Church in these words, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Having opened the spiritual phase of this period, we are prepared for the consideration of its civil aspect, given in the opening of THE FOURTH SEAL. 7 And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice Rev. vi. 7, 8. of the fourth beast say, Come and see. : : 8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. This seal being opened, S. John informs us that he heard the voice of the fourth living creature, saying, "Come and see." The fourth living creature was like a flying eagle, which is emblematical of the prophetic ministry. Each of "the living creatures" at the Rev. iv. 7. opening of the three preceding seals is heard to say, "Come and see," but in the opening of this fourth seal, we have the additional words of the voice of the living creature, showing that it is the prophet's ministry here referred to, because prophesying is emphatically a voice. Thus the prophet who was sent to prepare the way of the LORD, said, "I am the Voice of s. Matt. ii one crying in the wilderness." So that as the voice of 23. thunder in the case of the first living creature marked the Apostolic, so this voice marks the Prophetic ministry, and confirms the view we have taken of the order of these emblems. Attention being thus called to the events disclosed under this seal by this ministry, indicates that the time of their fulfilment is during the Papal period, for at T 3; S. John i. the time here referred to, the Emperor Justinian, by a decree of the State, gave to the Bishop of Rome a spiritual supremacy over all the Churches, so that he assumed to be not only the head of the Church upon earth, but the infallible interpreter of God's Holy Word, and revealer of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. This exactly coincides with the spiritual phase, given in the Epistle, one charge brought against the angel of Thyatira being, "Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication." At the time here referred to, men were constrained under the severe penalties of excommunication, to receive the light thus given from her mouth as from GOD. Through the instrumentality of the civil power, this mystery of iniquity assumed to itself the prophetic function, which should have been only exercised by the living ordinances of GOD in His Church, and so foreshadowed the Antichrist who shall exalt himself above all that is called GoD or that is worshipped. The "pale horse" represents the empire in a state of dissolution when compared with its previous prospects. The word used (înños xλwpòs) is significant of the colour which the earth presents when the green grass is burnt up, a livid green, the colour of corruption. The symbol, therefore, is very appropriate, in relation to the appearance of decay which at this time. was manifested in the government of the Roman empire, every vestige of whose imperial rule was being swept away under Justinian. And the name of him that sat on the horse being called Death, shows that at this time the imperial power had become extinct save only in name; death being written, as it were, upon every civil institution, as to the form and power in which they had previously ex- "There were two præfectures before the time of Constantine, who, when he made Constantinople the seat of empire, appointed four: 1st, of the East; 2nd, of Illyricum; 3rd, of Italy; 4th, of Gaul. After the division of the empire into East and West, the first two were under the Eastern emperors, the last two under the Western; but the Western provinces being overrun with barbarians, in the reign of Valentinian III., the two Western præfects ceased to be appointed. Justinian recovered Africa, A.D. 528, and reconstituted that præfecture; and when he soon after drove out the barbarians from Italy, it was placed under the same jurisdiction; and thus, what was originally called the Italian, became now the African præfecture, and being the only one then existing, answers well to the fourth part of the earth." The four forms in which men were destroyed, were "with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth;" that is, with war, the sword being the emblem of that scourge; with famine, of which hunger is the symbol; with tyranny, "death" being the indication of an entire loss or destruction of civil power; and by the lawless oppression of petty rulers, symbolized by "the beasts of the earth." The history of this period affords a true comment on this prophecy. So fearfully desolating were these plagues Morning 549. 13. with which the Roman earth was visited at this time, that it is said no less than one hundred millions of the human race were exterminated during the reign of Justinian. We may also observe, in addition to the above remarks on this prophecy, that this act of the emperor in lifting up the Bishop of Rome into the seat of universal Episcopal supremacy, indicated that there was no longer any power in the State to hold the balances of the sanctuary, or to decide in ecclesiastical matters. This power was from henceforth committed to the Pope, and of this act it may be truly said, that "Death and Hades followed" in its train. For under this supremacy multitudes of people were put to death; and many of the saints of the Most High suffered in the bitterest form the cruelty of man could invent; consigning them first to an ignominious death, and then to the pains of purgatory in the separate or disembodied state. So that these emblems aptly represent the dreadful evils, both spiritual and temporal, which took place during this period. The ecclesiastical phase of this period of Christian history is given us in THE FOURTH TRUMPET. Rev. viii. 12, 12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. 13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound. This trumpet as representing the ecclesiastical phase of this fourth period, commences with great darkness upon the Church, occasioned by the obscuring of the luminaries in the spiritual firmament of heaven. "The third part of the sun, and of the moon, and of the stars was smitten." These emblems represent the ministry of the Church in its threefold aspect of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. The Bishops are for rule and the LORD has ruled by them according to their measure as the Sun of Righteousness. The stars are the chief ministers of particular churches and the Deacons are the heads of the people or church as a body, which is put under the figure of the moon. And this obscuration of these spiritual signs was effected by the lifting up of the Bishop of Rome to be the sole judge in ecclesiastical matters.” The LORD JESUS, as the Sun of Righteousness, is the fountain and source of every blessing. Of His fulness the Church re- Eph. iv. ceived at the beginning through Apostles and a fourfold ministry. When however the Church came into spiritual captivity to the civil ruler, and, in the place of those four ministries acknowledged only the three orders of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons; as there was an evident departure from the original constitution of the Church, so failure and disappointment were continually the result. But when the Bishop of Rome was lifted up out of his place and assumed those attributes which belong unto CHRIST alone, and which can be only legitimately exercised through His true and proper ministries, the light of the Church necessarily became more obscured: and the life of GOD which flowed through the ordinances of Bishop, Priest, and Deacon, according to their measure, became more oppressed. And as all ministry in the Church was divided into these three parts, there was an obscura |