FOURTH SEAL.
(A Pale Horse.)
Rev. 6:7-8.

“And when He had opened the FOURTH SEAL, I heard a voice of the “Fourth Beast” say, COME. And I looked, and behold a PALE HORSE: and his name that sat on him was DEATH, and HELL (Hades) followed with him and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with Sword, and with HUNGER, and with DEATH, and with the BEASTS of the EARTH.”

When the fourth seal was broken, John heard the fourth, or “Eagle-like Living Creature” say – “Come,” and a PALE HORSE appeared and went forth. Note the corpse-like color of the Horse. We are not suprised there when the Rider upon the PALE HORSE is called DEATH, and that Hades, the GRAVE, not Hell, follows
after DEATH like a great Voracious Monster to swallow up the victims of DEATH. It is worthy to note that the Rider of the first three Horses are not named, but it will be very clear when the events they chronicle occur, who and what is meant. Here however the Rider is personified and called DEATH, and his consort is called HADES,  they are inseparable companions. The reference here is clear to some great PESTILENCE that shall come upon the earth.  After devastating war, followed by famine, during which the dead are left unburied, a PESTILENCE is sure to follow.   The “fourth part of the earth” over which the Pestilence shall sweep will probably be that part of the Eastern Hemisphere covered by the revived Roman Empire. 
So great will be the destruction of human life in the days of the Fourth Seal” that HADES will have to enlarge herself and open her mouth without measure, as fortold in Isaiah 5:13-16.

The means of destruction mentioned- the SWORD<HUNGER<DEATH< and BEAST OF THE EARTH are the “FOUR SORE JUDGMENTS” in
Ezekiel 14:21, that are to fall upon JERUSALEM – “For thus saith the Lord God: How much more when I send my FOUR SORE JUDGMENTS upon JERUSALEM, the Sword, and the Famine, and the Noisome BEAST, and the PESTILENCE, to cut off from it man or beast.  Those will be awful times to those who must pass through them.  But the Church will not be in them having been “caught out” before as promised.  But awful as those days will be, they will be only the “BEGINNING OF SORROW” for those who are left.  Matthew 24:6-8.  And the worst thing about them will be that they are “Hardening Judgments.”  And instead of people repenting and calling upon God, they will call on the mountains and rocks to hide them from the face of Him that sitteth on the Throne.  Revelation 6: 15-17.

FIFTH SEAL
(The Souls of Martyrs.)
Rev. 6:9-11

THE SACRIFICIAL ALTAR
(Souls Under the Altar.)

“And when He opened the “FIFTH SEAL,” I saw under the “ALTAR” the SOULS of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying,  How long, O Lord, Holy and True, dost Thou not judge and avenge our Blood on them that dwell on the
earth? And white robes were given to every one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a “little season,” until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, “should be fufilled.”

When the Lamb opened the “FIFTH SEAL,” John saw under the “Sacrificial Altar” corresponding to the
“Burnt Offering Altar,” The “SOULS” of them that were slain for The Word of God and for the “testimony they held- the fact that their “SOULS” were under the “Sacrificial Altar” is proof that they had been offered as a “Sacrifice,” that is, they were MARTYRS.  But they were the Martyrs of the Church for they
had been resurrected and taken up with the Church.