attributed to this mark of the Beast extends far beyond the operation of a mere restriction on trading

transactions. It must be remembered that the age was the extremest and worst period of "delation," i.e. of

prosecution by volunteer accusers on charges of treason. The most trifling or the most serious actions were

alike liable to be twisted into acts of personal disrespect to the Emperor, and thus to expose the doer of them

to the extremest penalty of the law; a falsehood told, a theft committed, a wrong word spoken, in the

presence of any image or representation of the Emperor, might be construed as disrespect to his sacred

majesty: even his bust on a coin constituted the locality an abode of the Imperial god, and made it necessary

for those who were there to behave as in the Divine presence. Domitian carried the theory of Imperial

Divinity and the encouragement of "delation" to the most extravagant point; and thereby caused a strong

reaction in the subsequent Imperial policy. Precisely in that time of extravagance occurs this extravagant

exaggeration of the Imperial theory: that in one way or another every Asian must stamp himself overtly and

visibly as loyal, or be forthwith disqualified from participation in ordinary social life and trading. How much

of grim sarcasm, how much of literal truth, how much of exaggeration, there lies in those words,--that no man

should be able to buy or sell, save he that hath the mark of the Beast on his right hand or upon his

forehead,--it is impossible for us now to decide. It is probably safe to say that there lies in them a good deal

of sarcasm, combined with so much resemblance to the real facts as should ensure the immediate

comprehension of the readers. But that there is an ideal truth in them, that thy give a picture of the state of

anxiety and apprehension, of fussy and over-zealous profession of loyalty which the policy of Domitian was

producing in the Roman world, is certain.

This is the description given by St. John of the Flavian persecution. It shows that persecution to have been

an organised attempt to combine many influences so as to exterminate the Christians, and not a mere

sporadic though stern repression such as occurred repeatedly during the second century. But it is already

certain that the Flavian persecution was of that character. Trajan, while admitting the same principle of State,

that the Christians must be regarded as outlaws and treated like brigands, deprived persecution of its worst

characteristics by forbidding the active search after Christians and requiring a formal accusation by a

definite accuser. Under the Flavian Emperors we see an extremely cruel and bitter public movement against

the Christians, an attempt to enlist religious feeling on the side of the Empire, and a zealous participation of

the Asian provincial bodies, beginning from the Commune, in the persecution as a proof of their loyalty.

A recent writer on this subject expresses doubt as to "the degree to which the worship of the Emperor had

become the normal test applied to one accused of being a Christian." How any doubt can remain in face of

this passage, even were it alone, it is hard to see. It is difficult to devise a more effective and conclusive

declaration that the religion of Christ and the religion of the Emperor were now explicitly and professedly

ranged against one another, and that the alternative presented to every individual Christian was to "worship

the image of the Beast" or death.

It furnishes no argument against this view of the character of the Flavian persecution that, during the

pers ecutions of the second century, no attempt seems to have been made actively to stimulate religious

feeling among the populace as an ally against the new religion. The attempt was made in the last great

persecution, during the times of Diocletian and his successors. Then again the Imperial government

attempted to seek out and exterminate the Christians. It "took advantage of and probably stimulated a

philosophical religious revival, characterised by strong anti-Christian feeling; and employed for its own

ends the power of a fervid emotion acting on men who were often of high and strongly religious motives.

Christianity had to deal with a reinvigorated and desperate religion, educated and spiritualised in the conflict

with the Christians. The Acta of St. Theodotus of Ancyra furnishes an instance of the way in which the

devoted fanaticism of such men made them convenient tools for carrying out the purposes of the

government; the approach of the new governor of Galatia and the announcement of his intentions struck

terror into the hearts of the Christians; his name was Theotecnus, 'the child of God,' a by-name assumed by

a philosophic pagan reactionary in competition with the confidence of the Christians in their Divine mission

and the religious names which their converts assumed at baptism." This description gives some idea of the

state of things in the Province Asia which prompted the words of St. John. We need not doubt that

Theotecnus and others like him also made use of signs and marvels for their purposes. Theotecnus seems to