Part 10

This great multitude of white-robed palm-bearers, must include those who, under the preceding seal, anxiously inquired how long was to be deferred the avenging of their blood on those who dwell on the earth. That epoch had now arrived; and they come forth arrayed in the white robes then given them. The palm-branches in their hands, are emblems of victory. They symbolize the subjects of the first resurrection, caught up to meet the Lord in the air. That they are gathered from every land and every age, is asserted when it is said they are from every kindred, tongue, and people; and that they triumph over death and the grave, is evident from the answer of one of the elders to the questions: “What are these?” and “Whence came they?”

The epoch, is a point of time intervening between the first resurrection, and the descent of the new Jerusalem, 21:2. The loud and united voice, with which the redeemed multitude cry “Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb,”—synchronizes with that of the “great multitude,” which, like the voice of many waters, and of “mighty thunderings,” shouted “Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” (19:6), immediately preceding the marriage-supper of the Lamb (19:6-9). They are removed above the troubles of earth, which are impending upon the wicked, under:

The Seventh Seal.

“And when he opened the seventh seal, silence took place in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels, who stood before God; and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood by the altar, having a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with the fire of the altar, and out it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and an earthquake.”—Rev. 8:1-5.

The epoch of this seal, is sometimes regarded as anterior to that of the trumpets; and those are often supposed to be included in the events of this seal; but no conclusive reason has ever been given for removing it from its obvious position as the closing one, of a series of successive periods, commencing with the gospel, and extending to the end of the world. If the first six are successive in their respective order, analogy would require that the seventh be thus considered.

Under the sixth seal, the great men and rich, are seen fleeing to the rocks for refuge from the wrath of the Lamb; and the risen saints symbolized, are in the Saviour’s presence; but the infliction of the wrath of God on the wicked is not there symbolized. The events of that seal come down as far as those in the 19th chapter, which precede the marriage of the Lamb, 19:7.

The half-hour’s silence, is the first thing indicated under the seventh seal. Being so expressly noticed, it would seem to be of some significance. As a period of symbolic time, on the scale of a day for a year, “about half an hour,” would equal a week’s duration—corresponding to the time which intervened between the entrance of Noah into the ark, and the commencement of the deluge, Gen. 7:1-4. As the period evidently synchronizes with the parable of the Saviour, when “the Bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut” (Matt. 25:10),—the others being still without,—it would seem to symbolize the time, between the entrance to the marriage of the Lamb (19:7), and the going forth of the Word of God with his armies, to judge, make war, and to slay the remnant with the sword, 19:11-21. It would be a period of holy joy to the righteous in the Saviour’s presence, and of awful suspense to the wicked.

The seven angels, to whom were given seven trumpets, being introduced here, have doubtless caused the events of this seal to be regarded as anterior to the first trumpet. As those immediately following, evidently synchronize with occurrences of the closing epoch, the angels can only be introduced here in anticipation of the symbolization which they are to unfold under the sounding of the successive trumpets—the same as the seven angels with the last plagues are introduced, before the epoch of the commencement of their allotted work, 15:1.

The golden censer was the instrument in which incense was burned in the Jewish worship. Incense symbolizes prayers (5:8). The offering of much incense with the prayers of all saints and the smoke of the incense ascending up before God, indicates the acceptance of their offerings in heaven—the act being before the throne, and not on the earth. The acceptance of their prayers, also implies their own acceptance, when presented “faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,” Jude 24.

The fire from the altar, symbolizes the instruments of divine justice; and the filling the censer with coals after the acceptance of the saints, and the casting of both the censer and fire to the earth, indicate that thenceforth there would be no more acceptance of prayer from those left on the earth, but the speedy infliction of impending judgments.

The “voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake,” which followed, evidently synchronize with the same events which follow the seventh trumpet: when the “wrath of God” has come, with “the time of the dead that they should be judged;” and when those are to be destroyed who have destroyed the earth, 11:19. They are the same, also, as those under the seventh vial, (16:18); and symbolize the final overturn and commotion, previous to the cleansing of the earth and the ushering in of a better day: Then will the

“fire purge all things new, Both Heaven and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell.”—MILTON, BOOK XI.

The Seven Trumpets.

“And the seven angels having seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.”—Rev. 8:6.

The sounding of each successive trumpet marks the commencement of an era, of a longer or shorter duration, as the striking of a clock does the succession of hours. During each era, were to be fulfilled the events symbolized in connection with its respective trumpet. Those under the trumpets are more of a political character than those presented in connection with the seals.

The First Trumpet.

“And the first angel sounded, and there was hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast into the earth; and the third part of the earth was burnt up, and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and every green herb was burnt up.”—Rev. 8:7.

The earth of the Apocalypse is regarded by most expositors as the Roman empire, in a state of comparative quiet. As no tornado like this described has ever happened, its correspondence must be sought for in the political relations of the empire. There is great unanimity among commentators respecting the period and the agents here symbolized,—that it refers to the invasions of the Goths and other barbarians, from A. D. 363 to 410. After 395, their incursions were more severe than during the earlier portion of that period. The third part of the earth, would be the third part of the Roman empire, in distinction from the other two-thirds.

The green grass of the earth, the trees, &c., are distinguished from “those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads” (9:4), and must therefore symbolize the people of God in the third part of the empire. As all the green grass is burnt up, while only one-third of the trees suffer, the latter cannot include one-third of all the trees in the empire, but only one-third in the parts affected,—the grass indicating the more weakly, and the trees the more hardy classes of Christians.

The infidel historian, Gibbon, has given the events which fitly correspond with the symbolization of these trumpets. After the death of Theodosius, in January, A. D. 395, Alaric, the bold leader of the Gothic nation, took arms against the empire. The terrible effects of this invasion, are thus described:—

“The barbarian auxiliaries erected their independent standard; and boldly avowed hostile designs, which they had long cherished in their ferocious minds. Their countrymen, who had been condemned, by the conditions of the last treaty, to a life of tranquillity and labor, deserted their farms at the first sound of the trumpet, and eagerly assumed the weapons which they had reluctantly laid down. The barriers of the Danube were thrown open; the savage warriors of Scythia issued from their forest; and the uncommon severity of the winter, allowed the poet to remark, that ‘they rolled their ponderous wagons over the broad and icy back of the indignant river.’ The unhappy nations of the provinces to the south of the Danube, submitted to the calamities, which, in the course of twenty years, were almost grown familiar to their imagination; and the various troops of barbarians, who gloried in the Gothic name, were irregularly spread from the woody shores of Dalmatia, to the walls of Constantinople. The Goths were directed by the bold and artful genius of Alaric. In the midst of a divided court, and a discontented people, the emperor, Arcadius, was terrified by the aspect of the Gothic arms. Alaric disdained to trample any longer on the prostrate and ruined countries of Thrace and Dacia, and he resolved to seek a plentiful harvest of fame and riches in a province which had hitherto escaped the ravages of war.

“Alaric traversed, without resistance, the plains of Macedonia and Thessaly. The troops which had been posted to defend the Straits of Thermopylæ, retired, as they were directed, without attempting to disturb the secure and rapid passage of Alaric; and the fertile fields of Phocis and Bœotia were instantly covered with a deluge of barbarians, who massacred the males of an age to bear arms, and drove away the beautiful females, with the spoil and cattle of the flaming villages. The travellers who visited Greece several years afterwards, could easily discover the deep and bloody traces of the march of the Goths. The whole territory of Attica was blasted by his baneful presence; and if we may use the comparison of a cotemporary philosopher, Athens itself resembled the bleeding and empty skin of a slaughtered victim. Corinth, Argos, Sparta, yielded without resistance to the arms of the Goths; and the most fortunate of the inhabitants were saved, by death, from beholding the slavery of their families, and the conflagration of their cities.”—Gibbon’s Rome, vol. v., p. 177.

Being tempted by the fame of Rome, Alaric hastened to subjugate it. He put to flight the Emperor of the West; but deliverance soon came, and Rome was saved from his hands. Alaric was first conquered in 403. But another cloud was gathering, and is thus described by Gibbon:—

“About four years after the victorious Toulan had assumed the title of Khan of the Geougen, another barbarian, the haughty Rhodogast, or Radagaisus, marched from the northern extremities of Germany almost to the gates of Rome, and left the remains of his army to achieve the destruction of the West. The Vandals, the Suevi, and the Burgundians, formed the strength of this mighty host; but the Alani, who had found a hospitable reception in their new seats, added their active cavalry to the heavy infantry of the Germans; and the Gothic adventurers crowded so eagerly to the standard of Radagaisus, that, by some historians, he has been styled the King of the Goths. Twelve thousand warriors, distinguished above the vulgar by their noble birth, or their valiant deeds, glittered in the van; and the whole multitude, which was not less than two hundred thousand fighting men, might be increased by the accession of women, of children, and of slaves, to the amount of four hundred thousand persons.

“The correspondence of nations was, in that age, so imperfect and precarious, that the revolutions of the North might escape the knowledge of the court of Ravenna, till the dark cloud, which was collected along the coast of the Baltic, burst in thunder upon the banks of the Upper Danube, &c. Many cities of Italy were pillaged or destroyed; and the siege of Florence by Radagaisus, is one of the earliest events in the history of that celebrated republic, whose firmness checked or delayed the unskilful fury of the barbarians.

“While the peace of Germany was secured by the attachment of the Franks, and the neutrality of the Alemanni, the subjects of Rome, unconscious of the approaching calamities, enjoyed a state of quiet and prosperity, which had seldom blessed the frontiers of Gaul. Their flocks and herds were permitted to graze in the pastures of the barbarians: their huntsmen penetrated, without fear or danger, into the darkest recesses of the Hercynian wood. The banks of the Rhine were crowded, like those of the Tiber, with elegant houses and well-cultivated farms; and if the poet descended the river, he might express his doubt on which side was situated the territory of the Romans. This scene of peace and plenty was suddenly changed into a desert; and the prospect of the smoking ruins, could alone distinguish the solitude of nature, from the desolation of man. The flourishing city of Mentz was surprised and destroyed; and many thousand Christians were inhumanly massacred in the church. Worms perished, after a long and obstinate siege; Strasburg, Spires, Rheims, Tournay, Arras, Amiens, experienced the cruel oppression of the German yoke; and the consuming flames of war spread from the banks of the Rhine over the greatest part of the seventeen provinces of Gaul. That rich and extensive country, as far as the ocean, the Alps, and the Pyrenees, was delivered to the barbarians, who drove before them, in a promiscuous crowd, the bishop, the senator, and the virgin, laden with the spoils of their houses and altars.”—Ibid., vol. v., p. 224.

After this invasion of the empire by Radagaisus, Alaric again returned, invaded Italy in 408, and in 410 he besieged, took, and sacked Rome, and died the same year. In 412 the Goths voluntarily retired from Italy.

In this last year, “a public conference was held in Carthage, by order of the magistrate;” and it was there agreed to inflict the most severe penalties on those who dissented from the Catholic doctrines, in the African part of the Roman empire. Says Gibbon:—“Three hundred bishops, with many thousands of the inferior clergy, were torn from their churches, stripped of their ecclesiastical possessions, banished to the islands, and proscribed by the laws, if they presumed to conceal themselves in the provinces of Africa. Their numerous congregations, both in the cities and country, were deprived of the rights of citizens, and of the exercise of religious worship.”