81 APOCALYPTIC HORSES. WHITE HORSE, RED HORSE, BLACK HORSE, PALE HORSE. BLACK HORSE. But here the The period of the "black horse and rider with the balance" is generally referred to the reign of Severus. commentators are at a loss! "The balance" sometimes betokens JUSTICE; sometimes is considered as indicative of a season of scarcity. The "black horse" is always associated with calamity. I humbly differ from all commentators. The "horse is black," say some, to show the "severity of the nature" of this Emperor! But his nature was generally the reverse of severity. Now I shall give reasons for considering that "the "balance" is the balance of justice, and the "bread for a 66 penny, and oil and wine," indicative of plenty, not scarcity -of plenty owing entirely to the prudent provisions of this Emperor; and in proof of this, as well as what I shall say further on the subject, I adduce, not the testimony of professed Christian commentators, but the undesigned testimony -the stronger for that reason-of one of the most astute adversaries of Christianity-Gibbon. G Now, Christian reader, mark his undesigned corroboration of the veracity of this prophecy, as applied to Severus. Scripture. "Balances in his hand." What says Gibbon? "SALUTARY LAWS were executed with "INFLEXIBLE FIRMNESS."-" In the ADMINISTRATION of JUS"TICE, the judgments of the Emperor were characterized by "attention, discernment, and IMPARTIALITY;* and when ever "he deviated from the strict line of equity, it was generally "in favour of the poor and oppressed." Gibbon. Scripture. "A measure of wheat for a penny, and three "measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the "oil and the wine." Gibbon. "He left in the public granaries a provision of corn "for seven years, at the rate of 2500 quarters a day." But the "black horse!" Does this colour seem suitable to a period of general equity and justice? How simple is one explanation—at least, so it appears to me, the first, I believe, who ever remarked the circumstance-and how minutely does the singular fact tend to attest the awful truth of the prophecy— "SEVERUS WAS AN AFRICAN!" Gibbon. And the "horse "is black," not as indicative of " calamity," but of the country of which Severus was a native. The prophecy connected with the "horses" seems as regular as possible, beginning from the times of the Apostle. The * He published, it is true, one edict against the increase of the Jews and Christians in the empire. 83 white horse and rider is universally considered as emblematic of the Gospel, going forth "conquering and to conquer." The red horse is the horse of blood, under Trajan, who literally took "peace from all the earth." The pale horse designates the famine and dreadful pestilence under Gallienus. I have shown, not from the writers in favour of Christianity, but from the attestation of the most astute and insidious writer against it, the regular succession and wonderful accordance, in the several successive periods, of the fact and the prophetic adumbrations. Under Gallienus, how remarkable are these words, as applicable to the "pale horse," and pestilence, in the third century, commencing about one hundred and fifty years after the death of John. "Famine is almost always "followed by epidemical diseases: other causes, however, "must have contributed to the furious plague which, from the year 250 to the year 265, raged, without interruption, in "every province, every city, and almost every family of the "Roman empire! Five thousand died daily in Rome; and we "might suspect, that war, pestilence, and famine had, in a few "years, consumed the moiety of the human race." Gibbon. 66 THE RED HORSE. "Take peace from all the earth." Trajan's Conquests. "Every day the astonished Senate received "intelligence of new names and new nations that acknowledged "his sway. The Kings of Bosphorus, Colchis, Albania, &c.; "the tribes of the Median and Carducian hills had implored his protection; Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria were re"duced to provinces." Gibbon. For the elucidations of this last book, I have referred, generally, to commentators, chiefly Bishop Newton, though the reader may sometimes be disposed to smile rather than acquiesce. But I cannot omit my own views of some particular passages. One head of the Beast, wounded, "but not to death," is most singularly descriptive of the Roman empire, restored to strength and power, under Claudius the Second and Aurelius. "And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his "feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion." How unexpectedly do they tally with what Gibbon says of the Roman empire at the time, consisting of the "tyrants" (lions)" soldiers," scattered through the vast and various provinces, and "barbarians"-Goths, indicated by the bear. I may observe, farther, that the "locusts and crawling "things like scorpions," issuing out of the smoke, are, first, locusts the innumerable northern armies; secondly, “crawl"ing things like scorpions"-the loathsome vileness attributed to nature by the succession of Gnostic sects, depraving the beautiful code of Christianity, and all agreeing in one doctrine, derived from the Chaldean philosophers The Genius of Evil, according to the philosophy of the Chaldeans, produced the body, as Orosmades THE SOUL! Hence "forbidding to marry," unnatural austerities, &c. and remark, one book of Tertullian to the Gnostics is called-what? SCORPIO. ST. JOHN IN PATMOS. PART IV. MORNING.-ROMAN COMMANDER.-VISION. BABYLON. NEW JERUSALEM.-EVENING.-NIGHT SCENE.-STARS. -TEMPTATION.-DREAM. JOHN woke from slumber, when the early trump, On the rude stone before his cave, and mark'd His staff and form shadow'd against the rock; |