CHAPTER VIII. ND when he had opened

the seventh seal, there was

silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels

lences, and the earthquakes, mentioned chap. vi., were “the beginning of sorrows;” Matt. xxiv. 7, 8; and therefore are put down first in the order of the Apocalypse. Then comes the persecution and killing of the Christians, or martyrs; Matt. xxiv. 9–12; and hence the crying of the martyrs for vengeance is placed next in the Apocalypse ; vi. 9–11. Next in order in 24th of Matthew, comes a premonition of the “abomination of desolation,” verse 15, which is described under the sixth seal in the Apocalypse, 12–17. Jesus then states that the Christians were to be saved from these calamities, Matt. xxiv. 16–21, which is beautifully described in the Apocalypse by the sealing of the 144,000, chap. vii. For the sake of the elect, or the believers, the days of tribulation at first were shortened, or remitted; the siege was raised for a short time, Matt. xxiv. 22; and thus the Christians escaped; which is represented in the Apocalypse by the angels holding back the winds from blowing on the earth, to destroy it, until the 144,000 of spiritual Israel were sealed; vii. 1–3. Thus we find that so far as the destruction of Jerusalem is concerned, the order of Christ in describing the events in his prophecy, in Matt. xxiv., is principally followed by the revelator in his seven seals. The events placed by our Lord as happening immediately before the fall of the city, are described in the following words : — “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth : behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not :”

Matt. xxiv. 23–26. These are the events which are described in bold and glowing metaphors in the 8th chapter of Revelation, under the opening of the seventh seal, which is subdivided into seven parts. "[ Silence in heaven. — The metaphors are still based on the plan of the services in the temple. We behold, in verse 3, that the angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer. This was preparatory to offering incense in the holy place. The people stood without, i.e., without the sacred place, in some other part of the temple, every one in secret, silent prayer the meanwhile. The Lord was supposed to be in the temple, in a special manner, at the time of incense. Hence it is said, “The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth, keep silence before him;” Hab. ii. 20. The same service is more definitely referred to, Luke i. 9–10: “According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without, at the time of incense.” The prayer was secret, in each one’s soul, and silence of course prevailed. When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, and preparation was made for burning incense, there was said to be, in conformity to the temple service, “silence in heaven about the space of half an hour,” which was probably about the length of time that was consumed in this part of the temple service. 2. Seven angels nihich stood before God. — These are those we call the angels of the divine presence, because they always stand before God, like the seven confidential ministers, nearest the throne of the earthly monarch. See Tobit xii. 18. See, also, the notes on the angelology of the Apocalypse under v. 2, and the notes on i. 4, iii. 1, iv. 5. The events which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.

3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.

5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth ; and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings,

under the seventh seal are divided into seven parts; and hence seven trumpets, with which to announce those events, are placed in the hands of the seven angels. The whole, of course, is scenical. 3. Another angel. — This was the angel of the golden censer. — Angelology, Apoc., § 9. T At the altar. — The altar here spoken of was unquestionably the altar of incense, as incense was about to be offered. It is mentioned Exod. xxx. 27. I Golden censer. — The golden censer was for the purpose of incense. The sacred vessels were many of them of gold and silver, and hence were for their value carried off into Babylon, at the captivity, and afterwards restored; Ezra vi. 5, and Dan. v. 2, 3. The censer was of pure gold; 1 Kings vii. 50; 2 Chron. iv. 22; Heb. ix. 4. T Given unto him much incense. — To the angel was given much incense, the occasion being an extraordinary one. T That he should offer it. — This he was to offer while the people were in silent prayer. He offered it during the prayers — during the half hour's silence. We have already shown, on chapter v. 8, that the odors were the prayers of saints. “Let my prayer be set before thee as incense;” Psa. cxli. 2. The Jews gave themselves much to prayer, as did also the Christians; Acts vi. 4. The Jewish Christians were directed specially to pray during the calamities of the nation; Matt. xxiv. 20. In fact, the believers everywhere were directed to pray in reference to that event. See 1 Peter

iv. 7: “The end of all things is at hand [referring unquestionably to the destruction of Jerusalem] : be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” 4. Ascended up before God. — At that time, especially, therefore, the prayers of Christians everywhere ascended to heaven, denoted by the words, “And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God, out of the angel’s hand.” 5. Filled it with fire. — The facts mentioned in the verse are prepar. atory to what is to follow, - a sort of metaphorical introduction to the threatened judgments. Fire was always burning on the altar; Lev. xvi. 12; Isa. vi. 6. It is used to signify not only the judgments which God sends upon the earth, but the purify. ing power of God, and ofttimes the purifying power of his judgments. It is put for the judgments of God in the verse before us. The angel filled the censer with fire from the altar, and cast it on the earth, or land of Judea, to show that further judgments were to fall on the Jews. A great commotion followed. “There were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake;” a figure of tumults, anger, great noises, frightful visitations from heaven, and a great over. throw. We think the figure of taking fire from the altar to cast upon the earth is designed to show that the judgments originated in heaven; and are sent out from the presence of God. So the desolation of Israel was

and an earthquake. 6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. 7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they

were cast upon the earth, and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. 8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was

described by Ezek. ix. and x. Observe carefully x. 1, 2. 6. Prepared themselves to sound. — No further delay is to be expected. All is now ready for the commencement of final action. The woes were about to come ; they were just on the point of commencing; and hence it is said, the angels prepared themselves to sound. 7. Hail and fire mingled nith blood. — The figure here signified destruction. What could be more expressive of devastation, with loss of life added thereto, than “hail and fire mingled with blood 2’” The figure is borrowed from the Old Testament. One of the judgments upon Egypt was thunder, hail and fire; Exod. ix. 21–25. The figures of hail and fire for judgments originated here. See, also, Ezek. xxxviii. 22 : “And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overslowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.” T Third part of trees. — The third part of trees being burnt signified that this was as yet but a partial destruction. This is not the treading of the holy city under foot. That was to be done by the Roman armies; and we have not yet come to that part of the Apocalypse in which the approach of the Roman armies is described. In our judgment, what follows in the chapter before us refers to the tumults among the Jews themselves, which broke out in different places, some in the country, some on the coast, near the sea, and some in the holy city, endangering the very city itself, which was threatened to be destroyed by the quarrels of dif

ferent portions of the Jews, without the aid of the Roman armies. The destruction being described by burning, or overthrow of the forests and herbage, or grass, is drawn also, we think, from the account of the plague of hail in Egypt, Exod. ix. 22, 25. 8. The second angel sounded. — This opens another series of calamities, — another source of woe. T A great mountain burning, with fire. — High mountains and lofty hills denoted kingdoms, republics, states, cities, and proud men that exalt themselves. See how Isaiah describes the fall of the proud and lofty : “For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low ; and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up;” ii. 12–14. Here it is manifest, that by the high mountains and hills were intended those that were proud and lofty. T Cast into the sea. — The figure of throwing down a burning mountain is borrowed from Jer. li. 25: “Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the earth : and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.” See Ezek. xxxviii. 14–23, where the reader will find a train of metaphors very similar to those which occur in the chapter before us. See, also, Amos vii. 4, and Rev. xvi. 3. The burning mountain may well have represented some proud, ambitious, influential and seditious person, claiming to be a CHAPTER WII.

ND after these things 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.

2 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,

3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees,

which we are now to consider. Other matters connected with the general subject are mentioned in subsequent chapters. Christ's judgment, it should be remembered, consisted of two parts, viz., 1st. To destroy the Jews; and 2d. To save the believing and faithful Christians. 1. Four angels. – The description here is altogether scenical. Under chap. v. 2, we have given a classification of the angels mentioned in the Apocalypse; and, by a reference to that, the reader will perceive that the angels mentioned in the verse before us are to be reckoned among the “angels of the elements.” The four angels mentioned above are the angels of the four winds; in Rev. xiv. 18, we read of the “angel who had power over fire;” in xvi. 5, mention is made of the “angel of the waters;” the sun also had its angel; xix. 17. “It seems probable (says Prof. Stuart; in his Scriptural Angelology) that the passage Psa. civ. 4, and Heb. i. 7, ‘Who maketh his angels the winds, and his ministers a flame of fire,' i e., lightning, is to be explained in reference to the views of the Jews as connected with the subject of guardian angels over the elements.” T Holding the four ninds. — After the general view of God's judgments which had been taken in the preceding chapter, the revelator descends to particulars; and the first thing represented by him was the great care exercised by infinite wisdom, that the faithful Christians, who were mixed up with the Jews at the beginning of their calamities, were

not to be hurt; that the judgments were not to be let loose until these were distinguished from the rest, and marked, (so to speak,) that when the judgments took place, they might not be harmed. The winds are the agents of destruction. God controls them. He “gathers the wind in his fists;” Prov. xxx. 4. He sends them forth at his pleasure. The winds in the passage before us are emblematical of the judgments of God. These judgments were to be kept back for a short time. Hence John says, he saw four angels, holding the four winds, that they should not blow, to hurt the earth, until the full time had COrne. 2. Another angel. — This was the angel who was supposed to have the custody of the seal of God. See the classification before referred to. ‘I Four angels. – The same mentioned in the preceding verse. They were commissioned to destroy, but were instructed to withhold for a season. The first angel had the seal of the living God; and he cried unto the four angels, to whom the commission of destruction had been given, to for. bear for a short time. T Ascending from the east. — How natural to those who looked on heaven as a locality, (and this the Hebrews did,) to sup. pose it was situated in the east, the source of light; the place whence the sun, moon, and stars seem to proceed. The angel, with the seal of God, comes as the companion of the heavenly bodies. 3. Till ne have sealed. — Commence not the final destruction upon the land

till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

4 And I heard the number

of them which were sealed :

of Judea, until the servants of God * are sealed or marked for preservation. The Christians, who appeared to be in danger of being involved in the general calamities of the Jews, were wonderfully preserved. There is something similar to this in the ancient history of the Jews. When the first-born of the Egyptians were slain, the houses in which the Israelites dwelt were marked for preservation, and the destroying angel passed by them in mercy; Exod. xii. 21—30. A similar procedure is recorded by Ezekiel, ix. 4: “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof;” i.e., set a mark upon the good men, that they may be saved in the time of the general destruction; see verses 5–11 of same chapter. This is the same figure with the sealing the faithful in the seventh of Revelations. The winds of destruction were not permitted to blow, the work of destruction did not begin, until the faithful were marked for preservation, — “ sealed in their foreheads.” Notwithstanding every arrangement seemed to be made by the Romans for the vigorous prosecution of the siege of Jerusalem, yet it was for some reason delayed, until the faithful Christians had an opportunity of deliverance. God knew those that were his ; and such were not doomed to destruction. This is another instance of the revelator copying his metaphors from the Old Testament. 4. An hundred and forty and four thousand. — The number one hundred and forty-four thousand is of no particular account in the understanding of the passage. By the twelve tribes mentioned in verses 4–8, are intended

and there were sealed a humdred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

– the members of spiritual Israel. If

we look at the 24th chapter of Mat

thew, we shall find that the Son of

man was to send his angels, with the great sound of a trumpet, and they were to gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of

heaven to the other; Matt. xxiv. 31. These elect were saved from the common destruction; Idem, 13, 22.

The famines, pestilences and earthquakes, were the beginning of sorrows; Idem, 8. After these things came other dreadsul occurrences; but from the great woes which fell upon the Jews, the faithful Christians were delivered. They were gathered together from all parts, and were won

derfully preserved from the dangers and woes that fell on the rebellious. As to the number of the Jews who were converted to Christianity, we know it not precisely. And as we have said, it makes no difference what it was, for no set number is intended by the one hundred and forty-four thousand, since in prophecy and parables it is very common to put a certain number for an uncertain one. Compared with the bulk of the nation, the Jewish converts to Christianity were a small part, — a remnant, — though it is probable there were many thousands. Besides such as were converted during the personal ministry of Jesus, we know there were three thousand converted in one day under the preaching of Peter; Acts i. 41. On a certain occasion, after the conversion of Paul, there was a conversation among the brethren at Jerusalem as to the comparative success of their efforts in converting Jews and Gentiles. Paul “declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.” When the brethren

heard these things, “they glorified