Revelation 8:1-6

We now pass down the records of the world's history to the beginning of. new period. In the seventh chapter the prophet has portrayed the four winds as held back from the work of destruction until the servants of God are sealed. That work has now been accomplished. They can be held back no longer, but will now burst upon the world in fury. Their movement and the consequences that follow when they are let forth, are presented in the opening of

THE SEVENTH SEAL.

I quote from the beginning of the eighth chapter:

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And. saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having. 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. And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. 8:1-6.

The Lamb opened the seventh and last seal of the mysterious book. This is not followed by immediate action as in the other seals, but there fell upon heaven and earth an awful silence.. hush is in the heavens for half an hour. It is the calm, before the storm; the hush before the rush of battle; the quiet that precedes and presages the awful play of the stormy elements. Then seven angels appear with seven trumpets in their hands. As there have been seven seals, so now under the last seal there are seven trumpets. The last of these seven trumpets, the seventh trumpet under the seventh seal, will be the trumpet of the great archangel who shall summon the tribes of earth, the sleeping as well as the living nations, to the bar of eternal judgment. The seventh seal will not be completed until the last trumpet contained under that seal is blown.. wish every reader to note particularly that the full period embraced under the seven seals, does not close until the seventh trumpet effects its mission. The trumpet is. warlike instrument used to sound the charge of armies. It is. symbol, therefore, of the rush of hosts of war. We have found that four angels held the four winds; it will be found that four angels with four trumpets stand arrayed first, separated from the remaining three angels, and that these four correspond to four invasions that crushed Rome, the mistress of the world, into final ruin.

Before the awful blast is blown an angel is seen with. golden censer filled with incense to which are added the prayers of all the saints, and "the smoke of the incense from the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angel's hand,". cheering assurance to the Church that, during the terrible scenes through which she should pass, God would hear the prayers of his people and deliver them from every evil. Voices and thunderings, and earthquakes might move the earth, but they would be safe. Then the seven angels prepared to sound. The awful hush before the storm is over. The prayers of the saints are heard.

Before. proceed to explain the meaning of each trumpet, it will be well to give some general idea. It has been found that the symbolism thus far has mostly referred to the history of that great empire which held the Church in its bosom, and was equivalent to the ancient civilized world.. period about the close of the fourth century has been reached, and the forces that shall bring the empire to dissolution are now ready to burst upon it in fury. These are symbolized by the trumpet angels. There are four winds that were held back, represented by four angels, and when these blow their trumpets there move, in succession the four great invasions that bring the old Roman Empire, the Western Empire, with Rome as its capital, to ruin. The date, of the first of these invasions, or rather the sack of the Imperial City, was A. D. 409. The second began earlier, but reached its culmination in A. D. 422, when Rome was. second time pillaged. In the third invasion eight hundred thousand fierce warriors scourged and scathed and blackened all Gaul and Italy until about A. D. 440, and in 476 the last vestige of the imperial power passed away forever.

In the East, however, there remained another Roman Empire, with Constantinople for its capital. There remain three trumpet angels, called the woe angels. Of these, two symbolize the Saracen and the Turkish invasions, which resulted in its overthrow.