we learn that through them the Lord Christ is judging the world for its rebellion against His authority. And as it is said here, that 'authority was given unto them over a fourth part of the earth' (which is another indication that the words refer to these four ministers of judgment), so there can be little doubt but that by these plagues a fourth part of mankind constantly perishes. However gloomy, therefore, these symbolical pictures, they certainly are not overcharged, since they simply represent the actual facts of nature and history, and only some of the evils which men suffer for want of the benign influences of the gospel and Christian civilization. For these plagues are all mitigated, and they tend to disappear, as the Lord's blessed kingdom makes progress and becomes established in the world. That of wild beasts has already passed away from all countries where Christianity has developed a high and powerful civilization, which is one of its invariable consequences. Famine and pestilence are greatly mitigated, and must ultimately cease wherever its sanitary precautions, and its ever increasing appliances for the abundant production and rapid transportation of food, shall come to prevail. And as for war, in so far as it still continues to rage, manifestly this is because the Christian religion has gained as yet no foothold in many countries, and is so imperfectly realized in others. For when the Lord's kingdom shall be everywhere established, and its moral laws shall come to be more perfectly understood and obeyed, self-evidently it can be nothing else but a kingdom of peace. When the nations shall be gathered under the sceptre of Shiloh (129), then the ancient prophecies must be fulfilled, that war shall be no more, and "they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it " (Micah iv. 4).

The practical lessons of these four seal-openings are many and of great importance, some of which are the following: (1) The sufferings of mankind, howsoever depending upon natural causes operating according to uniform laws, are the penal consequences of sin, and indispensable to its correction,

and to the establishment of the Lord's blessed kingdom: (2) The plagues of war, pestilence, famine, and wild beasts must continue their ravages, until the nations and mankind in general shall come to acknowledge and submit to the authority of the Lord Christ and keep His laws: (3) The best thing we can do to mitigate these plagues, and cause them ultimately to cease, is to pray and labor with all our powers for the progress of the gospel in the world at large and in individual souls, until Thy kingdom come' shall receive its crowning answer and fulfilment.

hasten it in its time!

May the Lord

XV

THE FIFTH SEAL THE SOULS OF THE MARTYRS UNDER THE ALTAR VI 9-11

The first four seals establish the point, that the judgments and events of these visions do not always follow in the order of time in which they are successively represented; for pestilence and famine, though commonly they are preceded by war, sometimes occur in times of peace, and the plague of wild beasts, which is the first of the series, is often subsequent to all the others. In fact, any one of these calamities may precede or follow any other, and all of them may be experienced at the same time. In like manner, we are not to understand that what is represented under this fifth seal is either prior or subsequent to what has gone before. Indeed, the symbol, although it is wonderfully picturesque, does not picture historical events, but what' belongs exclusively to the invisible spiritual world. Hence the question of historical precedence and sequence, where it is a matter of any importance, must be determined by other evidence than the order of the visions; and this is one of the leading principles of interpretation for the symbols of this book. Hence, also, we have here no ministry of the living creatures which, at the opening of the preceding seals, uttered their thunderword of command to the destructive forces of nature to come forth and execute the divine judgments (128); for what this symbol represents does not take place within the realm of nature, and there are no judgments executed, but a reason is given for their delay.

9 And when He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that had been slain in sacrifice for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.

The word here rendered 'slain in sacrifice' is the same that is constantly applied to the sacrificial death of the

Lamb (121); and thus the martyrs are identified with Him in His most holy sacrifice, not, indeed, in its atoning efficacy, but as witnesses to make it known, just as He is identified with them in that He is 'the faithful martyr' (15). This idea is still further developed and emphasized by the statement that they suffered 'for the word of God and for the testimony which they held,' as He did, and by their souls being seen 'under the altar'; for this altar must be understood as that upon which the bloody sacrifices were offered, whose blood, in which was the soul or life of the victim, was poured out at its foot, and hence these souls of the martyrs are here represented as under it. We are not to understand that they were personally there, any more than that the pestilence actually rides upon a pale horse, for this whole altar-scene is a pictorial symbol, and must be symbolically interpreted. But as to their identification with the Lord in the sacrificial character of their death, we have many other declarations to the same effect, as in the words of St. Paul: "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things which are behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body's sake which is the church (Col. i. 24). I am now being poured out (2 Tim. iv. 6). And if I also am poured out upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all" (Phil. ii. 17).

10 And they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Master, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth?

They address the Lord as their 'Master,' because, as His servants, they have a right to His protection, and to the vindication of the cause for which they have suffered, and they appeal to His holiness and truth, as requiring that He should avenge their blood upon the earth-dwellers; for their martyrdom, as identified with that of the Lord, is the sin of the world. But here we naturally ask, How does this prayer agree with that of St. Stephen for his murderers, 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge'? (Acts vii. 60) or with that of Jesus upon the cross, 'Father, forgive them, for they

know not what they do'? (Luke xxiii. 46). Does it not express an unchristian sentiment? For the solution of this difficulty, we must bear in mind the intensely symbolical character of the whole representation, and may recall what is said of the first martyr, Abel: "The Lord said unto Cain, . . . The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground" (Gen. iv. 9-10). For no one finds any difficulty in that highly figurative and poetical, yet most significant expression; and this symbolical cry of the martyrs expresses the same truth, namely, that their blood does unceasingly cry with a great voice' for the divine justice to be executed upon the world as guilty of it. But this is only a partial solution of the difficulty, for we shall see hereafter that the Lord's judgments do literally come upon the world in answer to 'the prayers of all the saints' (Rev. viii. 3-5) that His kingdom may be established, unto which these judgments are a necessary means: and this is one of the great truths disclosed in these unveilings of the spiritual world.

II And there was given unto them, to each one a white robe; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little while, until their fellow servants and their brethren who should be killed, as they were, should be fulfilled.

This symbol of the white robe frequently occurs, and, in the case of redeemed souls, always with the same meaning, namely, that they have obtained the victory over their spiritual enemies (37) and have been purified from the defilements of sin through the sacrifice of Christ (85). Here it must be taken with all that it signifies and that goes with it, in order to comprehend the state in which these martyr souls actually are, while they wait for their final vindication. doubtless it is the 'fine linen pure and bright' (Rev. xix. 8), in which the Bride is brought home to the mansions of her celestial Bridegroom, and the 'wedding garment' (Mat. xxii. 11-12), which secures a cordial welcome to the marriage supper of the King's Son: moreover, those who are thus arrayed walk with their Lord, having palms in their hands,