour in upon it like fierce tigers, tear it to pieces, destroy 
 its inhabitants, and demolish its cities, with Rome itself But 
 why should we wonder at this striking instance of divine 
 vengeance, while we see the same plan of economy folloAved 
 in the preceding ages ? Do we not read in the written word 
 of God, that a similar fate had attended the empires and cities 
 of Ninive and Babylon ? Were not Tyre and Sidon devoted 
 in the same manner to destruction? Was not the opulent 
 and populous kingdom of Egypt overturned and enslaved 1 
 These kingdoms, cities, and several others, owed their ruin to 
 an angry God, who would suffer no longer their pride, idol- 
 atry and wickedness. " Behold the .eyes of the Lord God 
 are upon the sinful kingdom, and 1 will destroy it from the 
 ^ face of the earth." Amos ix. 8. Nay even, he would not spare 
 his chosen land and beloved seat of Jerusalem. When his 
 people had renounced their fidelity to him, and adopted strange 
 gods in his place, he sent upon them a scourge, Nabuchodo- 
 nosor, the Babylonian king who ravaged the country, level- 
 led the city and temple with the ground, destroyed by famine, 
 fire and sword, a great part of the inhabitants, and the rest he 
 carried into capiivity. When the Jews, by their repentance, 
 had recovered their favour with God, and in consequence their 
 land and city, we see again, upon their new rebellion, and 
 tlie most grievous of all iniquities, in putting to death their 
 Messiah and Saviour, the wrath of God inflamed to such a 
 degree, as to devote to destruction a prodigious multitude of 
 them by the severest scourges that could be inflicted on man- 
 kind. Their city was also entirely demolished, and the re- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 347 
 
 mainder of the people expelled from their country, dispersed 
 over the whole face of the earth, exposed as objects of de- 
 rision to the rest of mankind, and continue to this day a last- 
 ins" monument of the divine indio^nation. 
 
 That the same course of divine providence in punishing 
 wicked nations is still pursued, we learn clearly from the 
 Apocalypse. Hence then appears, how necessary is the prin- 
 ciple of the fear of God, and how essential it is to man to re- 
 vere the sovereign Deity and respect his commands. Should 
 not these considerations impress a check on the proceedings 
 of princes in the administration of their governments? If 
 the sovereign King of heaven and earth is not invited to share 
 in their councils, but if politic views direct solely their steps 
 without regard to equity, or if ambition, resentment, or any 
 other passion, wholly sways their conduct, what injustices, 
 what crimes, may not be the result, in the guilt of which their 
 whole states become generally involved? Then what is the 
 consequence? Such national deviation from the Law of God, 
 certainly provokes the divine vengeance, as appears from what 
 has been said, and is the cause of the dreadful disasters that 
 sooner or later befall those states, and often terminate in their 
 utter ruin. How much would it be the interest of princes to 
 attend to the admonition of the great and wise king David ! 
 *'And now, O ye kings, understand: receive instruction, you 
 that judge the earth. Serve ye the Lord with fear, and re- 
 joice unto him with trembling. Embrace discipline, lest the 
 Lord become angry." Psalm ii. 10, &c. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The fourth Age comprehends a period of nine centuries, 
 from about the year 620 to 1520. But if the length of this 
 exceeds that of the preceding, we may observe, it is compen- 
 sated by the importance of three different successive events. 
 The rise of Mahomet and the Mahometan empire distin- 
 guishes the first part of this period. We are astonished at 
 the success of that great impostor, and at the progress his 
 successors have made in conquering the world. It is like- 
 wise a subject of surprise, that Christ, who is the " Prince of 
 the kings of the earth," Apoc. i. 5, should suffer such an 
 enemy to rise up, to establish a doctrine quite opposite to that 
 he himself had taught, and to re-introduce death into the 
 world by exploding the very source of salvation, the redemp- 
 tion from sin. But our surprise will abate, when we consi- 
 
348 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHtJRCH. 
 
 der, that those nations, which adopted this Antichristian reli- 
 gion, had made themselves in great measure deservedly ob- 
 noxious to so dreadful a judgment. The Christian countries 
 of Asia, and Africa, and some eastern provinces in Europe, 
 had been guilty of manifold inconstancy and perfidy, in relin- 
 quishing the true faith to espouse the heretical and schisma- 
 tical doctrines of Arius, Macedonius, Donatus, Nestorius, 
 Eutyches, Pelagius, Photius, &c. while the most part of west- 
 ern Christendom remained firm in their adherence to the 
 unity of faith. What wonder then, if Almighty God suffered 
 the Orientals to run into a precipice, who had already volun- 
 tarily left the path of truth? 
 
 The second interesting event that distinguishes this age, is 
 a dismal alarm sounded to the Church, namely, the defection 
 of the Greeks from the faith, which, like a great earthquake, 
 shook the continent of Christendom, and severed a great 
 number of fair eastern churches from the body of the faithful. 
 Pride, ambition, jealousy, fondness of novelty, or such like vici- 
 ous dispositions, are the general origin of heresies and schisms. 
 The Orientals suffered themselves to be guided by such pas- 
 sions, and in consequence they bewildered themselves in error, 
 and withdrew from the communion of their Catholic brethren. 
 Rebellion often grows contumacious ; and effectually they 
 aggravated highly their guilt, by obstinately rejecting all 
 means offered them for their reconciliation with God and his 
 Church. Such a grievous and lasting provocation armed 
 the avenging hand of God, which made use of the Mahome- 
 tans as a scourge to punish them. This punishment, which 
 proved very severe, was the third momentous transaction that 
 characterized the fourth age. 
 
 And may we not here bewail the misfortune and stubborn 
 blindness of the present Greeks, who though so fully admo- 
 nished by the punishment of their forefathers, under which 
 they themselves lie groaning, yet remain hardened and in- 
 flexible? But, what indeed is highly deplorable, our Christ- 
 ian prophet had said of them ; "They did not penance to give 
 God glory." — See the fourth vial. Christ, who essentially 
 loves concord and union, commanded the same to be observed 
 among his followers, and in that view addressed his heavenly 
 Father by a special prayer. " Not for them only do I pray, 
 (said he,) but for them also w^ho through their word shall be- 
 lieve in me : that they may be one, as thou (Father) in me, 
 and I in thee : that they also may be one in us." John xvii. 
 20, 21. To fix this necessary union and make it stable, he 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 349 
 
 established the centre of it in one person, the person of St, 
 Peter and each of his successors. " Thou art Peter," (that is 
 a rock) said our Saviour, " and upon this rock I will build 
 my Church." Matt. xvi. 18. He told St. Peter again on ano- 
 ther occasion : " I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, 
 and thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren." Luke 
 xxii. 32. Here then is the centre, with which the whole cir- 
 cle of the Church must be linked, and connected by the bond 
 of union and faith. Whoever breaks this chain, dissolves as 
 much as in him lies the work of Christ, and disunites him- 
 self from the society of his brethren. Such has been the 
 crime of the Greeks, who renouncing communion with the 
 successor of St. Peter, have set up in his room one of their 
 own bishops, equally schismatical with themselves. " Christ 
 has builded his church," says St. Cyprian, "upon one, who is 
 Peter: and has placed one chair. He has indeed given to 
 all bishops the full participation of power equally to govern 
 their flocks, all deriving their authority from Christ: but the 
 beginning arises from unity in Peter." De Unit. Eccl. The 
 breaking of this tie of " Unity in Peter," was the occasion of 
 the heavy disasters that have fallen upon the Greeks, and 
 which they continue to labour under at this day. And is 
 there not further reason to apprehend that their oppressions 
 will not be alleviated, if not even made heavier, as long as 
 they return not to what they so criminally abandoned, the 
 centre of unity in Peter ? This indeed they found clearly pre- 
 dicted in the revelations of St. Bridget, who died in the year 
 1373. But as to what degree of authority and credit these 
 revelations may claim, we shall say nothing ourselves, but re- 
 fer the reader to the learned Cardinal Lambertini, afterwards 
 Pope Benedict XIV. who writes thus : " Though an assent 
 of Catholic faith be not due to such revelations, they deserve 
 a human assent, according to the rules of prudence, by which 
 they are probable and piously credible, as the revelations of 
 B. Hildegardis, St. Bridget, and St. Catherine of Sienna." 
 De Canoniz. Sa?ict. I. 2. c. 32. n. l\. The passage in St. 
 Bridofet's works relatinaf to the Greeks runs thus : " Be it 
 known to the Greeks, that their empire and their kingdoms, 
 or dominions, will never stand secure, nor in settled peace ; 
 but that they will always be held in subjection by their ene- 
 mies, from whom they will ever sufter most grievous hard- 
 ships and constant distresses, until they shall have sincerely 
 submitted themselves with true humility and good will to the 
 Church of Rome and to her faith, conforming themselves en- 
 30 
 
350 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 tirely to the holy ordinances and rites of that church." Re- 
 vel, lib. 7. c. 19. 
 
 How certain and at the same time how terrible are the 
 judgments of God ! " Who knoweth the power of thy anger : 
 and for thy fear can number thy wrath?" Psalm 89. il, 
 But we must acknowledge that "just and true are thy ways 
 O King of ages." Apoc. xv. 3. The Babylonians and other 
 pagan nations were the scourge of God's wrath upon the 
 Jews. The barbarous nations of the north went forth, by 
 virtue of a divine sentence, against idolatrous Rome and her 
 empire, both which they demolished. We then see rise up, 
 about the beginning of the seventh century, a new and for- 
 midable power, that of the Mahometans, a people inspired by 
 the devil with an implacable hatred to the Christian name. 
 These seem to be designed by the Almighty to serve as his 
 instrument for chastising his rebellious and bad subjects 
 among the Christians through all succeeding times. They 
 enslaved the eastern countries ; and they have swallowed up 
 the Constantinopolitan empire of the Greeks. They will 
 spread havoc and destruction through the Christian Church 
 in the sixth age, as we have seen in the Apocalyptical account 
 of that period of time. 
 
 V. 
 
 The remarkable transactions that characterize the fifth 
 Age, are more generally known, as they stretch to our own 
 times, and touch us more nearly. The Reformation, first set 
 on foot and propagated by Luther about the year 1520 or 1525, 
 is the Epoch of the present age, the period of which to the 
 pouring out of the Vial consists of three hundred years, of 
 which two hundred and fifty are nearly elapsed.* Many 
 have been the troubles, as we have seen, which the spirit of 
 novelty occasioned in different parts of Christendom. The 
 mischief, which the eastern part had sustained by the de- 
 fection of the Greeks, was afterwards brought upon the west- 
 ern by the protestants. The Church of Christ sat bewailing 
 the loss of a great number of her children; and she saw be- 
 sides with unspeakable grief an endless train of disputes, dis- 
 sensions, and animosities, the new heresies had given birth to. 
 Several countries, particularly Germany, were subjected to 
 great calamities, the consequence of wars that were kindled 
 
 * This work was first printed in the year 1771. 
 
 / 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 351 
 
 by the same fire. Dreadful violences were committeJ, and 
 severe persecutions followed, in which many suffered death 
 for their adherence to the ancient faith. Indeed what else 
 could be expected, the work being carried on by the " Angel 
 of Extermination?" 
 
 After the period of about one hundred and fifty years, by a 
 special mercy of the Almightj'', the severities exercised by the 
 reformed against the Catholics began to abate, that spirit of 
 animosity against the Mother church in some degree cooled ; 
 and at this day, though most of the former persecuting laws 
 subsist, we have the comfort to see them less attended to, and 
 not so strictly put in execution. All this was fully intimated, 
 as we have seen, in the Apocalyptical account of this age. 
 But though the persecutions be less rigorous in the present 
 times, yet we cannot but lament to see the many temptations 
 that lie in the way, to withdraw the weak, the tepid, the am- 
 bitious, and the covetous, from the right path, and engage 
 them in an erroneous one that suits better their inclinations. 
 Hence arises a deplorable spectacle to well-thinking persons, 
 of so many that choose to sacrifice their religion to some 
 worldly advantages that are offered them, or to some disorder- 
 ly passions which they can by their apostacy more freely 
 gratify. 
 
 The world was very sensible, that Christ had established 
 his Church, fifteen hundred years before the existence of the 
 reformation, and that he had communicated his spirit to her, 
 by which he had solemnly promised she should be guided 
 through all ages. " I will ask the Father," said Christ, " and 
 he will give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with 
 you for p.?er, the spirit of truth — And he will teach you all 
 things." John xiv. 16, 17, 26. The reforming teachers came 
 therefore fifteen hundred years too late, and as they presumed 
 to publish a doctrine contrary to what was taught in the 
 Church, its novelty became its own condemnation. Never- 
 theless they were resolved to make it pass upon mankind for 
 divine truth. But to effect this, thev should have ascertained 
 it by the intervention of miraculous works, in the same man- 
 ner as the apostles had originally established Christianity. 
 " Let them prove," said Tertullian, speaking of the heretics 
 of his own time, " Let them prove themselves to be new 
 apostles — let them produce their miracles." L. de Prsescrip. 
 c. 30. But the reformers never were able to procure such a 
 divine sanction. 
 
 To supply this defect, and to acquire credit to their new 
 
352 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 systems, what measure did they take ? They employed an 
 artifice, we are sorry to say it, suggested undoubtedly by that 
 angel of the bottomless pit who was their governor and guide, 
 namely, to indulge human nature, by gratifying the passions, 
 by allowing such freedom and latitude in the practice of virtue, 
 as religion had never admitted. They banished at once all 
 those mortifications, which distinguished the Christian reli- 
 gion, and were ordained by its author as the principal exer- 
 cises to merit eternal life ; such as fasting, abstinence, confes- 
 sion of sins, penance, &c. They pretended that all these 
 practices were 'of no signification, that they were even intole- 
 rable encroachments on Christian liberty, and that faith alone 
 sufiiced for salvation. By these means they let loose the hu- 
 man passions, they enfranchised man from all constraint, and 
 in fine, they boasted of having smoothed the way to heaven. 
 But, " thy silver is turned into dross : thy wine is mingled 
 with Avater." Isai. i. 22. For, our Saviour had said : " If any 
 man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up 
 his cross, and follow me." Matt. xvi. 24. But, instead of the 
 thorny way of self-denial and the cross, they opened a path 
 strewed with roses. What wonder then, if so many took them 
 for their guides, and espoused their maxims ? Our Saviour 
 again tells us, that " narrow is the gate, and strait is the way, 
 that leadeth to life : and few there are that find it." Matt. vii. 
 14. On the contrary, the new gospellers inform us, that the 
 way to heaven is broad and easy ; and they offer to conduct 
 us through' it with little or no difficulty, because, say they, our 
 Saviour took upon himself the load of hardships that should 
 have been our portion, and has sustained them in our stead. 
 But, " wo to them that sew cushions under every elbow : and 
 make pillows for the heads of persons of every age to catch 
 souls." Ezech. xiii, 18. Thus a survey of the doctrine and 
 practical maxims of the reformers points out clearly to us the 
 judgment we ought to pass upon their character, according to 
 the criterion Christ has given us : "A good tree cannot bring 
 forth evil fruit. Neither can an evil tree bring forth good 
 fruit. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them." 
 Matt. vii. 18, 20. 
 
 It would be a matter of surprise, that men nursed in the 
 bosom of Christianity could adopt and teach such unchri-stian 
 doctrines, if we did not see the source of it, which lies in the 
 malign influence of their perfidious instructer, Abaddon. He 
 laid open the way to introduce into their minds the most 
 absurd tenets, by separating them first from that Church, " the 
 
 * # 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 353 
 
 pillar and ground of truth," 1 Tim. iii. 15, which had been 
 constituted the repository of genuine doctrine and morality 
 We cannot but lament that the pc^rfidious prompter prevailed 
 upon them to renounce the authority of that infallible guide, 
 and to set up their own in its place ; and thus he prepared 
 them to receive his dictates, and to change the whole system 
 of the Christian faith. But novelty in faith is an infallible 
 mark of heresy. The doctrinal articles of scripture are not 
 to be interpreted by every man's private conceit, which 
 would be infinitely various, but by the tradition derived from 
 the apostles and perpetuated by their lawful successors. For 
 as St. Vincent of Lerius observes : " It is the part of true 
 Christian moderation not to impose one's own opinions upon 
 posterity, but to adhere to what has been transmitted to us by 
 our predecessors." Comm. c. 9. The same is urged very 
 strongly by TertuUian : " The apostles," says he, " published 
 the faith to the Gentiles, and constituted churches in every 
 city; from which the other churches derived the first prin- 
 ciples of faith and seeds of doctrine ; and from which also 
 other churches do daily derive in the same manner, or they 
 could not possibly be true churches. For this reason then 
 they have the reputation of apostolic, because they ire the 
 offspring of apostolic churches. For every kind mast cer- 
 tainly be traced up to its original. And on this account every 
 other doctrine is to be deemed false and spurious, that is not 
 conformable to the truth taught by these apostolic churches." 
 De Prasscrip. c. 20, 21. And again : '' What was first delivered, 
 was the doctrine of our Lord and of truth; what is of later date, 
 can be no other than the tenets of flilsehood, mere fictions. 
 And this observation will stand firm and immoveable against 
 all novel heresies which labour under the consciousness of 
 not -having this antiquity to plead in their defence." Ibid. c. 31. 
 But the licentious spirit of forming new tenets of faith and 
 new rules of life in this fifth age, not only invaded and set 
 aside the general authority of the Church of Christ, but in 
 particular bent its virulence and rancour against the Church 
 of Rome. The reason was plain : because the special province 
 of that Church is, to oppose all innovations in faith, and to 
 suppress, as far as possible, the tares that spring up among 
 the good corn. Such all antiquity had acknowledged to be 
 the charsre committed to that Church. To that Church 
 therefore the reformers ow^ed respect and obedience ; to that 
 Church, " the greatest," as St. Irenasus speaks, " the most 
 ancient and known to all, founded at Rome by the two most 
 30* 
 
854 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 glorious apostles Peter and Paul, which retains the tradition 
 it received from them, and which is derived through a suc- 
 cession of bishops down to us Showing which we confound 
 all who any way out of seif-conceit, love of applause, blind- 
 ness of false persuasions, embrace what ought not to be 
 taught. For to this Church of Rome, on account of its more 
 chief presidentship, it is necessary that every church, that is, 
 the faithful every where, address themselves." Lib. 3. contra. 
 Hceres. How happy might it have been for the reformers of 
 these late times, if upon cool reflection they had applied to 
 ihemselves what St. Optatus in the fourth century spoke to 
 the Donatist heretics: "You cannot deny," said he, "that 
 you know the episcopal chair was first given to Peter in 
 the city of Rome, in which first sat the head of the Apostles, 
 Peter ; which chair was one, that all others might preserve 
 unity by the union they had with it, and lest the other 
 apostles should erect and defend chairs to themselves : so that 
 now he is a schismatic and an offender, who sets ud another 
 against the only chair." Lib. 2. 
 
 We shall here add one general observation relative to the 
 plan, which Christ seems to follow in the government of his 
 kingdom on earth. Whenever he permits an enemy to wrest 
 from him any part of his church by heresy, schism, or infi- 
 delity, we see that at the same time he proceeds to conquer 
 new countries by the preaching of the Gospel, and to incorpo- 
 rate them in his dominions. From the first foundation of his 
 kingdom he " went forth conquering that he might conquer," 
 Apoc. vi. 2 ; which he continues to do through "all ages. 
 Thus the breaches made in his church by the heresy of Arius 
 and the Greek schism, he repaired by the conversion of new 
 nations to the faith : as may be seen in ecclesiastical history. 
 But never was this economy more remarkable than at the 
 time of the rise of the reformation. For, about that period, 
 the new great continent of America was discovered, and the 
 Catholic faith carried thither, and diffused over vast countries 
 of it. About the same time the Gospel was also announced to 
 the distant people of the great empire of China with prodigious 
 success ; it was likewise carried into the kingdom of Japan, 
 and into most of those immense tracts of land and the islands, 
 comprised under the name of the East Indies, where the 
 preaching of zealous ministers sent by the apostolic see con- 
 verted multitudes of people, and thus greatly enlarged the do- 
 minions of Christ's kingdom. If then the late heresies, under 
 the denomination of the reformed relio-ion, have lopped off a 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 855 
 
 considerable portion of country in Europe from the Catholic 
 Church, the loss has been abundantly retrieved by the acces- 
 sion of much larger regions elsewhere that have embraced 
 her communion. 
 
 In regard to the vial of this age, we shall add nothing 
 more, to what has been said of it in its place, than the follow- 
 ing admonition. If the true servants of God, faithful members 
 of the Catholic Church, observe that towards fifty years from 
 the present date,* the state of kingdoms and the course of 
 public affairs seem to presage the approaching eflusion of the 
 fifth vial, accordingly as we have intimated, then " Go out 
 from her, my people : that you be not partakers of her sins, 
 and that you receive not of her plagues, "Apoc. xviii. 4 : 
 fly from the countries of wrath and perdition. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The sixth Age is the last of the Christian Church militant 
 on earth. The time of its commencement cannot be ascer- 
 tained, much less its final period, that is, the day of judgment, 
 which, as our Saviour says, "no man knoweth, neither the 
 angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father." Mark xiii. 
 32. Among various sentiments touching the duration of this 
 world, that seems to have prevailed most, which fixes its pe- 
 riod at about six thousand years : but as all is uncertain with 
 respect to this point, we shall not trouble the reader with any 
 discussion about it. The Apocalyptical description of the 
 sixth age paints it in colours, that leave no doubt it will be 
 the most turbulent, the most calamitous, and most persecuting 
 of all other ages. How alarming and how terrible will ap- 
 pear those extraordinary and unnatural signs in the sun, 
 moon, and stars, the earthquakes, the enormous swellings and 
 roarings of the sea, the bloody wars and battles, &c. ! Both 
 our Saviour in the Gospel and St. John, in the Apocalypse, 
 express sufficiently the impression these calamities will 
 make on mankind, by saying, " that men will sink away for 
 fear, and call upon the mountains to fall upon them and cover 
 them." How dreadful will be the destruction made bv the 
 terrible army of Antichrist ! How cruel and bloody his per- 
 secution, which will last three years and an half! These 
 shocking events, Avhich throw confusion in the whole system 
 of nature, will be certain presages of the approaching dissolu- 
 
 * Printed 1771. 
 
356 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 tion of the whole structure of the world, Happy those men, 
 who shall take due warning from them, and shall consider 
 them in a true light. 
 
 And here we ought tc acknowledge the particular favour 
 the Almighty God is pleased to grant us, in giving us pre- 
 vious notice of the disasters attending the sixth age, that we 
 may prepare for them. And this duty is the more incumbent 
 on us, since we touch so near that period, that the next gene- 
 ration or next but one, will probably see some part of it. For 
 after the fifth vial is poured out, which we have shown will 
 be done about fifty years hence,* we do not know how soon 
 the commencement of the sixth age may follow. There even 
 seem to appear already some indications of the approach of 
 that period. For the Almighty, in his wisdom and mercy, 
 before he pours down heavy disasters, generally sends lesser 
 calamities by the way of admonition : and thus Ave see in 
 these present times greater irregularities in the seasons of the 
 year than used to be, more dearth and distress, earthquakes 
 more frequent, &c. all which may be esteemed a prelude to 
 those much more dreadful disasters of the next ao;-e. Who 
 would not then judge it highly necessary that parents should 
 prevent their children of such unparalleled calamities that are 
 to happen, and which it may be their lot to share in. They 
 should be made acquainted with the principal transactions of 
 the next age, as they are recorded in the Apocalypse. For 
 disasters, when foreseen, generally make less impression. 
 The pastors of the Church will probably think it expedient 
 to inculcate the same to their flocks, because those who shall 
 exist in the next age, ought to be prepared and fortified in a 
 peculiar manner with a lively faith, with the love of God, and 
 an ardent desire of their own salvation. Since many of them 
 may be destined, by divine appointment, to pass through a 
 most severe trial in the persecution of Antichrist, they cannot 
 be too well grounded in the above-mentioned principles. The 
 account we have from St. John and the prophet Daniel of that 
 persecution, indicates, it will surpass in violence and cruelty 
 all the persecutions of the first age of Christianity : what de- 
 gree of fortitude therefore must be requisite to support the 
 faithful on so trying an occasion ? " The Church now ad- 
 monishes you," says St. Cyril, " and announces to you the 
 things that relate to Antichrist before they come to pass. 
 Whether they will happen in our time or later, we know not : 
 
 ♦Printed 1771. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 857 
 
 i>ut, as yoTi are prevented of them, it is fit you should prepare 
 yourself." Catech. 15. 
 
 Let the history of former persecutions be assiduously read, 
 in order to acquire some idea of them, with which when the 
 mind is familiarized, they will appear less terrible. Prepared 
 by these means, and animated by the influx of divine grace, 
 the faithful servants of God will hope to be able to undergo 
 the same hardships and sufferings, which the primitive Christ- 
 ians sustained, and of w^hich we read in St. Paul the follow- 
 ing description : — " Some were racked," says he, — " Others 
 had trials of mockeries and stripes, moreover also of bonds 
 and prisons. They were stoned, they were cut asunder, they 
 were tempted, they were put to death by the sword, they 
 wandered about in sheep-skins, in goat-skins, being in want, 
 distressed, afflicted : of whom the world was not worthy : 
 wandering in deserts, in mountains, and in dens, and in caves 
 of the earth." Ep. to the Hebr. xi. 35, &c. Let especially a 
 diligent and repeated perusal be made of the trials of the 
 martyrs : that by viewing their invincible fortitude and con- 
 stancy, the faithful may be inspired with the same spirit. 
 They will see with what courage the primitive Christians 
 appeared before the tribunals of the pagan judges, with what 
 noble fortitude they answered to the questions put to them, 
 with what unconcern they viewed the racks and other instru- 
 ments prepared for their torture, with what inflexibility they 
 continued to profess their faith in the midst of torments, and 
 with what resolution they bowed down their heads under the 
 hand of tlie executioner. "We say we are Christians," says 
 Tertullian, " and proclaim it to the whole world ; and under 
 the hands of the executioner, and in the midst of all the tor- 
 ments you inflict upon us, to compel us to unsay it. Torn 
 and mangled, and weltering in our blood, we cry out as loud 
 as we are able : that we are worshippers of God through 
 Christ." Afol. c. 21. Those invincible heroes of antiquity, 
 who thus sealed their faith with their blood, are the models 
 we must set before our eyes, and which we must copy after. 
 They had always in view that heavenly recompense which 
 waited for them after their combat, and which infinitely sur- 
 passed whatever they could suffer in this world. They said 
 to themselves, " the sufferings of this time are not worthy to 
 oe compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in 
 us." Rom. viii. 18. They recollected what our Saviour had 
 said . " Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer 
 — Be faithful unto death: and 1 will give thee the crown 
 
358 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 
 of life." Apoc. ii. 10. And again: "Blessed are ye when 
 they shall revile you, and persecute you. — Be glad and re- 
 joice, for your reward is very great in heaven." Malt. v. 11, 12. 
 This heavenly prospect animated their courage and sweeten- 
 ed their torments. They had likewise before their eyes the 
 divine pattern of their Lord and Saviour, who had trodden 
 the same path before them for their encouragement. And 
 what homage can be more acceptable to him, than to offer 
 our lives to him who laid down his for our sake ? How 
 beautiful a spectacle in the sight of God is a Christian enter- 
 ing the lists with affliction, and with a noble constancy com- 
 bating menaces, racks and tortures ! When like a conqueror 
 he triumphs over the judge that condemns him. For he is 
 certainly victorious who obtains what he fights for. Min. 
 Fel. in Octav. Full of such thoughts and sentiments, and 
 inspired with interior joy, those champions congratulated one 
 another on the view of their approaching triumph, saying: 
 the persecutor wrests from us our lands, but heaven is open 
 to us : the enemy of Christ threatens, but Christ protects us. 
 They put us to death, but we are crowned with immortality; 
 by killing us they deprive us of this world, but paradise is 
 offered us in its stead : our temporal life is extinguished, but 
 is changed into eternal. Cyprian de exhort. 7narL c. 12. 
 Such ought to be the reflections of those who shall exist in 
 the next age. The complexion of that period will be similar 
 to that of the first age under the persecuting Roman emperors, 
 and will exceed it in violence and cruelty. The consideration 
 therefore of the behaviour of the primitive Christians is the 
 best preparation that can be recommended to their successors 
 in the last age. Let them add to it another reflection, which 
 should never be absent from their mind, namely, the immortal 
 glory and happiness, which Christ expressly promises and 
 describes as the portion of all those who shall sacrifice to him 
 their lives in the persecution of Antichrist. " These are they 
 who are come out of the great tribulation, and have washed 
 their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the 
 Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and 
 they serve him day and night in his temple : and he, that 
 sitteth on the throne, shall dwell over them. They shall no 
 more hunger or thirst, neither shall the sun fall on them or 
 any heat. For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, 
 shall rule them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the 
 waters of life, and God shall wipe away all tears from their 
 eyes." Apor. vii. 14, &c. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 359 
 
 Besides the reasons we have given above, the necessity of 
 beginning to inculcate the preceding lessons to the present 
 rising generation appears the more, when we consider the 
 general decay of religion which now prevails. So little is 
 the practice of morality attended to, so little even is religion 
 thought of, that we see already no small progress made to- 
 wards that apostacy, as St. Paul calls it, or towards that 
 general defection from faith, and that degeneracy of morals, 
 which will take place before the great minister of Satan, An- 
 tichrist, appears. How swift indeed must be the decline of 
 true faith, while free-thinking grows at such a pace? While 
 every one seems to fix it as a principle, to believe nothing 
 more than his reason comprehends, or that coincides with 
 his own private humour? What practice of morality can 
 we expect from people, who are immersed in wordly plea- 
 sures, or in pursuits of private interest, who never spend a 
 moment of thought about eternity, nor scarce ever address 
 their God and Creator in a short prayer ? And is not this 
 the general course of life of the present generation of man- 
 kind ? Certainly then, due care should be taken to prevent 
 as many of the new rising race as possible from being infect- 
 ed by this pestiferous corruption, and to prepare them to be 
 enrolled in the list of the few elect of the approaching time. 
 When a tide of irreligion and infidelity has broken in, and is 
 seen to swell every day, what wonder if the period approach, 
 when God will bring all to the test, and try them as metal in 
 a fiery furnace, in order to discriminate between the good and 
 the bad, and to separate the sound from the unsound grain? 
 The few that will remain firm and stanch under all tempta- 
 tions and persecution, will shine with great lustre in those 
 days, when the bulk of mankind will suffer themselves to be 
 seduced so far, as to go over to Antichrist, adore him as a 
 God, and renounce their Creator, their religion, and their own 
 conviction. Notwithstanding the great power of Antichrist, 
 and his faculty of performing surprising wonders, the small 
 body of the faithful will bear away the palm of victory, by 
 their constancy in maintaining the cause of God at the ex- 
 pense of their lives, and by their fortitude in not yielding to 
 promises, threats, or torments. And thus the fruit of their 
 perseverance will be, to see their victory completed, and the 
 cause of religion fully vindicated, by the just judgments of 
 God upon the impious, when he will exterminate in the most 
 public and terrible manner that satanic man, Antichrist, with 
 
360 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 his associates, and will extirpate idolatry from the earth, and 
 restore peace to his Church. 
 
 To these reflections we shall add one remark, that of the 
 six vials of the wrath of God, hitherto considered, three, 
 namely, the first, third, and sixth, are poured out for the pu- 
 nishment of idolaters, and the other three, viz. the second, 
 fourth, and fifth, for the punishment of heretics. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The seventh age is the last and longest of all. It is the 
 age of eternity. We see it ushered in by the tremendous 
 scene of the general judgment of mankmd; of whom a part 
 are admitted into the heavenly Jerusalem or everlasting bliss, 
 and the other or greater part are doomed to suffer inexpressi- 
 ble torments for all eternity in the lake of fire and brimstone. 
 Whoever will take the pains to meditate a little on the great 
 disparity of these two states, will certainly be moved, if he 
 has not lost all sensibility, to use his utmost endeavours to 
 gain the one and prevent his falling into the other. Both the 
 happiness of the saved, and the torments of the damned, far 
 surpass indeed our conception ; but if they be even consi- 
 dered only in a general view, who would not shudder at the 
 thought of being condemned to an eternal prison, in devour- 
 ing flames that will never be extinguished ? " Which of you 
 can dwell with devouring fire? which of you can dwell with 
 everlastinir burning-s ?" Isai. xxxiii. 14. And on the other 
 hand, if we reflect on the possession of God, the source of all 
 delight, joy, and felicity; with which we shall be filled ac 
 cording to the whole capacity of our being, and this without 
 even the least interruption or allay, are we not transported 
 with the most vehement desire of attaining such a happy 
 state? "They shall be inebriated with the plenty of thy 
 house ; and thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy 
 pleasure." Psal. xxxv. 9. To this all-happy state let us then 
 " by our good works make our election secure." Let us spare 
 no pains for it during the short period of our existence here. 
 The recompense will infinitely exceed our labour, and th« 
 time of our labour bears no proportion to eternity. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 361 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Thus have we seen the whole history of the Church of 
 Christ traced from her birth through her various difficulties 
 and trials, through her persecutions from idolaters, and con- 
 vulsions by heresies ; under all which, she shone bright like 
 the sun by the vigour of her faith and fortitude : nor was it 
 in the power of hell and earth, though combined together, to 
 crush her or hinder her growth. We have ha<l a view of the 
 admirable economy, accordmg to which Christ rules this his 
 Church; w^e have seen the special care with which he pro- 
 tects her, and with what severity he punishes those who dare 
 injure her. By these means he makes her triumph over all 
 her enemies, even in this world; and her victory will be 
 finally crowned with that transcendant and ineffable glory to 
 which she will be raised at that period when time shall be no 
 more. 
 
 Hence it appears, that if to the history of the Apocalypse 
 we add the books of the Old Testament, there rises a general 
 history of the Church, or people of God, through the whole 
 period of the existence of mankind. The book of Genesis 
 gives us the creation of the first man ; and his history, with 
 ihat of the patriarchs and the Israelites, is related in that and 
 the subsequent books of the old scripture, with some short in- 
 tervals of interruption, down to the birth of Christianity. Then 
 begins the Apocalyptical account of the Christians, successors 
 to- the Jews ; which carries on their history to the end of time, 
 and even to their migration into the heavenly Jerusalem, where 
 it places them in the unchangeable state of never-ending bliss. 
 
 Nothing further now remains b-at to request, that this pre- 
 sent history may be received by the readers in that view for 
 which it was intended, namely, for their instruction. They 
 are now become sensible, we presume, of the utility of study- 
 ing the Apocalypse. And what indeed can be more express 
 on that head than the declaration of Christ himself, which we 
 beg leave here to repeat : " Blessed is he, that readeth and 
 heareth the words of this prophecy : and keepeth those things 
 which are written in it." Apoc. i. 3. And again : " Blessed 
 is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book." 
 Apoc. xxii. 7. That this advice may be attende-d to is our 
 sincere wish, and here we close the present work with the 
 blessing delivered in the last verse of this admirable prophecy : 
 *' The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." 
 31 
 
S62 THE AEOCALYPSR 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 H^ In the preceding explanation, the different parts of the Apocalypse 
 having been related in a transposed order, we here subjoin the whole text 
 by itself. And at the end of each verse the page is marked where that 
 verse is explained; except with regard to the second and third chapters, 
 which not appertaining to the general history of the Church, have not 
 been explained. 
 
 THE 
 
 APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN, 
 
 THB 
 
 APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, 
 to make known to his servants, the things which must shortly- 
 come to pass ; and signified, sending by his angel, to his ser- 
 vant John. Seep. 15. 
 
 2. Who hath given testimony to the word of God, and the 
 testimony of Jesus Christ, what things soever he hath seen. 
 f. 15. 
 
 3. Blessed is he, that readeth and heareth the words of this 
 prophecy ; and keepetli those things which are written in it. 
 For the time is at hand. p. 17. 
 
 4. John to the seven churches which are in Asia, Grace 
 be unto you and peace from him that is, and that was, and that 
 is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before the 
 throne, j). 17. 
 
 5. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the 
 first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the 
 earth : who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in 
 his own blood, p. 18. 
 
 6. And hath made us a kingdom and priests to God and 
 his Father : to him be glory and empire for ever and ever. 
 Amen. p. 18. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE, 363 
 
 7. Behold, he cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall 
 see him, and they also that pierced him. And all the tribes 
 of the earth shall bewail themselves because of him. Even 
 so. Amen. p. 19. 
 
 8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith 
 the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the 
 Almighty, p. 19. 
 
 9. I John your brother and your partner in tribulation, and 
 in the kingdom, and patience in Christ Jesus, was in the island, 
 which is called Patrnos, for the word of God and for the tes- 
 timony of Jesus, p. 20. 
 
 10. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind 
 me a great voice, as of a trumpet, p. 20. 
 
 11. Saying: What thou seest, write in a book: and send 
 to the seven churches which are in Asia, to Ephesus, and to 
 Smyrna, and to Pergamus, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, 
 and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. p. 20. 
 
 12. And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me : And 
 being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks: p. 21. 
 
 13. And in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, one 
 like to the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the 
 feet, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle: p. 21. 
 
 14. And his head and his hairs were white, like white wool, 
 and as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire. p. 21. 
 
 1 5. And his feet like unto fine brass, as in a burning fur- 
 nace: And his voice as the sound of many waters: p. 21. 
 
 16. And he had in his right hand seven stars. And from 
 his month came out a sharp two-edged sword: and his face 
 was as the sun shineth in his power, p. 21. 
 
 17. And when I had seen him, I fell at his feet as dead. 
 And he laid his right hand upon me, saying : Fear not : I am 
 the first and the last ; p. 22. 
 
 18. And alive, and was dead; and behold I am living 
 for ever and ever, and have the keys of death and of hell. 
 p. 22. 
 
 19. Write therefore the things which thou hast seen, and 
 which are, and which must be done hereafter, p. 23. 
 
 20. The mystery of the seven stars, which thou sawest in 
 my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks : The seven 
 stars are the angels of the seven churches : And the seven 
 candlesticks are the seven churches, p. 25. 
 
364 THE APOCALPYSE. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Unto the angd of the church of Ephesus write: These 
 things, saith he, who holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, 
 who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. 
 
 2. I know thy works and thy labour, and thy patience, and 
 how thou canst not bear them that are evil; and thou hast 
 tried them, who say they are apostles, and are not, and hast 
 found them liars: 
 
 3. And thou hast patience, and hast endured for my name, 
 and hast not fainted. 
 
 4. But I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left 
 thy first charity. 
 
 5. Be mindful therefore from whence thou art fallen : and 
 do penance, and do the first works. Or else I come to thee, 
 and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou do 
 penance. 
 
 6. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Ni- 
 cola ites, which I also hate. 
 
 7. He, that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
 to the churches : To him, that overcometh, I will give to eat 
 of the tree of life, Avhich is in the paradise of my God. 
 
 8. And to the angel of the church of Smyrna write : These 
 things saith the First and the Last, who was dead, and is 
 alive : 
 
 9. I know thy tribulation and thy poverty, but thou art 
 rich : and thou art blasphemed by them that say they are 
 Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. 
 
 10. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. 
 Behold, the devil will cast some of you into prison that you 
 may be tried: and you shall have tribulation ten days. Be 
 thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. 
 
 1 1. He, that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
 to the churches : he that shall overcome, shall not be hurt by 
 the second death. 
 
 12. And to the angel of the church of Pergamus write: 
 These things saith he, that hath the sharp two-edged sword: 
 
 13. I know where thou dwellest, where the seat of Satan 
 is: and thou boldest fiist my name, and hast not denied my 
 faith. Even in those days wheji Antipas loas my faithful wit- 
 ness, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. 
 
 14. But I have against thee a few things: because thou 
 
THE APOCALYPSE, 365 
 
 hast there, them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught 
 Balac to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, 
 to eat, and commit fornication : 
 
 15. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the 
 Nicolaites. 
 
 16. In like manner do penance : or else I will come to thee 
 quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my 
 mouth. 
 
 1 7.* He, that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
 to the churches ; To him, that overcometh, I will give the 
 hidden msmna, and will give him a white counter, and in the 
 counter, a new name written, which no man knoweth, but he 
 that receiveth it. 
 
 18. And to the angel of the church of Thyatira, write: 
 These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like to 
 a flame of fire, and his feet like to fine brass. 
 
 19. I know thy works, and thy faith, and thy charity, and 
 thy ministry, and thy patience, and thy last works which are 
 more than the former, 
 
 20. But I have acfainst thee a fewthino-s: because thou 
 sufferest the woman Jezabel, who calleth herself a prophetess, 
 to teach, and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication, and 
 to eat of thinsfs sacrificed to idols. 
 
 21. And I gave her a time that she might do penance, and 
 she will not repent of her fornication. 
 
 22. Behold, I will cast her into a bed: and they, that com- 
 mit adultery with her, shall be in very great tribulation, ex- 
 cept they do penance for their deeds : 
 
 23. And I will kill her children with death, and all the 
 churches shall know that I am he, that searcheth the reins 
 and hearts ; and will give to every one of you according to 
 your works. But to you I say, 
 
 24. And to the rest who are at Thyatira : Whosoever have 
 not this doctrine, and who have not known the depths of 
 Satan, as they say, I will not put upon you any other burden. 
 
 25. Yet that, which you have, hold fast till I come. 
 
 26. And he, that shall overcome and keep my works unto 
 the end, I will give him power over the nations. 
 
 27. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and as the 
 vessel of a potter they shall be broken. 
 
 28. As I also have received of my Father : and I will give 
 him the morning star. 
 
 29. He, that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
 to the churches. 
 
 31* 
 
366 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTER 111. 
 
 And to the angel of the church of Sardis write; These 
 things saith he, that hath the seven spirits of God, and the 
 seven stars : I know thy works, that thou hast the name of 
 being alive : and thou art dead. 
 
 2. Be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain, 
 which are ready to die. For 1 find not thy works full before 
 my God. 
 
 3. Have in mind therefore in what manner thou hast re- 
 ceived and heard : and observe, and do penance. If then thou 
 shalt not watch, I will come to thee as a thief; and thou shalt 
 not know at what hour I will come to thee. 
 
 4. But thou hast a few names in Sardis, which have not 
 defiled their garments : and they shall walk with me in white, 
 because they are worthy. 
 
 5. He, that shall overcome, shall thus be clothed in white 
 garments, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of 
 life, and 1 will confess his name before my Father, and before 
 his ano-els. 
 
 6. He, that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
 to the churches. 
 
 7. And to the angel of the church of Philadelphia write: 
 These things saith the Holy one and the True one, he that 
 hath the key of David ; he that openeth, and no man shutteth ; 
 shutteth, and no man openeth. 
 
 8. I know thy works. Behold, I have given before thee 
 a door opened which no man can shut : because thou hast a 
 little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied 
 my name. 
 
 9. Behold, I will bring them of the synagogue of Satan, 
 who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie : Behold, I 
 will make them to come and adore before thy feet: and they 
 shall know that I have loved thee. 
 
 10. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I 
 will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall 
 come upon the whole world to try them that dwell upon the 
 earth. 
 
 11. Behold, I come quickly: hold fast that which thou 
 has^:, that no man take thy crown. 
 
 12. He, that shall overcome, I will make him a pillar in 
 the temple of my God : and he shall go out no more : and I 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 367 
 
 will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of 
 the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down 
 out of heaven from my God, and my new name. 
 
 13. He, that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
 to the churches. 
 
 14. "And to the angel of the church of Laodicea write: 
 These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, 
 who is the beginning of the creation of God. 
 
 15. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: 
 I would thou wert cold or hot. 
 
 16. But because thou art lukewarm, and -tieither cold nor 
 hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth. 
 
 17. Because thou sayest: I am rich, and made wealthy, 
 and have need of nothing ; and knowest not, that thou art 
 wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. 
 
 18. I counsel thee to buy of my gold fire-tried, that thou 
 mayest be made rich : and mayest be clothed in white gar- 
 ments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear : 
 and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see. 
 
 19. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous 
 therefore, and do penance. 
 
 20. Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man 
 shall hear my voice, and open to me the door, I will come in 
 to him, and w^ill sup with him, and he with me. 
 
 21. To him that shall overcome, I will give to sit with me 
 in my throne : as I also have overcome, and am set down 
 with my Father in his throne. 
 
 22. He, that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spinit saith 
 to the churches. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 After these things I looked, and behold a door was open- 
 ed in heaven, and the first voice which I heard, as it were of 
 a trumpet speaking with me, said : Come up hither, and I will 
 show thee the things which must be done hereafter, p. 23. 
 
 2. And immediately I was in the spirit ; and behold there 
 was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne one sitting. 
 J). 24. 
 
 3. And he that sat was to the sight like the jasper and 
 the sardine-stone ; and there was a rainbow round about the 
 throne, in sight like unto an emerald, p. 24. 
 
o 
 
 68 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 4. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats; 
 and upon the seats, four and twenty ancients sitting, clothed in 
 white garments, and on their heads were crowns of gold. 
 f. 24. 
 
 5. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, and voices, 
 and thunders ; and there were seven lamps burning before 
 the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. j). 24. 
 
 6. And in the sight of the throne was as it were a sea of 
 glass like to chrystal; and in the midst of the throne and 
 round about the throne were four living creatures full of eyes 
 before and behind, j). 25. 
 
 7. And the first living creature was like a lion ; and the 
 second living creature like a calf; and the third living crea- 
 ture, having the face as it were of a man : and the fourth living 
 creature was like an eagle flying, p. 25. 
 
 8. And the four living creatures, had each of them six 
 wings : and round about and within they are full of eyes, p, 
 25. And they rested not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, 
 Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is 
 to come. p. 26. 
 
 9. And when those living creatures gave glory and honour 
 and benediction to him, that sitteth on the throne, who liveth 
 for ever and ever, p. 26. 
 
 10. The four and twenty ancients fell down before him that 
 sitteth on the throne, and adored him that liveth for ever and 
 ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying : p. 26. 
 
 11. Thou art worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory 
 and honour and power : because thou hast created all things, 
 and for thy will they were, and have been created, p. 26. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, 
 a book written within and without, sealed with seven seals. 
 p. 26. 
 
 2. And I saw a strong angel, proclaiming with a loud 
 voice: Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the 
 seals thereof? p. 27. 
 
 3. And no man was able, neither in heaven, nor on earth, 
 nor under the earth, to open the book, nor to look on it. p. 27. 
 
 4. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy 
 to open the book, nor to see it. p. 27. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 369 
 
 5. And one of the ancients said to me : Weep not ; behold 
 the lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David, hath prevailed 
 to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof jp. 27. 
 
 6. And I saw : and behold in the midst of the throne and 
 of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the ancients, 
 a Lamb standing as it were slain, having seven horns and 
 seven eyes ; which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth 
 into all the earth, p. 28. 
 
 7. And he came, and took the book out of the right hand 
 of him that sat on the throne, p. 28. 
 
 8. And when he had opened the book, the four living crea- 
 tures, and the four and twenty ancients, fell down before the 
 Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full 
 of odours, which are the prayers of saints, p. 28. 
 
 9. And they sung a new canticle, saying : Thou art wor- 
 thy, O Lord, to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: 
 because thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to Ood, in thy 
 blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, 
 j9. 28. 
 
 10. And hast made us to our God a kingdom and priests, 
 and we shall reign on the earth, p. 28. 
 
 1 1. And I beheld and heard the voice of many angels round 
 about the throne, and the living creatures and the ancients : 
 and the number of them was thousands of thousands, p. 29. 
 
 12. Saying, with a loud voice: The Lamb, that was slain, 
 is worthy to receive power, and divinity, and w^isdom, and 
 strength, and honour, and glory, and benediction, p. 29. 
 
 13. And every creature, which is in heaven, and on the 
 earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and 
 all that are in them : I heard all saying : To him that sitteth 
 on the throne, and to the Lamb, benediction and honour, and 
 glory and power, for ever and ever. p. 30. 
 
 14. And the four living creatures said. Amen. And the 
 four and twenty ancients fell down on their faces, and adored 
 him that liveth for ever and ever. p. 30. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 And I saw, that the Lamb had opened one of the seven 
 seals, and I heard one of the four livinGf creatures, as it were 
 the voice of thunder, saying, Come and see. p. 31. 
 
 2. And I saw : and behold a white horse, and he that sat 
 
370 THE Ai^OCALVPSE. 
 
 on him had a how, and there was a crown given him, and he 
 went forth conquering that he might conquer, f. 31. 
 
 3. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the 
 second living creature, saying: Come and see, 'p. 72. 
 
 4. And there went out another horse, that was red : and'to 
 him that sat thereon, it was given that he should take peace 
 from the earth, and that they should kill one another, and a 
 great sword was given him. _/?. 75. 
 
 5. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the 
 third living creature, saying : Come and see. And behold a 
 black horse, and he that sat on him, had a pair of scales in 
 his hand. f. 86. 
 
 6. And I heard as it were the voice in the midst of the 
 four living creatures, saying: Two pounds of wheat for a 
 penny, and thrice two pounds of barley for a penny, and see 
 thou hurt not the wine and the oil. f. 86. 
 
 7. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the 
 voice of the fourth living creature, saying : Come and see. 
 f. 116. 
 
 8. And behold a pale horse: and he that sat upon him, his 
 name was Death, and hell followed him. And power was 
 given him over the four parts of the earth, to kill with sword, 
 with famine, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. 
 f. 116. 
 
 9. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the 
 souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the 
 testimony which they held. f. 135. 
 
 10. And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, 
 O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and revenge our 
 blood on them that dwell on the earth? f. 135. 
 
 1 1. And white robes were given to every one of them one; 
 and it was said to them, that they should rest yet for a little 
 time, till their fellow-servants, and their brethren, who are to 
 be slain, even as they, should be filled up. 'p. 135. 
 
 12. And I saw, when he had opened the sixth seal: and 
 behold there was a great earthquake, and the sun became 
 black as sackcloth of hair ; and the whole moon became as 
 blood: p. 187. 
 
 13. And the stars from heaven fell on the earth, as the fig 
 tree casteth its green figs when it is shaken by a great wind 
 'p. 187. 
 
 14. And the heaven departed as a book folded up: and 
 every mountain, and the islands were moved out of their 
 places, p. 187. 
 
Tttfe apocalvpse. 371 
 
 15. And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the 
 tribunes, and the rich, and the strong, and every bond-man, 
 and every free-man, hid themselves in the dens and in the 
 rocks of mountains: f. 187. 
 
 16. And they say to the mountains and the rocks: Fall 
 upon us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the 
 throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: p. 187. 
 
 1 7. For the great day of their wrath is come, and who shall 
 be able to stand? p. 188. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 After these things I saw four angels standing on the 
 four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, 
 that they should not blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, 
 nor on any tree. p. 252. 
 
 2. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of 
 the sun, having the sign of the living God; and he cried 
 with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to 
 hurt the earth and the sea. p. 252. 
 
 3. Saying : Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, 
 till we sign the servants of our God in their foreheads, p. 252. 
 
 4. And I heard the number of them that were signed, a 
 hundred forty-four thousand were signed of every tribe of the 
 children of Israel, p. 252. 
 
 5. Of the tribe of Juda, vv-ere twelve thousand signed. Of 
 the tribe of Ruben, twelve thousand signed. Of the tribe of 
 Gad, twelve thousand signed, p. 253. 
 
 6. Of the tribe of Aser, twelve thousand signed. Of the 
 tribe of Nepthalia, twelve thousand signed. Of the tribe of 
 Manassee, twelve thousand signed, p. 253. 
 
 7. Of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand signed. Of the 
 tribe of Levi, twelve thousand signed. Of the tribe of Issa- 
 char, twelve thousand signed, p. 253. 
 
 8. Of the tribe of Zabulon, twelve thousand signed. Of 
 the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand signed. Of the tribe of 
 Benjamin, twelve thousand signed, p. 253. 
 
 9. After this I saw a great multittifle, which no man could 
 number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues * 
 standing before the throne, and in the sight of the Lamb, 
 clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands : p. 278. 
 
 10. And they cried with a loud voice, saying: Salvation 
 
372 THE APOCALYrSE. 
 
 to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb, p, 
 278. 
 
 11. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and 
 the ancients, and the four living creatures ; and they fell down 
 before the throne upon their faces, and adored God, p. 279. 
 
 12. Saying, Amen, Benediction, and glory, and wisdom, 
 and thanksgiving, honour, power, and strength to our God 
 for ever and ever. Amen. p. 279. 
 
 13. And one of the ancients answered, and said to me: 
 These that are clothed in white robes, who are they ? and 
 whence came they ? p. 279. 
 
 14. And I said to him : My Lord, thou knowest. And he 
 said to me : These are they who are come out of great tribu- 
 lation, and have washed their robes, and have made them 
 white in the blood of the Lamb. p. 279. 
 
 15. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and they 
 serve him day and night in his temple : and he that sitteth on 
 the throne, shall dwell over them. p. 279. 
 
 16. They shall no more hunger and thirst, neither shall 
 the sun fall on them, nor any heat. p. 280. 
 
 17. For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, 
 shall rule them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the 
 waters of life, and God shall wipe away all tears from their 
 eyes. p. 280. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence 
 in Heaven, as it were for half an hour. p. 311. 
 
 2. And I saw seven angels standing in the presence of God : 
 and there were given to them seven trumpets, p, 34. 
 
 3. And another angel came, and stood before the altar, 
 having a golden censer: and there was given to him much 
 incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all saints upon 
 the golden altar, which is before the throne of God. p. 35. 
 
 4. And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the 
 saints ascended up before God, from the hand of the angel. 
 p. 35. 
 
 5. And the .angel took the censer, and filled it with the fire 
 of the altar, and cast it on the earth, and there were thun- 
 ders and voices and lightnings, and a great earthquake. 
 p. 35. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 373 
 
 6. And the seven ang^els, who had the seven trumpets, pre- 
 pared themselves to sound the trumpet, jp. 36. 
 
 7. And the first angel sounded the trumpet, and there fol- 
 lowed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and it was cast on 
 the earth, and the third part of the earth was burnt up, and 
 the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass 
 was burnt up. f. 36. 
 
 8. And the second angel sounded the trumpet : and as it 
 were a great mountain burning with fire, was cast into the 
 sea, and the third part of the sea became blood : j). 74. 
 
 9. And the third part of those creatures died, which had life 
 in the sea, and the third part of the ships was destroyed, p. 74. 
 
 10. And the third angel sounded the trumpet: and a great 
 star fell from heaven, burning as it were a torch, and it fell 
 on the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of wa- 
 ters : p. 86. 
 
 11. And the name of the star is called wormwood. And 
 the third part of the waters became wormwood : and many 
 men died of the waters, because they were made bitter, p. 87. 
 
 12. And the fourth angel sounded the trumpet: and the 
 third part of the sun was smitten : and the third part of the 
 moon, and the third part of the stars, so that the third part of 
 them was darkened, and the day did not shine for a third part 
 of it, and the night in like manner, p. 125. 
 
 13. And I beheld, and heard the voice of one eagle flymg 
 through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice : Wo, 
 wo, wo to the inhabitants of the earth: by reason of the rest 
 of the voices of the three angels who are yet to sound the 
 trumpet, p. 140. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 And the fifth angel sounded the trumpet : and I saw a star 
 fall from heaven unto the earth, and there was given to him 
 the key of the bottomless pit. p. 142. 
 
 2. And he opened the bottomless pit : and the smoke of the 
 pit arose as the smoke of a great furnace: p. 143, and the sun 
 and the air were darkened with the smoke of the pit. p. 144. 
 
 3. And from the smoke of the pit there came out locusts 
 upon the earth, p. 147. And power was given to them, as 
 the scorpions of the earth have power: p. 150. 
 
 4. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt 
 
 32 
 
3^4 THE APOCALlTPSfi. 
 
 the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, not any ttee: but 
 only the men who have not the sign of God on their fore- 
 heads, p. 150. 
 
 5. And it was given unto them that they should not kill 
 them ; but that they should torment them five months : and 
 their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh 
 a man. p. 152. 
 
 6. And in those days men shall seek death, and shall not 
 find it : and they shall desire to die, and death shall fly from 
 them. p. 154. 
 
 7. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses pre- 
 pared for battle: p. 156, and on their heads were as it were 
 crowns like gold: p. 165, and their faces were as the faces of 
 men. p. 166. 
 
 8. And they had hair as the hair of women: p. 168, and 
 their teeth were as the teeth of lions, p. 169. 
 
 9. And they had breast-plates as breast-plates of iron: p. 170. 
 And the noise of their wings was as the noise of chariots of 
 many horses running to battle, p. 171. 
 
 10. And they had tails like to scorpions, and there were 
 stings in their tails : and their power was to hurt men five 
 months, p. 172. And they had over them 
 
 11. A king, the angel of the bottomless pit: whose name 
 in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon, in Latin Ex- 
 terminans, (that is, destroyer.) p. 172. 
 
 12. One wo is past, p. 182, and behold there come yet two 
 woes more hereafter, p. 226. 
 
 13. And the sixth angel sounded the trumpet, and I heard 
 a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is be- 
 fore the eyes of God. p. 226. 
 
 14. Saying to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet : Loose 
 the four angels, who are bound in the great river Euphrates. 
 p. 226. 
 
 15. And the four angels were loosed, who were prepared 
 for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year : for to kill 
 the third part of men. p. 226. 
 
 16. And the number of the army of horsemen was twenty 
 thousand times ten thousand. And I heard the number of 
 them. p. 226. 
 
 17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision : and they, 
 that sat on them, had breast-places of fire and of hyacinth 
 and of brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as the 
 heads of lions ; and from their mouths proceeded fire, and 
 smoke and brimstone, p. 226. 
 
TttU APOcALYPSfi. 375 
 
 18. And by these three plagues were slain the third part 
 of men, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, 
 which issued out of their mouths, p. 226. 
 
 19. For the power of the horses is in their mouths, and in 
 their tails. For, their tails are like to serpents, and have 
 heads : and with them they hurt. p. 227. 
 
 20. And the rest of the men, who were not slain by these 
 plagues, did not do penance for the works of their hands that 
 they should not adore devils and idols of gold and silver and 
 brass and stone and wood, which neither can see, nor hear, 
 nor walk : p. 277. 
 
 21. Neither did they penance from their murders, nor 
 from their sorceries, nor from their fornication, nor from their 
 thefts, p. 277. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, 
 clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was on his head, and his 
 face was as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. p. 222. 
 
 2. And he had in his hand a little book open : and lie set 
 his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth, p. 223. 
 
 3. And he cried with a loud voice as when a lion roareth. 
 And when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. 
 p. 223. 
 
 4. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, 
 I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven say- 
 ing to me: Seal up the things which the seven thunders have 
 spoken, and write them not. p. 223. 
 
 5. And the angel whom I saw standing upon the s«'a and 
 upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, p. 224. 
 
 6. And he swore by him that liveth for ever and evei, who 
 created heaven, and the things which are therein : and the 
 earth, and the things which are in it: and the sea, and the 
 things which are therein; that there should be time no 
 longer: p. 224. 
 
 7. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when 
 he shall begin to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God should 
 be finished, as he hath declared by his servants the prophets. 
 p. 224. 
 
 8. And I heard a voice from heaven again speaking to me, 
 saying: Go and take the book, that is open, from the hand 
 

 376 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 of the angel who standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. 
 f. 224. 
 
 9. And I went to the angel, saying unto him, that he should 
 give me the book. And he said to me : Take the book and 
 eat it up : and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth 
 it shall be sweet as honey, p. 225, 
 
 10. And I took the book from the hand of the angel, and 
 eat it up : and it was in my mouth, sweet as honey : and when 
 I had eaten it, my belly was bitter, p. 225. 
 
 11. And he said to me, thou must prophesy again to many 
 nations, and peoples, and tongues, and kings, p. 225. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod : and it was 
 said to me : Arise and measure the temple of God, and the 
 altar, and them that adore therein, p. 253. 
 
 2. But the court, Avhich is without the temple, cast out, and 
 measure it not : because it is given unto the Gentiles, and the 
 holy city they shall tread under foot two and forty months : 
 p. 254. 
 
 3. And I will give unto my two witnesses, and they shall 
 prophesy a thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sack- 
 cloth. ;?.'216. 
 
 4. These are the two olive-trees, and the two candlesticks 
 that stand before the Lord of the earth. ^.216. 
 
 5. And if any man will hurt them, fire shall come out of 
 their mouths, and shall devour their enemies. And if any 
 man will hurt them, in this manner must he be slain. 77. 216. 
 
 6. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the 
 days of their prophecy : and they have power over waters to 
 turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues 
 as often as they will. p. 216. 
 
 7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the 
 beast, that ascendeth, out of the abyss, shall make war against 
 them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. p. 274. 
 
 8. And their bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city 
 which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where their 
 Lord also was crucified, p. 274. 
 
 9. And they of the tribes, and peoples, and tongues, and 
 nations, shall see their bodies for three days and a half: and 
 they shall not suffer their bodies to be laid in sepulchres, p. 274. 
 
Ci. THE APOCALYPSE. S77 
 
 10. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over 
 ihem, and make merry : and shall send gifts one to another, 
 because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt upon 
 the earth, p. 274. 
 
 11. And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from 
 God entered into them. And they stood upon their feet, and 
 great fear fell upon them that saw them. p. 275. 
 
 12. And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying to 
 them : Come up hither. And they went up to heaven in a 
 cloud ; and their enemies saw them. p. 275. 
 
 13. And at that hour th^re was made a great earthquake, 
 and the tenth part of the city fell ; and there were slain in 
 the earthquake names of men seven thousand : and the rest 
 were cast into a fear, and gave glory to the God of heaven. 
 p. 275. 
 
 14. The second wo is past: and behold the third wo will 
 come quickly, p. 278. 
 
 15. And the seventh angel sounded the trumpet : and there 
 were great voices in heaven, saying: The kingdom of this 
 w^orld is become our Lord's and his Christ's, and he shall 
 reign for ever and ever. Amen. p. 311. 
 
 16. And the four and twenty ancients, who sit on their 
 seats in the sight of God, fell on their faces and adored God. 
 p. 311. 
 
 17. Saying: We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, 
 who art, and who wast, and who art to come : because thou hast 
 taken to thee thy great power, and thou hast reigned, p. 311. 
 
 18. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, 
 and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that 
 thou shouldst render reward to thy servants the prophets and 
 the saints, and to them that fear thy name, little and great, and 
 shouldst destroy them who have corrupted the earth, p. 311. 
 
 19. And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and 
 the ark of his testament was seen in his temple, and there 
 were lightnings, and voices, and an earthquake, and great 
 hail. ;?. 311. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 And a great sign appeared in heaven : a woman clothed 
 v/ith the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head 
 a crown of twelve stars : p. 59. 
 32* 
 
878 THE APOCALYPSfi. ' 
 
 2. And being with child, she cried travailing in bitth, and 
 was in pain to be delivered, j). 59. 
 
 3. And there was seen another sign in heaven, and behold 
 a great red dragon having seven heads, and ten horns: and 
 on his heads seven diadems : p. 59. 
 
 4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, 
 and cast them to the earth : and the dragon stood before the 
 woman who was ready to be delivered ; that, when she should 
 be delivered, he might devour her son. p. 59. 
 
 5. And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all 
 nations with an iron-rod : and her son was taken up to God, 
 and to his throne, p. 60. 
 
 6. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had 
 a place prepared by God, that there they should feed her a 
 thousand two hundred and sixty days. j9. 61. 
 
 7. And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his 
 angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his 
 angels : f. 62. 
 
 8. And they prevailed not, neither was their place found 
 any more in heaven, p. 62. 
 
 9. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, 
 who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole 
 world : and he was cast unto the earth, and his angels were 
 thrown down with him. p. 62. 
 
 10. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: Now is 
 come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, 
 and the power of his Christ: because the accuser of our 
 brethren is cast forth, who accused them before our God day 
 and night, p. 63. 
 
 11. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, 
 and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their 
 lives unto death, j)- 63. 
 
 12. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you that dwell 
 therein. Wo to the earth, and to the sea, because the devil is 
 come down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he 
 hath but a short time. p. 63. 
 
 13. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the 
 earth, he persecuted the woman, who brought forth the man- 
 child: p. 64. 
 
 14. And there were given to the woman two wings of a 
 great eagle, that she might fly into the desert unto her place, 
 where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, 
 from the face of the serpent, p. 64. 
 
 15. And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman, 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. S79 
 
 water as it were a river ; that he might cause her to be car- 
 ried away by the river, p. 64. 
 
 16. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened 
 her mouth, and swallowed up the river, which the dragon cast 
 out of his mouth, p. 65. 
 
 17. And the dragon was angry against the woman: and 
 went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the 
 commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus 
 Christ, p. 66. 
 
 18. And he stood upon the sand of the sea. p. 68. 
 
 CHAPTER XriL 
 
 And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having seven 
 heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten diadems, and 
 upon his heads names of blasphemy, p. 232. 
 
 2. And the beast which I saw was like to a leopard, and 
 his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth, as the mouth 
 of a lion. And the dragon gave him his own strength and 
 great power, p. 232. 
 
 3. And I saw one of his heads as it were slain to death : 
 p. 233, and his death's wound was healed. And all the earth 
 was in admiration after the beast, p. 236. 
 
 4. And they adored the dragon, which gave power to the 
 beast ; and they adored the beast, saying : Who is like to the 
 beast? And who shall be able to fight with him? p. 237. 
 
 5. And there was given to him a mouth speaking great 
 things, and blasphemies : and power was given him to do 
 two and forty months, p. 244. 
 
 6. And he opened his mouth unto blasphemies against God, 
 to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell 
 in heaven, p. 244. 
 
 7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, 
 and to overcome them. And power was given him over every 
 tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation, p. 246. 
 
 8. And all that dwell upon the earth adored him, whose 
 names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, w^hich 
 was slain from the beginning of the world, p. 246. 
 
 9. If any man have an ear let him hear. p. 251. 
 
 10. He that shall lead into captivity, shall go into captivity: 
 he that shall kill by the sword, must be killed by the sword. 
 Here is the patience and the faith of the saints, p. 251. 
 
380 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 11. And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, 
 and he had two horns, like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. 
 p. 246. 
 
 12. And he executed all the power of the former beast in 
 his sight : and he caused the earth, and them that dwell there- 
 in, to adore the first beast whose wound to death was healed. 
 p. 247. 
 
 13. And he did great signs, so that he made also fire to 
 come down from heaven unto the earth in the sight of men. 
 J). 247. 
 
 14. And he seduced them that dwell on the earth, for the 
 signs, which were given to him to do in the sight of the beast, 
 saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make 
 the image of the beast which had the wound by the sword, 
 and lived, p. 248. 
 
 15. And it was given him to give life to the image of the 
 beast, and that the image of the beast should speak: and 
 should cause, that whosoever will not adore the image of the 
 beast, should be slain, p. 248. 
 
 16. And he shall make all, both little and great, rich and 
 poor, freemen and bondmen, to have a character in their right 
 hand, or on their foreheads, p. 248. 
 
 17. And that no man might buy or sell, but he that hath 
 the character, or the name of the beast, or the number of his 
 name. p. 249. 
 
 18. Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him 
 count the number of the beast. For it is the number of a man : 
 and the number of him is six hundred sixty-six. p. 249. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 And I beheld, and lo a Lamb stood upon Mount Sion, and 
 with him a hundred forty-four thousand having his name, and 
 the name of his Father, written on their foreheads, p. 256. 
 
 2. And I heard a voice from heaven as the noise of many 
 waters, and as the voice of great thunder: and the voice, which 
 I heard, was as the voice of harpers harping on their harps. 
 p. 256. 
 
 3. And they sung as it were a new canticle, before the 
 throne, and before the four living creatures, and the ancients; 
 and no man could say the canticle, but those hundred forty- 
 four thousand, who were purchased from the ear^h. p. 256. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 381 
 
 4. These are they who were not defiled with women : For 
 they are virgins. These follow the Lamb whithersoever he 
 goeth. These were purchased from among men, the first 
 fruits to God and to the Lamb : p. 257. 
 
 5. And in their mouth there was found no lie : For they 
 are without spot before the throne of God. p. 258. 
 
 6. And I saw another angel flying through the midst of 
 heaven, having the eternal gospel, to preach unto them that 
 sit upon the earth, and over every nation, and tribe, and 
 tongue, and people, p. '24 L 
 
 7. Saying with a loud voice : Fear the Lord, and give him 
 honour, because the hour of his judgment is come : and adore 
 ye him, that made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains 
 of waters, p. 242. 
 
 8. And another angel followed, saying : That great Baby- 
 lon is fallen, is fallen: which made all nations to drink of the 
 wine of the wrath of her fornication, p. 292. 
 
 9. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud 
 voice: If any man shall adore the beast and his image, 
 and receive his character in his forehead, or in his hand; 
 p. 296. 
 
 10. He also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, 
 which is mingled with pure wine in the cup of his wrath, and 
 shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the sight of the 
 holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb. p. 296. 
 
 11. And the smoke of their torments shall ascend up for 
 ever and ever : neither have they rest day nor night, who 
 have adored the beast, and his image, and whosoever receiveth 
 the character of his name. p. 296. 
 
 12. Here is the patience of the saints, who keep the com- 
 mandments of God, and the faith of Jesus, p. 297. 
 
 13. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying to me : Write, 
 Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. From henceforth 
 now, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labours : 
 for their works follow them. p. 307. 
 
 14. And I saw: and behold a white cloud: and upon the 
 cloud one sitting like to the Son of man, having on his head 
 a crown of gold, and in his hand a sharp sickle, p. 321. 
 
 15. And another angel came out from the temple, crying 
 with a loud voice to him that sat upon the cloud : Thrust in 
 thy sickle and reap, because the hour is come to reap, for the 
 harvest of the earth is ripe. p. 321. 
 
 16. And he that sat on the cloud, thrust his sickle into the 
 earth, and the earth was reaped, p. 321. 
 
382 THE APOCALYPSE. * 
 
 17. Ana another angel came out of the temple which is in 
 heaven, he also having a sharp sickle, 'p. 321. 
 
 18. And another angel came out from the altar, who had 
 power over fire: and he cried with a loud voice to him that 
 had the sharp sickle, saying: "Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and 
 gather the clusters of the vineyard of the earth; because the 
 grapes thereof are ripe. j). 321. 
 
 19. And the angel thrust in his sharp sickle into the earth, 
 and gathered the vineyard of the earth, and cast it into the 
 great press of the wrath of God. f. 321. 
 
 20. And the press was trodden without the city, and blood 
 came out of the press, up to the horses' bridles, for a thousand 
 and six hundred furlongs, p. 321. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 And I saw another sign in heaven great and wonderful: 
 seven angels having the seven last plagues. For in them is 
 filled up the wrath of God. 'p. 45. 
 
 2. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire, 
 and them that had overcome the beast and his image and the 
 number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having the 
 harps of God : jp. 45. 
 
 3. And singing thexanticle of Moses the servant of God, 
 and the canticle of the Lamb, saying : Great and wonderful 
 are thy works, O Lord God Almighty ; just and true are thy 
 ways, O King of ages. p. 45. 
 
 4.- Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and magnify thy name 1 
 For thou only art holy ! for all nations shall come, and adore 
 in thy sight, because thy judgments are manifest, p. 46, 
 
 5. And after these things I looked, and behold the temple 
 of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened, p. 47. 
 
 6. And the seven angels came out of the temple having the 
 seven plagues, clothed with clean and white linen, and girt 
 about the breasts with golden girdles, p, A.7. 
 
 7. And one of the four living creatures, gave to the seven 
 angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God who liveth 
 for ever and ever. p. 48. 
 
 8. And the temple was filled with smoke from the majesty 
 of God, and from his power : and no man was able to enter 
 into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were 
 fulfilled, p. 48. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 383 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the 
 seven angels: Go, and pour out the seven vials of the wrath 
 of God upon the earth, j). 49. 
 
 2. And the first went, and poured out his \'ial upon the 
 earth, and there fell a sore and grievous wound upon men, 
 who had the character of the beast; and upon them thai 
 adored the image thereof j). 49. 
 
 3. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, 
 and there came blood as it were of a dead man ; and every 
 living soul died in the sea. jp. 74. 
 
 4. And the third poured out his vial upon the rivers and 
 fountains of waters ; and there was made blood, f. 88. 
 
 5. And I heard the angel of the waters, saying: Thou art 
 just, O Lord, who art, and who wast, the holy one, because 
 thou hast judged these things: f. 88. 
 
 6. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and 
 thou hast given them blood to drink ; for they are worthy ; 
 'p. 88. 
 
 7. And I heard another, from the altar, saying: Yea, O 
 Lord God Almighty, true and just are thy judgments, j). 88. 
 
 8. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, 
 and it was given unto him to afflict men with heat and fire. 
 p. 132. 
 
 9. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blas- 
 phemed the name of God who hath power over these plagues, 
 neither did they penance to give him glory, p. 132. 
 
 10. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat 
 of the beast ; and his kingdom became dark, and they gnaw- 
 ed their tongues from pain; p. 183. 
 
 11. And they blasphemed the God of heaven, because of 
 their pains, and wounds, and did not penance for their works. 
 p. 184. 
 
 12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon that great 
 river Euphrates; and dried up the water thereof, that a way 
 mio-ht be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun. 
 p. 227. 
 
 13. And I saw from the mouth of the dragon, and from the 
 mouth o-f the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet, 
 three unclean spirits like frogs, p. 273. 
 
 14. For they are the spirits of devils working signs, and 
 
384 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 they go forth unto the kings of the whole earth to gather them 
 to battle against the great day of the Almighty God. _^. 273. 
 
 15. Behold, I come as a thief; Blessed is he that watcheth, 
 and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see 
 his shame, p. 308. 
 
 16. And he shall gather them together unto a place which 
 in Hebrew is called Armagedon. p. 281. 
 
 17. And the seventh angel poured out his vial upon the air, 
 and there came a great voice out of the temple from the throne, 
 saying: It is done. p. 313. 
 
 18. And there ware lightnings, and voices, and thunders, 
 and there was a great earthquake, such a one as never had 
 been seen since men were upon the earth, such an earthquake, 
 so great, p. 313. 
 
 19. And the great city was divided into three parts ; and 
 the cities of the Gentiles fell. And great Babylon came in 
 remembrance before God, to give her the cup of the wine of 
 the indignation of his wrath. ^.314. 
 
 20. And every island fled away, and the mountains were 
 not found, p. 314. 
 
 21. And great hail like a talent came down from heaven 
 upon men : and man blasphemed God for the plague of the 
 hail; because it was exceeding great, p. 314. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 And there came one of the seven angels, who had the se- 
 ven vials, and spoke with me, saying : Come, I will show 
 thee the condemnation of the great harlot, who sitteth upon 
 many waters, p. 98. 
 
 2. With whom the kings of the earth have committed for- 
 nication : and they who inhabit the earth have been made 
 drunk with the wine of her whoredom, p. 98. 
 
 3. And he took me away in spirit into the desert. And I 
 saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of 
 names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 
 p. 99. 
 
 4. And the woman was clothed round about with purple 
 and scarlet, and gilt with gold and precious stones and pearls, 
 having a golden cup in her hand, full of the abomination and 
 filthiness of her fornication, p. 99. 
 
 5. And on her forehead a name was written: a Mystery; 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. ^85 
 
 Babylon the great, the mother of the fornications, and the 
 abominations of the earth, jp. 99. 
 
 6. And I saw a woman drunk with the blood of the saints, 
 and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And I wondered 
 when I had seen her, with great admiration, p. 99. 
 
 7. And the angel said to me: Why dost thou wonder? I 
 will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast 
 which carried her, which had the seven heads and ten horns. 
 'p. 99. 
 
 8. The beast, which thou sawest, was and is not, and shall 
 come up out of the bottomless pit, and go into destruction ; 
 and the inhabitants on the earth, whose names are not written 
 in the book of life from the foundation of the world, shall 
 wonder, seeing the beast that was and is not. f. 103. 
 
 9. And here is the understanding, that hath wisdom. The 
 seven heads, are seven mountains, upon which the woman sit- 
 teth, and they are seven kings, p. 103. 
 
 10. Five are fallen, one is, and the other is not yet come: 
 and when he is come, he must remain a short time. p. 103. 
 
 1 1. And the beast which was, and is not ; the same also is 
 the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into destruction, p. 
 104. 
 
 12. And the ten horns, which thou sawest, are ten kings, 
 who have not yet received kingdom, but shall receive power 
 as kings one hour after the beast, p. 105. 
 
 13. These have one design ; and their strength and power 
 they shall deliver to the beast, p. 105. 
 
 14. These shall fight with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall 
 overcome them, because he is Lord of lords, and King of 
 kings, and they that are with him are called, and elect, and 
 faithful, p. 105. 
 
 15. And he said to me; The waters, which thou sawest, 
 where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and nations, and tongues. 
 p. 100. 
 
 16. And the ten horns, which thou sawest on the beast; 
 these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and 
 naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her with lire. 
 p. 106. 
 
 17. For God hath given into their hearts, to do that which 
 pleaseth him ; that they give their kingdom to the beast till 
 the words of God be fulfilled, p. 107. 
 
 18. And the woman which thou sawest, is the great city, 
 which hath kingdom over the kings of the earth, p. 99. 
 
 33 
 
386 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIIl. 
 
 And after these things I saw another angel come down 
 from heaven, having great power ; and the earth was enlight- 
 ened with his glory, p. 108. 
 
 2. And he cried out with a strong voice, saying : Babylon 
 the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of 
 devils, and the hold of every unclean spirit, and the hold of 
 every unclean and hateful bird: p. 108. 
 
 3. Because all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath 
 of her fornication ; and the kings of the earth have committed 
 fornication with her ; and the merchants of the earth have 
 been made rich by the power of her delicacies, f. 109. 
 
 4. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: Go 
 out from her, my people : that you be not partakers of her 
 sins, and that you receive not of her plagues, f. 110. 
 
 5. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and the Lord 
 hath remembered her iniquities, j). 110. 
 
 6. Render to her as she hath also rendered to you ; and 
 double unto her double according to her works; in the cup, 
 wherein she hath mingled, mingle ye double unto her. p. 110. 
 
 7. As much as she hath glorified herself, and lived in deli- 
 cacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to her; j). 1 10, 
 because she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, 
 and sorrow I shall not see. p. 111. 
 
 8. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and 
 mourning, and famine, and she shall be burnt with fire;»be- 
 cause God is strong who shall judge her. p. 111. 
 
 9. And the kings of the earth, who have committed forni- 
 cation, and lived in delicacies with her, shall weep, and be- 
 wail themselves over her, when they shall see the smoke of 
 her burning, p. \i\. 
 
 10. Standing afar off for fear of her torments, saying: 
 Alas ! alas ! that great city Babylon, that mighty city : for in 
 one hour is thy judgment come. p. 112. 
 
 1 1. And the merchants of the earth shall weep, and mourn 
 over her ; for no man shall buy their merchandise any more : 
 f. 112. 
 
 12. Merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones; 
 and of pearls and fine linen and purple, and silk, and scarlet, 
 and all thyine-wood, and all manner of vessels of ivory, and 
 all manner of vessels of precious stones, and of brass, and of 
 iron, and of marble, p. 112. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 387 
 
 13. And cinnamon, and odours, and ointment, and frank- 
 incense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and 
 beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and 
 souls of men. p. 1 12. 
 
 14. And the fruits of the desire of thy soul are departed 
 from thee, and all fat and goodly things are perished from 
 thee, and they shall find them no more at all. p. 112. 
 
 15. The merchants of these things, who were made rich, 
 shall stand afar off from her for fear of her torments, weep- 
 ing and mourning, p. 112. 
 
 16. And saying; Alas! alas! that great city, which was 
 clothed with fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and was gilt 
 with gold and precious stones and pearls; p. 112. 
 
 17. For in one hour are so great riches come to nought; 
 p. 112, and every ship-master, and all that sail into the lake, 
 and mariners, and as many as work in the sea, stood afar oK 
 p, 113. 
 
 18. And cried, seeing the place of her burning, saying ; 
 AVhat city is like to this great city ? p. 113. 
 
 19. And they cast dust upon their heads, and cried, weep- 
 ing and mourning, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein 
 all were made rich, that had ships at sea, by reason of her 
 prices; for in one hour she is made desolate, p. 113. 
 
 20. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles 
 and prophets: for God hath judged your judgment on her. 
 p. 113. 
 
 21. And a mighty angel took up a stone as it were a great 
 millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying. With such violence 
 as this shall Babylon, that great city, be thrown down, and 
 shall be found no more at all. p. 293. 
 
 22. And the voice of harpers, and of musicians, and of 
 them that play on the pipe and the trumpet, shall no more be 
 found in thee ; and no craftsman of any art whatsoever shall 
 be found any more at all in thee ; and the sound of the mill 
 shall be heard no more at all in thee ; p. 293. 
 
 23. And the light of the lamp shall shine no more at all 
 in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride shall 
 be heard no more at all in thee ; for thy merchants were the 
 great men of the earth, for all nations have been deceived by 
 thy enchantments, p. 293. 
 
 24. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of 
 saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth, p. 294. 
 
388 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 After these things I heard as it were the voice of much 
 people in heaven, saying, Alleluia. Salvation and glory and 
 power is to our God: f. 114. 
 
 2. For true and just are his judgments, who hath judged 
 the great harlot, which corrupteth the earth with her fornica- 
 tion, and hath revenged the blood of his servants, at her hands. 
 f. 114. 
 
 3. And again they said ; Alleluia. And her smoke ascend- 
 eth for ever and ever. 7;. 114. 
 
 4. And the four and twenty ancients, and the four living 
 creatures, fell down and adored God that sitteth upon the 
 throne, saying. Amen. Alleluia, p. 114. 
 
 5. And a voice came out from the throne, saying; Give 
 praise to our God, all ye his servants ; and you that fear him, 
 little and great, f. 114. 
 
 6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, 
 and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great 
 thunders, saying. Alleluia : for the Lord our God the Almighty 
 hath reigned, p. 294. 
 
 7. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to him ; for 
 the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath prepared 
 herself p. 323. 
 
 8. And it is granted to her that she should clothe herself 
 with fine linen glittering and while. For the fine linen are 
 the justifications of saints, p. 323. 
 
 9. And he said to me ; Write, Blessed are they that are 
 called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith to 
 me ; These words of God are true. p. 324. 
 
 10. And I. fell down before his feet, to adore him. And he 
 saith to me ; See thou do it not ; I am thy fellow-servant, and 
 of thy brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Adore God. 
 For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, p. 324. 
 
 11. And I saw heaven opened, and beheld a white horse; 
 and he that sat upon him, was called faithful and true, and 
 with justice doth he judge and fight, p. 284. 
 
 12. And his eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head 
 were many diadems, and he had a name written, which no 
 man knoweth but himself j). 284. 
 
 13. And he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with 
 blood; and his name is called, The word of God. ;?. 284. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 389 
 
 14. And the armies that are in heaven followed him on 
 white horses, clothed in fine linen white and clean, p. 285. 
 
 15. And out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged 
 sword ; that with it he may strike the nations. And he shall 
 rule them with a rod of iron ; and he treadeth the wine-press 
 of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty, f. 285, 
 
 16. And he hath on his garment and on his thigh written, 
 King of kings and Lord of lords, p. 285. 
 
 17. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried 
 with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that did fly through 
 the midst of heaven ; Come, gather yourselves together to the 
 great supper of God. p. 285. 
 
 18. That you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of 
 tribunes, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, 
 and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all freemen and 
 bondmen, and of little and of great, p. 286. 
 
 19. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and 
 their armies gathered together to make war with him that sat 
 upon the horse, and with his army. p. 286. 
 
 20. And the beast was taken, and with him the false pro- 
 phet, who wrought signs before him, wherewith he seduced 
 them who received the character of the beast, and who adored 
 his image. These two were cast alive into the pool of fire 
 burning with brimstone, p. 286. 
 
 21 . And the rest were slain by the sword of him that sitteth 
 upon the horse, which proceedeth out of his mouth : and all 
 the birds were filled with their flesh, p. 287. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having 
 the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand, 
 p. 68. - ^ ^ 
 
 2. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is 
 the devil/^nd Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, p. 68. 
 
 3. Arid he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him 
 up, and set a seal upon him, that he should no more seduce 
 the nations, till the thousand years be finished. And after that 
 he must be loosed a little time. p. 68. 
 
 4. And I saw seats ; and they sat upon them, and judgment 
 was given unto them, and the souls of them that were beheaded 
 for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and who 
 
 33* 
 
390 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 had not adored the beast nor his image, nor received his cha- 
 racter on their foreheads, or in their hands, and they lived and 
 reigned with Christ a thousand years, p. 69. 
 
 5. And the rest of the dead lived not, till the thousand years 
 were finished. This is the first resurrection, p. 69. 
 
 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resur- 
 rection. In these the second death hath no power : but they 
 shall be priests of God and of Christ ; and shall reign with 
 him a thousand years, p. 70. 
 
 7. And when the thousand years shall be finished, Satan 
 shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth and se- 
 duce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the earth, 
 p. 229, Gog, and Magog, and shall gather them together to 
 battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. p. 299. 
 
 8. And they came upon the breadth of the earth, and en- 
 compassed the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. p. 30 ). 
 
 9. And there came down fire from God out of heaven, and 
 devoured them, p. 302, and the devil, who seduced, was cast 
 into the pool of fire and brimstone, p. 305. 
 
 10. Where both the beast and the false prophet shall be 
 tormented day and night for ever and ever. p. 305. 
 
 11. And I saw a great white throne, and one sitting upon 
 it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there 
 was no place found for them. p. 317. 
 
 12. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the 
 presence of the throne, and the books were opened : and an- 
 other book was opened, which is the book of life ; and the 
 dead were judged by those things which were written in the 
 books, according to their works, p. 317. 
 
 13. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and 
 death and hell gave up their dead that were in them : and 
 they were judged every one according to their works, p. 318. 
 
 14. And hell and death vt^ere cast into the pool of fire. This 
 is the second death, p. 320. 
 
 15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of 
 life, was cast into the pool of fire. p. 321. 
 
 i 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first 
 heaven and the first earth was gone, and the sea is now no 
 more. p. 325. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. 391 
 
 2. And I John saw the holy city the new Jerusalem coming 
 down out of heaven, from God, prepared as a bride adorned 
 for her husband, p. 327, 
 
 3. And I heard a greaj. voice from the throne, saying, Be- 
 hold the tabernacle of God with men, and he will dwell with 
 them. And they shall be his people ; and God himself with 
 them shall be their God. p. 327. 
 
 4. And God shall w^ipe away all tears from their eyes ; and 
 death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sor- 
 row shall be any more, for the former things are passed away. 
 p. 327. 
 
 5. And he that sat on the throne, said : Behold, I make all 
 things new. p. 328. And he said to me : Write, for these 
 words are most faithful and true. p. 329. 
 
 6. And he said to me : It is done. I am Alpha and Ome- 
 ga ; the beginning and the end. To him that thirsteth I will 
 give of the fountain of the water of life, freely, p. 329. 
 
 7. He that shall overcome, shall possess these things, and 
 I will be his God, and he shall be my son. p. 329. 
 
 8. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and 
 murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, 
 and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burn- 
 ing with fire and brimstone, which is the second death, p. 
 329. 
 
 9. And there came one of the seven angels, who had the 
 vials full of the seven last plagues, and spoke with me, say- 
 ing : Come, and I will show thee the bride, the wife of the 
 Lamb. p. 330. 
 
 10. And he took me up in spirit to a great and high moun- 
 tain : and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming 
 down out of heaven from God. p. 330. 
 
 11. Having the glory of God ; and the light thereof was 
 like to a precious stone, as to the jasper stone, even as crys- 
 tal, p. 330. 
 
 12. And it had a wall great and high, having twelve gates, 
 and in the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, 
 which are names of the twelve tribes of the children of Is- 
 rael, p. 330. 
 
 13. On the east, three gates ; and on the north, three gates ; 
 and on the south, three gates ; and on the west, three gates. 
 p. 331. 
 
 14. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and 
 in them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 
 p. 331. 
 
392 THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 15. And he that spake with me, had a measure of a reed, 
 of gold, to measure the city and the gates thereof, and the 
 wall. y. 331. 
 
 16. And the city lieth in a four square, and the length 
 thereof is as great as the breadth ; and he measured the city 
 with a golden reed for the twelve thousand furlongs ; and the 
 length, and the height, and the breadth thereof are equal. 
 p. 331. 
 
 17. And he measured the wall thereof a hundred forty-four 
 cubits, the measure of a man which is of an angel, p. 331. 
 
 18. And the building of the wall thereof was of jasper- 
 stone ; but the city itself pure gold, like to clear glass, p. 
 332. 
 
 19. And the foundations of the wall of the city, were 
 adorned with all manner of precious stones. The first foun- 
 dation was jasper ; the secoad, sapphire ; the third, a chalce- 
 dony ; the fourth, an emerald, p. 332. 
 
 20. The fifth, sardonix ; the sixth, sardius ; the seventh, 
 chrysolite ; the eighth, beryl ; the ninth, a topaz ; the tenth, 
 a chrysoprasus ; the eleventh, a jacinth ; the twelfth, an 
 amethyst, p. 332. 
 
 2 1 . And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, one to each ; 
 and every several gate was of one several pearl. And the 
 street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 
 p. 332. 
 
 22. And I saw no temple therein. For the Lord God 
 Almighty is the temple thereof, and the Lamb. p. 332. 
 
 23. And the city hath no need of the sun, nor of the moon, 
 to shine in it. For the glory of God hath enlightened it, and 
 the Lamb is the lamp thereof p. 332. 
 
 24. And the nations shall walk in the light of it ; and the 
 kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honour into it. 
 p. 333. 
 
 25. And the gates thereof shall not be shut by day; for 
 there shall be no night there, p. 333. 
 
 26. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the na- 
 tions into it. p. 333. 
 
 27. There shall not enter into it any thing defileo, or that 
 worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they that are writ- 
 ten in the book of life of the Lamb. p. 333. 
 
THE APOCALYPSE. • 393 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 And he showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, 
 proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. p. 334. 
 
 2. In the midst of the street thereof, and on both sides of 
 the river, was the tree of life, bearing- twelve fruits, yielding 
 its fruits every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the 
 healing of the nations, f. 334. 
 
 3 And there shall be no curse any more; but the throne 
 of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall 
 serve him. /;. 334. 
 
 4. And they shall see his face ; and his name shall be on 
 their foreheads, p. 334. 
 
 5. And night shall be no more : and they shall not need the 
 light of the lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord 
 God shall enlighten them, and they shall reign for ever and 
 ever. p. 335. 
 
 6. And he said to me: These words are most faithful and 
 true. And the Lord God of the spirits of the prophets, sent 
 his angel to show his servants the thmgs which must be done 
 shortly, p. 335. 
 
 7. And behold I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth 
 the words of the prophecy of this book. ;;. 336. 
 
 8. And I John, who have heard, and seen these things. 
 And after I had heard and seen, I fell dowp to adore before 
 the feet of the angel, who showed me these things, p. 336. 
 
 9. And he said to me, See thou do it not : for I am thy 
 fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them 
 that keep the words of the prophecy of this book : Adore God. 
 p. 336. 
 
 1 0. And he saith to me : Seal not the words of the prophecy 
 of this book: for the time is at hand. p. 337. 
 
 1 1. He that hurteth, let him hurt still ; and he that is filthy, 
 let him be filthy still ; and he that is just, let him be justified 
 still; and he that is holy, let him be sanctified still, p. 337. 
 
 12. Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, 
 to render to every man according to his works, p. 337. 
 
 13. I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the be- 
 ginning and the end. p. 337. 
 
 14. Blessed are they, that wash their robes in the blood of 
 the Lamb : that they might have a right to the tree of life, 
 and may enter in by the gates into the city. p. 337. 
 
394 • THE APOCALYPSE. 
 
 15. Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and unchaste, and 
 murderers, and servers of idols, and every one that loveth and 
 maketh a lie. p. 338. 
 
 16. I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you these things 
 in the churches. I am the root and stock of David, the bright 
 and morning star. p. 338. 
 
 17. And the spirit and the bride say ; Come. And he that 
 heareth, let him say, Come. And he that thirsteth, let him 
 come ; and he that will, let him take the water of life freely. 
 p. 338. 
 
 18. For I testify to every one that heareth the words of the 
 prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things 
 God shall add unto him the plagues written in this book, p, 
 339. 
 
 19. And if any man shall take away from the words of the 
 book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of 
 the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from these things 
 that are written in this book. p. 339. 
 
 20. He that giveth testimony of these things saith ; Surely, 
 I come quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus, p. 339. 
 
 21. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, 
 Amen. j?. 361. 
 
 ■"t.!Or*k « 
 
 it K 
 
 THS END. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 The Editor to the Public 3 
 
 The Introduction 7 
 
 Chap. I. — Explication of the first chapter of the Apocalypse .... 15 
 Chap II.— The History of the first Age of the Christian Church 23 
 
 Prelude to the opening of the seven Seals <. 23 
 
 The opening of the first Seal 31 
 
 Prelude to the sounding of the seven Trumpets 34 
 
 The sounding of the first Trumpet 3G 
 
 Prelude to the pouring out of the seven Vials of the Wrath of 
 
 God 45 
 
 The pouring out of the first Vial 49 
 
 Chap, III. — A further Account of the first Age of the Christian 
 
 Church 58 
 
 Chap. IV. — The History of the second Age of the Christian 
 
 Church 72 
 
 The opening of the second Seal 72 
 
 The sounding fo the second Trumpet 74 
 
 The pouring out of the second Vial 74 
 
 The Explication of the second Seal, second Trumpet, and se- 
 cond Vial, illustrated by history 75 
 
 Chap, v.— The History of the third Age of the Christian Church 85 
 
 The opening of the third Seal 85 
 
 The sounding of the third Trumpet 86 
 
 The pouring out of the third Vial 88 
 
 The Explication of the third Seal, third Trumpet, and the third 
 
 Vial, illustrated by history 89 
 
 Chap. VI. — A further Account of the third Age of the Christian 
 
 Church 98 
 
 Chap. VII.— The History of the fourth Age of the Christian 
 
 Church 116 
 
 The opening of the fourth Seal 116 
 
 The Explication of the fourth Seal illustrated by history 118 
 
 The sounding of the fourth Trumpet 125 
 
 The Explication of the fourth Trumpet illustrated by history 126 
 The pouring out of the fourth Vial 132 
 
396 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Chap. VIII.— The History of the fifth Age of the Christian 
 
 ^; Church 135 
 
 ■■'•The opening of the fifth Seal 135 
 
 The sounding of the fifth Trumpet 141 
 
 Chap. IX. — Continuation of the History of the fifth Age of the 
 
 Christian Church 172 
 
 The pouring out of the fifth Vial 183 
 
 Chap. X. — The History of the sixth Age of the Christian Church 186 
 
 The opening of the sixth Seal 187 
 
 Narrative preparatory to the prophecy of the sixth Trumpet. . 194 
 
 The sounding of the sixth Trumpet 226 
 
 The pouring out of the sixth Vial , 227 
 
 Chap. XI. — Continuation of the History of the sixth Age of the 
 
 Christian Church 25" 
 
 Chap. XII. — Continuation of the History of the sixth Age of the 
 
 Christian Church fP? 2bx 
 
 Chap. XIII. — The History of the seventh Age of the Christian 
 
 Church 311 
 
 The opening of the seventh Seal 311 
 
 The sounding of the seventh Trumpet 311 
 
 The pouring out of the seventh Vial , 313 
 
 Chap. XIV.— Conclusion of the Apocalypse 336 
 
 Chap. XV. — Reflections on the seven Ages of the Christian 
 
 Church : 340 
 
 The text of the Apocalypse 362 
 
 
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