visible idol; the honours of the prophet have never transgressed the measure of human virtue; and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion." (Gibbon, chap. 50.)

THE FIFTH SEAL.

THE overthrow of Roman paganism, and the establishment of Christianity,—the overthrow of the latin and the greek empires, and the establishment of the papal and mahometan powers over them, are the most pregnant incidents of christian history since the delivery of the Apocalypse. They are also among the most signal and notorious occurrences in the temporal history of the world. Their direct and palpable effects have been of long duration. We can say of each of them, in the words by which it was announced to the prophet, "Come and see," for they all stand, as they have for many centuries stood, visible before the eyes of all mankind.*

These momentous events, together with their concurrent consequences, comprise the history of the christian church down to the great consummation revealed to the prophet on the opening of the seventh seal. In other words, they comprise the entire his

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* Gibbon (chap. 1.) says of the subversion of the Roman empire that it was a revolution which will ever be remembered, and is still felt by the nations of the earth”—an observation equally applicable to the contents of every one of the first four seals of the Apocalypse.

tory of the church militant against the powers of Roman paganism, popery, and islamism. That is to say, the war of Christ, and of Antichrist.-But the history of that conflict would be incomplete without some account of the condition in which it ultimately leaves the combatants--the steadfast defenders of the faith, and its multitudinous enemies.

The fifth and sixth seals contain that account, which pertaining to, and being the complement of, the preceding history, neither of the two seals, containing that account, is separately announced by any distinguishing symbol of animal, or living being, nor includes any peculiarly coloured horse.

In the fifth seal is comprised the blessing of the elect-in the sixth, the punishment of the reprobate.

Of the mysteries of God's providential government of the world there is, perhaps, none apparently more inscrutable by human intelligence than the purpose for which it hath pleased Him that his church should have been, and still be, under the persecuting dominion of its enemies. So long and severe have been its sufferings, particularly under the powers of popery and islamism, that it may be supposed to exclaim in the words of its blessed founder in his agony-" My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me!"

But, perplexing as may that question be to the meek and humble spirit of suffering faith, it affords no ground for the malignant sneer of scepticism. The persecution, than which nothing else could

enable any of God's elect to pour out their blood for the faith of him who gave his precious blood for them, and thus to manifest that they love the purity of his church more, not only than their temporal interests, but, than their lives, is the fulfilment of a prophecy, which includes also a blessed promise of everlasting happiness to the victims of that persecution; of which persecution it is also predicted that long as may be its duration, it is, nevertheless, only for an appointed time, and will be finally terminated when it shall have fulfilled its ordained purposes.

9. "And when he had opened the fifth seal I saw under the altar the souls of them that were 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 blood on them that dwell on the earth?

11. "And white robes were given to 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 should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”

It is to be remembered that the vision of the glorified tabernacle remains still present to the view of Saint John. In the court of the mosaic tabernacle, and in front of the sanctuary, stood the altar of burntoffering, which was hollow, like a sepulchral vault, and contained a movable cage, or frame-work of brass grating, of which the upper surface composed the surface of the altar whereon the sacrificial victims were burned.

"Thou shalt make for it a grate of net-work of

brass; and upon the net thou shalt make four brazen rings in the four corners thereof. And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar.” (Exod. xxvii. 4, 5.)

Through the grating, or net-work, the ashes of the burnt-offering fell within the inclosure of the altar.

To the glorified semblance of that altar the text refers, as typically containing the souls of the martyrvictims, whom God has accepted as willing sacrifices to Himself, and has predestinated to eternal glory.

"Them that dwell on the earth," and "they that dwell upon the earth," (Rev. xi. 10.) are those men of intolerant, and carnal minds, partaking of "the nature of the beasts of the earth," who can alone be guilty, particularly for secular purposes, of religious persecution," they are of the earth, earthy."

THE SIXTH SEAL

is the last dispensation of this eventful history that conduces to the great consummation--the restoration of the church, purified from her corruptions, liberated from her bondage, and triumphant over all the powers of Antichrist. With symbols the most awful that can be pictured to the human imagination it announces a dreadful visitation of divine wrath on every reprobate government, church, and individual.

12. “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;

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13. "And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a figtree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind:

14. "And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places:

15. "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond-man, and every free-man, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains;

16. "And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and save us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the lamb:

17. "For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"

The information, which in the first chapter of the Apocalypse is vouchsafed by our Saviour, that the stars in his hand signify bishops, or hierarchies of churches, is a key to the meaning of the same and of similar symbols, as well in this seal, as in every other part of the prophecy whenever they occur. Of the six verses just cited the first three (concerning the earthquake, the heaven, the sun, moon, stars, mountains and islands) import that the promised visitation shall sweep over the whole extent of the Roman empire, to the limits of which, Greek and Latin, the first six seals are confined, as will be hereinafter clearly shown. But within those limits no national establishment or public institution, papal or mahometan- -continental or insular- -not one corrupt constitution of church and state, within or without the pale of the mystic Babylon,-no unhallowed