was given to hurt the earth, and the sea. His crying may signify Christ's authority, the eminence of the danger, and his care to have the hurtful winds restrained for a season. Those to whom he directs his cry, are the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea; by which we are made to understand, that all the angels, both good and bad, are subject to the authority and command of Him, who is "the head. of all principalities, and power, and might, and dominion," &c. None of them all can act but by orders from him. Christ in heaven is looking to the welfare of his church and people upon earth in time of danger, when they themselves have no thought about their own hazard.

5. We have the particular charge given to the angels by Christ, which I have mainly in view, ver. 3: he said to them Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

Where we have, 1st, A prohibition. 2dly, The party immediately concerned in the prohibition. And, 3dly, The reason of it.

any

1st, The prohibition: Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, for a time. Where you see the judgment is not absolutely averted nor discharged, but only suspended, until provision be made for the safety of God's peculiar people. Observe, that favour shown to the wicked, or any suspension of divine vengeance with respect to them, is owing to the truly godly that live among them. If it were not for the elect's sake, God would make short work with the rest of mankind: "Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah."

to my

(2.) We

lation to God with his members and people, according to John xx. 17: “ I ascend unto my Father and your father, and to

God and your God.” The character that he gives them is, that they are the servants of God; and the reason of this designation is, because they were such as feared his name, Neh. i. 11, and because they “kept the commandments of God; and the testimony of Jesus,” when the flood cast out of the mouth of the old serpent was sweeping away the bulk of visible professors to a course of apostacy.

may

notice what was to be done to or for the servants of God; why, they are to be sealed, that is, they are to be separated or distinguished from others that were to be doomed to destruction; much like that, Ezek. ix. 4, 6. Sàys the Lord to the man who had the writer's inkhorn by his side, *** Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh, and that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof;" and then, it is added, “ Come not near any man upon whom is the mark.” In short, this discovers the particu

” lar care that God has of his own remnant, and the special providence that God exercises about them, when his judgments are in the earth.

(3.) Notice the conspicuousness of this seal: they are sealed on their foreheads. Thus, Rev. xiv. 1, the hundred forty and four thousand who stand with the Lamb on mount Sion, are said to “ have his Father's name written in their foreheads;" that is, they had a visible profession of the name of God in the world, and are not ashamed to confess him before men. So, here, this seal is set on the foreheads of the servants of God; that is, as they had been faithful to his cause and interest, when others had deserted him and his truth ; so he would visibly own them as his before the world, and would not be ashamed of them, and would make his regard for them evident to all men, by the singular care he took of them, when his destroying judgments were in the earth.

(4.) The reason of their being thus sealed is here implied, namely, that they might not be hurt, that is, that they might be preserved from the

danger and hazard of those pestilential winds that were to blow in a little time upon the visible church. Thus I have endeavoured to open the text and context a little.

From the 2d and 3d verses we may observe these few things :

Observ. 1. That Christ, the glorious uncreated Angel of the covenant, is the protector and guardian of his church and people. He is that other Angel, who has a watchful eye upon his remnant, that they may not suffer hurt by the winds that

were to blow, Psal. xci.: “ The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them," Psal. xxxiv. 7: “ The angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them, and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old,” Is. lxiii. 9.

In which the prophet refers to Exod. xxiii. 20, 21; where God says to Moses, “ Behold, I send mine Angel before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice :—for my name is in him.” This is he that was with the church in the wilderness, and this is he that is with the New Testament church, even he who “ rideth upon the heavens by his great name Jah, for the help of his people, and in his excellency on the skies ;" and therefore will make all things, even the most cloudy dispensations,“work together for good to them that love God, and who are the called according to his purpose."

Observ. 2. That Christ's appearances for his church makes day to break from under the darkest night. Hence here likened to the sun ascending from the east, dispelling the darkness of the night. Luke i. 78: “ Through the tender mercies of our God, the day-spring from on high hath visited us.” He brings “ healing in his wings."

Observ. 3. That however the glory of Christ may be clouded and obscured by the errors of man, and the mists of hell, yet, like the sun in the firmament, he is always in the ascendant. This prophecy here is thought to have a particular respect to that period of the church, when, after the ten Romish heathen persecutions, a swarm of heresies broke out in the church, calculated for obscuring the glory of his person and righteousness; and yet at the same time he is ascending, and, in the issue, all these mists serve only as a foil to set forth his glory with the greater lustre. Thus “the wrath of men” and devils, and all their errors and delusions, “shall praise him ;” and what will not answer this end he “ will restrain." And, therefore, “ let the children of Zion be always joyful in their King ;" he will prevail.

Observ. 4. That our glorious Redeemer is a person of the highest interest, credit, and authority, in heaven; for here we are told, that he hath the seal of the living God. God has “ hung upon him all the glory of his house;" he hath “ highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow." Oh, what unspeakable consolation is here, especially considering that he got this authority, and executes it, for the good of his church !

Observ. 5. That such is the power and authority of our Redeemer, that all the executioners of the divine anger against

up, or left.”

the children of men, or the rotten professors of the visible
church, are under his empire and command; for here we see
he restrains the four angels, to whom “it was given to hurt
the earth, and the sea, and the trees.” Angels and principa-
lities and powers in heavenly places do obeisance to him, and
are his winged messengers, and as a flame of fire to obey
him: and as for wicked men and devils, they are under the
chains of his power and providence; "he ruleth in the raging
of the sea, and when the waves thereof roar, he stilleth them,"
and
says,

“ Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther.”
Observ. 6. That when the danger is great and most imminent
toward his church and people, that is the season in which he
most readily interposes for help and deliverance. When the
four angels were just ready to let loose the four hurtful winds,
by which good and bad, chaff and corn, might have been
swept away together, then he gives the cry to stop until the
servants of God were sealed, and provision made for their safety.
“ Now will I arise, saith the Lord," namely, “when their
strength is

gone,

and none shut Obsero. 7. That in the times of the greatest defection and apostacy in the visible church, God has still a remnant that are cleaving to him and his way and cause. This is clearly implied here; he has servants that must be sealed, when the winds of error and corruption are hurling away the rest of visible professors : Rev. iii. 4: “ Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments,” &c. When all Israel was carried away with a flood of idolatry, God had his 6 seven thousand in Israel that had not bowed the knee unto Baal;" God will keep his hand about these, come of the rest of the world what will.

Observ. 8. God's remnant in this world, are mingled with the rest of mankind; they live promiscuously together in the same land, in the same parish, and in the same families. So much is imported in the staying of the winds until the servants of God were sealed. They are just like the wheat and chaff lying on the same barn floor; or like the tares and corn which grow in the same field, and yet are of a quite different nature, and therefore cannot but be a great grievance to one another; the godly are a burden to the wicked, and the wickéd are a burden to the godly. Hence is that melancholy sonnet of Dayid's, “Wo is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.”

Observ. 9. That although the godly and wicked be as it were jumbled together, yet “ the Lord knoweth them that are his,” and “his eyes are running to and fro, to show himself strong on their behalf.” Hence you see here the Angel who is their guardian, Jesus Christ, cries to stop the winds

a

a

till they be sealed; which implies, that he knows them that were to be sealed, and was exercising a particular providence about them. He that “calls forth the stars by name," he knows all his jewels by name and surname; and no wonder, for he bears their name on his breast, “ their names are written in the Lamb's book," that none of them be lost.

Observ. 10. That when once provision is made for the safety

and welfare of God's faithful servants and people, he then gives a loose to his awful and terrible judgments against a wicked world, “ the generation of his wrath.” You see here that the restraint is only until the servants of God be sealed; which implies, that whenever they were sealed, the restraint was taken off, and the angels loosed the four hurtful winds against the rest of mankind. So soon as Noah and his family were shut

up

in the ark, “the fountains of the great deep, and the windows of heaven, opened,” a loose is given to the waters of the deluge upon the old world. So soon as Lot was gone out of Sodom, snares, fire, and brimstone, were rained down from heaven upon the rest of the wicked inhabitants. Whence we see, that the truly godly, though the objects of the world's hatred, yet are the pillars of the land where they live, to keep off the judgments of God from them: Is. i. 9: 6 Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah."

Observ. 11. That God's particular interest in his people is their safety and security in an evil day. They are the servants of our God, and therefore they must be sealed.

Observ. 12. That Christ and believers have one common God and Father; and therefore here he takes them in with himself when he speaks of them, Our God; hence is that New Testament name, “ 'The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He and they are included in one covenant, wrapt up in the same robe. But, passing all these, the doctrine I intend to insist upon is that which follows:

66

OBSERV. “ That whatever pernicious and hurtful winds may be allowed to blow in the militant church, Christ, her glorious head and guardian, will take a distinguishing care for the safety of those that are found faithful to him in an evil day, that they do not sustain any real hurt."

The foundation of the doctrine is clear and obvious; for here, when the four winds are just ready to blow, Christ the great Angel, that has the seal of the living God, “ ascends from the east," arises as it were out of obscurity, and gives the cry, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees,