Revelation 6:1
I heard one — That is, the first. Of the living creatures — Who looks forward toward the east.... [ Continue Reading ]
I heard one — That is, the first. Of the living creatures — Who looks forward toward the east.... [ Continue Reading ]
And I saw, and behold a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow — This colour, and the bow shooting arrows afar off, betoken victory, triumph, prosperity, enlargement of empire, and dominion over many people. Another horseman, indeed, and of quite another kind, appears on a white horse, Revel... [ Continue Reading ]
And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature — Who looked toward the west. Saying, Come — At each seal it was necessary to turn toward that quarter of the world which it more immediately concerned.... [ Continue Reading ]
There went forth another horse that was red — A colour suitable to bloodshed. And to him that sat thereon it was given to take peace from the earth — Vespasian, in the year 75, had dedicated a temple to Peace; but after a time we hear little more of peace. All is full of war and bloodshed, chiefly i... [ Continue Reading ]
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature — Toward the south. Saying, Come. And behold a black horse — A fit emblem of mourning and distress; particularly of black famine, as the ancient poets term it. And he that sat on him had a pair of scales in his hand — When ther... [ Continue Reading ]
And I heard a voice — It seems, from God himself. Saying — To the horseman, "Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther." Let there be a measure of wheat for a penny — The word translated measure, was a Grecian measure, nearly equal to our quart. This was the daily allowance of a slave. The Roman penn... [ Continue Reading ]
I heard the voice of the fourth living creature — Toward the north.... [ Continue Reading ]
And I saw, and behold a pale horse — Suitable to pale death, his rider. And hades — The representative of the state of separate souls. Followeth even with him — The four first seals concern living men. Death therefore is properly introduced. Hades is only occasionally mentioned as a companion of dea... [ Continue Reading ]
And when he opened the fifth seal — As the four former seals, so the three latter, have a close connexion with each other. These all refer to the invisible world; the fifth, to the happy dead, particularly the martyrs; the sixth, to the unhappy; the seventh, to the angels, especially those to whom t... [ Continue Reading ]
And they cried — This cry did not begin now, but under the first Roman persecution. The Romans themselves had already avenged the martyrs slain by the Jews on that whole nation. How long — They knew their blood would be avenged; but not immediately, as is now shown them. O Lord — The Greek word prop... [ Continue Reading ]
And there was given to every one a white robe — An emblem of innocence, joy, and victory, in token of honour and favourable acceptance. And it was said to them — They were told how long. They were not left in that uncertainty. That they should rest — Should cease from crying. They rested from pain b... [ Continue Reading ]
And I saw — This sixth seal seems particularly to point out God's judgment on the wicked departed. St. John saw how the end of the world was even then set before those unhappy spirits. This representation might be made to them, without anything of it being perceived upon earth. The like representati... [ Continue Reading ]
And the stars fell to, or towards, the earth — Yea, and so they surely will, let astronomers fix their magnitude as they please. As a fig tree casteth its untimely figs, when it is shaken by a mighty wind — How sublimely is the violence of that shaking expressed by this comparison!... [ Continue Reading ]
And the heavens departed as a book that is rolled together — When the scripture compares some very great with a little thing, the majesty and omnipotence of God, before whom great things are little, is highly exalted. Every mountain and island — What a mountain is to the land, that an island is to t... [ Continue Reading ]
And the kings of the earth — They who had been so in their day. And the great men and chief captains — The generals and nobles. Hid themselves — So far as in them lay. In the rocks of the mountains — There are also rocks on the plains; but they were rocks on high, which they besought to fall upon th... [ Continue Reading ]
To the mountains and the rocks — Which were tottering already, Revelation 6:12. Hide us from the face of him — Which "is against the ungodly," Psalms 34:16.... [ Continue Reading ]