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of the edict of a Roman emperor of old, if we for a moment contemplate such edicts as were wont to be issued by a Nero, a Trajan, or a Dioclesian, against Christianity, in the same manner as these subsequent ones were issued in its favour. As the former brought in their train unknown and unheard-of miseries and calamities, a record of which is found in the history of the ten Pagan persecutions; so the latter were most truly attended with the real possession of all the honours, immunities, and privileges which they professed to confer, and ultimately with all the consequences exhibited by Papal tyranny.

And we are not without precedents for events of this description forming prophetical eras. They stand very prominent in the chronological prophecies, as in the "third, fourth, and sixth periods," in no less than four instances, edicts of the kings of Persia are used for this purpose -viz. that of Cyrus, of Darius Hystaspes, and, on two occasions that of Artaxerxes to Ezra.

It appears, therefore, with the most perfect propriety of imagery, that four such epocha, each of which is so distinctly marked by the seal, and the willing seal, of an Emperor, should be represented by the homogeneous symbol of an equestrian, such being generally indicative of royalty. And it is with equal significancy

that the colours of these horses, and the accompanying symbols of their riders, should represent the different phases or conditions through which the Christian church should pass in consequence of such edicts-from "a state of great spiritual prosperity, to one of active persecution in practice, and death-like corruption in morals and doctrine."

Having made these preliminary remarks, it now remains to consider the seals separately and more particularly.

FIRST SEAL.

"And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer."

The first occasion on which the seal of empire was set to the concerns of the church, was when the laws of the Council of Nice were ratified and legalized by the Emperor Constantine, A.D. 325. This celebrated Council had been convoked at the command of the Emperor, for the purpose of putting down Arianism; and is denominated by Mosheim "one of the most famous and interesting events that are presented to us in ecclesiastical history." That portion of its

enactments which brings it more immediately in view as applying to this seal, and marks it as the first recognition of the church's declension into the abominations of Popery, is the power and authority which it gave to the great metropolitan bishops of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople, over the other churches and countries; and the foundation it thereby laid for that priestly domination, which subsequently was exercised in such a fatal manner by the bishops or popes of Rome. Not that this evil, with others that flowed from the same sunshine of royal favour, are so much to be charged on Constantine personally, as on the SPIRIT OF THE TIMES in which he lived, and the influence which the Christians who surrounded him had upon his mind. Almost every corruption, both in doctrine and practice, that afterwards disfigured the church, not only existed, but had reached a great height before his time. In the providence of God, he directed the stream of deterioration into this particular channel; and hence the persecutions, bloodshed, and enormities, which for many ages afterwards loaded the Christian name with infamy and disgrace, are laid to his charge.

"Let us not," says the learned Dr. Pye Smith, in a sermon lately published," with servile credulity repeat the twenty times told cry, that the Christian religion flourished in extra

ordinary purity and power, and shone brightly in the beauty of holiness, till it was adopted and incorporated into the imperial institutions by Constantine. From the days of the Apostles themselves it began to be invaded and perverted; and, after the death of the Apostle John, the departures from Scriptural purity were rapid and fearful. Besides dangerous errors in the primary doctrines of the Gospel, we find many corruptions in discipline and order, long before the close of the third century. Ambition, usurpation, and the love of worldly pomp, shewed themselves in many ways. Efforts to obtain dominion were zealously made, and the spirit of persecution was displayed among the primitive pastors and their churches. Christian ministers themselves had amply prepared the materials and the means of further debasement."

Thus it appears that Constantine only put his seal, and thereby gave the stamp of government, to evils which he found. And it will be perceived, as we proceed, that the same observation will apply, in an equal degree, to the remaining six seals.

The next three Emperors who put their seals to the corruptions and evils of their times, were equally carried away in the rapids by which they were surrounded, and I believe had but little conception of what would be the tendency

of their individual acts. The Emperor Gratian, for instance, is spoken of by Milner as a most decided and exemplary believer; and even Justinian himself was the champion of the orthodox faith, in opposition to the Arian heresy, which he all but extinguished. The state of things, likewise, to which the Emperors Charles V., Francis II., and Napoleon, set their seals, forming the fifth, sixth, and seventh seals of this series of visions, were previously brought about in a way of Providence; and were not by these respective seals created, but merely confirmed.

These observations, I consider, enable us more fully to perceive the just application of the symbols of this first seal to Constantine; as they serve to shew, that, in the setting of his seal to the affairs of the church, in whatever way the effect of such act might give an impetus to its deterioration, yet that it unquestionably was the seal of the TRIUMPH of Christianity over Paganism. Hence, with the utmost propriety, a a "white horse," a "bow," and a

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crown," are given to him; and in allusion to the conquest of three hundred years, from the first propagation of Christianity to his own time, which had at length, after the most severe persecutions, been obtained, it is said, "he went forth conquering and to conquer."

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