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LECTURE XIV.

CHRIST THE REDEEMER-THE SEALS.

REV. vi.

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and 1 heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold

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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. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 little season, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren that

should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and low, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 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: and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places: 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; 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?

HITHERTO Our way hath been among the realities of doctrine which every Christian can verify for himself, by appealing to the Spirit of truth within his own heart, and confirm in the word, by comparing Scripture with Scripture and feeling the ground so sure beneath our feet, we have had pleasure in lingering upon it, and pointing out the objects far and near which are to be discerned from so good and safe a position. Our subject hath lain altogether beyond the limits of space and time, out of the region of mere appearances in the world of unchanging realities, and our discourse hath been of God, of Christ, and of the church; of God, with whom there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning; of Christ, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; of the church which is his fulness, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. After so much matter, purely theological, as we have set forth in the foregoing Lectures, profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, we ought to hear no more idle and ignorant, yea, foolish and wicked speeches concerning the comparative unprofitableness of the Apocalypse among the other books of Scripture, whereof we affirm it to be, except the Gospels, perhaps the most profitable of all. We have justified its title to be placed in the canon, and its claim to the study of the

church, from its concert with the analogy of faith, its lofty flights, and deep researches into the secrets of Christian truth, its consummate wisdom, and its abundant revelations of truth; without once entering upon the debateable and the much debated part of the Revelation: whereby it may be seen that our object in undertaking this labour is truly catholic, for the glory of God, and the good of men: not selfish, for the establishing of some favourite interpretation; nor partial, for the exaltation of one class or sect above another. And now that we are to work our way through dangerous paths, where many before us have lost the track of truth,we take the reins not without anxiety, and ask the confidence of those whom we have undertaken to guide, only through our confidence in the Spirit of truth, that he will guide us unto all truth; and if we have the anointing of the Holy One, that we shall not be permitted in any lie, for no lie is of the truth. With all confidence in the Holy Spirit, who revealeth to the saints the things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, we proceed upon our way, with a heedful wary step, and with an eye reverently fixed upon the sure word of prophecy, which God hath hung up as a light in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise on our hearts.

In the two former Lectures, we have endeavoured to obtain from the language and the circumstances connected with the sealed book, such fixed and determinate notions of its meaning and object, as will very much limit, and indeed altogether prevent conjecture, and reduce us to exact interpretation in the work to which we now advance, of opening the seals one by one. If, as we have seen by close and continuous study of the preceding chapters, as well as by many cross lights cast upon it from other parts of Scripture, the sealed book, the names of Christ, and the songs of the heavenly companies, do conspire to give to the act of taking and opening the sealed book, no other signification than that of Christ's entering into the right, and taking the possession of this earth which we inhabit; then the several successive actions leading on thereto can admit no other interpretation than that of the several distinct actings of power and sovereignty, whereby Christ asserteth that right which God hath acknowledged,

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and assumeth that possession which God and every creature hath guaranteed to the Lamb which was slain. There may arise a difference of opinion as to what these seven actings of his power are, and at what times and in what places they fell out; and no doubt much discrimination and judgment will be required to ascertain these matters from the very language of the text: but there can be no difference of opinion among those who are fully satisfied of the meaning of the sealed book, that all interpretation of these seals, as if they contained an allegorical history of the early propagation and triumphs of the faith; or a perfect epitome of church history, or some part of it; or a series of the oppressions of the Jews under the four monarchies, and of the church afterward, are altogether beside the object of the vision, and not for a minute to be entertained. By being careful to fix the meaning of the symbol of the seven-sealed book, trying it till no doubt is left on our mind, we have quietly set to a side these interpretations, however ingenious or learned. Their ingenuity and learning still remain with them; but they are pure speculations, and have nothing to do with the subject in hand. Also those interpretations which make the seals to cover only a portion of the time between Christ's beginning to act as the possessor, and his actually taking possession, and fill up the remainder with the trumpets and the vials, making a chronological series of the three, however simple and catching they may be, are equally out of the question; because the seven-sealed book is certainly the complete title to the possession, and the opening of all its seals the complete taking of possession. When they are all done with being opened, He hath taken possession, He is a possessor; and the blessed reign upon the earth is begun, and there can be no more trumpets of woe or vials of wrath. In thus setting aside so many interpretations I am not arrogant in the least degree, unless the mathematician who derives so many corollaries from one proposition be deemed arrogant, or the man who having ascertained the meaning of words will interpret them according to that meaning be so deemed. I have laboured to find out the proper signification of the sealed book; and having arrived at fixed conclusions, I must not lose my labour or give up the truth

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by admitting hypotheses which proceed upon another signification than that which I have made out to be the true one. This is honesty, not arrogance; this is interpretation, not speculation.

Let us now, before taking up the seals one by one, consider the document as a whole, and endeavour to gather from the face of it some principles which may guide us in our interpretation of them. The first six seals lie before us in order in the fifth chapter; but the seventh, though announced as impending under the name of " the great day of the wrath of the Lamb" (chap. v. 17), is not given in the next place; but an act of sealing certain preserved tribes against its destructiveness: which done, we find ourselves at the end of all things in the midst of the Millennial enjoyments (compare vii. 9-17 with xxi. and xxii.): and in the opening of the next act of Revelation, we are told that the seven seals had been opened, and that there was a pause of half an hour, before the next exhibition commenced. The trumpets are therefore no part of the seventh seal, be they what they may; for the seventh seal was opened and away with, and half an hour had elapsed ere ever the voice of trumpets began. Where then are the contents of this seventh seal to be found? for, till we find them, we are not able to have under our eye at one glance the whole document of the seals, which is the thing we now desire. To find out the seventh seal among the chapters of the Apocalypse we have a certain. clue in the concluding verses of the sixth seal, which, like the hooks and taches of the coverings of the tabernacle, or like any two pieces in a well-constructed machine, leads us unerringly to its fellow and companion. The seven seals are like the pieces which make up a complete map; we have all of them lying side by side, save one, which, for good reasons, is laid in another quarter, but we are at no loss to find which it is by its fitting to the empty place and completing the whole. The piece we want is one which, beginning with the day of wrath, will bring us down to the end of all things: and this we have in chapters xv. and xvi. which define themselves to be the day of wrath by distinct declarations to that effect (xv. 1, 4, 7; xvi. 1), and bring this present condition of the world to an entire end (xvi. 17-21). This therefore is

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