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thousand in the fourteenth chapter, having the name of the Father written on their foreheads, (which is the same as their being sealed with the seal of the living God) to denote the true persecuted and suffering Christian church, which, throughout the reign of the dragon, the beast and false prophet, refuses to worship the image, and receive the mark of the beast.

Now it is evident, that if the sixth seal refers to the mighty revolution, which is to usher in the great day of the Lord; and if the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand does not take place till the period of the sixth seal, then the vision of the fourteenth chapter, which exhibits them to us as already sealed, cannot relate to a time which is prior to the opening of the sixth seal, i. e. to the time when they were sealed. The contrary supposition includes in it a positive contradiction. It makes the one hundred and forty-four thousand to be sealed, and not sealed, at one and the same time. As I have followed Archdeacon Woodhouse in his interpretation of the great earthquake of the sixth seal, and of the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand in the seventh chapter, I must also, in consistency with that interpretation, refer the vision of the Lamb with the one hundred and forty-four thousand on Mount Sion, to the period of the sixth seal, and of the seventh trumpet and seven vials, which are synchronical with that seal.

In effect, the description given in the passage before us, of the state of these followers of the Lamb, does not at all agree with the condition of the church during the reign of the beast.

At that time the church is symbolized by two witnesses clothed in sackcloth, the garb of mourning. She is also represented as being fled into a secret retreat in the wilderness, where she is concealed from the face of the serpent that seeks to destroy her. On the contrary, the one hundred and fortyfour thousand, in this passage, stand upon Mount Sion, a station of the most conspicuous elevation, and the most opposite to a state of concealment in the wilderness which can well be imagined. The voices heard by the apostle from heaven, like the noise of many waters, and of thunder, and the voice of harpers playing on their harps, are also the emblems of triumphant songs of thanksgiving, which it were quite incongruous to suppose applicable to the condition of the depressed church in the wilderness before the reformation. There is mention made of voices in heaven, in three other passages of this mysterious book, but they are all indicative of the triumphs of the church. The first place, in the order of chronology, is on the fall of Satan from heaven to the earth, and the victory of Michael ; the second is at the sounding of the seventh trumpet; the third is on the destruction of Babylon.‡ Now to suppose the same voices to mark a condition of the deepest depression, and one of the most exalted triumph, is to introduce contradiction and confusion into the symbolical style.

This passage then is to be considered as belonging to the sixth seal, and as immediately connected with the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand in the seventh chapter, according to the

Rey. xiii. 10.

+ Rev. xi. 15.

Rev. xix. 1. 6.

excellent rule laid down by Mr. Fraser, whereby we are to discover the connecting links between the different visions. In considering the seventh chapter, I endeavoured to prove that sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, indicated the security and final salvation of the true church during the awful convulsions of the great earthquake. Their appearance with the Lamb on Mount Sion in the. present vision, is emblematical of the triumphant attitude assumed by the true spiritual church, in the days of the seventh trumpet and seven vials, to which the whole of the chapter we are now considering belongs. These followers of the Lamb are represented to us as possessing the features of character which most eminently distinguish his disciples, and as listening to and catching the immortal sounds of the triumphant anthem sung by the multitude of voices in heaven, which none could learn but themselves, the one hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth.

What are the words of this song is not here declared; but it is manifestly the same with the song of Moses and the Lamb, mentioned in the following chapter, which belongs to the same Apocalyptic period, namely, that of the seventh trumpet and seven vials. The distinguishing feature of this song is evidently a spiritual discernment of the nature, purpose, and end of the dreadful and desolating judgments of God during the period of the seventh trumpet and seven vials; and a joyful and triumphant anticipation of the glorious reign of the once crucified, but now returning Messiah, which shall immediately succeed the vials. Hence we see the

reason why none could learn that song, but the one hundred and forty-four thousand, for none can discover the nature and end of the judgments of God, or discern the signs of the times, but they who are followers of the Lamb, and taught by the Holy Ghost.

It is not, however, to be inferred from the attitude and employment of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, that during this time the members of the true church shall be exempted from suffering. It is a period of universal tribulation, and in this fiery trial they also must expect to participate, and in it to be purified and made white. * But though, as men, they will suffer many things; the church, as a body, shall be saved. Placed high on the towering eminence of Mount Sion, she shall hear the thunders of God's judgments, and see the storms of divine wrath which desolate the earth rolling beneath her feet.

To sum up the whole of this passage, the church is here presented to us as returned from the wilderness, but not yet entered into rest; yet joyfully anticipating the near approach of her rest, which shall be ushered in by the marriage supper of the Lamb. Like Moses on Mount Pisgah, she beholds the wide extent of the land flowing with milk and honey, which she shortly is destined to possess.

The church already appears to be assuming, or

* The concluding part of the period of the vials, we have reason to believe, will be peculiarly trying. To that awful hour our Lord's words may be applicable: "He that will save his life shall lose it, and "he that will lose his life shall save it." Perhaps there may be some things of a peculiarly sifting nature, which shall distinguish between the true and false Christian.

rather to have assumed, the posture here mentioned.* The evidences of her having returned from the wilderness were mentioned in a former chapter; and in the increasing discernment of the signs of the times, in the joyful anticipation of her approaching triumphs over the powers of darkness, which we everywhere meet with among eminently spiritual believers, are to be seen the evidences of her having begun to learn the song of Moses and the Lamb: "Great and marvellous are thy works, "O Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints. Who shall not fear "thee, O Lord, and glorify thy Name? for thou only art holy for all nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made "manifest." +

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The next clause of the prophecy announces a preaching of the Gospel, which seems to correspond in character, with that mentioned by our Lord as immediately preceding the end.‡

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"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of

heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach "unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every "nation and kindred, and tongue and people; say

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ing with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory "to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: "and worship him that made heaven and earth, and "the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there

The mystical number of 144,000 is indeed not yet completed ; but it is represented as complete by way of prolepsis, as it will actually be filled up during the prophetical hour to which the vision has

reference.

+ Rev. xv. 3, 4.

Matt. xxiv. 14.

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