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Next, correspondent to the opening of the Second Seal, at which there was seen going forth a red horse, to the rider upon which there was given a great sword, we have described in ch. lxiii. lxiv. the case of Edom, whose very name means red or bloody. The slaughter of the Edomites, under the name of Jews, at the destruction of Jerusalem, we have already spoken of. As in the former portion, ch. lxi. lxii. the garments of salvation, which are white, were frequently alluded to, so here we have described the redness of the raiment of him who, at the time alluded to, began to execute judgment upon his enemies.Next we hear of the Lord's great goodness towards the house of Israel; of His mercies, of the multitude of His loving kindnesses. Israel had

been lost sight of by men; but He recognized them, and said, "Surely they are My People; children that will not lie; so He was" emphatically "their Saviour." Then his sympathy with them, and tenderness over them, is described. Although having lost their genealogical connection with Abraham, they recognize themselves as the tribes of the Lord's inheritance. They are as yet out of the land when this recognition takes place; and there is an earnest expectation of the near coming of the Lord. Their cities in the land are as yet a wilderness; Zion is a wilderness; Jerusalem a desolation. The restoration to perfect peace hath not yet taken place; but the Rider upon the red horse hath prepared the way. The great sword hath cleared the land, and widely spread its power in the countries

around.

The opening of the Third Seal presented a black horse, with the Rider having a pair of balances in his hand; and there was heard a voice, in midst of the four living creatures, reserving a bare sufficiency for the remnant to be preserved in the midst of destructive famine. Correspondent to this is ch. lxv., where after the appointed judgment is written; and the Lord hath threatened to bring upon the

Jews their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers (all which came upon that evil generation who crucified the Lord of Glory), still the Lord in wrath remembers mercy; still He will not destroy them all, but promises to bring a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of his mountains. But of a certain class he saith," Behold my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold my servants shall drink, but ye shall he thirsty; behold my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed." And, having promised preservation for some, in the midst of wasting destruction to others, the prophet proceeds to describe that blessedness which Israel shall enjoy when the reproach of famine shall for ever be taken from them; when they shall build houses and inhabit them, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them; when his elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. The days of man shall then he as those of a tree. A child shall he be thought that dies at the age of a hundred years; and he that dies at that early age shall be thought to have been cut off by judgment. They shall have everything supplied that they need, and nothing shall have power to hurt them as heretofore. "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountains, saith the Lord." As truly as other nations have perished, shall Israel thus be preserved unto the fulness of the blessing promised.

At the opening of the Fourth Seal there was seen the going forth of the pale or livid-green horse, representing that utterly corrupted and ruinous state described ch. lxvi. 1—4, when the Lord, forsaking the house that had been built for him, and the sacrifices there offered, turns from the proud self-righteous worshipper, to him that is of a poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at his word,—to him who is convinced of sin, and is made willing to submit to the powerful lifegiving agency of that word which the Lord hath appointed to be the means of raising up the tribes of Israel.

At the opening of the Fifth Seal,

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there was heard the cry of those devoted to destruction. And the promise of present peace and future recompence was granted unto them, such as is here given, ch. lxvi. 5—9. When the elect of the house of Israel, the brethren of the Jewish martyrs, are complete, the Lord will give reward unto them that fear him. And these are they who are thus addressed, "Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord he glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed." A voice was heard from the city and the temple, in the fulfilment of the judgments predicted thereupon by our Lord. And as assuredly shall yet be heard the voice of the Lord that rendereth recompence to his enemies. And as truly also shall He do great things for his people, both as to the bringing them forth, and supplying them with all needful blessing.

At the opening of the Sixth Seal, there was beheld the great earthquake, which shall accompany the deliverance of Israel, and their restoration to the land: when shall be fully enjoyed the fulness of the blessing promised unto the fathers. And so they are here invited to partake of this fulness of joy, "Rejoice with Jerusalem, and he glad with her, all ye that love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her." Those who have this sympathy with Jerusalem shall be found her children, shall partake of her rich consolation and the abundance of her glory. It shall he found that the glory of the Gentiles is hers. And they shall be comforted by the Lord himself, and that in Jerusalem. blindness in part which hath happened to Israel shall depart; and they shall see, and then their heart shall rejoice: and they shall also he strong in the Lord. Their bones shall flourish as an herb; and, at the same time, that the hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants, his indignation shall be known towards his enemies, as is described upon the opening of

The

this sixth seal, Rev. vi. 12 — 17: "For behold the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebukes with flames of fire; for by fire and by sword," as is described in the correspondent portion of Ezekiel," will the Lord plead with all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many."

At the opening of the Seventh Seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour, the silent preparation for that universal burst of song to the Redeemer, the preparation for which is here noted, in the destruction of the mere formal worshipers, with the openly profane: and in his arranging it, so that, not only a few selfish Jews shall be blessed in the land, hut so as that all nations and tongues shall come and see the Lord's glory. The Lord did purpose to send the escaped unto the nations, with the design that they should declare his glory among the Gentiles. And they shall present an offering of their brethren unto the Lord out of all nations: and he will also take of them, even of the outcast house of Israel will he take, for priests and for Levites. For as the new heavens and the new earth which he will make, shall remain, so will they be given an assurance that this shall be, by their seed and their name remaining, notwithstanding the impossibility of this to all human appearance.

And now shall the song be sung, now shall the worship be performed, "And it shall come to pass, from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before the Lord." And this shall be upon this earth: for of that time it is said, " And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." God will thus give evidence of his hatred of sin; and prove that it is no vain thing to defy the Almighty, at the same time

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that he is most abundant in his mercy to all then living upon the earth.

Thus, complete have we found the witness of the three great prophets of the Lord to his mercy and his judgment: and the testimony of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, we have found opened, as was promised, in the concluding book of the New Testament. And it may be observed, that what has been thus opened by our Lord in heaven, was sketched by him when upon earth, as is recorded in the first book of the New Testament, Mat. xxiv. 3—14.

We find there the Lord's disciples asking him respecting the time of the threatened judgment and the promised mercy; when the things would be which he had predicted respecting Jerusalem and the temple; and what would be the sign of his coming; and they also asked regarding the end of the world. Now this last question our Lord answers first, v. 4—14. Afterwards he answers as to the sign of his coming, v. 15—31; and lastly as to the time when the things, respecting the destruction of the temple, would be fulfilled, which time he takes occasion to contrast with the day of his coming, v. 32—41.

In giving his first answer, that respecting the end of the world, he sketches the subjects contained in the opening of the seven seals.

First, He, the true Messiah, the King who was to be raised up unto Israel, warns against the being deceived by any one coming in his name, and saying, "I am Christ." He will himself come. The very Jesus who was taken up into heaven, shall so come in like manner as he went. Neither were they to be carried away by the multitude of those who might be deceived, but prove faithful unto their King, who had thus faithfully warned them of the dangers to which their allegiance would be exposed.

Then, as the red horse, and the mutual slaughter, and the great sword, were spoken of under the second seal, so here our Lord next forewarns of those means whereby the land was to

be cleared of his enemies, the professing Jews. "And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all must come to pass; but the end is not yet: for nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom."

As under the third seal, the black horse and the pair of balances in the hand of his rider, betokened the judgment of scarcity, when bread would be carefully dealt out by weight; so here, after having mentioned the mutual slaughter of the second seal, our Lord says, "And there shall be famine." In the midst of this want, a bare sufficiency, as we have seen, was to he reserved for Israel.

Then, fourthly, as the pale horse had Death or Pestilence as his rider, and as hell followed with him, so next our Lord speaks of pestilences and earthquakes in divers places, and concludes this portion of the prophecy with saying, "All these are the beginning of sorrows." The disciples were thus forbid to expect that the end of the world was to be at the destruction of Jerusalem, when those things were to happen. Then, not only were the sufferings of the Jews to begin, but then also were their own sufferings to

commence.

Thus, as upon the opening of the fifth seal, there were seen the souls of the martyrs crying for the avenging, and they were told to wait until their brethren that should he killed as they were should he fulfilled: so here we have that double killing foretold by our Lord. "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." And then, not only would the disciples he thus killed by the heathen, but be also persecuted by professing Christians, by the many who have been offended, who have stumbled upon that stumbling stone: and who have betrayed and hated the true followers of our Lord: and by false prophets, who would deceive many, has the cause of Christ been tried; and this trial we have sufficiently seen and felt. "And because

iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold."

Then, sixthly, correspondent to the deliverance of Israel in the last grand struggle, when the mighty oppressors of the earth shall be abashed at the return of Israel's King, it is here predicted, v. 13," But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."

Throughout all this period of sorrow, the good news of the coming kingdom of our blessed Lord has been, in some measure, proclaimed; but again it shall be preached in power as

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in the apostolic age, and it shall be distinctly the gospel of the kingdom; and it shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. That which began with the angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God, to seal the 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel, shall progress unto the deliverance of the fulness of the nations, promised unto the fathers, and described in Rev. vii. "And then shall the end come," when there shall be silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

Immediately following the Seven Securities already described, as found, Jer. xxx. 8—22, there is, in Jer. xxx. 23,24; xxxi. 1—26, a description of the circumstances in which the Lost House of Israel shall be found, at the time they enter into the consideration of what their God hath said and done; and when thus the words of the prophets shall be made known to them: the exact fulfilment of which, in their own case, shall strike them with astonishment; and result in loud acclaims to Him who hath dealt wondrously with his people. There shall be shouts of wonder at the discovery of his purposes, which were of old, faithfulness and truth. Of these thunders, that of the voice of Judah's lion, at the going forth of the white horse, in the apostolic preaching of the gospel, was the precursor.The succeeding horses, which betokened judgment, are not said to have the accompaniment of a thunder: only the first, which betokened mercy, had. And this was the lion of Judah, the only standard under which there was at that time, the full preaching of the gospel. The ox of Ephraim, the man of Reuben, the eagle of Dan,—the three living creatures connected with the other standards of Israel, which were farther removed from the scene of that preaching :—whose tribes had not then the same opportunity of hearing those glad tidings, are represented as being alive rather to the judgments; at the going forth of which in succession they simply said, "Come and see." They had not the loud and joyful acclaim, represented by the thunder,

at the going forth of the white horse; to the Rider upon which one crown was then given. The thunders of the Living Creatures, which represent the hosts of Israel, are particularly described, Ezek. ch. i. 24. It is the voice of their wings; it is the glad going forth with the publishing salvation; and great shall be the company of them that publish it, the Most High himself having given the word. And thus it is said to be "like the noise of great waters;"—hut that is not enough:—it is, as the voice of the Almighty;" and it is not only thus like thunder, but clear" as the voice of speech." The report shall now be understood, and whilst multitudinous, and powerful, and clear, it is an united and triumphant shout, as the noise of an host," of the united host of Israel. The thunders are, therefore, to be regarded as the voice of rejoicing and triumph. It is Israel's crowning of Immanuel. "The Lord his God is with him; and the shout of a King is among them." It is the loud and wondering exclamation, "What hath God wrought?" In Rev. xiv. 1—5, the 144,000 are represented as standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion, when it is said, "And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder; and I heard the voice of harpers harp ing with their harps." And again, in ch. six. 6, 7, the voice of thunder is that of glorious triumph : "And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia! for the