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and every freeman hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 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; for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand ?" (ver. 12-17.)

The remarkable symbols employed in this seal, and the wonderful changes it prefigures in both heaven and earth, have led many to consider this vision as descriptive of the final consummation of all things. But when we look at its place in the Apocalypse, and the meaning of similar symbolic phrases in other passages of the word of God, we are constrained to apply it to some great political Revolution in the Roman world. Similar language is used by the prophet Joel, and quoted by St. Peter on the day of Pentecost: "The sun," he says, "shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come."But that day refers to the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth, and the vengeance taken for the blood of the saints, as has been shewn in the preceding seal. The sun and moon and stars were used as symbols of Rulers from the earliest ages, as we find in Joseph's dream recorded in the book of Genesis. (xxxvii. 9.) So in Ezekiel (xxxii. 7. 8) the overthrow of Pharaoh king of Egypt by the Babylonians is thus predicted, "When I shall put thee out, I will cover the heavens, and make the stars thereof dark, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven I will make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord." There are other passages of similar import. And in the prophecies of Hosea, we find the same language attributed to the Israelites in their distress, which is here used by those who attempt to flee from the wrath of the Lamb; they say to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us."

We may then inquire, what change took place in the Roman empire, chronologically following the era of the martyrs prefigured in the foregoing seal, to which these symbols may justly be applied; and on turning to history, we find, that precisely at the time

depicted in the vision, one of the most memorable and most astonishing facts of history occurred. Contemporary writers seem lost in admiration when they speak of it: and Dr. Adam Clarke says, "The destruction of Jerusalem, and the revolution which took place in the Roman Empire under Constantine, were the greatest events that have ever taken place in the world from the flood to the present day." This revolution arose from the triumph of Christianity over its enemies. It involved the destruction of Paganism, and the sweeping from their high places of all Pagan powers and authorities. And this at a time too, when the Christians, as Tertullian represents them, though many in themselves, were but few in comparison, and reduced by long persecution apparently to the lowest point of depression. But, as has often been observed, Man's extremity is God's opportunity; and nothing can frustrate the accomplishment of His purpose.

For the deliverance of the Jews he raised up Cyrus; for the deliverance of the Christians he raised up Constantine. The Emperor Diocletian had divided the empire into four parts, and Constantine succeeded to the government of the western division. He soon avowed his espousal of the Christian cause, and adopted the Cross as his distinctive military ensign. That object of abomination to the heathen Romans, was seen "glittering in the helmets, engraved on the shields and interwoven with the banners of his soldiers." It would remind his Christian followers of the declaration of St. Paul, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Why he adopted such an ensign has been the subject of much discussion. Constantine himself declared that he saw a vision of a cross of flame in the sky, and heard a voice from heaven encouraging him to adopt it, accompanied with the promise, "By this ensign thou shalt conquer." And well, says Elliott, was the promise fulfilled. Army after army, emperor after emperor, were routed and fled and perished, before the cross and its warriors. Consternation and terror seized upon them. It was not the terror of their earthly victor only that oppressed them. There was a consciousness of the powers of heaven acting against

them above all, Christ, the Christian's God. For the war in each case was felt to be a religious war. When Maxentius went forth to battle, he went fortified by heathen oracles, and relying on heathen Gods, the champion of heathenism against the champion of Christianity. When Maximin was about to engage, he vowed to Jupiter, that if successful, he would extirpate Christianity. When Licinius marched against Constantine, he in a public harangue before his soldiers, ridiculed the Cross, and staked the falsehood of Christianity on his success. Thus, in all these cases, the terrors of defeat must have been aggravated by a sense of the powers of heaven being with Constantine against them. Wherever the banner of the Cross was raised, there victory attended. "The heathen and apostates," says Gibbon, "felt and dreaded its power." Besides this, we have recorded the dying terrors of one and another of the persecuting emperors. Galerius evinced his remorse by entreating the Christians to pray to their God for him; and Maximin, in anguish of mind and body, confessed his guilt and called on Christ to compassionate his misery. Thus did a sense of the wrath of the crucified one, the Lamb of God, lie heavy upon them. In the terrors of the battle-field, officers and soldiers, the high and the low, the slaves and the free men, alike participated. In considering these mighty emperors, like mountains moved out of their places, and their partizans routed before the Christian host, we acknowledge the propriety of the symbols in the vision before us :-in which kings and generals, freemen and slaves, were seen flying, and seeking to the dens and the rocks of the mountains to hide them, -to hide them from the face of him that sat upon the throne of power, and "from the wrath of the Lamb."

Chapter VII.-"After these things," saith St. John, "I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, 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, having the seal of the 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." (ver. 1-3.)

The Roman world, though now Christian in name, was yet Pagan in heart, and her continued and multiplied iniquities drew down upon her the righteous judgments of God. And John here saw the ministers of God's wrath ready to execute their mission; but they are stayed for awhile. The earth, the sea, and the trees are not yet to be hurt. For, another angel ascends from the east (significant of the source of light and life), having the seal of the living God (2 Tim. ii. 19), wherewith to seal those whom the Lord knew to be his, and who, having named the name of Christ, had also departed from iniquity. Until his mission was accomplished, and the servants of God screened from the impending plagues, the four angels of destruction, like those who waited upon Lot in Sodom, "could do nothing."

What did this sealing especially signify, and by what outward sign was it manifested to the world? It is worthy of notice, that the servants of many of the heathen gods were likewise marked with the peculiar symbol of their deity: as the worshippers of Bacchus, who bore the impression of the vine leaf on their forehead. So, also, many Hindoos at this day are marked in a similar manner. There is one of high rank at present in London, whom I have known for several years, (Rungoo Bapojee). The mark on his forehead looks as if it had been originally burnt into the skin; it is of a dark red colour; and he carefully renews it from time to time. Thus shewing, in the midst of a Christian community, his steady attachment to his own religion, and his faith in his idol god.

In the book of Revelation also (ch. xii.), the mark of the beast is referred to; but that might be either in the forehead or in the hand. A remarkable, but very significant distinction; shewing that under the Anti-Christian power, man would be encouraged to trust in the efficacy of the established idols and ceremonies, or he might trust in his own ability (signified by the hand) to work out his own salvation.

The Israelites in Egypt trusted in God, and marked their door

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posts with blood. It signified that they were under his special protection. The blood was the outward and visible sign, but that indicated their faith in Jehovah's promise, and their obedience to his command. So also, when the Lord was about to destroy Jerusalem, Ezekiel saw how the few righteous men within it were preserved. (ix. 4.) One clothed with linen was commanded to set a mark on "the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof." They were distinguished by their faith and obedience, while the rest of the nation had rebelled against the Lord, and were revelling in the most abominable idolatry.

So we find, on referring to the history of the Church in the fourth and following centuries, that obedience to the commands of Christ had been superseded by obedience to the traditions of men, and the decrees of Councils; and faith in the blood of the atonement, as the only hope of salvation, had given way to faith in the sacramentsfaith in the relics of martyrs-faith in the prayers of departed saints -faith in celibacy and solitude-faith in fastings and penances. The mystery of iniquity indeed had begun to work in the days of the Apostles; and in the epistles to the seven Churches of Asia we see (even in those early times) its fearful progress. And this religion of superstition and credulity was the religion of the Church centuries before the embodiment of Popery.

Yet there were still many faithful witnesses to the truth sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption; who, by their blameless life and simple faith in Jesus, were as much distinguished from the professing multitude of nominal Christians, as if the seal of the living God had been visibly impressed on their foreheads. And not only did they, having the seal, depart from iniquity in spirit; but also they departed in body from the gross iniquity by which they were surrounded. For we are informed by St. Salvian, a writer of the fourth century,-who describes in indignant language the fearful licentiousness of all ranks of society, (including even the monks and nuns who then infested the Church), and the dreadful oppressions inflicted on the poorer classes,-that many thousands

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