CHAPTER III.

RESPECTING THE FIFTH AND SIXTH APOCALYPTIC SEALS.

THE fifth and sixth apocalyptic seals, though chronologically successive to the opening of the four first seals in the complete septenary, are yet constructed upon different principles, and consequently are so far distinct from them.

I. At the opening of the fifth seal, St. John beholds the result of the earlier persecutions announced under the fourth seal. These earlier persecutions, or the persecutions carried on by the pagan Roman Empire, are described as having now terminated: but the Church of God is not, therefore, as yet to expect any permanent tranquillity. The sufferers are exhorted to rest for a little season, until their brethren, that are about to be killed as they were, should be completed. A second period of persecution, therefore, is to be expected; agreeably to the exactly parallel arrangement in Daniel's last vision, where a short term of little help is interposed between the two successive persecutions of the men of understanding'. Consequently, the period of the fifth seal occupies the time, which elapses, between the end of the persecutions carried

1 Dan. xi. 33-35. Sec above book iii. chap. iv. § III. 1,2, 3.

on by the rider of the sallow-white horse singly, and the commencement of the persecutions carried on by the rider of the sallow-white horse in conjunction with his attendant and follower the personified Hades. : And, when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw ünder the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given ụnto 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, that are about to be killed as they were, should be completed'.

That the characteristic subject of the entire fourth seal is the persecution of the Church by the Roman Empire, and that it is not some indiscriminate slaughter of the human race without any specific reference to matters of religion, is demonstratively proved by the scene developed at the opening of the subsequent seal. When the fifth scal is opened, St. John beholds the souls of those, who were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. But such a sight he could not have beheld, unless a previous persecution had taken place. Yet, unless this previous persecution

· Rev. vi. 9-11.

year 311, a solemn edict, commanding the persecution to cease and restoring freedom and repose to the harassed Christians'.

Hence I apprehend, that the fifth seal, exhibiting the results and the close of the persecution carried on by pagan Rome, must be viewed as having been opened in the year 311 : and, since its period occupies the time which elapses between the close of persecution on the part of Rome pagan and the commencement of persecution on the part of Rome papal, that period may be fitly considered as expiring in the year 604, when the saints of God were given by the ruling powers of the Empire into the hand of the little western horn or the personified Hades of the fourth seal.

II. The sixth seal is divided into two portions. When the affairs of the Church had been brought to the lowest ebb, and when at length she had scarcely obtained a reluctant toleration from the baffled tyrant Galerius, a wonderful revolution commenced, by which Paganism was overthrown and Christianity raised up in its stead to power and authority. Yet this great revolution, though outwardly felicitous, served only to foster a spirit of secularity and superstition : hence it became necessary, that the faithful should be separated from the unfaithful.

1. The first portion of the sixth seal announces a mighty change in the Roman world, which to

Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. vol. i. p. 318-320.

many persons of rank and power should cause no small consternation.

· And I beheld, when he had opened the sixth seal: and, lo, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair; and the moon became as blood. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth; even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heavens departed together as a scroll, when it is rolled together: and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains: and they said to the mountains and to the rocks; Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand1?

In the figurative language of prophecy, great revolutions, whether temporal or ecclesiastical, are described under the imagery of confusion among the heavenly bodies and of violent agitation in regard to the earth. Now, since the preceding seal related specially to the Church, describing it as having recently emerged from the bloody persecu