Page 24 - 02 The Seven Churches

DANIEL AND THE REVELATION-Uriah Smith

~The Response of History to the Revelation~

Chapter 2 – The Seven Churches
ten years. And it is a noticeable fact that the

last and most bloody of the ten persecutions

continued just ten years, under Diocletian,

from A. D. 302 to A. D. 312. (See Buck’s

Theological Dictionary, pp. 332, 333.) It would

be difficult to make an application of this

language on the ground that these messages

are not prophetic; for in that case only ten

literal days could be meant; and it would not

seem probable that a persecution of only ten

days, on only a single church, would be made

a matter of prophecy; and no mention of any

such case of limited persecution can be found.

Again, apply this persecution to any of the

notable persecutions of that period, and how

could it be spoken of as the fate of one church

alone? All the churches suffered in them; and

where, then, would be the propriety of