Revelation Chapter 5
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Revelation Chapter 7
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Revelation Chapter 6
Breaking the Seals
on the Book of Prophecy
Verse 1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of
the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four
beasts saying, Come and see. 2 And I saw, and behold a white
horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him:
and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
The Lamb takes the book, and proceeds at once to open the
seals. The attention of the apostle is called to the scenes that occur
under each seal. The number seven has already been noticed as denoting
completeness and perfection in the Scriptures. The seven seals represent
events of a religious character, and contain the history of the church from
the opening of the Christian Era to the second coming of Christ. When the
seals are broken, and the record was brought to light, the scenes were
presented before John, not by the reading of the description, but by a
representation of what was described in the book being made to pass before
his view in living characters, and in the place where the reality was to
occur, namely, the earth.
The First Seal. —The first symbol is a white horse, bearing a
rider who carries a bow. A crown is given to him, and he goes forth
conquering and to conquer, a fit emblem of the triumphs of the gospel in
the first century of the Christian Era. The whiteness of the horse denotes
the purity of faith in that age. The crown which was given to the rider,
and his going forth as a conqueror to make still further conquests, signify
the zeal and success with which the truth was promulgated by its earliest
ministers. By what symbols could the work of Christianity better be
represented when it went forth as an aggressive principle against the huge
systems of error with which it had at first to contend? The rider upon this horse went forth—
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where? His commission was unlimited. The gospel was to all the world.
Verse 3 And when He had opened the second seal, I
heard the second beast say, Come and see. 4 And there went out
another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to
take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there
was given unto him a great sword.
The Second Seal. —Perhaps the first feature noticed in these
symbols is the contrast in the color of the horses. This doubtless has
special significance. It the whiteness of the first horse denoted the
purity of the gospel in the period which that symbol covers, the redness of
the second horse would signify that in this period that original purity
began to be corrupted. The mystery of iniquity already worked in Paul’s
day, and the professed church of Christ was so far corrupted by this time
as to require this change in the color of the symbol. Errors began to
arise. Worldliness came in. The ecclesiastical power sought the alliance
of the secular. Troubles and commotions were the result.
Speaking of the period of the Christian church from A.D. 100 to 311, the historian remarks:
“We now descend from the primitive apostolic church to the
Graeco-Roman; from the scene of creation to the work of preservation; from
the fountain of divine revelation to the stream of human development; from
the inspirations of the apostles and prophets to the productions of
enlightened but fallible teachers. The hand of God has drawn a bold line of
demarcation between the century of miracles and the succeeding ages, to
show, by the abrupt transition and the striking contrast, the difference
between the work of God and the work of man.” [1] “The second period, from the death of the apostle
John to the end of the persecutions, or to the accession of Constantine,
the first Christian emperor, is the classic age . . . of heathen
persecution, and of Christian martyrdom and heroism. . . . It furnishes a
continuous commentary on the
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Saviour’s words, ‘Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of
wolves.’” [2] “The
ante-Nicene age . . . is . . . the common root out of which both
[Catholicism and Protestantism] have sprung, Catholicism (Greek and Roman)
first, and Protestantism afterwards. It is the natural transition from the
apostolic age to the Nicene age, yet leaving behind many important truths
of the former (especially the Pauline doctrines) which were to be derived
and explored in future ages. We can trace in it the elementary forms of
the Catholic creed, organization, and worship, and also the germs of nearly
all the corruptions of Greek and Roman Christianity.” [3]
The spirit of this period perhaps reached its climax as we come to the
days of Constantine, the first so-called Christian emperor, whose
conversion to Christianity in A.D. 323 brought about a compromise
between the church and the Roman Empire. The Edict of Milan in A.D.
313, is said to have granted toleration to Christians and allowed
conversions to Christianity. Kenneth S. Latourette declares that the acts
immediately preceding and culminating in the Edict of Milan in 313 “still
remain the most significant of the many milestones in the road by which the
church and the state moved toward co-operation.” [4]
This modern scholar of church history further declares:
“Christianity, by bringing the church into existence, developed an
institution which in part was a rival of the state. It created a society
within the empire which, so many believed, threatened the very existence of
the latter. The conflict was very marked in the century or more before
Constantine. . . . When Constantine made his peace with the faith, however,
it long looked as though the conflict had been resolved by the control of
the church by the state. Yet, even in the days of the seeming
subordination of the church to the government,
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ecclesiastics sought to influence the policies of the latter.”
[5]
This state of things answers well to the declaration of the prophet
that power was given to him that sat on the horse “to take peace from
the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto
him a great sword.”
Verse 5 And when he had opened the third seal, I
heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black
horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 6
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of
wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou
hurt not the oil and the wine.
The Third Seal. —How rapidly the work of corruption progresses! What a contrast in color between this symbol and the first one: A black
horse— the very opposite of white! A period of great darkness and moral
corruption in the church must be denoted by this symbol. By the events of
the second seal the way was fully opened for that state of things to be
brought about which is here presented. The time that intervened between
the reign of Constantine and the establishment of the papacy in A.D.
538 may be justly noted as the time when the darkest errors and the
grossest superstitions sprang up in the church. Of a period immediately
succeeding the days of Constantine, Mosheim says:
“Those vain fictions, which an attachment to the Platonic
philosophy and to popular opinions had engaged the greatest part of the
Christian doctors to adopt before the time of Constantine, were now
confirmed, enlarged, and embellished in various ways. From hence arose
that extravagant veneration for departed saints, and those absurd notions
of a certain fire destined to purify separate souls, that now prevailed,
and of which the public marks were everywhere to be seen. Hence also the
celibacy of priests, the worship of images and relics, which in process of
time almost utterly destroyed the Christian religion, or at least eclipsed
its luster, and corrupted its very essence in the most deplorable manner.
An enormous train of different superstitions were gradually substituted in
the place
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of true religion and genuine piety. This odious revolution was owing
to a variety of causes. A ridiculous precipitation in receiving new
opinions, a preposterous desire of imitating the pagan rites, and of
blending them with Christian worship, and that idle propensity which the
generality of mankind have toward a gaudy and ostentatious religion, all
contributed to establish the reign of superstition upon the ruins of
Christianity.” [6]
Again he says: “A whole volume would be requisite to contain an
enumeration of the various frauds which artful knaves practiced, with
success, to delude the ignorant, when true religion almost entirely
superseded by horrid superstition.” [7]
These quotations from Mosheim contain a description of the period
covered by the black horse of the third seal that answers accurately to the
prophecy. It is seen by this how paganism was incorporated into
Christianity, and how during this period the false system which resulted in
the establishment of the papacy, rapidly rounded out its full outlines, and
ripened into all its deplorable perfection of strength and stature.
The Balances. —“The balances denoted that religion and
civil power would be united in the person who would administer the
executive power in the government, and that he would claim the judicial
authority both in church and state. This was true among the Roman emperors
from the days of Constantine until the reign of Justinian, when he gave the
same judicial power to the bishop of Rome.” [8]
The Wheat and the Barley. —“The measures of wheat and
barley for a penny denote that the members of the church would be eagerly
engaged after worldly goods, and the love of money would be the prevailing
spirit of the times, for they would dispose of anything for money.”
[9]
The Oil and the Wine. —These “denote the graces of the
Spirit, faith and love, and there was great danger of hurting
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these, under the influence of so much of a worldly spirit. And it is
well attested by all historians that the prosperity of the church in this
age produced the corruptions which finally terminated in the falling away,
and setting up the antichristian abominations.” [10]
It will be observed that the voice limiting the amount of wheat for a
penny, and saying, “Hurt not the oil and the wine,” is not spoken
by anyone on earth, but comes from the midst of the four living creatures,
signifying that although the undershepherds, the professed ministers of
Christ, had no care for the flock, yet the Lord was not unmindful of them
in this period of darkness. A voice comes from heaven. He takes care that
the spirit of worldliness does not prevail to such a degree that
Christianity should be entirely lost, or that the oil and the wine —graces of genuine piety— should perish from the earth.
Verse 7 And when he had opened the fourth seal,
I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 8 And I
looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death,
and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth
part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and
with the beasts of the earth.
The Fourth Seal. —The color of this horse is remarkable. The
original word denotes the “pale or yellowish color” that is seen
in blighted or sickly plants. A strange state of things in the professed
church must be denoted by this symbol. The rider of this horse is named
Death, and Hell ({Greek- a%|dh$} hades,
“the grave”) followed with him. The mortality is so great during
this period it would seem as if “the pale nations of the dead”
had come upon the earth, and were following in the wake of this desolating
power. The period during which this seal applies can hardly be mistaken.
It must refer to the time in which the papacy bore its unrebuked,
unrestrained, and persecuting rule, beginning about A.D. 538, and
extending to the time when the Reformers began their work of exposing the
corruptions of the papal system.
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“Power was given unto them” — “him,” says the
margin, that is, the power personified by Death on the pale horse, namely
the papacy. By the fourth part of the earth is doubtless meant the
territory over which this power had jurisdiction; and the words “sword,”
“hunger,” “death” (that is, some infliction which
causes death, as exposure or torture), and beasts of the earth, are figures
denoting the means by which it has put to death millions of martyrs.
Verse 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 unto 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.
The Fifth Seal. —Under the fifth seal the martyrs cry out for
vengeance, and white robes are given to them. The questions that at once
suggest themselves for solution are, Does this seal cover a period of time,
and if so what period? Where is the altar under which these souls were
seen? What are these souls, and what is their condition? What is meant by
their cry for vengeance? What is meant by white robes being given to them?
When to they rest for a little season, and what is signified by their
brethren being killed as they were? To all these questions we believe
satisfactory answers can be returned.
It seems consistent that this seal, like all the others, should cover a
period of time, and that the date of its application cannot be mistaken if
the preceding seals have rightly located. Following the period of papal
persecution, the time covered by this seal would begin when the Reformation
began to undermine the papal fabrication, and restrain the persecuting
power of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Altar. —This cannot denote any altar in heaven, as it
evidently the place where these victims had been slain— the altar of sacrifice. On this point, Adam Clarke says: “A symbolical vision was
exhibited, in which he saw an altar; and
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under it the souls of these who had been slain for the word of
God —martyred for their attachment to Christianity— are represented as
being newly slain as victims to idolatry and superstition. The altar
is upon earth, not in heaven.” [11]
A confirmation of this view is found in the fact that John is beholding
scenes upon the earth. The souls are represented under the altar, just as
victims slain upon it would pour out their blood beneath it, and fall by
its side.
The Souls Under the Altar. —This representation is popularly
regarded as a strong proof of the doctrine of disembodied spirits and the
conscious state of the dead. Here, it is claimed, are souls seen by John
in a disembodied state, and yet they were conscious and had knowledge of
passing events, for they cried for vengeance on their persecutors. This
view of the passages is inadmissible, for several reasons.
The popular view places these souls in heaven, but the altar of
sacrifice on which they were slain, and beneath which they were seen,
cannot be there. The only altar we read of in heaven is the altar of
incense, but it would not be correct to represent victims just slain as
under the alter of incense, as that altar was never devoted to such a use.
It would be repugnant to all our ideas of the heavenly state to
represent souls in heaven shut up under an altar.
Can we suppose that the idea of vengeance would so dominate the
minds of souls in heaven as to make them, despite the joy and glory of that
ineffable state, dissatisfied and uneasy until vengeance was inflicted upon
their enemies? Would they not rather rejoice that persecution raised its
hand of their Redeemer, at whose right hand there is fullness of joy and
pleasures forevermore?
But, further, the popular view which puts these souls in heaven, puts
the wicked at the same time in the lake of fire, writhing in unutterable
torment, and in full view of the heavenly
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host. Now the souls brought to view under the fifth seal were
those who had been slain under the preceding seal, scores of years, and
most of them centuries, before. Beyond any question, their persecutors had
all passed off the stage of action, and according to the view under
consideration were suffering all the torments of hell right before their
eyes.
Yet, as if not satisfied with this, they cry to God as though He we
delaying vengeance on their murderers. What greater vengeance could they
want? Or, it their persecutors were still on the earth, they must know
that they would, in a few years at most, join the vast multitude daily
pouring through the gate of death into the world of woe. Their amiability
is put in no better light even by this supposition. One thing at least is
evident: The popular theory concerning the condition of the dead,
righteous and wicked, cannot be correct, or the interpretation usually
given to this passage is not correct, for they are mutually exclusive.
But it is urged that these souls must be conscious, for they cry to
God. This argument would be of weight were there no such figure of speech
as personification. But while there is, it will be proper on certain
conditions to attribute life, action, and intelligence to inanimate
objects. Thus the blood of Abel is said to have cried to God from the
ground. (Genesis 4:9, 10.) The stone cried out of the wall, and the beam
out of the timber answered it. (Habakkuk 2:11.) The hire of the laborers
kept back by fraud cried, and the cry entered into the ears of the Lord of
sabaoth. (James 5:4.) So the souls mentioned in our text could cry, and
not thereby be proved to be conscious.
The incongruity of the popular view on this verse is apparent, for
Albert Barnes makes the following concession: “We are not to suppose
that this
literally occurred, and that John actually saw the souls of the
martyrs beneath the altar— for the whole representation is symbolical; nor
are we to suppose that the injured and the wronged in heaven actually pray
for vengeance on those who wronged them, or that the redeemed in heaven
will continue to pray with reference to things on
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earth; but it may be fairly inferred from this that there will be as
real a remembrance of the wrongs of the persecuted, the injured, and
the oppressed,
as if such prayer were offered there; and that the oppressor has as
much to dread from the divine vengeance as if those whom he has
injured should cry in heaven to the God who hears prayer, and who takes
vengeance.” [12]
On such passages as this, the reader is misled by the popular
definition of the word “soul.” From that definition, he is led
to suppose that this text speaks of an immaterial, invisible, immortal
essence in man, which soars into its coveted freedom on the death of the
mortal body. No instance of the occurrence of the word in the original
Hebrew or Greek will sustain such a definition. It most often means “life”,
and is not infrequently rendered “person.” It applies to the
dead as well as to the living, as may be seen by reference to Genesis 2:7,
where the word “living” need not have been expressed were life an
inseparable attribute of the soul; and to Numbers 19:13, where the Hebrew
concordance reads “dead soul.” Moreover, these souls pray that
their blood may be avenged— an article which the immaterial soul, as popularly
understood, is not supposed to possess. The word “souls” may be
regarded as here meaning simply the martyrs, those who had been slain, the
words “souls of them” being a periphrasis for the whole person.
They were represented to John as having been slain upon the altar of papal
sacrifice, on this earth, and lying dead beneath it. They certainly were
not alive when John saw them under the fifth seal, for he again brings to
view the same company, in almost the same language, and assures us that the
first time they live after their martyrdom is at the resurrection of the
just. (Revelation 20:4-6.) Lying there victims of papal bloodthirstiness
and oppression, they cried to God for vengeance in the same manner that
Abel’s blood cried to Him from the ground.
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The White Robes. —These were given as a partial answer to their
cry, “How long, O Lord, . . . dost Thou not judge and avenge our
blood?” They had gone down to the grave in the most ignominious
manner. Their lives had been misrepresented, their reputations tarnished,
their names defamed, their motives maligned, and their graves covered with
shame and reproach, as containing the dishonored dust of the most vile and
despicable of characters. Thus the Church of Rome, which then molded the
sentiment of the principal nations of the earth, spared no pains to make
her victims an abhorrence to all people.
But the Protestant Reformation began its work. It began to be seen
that the church was corrupt and disreputable, and those against whom it
vented its rage were the good, the pure, and the true. The work went on
among the most enlightened nations, the reputation of the church going
down, and that of the martyrs coming up, until the corruptions of the papal
abominations were fully exposed. Then that huge system of iniquity stood
forth before the world in all its naked deformity, while the martyrs were
vindicated from all the aspersions under which that persecuting church had
sought to bury them. Then it was seen that they had suffered, not for
being vile and criminal, but “for the word of God, and for the
testimony which they held.” Then their praises were sung, their
virtues admired, their fortitude applauded, their names honored, and their
memories cherished. White robes were thus given to every one of them.
The Little Season. —The cruel work of Roman Catholicism did not
altogether cease, even after the work of the Protestant Reformation had
become widespread and well established. Not a few terrible outbursts of
hate and persecution were yet to be felt by the true church. Multitudes
more were to be punished as heretics, and to join the great army of
martyrs. The full vindication of their cause was to be delayed a little
season. During this time Rome added hundreds of thousands to the vast
throng whose blood she had already become guilty.
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But the spirit of persecution was finally restrained, the cause of the
martyrs was vindicated, and the “little season” of the fifth seal
came to a close.
Verse 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; 13 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.
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 bondman, 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 hide 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 Sixth Seal. —Such are the solemn and sublime scenes which
occur under the sixth seal. A thought well calculated to awaken in every
heart an intense interest in divine things is the consideration that we are
now living amid the momentous events of this seal, as will presently be
proved.
Between the fifth and sixth seals there seems to be a sudden and
complete change from highly figurative to strictly literal language.
Whatever may be the cause, the change cannot well be denied. By no
principle of interpretation can the language of the preceding seals be made
to be literal, nor can the language of this any more easily be made
figurative. We must therefore accept the change, even though we may be
unable to explain it. There is a significant fact, however, to which we
would here call attention. It was in the period covered by this seal that
the prophetic parts of God’s word to be unsealed, and many run to and fro,
or give their attention to the understanding of these things, and thereby
knowledge on this part of God’s word was to be greatly increased. We
suggest that it may be for this reason that the change in the language here
occurs, and that the events of this seal, taking place at a time when these
things were to be fully understood, are not couched in figures, but are
laid before us in plain and unmistakable language.
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The Great Earthquake. —The first event under this seal, and
perhaps the one which marks its opening, is a great earthquake. As the
most striking fulfillment of this prediction, we refer to the great
earthquake of November 1, 1755, known as the earthquake of Lisbon. Of this
earthquake, Robert Sears says:
“The great earthquake of 1755 extended over a tract of at least
four millions of square miles. Its effects were even extended to the
waters, in many places where the shocks were not perceptible. It pervaded
the greater portions of the continents of Europe, Africa, and America; but
its extreme violence was exercised on the southwestern part of the former.”
[13] “In Africa, this
earthquake was felt almost as severely as it had been in Europe. A great
part of the city of Algiers was destroyed. Many houses were thrown down at
Fez and Mequinez, and multitudes were buried beneath their ruins. Similar
effects were realized in Morocco. Its effects were likewise felt at
Tangier, at Tetuan, at Funchal in the Island of Madeira; . . . It is
probable . . . that all Africa was shaken by this tremendous convulsion.
At the North, it extended to Norway and Sweden; Germany, Holland, France,
Great Britain, and Ireland were all more or less agitated by the same great
and terrible commotion of the elements.”
[14] “The city of Lisbon . . .
previous to that calamity . . . contained about . . . 150,000 inhabitants.
. . . Mr. Barretti says, ‘that 90,000 persons are supposed to have been
lost on that fatal day.’ “
[15]
Sir Charles Lyell gives the following graphic description of this
remarkable phenomenon:
“In no part of the volcanic region of Southern Europe has so
tremendous an earthquake occurred in modern times as that which began on
the 1st of November, 1755, at Lisbon. A sound of thunder was heard
underground, and immediately afterwards a violent shock threw down the
greater part of that
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city. In the course of about six minutes, sixty thousand persons
perished. The sea first retired and laid the bar dry; it then rolled in,
rising fifty feet above its ordinary level. The mountains of Arrabida,
Estrella, Julio, Maravan, and Cintra, being some of the largest in
Portugal, were impetuously shaken, as it were, from their very foundations;
and some of them opened at their summits, which were split and rent in a
wonderful manner, huge masses of them being thrown down into the subjacent
valleys. Flames are related to have issued from these mountains, which are
supposed to have been electric; they are also said to have smoked; but vast
clouds of dust may have given rise to this appearance. . . .
“The great area over which this Lisbon earthquake extended is very
remarkable. The movement was most violent in Spain, Portugal, and the north
of Africa; but nearly the whole of Europe, and even the West Indies, felt
the shock on the same day. A seaport called St. Ubes, about twenty miles
south of Lisbon, was engulfed. At Algiers and Fez, in Africa, the
agitation of the earth was equally violent, and at the distance of eight
leagues from Morocco, a village, with the inhabitants to the number of
about eight or ten thousand persons, together with all their cattle, were
[was] swallowed up. Soon after, the earth closed again over them.
“The shock was felt at sea, on the deck of a ship to the west of
Lisbon, and produced very much the same sensation as on dry land. Off St.
Lucar [s], the captain of the ship ‘Nancy’ felt his vessel shaken so
violently that he thought she had struck the ground, but, on heaving the
lead, found a great depth of water. Captain Clark, from Denia, in latitude
36 degrees 24’ N., between nine and ten in the morning, had his ship shaken
and strained as if she had struck upon a rock. Another ship, forty leagues
west of St. Vincent, experienced so violent a concussion that the men were
thrown a foot and a half perpendicularly up from the deck. In Antigua and
Barbadoes, as also in Norway, Sweden, Germany, Holland, Corsica,
Switzerland, and Italy, tremors and slight oscillations of the ground were
felt.
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“The agitation of lakes, rivers, and springs in Great Britain were
remarkable. At Loch Lomond, in Scotland, for example, the water, without
the least apparent cause, rose against its banks, and then subsided below
its usual level. The greatest perpendicular height of this swell was two
feet four inches. It is said that the movement of this earthquake was
undulatory, and that it traveled at the rate of twenty miles a minute. A
great wave swept over the coast of Spain, and is said to have been sixty
feet high in Cadiz. At Tangier, in Africa, it rose and fell eighteen times
on the coast; at Funchal, in Madeira, it rose full fifteen feet
perpendicular above high-water mark, although the tide, which ebbs and
flows there seven feet, was then at half ebb. Besides entering the city and
committing great havoc, it overflowed other seaports in the island. At
Kinsale, in Ireland, a body of water rushed into the harbor, whirled round
several vessels, and poured into the marketplace.” [16]
If the reader will look in his atlas at the countries mentioned, he
will see how large a part of the earth’s surface was agitated by this awful
convulsion. Other earthquakes may have been as severe in particular
localities, but no other supplies all the conditions necessary to
constitute it a fitting event to mark the opening of the seal.
The Darkening of the Sun. —Following the earthquake, as
announced by prophecy, “the sun became black as sackcloth of hair.”
This part of the prediction has also been fulfilled. We need not here
enter into a detailed account of the wonderful darkening of the sun, May
19, 1780. Most persons of general reading, it is presumed, have seen some
account of it. The following detached declarations from different
authorities will give an idea of its nature:
“The Dark Day, May 19, 1780— so called on account of a remarkable darkness on that day extending over all New England. . . . The obscuration
began about ten o’clock in
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the morning, and continued till the middle of the next night, but with
differences of degree and duration in different places. . . . The true
cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not known.” [17]
“In the month of May, 1780, there was a very terrific dark day in
New England, when ‘all faces seemed to gather blackness,’ and the people
were filled with fear. There was great distress in the village where
Edward Lee lived, ‘men’s hearts failing them for fear’ that the
Judgment-day was at hand; and the neighbors all flocked around the holy
man, [who] spent the gloomy hours in earnest prayer for the distressed
multitude.” [18]
“The time of this extraordinary darkness was May 19, 1780,”
says Professor Williams. “It came on between the hours of ten and
eleven A.M., and continued until the middle of the next night,
but with different appearances at different places. . . .
“The degree to which the darkness arose was different in
different places. In most parts of the country it was so great that people
were unable to read common print, determine the time of day by their clocks
or watches, dine, or manage their domestic business, without the light of
candles. In some places the darkness was so great that persons could not
see to read common print in the open air, for several hours together; but I
believe this was not generally the case.
“The extent of this darkness was very remarkable. Our
intelligence in this respect is not so particular as I could wish; but from
the accounts that have been received, it seems to have extended all over
the New England States. It was observed as far east as Falmouth [Portland,
Maine]. To the westward we hear of its reaching to the furthest parts of
Connecticut, and Albany. To the southward it was observed all along the
seacoasts, and to the north as far as our settlements extend. It is
probable it extended much beyond these limits in some directtions,
Page 444
but the exact boundaries cannot be ascertained by any
observations that I have been able to collect.
“With regard to its duration, it continued in this place
at least fourteen hours; but is probable this was not exactly the same in
different parts of the country.
“The appearance and effects were such as tended to
make the prospect extremely dull and gloomy. Candles were lighted up in
the houses; the birds, having sung their evening songs, disappeared, and
became silent; the fowls retired to roost; the cocks were crowing all
around, as at break of day; objects could not be distinguished but at very
little distance; and everything bore the appearance and gloom of night.”
[19]
“The 19th of May, 1780, was a remarkable dark day. Candles were
lighted in many houses; the birds were silent and disappeared, and the
fowls retired to roost. . . . A very general opinion prevailed that the day
of judgment was at hand.” [20]
Whittier, in a well-known poem, pictures it thus:
“‘Twas on a May-day of the far old year
Seventeen hundred eighty, that there fell
Over the bloom and sweet life of the Spring,
Over the fresh earth and the heaven of noon,
A horror of great darkness, like the night
In day of which the Norland sagas tell,—
The Twilight of the Gods. The low-hung sky
Was black with ominous clouds, save where its rim
Was fringed with a dull glow, like that which climbs
The crater’s sides from the red hell below.
Birds ceased to sing, and all the barnyard fowls
Roosted; the cattle at the pasture bars
Lowed, and looked homeward; bats on leathern wings
Flitted abroad; the sounds of labor died;
Men prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp
To hear the doom-blast of the trumpet shatter
The black sky, that the dreadful face of Christ
Might look from the rent clouds, not as He looked
A loving guest at Bethany, but stern
As Justice and inexorable Law.”[21]
Page 445
“The Moon Became as Blood.” —The darkness of the
following night, May 19, 1780, was as unnatural as that of the day had been.
“The darkness of the following evening was probably as gross as
ever has been observed since the Almighty fiat gave birth to light. . . . I
could not help conceiving at the times, that if every luminous body in the
universe had been shrouded in impenetrable shades, or struck out of
existence, the darkness could not have been more complete. A sheet of
white paper held within a few inches of the eyes, was equally invisible
with the blackest velvet.” [22]
“In the evening . . . perhaps it never was darker since the
children of Israel left the house of bondage. This gross darkness help
till about one o’clock, although the moon had fulled but the day before.”
[23]
This statement respecting the phase of the moon proves the
impossibility of an eclipse of the sun at that time. Whenever on this
memorable night the moon did appear, as at certain times it did, it had,
according to this prophecy, the appearance of blood.
“The Stars of Heaven Fell.” —The voice of history
still cries,
Fulfilled! We refer to the great meteoric shower of November 13,
1833. On this point a few testimonies will suffice.
“At the cry, ‘Look out of the window,’ I sprang from a deep sleep,
and with wonder saw the east lighted up with the dawn and meteors. . . . I
called to my wife to behold; and while robing, she exclaimed, ‘See how the
stars fall!’ I replied, ‘That is the wonder:’ and felt in our hearts that
it was a sign of the last days. For truly ‘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.’ Revelation 6:13. . . .
“And how did they fall? Neither myself nor one of the family
heard any report; and were I to hunt through nature
Page 446
Picture on this page.
Page 447
for a simile, I could not find one so apt to illustrate the appearance
of the heavens, as that which St. John uses in the prophecy before quoted.
’It rained fire!’ says one. Another, ‘It was like a shower of fire.’
Another, ‘It was like the large flakes of falling snow, before a coming
storm, or large drops of rain before a shower.’ I admit the fitness of
these for common accuracy; but they come far short of the accuracy of the
figure used by the prophet. ‘The stars of heaven fell upon the earth;’
they were not sheets, or flakes, or drops of fire; but they were what the
world understands by the name ‘falling stars;’ and one speaking to his
fellow in the midst of the scene, would say, ‘See how the stars fall!’ and
he who heard, would not pause to correct the astronomy of the speaker, any
more than he would reply, ‘The sun does not move,’ to one who should tell
him, ‘The sun is rising.’ The stars fell ‘even as a fig tree casteth her
untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.’ Here is the exactness
of the prophet. The falling stars did not come, as if from several trees
shaken, but from one; those which appeared in the north fell toward
the north; those which appeared in the west fell toward the west; and those
which appeared in the south (for I went out of my residence into the park),
fell toward the south; and they fell, not as ripe fruit falls. Far
from it. But they flew, they were cast like the unripe fruit,
which at first refuses to leave the branch; and, when it does break its
hold, flies swiftly straight off, descending; and in the multitude
falling, some cross the track of others, as they are thrown with more or
less force.” [24]
“The most sublime phenomenon of shooting stars, of which the world
has furnished any record, was witnessed throughout the United States on the
morning of the 13th of November, 1833. The entire extent of this
astonishing exhibition has not been precisely ascertained, but it covered
no inconsiderable portion of the earth’s surface. . . . The first
appearance was
Page 448
that of fireworks of the most imposing grandeur, covering the entire
vault of heaven with myriads of fireballs, resembling skyrockets. Their
coruscations were bright, gleaming, and incessant, and they fell thick as
the flakes in the early snows of December. To the splendors of this
celestial exhibition the most brilliant skyrockets and fireworks of art
bear less relation than the twinkling of the most tiny star to the broad
glare of the sun. The whole heavens seemed in motion, and suggested to
some the awful grandeur of the image employed in the Apocalypse, upon the
opening of the sixth seal, when ‘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.’” [25]
“After collecting and collating the accounts given in all the
periodicals of the country, and also in numerous letters addressed either
to my scientific friends or to myself, the following appeared to be the
leading facts attending the phenomenon. The shower pervaded nearly
the whole of North America, having appeared in nearly equal splendor from
the British possessions on the north, to the West India Islands and Mexico
on the south, and from sixty-one degrees of longitude east of the American
coast, quite to the Pacific Ocean on the west. Throughout this immense
region, the duration was nearly the same. The meteors began to attract
attention by their unusual frequency and brilliancy, from nine to
twelve o’clock in the evening; were most striking in their appearance
from two to five; arrived at their maximum, in many places, about
four o’clock; and continued until rendered invisible by the light
of day.”
[26]
“The spectacle must have been of the sublimest order. The apostle
John might have had it before him when he indited the passage referring to
the opening of the sixth seal: ‘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.’” [27]
Page 449
“The Heavens Departed as a Scroll.” —In this event
out minds are turned to the future. From looking at the past, and
beholding the word of God fulfilled, we are now called to look at events in
the future, which are no less sure to come. Our position is unmistakably
defined. We stand between the 13th and 14th verses of this chapter. We
wait for the heavens to depart as a scroll when it is rolled together.
These are times of unparalleled solemnity and importance, for we do not
know how near we may be to the fulfillment of these things.
The departing of the heavens is included in what the writers of the
Gospels call, in the same series of events, the shaking of the powers of
heavens. Other scriptures give us further particulars concerning this
prediction. From Hebrews 12:25-27; Joel 3:16; Jeremiah 25:30-33;
Revelation 16:17, we learn that it is the voice of God, as He speaks in
terrible majesty from His throne in heaven, that causes this fearful
commotion in earth and sky. Once the Lord spoke with an audible voice,
when He gave His eternal law from Sinai. At that time the earth shook. He
is to speak again, and not only the earth will shake, but the heavens also.
Then will the earth “reel to and fro like a drunkard.” It will
be “dissolved” and “utterly broken down.” Isaiah 24.
Mountains will move from their firm bases. Islands will suddenly change
their locations in the midst of the sea. From the level plain will arise
the precipitous mountain. Rocks will thrust up their ragged forms from
earth’s broken surface. While the voice of God is reverberating through the
earth, the direst confusion will reign over the face of nature.
To show that this is no mere conception of the imagination, the reader
is requested to mark the exact phraseology which some of the prophets have
used in reference to this time. Isaiah says: “The earth is utterly
broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like
a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it
shall fall, and not rise again.” Isaiah 24:19, 20.
Page 450
Jeremiah in thrilling language describes the scene as follows: “I
beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens,
and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and lo, they trembled, and
all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and lo, there was no man, and all
the birds of the heavens were fled. . . . For thus hath the Lord said, The
whole land shall be desolate.” Jeremiah 4:23-27.
Then will the world’s dream of carnal security be effectually broken.
Kings who, intoxicated with their own earthly authority, have never dreamed
of a higher power than themselves, now realize that there is One who reigns
as King of kings. The great men behold the vanity of all earthly pomp, for
there is a greatness above that of earth. The rich men throw their silver
and gold to the moles and bats, for it cannot save them in that day. The
chief captains forget their brief authority, and the mighty men forget
their strength. Every bondman who is in the still worse bondage of sin,
and every freeman —all classes of the wicked, from the highest down to the
lowest— join in the general wail of consternation and despair.
They who never prayed to Him whose arm could bring salvation, now raise an agonizing prayer to rocks and mountains to bury them forever from the
sight of Him whose presence brings to them destruction. Fain would they
now avoid reaping what they have sown by a life of lust and sin. Fain
would they now shun the fearful treasure of wrath which they have been
heaping up for themselves and their catalogue of crimes in everlasting
darkness. So they flee to the rocks, caves, caverns, and fissures which
the broken surface of the earth now presents before them. But it is too
late. They cannot conceal their guilt or escape the long-delayed
vengeance.
“It will be in vain to call,
‘Ye mountains on us fall,’
For His hand will find out all,
In that day.”
Page 451
The day which they thought never would come, has at last taken them as in a snare, and the involuntary language of their anguished hearts is, “The
great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?”
Before that day comes with its fearful scenes, we pray you, reader, give
your most serious and candid attention to your salvation.
Many now affect to despise the institution of prayer, but at one time
or another all men will pray. Those who will not now pray to God in
penitence, will pray to the rocks and mountains in despair; and this will
be the largest prayer meeting ever held.
Ah! better far
To cease the unequal war,
While pardon, hope, and peace may yet be found;
Nor longer rush upon the embossed shield
Of the Almighty, but repentant yield,
And all your weapons of rebellion ground.
Better pray now in love, than pray erelong in fear.
Call ye upon Him while He waits to hear;
So in the coming end,
When down the parted sky
The angelic hosts attend
The Lord of heaven, most high,
Before whose face the solid earth is rent,
You may behold a friend omnipotent,
And safely rest beneath His sheltering wings,
Amid the ruin of all earthly things.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[1] Phillip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. II, p. 7.
[2] Ibid., p. 8.
[3] Ibid., p. 11.
[4] Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity, Vol. I, The First Five Centuries, p. 159.
[5] Ibid., p. 273.
[6] John L. Mosheim, An Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I, pp. 364, 365.
[7] Ibid., p. 368.
[8] William Miller, Evidence From Scripture and History of the Second Coming of Christ, p. 176.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Adam Clarke, Commentary on the New Testament, Vol. I, p. 994, note on Revelation 6:9.
[12] Albert Barnes, Notes on Revelation, pp. 190, 191, comment on Revelation 6:9-11.
[13] Robert Sears, Wonders of the World, p. 50.
[14] Ibid., p. 58.
[15] Ibid., p. 381.
[16] A. R. Spofford and Charles Gibbon, The Library of Choice Literature, Vol. VII, pp. 162, 163.
[17] Noah Webster, “Vocabulary of the Names of Noted . . . Persons and Places,” An American Dictionary of the English Language, 1882 ed.
[18] “Some Memorials of Edward Lee,” The Publications of the American Tract Society, Vol. XI, p. 376.
[19] Samuel Williams, in Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. I, pp. 234, 235.
[20] Timothy Dwight, quoted by John W. Barber, Connecticut Historical Collections, p. 403.
[21] John G. Wittier, “Abraham Davenport,” Complete Poetical Works, p. 260.
[22] Samuel Tenny, in Collections of Massachusetts Historical Society for the year 1792, Vol. I, pp. 97, 98.
[23] Boston Gazette, May 29, 1780.
[24] New York Journal of Commerce, Nov. 14, 1833, Vol. VIII, No. 534, p. 2.
[25] Elijah H. Burritt, The Geography of the Heavens, p. 163.
[26] Denison Olmsted, The Mechanism of the Heavens, p. 328.
[27] Edwin Dunkin, The Heavens and the Earth, p. 186.
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