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superior excellency . And as Smyrna signifies tnyrrh , the incense . which ascended before the altar was the perfume of bitter persecutions , imprisonments , tortures and martyrdom . This was declared ( chap . ii . 9 ) should take
place , and principally owing , to the Jewish nation and ' priesthood , who * having lost their political character , endeavoured , by all their influence , 1 o prejudice , by false representations , the Gentiles against Christianity . It was likewise foretold they should have
ten years of severe persecution , but that , if they faithfully suffered martyrdom for it , they should , by their death , gain for Christianity a crown among the living ; which took place when Constantine made it the religion of the Roman empire .
During the reigns of Augustus , Tiberius , Caligula , Claudius , Nero , Galba , Otho , and - Vitellius , Christianity was gaining ground by its simplicity , and the purity of its doctrines . Miraculous powers evidenced itstruths to be of divine origin ; these , aided by the apostolic labours , formed Christian societies over the whole Roman
empire . Christianity was generally free from persecution , excepting from the Jews . The standard-bearers are represented in the square camp , one at each quarter of the world , Rome , the seat of government , being considered as the centre .
Chap . vi . 1 , 2 , opens the first seal , by introducing to the throne of the Caesars , Vespasian from the West .-This seal lasts with the Flavian family , twenty-eight years . Its white horse and bow is the emblem of victory , and the reign of the princes of this family was one season of conquest ..
Ver . 3 , 4 . The second seal ushers in Nerva from the West , and lasts to the murder of Didius Julianus . Nerva was a Spaniard , west of Rome , as was also Trajan , who succeeded him . This period is well emblemized by the red horse ; it being
remarkable for the conquests of Trajan , the slaughter of the Jewish nation , the bloody victories of Antoninus on the Danube , and the horrible cruelties of Comtnodus , followed by the murders of the emperors Pertinax and Julianus . %
Ver . 6 y 6 . The third seal is from the South , and introduces the Severian famiiy from Africa . Equally well is the
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reign of J > is family for about forty-two years eiiibleuiized by a black horse and balances . His own cruelties and severe regulations were followed by the horrible atrocities of the fierce Caracalla , who was succeeded by the infamous and effeminate Heltogabalus , and the murder of the excellent Alexander .
Ver . 7 , 8 , introduce the fourth seal from the North , and which contain an epitome of war , famine , wild beasts and pestilence , which last about fifty years , beginning with the reigra of Maximin of Thrace , who began his reign by seizing all the public revenues , and exercising the most unheardof cruelties , and close with the
election of Diocletian to the imperial dignity . This is allowed to be the most awful period that the empire had ever known . The competitors for the purple were so numerous , that , between civil wars and the invasions of the
barbarians ^ wild beasts , famine and pestilence desolated the whole empire . Ver . 9—11 , is theopening of the fifth seal , and alludes to the ten years' persecution under Diocletian . The scene
is laid in the Temple , and the martyrs who had been sacrificed are represented as crying for vengeance upon their persecutors j they are exhorted to patience , and to consider how the Ephesian church had triumphed .
The other persecutions had been occasioned by various causes emanating from Christianity ; but this was occasioned by a full determination to destroy the Christian name , instead of
which it occasioned the overturning of the Pagan Idolatry of Rome , and substituting nominal Christianity in its stead .
Ver . 12—17 y is the sixth seal opened with an account of the overturning of Paganism . By a reference to Haggai ii . 1 , Ileb . xii . 27 , Isaiah xiii . 12—14 , xxxiv . 4 , Jeremiah iv . 28 , 24 , Joel ii . 10 , SI , Matt . xxiv . 39 , as well as other
places , it will appear that this language of the Revelator signifies that the Christian Church was completely triumphant over its Heathen adversaries , and that a new temporal order of
things had taken place * which it did , when the emperors C * alerius , Maximin , and Ucinus , made a public profession of their guilt , recalled their decrees , and acknowledged the divine judgments in their chastisement . T * T .
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Biblical Criticism . —On the Contents of the Book of the Revelation . * ¦ 45
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1819, page 45, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1768/page/45/
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