This is necessary to be remembered, lest our mind's eye should not be open to the signs of our Lord's coming, and so its signs should be no signs to us; and lest we should look for other signs than the true ones; and then that day should come upon us unawares1. It will so come on the World. Upon the World it will come as a Thief in the night2; but we are to take heed, lest that day should overtake us as a thiefs.

In another respect also St. Peter's interpretation is very important.

It puts into our hands a divine key for the unlocking of these prophecies. This key is divine: but with us it is in human hands, and must be used with great care, and under divine guidance.

By this I mean, that we ought not to assign to any passage of Scripture a spiritual meaning, which is not authorized either directly by Scripture, or by way of rational induction from Scripture. We must use the key, and use it aright. If we take these prophecies in a literal sense, we do not use the key if we give them a spiritual sense, unauthorized by Scripture, we use it amiss.

Let us now return to the Sixth Seal.

1 Luke xxi. 34.

2 1 Thess. v. 2. 2 Pet. iii. 10. Rev. iii. 3. xvi. 15. 31 Thess. v. 4.

4 See Waterland's Scripture Vindicated, Works, vi. pp. 18—20. Jones on the Figurative Language of Holy Scripture; Theol. Works, iii. 1-191.

Here we enter the domain of unfulfilled prophecy, and must tread with caution.

A great Earthquake ensues. This Earthquake is described hereafter more fully under the Sixth Trumpet', and again under the Seventh Vial2: and thus, if we may so speak, it serves to connect all these together. Like other words and phrases in this Book, which are ministerial to the same purpose, it rivets events together where they are contemporaneous, and thus enables us to fix the chronology of the Apocalypse*.

The Earthquake having been announced in the Sixth Seal, a great convulsion 5 takes place. The Sun becomes like sackcloth; the whole Moon as blood; that is, the light of Christ is obscured, and the

1 Or Second Woe. Rev. xi. 13. See "Harmony," pp. 12, 13. 2 Rev. xvi. 17-21.

3 As a catchword.-These catchwords are marked by a particular type (called Clarendon) in the " Harmony of the Apocalypse."

4 Cp. Vitringa, p. 738, who has observed this synchronism of some of the events of the Sixth Seal and the Seventh Vial. Let the reader peruse Rev. vi. 12—17, and xvi. 17-21, and he will see the grounds of this opinion.

5 Victorinus ad loc. Ipsa est persecutio novissima,—to be followed by the extinction of all Antichristian Powers. So Arethas, pp. 277,278, Cramer, and Aquinas, ad cap. vi. Hæc est persecutio tempore Antichristi.

6 Haymo and Aquinas ad loc. Christus lux hominum et angelorum factus est obscurus, non in se, sed in omnibus quibus claritas ejus est occulta tempore Antichristi non apparebit magnificentia Christi. Saccus est signum vilitatis. The Two Witnesses prophesy in sackcloth, at the same time. Rev. xi. 3.-The comments of Aquinas on the whole of this passage are very striking. Pages 172–175. ed. 1549.

Church-symbolized by the Moon, as deriving her light from Christ, the Sun of Righteousness-will almost seem to be eclipsed. The Stars fall to earth, as the fig-tree casteth its green figs when tossed by the wind1; that is, many eminent Teachers in the Church -shining brightly in her firmament-but enduring only for a time, not being ripened by grace, will fall from the faith. The unfolded volume of the heavens of the Church, once bespangled with constellations, is rolled up as a scroll, and can now hardly be read. Mountains are moved; Islands are sunk; Kings and Rulers of the Earth hide themselves in caverns; that is, in a spirit of desperate infatuation they take refuge in the dens of worldly policy, and like the Kings flying from Joshua to Makkedah, they cry to the mountains and rocks of the Earth, Fall on us, and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb; for the Great Day of His wrath is come, and who can stand3?

Such is the description of the great civil and ecclesiastical Earthquake and Storm, which, in another part of this divine Prophecy, is called the conflict of ARMAGEDDON, and which, as appears from other parts of the Apocalypse, will change the aspect of things

1 Isa. xxxiv. 4.

4

2 Mark iv. 17.

3 Rev. vi. 12. 17. Cf. Isa. ii. 10. 19. Jer. iv. 29. Dan. iii. 24. iv. 33. Hos. x. 8. Luke xxiii, 30. See

Harmony," pp. 12, 13.

4 The following is the comment of Bede on the Sixth Seal :—

Et vidi cum aperuisset sigillum sextum, &c.] Sexto sigillo patefacto novissima persecutio nuntiatur, et sicut Domino sexta feria crucifixo, mundum tenebris et pavore concuti.

Et sol factus est niger tanquam saccus.]

Tanquam Christi vel operta

in this world, and terminate at length with the total destruction of the foes of Christ.

Immediately after it, four Angels appear, who hold the four winds of heaven, and are commanded not to loose their blasts, till the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads'. Here is another sentence which serves to connect the Sixth Seal with the Sixth Trumpet, when, as we shall see hereafter, these Angels again appear, and are then loosed. The Saints of God are now gathered from the four winds of heaven for the final consummation of all things. The number of the elect is now complete. It is described as twelve times twelve thousand, a number expressing the fulness of the Apostolic Church3. All who hold the faith, and keep the commandments,

potentia, vel doctrina temporaliter obscurata, vel a defensione sit velata, cum ministri Antichristi in servos Christi grassari sinuntur.

Et luna tota facta est sicut sanguis.] Ecclesia solito amplius pro Christo sanguinem fundet. Tota autem dixit, quia in toto orbe erit novissimus terræ-motus.

Et stella ceciderunt super terram, &c.] Qui cœlestes in ecclesia specie tenus fulgent, vento novissimæ persecutionis impulsi terreni fuisse probabuntur. Quorum bene opera grossis, immaturis videlicet et inutilibus et caducis fici fructibus, comparantur.

Et cœlum recessit sicut liber involutus.] Sicut liber involutus mysteria quidem intus, sed foris non apparentia continet, sic et tunc ecclesia suis tantum cognita, persecutionem discrete vitans recedet, et ut ab extraneis abdita non videatur.

1 Rev. vii. 1.

2 Rev. ix. 13. 15.

3 Berengaud. ad loc. Duodecies duodeni fiunt centum quadraginta quatuor. Omnes igitur qui fidem duodecim Apostolorum custodiunt actusque imitantur in hoc numero consistunt.-See also Aquin. in loc. Omnes electi usque ad finem mundi.

delivered by Jesus Christ to His Twelve Apostles, are inhabitants of the Heavenly City, which is Twelve thousand furlongs square; and its walls are Twelve times Twelve cubits high; and it has Twelve Gates, which are inscribed with the names of the Twelve Tribes, and Twelve foundations, and on them the names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb'. In the passage before us, all these faithful Christians are represented as coming from every Nation and Tribe and Tongue; and though their number had before been specified as definite, (as Twelve Times Twelve Thousand, a Thousand from each of Twelve Tribes, one hundred and forty-four thousand,) yet, since it represents the Apostolic Church of every age and clime, which consists of the true seed of Abraham and David, the Israelites indeed, those who are Jews inwardly, the true citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all, and in order that no one may suppose that this number is to be understood literally, as if the elect were limited to so small a body as twelve times twelve thousand, it is now described as a great multitude, which no man can number 2; and they have come forth from great Tribu

1 Rev. xxi. 14. 17.

2 Some modern Expositors have imagined that the 144,000 are different from the innumerable company; but the ancient Interpreters rightly perceived their identity. Berengaudus in loc. says: Per turbam quæ numero comprehenditur, electi designantur, et, quia multi sunt vocati, pauci electi, (Matt. xx. 16,) non immerito numero designantur. In cœlesti verò beatitudine ubi singulis temporibus ex omnibus gentibus congregantur, tanta efficitur multitudo, ut nullo numero comprehendi