Mr. Mauro tells us: "There is, to my mind, no room for any doubt whatever that the group of visions beginning with Chapters 4 and 5, and embracing the entire program of the seals, has for its historical starting point the ascension of our risen Lord into heaven, and His occupation of the place of which He alone is worthy at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens: and that this group of visions has to do with events which began to happen from that transcendently glorious occasion" (The Patmos Visions, p. 144).
That being so, Mr. Mauro is under the necessity of pointing out to his readers how and where these seals have been fulfilled. Now it is evident that the "book written within and on the backside" is a book of JUDGMENT, AND ONLY JUDGMENT. We must be consistent in our interpretation of these events. We cannot, to be consistent, interpret one seal as good and another as evil.
Yet Mr. Mauro tells us that the breaking of the first seal sets forth, "The going forth of the gospel of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Nothing else in the past, and nothing that has been revealed concerning the future, can be made to harmonize with this scene, or with these symbols" (The Patmos Visions, p. 190).
"In other words, it [the bow in the hand of the rider on the white horse] symbolizes the preaching of the gospel in general, and the individual gospel preacher in particular" (p. 195).
Mr. Mauro then tells us what he thinks is meant by the incident of the rider on the red horse, to whom is given a great sword. He thinks it is the opposition and persecution that follows the preaching of the gospel. He illustrates it by the "Thirty Years' War" ending in 1648: to the greed of commercialism following the steps of the missionary, every instance of strife, variance, hatred, antagonism, and dissension of whatever sort, that has arisen during these nineteen centuries, because of the preaching of the gospel.
Now this means, according to Mr. Mauro, that the first seal is for BLESSING, the second seal for MISERY. The bow, however, is as much an instrument of warfare as the sword. Why in the one case should the bow speak of the peaceful gospel, and the sword speak of misery? It is the despair of exegesis to put things forth that are so contradictory. It is as if the symbols were made of India-rubber, and we could pull them into any shape to please ourselves.
The late Great War well illustrates these two seals. First, there was the eruption of the German armies in vast numbers into little Belgium, and the occupation of the capital of that country, Brussels, and the most of the country, by the mere weight of the number of the invaders. There was little bloodshed. The bow is certainly a weapon for killing, but killing at a distance. The white horse speaks of conquest, but not of sanguinary conquest. This is well illustrated by the invasion of Belgium by the German armies.
Then there succeeded the trench warfare, the hand-to-hand fighting, the wiping out of the flower of the youth of the nations, who were fighting each other. This illustrates the red horse, and the great sword. The consequences that followed the awful carnage of the Great War illustrate the black horse and the pale horse.
When we come to the black horse, Mr. Mauro tells us that the color black symbolizes that which is hidden (deceit), that white symbolizes that which is truthful and open. We should have thought black would have symbolized the awful results of war. We remember when the Ber war was on, and one week was marked by reverses to the British arms, it was called by the newspapers "A BLACK WEEK." Black is the color of mourning. We cannot accept Mr. Mauro's explanation of the meaning of the colors. It does not sound consistent to make out that the "book written within and on the backside" is like a fountain that pours out sweet water and bitter. We believe it is all bitter.
Then as to the pale horse Mr. Mauro writes: "The enemy has employed various destructive agencies, not only killing with the sword, (which I take as representing the direct thrust of some 'lie' such as the denial of the Godhead of Christ, or of His atoning sacrifice); but also 'with hunger' (dearth of spiritual food); and 'with death' (spiritual pestilence, as some popular heresy like `christian science,' spreading like a contagious disease); and 'with the beasts of the earth' (which represents the human governments, as appears from Chapter 13, which the Devil has often been able to use with destructive effect in opposition to the gospel)" (The Patmos Visions, pp. 228, 229).
The serious thing about this explanation is that the breaking of the fourth seal is the unfolding of the judgments of GOD. Mr. Mauro in his explanation makes out that God is engaged in propagating lies, in producing spiritual hunger, in spreading spiritual pestilence, and using human governments as instruments in opposition to the gospel.
We are sure Mr. Mauro does not mean this, but this is the meaning of his language as it stands. Why not take the obvious meaning, that is, that bodies bereft of souls (Death), and souls bereft of bodies (Hades), are the natural result of war? Is war such a strange thing that this description of the fourth seal must be made to have a spiritual meaning of a mystical nature? When the Church is raptured, and the Holy Spirit's influence is also withdrawn as restraining, there need be no surprise if war of a terrible nature breaks forth. We think the present state of Europe as an armed camp, piling up armaments as never before, is a sign of what may easily take place, indeed, of what is inevitable.
As to the fifth seal, it is natural that we hear of the souls of those who were martyred during the outbreak of the seals. Scripture tells us plainly that persecution of God's people will break out with a fury and persistence never known before. The state of Russia to-day and the way that Germany, the home of the Reformation, is reverting to paganism are surely signs of what will take place on a gigantic scale in the future.
Mr. Mauro's remarks on the sixth seal are rather vague, but we gather that he has "the strong conviction" that storm-clouds that were gathering so darkly when he was writing The Patmos Visions (May, 1925) foreshadowed the very storm foreshown under the sixth seal.