8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.



Ver. 8. A pale horse] Fit for pestilence and pale death to ride on.



And hell followed] sc. To them that were killed with death, Rev_2:23; {See Trapp on "Rev_2:23"} that died in their sins, which is far worse than to die in a ditch.



Over the fourth part of the earth] That is, of the Roman empire. This happened in the days of Decius; Oresius bearing witness that the pestilence which then raged did extend no further quam ad profligandas ecelesias edicta Decii cucurrerunt, that is, than the proclamations of Decius came for the overthrow of the Churches.



And with death.] i.e. The pestilence, that harbinger and purveyor of death: this is somewhere called "God’s evil angel;" and by ecclesiastical writers mortality. Hippocrates calleth it ôï èåéïí , the divine stroke, because God hath a special hand in it.