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communicated, that the bride may be "adorned with her jewels," and "arrayed in fine linen, clean and white," and all prepared to enter in to the marriage of the Lamb. In fact the sealing process involves this very thing; it is in order to distinguish those who bear the impress of the seal from those who "do wickedly," of whom it is said, that "none of the wicked shall understand." In consequence of unremitting vigilance and self-denial, the righteous will as certainly be divinely secured amid the calamities of the LAST TIME, as were the Hebrews who sprinkled the posts of their doors anterior to the passing over of the destroying Angel. And as the blood of the lamb upon their portals insured the temporal salvation of the Jews, and this act of theirs in the application of that blood was a demonstration of their faith in the word of God, so must we be sprinkled with the blood of Christ, and our hearts from an evil conscience; and in the act of believing in, and submitting to the present truth, we shall ensure the salvation of our souls at His second appearing.

CHAPTER IX.

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS.

THE Sounding of the Seven Trumpets has been generally understood to refer to certain judgments, which God designed to bring upon the various nations of the earth. As the opening of the seals (chap. vi.) presents a series of events in consecutive order from the commencement to the close of the dispensation, so the trumpets, commencing at a given point, bring us down to the great day of God.

Trumpets, under the old dispensation, were used for different purposes; sometimes to call the elders of Israel together; at other times, the congregation. But the most important occasion was that of assembling the tribes in case of war.

Thus in Num. x: 9; "And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets."

Again, Jer. iv: 19; "My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war."

me;

Also, Jer. iv: 5-7; "Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities. Set

up the standard toward Zion; retire, stay not; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities. shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.

THE FIRST TRUMPET.

"The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up," (Rev. viii: 7).

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'And there followed hail." "Hail is usually a symbol of the divine vengeance." "And fire." "This also is an instrument and an emblem of destruction." And they were cast upon the earth' "the hail, the fire and the blood, denoting that the fulfilment of this was to be on the earth." *

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By some of the most distinguished commentators, as Mede, Faber, Newton, and others, this symbol is regarded as having its fulfilment in the invasion of Rome by the Goths; and its seems evident this is a correct application of the subject. Some expositors interpret it of their incursions from A. D. 376 to 395, others from 395 to 410. According to Gibbon, the Goths revolted from the Roman power in 395. They besieged Rome no less than three times; first in A.D. 408, secondly in A.D. 409, and thirdly in A.D. 410, when

* Barne's Notes.

they captured the city, and plundered and set fire to it in several places.

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Says Newton: "Philostorgius, who lived in and wrote of these times, saith, that the sword of the barbarians destroyed the greatest multitude of men and among other calamities, dry heats, with flashes of flame, and whirlwinds of fire, occasioned various and intolerable terrors; yea, and hail, greater than could be held in a man's hand, fell down in several places, weighing as much as eight pounds.' Well, therefore, might the prophet compare these incursions of the barbarians to hail and fire mingled with blood.' Claudian, in like manner, compares them to a storm of hail in his poem upon this very war. Jerome also saith of some of these barbarians, 'that they came on unexpectedly every where; and marching quicker than report, spared not religion, nor dignities, nor age, nor had compassion on crying infants; those were compelled to die, who had not yet begun to live.' So truly did they destroy 'the trees,' and the 'green grass' together." *

THE SECOND TRUMPET.

"And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed," (vs. 8, 9).

*New. on Proph. pp. 476, 477.

"A mountain," says Barnes, "is a natural symbol of strength, and hence becomes a symbol of a strong and powerful kingdom." In reference to this symbol, Lord remarks, it is a volcanic mountain thrown up from its ancient station at a vast distance, by an explosion of the flaming elements at its base * * * * and such most conspicuously were the Vandals under Genseric, who, forced from their native seat by the Hunns, passed through France and Spain into Africa, conquered the Carthagenian territory, established an independent government, and thence, through a long period, harassed the neighboring islands and the Mediterranean shores, by predatory and devastating incursions, interrupting the commerce of the sea, plundering and firing the cities, and slaughtering the inhabitants."*

Genseric passed into Africa about A.D. 429; † and, in a short time, the whole country from Tangier to Tripoli, was overflowed by the Vandals.§ Genseric was fierce and tyrannical in the extreme. "The writers of that age, who speak of this invasion, agree in painting, in the most lively colors, the horrors with which it was accompanied. It appears that Genseric, whose whole subjects including old men and slaves, did not exceed eighty thousand persons, being resolved to maintain his authority by terror, caused, for this pur

*Lord on Apoc. Rotteck, vol, ii. p. 53.

Tangier lies on the northwest coast of Morocco, near the Straights of Gibraltar,; and is a Seaport of Fez, one of the five provinces of that kingdom.

Koch's Rev. in Eu. p. 47.

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