soon Adam involved himself and his seed in the curse! He was not worthy. God blessed

Noah and his sons, but how soon the father's curse falls! God gave wisdom to Solomon,

yet consider his end! All, all are unworthy, heaven's song is true, "Worthy is the Lamb".

This song begun in heaven is taken up by all creation. From the heavenly side, power

comes first, leading on to blessing; from the standpoint of universal creation, blessing

comes first and might last. This fourfold ascription taken up by the wider circle of all

created things in the four divisions of the universe (heaven, earth, under the earth, and

sea), is addressed to "Him that sitteth upon the throne", as well as "unto the Lamb".

The universal praise that ascend to the throne, commencing with the four living ones,

and the twenty-four elders, extending to the myriads of heaven's angels, then taken up in

turn by every creature in every sphere of creation, is gathered up again from whence it

came by the solemn Amen of the four living ones, and the worship of the four and twenty

All is now ready, the Lamb has been acclaimed, He alone was worthy to open the

book, and to lose the seals, the solemn hour has struck, and with the noise of thunder the

Lamb opened one of the seals, and the "day of vengeance" began.

Before passing on to the scenes of judgment, let us pause awhile to catch the joy and

delight that seem to echo through the words of praise, "for He is worthy, Amen and

The Lamb has taken the seven-sealed book from the hand of Him who sits upon the

throne, ten thousand times ten thousand have acclaimed His worthiness and ascribed to

Him power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

The apostle now watches the opening of the seals, and describes what he sees as a result.

It will be seen that the first six seals are opened consecutively and without pause, but a

whole chapter intervenes between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals; we shall

therefore give our attention to the six seals as contained in chapter 6:

It is at once evident upon reading this chapter through, that these six seals are divided

between (1) judgments, and (2) martyrdom:--