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"knoweth them that are his*." Under the Law of Moses, circumcision is represented to be the seal which separated the people of God from "the hea"then who did not call upon his name t." And, in this sense the sacrament of baptism, succeeding to circumcision, was called by the fathers of the Church, the Seal of God: but in the Gospel, this divine seal is more accurately described to be the Holy Spirit of God. They who have this Spirit, are marked as His §. Our Lord Jesus Christ is represented as possessing eminently this mark . Generally, all who name the name of Christ, and depart from 'iniquity," are said to be thus divinely sealed ¶. By the seal of God, then, is signified that impression of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of man, which preserves in it the principles of pure faith, producing fruits of piety and virtue. This is the seal which marks the Christian, as the property of the Almighty, and consequently under his providential protection.

Ver. 3. Until we shall have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads.] The sweeping destruction, by the winds of heaven, which is to level every thing in this world in one common devastation, is withholden by Divine command, until the servants of God shall be so marked by his Holy Spirit, as to be separated and saved apart from those whom he now consigns to punishment. The sealed mark is said to be impressed upon the forehead; because on this con

+ Rom. iv. 11.

* 2 Tim. ii. 19. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. iii. c. 23.-See many more instances of this, produced by Grabe, in his notes to the Spicilegium, sect. i. p. 331.

§ 2 Cor. i. 22. Eph. i. 13. iv. 30.

2 Tim. ii. 19.

1

|| John vi. 27.

spicuous

spicuous part of the person, distinguishing ornaments were worn by the eastern nations. Slaves also were marked upon their foreheads, as the property of their masters. But the passage will receive more particular illustration, by a comparison with the ninth chapter of Ezekiel, which, foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem, represents the ministers of Divine vengeance prepared to strike; when another angel is commanded to mark on the forehead the servants of God, who are to be saved from the calamity. This prophecy of Ezekiel was fulfilled at the taking of the city by the Chaldeans, when "a remnant was saved,” and many of the righteous Jews, as Daniel and his companions, were promoted to honour. And again it was fulfilled at the final overthrow of Jerusalem by the Romans; when the Christians, forewarned by their Saviour, retired to Pella, and were saved §. But a more universal accomplishment still awaits this prophecy, when, together with those of Is. xiii. xxvi. Zeph. ii. 3. Mic. vii. Hab. i. Mal. iv. Matt. xxiv. 2 Thess. i. 7. 10. 2 Pet. iii. 10, and this of the sixth seal, it shall receive its final completion, in the last days of vengeance, previous to the destruction of this globe. Of the manner in which the sealed of God shall be delivered in that day, we can speak no farther than the assurances of other passages of ScripSaint Paul assures us, that, in the great day of the Lord, the pious Christians then

ture seem to warrant.

* Gen. xxiv. 22. marg. note; which seems to be the true readEzek. xvi, 12. Deut, vi. 8. 2 Esd. ii. 38. Mede's Works, p. 511. Jortin on Eccl. Hist.

ing. Exod. xxviii. 38.

+ Grotius, in loc.

iii. 219. iv. 371.

✰ Matt. xxiv,

§ Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. iii. c. 5,

*

alive, shall be caught up to the Lord by a glorious deliverance; which seems to accord with that described in the prophecy now before us.

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Ver. 4. One-hundred-and-forty-four thousand were sealed out of all the tribes of the sons of Israel.] On this passage I remark, first, that, according to the Gospel, "Salvation is to the Jew first, then also to "the Gentile t." And we are instructed, that "God "hath not cast away his people;" that, though "blindness in part has happened unto Israel," yet, "after the fulness of the Gentiles is come in, all Is"rael shall be saved t." Now, as the prophecy which engages our present attention, is of the last times, the times immediately preceding the great day of the Lord; so the Jews will by that time, if ever, be restored to the Church §. This body of the sealed. may therefore be, literally, of the tribes of Israel. Or, secondly, the Israel here may be, under the New Testament, the purer Gentile Church, called also in Scripture,. the Israel of God;" of which the ancient Israel is the original root ¶; on which root the Gentile Church being engrafted**, receives for a time the name, the privileges, and the honours of that rejected people, being now the "chosen peo"ple," the "holy nation," "the temple of the Liv'ing God tt." Such is the language of Scripture in general, applying the name and privileges of Israel to the Christian Church; such it will be seen also in

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* 1 Thess, iv. 7. Rom. xi. 25, 26,

† Rom. i. 16. ii. 9, 10. Matt. xv. 24.

§ Rom. xi. 15—36.

Rom. xii. 17. 22.

Gal. vi, 16. Phil. iii. 5. Col. ii. 11.

**Rom. xi. 18, 19.

tt Tit. ii. 14, Heb. viii. 10. 1 Pet, ii. 6-11.

this book of Revelation *. In chapter xiv, the hundredand-forty-four thousand, having the name of the Father and of the Son on their foreheads, appear again in the train of their Lord, and are expressly said to be "redeemed from among men, a first fruit to God "and to the Lamb." There seems no expression here sufficient to determine whether the 144,000 be lineal or adopted Israelites. The word "first fruit," may be thought to favour the former interpretation, because the first converts to Christianity were certainly Israelites; and Saint James, writing his Epistle to the twelve tribes, calls them, together with himself (a lineal Israelite) "a kind of first fruit of God's crea"tures t." But concerning the interpretation of an unaccomplished prophecy, we must not be positive;

it may

be fulfilled in either way; or in a way which

we cannot at present conceive.

Thirdly; the number of the sealed, whether they be original Israelites or not, expresses fulness and perfection, having been observed to amount to a multiplication of the complete square root of the number of the tribes, or perhaps of the Twelve Apostles, on whom, as a foundation, the Christian Church is said to be erected; as will more particularly appear in Rev. xxi. 10. 14.

Fourthly; to the reader, who compares the names of the tribes, and their order, as exhibited in this passage, with parallel places in the Bible, some peculiarities will appear. The chief of which peculiarities are, that the tribe of Dan is omitted, and that of Levi, which, being dispersed among the other tribes for the purposes of ministration, had no allotment in

See ch. ii. 9. and the note.

+ James i. 18.

1 Kings xviii. 31. Luke xxii. 30. Eph. ii. 20.

Canaan,

Canaan, is taken into its place. A reason may be assigned for the re-admission of Levi. This tribe had been excluded, because, separated for the priesthood, it had its provision in another form; but now being to enter on the heavenly Canaan, where there is no temple*; where all are priests to God; there is no longer need of a peculiar priesthood: and therefore this tribe seems properly to resume its ancient station among the brethren. For the omission of Dan, the reason commonly given, is, that this tribe, by its early apostacy, became the common receptacle of idols, and corruptor of the rest ‡ The same cause is assigned for the omission of the name of Ephraïm; the name of Joseph, the father, being here used instead. There appears to have been an ancient notion or tradition in the Church, mentioned in the fourth century by Jerome, Ambrose, and by Gregory Nazianzene, that when Antichrist should come, he should be a Jew, and of the tribe of Dan; which opinion might take its rise, in some degree, from this omission of Dan amongst the sealed; though we may trace it in Irenæus, who seems to have collected this notion principally from Jer. viii. 16.

Ver. 9. Lo! a great multitude, which no one could number, from all nations; &c.] The one-hundred-andforty-four thousand of the sealed, the first fruits to Christ, having led the way, the Gentiles, afterwards converted, follow, are incorporated with them ¶, and are presented before the throne, clothed in white robes, washed pure from their sins **, bearing palmbranches, the signals of joy and festivitytt, and

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