But at least he saw with his own eyes that there was such a thing as
judgment to come, not merely thousands of years hence at the last
day, but there and then in his own lifetime. He saw the wrath of God
revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men. He saw the
wicked murdering and destroying each other till the land was full of
blood. He saw the Empress-mother Agrippina, who had been the
paramour of his brother Pallas, murdered by her own son, the Emperor
Nero; and so judgment came on her. He saw his own brother first
ruined and then poisoned; and so judgment came on him. He saw many a
man whom he knew well, and who had been mixed up with him and his
brother in their intrigues, put to death himself; and so judgment
came on them.
And last of all he saw (unless he had died beforehand) the fall of
the Emperor Nero himself--who very probably set fire to Rome, and
then laid the blame on the Christians,--the man of sin, of whom St.
Paul prophesied that he would be revealed--that is, unveiled, and
exposed for the monster which he was; and that the Lord would destroy
him with the brightness of his coming; the man who had dressed the
Christians in skins, and hunted them with dogs; who had covered them
with pitch, and burnt them; who had beheaded St. Paul and crucified
St.
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