accessions which were daily made to her numbers. As the conquests of Death were extensive, so the instruments he employed were various. "And power was given unto them over the fourth par of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” The figure has an allusion to a dark and long period of the Roman history, when that empire was strangely convulsed by intestine commotions, and wasted by the intrigues and ambition of rival factions. Between the year one hundred and eighty, and two hundred and eighty-four, many adventurers were elevated and deposed, crowned and assassinated, in rapid succession, by a corrupt and insolent soldiery. "No less than twenty of these imperial pageants passed in procession during this century, besides an incredible number of pretenders, usurpers, and unsuccessful candidates, who aspired to the honours of royalty." It is unreasonable to suppose that these sudden and frequent changes in the state could have been effected without an immense sacrifice of human lives and civil wars are always connected with those dreadful scourges of our species-famine and pestilence. Several Christian and Heathen writers, who flourished at the period to which allusion has been made, represent it as a time of awful calamity; and, in particular, they mention one pestilence that lasted fifteen years.

Although this part of John's vision primarily referred to the ravages made in the Western hemisphere, yet, it is strikingly illustrative of the reign of death, in general. To this application of the figure, the devout and serious attention of the reader is now earnestly invited. It is not without much solicitude, and many fervent prayers to God for the success of his undertaking, that the writer would proceed. He is anxious that a subject so deeply interesting to every human being, and with which our fairest visions on earth, and brightest hopes of eternity, are connected, may be sed in its most solemn aspects, and felt in all its importance. The sentence of death is passed on each of us; every moment we live is only a reprieve from the grave; and before we are aware, the summons of our departure may arrive. Nor let the reader sit down to the perusal of these pages without humbly imploring the God of all grace that he would impress his mind with serious thoughts of eternity, and induce him diligently to prepare for it. This world, at the best, is only a state of probation for another; and all its scenes and enjoyments are shifting and transitory. In heaven alone is the attainment of perfect happiand he is the wisest man who labours to secure the imperishable glories of immortality.

ness;

The seal is broken-the parchment is unrolled -and Death, riding on the pale horse, is the

figure presented to our view.

An angel-nay,

the eternal Son of God, invites us, "Come and see."

CHAPTER I.

Death-the Offspring of Sin.

He my inbred enemy

Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart,
Made to destroy: I fled, and cry'd out, Death!
Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sigh'd
From all her caves, and back resounded, Death.

Too soon arriv'd, Sin there in pow'r before,

Once actual, now in body, and to dwell
Habitual habitant; behind her Death

Close following pace for pace, not mounted yet
On his pale horse.

MILTON.

WHEN a mighty conqueror appears on the theatre of the world, obtaining martial glory by the boldness of his conceptions and the unrivalled success of his enterprises, we feel solicitous to trace back his origin, and to mark the stages of

his triumphant progress. Although the strength of his genius is expended in the work of human destruction, and the laurels which he gathers are still dripping with the blood of his species; although the furls of his banners are filled with the sighs of orphans and widows; and wasted fields, and cities in ruins, groan in the rear of his victorious troops; we cannot suppress the curiosity which leads us to inquire by what means he has obtained his superiority in military science, and risen to the rank which he holds among the destroyers of nations.

The conqueror whose character it is the intention of the writer to describe, and whose achievements he purposes to develop, has, for many ages, triumphed over successive generations of men. He has swept off the countless myriads who preceded us on the busy stage of life, and we ourselves must ere long submit to his iron sceptre, and be numbered with the slain. To trace back his origin, therefore, and mark the stages of his progress, is not a subject of mere curiosity, but highly beneficial in its tendency and results. As the reign of death has become universal, and its consequences are so momentous and awful, a serious review of his history is calculated to excite in us a holy hatred of sin, and the warmest gratitude to Him who hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light.