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Church of Christ in a condition of great depression; and continually exposed to, and at times grievously suffering from, the persecutions of Paganism. That under the sixth Seal had described, in terms which cannot easily be mistaken, the nature of that ever memorable Revolution, by which the empire was brought to the open profession of Christianity; and the Church was for ever freed from subjection to the tyrannical power of a pagan supremacy. But though she had nothing more to dread from the efforts of pagan enmity, she had soon much to apprehend from other causes-from the intestine divisions of the empire; from the incursions of barbarous nations; from the unprincipled ambition of some of her own prelates; and from the heresies and schisms, which now began to spring up, with peculiar luxuriance, within her own pale. All these sources of vexation, and gradual corruption, will fully develop themselves as we proceed.

I have already hinted', that the reign of Constantine, although so remarkable for its general tranquillity, was not unaccompanied with circumstances, which might well be regarded as exceptions; and must have tended to excite alarm. These were chiefly to be observed in the conduct of the emperor himself. Such was his behaviour towards Licinius; who, after his resignation of the purple, having been received by Constantine with

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great demonstrations of kindness, and sent by him into Thessaly, with an assurance that he should live unmolested so long as he created no new disturbance, was, nevertheless, soon after strangled by his order. Such was his unjust and cruel treatment of his own son Crispus; whom, contrary to all the laws of justice and equity, in direct opposition to the usual clemency of his own nature, and without giving the prince an opportunity of clearing himself of an accusation which had been preferred against him, he ordered to be put to death. Such was the cruelty with which he conducted himself towards his nephew, the young Licinius, whom he caused to be slain in the twelfth year of his age*. St. Jerome styles these executions the effect of "an unheard-of cruelty':" they were, indeed, abrupt and dark shades of the picture, which the general splendour of the whole serves only to render more hideous and disgusting; and which the partial veil of historical adulation has in vain attempted to conceal.

Upon the demise of this emperor, every prospect, which had before presented itself, of the continuance of tranquillity, and the increase of prosperity, was rapidly withdrawn. He had, by his will, divided his dominions between his three sons, Constantine, Constantius, and Constans; and his two

* Anc. Univ. Hist. Vol. XV. p. 584-588. Decline and Fall, Vol. II. chap. xiv. p. 262; and Vol. III. chap. xviii. p. 109, &c. 1 Jerome in Chronic.

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nephews, Dalmatius, and Hannibalianus; and had thus laid the foundation for all those scenes of confusion, which so quickly succeeded. Though such extravagant honours were paid to his remains before their interment, that it seemed, in the language of flattery," as if Constantine alone, by the peculiar indulgence of heaven, had reigned after "his death;" yet "it was soon discovered, that "the will of the most absolute monarch is seldom obeyed, when his subjects have no longer any thing to hope from his favour, or to dread from "his resentment. The same ministers and gene"rals, who bowed with such reverential awe before "the inanimate corpse of their deceased sovereign,

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were engaged in secret consultations, to exclude "his two nephews, Dalmatius and Hannibalianus, "from the share which he had assigned them in "the succession of the empire"."

So short was the time which elapsed, between the death of the emperor, and that partial setting aside of his will, which became the occasion of almost immediate war! The account of his death no sooner reached the armies, than they agreed to acknowledge no other emperors than his three sons, whom they accordingly proclaimed. The senate of Rome did the same things soon after, taking no notice whatever of his two nephews". Here, then, was the breaking of this symbolical

m Decline and Fall, Vol. III. chap. xviii. p. 128, &c. " Anc. Univ. Hist. Vol. XVI. book iv. chap. ii. p. 145-147.

silence in the political heaven, which is well said by St. John to have lasted "about the space of half-an-hour;"—that is, only till the nearest armies could be fully apprised of the demise of their sovereign, and their generals had determined what line of conduct to pursue. Supposing, agreeably to the ordinary mode of calculating the duration of prophetical periods, that "a day" is used to signify a natural year, "half-an-hour," or the forty-eighth part of a prophetical day, will be about seven natural days and a half; which would allow sufficient time, in all probability, for the conveyance of the intelligence, and the first formation of the resolution that followed. intrigue" against the two young princes, says Mr. Gibbon, "was conducted with zeal and secrecy, "till a loud and unanimous declaration was pro"cured from the troops, that they would suffer none except the sons of their lamented monarch, to reign over the Roman empire." It is scarcely necessary to add, that this resolution proved fatal, very soon afterwards, to these unfortunate princes; -that all the princes of the illustrious family of Constantine, except his three sons and two other nephews, fell victims, about the same time, to

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"The

• Of these two nephews of Constantine, Gallus owed his life to a malady which was expected to be mortal, and Julian to his infancy, he being then but about seven years old. They were the sons of Julius Constantius, who fell in this massacre. Univ. Hist. Vol. XVI. p. 152. Both of these princes came afterwards to violent and untimely deaths; the former of them

Anc.

military execution;-and that the very division of the territories, which Dalmatius and Hannibalianus should have inherited, became, ere long, the ground of an unnatural war between the three remaining sovereigns. Thus tremendous was the breaking of the "silence" spoken of by the Prophet!

Ver. 2.—And I saw the SEVEN ANGELS who stood before GOD; and to them were given SEVEN TRUMPETS'.

Here is introduced the second of those septenary arrangements, which so particularly mark the three grand divisions of this prophetic book; and are so well adapted to point out the perfection of that scheme of Divine dispensation, the continuous parts of which are peculiarly shadowed out from beneath them.

The connexion, intimately subsisting between this and the former division, will be obvious.

1. As it has been seen, that the opening of the first six SEALS was designed to exhibit, in unbroken succession, the various "signs" of those times, which would intervene between the writing of this prophecy, and the firm establishment of the

being beheaded by order of his cousin Constantius; and the latter mortally wounded in his war with the Persians.

P Who these ANGELS are, and what the TRUMPETS which they severally sounded, will be explained under Rev. viii. 7, 8, 10. 12; ix. 1. 13; and xi. 15.

See Introduction, Sect. V. viii. pages 82, 83.

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