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5

The sixth Seal unfolded

[LECT. they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward"—or rather, "that thou shouldest give the reward "," the long promised, expected reward"unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth "." The season of patient waiting, spoken of under the fifth seal, had, it would appear, at length come to its close, when now the seventh seal was so far unfolded; the two witnesses, their appointed time of ministry being accomplished, had been slain and raised up again; and the vengeance, long delayed, was now at length to be wrought; even as it had been promised, that "in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he" should "begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he" had "declared to his servants the prophets "."

And, in like manner, if we examine minutely the description contained in the sixth seal, comparing it with later visions, we shall find, I think, indications which would clearly show, that it is to be regarded not as itself the final consummation, but rather as the germ out of which the future fortunes of the Church and of her enemies were gradually to unfold. Thus, at the opening of the sixth seal, we are told, "there was a great earthquake;" but afterwards, upon the pouring out of the seventh vial-(the seven vials, as I shall hereafter have occasion to show, being the completion of the vengeance wrought under the seven trumpets)- when "the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done;" we are told,

τὸν μισθόν.

6

Chap. xi. 15-18. 7 Chap. x. 7.

VIII.]

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in subsequent Visions.

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"there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great." Again, in the description before us of the sixth seal, it is said, "every mountain and island removed out of their place "," shaken as if in terror; but in the later vision where the seventh vial is poured out, it is said, as though all things were now nearer to their threatened dissolution, " every island fled away, and the mountains were not found'." Under the sixth seal, "the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and every bondman, and every free man," are described as hiding themselves in terror at the anticipated vengeance of the day of Divine wrath now breaking upon them2; but, as if the actual scene of destruction had unfolded itself more and more fully, when we arrive at the description of the fall of Babylon, whose day of visitation came then at length when the seventh vial had been poured out, we read there of "the kings of the earth" bewailing and lamenting for her, and then of "the merchants of the earth,' ""which were made rich by her," and were "the great men of the earth," weeping and mourning over her3: and still later, when the Rider on the white horse goes forth for the final triumph over His enemies, an angel is seen standing in the sun, and crying "with a loud voice to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven,” bidding them to "eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, . . . and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great "."

4

230

Unfolding of the sixth Seal.

[LECT.

Lastly, under the sixth seal, or what may be regarded as the continuation of it, contained in the following chapter, we find "the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea," commanded not to hurt the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till the servants of God had been sealed in their foreheads, to be preserved by that mark amid the scenes of destruction. In the subsequent vision, under the seventh seal, we read of the first angel sounding, on which there followed plagues "upon the earth," "and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up;" and the second angel sounded, and plagues fell upon the sea; and still later, under the fifth trumpet, we read of the locusts, that "it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads "." These passages, taken together, seem clearly to discover scenes which contain the further unfolding of that which is disclosed under the sixth seal, in the passage immediately before us.

It would appear, then, that in the imagery of the sixth seal is described, not that last day of doom which is to determine for ever the eternal destinies of men, as personal and individual agents, but rather a great crisis and consummation in the history of God's dispensations, revealing the prospect of that general overthrow which should in due time involve in it the whole world; and also unfolding, as more fully to be manifested in time to come, the privileges and blessings which, in the kingdom and Church of Christ, should be the portion of those who found

5

Chap. vii. 2, 3.

6

Chap. viii. 7.

7 Chap. ix. 4.

VIII.]

Imagery of the sixth Seal.

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within its blissful sanctuary a shelter from the gathering storm.

But it is time to proceed to the more particular examination of the imagery here employed. "I beheld," says St. John, “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 heaven departed as a scrowl when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." Imagery very similar to this is found in the prophetical books of the Old Testament. Thus Isaiah, in the thirteenth chapter of his prophecies, where he foretels the destruction of Babylon and its empire, speaks of that impending overthrow as "the day of the Lord," "at hand," come "as a destruction from the Almighty,"

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to lay the land desolate," and to "destroy the sinners thereof out of it." "For the stars of heaven," he says, "and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine." "Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger And, in the thirty-fourth chapter, we find the same prophet thus declaring the "indignation of the Lord upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies," and specially upon Idumæa, "the people of" His "curse," the type of His Church's enemies 9. "All the host of heaven shall

8 99

Isa. xiii. 6. 9, 10. 13.

9 Isa. xxxiv. 2. 5.

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Parallel prophecies of

[LECT. be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree '." The imagery of these two prophecies is identical with that of the vision before us: and that the destruction foretold in the last cited passage of Isaiah, is of kingdoms of this world, previous and preparatory to the coming of the Gospel and the establishment of the Christian Church, is evident from the description which follows immediately upon it, and which undoubtedly received its fulfilment in the times of the Gospel, and the wondrous works which then were wrought. "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them," thus the prophecy continues in the thirtyfifth chapter, "and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. . . . Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing":"-a prediction to which our Lord seems clearly to refer, when He bids the messengers of John carry back to their master the report of these mighty works, as the proof that "He that should come was in very deed even then standing among them 3. And in another passage of the same prophet, the terror which should overwhelm the transgressors among his people, in that "day of the Lord of hosts" which was then nigh at hand, is painted in language

2

1 Ver. 4.

Chap. xxxv. 1. 3—6.

3 Matt. xi. 4, 5.