followed with him. And power | and with death and with the was given unto them over the beasts of the earth. fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, widely death would be occasioned by these evils. War and famine produced "pestilence that wasteth at noon-day." Pestilence, like the cholera for instance, or the plague, may well be represented by death, the king of terrors. On such occasions death seems to ride fearfully among the people, and hell, or the grave, follows with him. In the parallelisms of the Old Testament death and hades are frequently conjoined, "Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them;" Psa. xlix. 14. "Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell," hades, the grave; Idem, lv. 15. We refrain from further quotations. Death is personified by several of the sacred writers. See Job xxviii. 22; Hos. xiii. 14; Hab. ii. 5; 1 Cor. xv. 55. "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory ?" We can make no great distinction here between death and hades, hell, translated the grave. So when it is said, "his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him," we judge it to mean nothing more than that death and destruction marked the path of the pale horse. Power was given unto them. It was a wide power too,power over the fourth part of the land, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with the beasts of the earth. Does this mean that a quarter part of the people were to be cut off by the scourges here referred to? Death reigned with fearful power. Sword and famine were the principal agencies by which he executed his will. But to these were to be added "the beasts of the earth." This is manifestly a reference to Ezek. xiv. 21, quoted above. If wild beasts, and not ferocious men, be intended, they follow in the course of an army, 9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the and devour the wounded and the slain. In fine, we esteem it necessary to add only, under this verse, that it represents, more forcibly than either of the preceding, the scourges that were to fall upon the Jews. Well did Jesus weep before Jerusalem, in view of the calamities that were impending over it. 9. As there were but four beasts, and these had all spoken at the opening of the first four seals, so there is none represented as speaking at the opening of the fifth, sixth and seventh seals. Souls of them that were slain. John saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, &c. This agrees with Rev. xx. 4, where the martyrs, notwithstanding they had been killed, are said to have lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. It is a bold prosopopoeia, as in the case of the blood of Abel crying unto God from the ground; Gen. iv. 10. The martyrs were before the altar, or at the base of it, where the faithful are said to stand; Rev. vii. 9, 14. Souls do not signify absolutely spirits in a disembodied state. Nothing is more common in the Scriptures than the use of the word souls for persons. Paul said, "We were all in the ship two hundred three score and sixteen souls" Acts xxvii. 37. Peter, speaking of the ark, said, "Wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved by water;" 1 Pet. iii. 20. The import of the verse before us is, then, that the revelator saw under the altar those who had been slain. ¶ The testimony which they held - They were slain for their adherence to Christ. The word "held" here means, held fast. The Christians were exhorted to hold fast the profession of their faith without wavering; Heb. x. 23. This exposed them to persecution earth? altar the souls of them that were blood on them that dwell on the slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our xxiv. 9. 11 And white robes were given unto every one of them ; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zecharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily, I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.” Vengeance was not taken upon them at once for their iniquities; they were to and to death. Jesus pre-accused the Jews of these things. "C Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city;" Matt. xxiii. 34. Warning to a similar effect was given to the disciples: "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake;" Matt."fill up the measure" of their fathers. (Matt. xxiii. 32,) and then they 10. How long, O Lord. - The mar- should be fully punished. At the tyrs are represented as waiting im- time the revelator referred to, under patiently for God to avenge himself the fifth seal, the measure was not upon those who had shed their blood; filled up. It seemed long to those intending nothing more than the Jews who suffered, and whose friends had should be judged for their murders of been slain. The Jews seemed to the Christians, but that their punish- them sufficiently ripe for judgment; ment was for a short time delayed; the measure seemed to be full; but and this delay to judge and punish in the wisdom of God, it was best to might create some discontent and forbear yet longer. When the measimpatience. The words of discontent ure of wickedness was full in the are placed in the minds of the mur-sight of God, then the Jews should be dered Christians, who, by a bold signally punished. They should be figure, are represented as inquiring visited with a retribution so signal, how long this delay was to be con- that it should appear to all the world tinued. The time had not come for the hand of the Lord was in it. It the judgment to take place. should surely come on that generation, before all who were then on the earth should pass away. And here it may not be improper to observe, that the dreadful punishments which are prefigured in the succeeding verses were the punishments that were to fall upon the Jews, in consequence of their long continued rebellion against God, and determined persecutions of his church. But even in the midst of the deepest persecutions, the martyrs, and all who suffered for righteousness' sake, should be hon. 11. White robes. But the martyrs were honored in the sight of God, though their enemies were not then fully punished. White robes were given to the former as signs of approbation and honor; and for a little season they should rest, until their fellow-servants should be killed, and then their wishes should be fulfilled. How readily does this bring to mind the language of Jesus in Matt. xxiii. 34-36: "Some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall that should be killed as they | and the sun became black as were, should be fulfilled. sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood : 12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; ored in the sight of all good men. All these things were to happen during that generation. 13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a civil commotions, in the metaphorical style of the sacred writers. See Rev. viii. 5; xi. 13, 19; xvi. 18. See, also, Isa. ii. 19; xiii. 13; Joel iii. 16; Haggai ii. 6, 21; and many other places. This style is carried into by Christ and his apostles; Heb. xii. 26, 27. ¶ Sun became black as sackcloth of hair. - Cloth woven of black hair is of a deep blackness. Sackcloth was often of hair; it was very coarse of a deep black; and was worn, therefore, in seasons of trouble. The sun became black in the revelator's imagination. In reality, such a thing never happened; but we have already asserted the fact, in the language of Bishop Lowth, (which is given as a sample of what might be quoted from many authors,) that the Jews were in the habit of representing great changes on earth, by changes in the heavenly bodies. The heavens sometimes, in their descriptions, are covered with blackness, as when a terrific cloud, shutting from our vision half the hemisphere, arises with fearful violence, heaven seems as if it were about to expend itself in wrath upon the earth. 12. The sixth seal. -The events under the sixth seal are described under the most glowing imagery. The ancients were remarkable for the New Testament, and used both this style of writing. It seems wild and extravagant to men in this age. There is nothing, however, more certain, than that changes in heaven and on earth - among the heavenly bodies and among the hills and mountains were used by the Jewish prophets to describe political or national changes, the building up or the overthrow of nations. Bishop Lowth says, "The Hebrew poets, to express happiness, prosperity, the instauration and advancement of states, kingdoms and potentates, make use of images taken from the most striking parts of nature, from the heavenly bodies, from the sun, moon, and stars; which they describe as shining with increased splendor, and never setting; the moon becomes like the meridian sun, and the sun's light is augmented seven fold; (see Isaiah xxx. 26,) new heavens and a new earth are created, and a brighter age commences. On the contrary, the overthrow and destruction of kingdoms, is represented by opposite images: the stars are obscured, the moon withdraws her light, and the sun shines no more; the earth quakes and the heavens tremble, and all things seem tending to their original chaos." - (Note on Isaiah xiii. 10.) A great earthquake.. Our Lord, in his prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, associated earthquakes with famines and pestilences; Matt. xxiv. 7; Mark xiii. 8; Luke xxi. 11. Earthquakes, or shaking of the earth, are frequently put for moral and "The See 1 Kings xviii. 45; Isa. 1. 3; Jer. iv. 28. ¶ Moon became as blood. This is precisely the style in which the prophets foretold the destruction of Jerusalem. earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble; the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining;" Joel ii. 10. "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come;" 31. See, also, Matt. xxiv. 29, quoted below. 13. Stars of heaven fell. — This, also, is precisely in the prophetic fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. style. Ezek. xxxii. 7; Daniel viii. 10; Joel ii. 10; iii. 15. It represented civil or political commotions. The metaphor of stars falling like figs from a tree was used by Isaiah to represent the fall of the powers of Idumea; xxxiv. 4, 5. See below. 14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled to gether; and every mountain events attending the destruction of Jerusalem; and taken in connection with the preceding signs of war, pestilence and famine, the whole seems to denote, beyond a doubt, that it is that event which is spoken of in the sixth chapter of Revelations. Such, also, are almost the precise terms in which the prophet describes the destruction of Idumea. See Isaiah 34th chap. "All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all their host [viz., the stars] shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree;" Isa. xxxiv. 4. And yet all this splendid imagery is expressly said by the prophet to refer to the destruction of Idumea, ver. 5. We cannot forbear quoting the following very intelligent remarks from Dr. Lightfoot, on the whole series of events mentioned under the six seals: "The opening of the six seals in this chapter speaks the ruin and rejection of the Jewish nation, and the desolation of their city, which is now very near at hand. The first seal opened shows Christ setting forth in battle array and avengement against them, as Psa. xli. 4, 5. And this the New Testament speaketh very much and very highly of; one while calling it his coming in clouds,' — another while, his coming in his kingdom,' 14. Heaven departed as a scroll. The metaphor here, also, is from Isaiah; see the verse last quoted. The metaphors in the 12th, 13th and 14th verses are clearly a description of the events that attended the destruction of Jerusalem; and are given almost precisely in the language that our Lord applied to that event, and that ancient prophecy applied to the temporal judgments that God sent upon rebellious countries. In Matt. xxiv. 29, we read, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, [referring to the tribulation of wars, pestilences and famines, of which he had been speaking,] shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Now, no intelligent commentator of the present day has any doubt, that in the use of these splendid metaphors, our Lord was speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem. "That event took place "immediately after the tribulation of those days;" and in verse 34 it is said, "This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." - and sometimes, his 'coming in Now look at the passage in the sixth power and great glory;' and the like. of Revelations, and see if there be Because his plaguing and destroying not changes in the sun, moon and of the nation that crucified him, that stars. "The sun became black as so much opposed and wrought mischief sackcloth of hair, and the moon be- against the gospel, was the first evicame as blood, and the stars of heav-dence that he gave in sight of all the en fell upon the earth, even as a fig- world of his being Christ; for, till tree casteth her untimely figs, when then, he, and his gospel, had been in she is shaken of a mighty wind," humility, as I may say, as to the eyes and the heaven departed as a scroll, of men, he persecuted whilst he &c. These are the very figures em- was on earth, and they persecuted ployed by our Lord to describe the after him, and no course taken with and island were moved out of their places. 15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and 6 them that so used both; but now he 16,] They shall say to the rocks, awakes, shows himself, and makes Fall on us,' &c., doth not only warhimself known by the judgment rant, but even enforce us to underthat he executeth. The three next stand and construe these things in the seals opening, shows the means by sense that we do; for Christ applies which he did destroy, namely, those these very words to the very same three sad plagues that had been thing; Luke xxiii. 30. And here is threatened so oft, and so sure, by another, and to me a very satisfactory the prophets, 'sword, famine, and reason, why to place the showing of pestilence.' The second seal opened, these visions to John, and his writing sends out one upon a red horse, to of this book, before the desolation of take peace from the earth, and that Jerusalem." (Harmony of the New men should destroy one another; he Testament, Works, Milman's Ed., iii. carried a great 'sword.' The third 335-337.) ¶ Every mountain and seal opening, speaks of famine, when island. The mountains are usually corn for scarcity should be weighed places of strength and security. Lot like spicery in a pair of balances. was advised to escape to the mounThe fourth seal sends out one on a tains from the fires of Sodom and pale horse, whose name was Death. Gomorrah; Gen. xix. 17. Jesus diThe opening of the fifth seal reveals rected his disciples, at the time of the a main cause of the vengeance, destruction of Jerusalem, to "flee unto namely, the blood of the saints which the mountains;" Matt. xxiv. 16. But had been shed, crying, and which to signify times of great commotion was to be required of that generation. and distress, the very mountains are These souls are said to cry from un- moved. To express a high state of der the altar, either in allusion to the joy, the mountains and hills are blood of creatures sacrificed, poured sometimes personified. The mounat the foot of the altar, or according tains "skipped like rams, and the to the Jews' tenet, that all just souls little hills like lambs ;" Psa. cxiv. 6. departed are under the throne of "Praise the Lord, mountains and all glory.' Answer to their cry is given, hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars ;" that the number of their brethren cxlviii. 9. See also Isa. xliv. 23; that were to be slain was not yet ful- xlix. 13; lv. 12. But to denote the filled; and they must rest till that overthrow of nations, princes, leadshould be; and then avengement in ers, governments, the mountains are their behalf should come.. This melted, shaken, thrown down. God speaks suitable to that which we ob- touches the mountains and they served lately, that now times were smoke; Psa. cxliv. 5. The day of the begun of bitter persecution, an hour Lord is upon all the mountains and of temptation,' the Jews and devil the hills that are lifted up, (Isa. ii. 14,) raging, till the Lord should some- where they seem to be put for proud thing cool that fury by the ruin of men. They are put for the leaders that people. The opening of the of Israel, Ezek. vi. 2, 3; xxxvi. 1, 8. sixth seal [ver. xii. 13] shows the To show the overthrow of these leaddestruction itself, in those borrowed ers, there is great confusion in the terms that the Scripture useth to ex-mountains. They "tremble," Jer. press it by, namely, as if it were the vi. 24; they "quake," Nah. i. 5; destruction of the whole world; the they are "thrown down," Ezek. sun darkened, the stars falling, the xxxviii. 20; they are removed," heaven departing, and the earth dis- Isa. liv. 10; they "melt," Isa. xxxiv. solved; and that conclusion, [ver. 3; lxiv. 1; Micah i. 4; Nah. i. 5. When 66 |