court, and which still beareth his name,-Constantinople, or The City of Constantine. I cannot better illustrate this point than by transcribing the fourth chapter of the first book of his history by Eusebius.—

"But this our emperor entered into his reign at what time Alexander died, living and reigning twice as long as Alexander. And moreover, having instructed his army in the precepts of piety, he invaded Britain, and the western sea borderers; and he adjoined to his empire all northern Scythia divided before among the barbarians, different in conditions and manner of life; and also he enlarged the bounds of his empire to the farthest southern limits, namely, to the Bleminians and Ethiopians; and besides he subjected the eastern parts. Moreover, he subdued the princes and lords of divers countries, even to the Indies, and did illuminate their hearts with the splendour and light of piety. Barbarous nations did most willingly embrace his amity, and sought his favour by embassages and presents sent unto him; were ambitious of his familiarity and friendship; and to honour him the more, they erected his statue, and caused his picture to be drawn. In a word, Constantine only of all the emperors was generally praised of all men, and in royal magnificent words freely and ingenuously professed himself among those nations a servant of that God whom he served. Neither did his actions contradict his profession, but, being placed in the sphere of virtue, he shined forth with bright beams of piety, obliging men of desert unto him by his liberality, winning men to goodness by his clemency and courtesy, not compelling them by his law; so that all men did willingly obey him, and were glad of his gracious reign; until at length, having spent himself, and being grown old in fighting God's battles, that God, under whose command he served in those holy wars, rewarded him with a military wreath of immortal glory, and, having left behind him three children to succeed him in his empire, he changed his mortal empire, to live with God and his saints in an immortal kingdom."—B. i. ch. 4.

This passage serves likewise to introduce what we have to say upon the last words of this symbol, "And he went forth conquering and to conquer;" seeing that the extent of his conquests is detailed therein, which, beginning from

York, stayed not until they reached over those widest regions of the world. Now it almost always happened, that in one battle be overthrew his enemies; and never were the vanquished but glad in his success. Wherever he went he conquered; and wherever he conquered he was hailed as a deliverer. And this so continued to characterize him, that his very name may be said to have conquered, and that he died conquering. In proof of which, take this other passage from Echard, which also contains a striking incident illustrative of the church discipline of the period.

"Not long before his death he made a funeral oration, in which he discoursed much of the immortality of the soul, and the rewards and punishments of another life: by these and such like methods preparing for himself an easy dismission out of this; till his meditations were interrupted by the disturbance the Persians made in the East, of which as soon as he received an account, he raised a powerful army, intending, as he said, to make this his last victory; but, the enemy being advertised of his sudden expedition, and fearing to be engaged in a war with him, dispatched away their ambassadors, who, upon an humble desire of his friendship, and a promise to make good whatever satisfaction should be required, obtained a peace. After this, finding himself feverish and distempered, he made use of the warm baths of the city; but receiving no benefit from thence, he removed for change of air to Helenopolis (a city built by him in memory of his mother), and from thence to Nicomedia ; in the suburbs of which place, called Achyrona, he was baptized, declaring he designed to have received that seal of his salvation in the waters of Jordan, but God of his infinite wisdom had otherwise disposed of hiin. Then, having partaken of the holy Eucharist, he departed this life, on the two-and-twentieth day of May, in the sixty-second year of his age and thirty-second of his reign."--Vol. iii. p. 5.

But I am clearly impressed that these words, "Conquering and to conquer," have reference to the most remarkable banner of the cross, inscribed with these words, "In this conquer," under which his armies fought. Whether he had it revealed to him by a vision or not is of no consequence to this point, seeing it is a matter beyond

a doubt that from his first great victory over Maxentius to his last his soldiers fought and conquered under a banner inscribed with the word "Conquer. How sacred this banner was esteemed, and how carefully it was guarded, will be seen from the following account, given in his life by Eusebius.

"As soon as it grew day, he rose up and acquainted his friends with the vision which he had seen; and then, sending for the best goldsmiths and lapidaries, sitting on his royal throne, he described unto them the shape and figure of the cross, and commanded them to make the like with gold and precious stones, which figure we chanced to behold, for the Emporor himself vouchsafed to shew it unto us. The figure of the cross was in this manner : The staff was straight, long, and inlaid with gold; the cross-bar was figured in the form of a cross; on the top whereof was a golden crown beset with precious stones: in which was our Saviour's name inscribed, and expressed in two letters (for the letter p was curiously inserted into the middle of the letter x) which did perspicuously express the name of Christ, which letters the Emperor afterward did use to carry in his helmet. At one of the corners of the cross-bar hung a thin banner of lawn curiously embroidered with gold and precious stones in a strange and admirable manner. This banner, fastened to the pendant, was as long and broad as the cross. The stem or staff was longer than the colours or banner: and under the cross, at the side or border of the banner, there were the pictures of the emperor and his children drawn to the middle, or breast-high; so that the Emperor used this salutary badge as a defensive or divine charm against his enemies. And he commanded that his army should carry and bear the like cross in their colours."-B. i. chaps. 24, 25.

I cannot but look upon it as a most remarkable correspondence with the words " Conquering and to conquer," that these words should be inscribed on his banner, and should become the watchword of all his battles and the talisman of all his victories. I think that, take it for all and all, the symbol is wondrously characteristic of that man who struck the first blow, an effectual and a deadly one, against Paganism. And when it is remembered that the symbol by which Satan, embodied in Pagan

Rome, is represented in the Apocalypse as "the dragon (ch. xii.), and that it was against this Constantine was first raised up to strike a blow, the following account, given by Eusebius, of his statue, will be looked upon not as an accidental but a providential thing, serving to demonstrate that by those who lived in those times, and by the godlike emperor himself, was perfectly understood the end for which he was raised up, and the purpose of Divine Providence which he was fulfilling.—

"Besides, his own picture or statue was placed in open view over his palace gate, having the sign of the cross over the head thereof, with the figure of a wounded dragon lying couchant underneath his feet, to declare his victory over those savage tyrants that had oppressed and persecuted the church. For the sacred Scripture, in the books of the Prophets, doth call the devil (the instigators of the tyrants' cruelty) a dragon. And therefore the emperor, to shadow forth his conquest over the devil, the secret enemy of mankind; and to declare that by the power of the Cross, which was over his head, he and his subjects. had subdued him and trod him under their feet; he caused a dragon wounded through the belly to be drawn in lively colours underneath his statue. And this was his emblematical device to express his own victories; being more wonderful in regard his invention was agreeable to the words of the Prophets concerning this beast; and so this picture, which the Emperor devised, did emblematically shadow out the words of the Prophets.”—B. iii. ch. 3.

THE SECOND SEAL.

Vers. 3, 4:"And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see, And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great sword." The former seal bears throughout the impress of seated dignity putting itself forth in acts of power and great glory, ruling far and wide over the nations of the earth with a pure and holy sway. Therefore it is proclaimed by the first cherub, “like a lion," which, as we have seen, doth personate Christ in his character of taking possession of his inheritance.

Con

In Constantine the church took the throne and sceptre with the strength of the lion, and exercised rule with the purity and sincerity which are symbolized by the whiteness of the horse. But now that a day of slaughter is to be introduced, the judgment of the sword, and the rider on the horse of flame, it is the second cherubim, "like a calf," or ox, by whom it is ushered in; to signify, according to the best account I can give of the matter, that the church was now to be called upon to tread down her enemies under her feet, as the ox treadeth out the corn. As I have already said, I consider Theodosius, commonly called the Great, to be the person signified in these seals, because he was the next agent whom God used to subvert and supplant the Pagan idolatries. In the language of Gibbon, "The ruin of Paganism in the age of Theodosius is perhaps the only example of the total extirpation of any ancient and popular superstition; and may therefore be considered as a singular event in the history of the human mind." (Hist. Rom. chap. xxviii.) stantine did establish Christianity as the religion of the empire: Theodosius did trample Paganism under foot: to use the words of the same author, "The temples of the Roman world were subverted about sixty years after the conversion of Constantine." Constantine died in the year 340, and Theodosius arose in the year 379, at the interval of nearly sixty years. During this period Christianity had much to suffer from Constantius, the successor of Constantine, who favoured the Arians and persecuted the orthodox; and still more from Julian, who, under the thin veil of toleration, sought to exterminate Christianity, by endeavouring to associate it with ignorance, of which it is the natural enemy. From the following emperors it received an unenlightened and often an heretical patronage, until Theodosius arose; of whom, as standing in parallel with Constantine, the same learned and eloquent historian thus speaks: "Among the benefactors of the church the fame of Constantine has been rivalled by the glory of Theodosius. If Constantine had the advantage of erecting the standard of the cross, the emulation of his successor assumed the merit of subduing the Arian heresy, and of abolishing the worship of idols in the Roman world. Theodosius was the first of the emperors baptized