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FOURTH SEAL.

(A Pale Horse.)

Rev. 6:7-8.

"And when He had opened the 'FOURTH SEAL,' I heard the voice of the 'Fourth Beast' say, Come. And I looked, and behold a PALE HORSE: and his name that sat on him was DEATH, and HELL (Hades) followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with SWORD, and with HUNGER, and with DEATH, and with the BEASTS OF THE EARTH."

When the "FOURTH SEAL" was broken John heard the fourth, or "Eagle-like Living Creature" say--"Come," and a "PALE HORSE" appeared and went forth. Note the "corpse-like" color of the Horse. We are not surprised then when the Rider upon the "PALE HORSE" is called "DEATH," and that "HADES," the "Grave," not "Hell," follows after "Death" like a great "Voracious Monster" to swallow up the victims of "DEATH." It is worthy of note that the Riders of the first three Horses are not named, but it will be very clear when the events they chronicle occur, who and what is meant. Here however the Rider is personified and called "DEATH," and his consort is called "HADES," they are inseparable companions. The reference here is clearly to some great PESTILENCE that shall come upon the earth. After a devastating war, followed by famine, during which the dead are left unburied, a PESTILENCE is sure to follow. The "fourth part of the earth" over which the Pestilence shall sweep will probably be that part of the Eastern Hemisphere covered by the revived Roman Empire. See Map of the Old Roman Empire. So great will be the destruction of human life in the days of the "Fourth Seal" that HADES will have to enlarge herself and open her mouth without measure, as foretold in Isa. 5:13-16. The means of destruction mentioned--the SWORD, HUNGER, DEATH, and the BEASTS OF THE EARTH,

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are the "FOUR SORE JUDGMENTS" of Ez. 14:21, that are to fall upon JERUSALEM--"For thus saith the Lord God: How much more when I send my 'FOUR SORE JUDGMENTS' upon JERUSALEM, the SWORD, and the FAMINE, and the NOISOME BEAST, and the PESTILENCE, to cut off from it man and beast." Those will be awful times to those who must pass through them. But the Church will not be in them having been "caught out" before as promised. But awful as those days will be, they will be only the "BEGINNING OF SORROWS" for those who are left. Matt. 24:6-8. And the worst thing about them will be that they are "Hardening Judgments," and instead of the people repenting and calling upon God, they will call on the mountains and rocks to hide them from the face of Him that sitteth on the Throne. Rev. 6:15-17.

Next: Fifth Seal (The Souls of Martyrs)