NOTE.—These had been slain during the hundreds of years covered by the preceding seal. Their persecutors, most of them, at least, had died. And if they had at death passed to their punishment, as is by some supposed, why should the martyred ones still importune for their punishment? In this, as in other parts of the Bible, the figure of personification is used, in which inanimate objects are represented as alive and speaking, and things that are not as though they were. See Judges 9:8-15; Heb. 2:11; Rom. 4:17. These martyrs had gone down as heretics under the darkness and superstition of the preceding seal, covered with ignominy and shame. Now, in the light of the Reformation, their true character appears, and they are seen to have been righteous, and hence are given “white robes.” “The fine linen [white robes] is the righteousness of saints.” Rev. 19:8. Righteousness is ascribed to them; and when they have rested a little longer where they are,—under the altar,—till all others who are to fall for their faith have followed them, then together they will be raised to life and immortality. 11. What was first seen on the opening of the sixth seal? “And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was _a great earthquake_.” Verse 12, first part. NOTE.—This doubtless refers to the great earthquake of Nov. 1, 1755, commonly known as the Lisbon earthquake, the effects of which were felt over an area of 4,000,000 square miles. Lisbon, Portugal, a city containing 150,000 inhabitants, was almost entirely destroyed. The shock of the earthquake, says Mr. Sears, in his “Wonders of the World,” page 200, “was instantly followed by the fall of every church and convent, almost all the large public buildings, and one fourth of the houses. In about two hours afterward, fires broke out in different quarters, and raged with such violence for the space of nearly three days that the city was completely desolated. The earthquake happened on a holy day, when the churches and convents were full of people, very few of whom escaped.... The terror of the people was beyond description. Nobody wept: it was beyond tears. They ran hither and thither, delirious with horror and astonishment, beating their faces and breasts, crying, ‘_Misericordia! the world’s at an end!_’ Mothers forgot their children, and ran about loaded with crucifixed images. Unfortunately, many ran to the churches for protection; but in vain was the sacrament exposed; in vain did the poor creatures embrace the altars; images, priests, and people were buried in one common ruin.... Ninety thousand persons are supposed to have been lost on that fatal day.” 12. What was to follow the great earthquake? “And _the sun became black_ as sackcloth of hair, and _the moon became as blood_.” Same verse, latter part.