This mysterious Volume is not traced with alphabetical characters, but with hieroglyphical symbols. The first symbol is exhibited at the opening of the first Seal, and the second symbol at the second Seal; and each symbol pourtrays in order the state of the Church in that period to which it refers; and so on, in succession, till we are brought, with the opening of the seventh Seal, to the final condition of the Church on earth'.

Here we pause, to remark, that, as was before noticed, the inspired Writer in the very beginning of the Revelation hastens to the end: then he returns, as we have seen, and addresses spiritual admonition, in seven Epistles, to the Universal Church: then he reverts again, and reveals to the Church a rapid view of her own History in seven Pictures, displayed under the seven Seals.

To speak now of these Seals.

At the opening of the first Seal, a voice is heard from one of the four Living Creatures, Come and see. A similar voice from another of the Living Creatures in succession is heard at the opening of the three following Seals, Come and see. This was the invitation by which, as St. John informs us?, Philip invited Nathanael to Christ: Come and see. It indicates that the events revealed are great and wonderful: it consoles the Church with the assurance,

that however she may suffer, the voice of the Gospels will survive; and that all her sufferings will be for her own good, and for Christ's glory; and that, therefore, they are spectacles which the true Christian may rejoice to come and see'.

The first Seal is opened. Behold, a Warrior riding, crowned as a King, mounted on a White Horse, the Horse of Victory, armed with a Bow; and He goes forth conquering, and to conquer.

In the Apocalypse, white is the colour of what appertains to Christ, and to Him alone 2. Thus we read of His hair white as wool. He promises to His faithful followers a white stone:

they will walk with

Him in white. He rides on a white cloud: they follow Him on white horses. His spouse is attired in white. He sits on a great white throne.

The Royal Rider, then, on the White Horse, is CHRIST.

3

The Bow, in His hand, are Apostles, Evangelists, and Teachers, who are Christ's instruments in advancing His kingdom. This is the interpretation of the Holy Spirit Himself by the Prophet Zechariah,

1 Veni, Vidi, Vici, may therefore be his reply.

2 The word evкòs, white, occurs fifteen times in the Apocalypse, and in this book is applied to what appertains to CHRIST, and never to any thing else.

3 See Arethas and Aquinas ad loc. AGNUS vincit cum Arcu Scripturæ.- Haymo: Sagittæ sunt divina Eloquia. Per Equum album debemus intelligere Corpus Dominicum ab omni peccato mundum. See also Vitringa's note.

I have bent Judah for Me, and filled the bow with Ephraim, where Judah and Ephraim represent the true servants of God. Christ bends His bow, when He ordains and sends His Ministers to the spiritual battle, and fills their quiver with the arrows of His Word.

Whatever, then, may be the sufferings of the Church in the following Seals, the Messiah, her Lord, is Invincible. He is most Mighty; as the Psalmist says, He prospereth with His honour; He rides on, because of His Word; and His right hand shall teach Him terrible things. His arrows are very sharp; the people shall be subdued unto Him; His seat endureth for ever 3.

This Rider is identified with CHRIST by one of the later Visions of the Apocalypse. I saw heaven opened, and behold a White Horse; and He that sate upon him was called Faithful and True *.

The first Rider then is CHRIST. He it is Who rides conquering, and in order that He may conquer 3. He Who says to His Church, In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

The colour White, in the Apocalypse, appertains, as we have said, to Christ. Whatever then is con

1 Zech. ix. 13. ἐνέτεινά σε, Ἰούδα, ἐμαυτῷ, εἰς τόξον ἔπλησα τὸν Ἐφραίμ, against τὰ τέκνα τῶν Ἑλλήνων, i. e. against gentile foes.

2 See also Habakkuk iii. 8, 9.

3 Psalm xlv. 4-6.

4 Rev. xix. 11.

5iva viknon, “in order that He may conquer," are the words of the original. 6 John xvi. 33.

trary to white is opposed to Christ. This leads us to the interpretation of the next Seals.

The Second symbol is a Red horse, and his Rider bears a sword; not a barbarian falchion, but an imperial sword'. This Sword, as St. Paul teaches us, is the emblem of Civil Power: He beareth not the Sword in vain 2. This Seal then, with its red horse and drawn sword, prefigures Satan^, shedding the blood of Christians by the sword of the Pagan Emperors of Rome, specially from Decius to Diocletian; that is, from A.D. 249 to A.D. 303.

The Third Seal displays a Black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand; and I heard a voice in the midst of the four Living Creatures say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and wine.

This symbol must be understood in a spiritual sense. It relates not to secular markets, but to

1 μάχαιρα, not ῥομφαία.

2 Rom. xiii. 4. οὐκ εἰκῆ τὴν μάχαιραν φορεῖ.

3 Cp. Zech. i. 7-17. Hengstenberg Christologie, § 501.

4 Haymo ad loc. per Domitianum et cæteros; and Joachim, p. 114 (reverse), Equus rufus est Romanorum exercitus. In sessore isto intelligendi sunt Romani Imperatores. Quantum vero sanctorum sanguinem Romani effuderunt Imperatores Diocletianus maxime et Maximianus! See Lactantius de Morte Persecutorum, c. 7-24. Euseb. libb. viii-x.

5 Cf. Rom. viii. 36. Psalm xliv. 22.

6 See Arethas in Cramer's Catena, p. 268, who has well expounded it.

the bread of life, and to the meat that perisheth not'.

To interpret it of natural wheat and barley is to fall into the error of the Disciples, who, when our Lord told them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, thought that He spoke of the leaven of bread 2.

The horseman, we see, is on a black horse: he is therefore opposed to Christ, Whose Horse is white. Here Satan holds in his hand-not a Sword, as the preceding Rider on the red horse-but a Balance, the emblem of Justice. While, therefore, he practises Wrong, he professes Right. The figure is derived from the Prophet Hosea: The Balances of deceit are in his hands; he loveth to oppress. But, in order that no one may be deceived by his aspect and gesture, a Voice is heard from the four Living Creatures beneath the Throne of God—that is, from the four Evangelists-proclaiming, A measure of wheat for a penny (or denarius), and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the corn and wine.

To understand this warning Voice, we must remember that the penny, or denarius, was a day's wages; and that the measure here mentioned is the

1 John vi. 27. 35.

2 Matth. xvi. 6. 12.

3 Auctor anon. ap. S. August. ad loc. well says: "Habet stateram in manu; quia dum fingit se justitiam tenere, per simulationem lædit." 4 Hosea xii. 7.

5 See above, Lecture IV.-Aquinas ad loc. Concors doctrina Iv Evangeliorum: Ex hoc patet quod recurrendum est ad doctrinam sacræ paginæ in adversis temporibus.

The symbol is Xμoû deîyμa, says Arethas. A soldier's daily pay