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 terrible 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 onethird 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 persecution and all the green grass, or best grass, was consumed, 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 metaphorically stiled 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 strictest 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 propagation 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 potenta tes 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 worid, his chief attempt was to instil the poison of his malice into the minds of the pagan Roman emperors, and to inspire them with the rankest hatred against the Christian religion. To open the scene of his hellish machinations, he made use of the emperor Nero, doubtless 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 imputed 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, being clad in coats dipt in pitch or brimstone, that

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they might serve as torches in the night. 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 consequence of the severe edict of Nero, many Christians were 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 emperors Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, and the humane disposition of Vespasian and Titus, gave some rest to the Christians, 'till Domitian succee ding, began the second general persecution. 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 Flavius Clemens, his own cousin-german, for being a christian, and banished Clemens's wife Domitilla. SS. Nereus and Achilleus suffered also in this persecution; as likewise Antipas, mentioned in chap. ii. 13. of the Apocalypse, whom Christ calls there "his faithful 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 coming out more vigorous than before, he was banished to the isle of Patmos.

The third Persecution under Trajan.

The Christian religion, by the beginning of the second century, had prodigiously increased, and

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spread itself through a great extent in Europe, Asia, and Africa; and all considerable cities were governed by their respective bishops. Trajan, the Roman emperor, according to the Pagan writers, was of a mild temper and possessed of many amiable qualities, which gained him from the senate the title of Optimus,' or good prince.' 6 But this glorious title received a black and indelible stain from the persecutions which he permitted to be carried on against the Christians. For, though he issued out no new edicts against them, he suffered the former sanguinary laws to be executed in different parts of the empire in the years 106, 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 condemned and sent to Rome, there to be torn to pieces by wild beasts in the amphitheatre.

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The fourth Persecution under Marcus Aurelius.

The fourth persecution finds its place in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, in the year 166, &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 superstitious; and as he also boasted of being a philosopher, he was easily instigated by the heathen priests and philosophers against the Christians,

whose principles of religion and philosophy were so contrary to theirs. If Aurelius issued out no new edicts, he permitted at least the governors of provinces to put in execution the laws subsisting. And that the persecution was very violent and bloody, appears from the several apologies presented to him by St. Justin, Melito, Athenagoras, and Apollinaris, intreating 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, con veyed to heaven. At length the emperor put an end to the persecution about the year 174, prevailed upon, as 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 was shut up in narrow defiles, and surrounded by the Quadi 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 lightning, 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

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