Sixth Seal Footnotes

1 A distinctive servile dress was not actually enjoined on slaves by the Roman law. In fact, when a law of that purport was once proposed, it was negatived as dangerous, because it would have revealed to slaves their numbers; which, according to the most probable calculation, equaled that of freemen in the empire; and under the early emperors amounted to perhaps sixty millions. (See Seneca de Clemen. i. 24, and Gibbon i. 66.) The emperor Severus was similarly dissuaded afterwards from enjoining a distinctive dress on the different ranks and classes in the empire. (M. Lampridius Vit. A. Severi, c. 27.) Yet a distinctive dress was customary; as appears from the phrase in common use, servilis habitus, servilis vestis, &c. So Eusebius and Lactantius speak of Maximin disguising himself after his defeat in a slave's dress, "servilis vestis." Euseb. V. C. i. 58, Lactant. M. P. 4 7. The official dress of emperors, officers of state, and soldiers was also distinctive.

2 Unless their enthroned one was an earthly Christian king. Compare Rev. 12:5.

3 Lactantius writing at this precise epoch, says, that few comparatively had embraced the Christian religion.. Instit. i. 1. So also Gibbon ii. 371 ; who estimates the Christians as not more than a twentieth part of the population before the conversion of Constantine.

4 Eusebius again and again speaks of the deliverance and triumph of the church through Constantine's victories, as most extraordinary, and beyond expectation;, &c. Hist. Eccl. ix. 7. 8, 9; viii. 16, &c.

5 Dr. Adam Clarke, on this passage in the Apocalypse, observes;-" The final destruction of Jerusalem, and the revolution which took place in the Roman empire under Constantine, were the greatest events that have ever taken place in the world, from the flood to the 18th century of the Christian era; and may well justify the strong figurative language used."-Of course he means events of a politico-religious nature. And if he had only added the Reformation as a third to his list, it seems to me that his selection of them, and estimate of their unparalleled importance, must have approved itself to every one's considerate judgment.

6 This was his character, indeed, from the beginning of his reign. Gib. iii. 243. Eusebius represents his father Constantius as a Christian at the time of his death. V. C. L 21, 27.-Lactantius' early dedication of the Divine Institutions to him has been already noticed.

7 The following Constantinian dates may be useful.-A. D. 306, July 24, Contantius' death and Constantine's accession as Augustus:-309-310 Maximian's capture and death:-311 Galerius' death:-319 C.'s war with, and defeat of, Maxntius ; Oct. 25 Battle of Milvian Bridge, and C.'s entry into Rome :-313, May 1, Maximin defeated by Licinius ; June 5, Milan Decree in favor of Christianity: deaths of Diocletian and Maximin:-314, war with, and defeat of, Licinius:-323-324, second war with, and defeat and death of, Licinius: Constantine sole Emperor:325, Council of Nicaea:-337, Constantine's death.

8 Eusebius (V. C. i. 3 1 ) states that Constantine himself wore the sign of the cross upon his helmet; and (H. E. ix. 9) how, on his entering Rome, after the battle and victory, he ordered the cross to be placed in the right hand of the statue that was about to be raised to him, with the following inscription on it; " Hoc salutari signo vestram urbem tyrannicae dominationis jugo liberatam servavi, &c." When sole emperor, he wrote to Sapor, the Persian king, that his soldiers bore it on their shoulders. V. C. iv. 9.

9 Nomen ipsum crucis absit non modo a corpore civium Romanorum, sed etiam a cogitatione, oculis, auribus." So wrote Cicero in his oration for Rabirius, ch. 5. And what a comment does it furnish on St. Paul's magnificent exclamation, made in the midst of the Roman empire, when that empire was in its height of power and glory;-" God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."

10 The labarum* is described by Eusebius V. C. i. 31 ; also, as in Note 8 just above, by Lactantius. It seems that fifty men were specially appointed to guard it. (V. C. ii. 4.) I append an engraving of it from a medal of Constantius, with its famous motto circumscribed. Also one of Constantine, helmeted with the monogram.

The labaristic monogram appears in some of the inscriptions in the Catacombs, Dr. Maitland, p. 169, gives an example; with the heavenly words addrest In the vision to Constantine.

In Hoc Vinces.

X

Sinfonia et Mills.

v. ann. x1viii. m. v. d. iiii. where the v. in the last line is vixit: " lived 48 years, 5 months, 4 days."

* The word labarum, about the origin of which there has been some literary doubt and discussion, (see Ducange on the word) had been long before used as the name of a chief standard in the Roman armies. So Tertullian, Apol. c. 16; " Vexillo. rum et labarorum." See Eckhel viii. 494. Constantine gave it a new device, but retained the old name.

11Compare Mosheim's critical but candid discussion of the story (iv. 1. 1. 9.) with Gibbon's skeptical critique, 111. 259. Mosheim's conclusion is that the vision of the cross was seen by Constantine in a dream before the battle with Maxentims, with the inscription, " Hic vince." This agrees with Lactantius's account. This account was written by Lactantius very soon after the defeat of Maximin; and before Licinius' apostasy to Heathenism, and first war with Constantine; as appears from the concluding chapters of the work. Consequently in the year 313 or 314; or, at furthest, not more than two years after the battle with Matentius.

Lactantius was already acquainted, it would seem, with Constantine, judging from his dedication of the Institutions to him : and he was in 317 made tutor to Constantine's son Crispus.

It is quite surprising to me that a writer like Dean Waddington should have entirely set aside this most important testimony, in his critique on the subject, I. 170 -.--saying in his text: " The story is related by no contemporary author excepting Eusebius: "'and in his Note; " We have ventured to omit the dream published by the uncertain author of the Book 'De Mortibus Persecutorum.'" -Nazarius in his Panegyric, pronounced A. D. 321 at Rome, speaks of the rumor prevalent in Gaul, that heavenly warriors had appeared to Constantine, and led him in the war, c. 14, 15.

It may help to guide the reader's judgment on the question whether the vision was a truth or an imposture, to compare it both in its own nature, and in the time and manner of its announcement by Constantine, with some other asserted vision of a similar character, such as was proved in fine to be an imposture for instance, the vision of a golden lance, so famous in the first crusade.

12 "Instinctu Divinitatis; " said the Inscription on Constantine's triumphal Arc, with reference to his expedition against Maxentius. See Montfaucon's engraving of it, iv. 108.

13 So Gibbon, ii. 169, after noting Diocletian's change of the government Three or four magnificent courts were established in the various parts of the empire; and as many Ronan kings contended with each other for the vain superiority of pomp and luxury.

14 I include Maximin's defeat in this list, although accomplished by Licinius ; because Licinius was at that time in strict alliance with Constantine as a joint champion of the Christian cause. So Eusebius speaks of the two together, and tells how Licinius seemed only second to Constantine in understanding and piety. Eccl. Hist. ix. 9, 10.

15 I might have headed the list with Maximian; who, first of all, had been put to flight, besieged, taken, and then imprisoned, and killed by Constantine. For this heathen and persecuting emperor was defeated by Constantine after the latter's known favor to the Christians. On the whole there were not less than ten or eleven battles (including that of Licinius against Maximin) before the complete triumph of the Christian cause: viz. those of Susa, Turin, Verona, and the Milvian Bridge against Maxentius; that of Heraclius against Maximin; and those of Cibalis, Mardis, Hadrianople, Byzantium, Chalcedon, and Chrysopolis in the two wars against Licinius.

16 It is in the inside of the central arch ; and is engraved in Montfaucon vii. 426 It represents Mazentiua's army drowning, while pursued by Constantine and his army, in the retreat across the Tiber. This destruction of Maxentius and his host in the Tiber is compared by Eusebius, ibid. to that of Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the Red Sea: and, to express the Christians' triumph, he adopts the words of the song of Moses; " They sunk like lead in the mighty waters." &c.

It is observable that neither in the bas-relief on the are of Constantine, -nor in the medals with the labarum, do the soldiers' shields appear marked with the cross. In the triumphal am it is accounted for by the circumstance of the sculptured figures on it having been taken from other triumphal Roman monuments of more ancient date; especially Trajan's arc of triumph. So Montfaucon, iv. 108.

17 In a famous picture of this battle by Le Brun, the labarum, or banner of the cross, appears so prominent among the standards of the Constantinian army, and the consternation of the defeated Pagan Romans before it so strikingly depicted, that it might almost be deemed a comment on this part of the sixth Seal's prefigurations. It is the subject too of one of Raphael's famous pictures.

18 The medal of Diocletian as Jovius, striking down with his forked lightning a wretch whose form ends in the folds of a serpent's tail, is given in Walsh :-of that of Maximian as Herculius, smashing with his club a seven-headed hydra.

19 Elsewhere Eusebius calls Licinius' war against Constantine a war against God. V. C. ii. 18.

20 iii. 258.-Eusebius states that Licinius, on joining battle, bade his soldiers take care to avoid assaulting Constantine's great banner of the cross. V. C. ii. 16.

21 See respecting Diocletian's death the M. P. 42, and Eusebius H. E. viii. 13, Orat. ad Sanct. 25: on Maximian's M. P. 30. and Euseb. H. E. viii. 13. Gibbon seems to think that Maximian was put to death by Constantine, and that the report published abroad of his suicide was untrue. But he has not substantiated his representation. Nor indeed is his disbelief of the reports of Diocletian having put an end to his own life, or died raving mad, sufficiently authenticated. See his Vol. ii. p. 177, 212. The other view is, I see, adopted from Eusebius and Lactantius by the author of " Rome Pagan and Papal; " ii. 83-85.

22 The edict is given in full by Eusebius, H. E. viii. 17, and Lactantius. M. P. 34. Near the conclusion is the clause; " Juxta hanc indulgentiam nostram debebunt Deum suum orare pro salute nostra." His death was by a horrid disease, like that of Herod described in Acts 12:23 : viz. being eaten by worms.

23 Information was frequently laid against the Christians by their slaves. So Tertullian in his Tract. Adv. Gent. c. 7: "With reference to this notice of slaves in the vision, it is not unworthy of remark that one of the persecuting emperors (Maximin) after his defeat, put off his imperial insignia, and disguised himself in a slaves dress, the better to prosecute his flight, and elude the conquerors. V. C. i. 58, M. P. 47.

24 The expression, " every bondman and freeman," is to be restricted of course to those engaged in the war against the Christian side. This amplification of phrase is common. So Jer. 34:1; " When Nebuchadnezzar, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people fought against Jerusalem: " and Matt. 3:5 : " Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the country round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan &c. &c.

25 See Mosheim iv. 1. 1. 7. 10: also, for an authority justifying his statement, Eusebius V. C. ii. 45, See also Mosh. ib. 16, on a probable exception in the execution of these anti-pagan edicts, in favor of certain philosophers and generals.

Hence the chief argument against my application of this vision. Say Vitringa, Cuninghame, and others, " Were not Pagans still promoted to the highest dignities of the state t What necessity for thein to call on the rocks to cover them? "-But can we forget the introductory wars through which the revolution was effected, and the terror and dismay of the vanquished heathen emperors and their armies, whose terror the vision seems especially to picture? Or that after this, though heathenism subsisted for a while in a few great cities, yet it never more flourished? Except at Rome and Alexandria, says Gieseler, i. 18 1, "the heathens were everywhere obliged to conceal themselves in remote places in the country: whence the names Pagani, Paganismus." This under Constantius. As to the toleration of Pagans in office, it was the exception, not the rule. See V. C. ii. 44.

Compare, on this subject, the prophecy of Babylon's overthrow, noticed p. 232.

26 Gieseler, i. 180, gives, in brief, the chief anti-pagan laws of Constantine's family.

1st, C. himself, a little before his death, forbade all heathen sacrifices; (compare V. C. ii. 45, iv. 23, 25 ;) and on pain of death, according to Theophanes : but the law, says he, was not acted out.

2nd, Constantius, A. D. 341, referring to Constantine's prohibitory law, decreed the prohibition of sacrifices: " Sacrificiorum aboleatur in. sania; " with a " vindicta" against them. Cod. Theod. xvi. 10. 2.-3rd, A. D. 342, the " superstitio penitus eruenda," but edifices preserved. lb. 10. 3-4th, A. D. 353. " Placuit omnibus locis claudi protinus templa ;.. .. etiam cunctos sacrificiis abstinere." The offender " gladio ultore sternatur," and his goods confiscated; with similar penalty on all provincial governors that might overlook the crime.

27 Compare too Amos 8:9, Zeph 1:14, 15; in which latter passage the time of Judah's destruction is spoken of as " the great day of the Lord".

28 1 Hos. x. 8 The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us, and to the hills, Fall on us! "-In which passage, as in the vision of the sixth Seal, the falling on them is evidently meant of the caverned or hollowed hills,-falling, not to crush, but to hide.

Similar to this is the language in Luke xxiii. 30; " Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us! " with reference, first, to the sufferings in the siege of Jerusalem; and further, also, as appears from the word begin,"-to the sufferings of the dispersion afterwards.

29 1 Sam. xiii. 6 ; I Maccabees ii. 28. 36. Compare also Esdras xvi. 23.

30 So in Isaiah 51:6: " Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath! For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner."

In that remarkable chapter, Isa. 34, there seems to be a description both of the political and the physical revolution occurring at the end: the former very analogous to the language of the sixth Seal; but with a notice also of that which is the grand characteristic of the consummation,-the burning of the mystical Edom, or Rome. " The indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies. He hath utterly destroyed them. The mountains shall be melted with their blood. (Compare Rev. 14:20.)

And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved; and the heaven shall be roiled together as a scroll ; and all their host shall fall down as a falling fig from the fig-tree. And the streams thereof (of Edom) shall be turned into pitch: and the dust thereof into brimstone ; and the land shall become burning pitch ; it shall not be quenched night nor day:" &c.

31 Such, I believe, are Matt. 24:21, and the corresponding prophecies in Mark and Luke. Such, perhaps, Hag. 2:6, Heb. 12:26, and Joel 2:10.

32 I say an unprejudiced mind. One who is not unprejudiced writes thus: " The revolution of this sixth Seal is the same as that again mentioned on the sounding of the seventh Trumpet, 11:19, and more particularly described under the seventh Vial; (16:17-21) between which, and the sixth Seal, there is a remarkable similarity." Cuninghame, p. 23. Of this similarity let the reader judge; after comparing the two descriptions together, as here set before him.

33 Two characteristic notices serve to identify the earthquake of 11:19 with that of 16:18 :-1st, that of the temple in heaven being in either case previously opened (i. e. connecting 16:18 with 15:5;) 2ndly that of the great hail, mentioned as a concomitant in the one case and the other.

34 Except as a new earth.