CHAPTER XIII.

THE ANGELS HOLDING THE FOUR WINDS.

Revelations, vii.

The Earth-the Trees-the Winds-the Sea-the time when the Winds begin to blow-Historical illustration.

We now return to the symbolic tempest of chapter vii.

"And 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. 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, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads."1

As the earth is the Roman empire, the symbolic terms to be explained, are the winds, the sea, and the trees.

Trees, in the idiom of prophecy, generally signify individuals or the inhabitants of a country. Thus in the following passage of Ezekiel they are people, "All the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish."

Winds signify wars and invasions of a hostile people. "At that time shall it be said to this people and Jerusalem, a dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people, not to fan, nor to cleanse, even a full wind from those high places shall come unto me." This wind is explained in the next

1 Rev. vii. 2 Ezekiel, xvii. 24; compare Isaiah, ii. 13, x. 19; Mat. iii. 10, vii. 17.

verse to be a hostile invasion. "Behold he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles." And again: 2" Upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them towards all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come. For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies." The invasion of Babylon by the Medes, the Persians, and other nations, is likewise foretold under the figure of a destroying wind. saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up against Babylon and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against Me, a destroying wind; and will send unto Babylon fanners that will fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.”

366 Thus

The sea is the symbol of a multitude of people, or nations. Waters represent, as we are expressly told in the seventeenth chapter of the prophecy, peoples, or nations. "The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." Now as the sea is the gathering together of waters, it will represent an assemblage of nations; and as winds represent wars and hostile invasions, the sea, agitated by the winds, is a people or nations at war among themselves, or impelled on another people with destructive and overwhelming force. This is the meaning of the sea stirred up by the winds, in the propecies of Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel.

The nations which God causes to come up against Tyre, to destroy it, are compared to the waves of the sea, and are called the "deep" "Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. For thus saith the Lord God, when I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee." The destruction of Babylon is thus foretold by Jeremiah:5

1 Jer. iv. 13.

2 Ib., xlix. 36.

4 Ezekiel, xxvi. 3, 19.

3 Ib., li. 1, 2.

5 Jeremiah, 1. 9, 41; li. 11, 27, 42.

"In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord. . . Remove out of the midst of Babylon. For, lo, I will raise, and cause

to come up against Babylon, an assembly of great nations from the north country. Many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth." Then some of the nations, as "The Medes.” The kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz, are mentioned; and their invasion is "a destroying wind,” and they are themselves a "sea." "The sea is come up upon

Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof."

The same symbols, and in the same meaning, are in Daniel's prophecies. "Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove on the great sea, and four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another."

These four, which are four kings, "Arise," says Bishop Newton, "out of a stormy and tempestuous sea," that is, out of the waves and commotions of the world. This is the explanation which is generally given of these symbolical winds and sea. Mede having cited the passage from Daniel, says, "that is, out of the conflict of the nations everywhere fighting together and striving for the dominion and empire, there arose four great kingdoms."

The meaning, then, of the vision,3 may be thus stated: The carth is the Roman empire-the trees its inhabitants—the sea, the outlying barbaric nations beyond the Rhine, the Danube, and Euphrates, &c., at rest or peace with respect to the empire, but on the eve of being fiercely agitated and ready to burst in upon it, like the sea when impelled upon the land by a furious tempest. The tempest itself is symbolically represented as restrained by the four angels, holding the four winds of the earth, till the servants of God are sealed.

The following notes of the time when the winds began to blow, may be collected from the Apocalyptic visions compared with those of Ezekiel. I.-The tempest appears to begin soon after the sealing. For the angels are ready to let the winds

1 Daniel, vii. 2.

2 Diss. on Daniel, vii.

3 Rev. vii. 1.

loose, but, by the command of the angel, they are prevented from doing so till the sealing has been accomplished. II. As Ezekiel's vision of marking the men who sighed and cried for the abominations done in Jerusalem, and of scattering the coals over the city, correspond with the scaling, and the casting of the fire on the earth; and as the time of Ezekiel's visions is the same, or nearly so, it appears probable, that those of St. John are likewise synchronous, or nearly so. III.-The sealing was finished at the end of the half hour, when the angel casts the fire from the altar on the earth. The winds, therefore, were let loose, when, or soon after, the fire was cast on the earth, or when the voices and thunderings began to be heard.

What we are, then, required to prove is: that the barbaric nations which lay beyond the Rhine, the Danube, the Euphrates, &c., girdling the earth like a sea, began to be agitated and impelled on the Roman empire, about the time its internal peace was destroyed by religious quarrels and wars.

The Donatist schism commenced in the year 315, and the Arian controversy, which soon involved the empire in strife and confusion, in 317; and the barbaric nations, who had been quiet for nearly fifty years, renewed their attacks about the same

time.

"The Goths," says Gibbon, "who in the time of Claudius had felt the weight of the Roman arms, respected the power of the empire even in the midst of its intestine divisions. But the strength of that warlike nation was now (A. D. 322) restored by a peace of nearly fifty years; and a new generation had arisen who no longer remembered the misfortunes of ancient days: the Sarmatians of the lake Mæotis followed the Gothic standards either as subjects, or as allies; and their united forces were poured upon the countries of Illyricum. Campona, Margus, and Bononia appear to have been the scene of several memorable battles; and though Constantine encountered a very obstinate resistance, he prevailed at length in the contest, and the Goths were compelled to purchase an ignominious retreat, by restoring the prisoners and booty which they had taken. Nor, was this advantage sufficient to satisfy the indignation of the emperor. He resolved to chastise as well as repulse the insolent barbarians who had dared to invade the territories of Rome. At the head of his legions he passed the Danube, after repairing the bridge

which had been constructed by Trajan, penetrated into the strongest recesses of Dacia; and when he had inflicted a severe revenge, condescended to give peace to the suppliant Goths."

The Gothic war was renewed in 331. The Sarmatians, opoppressed by the Goths, appealed to Constantine; and, as he dreaded the growing power of the Goths, whose empire extended from the Euxine to the confines of Germany, he determined to succour the weaker party. The moment his resolution was known,

"The Goths," says Gibbon, "passed the Danube and spread terror To oppose the inand devastation through the province of Mæsia. road of this destroying host, the aged emperor took the field in person; but on this occasion either his conduct or his fortune betrayed the glory He had which he had acquired in so many foreign and domestic wars. the misfortune of seeing his troops fly before an inconsiderable detachment of the barbarians, who pursued them to the edge of their fortified camp, and obliged him to consult his safety by a precipitate and ignominious retreat. The event of a second and a more successful action retrieved the honour of the Roman arms, and the powers of art and discipline prevailed, after an obstinate contest, over the efforts of irregular valour."

Constantine died in 337, and was succeeded in the east by his son Constantius, who became afterward, by the death of his brother, sole emperor.

"During the long period of the reign of Constantius, (337-360) the provinces of the east were afflicted by the calamities of the Persian war. The irregular incursions of the light troops alternately spread terror and devastation beyond the Tigris and beyond the Euphrates, from the gates of Ctesiphon to those of Antioch; and this active service was performed by the Arabs of the desert. The armies of Rome and Persia encountered each other in nine bloody fields, in all of which Constantius himself commanded in person. The event of the day was most commonly adverse to the Romans. The sincerity of history declares that the Romans were vanquished with a dreadful slaughter (in the battle of Singara, A. D. 348) and that the flying remnant of the legions were exposed to the most intolerable hardships.”2

1 Decline and Fall, xiv., 104; xviii., 348, &c.

2 Ib. xviii., 355, 363, compare c. xxvi.