The Revelation Explained Part 6

4. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

The symbol of this seal is that of a rider going forth on a red horse armed with a great sword with which to take peace from the earth and to kill. It is drawn from the same source as that of the preceding one, but differing greatly in the character of the horseman and the object of his mission. The symbol is one of great dignity--a living, intelligent agent--drawn from civil and military life. For the same reason as given before, we must go out of the department of civil life into the history of religious affairs to find its fulfilment.

Notice, also, the peculiar characteristics of this horseman and wherein he differs from that of the first seal. The color of the horse is red, denoting something very different from the peace, purity, and benignity of the white. Instead of gaining glorious spiritual conquests and triumphs, like him of the first seal, he was to take peace from the earth. In the place of a victor's crown, he possesses "a great sword"

with which to kill, denoting an agent of great destruction.

Where shall we look in the history of religious affairs to find the object that meets the requirements of this symbol? Who were the active, intelligent agents that appeared as the great opposers of the establishment of Christianity by the rider of the white horse? We find the answer undoubtedly in the propagators of the _Pagan religions_. As soon as Christianity began to gain a foothold in the Roman Empire, the priests and supporters of Paganism were exasperated to the last degree, and they determined to crush out the Christian religion. An example of Pagan opposition is found in the nineteenth chapter of Acts, where it is recorded that the preaching of the gospel so stirred the people of Ephesus that they were filled with wrath and for the s.p.a.ce of about two hours cried out, saying, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" This great conflict between Christianity and Paganism will be more fully described under other symbols in a subsequent chapter, therefore I will make this description brief.

The destruction of life brought about by this rider of the red horse doubtless signifies the great slaughter of the Christians at the hands of the Pagans. During ten seasons of severe persecution, which occurred under the reigns of the emperors Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, Septimus Severus, Maximus, Decius, Gallus, Valerian, and Diocletian, the Christians suffered every indignity that their relentless persecutors could heap upon them. They had their eyes burned out with red-hot irons; they were dragged about with ropes until life was extinct; they were beheaded, stoned to death, crucified, thrown to wild beasts, burned at the stake; yet "they overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." Chap. 12:11.

It may appear at first that taking the rider of the horse as a symbolic agent but the killing which he effected as literal, is an inconsistency and a variation from the laws of symbolic language; but such is not necessarily the case. One principle laid down in the beginning was, that the description of an object or event must necessarily be literal when no symbolic object could be found to a.n.a.lagously represent it. The destruction of human life could not well be represented symbolically, there being no destruction a.n.a.lagous to it whose meaning would be obvious; hence it must appear as a literal description. This is proved by many texts in the Revelation that will admit of no other application; such as verses 9-11 of this chapter; chapter 13:10; 17:6; etc.

But the literal destruction of life may be chosen as a symbol to represent a destruction to which it is plainly a.n.a.lagous; such as the destruction of spiritual life, the overthrow of the civil or ecclesiastical inst.i.tutions of society, etc. That it is sometimes employed thus as a symbol will be shown clearly in subsequent chapters.

Hence, in every instance where killing men is the work of a symbolic agent, the context, or general series of events with which it is connected, must determine whether the literal or symbolical signification is intended. In the present prophecy under consideration it is much more consistent to give it the literal application; for the devotees of Paganism did not destroy the spiritual life of the church, which would be an a.n.a.lagous killing; neither did they succeed in overthrowing the structure of Christianity.

5. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

6. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

This symbol is also that of a horseman, differing from the preceding ones only in his characteristics. He is seated upon a black horse, denoting something dark or appalling in its nature, the very opposite of that of the first seal. He possesses no bow nor crown, but instead he has a pair of balances in his hand for weighing food. This he deals out only at exorbitant prices--"a measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny." The penny, or denarius, is equal to about fifteen cents of our money, and was the ordinary wages of a day laborer. In the parable of our Lord recorded in Mat. 20, the householder is represented as hiring laborers for a penny a day to labor in his vineyard. The measure, or _choenix_, of wheat was the usual daily allowance of food for a man. So according to the rate given, it would require a day's labor to supply food sufficient for one man, which shows an enormous price placed upon these necessaries of life. In ordinary times the penny would procure about twenty measures of wheat instead of one, and fifty or sixty measures of barley instead of three. Surely this represents famine prices.

The expression "see thou hurt not the oil and the wine" seems to have some direct connection with the exorbitant schedule of food rates. The following facts of history, as recorded by Lord, will serve to make the matter clear: "The taxes required in the Roman empire, to sustain the court and civil service, the army and desolating wars, and the hungry brood of office-holders, as well as to provide largesses to the soldiers, were excessive in the extreme, so as to prove an almost insupportable burden to the people. The ordinary and economical expenses of the government were great; but when we take into view that during a period of seventy-two years previous to Diocletian, there were twenty-six individuals who held the imperial crown, besides a great number of unsuccessful aspirants, and that each of these must secure the favor of the army and the people by large donations of money, we may well conceive that the taxes and exactions laid to raise the needed amount must have proved a crushing burden. They were so great as sometimes to strip men of their wealth and reduce them to poverty. These were laid upon everything that could be brought into service. Nothing was too insignificant to escape.... The taxes might be paid in money, or in produce, grain, fruit, oil, or whatever else it might be;... The exactions were so excessive that the people were led to avoid them in every possible mode, as men always will under such circ.u.mstances." Once in fifteen years, a Roman indiction, an a.s.sessor would go round to levy upon the products of the soil, and the a.s.sessment was made according to the amount of the yield. One method adopted to secure a lower a.s.sessment at this time was that of mutilating their fruit trees and vines. We find among the Roman laws severe enactments against such as "feign poverty, or cut a vine, or stint the fruit of a tree" in order to avoid a fair valuation, and the penalty attached was the death of the offender and the confiscation of all his property. The fact that this law existed shows that the offense was committed and also that the exactions of the government must have been of the most oppressive kind.

With these facts before us it is easy to discern the nature of the symbol, being that of a Roman magistrate prepared to enforce his severe exactions upon the people at the exorbitant rate of three measures of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny, accompanied by the solemn injunction, "See thou hurt not the oil and the wine," that is, the olive-trees and the vines.

It is evident that we must, as before, go out of the department of civil and military life into the realm of ecclesiastical history to find the true fulfilment of this symbol. The black color of the horse would denote something directly opposite to that of the first seal; and since the symbol of the first seal represented the establishment of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, this symbol must represent the great apostasy and spiritual darkness that covered the world at a later period. And if the horseman of the first seal represented the chosen ministry who went forth in a glorious mission to win trophies of grace, the horseman of this seal must represent _an apostate ministry_, possessing power and authority to enforce the severest exactions upon the bread of life, thus producing a desolating spiritual famine.

This marvelous change from the humble apostolic ministry to an apostate one did not occur suddenly, but by degrees; and as it has a great bearing upon other lines of truth to be brought out in subsequent chapters, it will be profitable to consider the most important steps by which this transformation was effected.

When the desire for precedence or superiority first manifested itself among the disciples, Christ repressed it (Mat. 20:25, 26), and it appeared no more in their midst; but before the close of the first century it is evident that a thirst for preeminence existed in the hearts of some who had been the servants of the church. An example of this is to be found in Diotrephes, who exalted himself above his ministerial a.s.sociates. The Apostle John says concerning him: "I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church." 3 John 9, 10.

In the historical extracts given in the explanation of the first horseman, it is clear that the first ministers were all equal; but a time came about the close of the first century when the most influential among the clergy grasped the power and exalted themselves to a position of authority over the rest. The manner in which this transformation was effected is explained by the learned Gieseler as follows: "After the death of the apostles, and the pupils of the apostles, to whom the general direction of the churches had always been conceded, some one amongst the presbyters of each church was suffered gradually to take the lead in its affairs. In the same irregular way the t.i.tle of _bishop_ was appropriated to the first presbyter." Eccl. Hist., Vol. I, p. 65. In the days when the apostles were active in the affairs of the church there were but two cla.s.ses in the ministry--elders, or bishops, and deacons; but when one of the presbyters was exalted to a higher position than the rest and a.s.sumed to himself the exclusive use of the word bishop, there were three cla.s.ses. To quote the words of Geo. P. Fisher: "After we cross the limit of the first century we find that with each board of elders there is a person to whom the name of bishop is specially applied, although, for a long time, he is likewise often called a presbyter. In other words, in the room of a two-fold, we have a three-fold ministry." Hist. of the Christian Church, p. 51.

The height to which the single bishop of authority in a church had been exalted is well ill.u.s.trated in the Ignatian Epistles. Ignatius was bishop of Antioch and was condemned by the emperor Trajan to suffer death by being thrown to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre in Rome.

His execution in this manner took place Dec. 20, A.D. 107. He wrote a number of epistles, a few extracts from which I will give. "Wherefore it is fitting that ye should run together in accordance with the will of your bishop, which thing also ye do. For your justly renowned presbytery, worthy of G.o.d, is fitted as exactly to the bishop as the strings are to the harp." To the Ephesians, Chap. 4. "See that ye all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father.... Let no man do anything connected with the church without the bishop." To the Smyrnaean's, Chap. 8. "It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to G.o.d." Smyrnaean's, Chap. 8. "It is well to reverence both G.o.d and the bishop. He who honors the bishop has been honored of G.o.d; but he who does anything without the knowledge of the bishop, does [in reality] serve the devil." Smyrnaean's, Chap. 9.

The power of these bishops advanced steadily during the second century.

The churches of the cities where they were located extended themselves into the surrounding country and smaller towns, and the presbyters or elders of these inferior churches were presided over by the bishop of their mother church, and in this manner the great system of diocesan episcopacy was developed.[3]

[Footnote 3: The ancient signification of the term _diocese_ must not be confounded with the modern usage of the term. It then designated a territory or district, usually containing a number of minor churches, presided over by one bishop.]

In the latter part of the second century when the disputes concerning Easter and Montanism arose, the custom of diocesan bishops consulting with each other on important doctrines began, and this developed in the third century into regular provincial synods, or councils. On account of the ecclesiastical or political importance of the cities in which they were located, certain bishops had a special deference given them, and they were not slow to take advantage of the opportunity to exalt themselves to the presidency of these councils; and in a very short time they possessed immense power and const.i.tuted entirely a separate order, designated by the term metropolitan.

The manner in which this important step in the great apostasy was taken and the effects produced thereby is well described in the words of the historian Mosheim (referring to events of the third century), from whom I quote: "In process of time, all the Christian churches of a province were formed into one large ecclesiastical body, which, like confederate states, a.s.sembled at certain times, in order to deliberate about the common interests of the whole.... These councils ... _changed the whole face of the church_, and gave it a new form; for by them the ancient privileges of the people were considerably diminished, and the power and authority of the bishops greatly augmented.... At their first appearance in these general councils, they acknowledged that they were no more than the delegates of their respective churches, and that they acted in the name, and by the appointment of their people. But they soon changed this humble tone, imperceptibly extended the limits of their authority, turned their influence into dominion, and their councils into laws; and openly a.s.serted, at length, that Christ had empowered them to prescribe to his people, _authoritative rules of faith and manners_.... The order and decency of these a.s.semblies required that some one of the provincial bishops met in council, should be invested with a _superior_ degree of power and authority; and hence the rights of _metropolitans_ derive their origin."--Church History, Cent. II, Part 2.

When a usurping clergy grasps the power to prescribe "authoritative rules of faith and manners," to employ the words of Mosheim, we may well conceive that the true amount of pure spiritual food was exceedingly small and could be procured only at starvation rates. He who reads the ecclesiastical events of the third century will find it only too true that many of the cardinal virtues of apostolic Christianity were almost lost sight of and that a great spiritual famine existed in the earth over which this dark horseman of the third seal careered. Instead of salvation through the Spirit of G.o.d being carefully taught, baptismal regeneration was exalted, and the people were instructed in the saving virtues of the eucharist. The Platonic idea concerning sin having its seat in the flesh was adopted, and therefore perfect victory or sanctification was made to consist in the mortification of the natural appet.i.tes and desires of the body, with the result that a life of fasting, celibacy, or self-inflicted torture was looked upon as the surest means of obtaining the favor of Heaven. The writings of such eminent church Fathers as Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian and others now lying before me, contain the surest evidences of the woeful extent to which this dark cloud of superst.i.tion and error had settled down over the world during the period of which I write.

7. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice 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 h.e.l.l 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.

The usual interpretation given this horse and its rider is to apply it to the desolating wars and famines that occurred in the Roman Empire.

This view is embodied in the celebrated painting "Death on the Pale Horse," in which death is represented as going forth with war, pestilence, famine, and wild beasts, to ravage the Roman empire. We are informed by historians that dreadful pestilences and famines did prevail and in some places nearly depopulated the country, and that the remaining inhabitants could not make head against the beasts that multiplied in the land. But the fact that such events occurred is not sufficient proof that this symbol has reference to such. Famines and pestilences may have occurred many times without forming a part of the Apocalyptic vision.

The greatest objection to giving this part of the vision such a literal interpretation is, that it fails to bring out its symbolic character. To what, then, does it refer? We have, as before, a horseman, indicating that the agent is one of the same general character, differing mainly in his features and mission. This horse was of a livid, cadaverous hue, denoting an agent of ghastly, terrible nature. The living rider bore the awful name of "Death," or as in the original, "The Death," by way of emphasis. Death literally was not the agent--it is not so stated--but the rider was termed The Death, or The Destroyer, because of his terrible mission; and h.e.l.l followed with him.

Applying the laws of symbolic language as heretofore, it is evident that this symbol represents a great persecuting ecclesiastical power. And with this thought before us, we can scarcely fail to recognize it as a true description of _the Papacy_. The great apostasy, described under the preceding seal, prepared the way for the final and complete establishment of the "man of sin"; but during the period there brought to view the ministers of religion, power-seeking and apostate as they were, were unable to enforce their claims by the power of persecution.

Under the present seal, however, is represented a later stage of their corruption, when a great hierarchal system, sustained and upheld by the arm of civil power, was able to bear tyrannical rule over a great portion of the earth. During this period clerical ambition and usurpation reached its greatest height.

After speaking of the power possessed by the metropolitans, Mosheim says: "The universal church had now the appearance of one vast republic, formed by a combination of a great number of little states. This occasioned the creation of a new order of ecclesiastics, who were appointed in different parts of the world, as _heads_ of the church, and whose office it was to preserve the consistence and union of that immense body, whose members were so widely dispersed throughout the nations. Such was the nature and office of the Patriarchs." Church History, Cent. II, part 2.

Thus, the bishops, or metropolitans, of certain of the most important cities were exalted to a still higher position as special _heads_ of the church. They were termed _Exarchs_ at first, after the t.i.tle of the provincial governors, but afterwards received the more ecclesiastical appellation _Patriarchs_. The term Patriarch had been in use for a long time in the church signifying merely a bishop, irrespective of the dignity he possessed, but it was finally limited to this higher cla.s.s of the clergy, in which sense I now employ it. The cities that first enjoyed this chief distinction were Alexandria, Rome, and Antioch. The general council of Nice (A.D. 325) in its sixth canon recognized the superior authority already possessed by these cities. See D'Aubigne's Hist, of Reformation, Vol. I, p. 41. The general council of Constantinople in its third canon placed the bishop of Constantinople in the same rank with the other three Patriarchs; and the general council of Calcedon exalted the See of Jerusalem to a similar dignity, doubtless because of its ancient importance as the birthplace of Christianity.

Thus, Patriarchs were established in the five political capitals of the Roman empire; and they were considered the "_heads of the church_,"

having spiritual authority over the whole empire. These were the only Patriarchates of importance. Certain ecclesiastics of the Church of Rome even at the present time bear the honorary t.i.tle Patriarch; but, to quote the words of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, "In a strictly technical sense, however, that church recognizes only five Patriarchates, those of Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Rome." Art.

Patriarch. In the years 637 to 640 Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch fell into the hands of the Saracen followers of Mohammed, which terminated their importance, and later the Greek schism separated the Patriarch of Constantinople from Rome; and thus the Patriarch of Rome was left in undisputed possession of the field and was soon recognized as universal head of the church. So under the symbol of this dread rider on a pale horse is portrayed the great hierarchal system by which the Papacy was fully developed in the West.

It is fitting that we notice particularly the agents of destruction employed by this rider. He possesses a sword with which to kill--the same instrument wielded by the rider of the red horse--but it is evident that he uses it with more terrific energy, by reason of which he receives the name Death, or The Destroyer. It is possible, also, that in this case a sword, wielded by the hand of an ecclesiastical power, may be used as a symbol of a spiritual cutting off, or excommunication. The sword of excommunication has been the most terrible ever wielded by human hand. When this pale horseman was careering over the world in the zenith of his power, excommunication and interdiction were the terror of individuals and the scourge of nations. At his word the rights of an individual as king, ruler, husband or father, nay, even as a _man_, were forfeited, and he was shunned like one infected with the leprosy. At his command the offices of religion were suspended in a nation, and its dead lay unburied, until its proud ruler humbled himself at the feet of the ecclesiastical tyrant who bore rule over the "fourth part of the earth."[4]

[Footnote 4: This tyranny of the Popes is well ill.u.s.trated by the quarrel that took place between Hildebrand (Pope Gregory VII.) and Henry IV. of Germany. Gregory attempted to make certain reforms, but Henry refused to recognize those innovations. Gregory excommunicated the emperor, with the result that he was "shunned as a man accursed by Heaven." His authority lost and his kingdom on the point of going to pieces, Henry had but one thing to do--seek the pardon of the Pope. He found the Pontiff at Canoosa, but Gregory refused to admit the penitent to his presence. "It was winter, and for three successive days the king, clothed in sackcloth, stood with bare feet in the snow of the court-yard of the palace, waiting for permission to kneel at the feet of the Pontiff and to receive forgiveness." On the fourth day he was granted admittance to the presence of the Pope.

During the Pontificate of Innocent III. Philip Augustus, king of France, put away his wife. Innocent commanded him to take her back and forced submission by means of an interdict. This submission of a brave, firm, and victorious prince shows the tremendous power wielded by the Popes in that period.

The manner, also, in which Innocent III. humbled King John of England affords another ill.u.s.tration of the power of the Popes. John caused the vacant See of Canterbury to be filled, in accordance with the regular manner of election, by one of his favorites. Innocent declared the appointment void, as he desired that the place should be filled by one of his friends. John refused to allow the Pope's archbishop to enter England as Primate. Innocent then excommunicated John, laid all England under an interdict, and incited Philip, king of France, to war, offering him John's kingdom upon the very liberal condition that he go over and take it. The outcome of the matter was that John was compelled to yield to the power of the Pope. He even gave him England as a perpetual fief, and agreed to pay the Papal See the annual sum of one thousand marks.]

The loss of life by spiritual famine was extreme. The Word of G.o.d, which is spirit and life to G.o.d's people (Jno. 6:63), was laid under interdict and the common people deprived of its benefits. At the time the black horse appeared, a little food could be obtained at famine prices; but when the fourth arrived, he was empowered to kill "with hunger." Also, one of his agents of destruction was death, or pestilence, a fit symbol of false and blasphemous doctrines breathed forth like a deadly pestilence blasting everything within its reach. Invocation of saints, worship of images, relics, celibacy, works of supererogation, indulgences, and purgatory--these were the enforced principles of religion, and like a pest they settled down upon the people everywhere.

This rider also brought into operation "the beasts of the earth" to aid him in his destructive work. To kill with sword or hunger shows that such work of destruction is performed solely by him who has it in his power; but to kill with beasts indicates that _they_ perform the deadly work according _to their own natures_. Nothing is clearer than the fact that wild beasts stand as a symbol of persecuting tyrannical governments; hence we are to understand that this rider was to employ also the arm of civil power to aid him in the deadly work. How strikingly this represents the historical facts of the case! In all truly Roman Catholic countries the civil governments were only a cipher or tool in the hands of the church, and the ecclesiastics were the real rulers of the kingdom. But whenever any dark work of persecution was to be performed, the wild beast was let loose to accomplish the result.

When charged, however, with the b.l.o.o.d.y work, the Catholics always answer, "Oh, we _never persecute_--don't you see, it is the wild beasts that are covered with gore--our hands are clean," yet they themselves held the chain that bound the savage monsters. We shall have occasion in a subsequent chapter to trace further the pathway of this dread rider as he reels onward in the career of ages, "drunken with the blood of the saints."

This work of destruction performed by the dread rider on the pale horse is considered by many as a literal description of the persecutions of the Papacy. While Catholics usually charge the civil powers with this b.l.o.o.d.y work, it is an undeniable fact of history that the Popes often ordered or sanctioned crusades against the Waldenses, Albigenses, and other peoples (see remarks on verses 9-11, chap. 17:6), in which the sword, starvation, and every other means of cruelty imaginable were brought into use to exterminate the so-called heresy. And in view of the fact explained in the comments on verses 3 and 4 of this chapter, that _killing_ is sometimes to be understood in a literal sense on account of there being nothing to a.n.a.lagously represent such destruction of life, it is not a violation of the laws of symbolic language thus to interpret it. It might be consistent in this case to give it a twofold application; the agreeing facts of history regarding the Papacy strongly suggest it. Thus, the _sword_ could signify a literal destruction of life, as in verse 4, and also, in the present case, an ecclesiastical cutting off by the Papacy, or excommunication; and _hunger_ could signify literal death by starvation, and also, as in verses 5 and 6, a destruction of spiritual life, etc.

Where, let me ask, in the whole compa.s.s of human writings can be found a series of events of such thrilling interest, so great in magnitude, as is contained in these eight verses? Who but the Omnipotent could have conceived such a wonderful development of the power of iniquity and with such master-strokes of power compressed them into so small a scene of symbolic imagery? The impress of divinity is here speaking from every line.

9. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of G.o.d, and for the testimony which they held:

10. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

11. And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

Upon the opening of this seal the scene changes entirely. No more hors.e.m.e.n appear, but instead the souls of the martyrs are seen at the altar crying for vindication of their blood upon the cruel oppressors of earth. The question arises, Are these souls symbols of something else, or are they what they are here stated to be, "the souls of them that were slain"? Evidently, the latter, appearing under their own name and character, because they can not properly be symbolized. They were disembodied spirits, and where is there anything of a.n.a.lagous character to represent such? Angels can not; for whenever they are employed as symbols, it is to designate distinguished agencies among men. They therefore appear under their own appropriate t.i.tle as "the _souls_ of them that were slain."

These souls appeared "under the altar," that is, _at the foot of the altar_, being the same as that described in chap. 8:3--"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." Thus, the heavenly world, as opened up before John, appeared symbolized after the sanctuary of the temple in which stood the golden altar, or altar of incense. Some have supposed that the brazen altar was the one referred to, signifying the living sacrifice these souls made of themselves to G.o.d. But there is no altar mentioned in the symbols except the golden altar. Besides, these were not sacrificial victims; for Christ was made a complete sacrifice for sin, while these only suffered martyrdom because of their faithfulness to the cause of Christ. It is much more reasonable to suppose that their interceding cries went up from the golden altar, where the "prayers of all saints" ascended with much incense.

Their prayers to G.o.d for the avenging of their blood shows the expectation on their part that the judgments of Heaven would descend upon the cruel and haughty persecutors and oppressors of earth, and their surprise was that the day of retribution had been so long delayed.

The history of the church as developed under the preceding seals gives particular force to this cry of the martyrs. For nearly three centuries the civil power of Pagan Rome had been employed to crush the cause of G.o.d. During ten terrible seasons of persecution they had been crucified, slain with the sword, sawn asunder, devoured by beasts in the arena, and given to the flames. When Constantine, a nominal Christian emperor, ascended the throne and protected religion by law, it was believed that persecutions must cease; but soon the discovery was made that the sword had only changed hands, there having risen an ecclesiastical hierarchy destined to "glut itself upon the blood of which heathen Rome had only tasted." The world was now made the arena for the terrible coursings of the pale horseman, and the "beasts of the earth" were let loose to fall with savage fury upon their helpless victims, until millions lost their lives at the instigation of the apostate Church of Rome. Is it any wonder that the souls of these martyrs should cry unto G.o.d for the vindication of their righteous blood?

It is said that "white robes were given unto every one of them." By referring to chap. 3:4; 7:9, 13, 14, it will be seen that "white garments" and "white robes" are sometimes used as a symbol to describe a part of the heavenly inheritance. The martyr-spirits, although impatient at the delay of avenging judgment, received a righteous reward. But the period of tribulation to the church was not yet over. The cup of iniquity in the hands of her enemies was not yet full, and they were told to "rest for a little season, until their fellowservants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." The account given seems to indicate an important epoch, a period in which the martyrs had reason to expect the vindication of their righteous blood, but which, instead, was to be followed by another great period of persecution. Considering the time of the events already described in this series of prophecy, we have no difficulty in fixing the chronology of this event at the dividing-point between the era of Papal supremacy and the age of Protestantism--or at the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. Did severe slaughter and persecution follow the Reformation? Witness the reign of Mary Tudor, frequently styled "b.l.o.o.d.y Mary." During three years of her reign, 1555 to 1558, two hundred and eighty-eight were _burnt alive_ in England! Think of the inhuman ma.s.sacre of the innocent Waldenses of southern France by the violent bigot Oppede (1545), who slew eight hundred men in one town, and thrust the women into a barn filled with straw and reduced the whole to ashes--only a sample of his barbarity; or of their oppression in southern Italy by Pope Pius IV. (1560), at whose command they were slain by thousands, the throats of eighty-eight men being cut on one occasion by a single executioner! Witness the horrible ma.s.sacre of St.

Bartholomew in Paris (Aug. 21, 1572), when the Queen dowager, the infamous Catherine de Medici, lured immense numbers of the innocent Hugenots into the city under the pretext of witnessing a marriage between the Hugenot Henry, king of Navarre, and the sister of Charles IX., king of France--when the gates were closed and the work of wholesale slaughter began at a given signal and raged for three days, during which time from six to ten thousand were butchered in Paris alone! Think of the rivers of blood in the Netherlands, where the Duke of Alva boasted that in the short s.p.a.ce of six weeks he had put eighteen thousand to death! Witness the dragoonading methods and other inhuman persecutions to "wear out the saints of the Most High," that followed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) by Louis XIV., king of France, during whose reign three hundred thousand were brutally butchered--while Pope Innocent XI. extolled the king by special letter as follows: "The Catholic church shall most a.s.suredly record in her sacred annals a _work of such devotion toward her_, and CELEBRATE YOUR NAME WITH NEVER-DYING PRAISES ... for _this most excellent undertaking_"!! My heart sickens with horror in the contemplation of such events. Eternal G.o.d! can thy righteous eye behold such heart-rending scenes of earth, and thy hand of power not be extended to humble to the dust these cruel, haughty oppressors of thy people?