discussed this subject in a special treatise, in which he has left behind him a very striking account of “The Deaths of the Persecutors.” [308:1] Their history certainly furnishes a most significant commentary on the Divine announcement that “the Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth.” [308:2] Nero, the first hostile emperor, perished ignominiously by his own hand.  Domitian, the next persecutor, was assassinated.  Marcus Aurelius died a natural death; but, during his reign, the Empire suffered dreadfully from pestilence and famine; and war raged, almost incessantly, from its commencement to its close.  The people of Lyons, who now signalised themselves by their cruelty to the Christians, did not escape a righteous retribution; for about twenty years after the martyrdom of Pothinus and his brethren, the city was pillaged and burned. [308:3] Septimius Severus narrowly escaped murder by the hand of one of his own children.  Decius, whose name is associated with an age of martyrdom, perished in the Gothic war.  Valerian, another oppressor, ended his days in Persia in degrading captivity.  The Emperor Aurelian was assassinated.  Diocletian languished for years the victim of various maladies, and is said to have abruptly terminated his life by suicide.  Galerius, his son-in-law, died of a most horrible distemper; and Maximin took away his own life by poison. [308:4] The interpretation of providences is not to be rashly undertaken; but the record of the fate of persecutors forms a most extraordinary chapter in the history of man; and the melancholy circumstances under which so many of the enemies of religion have finished their career, have sometimes impressed those who have been otherwise slow to acknowledge the finger of the Almighty.

The persecutions of the early Church originated partly in selfishness and superstition.  Idolatry afforded employment to tens of thousands of artists and artisans—­all of whom had thus a direct pecuniary interest in its conservation; whilst the ignorant rabble, taught to associate Christianity with misfortune, were prompted to clamour for its overthrow.  Mistaken policy had also some share in the sufferings of the Christians; for statesmen, fearing that the disciples in their secret meetings might be hatching treason, viewed them with suspicion and treated them with severity.  But another element of at least equal strength contributed to promote persecution.  The pure and spiritual religion of the New Testament was distasteful to the human heart, and its denunciations of wickedness in every form stirred up the malignity of the licentious and unprincipled.  The faithful complained that they suffered for neglecting the worship of the gods, whilst philosophers, who derided the services of the established ritual, escaped with impunity. [309:1] But the sophists were not likely ever to wage an effective warfare against immorality and superstition.  Many of themselves were persons of worthless character, and their speculations were of no practical value.  It was otherwise with the gospel.  Its advocates were felt to be in earnest; and it was quickly perceived that, if permitted to make way, it would revolutionize society.  Hence the bitter opposition which it so soon awakened.