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The Sixth Seal

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 21, 1871

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 37, No. 10.

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The Sixth Seal.

By Jos. Clarke

It is a solemn consideration, that we are living near the close of the sixth seal. Those familiar with the exposition of this subject given in “Thoughts on the Revelation,” will readily appreciate this position; but it is probable that many readers of the REVIEW have never seen that work. All should study it. The seal referred to covers the period from the great earthquake of 1755, to the time when the great day of God's wrath is come.
No one who has a heart to feel, and a mind to comprehend, can contemplate this subject unmoved. To realize that such events are imminent, yet uncared for; that the signs are so clear, yet unnoticed; that destruction is at hand, yet undreaded; these thoughts that force themselves upon us at this moment, under such circumstances, are sad, and can hardly be expressed.
What must have been the feelings of Noah, as he entered the ark, amid the taunts and ridicule of his contemporaries? Such will be the feelings of those who now conscientiously study this subject.
To Noah, the subject of the coming deluge was terrible. No words could express his emotions, as the ark rose slowly from its base to its roof; and as the timbers were hewed and fitted, and as the various arrangements for his stay in the ark were accomplished, a holy calmness and serenity filled his soul. An elevated, noble spirit marked his whole career; but how deep were his regrets for those who only saw in his active obedience weakness and fanaticism.
But as the time for the deluge approached nearer and nearer, as the work of constructing the ark came to its completion, and its apartments were filled with occupants that came voluntarily and took their respective places, from air, and forest, and plain; and, finally, as the massive door was closed by angelic hands, how deep and profound were the experiences of the much-abused preacher of righteousness.
What must have been his feelings, then! But, alas! the revulsion in the feelings of those who had ridiculed the proceedings of Noah! Words are feeble, language is a mockery, when we attempt to portray their feelings, as the fiat of Heaven let loose the elements upon a doomed world. We may imagine a part; but the reality may we never know!
“As it was in the days of Noah,” says Jesus. Yes, dear reader, the whole scene is to be repeated under the sixth seal: all the zeal, and love, and power, of Noah, and all the contempt of his foes, and all the terrible reality of the sequel. Who can contemplate it? Jos. CLARKE.