“And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earth- quake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Revelation 6:12-17).

It seems apparent that if we were to view the stupendous occurrences described in connection with the opening of this sixth seal from a literal standpoint, their fulfillment would mean nothing less than the end of the material world, and also man’s existence in it. The fact, however, that in the immediate context (Revelation 7:1) four angels are represented as holding in check the threatening winds of destruction until certain ones of humanity were sealed, would indicate a delay until this work of sealing is accomplished. Since these startling occurrences are to be interpreted symbolically, it seems impossible to understand them as describing any thing short of an end of the present order of things, political, social, and religious.

It will be in order at this point in our exposition to call attention to the fact that many early expositors apply this sixth seal to the events occurring in connection with the overthrow of the Western Roman Empire in the Fifth Century. Their reason for this interpretation is their belief that the events described in connection with the loosing of the seventh seal followed immediately those of the sixth. We would be unable to concur in this interpretation. Such stupendous scenes depicted in this vision can have reference only to an end of the present order.

Literal Signs of the End

Understanding that the fifth seal describing the martyr cry of “how long,” terminated with the Papacy’s domination over the saints at the end of the Eighteenth Century, as already explained, we would expect that the events described under this sixth seal would begin to meet their fulfillment about that time. Furthermore, we would understand that while these events would be of such a nature as to threaten the overthrow of the present order, yet they would be checked, held back for a time, until certain Divine purposes would be accomplished. This period during which the restraining influence would be exerted is in the fifth seal stated to be a “little season.” It is evidently referred to by the Prophet Daniel as the “time of the end,” during which there would be a most phenomenal increase of knowledge, and a “running to and fro.” Certain events of a very startling nature did occur in connection with the ending of Papal domination over God’s saints and were interpreted by many students of the Bible as indicating the beginning of the “little season.” These events occurred in the material world in the order mentioned in this vision: first, the great earthquake at Lisbon in 1755; second, the darkening of the sun and moon in 1780; and, third, the falling of the stars or great meteoric shower in 1833. These three occurrences have been understood by many expositors as those referred to by Christ in his great prophecy: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (Matthew 24:29). It would seem that the “great tribulation” mentioned here was fulfilled in the persecutions of Papal Rome, and ended in the closing years of the Eighteenth Century. They evidently have had a literal fulfillment in the past, and are now having a symbolic fulfillment. Concerning their literal fulfillment the following observations are interesting:

“On May 19, 1780 (still ‘in those days,’ the 1260 years of Papal power, but after that power had begun to wane and the brunt of the tribulation had passed) a phenomenal darkening of the sun occurred, for which scientists of that time and since have never been able to account. That this was no ordinary occurrence is sufficiently established by competent testimony.

“The darkening of the moon at its full the night following, seems to have been little less remarkable than this darkening of the sun. This unaccountable day, except as a sign from the Lord, is reckoned to have extended over 326,000 square miles — an area about twenty-five times the size of Palestine, to which the signs of the First Advent were limited. Indeed, the fact that these signs were chiefly confined to the New England and Middle States need not surprise us, when we remember that the first movement amongst the ‘Virgins’ (Matthew 25:1-5) was chiefly in the same locality. And that God should use the ‘land of liberty’ for sending the message of these signs to the world, is no more wonderful than that He has been pleased to send from the same quarter, many of the modern blessings and inventions and lessons recognized by the whole world, and aptly emblemized by the gift of the great French artist, Bartholdi, to New York harbor — the statue of ‘Liberty Enlightening the World.’ …

“The noted astronomer Herschel, says:

“ ‘The dark day in Northern America was one of those wonderful phenomena of nature which will always be read of with interest, but which philosophy is at a loss to explain.’

“Webster’s Dictionary, 1869 edition, under the head of Vocabulary of Noted Names, says:

“ ‘The dark day, May 19, 1780 — so called on account of a remarkable darkness on that day extending over all New England. In some places, persons could not see to read common print in the open air for several hours together. Birds sang their evening songs, disappeared, and became silent; fowls went to roost; cattle sought the barn-yard; and candles were lighted in the houses. The obscuration began about ten o’clock in the morning, and continued till the middle of the next night, but with differences of degree of duration in different places.’

“The Connecticut Legislature was in session that day and adjourned. The Journal of the House notes the matter as follows:

“ ‘A solemn gloom of unusual darkness before ten o’clock — a still darker cloud rolling under the sable curtain from the North and West before eleven o’clock — excluded the light so that none could see to read or write in the House, even at either window, or distinguish persons at a short distance, or perceive any distinction of dress in the circle of attendants; wherefore, at eleven o’clock adjourned the House till two in the afternoon. Friday, May 19, 1780.’

“A minister of that time, and an eye-witness, Reverend Elam Potter, preaching on the 28 inst., nine days after it, is reported to have used the following language:

“ ‘But specially I mention that wonderful darkness on the 19th of May, inst. Then, as in our text, the sun was darkened; such a darkness as was probably never known before since the crucifixion of our Lord. People left their work in the house and in the field; travelers stopped; schools broke up at eleven o’clock; people lighted candles at noon-day; and the fire shone as at night. Some people, I am told, were in dismay, and thought whether the day of judgment was not drawing on. A great part of the following night also was singularly dark. The moon, though in the full, gave no light, as in our text.’

“Tract No. 379, published by the American Tract Society — The Life of Edward Lee, says:

“ ‘In the month of May, 1780, there was a very terrific dark day when all faces seemed to gather blackness, and the people were filled with fear. There was great distress in the village where Edward Lee lived; men’s hearts failed them for fear that the Judgment Day was at hand; and the neighbors all flocked around the holy man, for his lamp was trimmed and shining brighter than ever amidst the unnatural darkness. Happy and joyful in God, he pointed them to the only refuge from the wrath to come, and spent the gloomy hours in earnest prayer for the distressed multitudes.’

“We quote as follows from Judge R. M. Devins, in ‘Our First Century’:

“ ‘Almost, if not altogether alone, as the most mysterious and as yet unexplained phenomena of its kind in nature’s diversified range of events during the last century, stands the dark day of May 19, 1780; a most unaccountable darkening of the whole visible heavens and atmosphere in New England, which brought intense alarm and distress to multitudes of minds, as well as dismay to the brute creation — the fowls fleeing, bewildered, to their roosts, and the cattle to their stalls. Indeed, thousands of the good people of that day became fully convinced that the end of all things terrestrial had come; many gave up, for the time, their secular pursuits, and betook themselves to religious devotions. It was a wonderful dark day.’

“Judge Samuel Tenney, LL.D., wrote of this ‘dark day’ to the Historical Society in 1785, saying:

“ ‘Several gentlemen of literary ability have endeavored to solve the phenomenon, yet I believe you will agree with me, that no satisfactory solution has yet appeared.’

“Noah Webster, LL.D., wrote in 1843, in the New Haven Herald, concerning this dark day, and said, ‘I stood and viewed the phenomenon. No satisfactory cause has yet been assigned.’

“Reverend Edward Bass, D.D., First Episcopal Bishop of Vermont, in his diary for May 19, 1780, wrote: ‘This day is the most remarkable in the memory of man for darkness.’

“The darkening of the moon at its full the night following seems to have been little less remarkable than this darkening of the sun; a witness, Judge Tenney of Exeter, NH, is quoted as follows:

“ ‘The darkness of the following evening was probably as gross as has ever been observed since the Almighty first gave birth to light. I could not help conceiving at the time, that if every luminous body in the universe had been shrouded in impenetrable darkness, or struck out of existence, the darkness could not have been more complete. A sheet of white paper held within a few inches of the eye was equally invisible with the blackest velvet.’ …

“Half a century passed before the next sign appeared, the falling of the stars from heaven, as when a fig tree casteth her unripe fruit when shaken of a mighty wind. Our Lord’s words found a fulfillment (though not their complete and only fulfillment, as we shall see later) in the wonderful meteoric showers of the early morning of November 13, 1833. Those inclined to quibble by urging that ‘the fixed stars did not fall’ are reminded that our Lord said nothing about fixed stars falling, and that fixed stars could not fall: their falling would prove that they were not fixed. The Scriptures do not distinguish between stars and meteors as is commonly done in our day.

“Shooting stars, and even meteoric showers are not uncommon every year, and some years more than others. It is computed that 400,000 small meteors fall to our earth annually. But these are nothing in comparison to the great shower of November 13, 1833, in which millions on millions fell.

“Prof. Kirkwood, in his work entitled Meteorology, says, ‘Until the close of the last century they [meteoric showers] never attracted the attention of scientific men.’

“Prof. D. Olmstead, LL.D., of Yale College, wrote:

“ ‘Those who were so fortunate as to witness the exhibition of shooting stars on the morning of November 13, 1833, probably saw the greatest display of celestial fireworks that has ever been seen since the creation of the world, or at least within the annals covered by the pages of history This is no longer to be regarded as a terrestrial, but a celestial phenomenon, and shooting stars are now to be no more viewed as casual productions of the upper regions of the atmosphere, but as visitants from other worlds, or from the planetary voids’ (New Haven Press).

“Mr. Henry Dana Ward, at the time a New York merchant, later an author and Episcopalian minister, wrote:

“ ‘No philosopher or scholar has told or recorded an event, I suppose, like that of yesterday morning. A Prophet eighteen hundred years ago foretold it exactly, if we will be at the trouble to understand falling stars to mean falling stars. … Truly the stars of heaven fell unto the earth as in the Apocalypse. The language of the Prophet has always been received as metaphorical; yesterday it was literally fulfilled’ (Journal of Commerce, November 14, 1833).

“We quote the following account from The American Cyclopedia, Volume XI, page 431:

“ ‘The year 1833 is memorable for the most magnificent display on record. This was on the night of November 12, and was visible over all the United States and over a part of Mexico and the West India Islands. Together with the smaller shooting stars which fell like snowflakes and produced phosphorescent lines along their course, there were intermingled large fireballs, which darted forth at intervals, describing in a few seconds an arc of 30 or 40 degrees. These left behind luminous trains, which remained in view several minutes, and sometimes half an hour or more. One of them, seen in North Carolina, appeared of larger size and greater brilliancy than the moon. Some of the luminous bodies were of irregular form, and remained stationary for a considerable time, emitting streams of light. At Niagara the exhibition was especially brilliant, and probably no spectacle so terribly grand and sublime was ever before beheld by man as that of the firmament descending in fiery torrents over the dark and roaring cataract. It was observed that the lines of all the meteors, if traced back, converged in one quarter of the heavens, which was Leonis Majoris; and this point accompanied the stars in their apparent motion westward, instead of moving with the earth toward the East. The source whence the meteors came was thus shown to be independent of the earth’s relation, and exterior to our atmosphere.’

“Prof. von Humboldt devotes fifteen pages of his work, Personal Narrative, to this phenomenon; and declares that it was visible over an area of eleven million square miles.

“M. Beupland, a French savant, who witnessed it in Humboldt’s company, says of it: ‘There was not a space in the firmament equal to the extent of three diameters of the moon that was not filled at every instant with bolides and falling stars’ ” (C. T. Russell).

Symbolic Fulfillments

In the symbolical fulfillments we notice as first in order that of the “great earthquake.” We must not confound this earthquake with that recorded in Revelation 16:18. In a literal earthquake the surface of the earth in a great section of country is violently disturbed — mountains, hills, valleys, forests, and rocks being removed out of their places. The fulfillment can be found only in violent civil, political, and religious agitations and changes. The inevitable conclusion is that the French Revolution, beginning in 1789, is referred to. It was the French government that more than any other for centuries upheld and carried out the Papal decrees of persecution of the saints, and as in the visions, we now reach the end of Papacy’s power in this direction, we would look for momentous disturbances in the French government. Mr. Guinness makes the following interesting observation:

“Taken as a whole the French Revolution was a convulsion, in which the angry passions of men, set free from all restraint, manifested themselves with a force and fury unprecedented in the history of the world, against monarchial, aristocratic, ecclesiastical, and religious institutions. Let these things be considered in the light of a mighty and successful revolt against, and overthrow of absolute monarchial power, and Papal tyranny and usurpation, and it will at once be granted that nothing similar had ever occurred previously, in the history of the fourth great empire. Terribly iniquitous had been the career of the monarchial power thus rudely overthrown; and fearfully corrupt the priesthood and religion thus utterly and with abhorrence rejected. A solemn character of retribution attaches to even the worst excesses of the French Revolution. The Papacy in the hour of its agony was exultingly reminded of its own similar cruelties against Protestants. Papists were treated according to the example set by Papists of other days, and the worst barbarities of revolutionary France could not out- Herod the previous barbarities of Papal France.”

To this agree the words of Mr. Russell: “In the symbolic language of Revelation, the French Revolution was indeed a ‘great earthquake’ — a social shock so great that all ‘Christendom’ trembled until it was over; and that terrible and sudden outburst of a single nation’s wrath, only a century ago, may give some idea of the fury of the coming storm, when the wrath of all the angry nations will burst the bands of law and order and cause a reign of universal anarchy. … A nation intoxicated with Babylon’s wine of false doctrines in church and state, and long bound by priestcraft and superstition, there vomited forth its pollution and spent the force of its maddened rage. In fact, the French Revolution seems referred to by our Lord in his Revelation to John on Patmos as a prelude to, and an illustration of, the great crisis now approaching. It should be observed also that the same causes which operated to bring about that great calamity, are now operating to produce a similar, but far more extensive revolution, a revolution which will be world-wide.”

This great revolution began with an outbreak or insurrectionary movement at Paris in July, 1789, including the destruction of the Bastille. On January 21, 1793,

Louis XVI was beheaded. It was brought to an end in 1794 when Robespierre himself suffered on the guillotine the fate to which he had condemned countless numbers of his countrymen. Thus was fulfilled the first event of the sixth seal.

Concerning the other symbols and their fulfillments it has been observed: “The sun as a symbol represents the Gospel light, the Truth — and thus Christ Jesus. The moon as a symbol represents the light of the Mosaic Law. As the moon is a reflection of the light of the sun, so the Law was the shadow or reflection beforehand of the Gospel. The [twelve] stars as symbols represent the inspired teachers of the Church — the Apostles. The heavens, as already shown, represent the ecclesiastical powers of Christendom. A combination of these symbols is found in Revelation (12:1) where the ‘woman’ symbolizing the early Church is represented as clothed with the sun, that is, resplendent in the full, clear light of the unclouded Gospel. The moon under her feet represents that the Law which supports her is nevertheless not the source of her light. The twelve stars about her head as a crown, represent her divinely appointed and inspired teachers — the twelve Apostles” (C. T. Russell).

The sun, moon, and stars, and the electrical disturbances in the heavens exert a marvelous influence in the physical world. For the sun to become black and the moon to become as blood, would change their influence from good to evil. In the same manner, when the sunlight of truth becomes darkened, when those who are looked upon by the world in general as light (truth) bearers, substitute false pernicious doctrines for truth and become tyrannical persecutors, it can but result in great evil to humanity, and sooner or later bring the judgment of God upon the false light bearers. Concerning the symbolical fulfillment of this darkening of the sun and moon, the falling of the stars, and the shaking of the powers of the heavens, the same writer goes on to say:

“Wherever we look we can recognize the fact that while God’s consecrated people are being specially fed and enlightened at the present time, yet with the nominal Church it is not so. Its sun is being darkened; its moon is being turned into blood; and its stars are falling. The center of the Gospel light has from the first been the cross of Christ, the ransom; and however boldly Papacy set up the competitive sacrifice of the Mass, the saints of God have always held fast to this blessed centre of all God’s promises, and of all His people’s hopes. They have held to it, even though its philosophy has been almost entirely hidden from their view.

“True, there have been a few all along who, not understanding the ransom, and unable to harmonize it with other truths, and especially with their errors, rejected it. These, however, were rare exceptions to the rule. … Today only a small minority of the professed ministers of the cross recognize its value or preach it. On the contrary, much of the teaching now aims to disclaim and disprove that we were ‘bought with a price, even the precious blood of Christ,’ and substitutes for this the theory of Evolution, claiming that Christ’s value to the sinner consists in his words and example merely. Thus the sunlight of the Gospel is daily becoming more and more obscure. …

“As the sunlight of the ransom becomes obscured, so the moonlight of the Mosaic Law, which in its sacrifices foreshadowed the ransom, must of necessity become obscured also. It is no longer uncommon for public teachers to refer to the bloody sacrifices of Israel, required by their law, as barbaric. Once, when they saw by the true light of the Word of God, they appreciated the Apostle’s statement that Israel’s sacrifices were foreshadowings of ‘better sacrifices’ for sin; but now, refusing the antitype, the ransom, and denying original sin, and all need therefore of sacrifices for it — the typical sacrifices are repudiated also and esteemed barbaric. Thus the darkening of the Gospel sunlight results in the darkening of the moonlight. ‘The moon shall be turned into blood.’ And Joel (2:10) adds that ‘the stars shall withdraw their shining,’ which signifies that when the Gospel light is obscured, and the Law comes to be regarded merely as a meaningless and barbaric ceremony of blood, then the teachings of the God- ordained twelve stars of the Church (the Apostles) will also fade from view — cease to be recognized guides or lights.

“As we have seen, God has recognized or appointed twelve apostolic stars for the Church. From these and the moon and the sun all the enlightenment of the Church was to proceed. But Papacy, assuming ecclesiastical lordship of earth, has placed or ‘ordained’ various stars, lights, ‘authorities,’ ‘theologians,’ in her firmament and the various Protestant denominations have done likewise, until the whole number is innumerable. But God, while providing helps, evangelists, and teachers to His true Church has not ordained them with the authority of lights or stars. On the contrary, all of his faithful followers are instructed to accept as light only those rays of truth seen to proceed from the sun and moon and twelve stars ordained for that purpose.”

Another of the symbolical signs that is to be fulfilled in this “little season,” the time of the end, covered in the opening of this sixth seal is stated: “And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together.” The fulfillment of this feature we would look for in the present ecclesiastical heavens in connection with an attempt on the part of the Protestant and Roman Catholic divisions of ecclesiasticism (the nominal heavens) to unite that they might prevent the over- throw of the present order, as has been expressed:

“Religious people in general, not discerning that God’s time has come for a change of dispensation, will ignore reason, logic, justice, and Scripture in defending the present order of things. It will be of little consequence then that the ecclesiastical heavens (the religious powers, Papal and Protestant) will have rolled together as a scroll (Isaiah 34:4, Revelation 6:14). The combined religious power of Christendom will be utterly futile against the rising tide of anarchy when the dread crisis is reached. Before that great army [Joel 2:1-11], all the host of heaven [the Church nominal] shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll [the two great bodies which constitute the ecclesiastical heavens; viz., Papacy and Protestantism, as the two distinct ends of the scroll are even now rapidly approaching each other, rolling together, as we have shown].”

Concerning the fulfillment of the symbolism of verses 15-17, it would indeed seem reasonable to suppose that “as the trouble increases, men will seek, but in vain, for protection in the ‘dens’ and caves, the great rocks and fortresses of Society (Free Masonry, Odd Fellowship, and Trades Unions, Guilds, Trusts, and all societies, secular and ecclesiastical), and in the mountains (governments) of earth; saying, ‘Fall over [cover, protect] and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come.’

“In that time, financial institutions, including insurance companies and beneficial societies, will go down; and ‘treasures’ in them will prove utterly worthless. These caves and rocks of the mountains will not furnish the desired protection from the wrath of this ‘evil day,’ when the great waves of popular discontent are lashing and foaming against the mountains (kingdoms)” (Revelation 6:15-17). The great collapse of present institutions portrayed in this vision is described by all the Prophets as well as by Christ and the Apostles. It is called by Daniel (12:1) “a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.” It is described by Christ (Matthew 24:21) as “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

What of the Night?