"AND when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 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." (Rev. vi. 7, 8.)

The eagle is one of the most lonely or seldom seen of birds; it dwells in the cloud-capped and overhanging rocks, is, as it were, more nearly connected by locality with heaven than with the inhabited lowlands of the earth, and being familiar with the skies, is said to gaze with undazzled eyes upon the sun, and joyously to bask in the splendour of its rays. In these characteristics it is emblematical of the Christian, who is a pilgrim and stranger upon earth, and keeps up intercourse with heaven whilst he fulfils every lawful and necessary duty which binds him to the earth.

For

as the flying eagle soars above the lower sky, so the believer on the wings of faith and expectation realises the beatific vision, converses with God and his exalted Saviour, and is emphatically distinguished from all other men in being from above whilst they are from below. As the symbol, then, of these features of the Christian, it ought to point out or recommend only what is of a congenial nature. But does it? No! quite the contrary. The eagle here invites attention only to things that are grovelling or loathsome, or to those who cannot be conscious of our respect and reverence. I shall attempt to prove that this last

of the four kindred seals describes the veneration of the saints and martyrs, of their graves and relics, which unquestionably formed a leading feature of the religion of the fourth century. What can be more frightful than the picture before us, or more contrasted to the character of the true Christian? The regard of the Church is directed to a horse of the livid paleness of death, death itself is the rider, and hell, its fellow-traveller, accompanies it on foot. What can more forcibly describe the veneration of the saints and martyrs, and of their relics and tombs, which became general from the third century and downwards, than these hideous and revolting symbols? Do they overstate the fact? Not in the least. The Church at that period encouraged a superstitious regard for the tombs and ashes of the holy men who died in our Saviour's service, and though it did not always amount to gross idolatry, it was a step towards it, and laid its foundation for after ages. How could it be otherwise? If you degenerate religion into form and ceremony, the mind is fed with husks, and not with nourishing food; if you allow that grace may be possessed, though it is not felt as the prophets, apostles, and their followers enjoyed it; if you withhold the knowledge of salvation, or do not insist on the necessity of its possession in order to the complete formation of the servant of God, you necessarily regard the holy men of Scripture and the martyrs of the first three centuries with a veneration approaching to idolatry, by placing them on a pedestal men see not how

to mount, and which, indeed, they have been discouraged from attempting to mount. The apostles, however, declared that themselves and the prophets were men of like passions with others, and that the true knowledge of salvation was attainable by the ordinary servant of God, and that purity of life, fellowship with the Saviour, joyful anticipation of heaven, and accumulating victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil, were the right inheritance and experience of every sincere and intelligent Christian.

The gradual steps of this downward course may be easily traced. Persecution was often, at the beginning of Christianity, so severe that extraordinary faith and patience alone sustained the Christian. But God stood ready to supply the needed grace, so that His people endured the bitterest persecution at times even with joyfulness. As errors, however, gradually crept into the Church, strong and simple faith in God became rarer, and Christians often sank under their trials by denying the faith they sincerely held. In proportion as the number of the lapsed increased, the martyr and confessor became the praise and admiration of the rest. Their wishes in favour of others were granted even to the grossest indulgence, their opinions were implicitly received, the Church celebrated their praise, anniversaries of their deaths were kept at their sepulchres and elsewhere, and even their bones were often put aside as relics. This spirit grew apace, and at length amounted even to gross idolatry. What was done at first out of respect and admiration, or was adopted to keep up and promote the faith and courage of the Church, was at length perverted to the worst of purposes. Churches and baptisteries were erected over their graves, to which periodical visits were established, whilst their names were enrolled in the calendar, to become in darker times the list of the gods of a falsely called Christian Church. Thus, as ignorance increased, and a minute and grovelling superstition took the place of that knowledge and

hearty approval of the Gospel which imply renewal of nature, an enlightened mind and union with the Saviour-when these principles were lost sight of, in consequence of surrounding the forms and ceremonies of the Church with a halo, mystery, and one knows not what, then it was that the members of the Church perceived a difference between themselves and the saints and martyrs which first inspired them with reverence, and at length degenerated into idolatry. That principle in the Christian which elevates him from earth to heaven, called the spiritual mind, symbolised by the flying eagle, was gradually vapoured away, and the members of the Church, no longer sensible of this elevation, admired those who possessed it, and finally changed it, first into doubtful and ambiguous, and at length into gross, idolatry.

Such is, in part, the disclosure of the present seal. And how could it be more truly and forcibly symbolised? The regards of the Church are directed to death or the dead body, and to hades or the spirit; an apt and striking picture of the members of the Church in the fourth century turning their hearts away from God in Christ, and concentrating them in graves and dead men's bones, and in the spirits of just men made perfect, who, being absent in heaven, cannot, as far as we can conceive, or certainly know, be conscious of their admiration and idolatry. Should any one attempt to symbolise this veneration for the saints and martyrs, for their bones and relics, I very much question if it could be better done than by the symbols here under consideration.

I pass now to the subjoined remarks, which state that the spirit symbolised by these four seals destroyed a fourth part of the earth. If this be so, no theory can be correct which does not make them contemporaneous in their ultimate career. A quarter of the Roman empire, though professedly Christian, is spiritually dead; and this death is traced to the substitution of forms for what they signify, to strife and

contention, to self-righteous asceticism, to hunger; and it should be here observed that they die not of famine which arises from scarcity, but of hunger which may happen from voluntary self-denial, and lastly, they are killed by their veneration of the saints and martyrs, of their relics and graves. It is not so evident that the beasts of the earth denote the first seal. I have shown that the Lamb describes the Roman empire Christian, or the Man of Sin in his infancy; but Paganism, though weak, is still active and powerful, and in chap. xii., where the same period is described, even after the Pagan dragon is cast to the earth, it still persecutes Christianity; it is, therefore, these two powers, the civil and the ecclesiastical, which I conceive to be denoted by the beasts of the earth.

These seals have the common and unenviable character of being a curse to the human race; no glory pertains to them, for they have received the commission to destroy a fourth part of the earth. And if in Tertullian's day, during persecution, Christians already composed a third of the Roman empire, they very far exceeded that proportion under Constantine's established Church, which is here described, when the influx of converts was such that the speedy conversion of the world was confidently foretold. But the new members were nominal. rather than spiritual Christians, and the maxims of a worldly policy were more proselytising than the pure and enlightened principles of the Gospel.

Lastly, though the principles, denoted by these seals, existed incipiently in the Church before Constantine began to put down Paganism, and even before he made Christianity the natural Church, yet ultimately they proceeded together, if not under the conduct of the last, it was at least the most powerful and operative of the four. The propagation of the Gospel, the collision of parties, and asceticism, would be the work of a limited number, but the veneration of the saints and martyrs became more and more the religion of the

great body of the Church, and such has it continued down to the present day in the Popish countries of western Europe.

"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: 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? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." (Verses 9-11.)

Keeping still in view that the visible Church of the fourth century and downward is here described somewhat after the Jewish temple, John is now directed to the altar of burnt-offering, not to the golden altar, because the former was open at the side for introducing fuel, where these souls might have been seen, but the latter had no opening whatever. This altar being for sacrifice, could only apply to the militant Church; for it is difficult even to imagine what purpose sacrifices can serve in heaven. The next inquiry is, what in the Christian Church corresponds with the sacrificial altar of the Jewish temple? I reply, the mediatorial work of Christ. "We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle."* "Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate."† Christ our passover is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the feast." This altar, then, can only refer to Christ's mediatorial work in the visible Church. But under it John beheld the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held, who, I believe, are generally thought to denote the saints and martyrs of the first three centuries. This fixes the

Heb. xiii. 10. 1 Cor. v. 7.

+ Heb. xiii. 12.

date of the seal, subsequent to the rise of Constantine, who put an end to the last Pagan persecution of the Church, and makes it coincide with my theory. What, then, is intended by their connexion with the mediatorial work of Christ? Undoubtedly it means that what was for the most part veneration under the fourth seal, had now become a settled mediatorship under this, in that the saints and martyrs were so used in conjunction with Christ, and which has ever since obtained in the western and eastern Churches. This opinion is confirmed by their being presented with the white raiment of the priesthood. But in what manner can it be said, that saints and martyrs in heaven offered such prayer in the militant Church from the fourth century down to the present day? It was the opinion of the Church that they did so; prayer was accordingly made to them as mediators, and John here beheld their institution into this office. It may at first sight appear strange that a revengeful spirit should be supposed to exist in heaven's inhabitants. But as I have already shown under the second seal, that Christians persecuted and unchurched each other, and encouraged the extermination of Paganism, by force, it is not surprising that they should put the same sentiments in the mouths of their mediators. How, indeed, could they do otherwise? We have here, then, the mediation of saints and martyrs which obtained in the visible Church in the fourth century. Their prayer is, that the Church may be everywhere established on the ruins of Paganism. And as Christians, then, undoubtedly looked for the speedy conversion of the world, so was it their endeavour and prayer that it might be accomplished.

In answer to their prayer, they are told to rest for a little season. This exactly describes the opinion then prevalent, that a general persecution would arise before the universal reign of Christianity. Christians interpreted the period of the two witnesses literally, hence termed a little season, when the Man of Sin would greatly harass the Church; and from

expecting its speedy arrival, they were accustomed to pray for the continuance of the empire, which they rightly concluded would be immediately succeeded by the reign of the Man of Sin.

*

If,

They will remain in their present office, clothed in the white raiment of the priesthood, until their fellowservants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. But no persecution, like that of the first Christians, has since occurred, except under the Papacy, which still continues. then, these martyrs denote those of the first three centuries,-and how can they possibly apply to other martyrs?-the persecution here foretold describes that under Romanism; and the little season has already exceeded a thousand years, which, though long in itself, is not so in the phraseology of prophecy. Now, the mediation of the saints and martyrs, which still exists in the Roman and Eastern Churches, began at the time here symbolised, and has continued down to the present day. What can more clearly confirm than this does my theory-that we have here a symbolisation of the error which commenced in the fourth century, and has ever since prevailed, of associating the mediation of saints and martyrs with that of Christ? Finally, these prayers cannot describe the worship of heaven, whose inhabitants are solely occupied with praise, and who, if they made men the subject of their prayers, would desire their welfare, or, at any rate, they would not seek the gratification of revengeful feelings. This last consideration decides the character of the worship, as opposed to the spirit of the Gospel, and as only suitable to the Church of the Apostasy. I repeat the test I have suggested before,

if we desired to represent symboli cally the mediation of saints and martyrs in connection with Christ's, could we do it more effectually than it is done here?

"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a

* Canon x.