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usual epithet of death."-(Sym. Dic.) Applied to a religion, it must signify a ruinous one in spiritual things, and be the basis of ruin in political.

4. "His name that sat on him was Death." "Death symbolizes a destroyer, as a plague or pestilence."—(Sym. Dic.) As a man has symbolized the polity of a religion, and its distinctive political complexion has been symbolized by a bow and crown, a sword and balances, so, here, the political texture of the polity of this rider is represented by the term death. As Death is a destroyer, he must be, here, the representative of destruction to the existing state of affairs at his appearance. The name Death, and the paleness of his horse, are well adjusted to each other.

5. "And Hell followed with him." The word hell, or hades, signifies the grave of the soul or body. As it follows death, and is symbolic of earthly matters, it must refer to distinctive political effects that would naturally attend a church and soul-destroying religion. This living impersonation of death must symbolize destruction to all other spiritual powers beside itself; and the living personification of hell, or the grave, shows the state of ruin that would ensue.

6. "And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth." This shows that these symbols were to operate on earth, and were human agencies or embodiments of power. "The fourth part of the earth." This is the only place in prophecy, of Rome, that a fourth part of it is mentioned; in all other places a part is expressed by a third. As this power would not rise till very late, it may have reference to the new state of the world after the discovery of America. Before this event, the world consisted of three great parts, Europe, Asia, and Africa, but, on the discovery of America, it was said to consist of four parts. At any rate, it was to be

confined in its operations within one quarter of the earth, or to one continent.

7. "To kill with sword and with hunger, and with: death, and with the beasts of the earth." This great destruction of men could not result but from great political strength; hence, the union of death and hell, in this work, shows the union of a destroying religion with the state, or its collusion with the state.

We now affirm that atheism, or French infidelity, and its polity, associated with France, are represented by the pale horse, by death, and by hell.

Coincidence First.-The fourth seal was the fourth. great era in religions in chronological order; and the infidelity of France was the fourth great spiritual system of doctrine taught after the rise of Christianity. It was called Deism.

Coincidence Second.-This system was to be manifest in the north of the Roman empire; and France was in the west part of the north, and extended its doctrines all along the north of the old empire.

Coincidence Third.-A ruinous and dead religious system was to appear. With this, French infidelity most accurately coincides; for it denied life and immortality, and wrote upon its gateways to the grave,

an eternal sleep."

"Death

Coincidence Fourth.-The polity of this religion, or body of religious or rather irreligious doctrine, was to be destructive of all others within its range. With this, French infidelity corresponds; for it threw down all religions in France and in the countries it could control, and began a crusade against all systems of divinity except its own.

Coincidence Fifth.-The political power was to fo low within the same track as the spiritual; hell was

accompany death. Now, it is notorious that the French revolutionists of 1792 adopted the doctrines of infidelity; and that their political system was based upon infidel doctrines and theory of government, that the reign of terror, and all the great tides of blood of that day, and many since, were the results of this great deadly system of infidel religion. Liberty and equality were deified by the French, and all other gods were proscribed for a time.

Coincidence Sixth.-This system of doctrine and government was to have power to destroy or desolate a fourth part of the earth. Now, the French infidel system threw all Europe into the wildest confusion, and into the fiercest and most desolating wars; death to priests, and religion, and kings, and government, was their well-observed motto. They were fiercer and more destructive than the age of the Goths, or the barbarity of the Vandals. Their power, however, was confined to one fourth part of the earth, or to one continent. They troubled every nation in Europe, and made Europe a fresh graveyard. Their doctrines and their practice might well be called death and hell, from the vengeance they inflicted, and the millions they destroyed and tormented.

Coincidence Seventh.-The destruction of men was to be a political and real one, as is indicated by death, famine, sword, and beasts. In all of these ways, even literally multiplied, thousands upon thousands perished in the great wars instigated by infidel France; but figuratively the destruction was also as great.

As between French infidelity, its philosophic polity, and France and the pale horse, his rider and hell, there is a perfect coincidence; there is in them a fulfillment of the fourth seal.

Paragraph V.

THE FIFTH SEAL-DESTRUCTION OF CHURCHES, AND OPPRESSIONS.

"And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them which were slain for the word of God and the testimony 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 upon them that dwell upon the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest for a little season, until their fellow servants, also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."

This is the most difficult of all the seals to interpret; its locality, however, being fixed chronologically between the French reign of death, or terror, and the sixth seal, which coincides with the taking of the beast, or final destruction of the fourth monarchy by the Christians, we know the period in which to look for its symbolized realities.

1. We first take up the symbolic altar and souls; this symbolizes the gospel body, as we shall show in another place. The souls of the slain did coincide with the worshipers at the altar, in the imagery of the two witnesses; and they must represent church organization as it is represented by the angels of the churches, and the rider on the white horse, &c.

2. The slaying of these souls. Spirits, we have already been informed, represent the doctrines of the church, or the churches themselves; the souls, or spirits will, therefore, here represent the worshipers of God. The slaying will, therefore, represent the disorganization and scattering of the true Christians, and the impossibility of their resurrection, to perform the services of the

altar, or gospel, in their slain condition. The terms can not be understood literally, for it is against all reason to do so; for departed Christian spirits go to the third heaven, and are with Christ; and they are not placed under an altar there, but worship God; and there is no sacrificial altar there, and no complaint of sorrow.

3. They were slain for two things; one was for the word of God, and the other for the testimony which they held. These two things coincide with the principles represented by the two witnesses; that is, for religious and civil liberty; for religion and freedom; the "word of God" being put for the true religion, and "the testimony," representing the civil rights they claimed. Their being under the altar shows that they had become victims to their fidelity, and that they had ceased to be a visible organization. This coincides with the suppression and destruction of all the dissenting churches of true Christians, which had, for a long period, been crushed. by the civil arm, in the dominions of the established church in Europe. Many true Christians have, during many centuries, existed in Europe, but have had their churches overthrown; many of them have been murdered, and others have been obliged to hide their worship from public observation, as if under the very altar of God.

4. They desired vengeance on their destroyers. This shows a struggle for independence, and an appeal to God for help. These struggles have been made, but hitherto, unsuccessfully.

5. They were clothed with white robes. This shows that they and their cause would be held in honor among men somewhere in the world.

6. They were to rest; that is, to cease to struggle, until the set time of the sufferings of their fellow

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