probably perished in the destruction of Jerusalem: See Tillemont H. E. i. p. 377. &c.

Nero turned his rage upon the Christians, A. D: 64. Four years after, in his great distress, he attempted to kill himself; but being as mean-spirited and dastardly as he was wicked and cruel, he had not resolution to do that piece of justice to the world, and was forced to beg help.

Soon after came on the destruction of Jerusalem, and the punishment of that nation, and of their rulers, for rejecting the Messias.

Domitian persecuted the Christians A. D. 95. and was killed the next year.

Trajan, Titus Antoninus, and Marcus Aurelius, did indeed suffer the Christians to be ill used not through cruelty and tyranny, but by mistake and misrepresentations. These emperors had many great and good qualities, and nothing disastrous befel them:

Eusebius hath justly and judiciously represented the state of the Christians in those days: "Trajan. gave a rescript, in which it was decreed that Chris"tians should not be sought out, but that if they "were convicted, they should be punished: by "which though the violence of the storm seemed to "be in some measure abated, yet ill-disposed persons. "still found opportunities to exert their malice, "whilst sometimes the populace, and sometimes the

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governors, were contriving ways to oppress us. "Thus the persecution, though it was not general, "was still kept up in different places, and many of "the faithful were exposed to various trials and afflictions

Rictions, and obtained the honour of martyrdom."

iii. 33.

Severus, who was violent and cruel, oppressed the Christians, A. D. 202. His latter end was calamitous, he was weary of his life, he left behind him at profligate eldest son, whose temper he knew, and whom he ought to have put to death, but had not the heart to do it, for the wicked wretch attempted to kill his father, and afterwards slew his brother. All the family of Severus perished miserably.

Saturninus, Proconsul of Afric, in the reign of Severus, persecuted the Christians, and put several of them to death. He lost his eye-sight some time after, as Tertullian says, Ad Scapulam.

Heliogabalus brought a new deity to Rome, and intended to compel all his subjects to adore this god, and no other, or at least, to give him the preference to all other deities, and to make them no better than his Gentlemen Ushers, and Valets de chambre; which must inevitably have brought on a persecution of the Christians; but this vile monster was slain soon after by his soldiers, A. D. 222. Heliogabalum consecravit -id agens ne quis Romæ Deus nisi Heliogabalus coleretur. Dicebat præterea, Judæorum et Samaritanorum religionem, et Christianam devotionem illuc transferendam.-Lampridius.

Decius persecuted A. D. 250. He reigned not three years, and died in battle. Pagan writers speak well of him. He seems to have distressed the Christians partly out of spite to the memory of his predecessor Philip, who had treated them kindly, and who is thought by several to have been himself a Christian,

VOL. II.

K

though

though surely a worthless one, and no credit to us. It is more probable that Philip was a Pagan.

Gallus persecuted A. D. 251. and was killed the next year.

Valerian, who had many good qualities, yet was not only an enemy, but a very cruel enemy to the Christians. He was taken prisoner by Sapor the Persian king, and used like a slave and a dog, and as no Roman emperor was ever treated, and died a poor miserable captive.

Emilian, governor of Egypt, and a violent persecutor of the Christians, set up for emperor, and was taken prisoner, and sent to Gallienus, who ordered him to be strangled, A. D. 263. Gallieno jubente dedit prenus : siquidem strangulatus in carcere captivorum veterum more perhibetur. Treb. Pollio.

Aurelian, just intending to begin a persecution, was killed A. D. 274.

Maximinus, the first, a persecutor, reigned three years, and was killed.

Dioclesian, by adopting associates, and sharing the empire and the troops with them, took the most probable method to secure the lives of the emperors from the arbitrary insolence of the army, which with little ceremony used to kill one and set up another.

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"To prevent the continual treasons of the soldiery, "the emperors associated to themselves persons in "whom they had confidence, and Dioclesian, pretending that the weight of affairs required it, ordered "that there should always be two emperors, and two "Caesars. He judged that the four principal armies, being

being in the hands of those who shared the empire, "would check and intimidate each other, and that "the other armies not being strong enough to make

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an emperor of their own chusing, they would lose

by slow degrees the custom of electing; and lastly, "that the dignity of Cæsar being always subordinate, "the power divided between four for the security of the government, would yet be in its "whole extent and in reality only in the hands of

* two.

"But what kept the military men still more in or "der, was that the wealth of private persons and the public revenues being diminished, the emperors "could no longer bribe them with such vast presents, "so that the profit was not proportionable to the "danger of making a new election.

Moreover, the Præfecti Prætorio, who for power and office were in a manner the Grand Viziers of "those times, and caused emperors to be massacred "at their own pleasure, that they might take their place, were greatly reduced by Constantine, who left them only civil functions, and instead of two "made them four.

"Thus the lives of the emperors began to be bet"ter secured, and they died in their beds like other people, &c." Considerations sur les Causes de la

Grandeur des Romains.

But if this change was advantageous in one respect to the rulers, it was detrimental in another to the poor subjects, who were burdened with an increase of soldiers and taxes. Hinc denique parti Italic invectum tributorum igens malum; says Aurelius Victor.

Tres enim participes regni sui fecit (Diocletianus) in quatuor partes orbe diviso, et multiplicatis exercitibus,

cum singuli eorum longe majorem numerum militum haberé contenderent quam priores principes habuerant cum soli rempublicam gererent. Adeo major esse cœperat numerus accipientium quam dantium, ut enormitate indictionum consumtis viribus colonorum, desererentur agri, et culturæ verterentur in silvam, &c. Lactantius de Mort. Pers. c. 7.

Yet all these precautions did not protect the empeFor and his colleagues from divine vengeance. At this time was the great contest between Christ and the Roman emperors, which should prevail. They were determined to blot out the Christian name from under heaven, and the persecution was far more fierce and brutal than it had ever been, and therefore it was time for providence to exert itself; and so indeed it did.

Diocletian persecuted A. D. 303. after which nothing prospered with him, he underwent many troubles, his senses were impaired, and he quitted the empire.

Severus, who was raised by Galerius, and therefore, like Galerius, not disposed to spare the Christians, was overthrown and put to death by Maximianus Herculius, A. D. 307.

About the same time, Urbanus, Præsident of Palestine, who had signalized himself by tormenting and destroying the Christians, met with his due reward.

Immediately after the cruelties which he had ex"ercised upon Pamphilius, and whilst he was still in his government, the divine vengeance over“whelmed him. He who the day before sat in the judgment-seat, exercising dominion, surrounded

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