About one half of the _Roman_ Empire turned _Christians_ in the time of _Constantine_ the great and his sons. After _Julian_ had opened the Temples, and restored the worship of the heathens, the Emperors _Valentinian_ and _Valens_ tolerated it all their reign; and therefore the Prophecy of the sixth seal was not fully accomplished before the reign of their successor _Gratian_. It was the custom of the heathen Priests, in the beginning of the reign of every sovereign Emperor, to offer him the dignity and habit of the _Pontifex Maximus_. This dignity all Emperors had hitherto accepted: but _Gratian_ rejected it, threw down the idols, interdicted the sacrifices, and took away their revenues with the salaries and authority of the Priests. _Theodosius_ the great followed his example; and heathenism afterwards recovered itself no more, but decreased so fast, that _Prudentius_, about ten years after the death of _Theodosius_, called the heathens, _vix pauca ingenia & pars hominum rarissima_. Whence the affairs of the sixth seal ended with the reign of _Valens_, or rather with the beginning of the reign of _Theodosius_, when he, like his predecessor _Gratian_, rejected the dignity of _Pontifex Maximus_. For the _Romans_ were very much infested by the invasions of foreign nations in the reign of _Valentinian_ and _Valens_: _Hoc tempore_, saith _Ammianus_, _velut per universum orbem Romanum bellicum canentibus buccinis, excitae gentes saevissimae limites sibi proximos persultabant: Gallias Rhaetiasque simul Alemanni populabantur: Sarmatae Pannonias & Quadi: Picti, Saxones, & Scoti & Attacotti Britannos aerumnis vexavere continuis: Austoriani, Mauricaeque aliae gentes Africam solito acrius incursabant: Thracias diripiebant praedatorii globi Gotthorum: Persarum Rex manus Armeniis injectabat_. And whilst the Emperors were busy in repelling these enemies, the _Hunns_ and _Alans_ and _Goths_ came over the _Danube_ in two bodies, overcame and slew _Valens_, and made so great a slaughter of the _Roman_ army, that _Ammianus_ saith: _Nec ulla Annalibus praeter Cannensem ita ad internecionem res legitur gesta_. These wars were not fully stopt on all sides till the beginning of the reign of _Theodosius_, A.C. 379 & 380: but thenceforward the Empire remained quiet from foreign armies, till his death, A.C. 395. So long the four winds were held: and so long there was silence in heaven. And the seventh seal was opened when this silence began. Mr. _Mede_ hath explained the Prophecy of the first six trumpets not much amiss: but if he had observed, that the Prophecy of pouring out the vials of wrath is synchronal to that of sounding the trumpets, his explanation would have been yet more complete.