198

Vision of the four Chariots,

[LECT.

horses, express the intermediate transition from suffering to happiness '."

This appears yet more clearly from another vision of the same prophet. I "looked," he says, "and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass. In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses; and in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses. Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord? And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country. And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro in the earth and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth. Then cried he unto me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country "." They were the agents of God's Providence throughout the world; and the scene of action on which those who were foremost in the prophet's view were employed, was "the north country," that is, Babylon, where the chosen people had been in bondage, but were now to find their sorrow succeeded by joy; the black horses denoting their former affliction, the white, which went forth after them, representing the deliverance which the cap

2

1 Woodhouse, Annotations on the Apocalypse, p. 122.

2 Zech. vi. 1-8.

VII.]

illustrating St. John's Vision.

199

tives were to obtain through the victories of Cyrus3.

"From this application of the imagery of horses in Scripture," as Dean Woodhouse further observes, "it may appear, that a man on horseback, in scriptural vision, represents the going forth of some power divinely commissioned to effect changes upon earth: and that the character of the change is to be collected from the colour of the horse; the red, or flame-coloured, denoting war and slaughter; the black, mourning and woe; the white, victory, and peace, and happiness." And the interpretation thus derived from the visions of the earlier prophet, considered simply with reference to the events in which they were undoubtedly fulfilled, is strongly confirmed by the imagery in the passage before us. For here, the white horse has a rider marked by the undoubted symbols of victory and triumph-the bow and the crown and the career of conquest; the red, the fiery-coloured, horse has his rider distinguished, in like manner, as the representative of war, both by the commission given to him, that he should take peace from the earth, and by the sword which was put into his hand; while the black horse, whose rider would seem to be the emblem of famine, when bread is eaten by weight, and the oil and wine are precious, is still, as in Zechariah's vision, the appropriate symbol of distress and calamity.

But to proceed to the more particular examination of the several symbols: and first, of the white horse and him that sat thereon. And here, acting on that most safe and sure rule of interpretation

3

See Woodhouse, loc. sup. cit.

4

Πυρρός.

200

The Rider on the White Horse,

[LECT.

which would look to prophetic Scripture, and especially to other parts of the same volume of prophecy, as the best exponent of its own imagery, we cannot fail to be struck with the similarity of a description which we find in the nineteenth chapter of this same book of the Revelation. "I saw heaven opened," says St. John, "and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS 5." It cannot for a moment be doubted to Whom this description belongs. It is He whom the beloved disciple beheld, in his first vision, in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks,-His universal Church; whose "eyes were as a flame of fire," "and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword o. He is seen here with the "many crowns" on His head, the regal crowns' of the kingdoms of this world which have been subdued to His power. He comes forth with the signs of vengeance to be fulfilled on His enemies, like him whom the prophet Isaiah beheld

6 "

5 Rev. xix. 11-16.

6

Chap. i. 14. 16.

7

* διαδήματα.

VII.] Christ going forth in his Gospel.

201

coming "from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah," "glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength;" who had trodden the wine-press alone, and would tread the people in His anger and trample them in His fury; for the day of vengeance was in His heart, and the year of His redeemed was come ;-it is the same Divine and glorious Person who is seen in the vision of St. John, manifested in all the majesty and glory of His presence, and leading His Church to victory. And if, in the earlier vision immediately before us, He appears with less manifest signs of His Divine nature and His Almighty power, it is because here the time is not yet come for the full display of His might and majesty. He has a bow, ready strung for the conflict with His enemies, whom afterward, in nearer combat, He must slay with the sword: and there is given unto Him a crown, the crown not of the king but of the combatant', the crown of promised victory. And He goes forth "conquering, and to conquer:" still greater and more extended triumphs are in store for Him whose first going forth was thus with the signs, and the assured pledge, of final success. The description given in the passage before us, as well as in that later vision, corresponds with the imagery of the Psalm which, on the inspired authority of the Apostle', we cannot doubt has reference to Christ Himself. "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the

8 Isa. lxiii. 1. 3, 4.

9

στέφανος.

1

Heb. i. 8.

202

First preaching of the Gospel.

[LECT.

heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee 2."

It would appear, then, from the comparison of prophetic language in passages apparently parallel, that under the imagery of this first seal is described "the progress of the Christian religion in its primitive purity," when its first teachers were sent out into all the world, in the might of the Divine Spirit, and with their Master's presence pledged to be with them; His Gospel going forth thus with the bow and the crown,-with "the Divine favour resting upon it, armed spiritually against its foes, and destined to be victorious in the end "." And when it is said of the emblematic Warrior that "he went forth conquering, and to conquer," we may understand, as has been well pointed out, a reference to the two distinct periods in the progress of the Christian Religion; the first when, "preached in purity by the Apostles," it "overcame the powers of darkness, and all human opposition, and, establishing itself in the world, went forth conquering;'""the second, when, after a long warfare, during which this holy religion is corrupted, debased, and deformed, by the machinations of the enemy, it is at length seen to regain its primitive freedom and purity, and to overcome all opposition." "The latter period, which," on this view, is represented in the later vision already referred to, is "only alluded to in the passage now before us; the prime object of which is to show the religion of Christ going forth in its original purity, and in the power divinely conferred upon it." Imagery, it may be observed, of a similar

2 Psal. xlv. 3-5. Vitringa refers to this Psalm, and to Zech. i. 8, &c. Anacrisis, pp.

244-246.

3 Woodhouse, Annot. p. 124. * Ibid. pp. 124, 125.