Beings of life around the throne of God; because they refer to events, which were to happen solely on earth, and within the limits of the Church, and to the extent of the sound of the gospel trumpet. The following seals are again connected, and comprise events in both the visible and invisible world, which therefore exceed the voice of these living creatures.

By the opening of this seal, the Lord informed his Church on three very material points, necessary for her to know, as she was now to pass the fiery ordeal, to prove her fidelity for ever.

I. I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain, Thus the Lord discloses the tenth and last general persecution, under the Roman emperor Dioclesian, which began A. D. 303, and was carried on under four successive edicts from the throne, by all sorts of torments and unspeakable cruelties, for ten years. The number of martyrs during this persecution was immense, among which were many characters distinguished for piety and learning. They are accounted no less than 144,000 persons. So great was the diligence and zeal of the Roman magistrates and the multitude, against the Christians, that their raving exertions were like to prove fatal to the Christian cause. At first they only pulled down the Christian churches, burned their books and writings, and deprived them of all civil rights and privileges; but at last their cruel minds impelled them to such brutal and shameful torments, as even decency forbids to describe. This being the most severe, and last of all the persecutions by Pagan Rome, is therefore here particularly noted, though all former martyrs are also comprehended under this seal.

II. I saw under the altar the souls. Here the Lord elevates the veil, and the Church beholds a glorious scene in the invisible world-the state of immortality, in which souls exist after their separation from the body, and the virtue and excellence of martyrdom. It was a generally

received opinion among the ancient fathers, that the souls of believers, after death, were clothed in ethereal bodies, in which they acted, and might even appear upon earth among the living, like the angels and the Son of God in ancient time, until the day of resurrection. Gen. xviii. 19. This opinion seems to be confirmed by this passage. St. John beheld them in human form, heard their exclamation, and saw them dressing in white robes. They therefore were not in a state of insensibility or sleep, but had full recollection of past events, consciousness of their present state, and from the many martyrs, which during that persecution daily increased their number, a perfect knowledge of what was transacting in the world. This information induced them at that time, to cry with a loud voice, i. e. with great ardour and fervency.

The holy seer beheld them under the altar of burntoffering, by which they are represented to the comfort of their brethren on earth, as holy and acceptable sacrifices to the Lord, and in a place of protection and perfect safety. They knew, that they had been slain for the word of God, and for the [uagτugíav, doctrine, religion of Jesus, chap. xx. 4.] testimony which they had, and did not doubt but God would judge and avenge their blood and sufferings; but they were very desirous to know, how long it would yet be until the day of retribution. This desire was not a sinful or malicious affection, for the Greek word ixdxev, signifies, to assist an innocent sufferer, by civil process, and to adjudge the guilty. They therefore only petition for the exercise of his right of defence, and retribution in their behalf; or in other words, they wished to know, when the enemies of the Church should be overcome, and the personal kingdom of Christ established on earth. White robes were given unto every one of them. This was a token of peculiar favour and promotion, as in the East, priests were invested by white robes with the holy office. They were henceforth employed as minister

ing spirits, for them who shall be heirs of salvation. Hebrews i. 14.

III. They should rest yet for a little season. The holy martyrs, who had been collected under the altar during the first nine general persecutions, expected (perhaps from some sign given in the world of spirits,) the judgments of God on Paganism, and the near approach of the kingdom of Christ. When therefore their number was so greatly enlarged, during the tenth persecution, they expressed their disappointment by a loud and pressing petition, for more light concerning the time of the suffering state of the Church. In this they were fully gratified; but St. John was induced to express this period of time in an obscure manner by the word chronos, which signifies a space of time not determined by numbers, but by events. As for instance, the time of a dynasty of a reigning family in a kingdom, or the duration of a republic, or of a war, was by the Grecians called a chronos. Hence it follows, that all determinations concerning the length of a chronos, are only supposition, which nevertheless may rise to a great degree of probability. I have determined the chronos to be 1100 years. For Bengelius and others reject the word ungav, little, in this place, which is received in our common version; but if it even remains, it would not embarrass my system. For xgóvos μgos is an expression less indeterminable than even chronos, and may denote any time between 900 and 1000 years, though it cannot signify more, or less, without interfering with other numbers. The Revelation speaks of four bloody persecutions against the saints, three of which already stand recorded on the page of history. That of Pagan Rome during the first centuries-that by Papal Rome against the Waldenses and Albigenses A. D. 1208 and 1209that against the Hussites in Bohemia, and the Protestants in Europe-and that by the beast out of the earth, and by he beast from the bottomless pit; which last is not here

considered, as it occurs during the time of the last judgments. If now we retain the reading: a little chronos: that is, less than a chronos, we have 906 years from the commencement of the tenth persecution A. D. 303, when those souls began their exclamation under the altar, to the time of the Papal crusades against the Waldenses A. D. 1209. But if we adopt the reading "a chronos," and calculate from the end of the first persecution, 314, we have the commencement of the third A. D. 1414, when those eminent men of God, John Huss, and Jerome of Prague, were burnt alive by the council of Constance, and all their followers persecuted with savage barbarity, by the emperor Sigismund and the Papal clergy, for many years. The text even seems to favour the opinion of an allusion to two periods of persecution, and denominates the martyrs of the first Waldenses and Albigenses, "fellow servants” of the ancient martyrs, and those of the second period, since the time of John Huss, only "brethren." Now the time of the first persecution from A. D. 64-to the year 314, is 250 years. If we add these to 1414, we have 1664, precisely the time when the persecutions against the Protestants ceased, and the Evangelic doctrine was again legally established in Germany.

This seal does not discover any direct judgment on the Roman empire; but history informs us, what a great effect the blood and sufferings of the martyrs had on the Pagan spectators, and on Paganism, in facilitating their conversion. Yet the united voice of all the martyrs requiring vengeance, may well be considered as a powerful cause of the downfall, and utter ruin of Heathenism in the Roman dominions.

VI. SEAL ACCOMPLISHED FROM A. D. 322-To 372.

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 bond-man, 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?

It is customary in prophetic writings, to announce the final doom of nations, of governments, and of religious communities by images and expressions, which in their literal sense can only take place on the last day of judgment, and at the destruction of the world. See Isa. xiii. 9. 10. 13. 17. 19. and xxxiv. 4. 5. Hagg. ii. 21. 22. Joel ii. 10. Ezek. xxxii. 7. 8. Math. xxiv. 7. 29. Luke xxi. 25. 26.. Heb. xii. 26. 27. The reason is, because these nations, governments and communities, are then precisely found in that state of corruption, into which the whole world will be sunk at the last day of final retribution. The eternal mind is then thus disposed towards their existence, as He will be on the last day, in regard to the continuance of