And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
The sounding of the fourth trumpet, brought forward a new series of calamities upon the empire, and which are figured to us under the images, of smiting the third part of the sun, and the moon, and the stars. It is well known, how much the Jews dwelt in figurative language. Indeed, it was the most general method made use of, by ancient nations, to convey instruction. Our Lord himself dwelt much in it, Matthew 13:34. By the darkening the luminaries of heaven, is very generally meant, lessening the powers, and reducing the glory, of princes and great men of the earth. At this period, which (if correct according to history), took place about the middle of the sixth century, that is, about the year 540, the empire was brought low indeed. The Roman Emperors both when heathens, and afterwards when professing christianity, had, for many centuries shone as suns, among the lesser lights of the nobles, and as stars in the world. But now the Lord, in his providence, was about to cause a revolution of men and things, with an eye to his Church; and, therefore, as here said, the third part is darkened. And they who are conversant with history will know, that toward the close of this century, and before the rise of the false prophets, Mahomet and the Whore, at the opening of the succeeding; (who both sprung up nearly together, about the year of our Lord God 600;) the empire gave way to new masters.
But it will be much more to our purpose and improvement, to observe, under this fourth trumpet, the progress of error which sprung up to trouble the Church. We have noticed, as we have advanced, under the three preceding trumpets, (the first of which began after the empire was changed from heathenism to the profession of Christianity), how much more the true Church of God suffered from false friends, than from the more open enemies. The faithful in Christ Jesus were always prepared, through grace, to oppose the open idolatries around them. But when professors of the Gospel arose in the very Church itself, speaking perverse things, and heresies, of various forms, sprung up among them, here were more bitter exercises. By means of the Arian heresy, in the denial of Christ's Godhead, and the counterpart of the same deadly evil, in calling in question the Person, Godhead, and work of the Holy Ghost, under the first and second trumpets; the peace and comfort of the Church had been broken in upon. And, if, (as is very generally believed), the Pelagian heresy arose within the period of the third trumpet, denying original sin, and insisting upon man's purity and free-will to keep the whole law of God, whereby the necessity of Christ's death, as a sacrifice for sin, became, in such men's views, superseded, and the regeneration of the heart by the Holy Ghost done away; what a state was the Church of God arrived at by this time? Let not the Reader mistake me. The Church of God, that is the true Church of God: by which I mean composed only of regenerated believers, can ultimately receive no injury. The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal; the Lord knoweth them that are his, 2 Timothy 2:19. But I am speaking of the professing church; the church, as established in the then Empire, as ours is in the present moment. The nation was then, as ours now is, Christian in name. And what an awful state was it arrived at under the fourth trumpet: if compared to the days of the Apostles, even though in their time the Empire was heathen?