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"its theme atoning blood, its key-note redeeming grace, its harmony the sustained and blended voices of adoring spirits; and the choir that sang it, the redeemed tenantry of earth and heaven, the angels of the sky, the inmates of the ocean. Thus

it is now, and thus it will be for ever. The songs of psalmists praise him; the records of evangelists praise him; the glorious company of the apostles praise him; the goodly fellowship of the prophets praise him; the noble army of martyrs praise him; the past, the present, and the future praise him. All things bear the impress of his love, the evidence of his wisdom, the inspiration of his power."

Yes. The Lamb slain is the theme which fills every heart, and which resounds on every tongue, throughout the intelligent creation of God. Hark to the jubilee of its triumphant notes, as it is echoed from angel to angel, from star to star, from system to system, from world to world, from mountain to mountain, from land to land, and from man to man. Ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, swell the strain, till the echoes of the universe reverberate with the cadences of the everlasting song

"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain."

49

LECTURE III.

OPENING OF THE FIRST FOUR SEALS.

REV. vi. 1-8.

1. And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

2. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

3. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

4. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great sword.

5. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

6. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

7. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

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.

We have hitherto done little more than speak of the preparations for the scene which is to follow. We have as yet only touched upon the prologue of this grand spiritual drama. That it is a grand spiritual drama, in which the actors are — the angels; the hero of the subject-Christ; the heroine" the bride the Lamb's wife; the consummation-the destruction of all enemies, and the marriage of the Lamb;-is what few would like to deny. It is impossible to read the book without being struck by the grandeur and sublimity of its disclosures. I believe no mind, but one enlightened from on high, could have entertained the majestic representation of the Deity unfolded in

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chapter v.—no tongue, but that of an inspired man, could have compassed that sublime, unearthly song with which that chapter closes; and that no heart, but one deeply impressed by God's Holy Spirit, could have imagined its glorious conceptions. I want no scholastic proof of the inspiration of the Apocalypse; on its front it bears the impress of Divine authorship. I need no other evidence of the book being written under the direc tion of God's Holy Spirit, beyond that which the book itself

affords.

We now come to the real difficulty of the Apocalypse. The seals of the mysterious book are opened by the Lamb. Had we been Christians of those days, we should have had no difficulty in comprehending these symbols. The distance of time, and age, and country, and situation, and habits of thought and expression, give them their real unintelligibility.

I shall, as I have already premised, seek for their explanation at the time when the Apocalypse must have been written. The plan which I shall adopt will be to give first the opinions of Dr. Cumming1, as fairly as the mere statement of his views will allow, and then to subjoin my own.

I need not say we move on different lines, that whilst he contends for the Domitianic date of the Apocalypse, we shall as earnestly combat for the Neronic date,-that whilst he affirms the Apocalypse is a prophetic history of the world and of the Church down to the end of time, we shall endeavour to maintain that it was a revelation of things "which must shortly come to pass," and which received an immediate accomplishment. The principles for which we contend are as antagonistic as light and darkness; not so, I trust, however, the feelings with which these differences are viewed: in conducting this inquiry, I desire to remember that God's holy word is the subject concerning which this diversity of opinion exists, and I pray that the heat of discussion may never lead to the substitution of invective instead of proof, or of acrimonious and hasty censure in the place of argument.

1 Dr. Cumming does not profess originality. In page 1. of his Apocalyptic Sketches he says: "I candidly tell you that I shall beg and borrow from the book of Mr. Elliott all I can;" his book is only a condensation of Mr. Elliott's views, wrapped up in that pleasing dress which no one can render more delightful than Dr. Cumming.

As I have said, then, I shall first state the views of Dr. Cumming, after which I shall subjoin my own, and leave the decision to those who may examine them.

FIRST SEAL.

Chap. vi. 1-2.-" And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow and a crown was given unto him; and he went forth conquering, and to conquer."

I give Mr. Elliott's explanation condensed by Dr. Cumming. "The colour of the first horse, white, indicates a state of prosperity, victory, and expansion, as the characteristic of the Roman empire during the period comprehended during this seal. Now was there any period, beginning at the date of this vision, signalised by such marked prosperity? There was: during the reigns of Nerva, Trajan, Adrian, and the two Antonines, a period commencing A. D. 97, and closing A. D. 180, the Roman empire experienced a condition of almost unclouded national prosperity." This is further illustrated by Trajan's victories and column.

"The crown upon the rider's head indicates that imperial agency was the source of this state of happiness; and that we are right in fixing the æra in the first and second centuries, is made still more clear by reference to the Greek word here translated crown, σTedavós' wreath or laurel crown. Siádηua was not worn till centuries afterwards."

The

"In the rider's hand was a bow,-a symbol which long perplexed apocalyptic commentators. Crete was the chief ancient place that was celebrated for the manufacture of bows: so much so, that Cretan bows were as popular at Rome as Sheffield cutlery or Staffordshire earthenwares are throughout Europe. One proof of the meaning of the bow employed as a symbol is found on a Greek epigram on a female, which assigns to her a magpie to denote her loquacity, a cup, her drunkenness, and a bow, to show that she was a Cretan by birth."

“Nerva was the first emperor of Cretan family and origin, and his immediate successors were Cretan also.”

The first seal is made to extend over a period of eighty-three years, from A. D. 97 to A. D. 180.

I point out a few difficulties in this interpretation.

When it is said that the seal extends from A. D. 97 to A. D. 180, you will perceive there is no proof of such a statement whatever, beyond the supposed prosperity of the Roman empire; for any thing said in the Apocalypse, the seal might have extended 1000 years as well as eighty-three, or six months as well as 1000 years. All the rest is mere assumption, and entirely destitute of argument. I am not so sure that all was prosperity with the Roman empire during these reigns; for in the reign of Adrian the northern barbarians began to devastate the frontier provinces of the empire,-so much so, that Adrian had thoughts of contracting the limits of the empire, by giving up its least defensible provinces.

And how could the successors of Nerva be called Cretan? Trajan was a Spaniard; Adrian was the nephew of Trajan, and the family of Titus Antoninus came from Gaul. There must be something faulty in the positive statement, "Nerva was the first emperor of Cretan family and origin, and his immediate suc cessors were Cretan also."

The absurdity of the bow in the hand denoting that the emperors were of Cretan origin is too preposterous to need

comment.

I proceed to give a somewhat different interpretation. I must premise here that the first four seals having each the emblem of a horse and horseman, being each introduced by one of the four living creatures who support the throne of God, and being each prefaced with the emphatic words, "come and see," seem to demand a similar interpretation, i. e. if the first seal be applicable to any one individual or power, the other seals set forth by similar emblems must correspond.

That all four seals refer to scenes of invasion, blood, and warfare, is evident from the contents of each:

To the first horseman is given a "crown," a "victor's crown," "στε avós," he is to go forth conquering and to conquer.1

1 Στεφανός, “ a laurel crown.” Mr. Elliott's argument respecting the laurel crown applies with equal force to the crown given to Vespasian and Titus.

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