."
Also: "The martyr souls are exhibited in their own persons; and obviously
because no others could serve as their symbol,--there being no others that
have undergone a change from a bodied to a disembodied life, nor that
sustain such relations to God, of forgiveness, acceptance, and assurance
of a resurrection from death, and a priesthood with Christ during his
victorious reign on the earth," Ex. Apoc. p. 155.

The altar, symbolizes the atonement made by Christ for sin; and,
consequently, the position of the souls of the martyrs under it, indicates
their reliance on him for an inheritance in his everlasting kingdom,--when
"he shall come to be glorified in his saints," and to "take vengeance on
them that know not God, and obey not the gospel," 2 Thess. 1:8, 10.

The presentation of white robes to them, symbolizes their acceptance and
justification.

The declaration that they must rest till _their fellow-servants are
killed_, as they have been, implies another persecution, to be subsequent
to the period symbolized by the opening of this seal. The persecutions
which followed the Reformation, in which the fires of Smithfield were
lighted in England, the Huguenots were driven from France, and thousands
suffered martyrdom, probably fulfilled this.

The interest taken by the souls of the martyrs in the avenging of their
blood on the earth, shows that the spirits of departed saints look forward
with intense interest to the time of their glorification. And although the
dead who die in the Lord are blessed, the glories of the resurrection morn
are not less desired by those who are absent from the body and present
with the Lord, than by humble, devoted, waiting Christians here.

The opening of this seal evidently synchronizes with the commencement of
the reformation, when they might have supposed the kingdom of God would
immediately appear.

The Sixth Seal.

"And I beheld when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great
earthquake; and the sun became black like sackcloth of hair, and
the moon became like blood: and the stars of heaven fell to the
earth, as a fig-tree casteth its unripe figs, when shaken by a
mighty wind. And the heaven departed like a scroll rolled
together; and every mountain and island were removed from their
places. And the kings of the earth, and the nobles, and the rich,
and the commanders, and the strong men, and every bond-man, and
every freeman, hid