Historical Sources — Raw Data¶
Elliott: Horae Apocalypticae (Seals Overview)¶
ELLIOTT4 4003 (Seal Overview — Daubuz's scheme)¶
"In the Seals Daubuz, though admitting A.D. 95 or 96 to be the year of the Revelation's having been given to St. John, yet antedates the subject of the 1st Seal; and makes its white horse and rider depict the victorious progress of Christ's gospel, even from his ascension. Thus he is enabled to explain the red horse in the 2nd Seal of the wars by which Jerusalem and the Jews were destroyed, from A.D. 60 to A.D. 135; including as well the Jewish wars of Vespasian and Titus, as those of Trajan..."
ELLIOTT4 3686 (Mede's Seal Scheme)¶
"Apoc. vi. The Seals. 1. The truth is first of all opened, and overcometh, [this is the white horse,] under Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius; at the voice of the first Beast, Quadratus, Aristides, and Justin Martyr. 3. At the voice of the second Beast, (viz. the same Justin Melito of Sardis, and Apollinarius,) cometh forth the red horse under Marcus Antonius Verus, confounding all things with wars. 5. The third seal being opened, the third Beast, Tertullian, crieth out under Severus..."
ELLIOTT4 2409 (Irenaeus/Victorinus on First Seal)¶
"As regards the 1st Seal, and the interpretation of its white horse and horseman by Irenaeus, and then Tertullian and Victorinus, as symbolizing Christ's victories by the gospel, we have to note that though it is Victorinus who first conjoins this its explanation with that of the contrasted horse and horseman of the three next Seals, as symbolizing the 'Bella fames and pestis' that were to follow after the first gospel preaching and triumphs, antecedently to Christ's second coming..."
ELLIOTT4 3920 (Summary of Six Seals)¶
"The six first Seals exhibit the subject in the general. There is 1st Christ's moving forth as a conqueror; then, in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Seals, his judgments of war, famine, and pestilence, on the enemies of Christianity; then, in the 5th Seal, persecutions of Christians, and the reason of God's delay of judgments, viz. till the number of his martyrs be completed and his elect taken out from the infidels..."
ELLIOTT1 1147 (Second Seal — Red Horse)¶
"The second Seal is opened, and behold the white horse has past from view. The Roman nation no more appears under symbols indicative of prosperity or triumph. A red horse passes over the scene before the eyes of the Evangelist; the colour of war and bloodshed. And what bloodshed? The explanatory words added informed him: it was of civil war."
ELLIOTT1 1441 (Red Horse Period — Church Respite)¶
"As the period of the red horse succeeded, and when, amidst the civil commotions ensuing, they that shed Christian blood had it given them in a measure to drink blood, the church enjoyed a temporary respite; which lasted through the reign of Commodus, and to the commencement of that of Sulpitius Severus."
ELLIOTT1 1548 (Sixth Seal Description)¶
"Now ere the sixth Seal was opened, these luminaries appeared fixed in the sky, and the earth at rest and still. But behold, on its opening, the whole scene in agitation! A great and sudden earthquake shakes the earth. The mountains and the island-rocks sink beneath the shock. The sun becomes black, the moon blood-red as in total eclipse. The stars fall from the heaven... Kings and generals, freemen and slaves..."
ELLIOTT1 1625 (Sixth Seal — Political Revolution Interpretation)¶
"Still the suspicion may remain that, though referring to political revolution and changes, it may be the political changes attendant on the last great consummation... This I fully allow. But I think internal evidence is here, too, not wanting..."
Barnes: Notes on Revelation¶
BARNESREV 497 (Seals Overview)¶
"This chapter describes the opening of the first six seals. (1) The first discloses a white horse, with a rider armed with a bow. A crown is given to him, symbolical of triumph and prosperity, and he goes forth to conquer... (2) The second discloses a red-coloured horse... The emblem is that of blood — of sanguinary war..."
BARNESREV 563 (Fifth Seal Commentary)¶
"I saw under the altar. The four living creatures are no longer heard as in the opening of the first four seals. No reason is given for the change in the manner of the representation..."
BARNESREV 597 (144,000 — ek pases phyles)¶
"Thus, not all in the tribes were sealed, but those who were sealed were 'of all the tribes' — ek pases phyles; that is, out of these tribes. So in the specification in each tribe — ek phyles Iouda, Rouben, &c. Some out of the tribe, to wit, twelve thousand, were sealed."
BARNESREV 647 (Sixth Seal and Sealing Connection)¶
"If, therefore, we regard the opening of the sixth seal as denoting the threatening aspect of these invading powers — the gathering of the dark cloud that hovered over the borders of the empire, and the consternation produced by that approaching storm; and if we regard the transactions in the seventh chapter — the holding of the winds in check, and the sealing of the chosen of God — as denoting the suspension of the impending judgments in order that a work might be done to save the church..."
BARNESREV 1170 (Altar Responds — Rev 16:7)¶
"Out of the altar. Either the angel of the altar — that is, who presided over the altar (Professor Stuart), or an angel whose voice seemed to come from the altar. The sense is essentially the same. The writer seemed to hear a voice coming from the altar responding to what had just been said in regard to the judgment of God, or to his righteousness in bringing the judgment upon men."
Cuninghame: Dissertation on Seals and Trumpets¶
CUNINGHAME 960 (Sixth Seal — Second Advent)¶
"Having thus seen, that the commonly received interpretation of the sixth seal is erroneous, and that it refers not to any thing that took place in the time of Constantine, but to the final revolution which is to precede the second advent of our Lord, I shall defer the further consideration..."
Tacitus: Annals¶
TACITUS 878 (Nero's Persecution — Annals XV.44 context)¶
"Such indeed were the precautions of human wisdom. The next thing was to seek means of propitiating the gods... But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace."
Schaff: History of the Christian Church¶
SCHAFF 999 (Ten Persecutions Schema)¶
"From the fourth century it has been customary, at the suggestion of the ten plagues of Egypt taken as types, and the ten horns making war with the Lamb in the Apocalypse, taken for as many Roman emperors, to reckon ten great persecutions of the Christians, under Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Maximinus, Decius, Valerian, Aurelian, and Diocletian, respectively."
SCHAFF 3797 (Chronological Survey of Persecutions)¶
"The imperial persecutions before Trajan belong to the Apostolic age... Christ was born under the first, and crucified under the second Roman emperor. Tiberius (A.D. 14-37) is reported to have been frightened by Pilate's account of the crucifixion and resurrection..."
SCHAFF 3957 (Diocletian Persecution — 303 AD)¶
"The persecution began on the twenty-third day of February, 303, the feast of the Terminalia (as if to make an end of the Christian sect), with the destruction of the magnificent church in Nicomedia, and soon spread over the whole Roman empire, except Gaul, Britain, and Spain, where the co-regent Constantius Chlorus, and especially his son, Constantine the Great (from 306), were disposed, as far as possible, to spare the Christians."
SCHAFF 1064 (Decius Persecution — 250 AD)¶
"Decius Trajan (249-251), an earnest and energetic emperor, in whom the old Roman spirit once more awoke, resolved to root out the church as an atheistic and seditious sect, and in the year 250 published an edict to all the governors of the provinces, enjoining return to the pagan state religion under the heaviest penalties. This was the signal for a persecution which, in extent, consistency, and cruelty, exceeded all before it."
Eusebius: Ecclesiastical History¶
EUSEBIUS 525¶
"Chapter 17. The Persecution under Domitian."
EUSEBIUS 1902 (Diocletian Period — Nicomedia)¶
"At this time Anthimus, who then presided over the church in Nicomedia, was beheaded for his testimony to Christ. A great multitude of martyrs were added to him, a conflagration having broken out in those very days in the palace at Nicomedia..."
EUSEBIUS 645 (Trajan's Rescript)¶
"In reply to this Trajan made the following decree: that the race of Christians should not be sought after, but when found should be punished. On account of this the persecution which had threatened to be a most terrible one was to a certain degree checked, but there were still left plenty of pretexts for those who wished to do us harm."