The Seven Seals

REV. 6:7, 8. "And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 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."

The color of this horse is remarkable. The colors of the white, red, and black horses mentioned in the preceding verses, are natural; but a pale color is unnatural. The original word denotes the "pale or yellowish color," that is seen in blighted or sickly plants. A strange state of things in the professed church must be denoted by this symbol. The rider on this horse is named Death; and Hell (hades the grave) follows with him. The mortality is so great during this period, that it would seem as if "the pale nations of the dead," had come upon earth and were following in the wake of this desolating power. The period during which this seal applies can hardly be mistaken. It must refer to the time in which the Papacy bore its unrebuked, unrestrained, and persecuting rule, commencing about A. D. 538, and extending to the time when the Reformers commenced their work of exposing the corruptions of the papal system.

"And power was given unto them"—him; says the margin; that is, the power personified by Death on the pale horse; namely, the papacy. By the fourth part of the earth is doubtless meant the territory over which this power had jurisdiction; while the terms, sword, hunger, death, or some infliction which causes death, as exposure, torture, etc., and beasts of the earth, are figures denoting the means by which it has put to death its martyrs, fifty millions of whom, according to the lowest estimate, call for vengeance from beneath its bloody altar.

Verses 9-11. "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held; 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? 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 fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."

The events set forth as transpiring under the fifth seal, are the crying of the martyrs for vengeance, and the giving to them of white robes. The questions that at once suggest themselves for solution are, Does this seal cover a period of time? and if so, when is it? Where is the altar under which those souls were seen? What are these souls? and what is their condition? What is meant by their cry for vengeance? What is meant by white robes being given to them? When do they rest for a little season? and, What is signified by their brethren being killed as they were? To all these questions, we believe a satisfactory answer can be returned.

1. The fifth seal covers a period of time.—It seems consistent that this seal, like all the others, should cover a period of time; and the date of its application cannot be mistaken, if the preceding seals have been rightly located. Following the period of the papal persecution, the time covered by this seal would commence when the Reformation began to undermine the Antichristian papal fabric, and restrain the persecuting power of the Romish church.

2. The altar.—This cannot denote any altar in Heaven; as it is evidently the place where these victims had been slain, the altar of sacrifice. On this point, Dr. A. Clarke says, "A symbolical vision was exhibited in which he saw an altar. And under it the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God—martyred for their attachment to Christianity, are represented as being newly slain, as victims to idolatry and superstition. The altar is upon earth, not in Heaven." A confirmation of this view is found in the fact that John is beholding scenes upon the earth. The souls are represented under the altar, just as victims slain upon it would pour out their blood beneath it and fall by its side.

3. The souls under the altar.—This representation is popularly regarded as a strong proof of the doctrine of the disembodied and conscious state of the dead. Here, it is claimed, are souls seen by John in a disembodied state; and they were conscious, and had knowledge of passing events; for they cried for vengeance on their persecutors. This view of the passage is inadmissible, for several reasons: 1st. The popular view places these souls in Heaven; but the altar of sacrifice on which they were slain, and beneath which they were seen, cannot be there. The only altar we read of in Heaven is the altar of incense; but it would not be correct to represent victims just slain as under the altar of incense, as that altar was never devoted to such a use. 2ndly. It would be repugnant to all our ideas of the heavenly state, to represent souls in Heaven shut up under an altar. 3rdly. Can we suppose that the idea of vengeance would reign so supreme in the minds of souls in Heaven as to render them, despite the joy and glory of that ineffable state, dissatisfied and uneasy till vengeance was inflicted upon their enemies? Would they not rather rejoice that persecution raised its hand against them, and thus hastened them into the presence of their Redeemer, at whose right hand there is fullness of joy, and pleasures forevermore? But, further, the popular view which puts these souls in Heaven, puts the wicked at the same time in the lake of fire, writhing in unutterable torment, and in full view of the heavenly host. This, it is claimed, is proved by the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Now these souls, brought to view under the fifth seal, were those who had been slain under the preceding seal, scores of years, and most of them centuries, before. Beyond any question, their persecutors had all passed off the stage of action, and, according to the view under consideration, were suffering all the torments of hell right before their eyes. Yet, as if not satisfied with this, they cry to God, as though he was delaying vengeance on their murderers. What greater vengeance could they want? Or, if their persecutors were still on the earth, they must know that they would, in a few years at most, join the vast multitude daily pouring through the gate of death into the world of woe. There, amiability is put in no better light even by this supposition. One thing, at least, is evident: The popular theory concerning the condition of the dead, righteous and wicked, cannot be correct, or the interpretation usually given to this passage is not correct; for they devour each other.

But it is urged that these souls must be conscious; for they cry to God. This argument would be of weight if there was no such figure of speech as personification. But while there is, it will be proper, on certain conditions, to attribute life, action, and intelligence, to inanimate objects. Thus, the blood of Abel is said to have cried to God from the ground. Gen. 4:9, 10. The stone cried out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber answered it. Hab. 2:11. The hire of the laborers kept back by fraud, cried, and the cry entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Jas. 5:4. So the souls mentioned. in our text could cry, and not thereby be proved to be conscious.

The incongruity of the popular view on this verse is so apparent that Albert Barnes makes the following concession: "We are not to suppose that this literally occurred, and that John actually saw the souls of the martyrs beneath the altars—for the whole representation is symbolical; nor are we to suppose that the injured and the wronged in Heaven, actually pray for vengeance on those who wronged them, or that the redeemed in Heaven will continue to pray with reference to things on the earth; but it may be fairly inferred from this that there will be as real a remembrance of the wrongs of the persecuted, the injured, and the oppressed, as if such a prayer was offered there; and that the oppressor has as much to dread from the divine vengeance as if those whom he has injured should cry in Heaven to the God who hears prayer, and who takes vengeance."—Notes on Rev. 6.

On such passages as this, the reader is misled by the popular definition of the word soul. From that definition, he is led to suppose that this text speaks of an immaterial, invisible, immortal essence in man, which soars into its coveted freedom on the death of its hindrance and clog, the mortal body. No instance of the occurrence of the word in the original Hebrew or Greek will sustain such a definition. It oftenest means life; and is not unfrequently rendered person. It applies to the dead as well as to the living, as may be seen by reference to Gen. 2:7, where the word "living" need not have been expressed were life an inseparable attribute of the soul; and to Num. 19:13, where the Hebrew Concordance reads, "Dead soul." Moreover, these souls pray that their blood may be avenged, an article which the immaterial soul as popularly understood is not supposed to possess. We regard the word souls as here meaning simply the martyrs, those who had been slain, the words "souls of them" being a periphrasis for the whole person. They were represented to John as having been slain upon the altar of papal sacrifice, on this earth, and lying dead beneath it. They certainly were not alive when John saw them under the fifth seal; for he again brings to view the same company, in almost the same language, and assures us that the first time they live after their martyrdom is at the resurrection of the just. Rev. 20:4-6. Lying there, victims of papal blood-thirstiness and oppression, they cried to God for vengeance, in the same manner that Abel's blood cried to him from the ground.

The white robes.—These were given as a partial answer to their cry, "How long, O Lord, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood?" How was it? They had gone down to the grave in the most ignominious manner. Their lives had been misrepresented, their reputations tarnished, their names defamed, their motives maligned, and their graves covered with shame and reproach, as containing the dishonored dust of the most vile and despicable characters. Thus, the church of Rome, which then molded the sentiment of the principal nations of the earth, spared no pains to make her victims an abhorring unto all flesh.

But the Reformation begins to work. It begins to be seen that the church is the corrupt and disreputable party, and those against whom it vents its rage are the good, the pure, and the true. The work goes on among the most enlightened nations, the reputation of the church going down, and that of the martyrs coming up, until the corruptions of the papal abominations are fully exposed, and that huge system of iniquity stands forth before the world in all its naked deformity; while the martyrs are vindicated from all the aspersions under which that Antichristian church had sought to bury them. Then it was seen that they had suffered, not for being vile and criminal, but "for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held." Then their praises were sung, their virtues admired, their fortitude applauded, their names honored, and their memories cherished. White robes were thus given unto every one of them.

The little season.—The cruel work of Romanism did not instantly cease as the light of the Reformation began to dawn. Not a few terrible outbursts of Romish hate and persecution were yet to be felt by the church. Multitudes more were to be punished as heretics and join the great army of martyrs. The full vindication of their cause was to be delayed a little season. And during this time Rome added hundreds of thousands to the vast throng of whose blood she had already become guilty. See Buck's Theological Dictionary, Art. Persecution. But the spirit of persecution was finally restrained, the cause of the martyrs vindicated, and the little season of the fifth seal came to a close.