that Rev. vi. 12-17, and xi. 15-19, are completely synchronical. I shall also so far anticipate the discussions which will occupy another part of this volume as to observe, that I agree with all the later interpreters of prophecy, in thinking that the seventh trumpet sounded at the era of the French revolution. And as I have already endeavoured to show that the earthquake of the sixth seal is the same with that of the seventh trumpet; it follows as a necessary consequence, that, if these opinions be correct, the sixth seal also commenced at the revolution in France, and the earthquake therein mentioned is to be applied to that revolution.

CHAPTER III.

THE SIXTH SEAL CONCLUDED.

Ir is manifest that the whole of the seventh chapter of the Apocalypse relates to the period of the sixth seal; for the opening of the seventh seal does not take place till the beginning of the eighth chapter. The first object to which the attention of the apostle John is directed, on the opening of the sixth seal, is, as we have already seen, a mighty revolution, which obscures the imperial power in the Roman empire, and fills its territories with blood; which hurls from their thrones the subordinate regal powers, and annihilates the political and ecclesiastical constitution, together with the whole fabric of the government, and removes the kingdoms and states of which it is composed, and finally fills the minds of the inhabitants of the empire with dismay and terror, on account of the manifest approach of the great day of the wrath of God.

It is a very natural subject of inquiry, what is to become of the church of Christ, the collective body of those who truly fear, and love, and serve God, in the midst of the awful desolations of this seal? Are they to be overwhelmed in the common destruction, or is it to be with them as with the Christian Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem; are they to be preserved from those judgments which overtake the wicked? The visions seen in the seventh chapter of the Revelation contain an answer to these questions.

"And after these things I saw four angels standing

on the four corners of the earth, and holding the "four winds of the earth, that the wind should not "blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. "And I saw another angel ascending from the east (the rising of the sun), having the seal of the

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living God and he cried with a loud voice to the "four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the "earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth,. "neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed "the servants of our God in their foreheads."*

The wind, when it rages with unrestrained fury, is an element little less destructive than fire itself. The wind, therefore, is a fit and proper emblem of destruction, or of divine judgments. It is thus used in various passages of scripture. "Upon the wicked "he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an "horrible tempest."+"Behold, the whirlwind of "the Lord goeth forth with fury; a consuming "whirlwind: It shall fall with pain upon the head of "the wicked."‡

In the order of the narrative this vision follows the earthquake of the sixth seal, and we may hence infer, that the carthquake begins before the holding of the winds by the four angels. But, on the other hand, we learn from Rev. vi. 17. that the earthquake reaches to the great day of the Lord; and as it seems evident that the sealing of the servants of God must precede that day; we may hence conclude, that the consummation of the earthquake, is later in point of time than the holding of the four winds of heaven. And it therefore follows that this vision of the holding the winds, must occupy a period of un

* Rev. vii. 1-3.

+ Ps. xi. 6.

Jer. xxx. 23.

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defined duration in the midst of the earthquake. It is an hieroglyphical representation, indicating a short interval of universal peace before the end, which is granted for the specific purpose of sealing the servants of God on their foreheads. All things in the Roman earth, are shaken and displaced by the first concussions of the earthquake, which bring the most awful judgments and desolations upon its inhabitants. But, according to the almost invariable analogy of the divine procedure, a term of calm, not perhaps of rest, is at length afforded, previous to the last dreadful shock which is to bring utter destruction upon the wicked.

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The emblems of this vision, seem to bear a close resemblance to those of the ninth chapter of Ezekiel ; and by comparing it with that passage we discover, that the sealing of the righteous denotes their being marked for preservation from the ruin impending over the world. The mystical number of the sealed is next given. It consists of 12,000 of each of the tribes of Israel; in all 144,000. This number expresses fulness or perfection. It is produced by multiplying 12 into 12, in allusion to the twelve tribes of Israel, and the twelve apostles, and by again multiplying the square of 12, or 144, into 1000, in order to describe the faithful as constituting an exceeding great multitude.*

These four angels seem to be the emblems or representations of those powers whom God will employ as his instruments, to restrain the calamities of the earthquake, and thus procure the allotted period of

* Archdeacon Woodhouse in loco. Faber on the 1250 years. 5th Ed. chap. x. sect. 5.

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universal peace. * When that time is elapsed, they

will cease to hold the winds; and the torrent of calamity which had already desolated and is about to overwhelm the Roman earth, shall in consequence be again let loose. It is probably in this sense, that the angels are to hurt the earth," as the prophets are said to do those things which they merely denounce. † The sealing which here takes place, is doubtless similar in its substantial characters, to that mentioned in Ephes. i. 13, for in every age of the church, the true members of Christ have been so sealed. But yet, in this concluding act of sealing, there appears to be something more directly and solemnly of a judicial character. The 144,000 are here sealed with an express reference to the calamities that are approaching, in order that they may be set apart as God's property, and saved from the general destruction of the ungodly. It seems scarcely necessary to add, what will naturally occur to the serious reader, that it is the word of God, whether preached or diffused in a written form, which is the great instrument used by the Spirit in sealing the servants of God. The angel from the east, or rising of the sun, I conceive to be our Lord himself; and the seal in his hand, is an emblem of the Spirit which The gives to his servants by the preaching of the word:

In the last chapter, I endeavoured to show that the sixth seal commenced at the period of the French

* By universal peace, I mean universal as it respects the scene of the prophecy. There may at the time be wars in Asia, or America, which countries are not within the limits of the Apocalyptic world. + See Isai. vi. 9, 10. Jer. i. 10.