LECTURE FOURTEENTH.

THE OPENING OF THE SEVENTH SEAL.

REVELATION, Chapters viii. and ix." And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. 2. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. 3. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4. And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. 5. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth; and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. 6. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. 7. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. 8. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood; 9. And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. 10. And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; 11. And the name of the star is called

Wormwood; and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. 12. And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. 13. And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!"

Chapter ix." And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 2. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. 3. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4. And 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. 5. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man. 6. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. 7. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. 8. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. 9. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. 10. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails; and their power was to hurt men five months. 11. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. 12. One woe is past; and behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

"13. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14. Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which

are bound in the great river Euphrates. 15. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. 16. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand; and I heard the number of them. 17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone. 18. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone which issued out of their mouths. 19. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails; for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. 20. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: 21. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."

THE vision of the last chapter, we saw, is supplemental to that of the Seals, and in part a recapitulation of itespecially of the Fifth Seal, defining the sufferers under it, and revealing the consoling fact for them in that day that God will interpose for their preservation from the coming judgments by a special election and sealing of them: so, although the Seventh Seal, now opened, is subsequent in order to the Sixth-going beyond it, as we shall see, in disclosing the results of Christ's coming there foretold-yet is it also recapitulatory, especially as to the judgments from which the Elect are thus preserved.

But, first, before these judgments are inflicted, there is mention of a very notable occurrence :-" And when "he had opened the Seventh Seal, there was silence in "heaven about the space of half an hour." This silence,

as appears from the verses following, is for the hearing of prayer at that time to be specially offered:-"And "I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and "to them were given seven trumpets. And another "angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden

censer; and there was given unto him much incense, "that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon "the golden altar which was before the throne. And "the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers "of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's "hand."

And the subject of these prayers we may further gather from the answer to them. What is that answer? It is indeed calculated to place in a powerful light the efficacy which attaches to the prayers of the Lord's people; see verses 5, 6:-" And the angel took the "censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it "into the earth; and there were voices, and thunderings, "and lightnings, and an earthquake. And the seven "angels which had the seven trumpets prepared them"selves to sound." That is, the saints of God-instructed in the signs of the times, and exposed to persecution and suffering unexampled from the anti-Christian confederacy of the nations then leagued against the Lord and his Anointed,—are led to pray that the Lord would hasten his kingdom, would bring to an end the wickedness of the ungodly, and with it the trials of his people : a prayer in which the Church on earth, in the communion of saints, sympathizes with the souls under the altar, whose cry for vengeance was heard on the opening

of the Fifth Seal. And God, who, when about to effect any deliverance in the earth, delights to be inquired of for it by his saints, is here represented as sending his judgments and hastening his work in answer to their prayers. Great encouragement this to prayer-to calling on God in the hour of trial and distress! Little does the enemy know of what a powerful weapon the saints of God are possessed, even in the hour of their greatest weakness and most extreme oppression !

To proceed-I have already observed the parallelism to the action here recorded of a similar one in Ezekiel, chapter x. The 9th chapter of Ezekiel is parallel to the 7th of Revelation; the former containing "the marking," and the latter "the sealing" of the Jewish remnant. So in Ezek. x. we find the marking followed by an act precisely similar to that by which the sealing is followed here. The 66 man clothed in linen" is there represented taking fire from between the cherubims, and scattering it over the city; and here, "the angel takes the censer, "and fills it with fire of the altar, and casts it into "the earth." What is symbolized by the fire we learn from what follows. Fire is an emblem of God's wrath: and, accordingly, when the fire of the altar has been scattered, "the seven angels with the trumpets prepare themselves to sound."

With respect to the "trumpets," I will not delay to mention the different theories put forward on the supposition of their being fulfilled; for that they have been fulfilled, as well as the Seals, expositors in general are also agreed. However, as before remarked of the latter,