'?39^ f immuni, | PRINCETON. N. J. I 'art of the ADiilSON ALEXANPKU IJHI.'Anv. ^ which was presented by Mkssbs. H. L. am. ,<. StuART. ^-Si Shelf, Jiooh\ &90<_L_Jl._5s9 ->,4"^_5,g;^ 'si e^^o e i^^,^ ^ 135417 C Ac{dlAf4^ ' ' C/rljl ^ tX4.L ^i / /jiv-u^ I ^ a <^4C/a1^ / ^c ^ . /A U^r/^^ 4 THE PREMIUM ESSAY THE CHARACTERISTICS AND LAWS PROPHETIC SYMBOLS. THE REV. EDWARD WINTJIROP, AM, BBCTOB OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, NOEWALK, OHIO. There is a God in beaTen that revealetb secrets, and maketh known . . . what shaB be \u lie latter days.— Dan. ii. 28. SECOND EDITION. NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY FRANKLIN KNIGUT, 138 NASSAU STREET. 1854 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854. By FRANKLIN KNIGHT, :n the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. CONTENTS. Page Preface vii-xiii. CHAPTER I. Intuoduction — design of the i^resent Essay — the Holy Scriptures, the paramount authority in this inquiry — mode of argument, and line of discussion adopted by the author — Nature and Office of Prophetic Symbols — they are not figures of speech — difference between symbols and metaphors — their representa- tive import proved by various examples from the Scriptures — Marks by which Symbolic Prophecies are distinguishable from those which are verbal. 1-15 CHAPTER n. Classification of the symbols — principle on which symbols are employed 16- '21 CHAPTER III. Seven laws of symbolization — discussion of the first LAW 22-33 IV CONTENTS. Pag« CHAPTER IV. Discussion of the second law 34-42 CHAPTER V. Discussion of the third law 43-77 CHAPTER VL Discussion of the fourth law 78-92 CHAPTER Vn. Discussion of the futu law 93-95 CHAPTER Vni. Discussion of the sixth law 96-97 CHAPTER IX. Discussion of the seventh law 98-106 CHAPTER X. Brief Recapitulation, in which it is shown tliat the symbols interpreted iu the prophecies are interpret- ed by these laws — that interpretations of one or CONTENTS. V Page more of each class of symbols are given in the pro- phecies — and that these inspired interpretations are to be regarded as a revelation of the principle ap- plicable to all the symbols, and the laws by which they are framed, revealed laws 10*7-111 CHAPTER XI. Results of these laws. L These Laws obviate difficulties, and give consist- ency and certainty to interpretation — proof and illustration of this by various examples, and par- ticularly by an exposition of the drying up of the symbolical Eaphrates, Rev. xvi. 12. II. These Laws show that to .spiritualize the symbol- ic prophecies is altogether wrong. III. The slaughter of the two apocalyptic witnesses, Rev. xi., foreshows a real, literal slaughter of the faithful followers of Christ thus I'epresented — a slaughter which is yet future. rV. The antichristian powers are to be destroy^ed, not converted. V. There will be, anterior to the millennium, a real and literal resurrection of departed saints. VI. The second coming of Christ will be before the millennium. "VTI. There will be men living in the natural body on the earth after Christ's second coming 112-139 VI C0]5fTi:XTS. » * Page CHAPTEU Xll. Answer to objections against the seventh result. 1. Objection from what is said in 2 Pet. iii., respect- ing the perishing of the earth by fire. 2. Objection from the parable of the slieop and the goats, Matt. xxv. 31-4(5. The verbal prophecies confirm the view taken in the preceding chap- ter. 3. Objection from Christ's declaration — "My king- dom is not of this world," John xviii. 36. 4. Objection from Christ's delivering up the king- dom, 1 Cor. XV. 24-28. 5. Objection from tlie post-millennial revolt, Ilev. XX. 7- 9. 6. Objection from the limited extent of the earth, and the insufficiency of its means of nutrition. Jbjral impressiveness of the view here present- ed 140-169 CHAPTER XIII. Results — (Continued.) YIII. The millennium is to continue three hundred and sixty thousand years. IX. A series of the most stupendous events is not very far distant 170-173 CHAPTER XIV. Conclusion — Practical Reflections — the impending cri- sis — state of the visible church — duty of investigat- CONTENTS. VI 1 ing all the Scriptures — testimony of the Holy Ghost to the utility of studying unfulfilled prophecy — grandeur of redemption — the ease with which the laws of symbolization may be mastered, and made the means of a large and useful knowledge of the prophecies — the claims of the subject upon the at- tention of Christians in general, and especially of ministers and teachers of the word — exhortation to trust and obey the Lord — origin, grandeur, and dura- ,tioii of the kingdom of Christ 174-184 Page PEEPACE. The occasion and object of this Essay will be explained by the following Circular, issued in June, 1851 : "Peemiums offeeed foe theee Essays on the Chaeacteeistics ajstd Laws of Peophetio Symbols. " TTie views of the Characteristics and Laws of Prophetic Symbolization, presented in the Theological and Lite- rary Journal, have attracted the attention of many persons in different parts of the country, especially of those in the Sacred Office, excited curiosity and investigation, and in- duced the feeling that they are entitled to a careful consider- ation by the students of the Bible. " It is known tliat a very considerable number have become satisfied of the accuracy of these law^s, and deem it of great moment that they should be generally understood and adopted. Another class, who regard them with much interest, and find themselves at a loss how to confute them, or set aside the constructions to which they lead, never- theless, hesitate to give them their full assent, and before they finally determine, desire to know what can be said against them by the advocates of other systems of interpre- X PEEFACE. tatioii. A tnird class reject them, not, so far as is known, on the ground of any direct evidence of their inaccuracy, but because the results to which they lead conflict with the views they have been accustomed to entertain of the admi- nistration God is hereafter to exercise over the world. " A strong wish is felt, therefore, by many of these several classes, that the validity of these laws should be tried in some form that will enable inquirers generally, and especially such as have not leisure for a minute investigation, to decide more satisfactorily in respect to them ; and for that purpose a fund has been subscribed to offer as premiums for three essays on the subject, that shall be deemed, by parties to be named as Adjudicators, the best entitled to them; — the point to be argued and proved being whether those Charac- teristics and Laws are, or are not, the true Characteristics and Laws of Prophetic Symbols ; and the sum of Four Hundred Dollars to be awarded and paid to the Author of the Essay which most legitimately and eifectively demon- strates the alternative he endeavors to establish ; the sum of Two Hundred Dollars to the Author of the Essay the next in merit in that respect; and the sum of One Hundred Dollars to the Author of the Essay the third in rank in that relation ; provided, that of those presented, three of them are of such character and merit as justly to be entitled to the premiums. " The chief points to be discussed by the Essayists are the views presented in the Journal, and other works of the Editor,* respecting — I. The Nature and Office of Prophetic Symbols : • BIr. David N. Lord, of the city of Now Vork. CRKFACK. XI II. The Marks by avhich the Symbolic Prophecies ARE DISTINGUISHABLE FROM THOSE OF WHICH LANGUAGE IS THE Medium : III. The Classification of the Symbols : IV. The Principles on which they are employed : V. Their Laws : VI. Whether the Symbols that are interpreted IN THE Prophecies are interpreted by these Laws : VII. Whether Interpretations are given in the Prophecies of one or more of each class of Symbols : VIII. Whether these inspired Interpretations are to be regarded as a Revelation of the Principle on which Symbols are employed, and the Laws by which they are framed, revealed Laws : IX. The Results to which they lead, — whether they obviate Difficulties, remove Uncertainties, supply important Defects, give consistency and cer- tainty to Interpretation, and lead to a clear and demonstrable Explication of many Symbols of which no satisfactory Solution is obtained by other Systems OF construction : X. The Ease with which they may be mastered AND made the means OF A LARGE AND USEFUL KNOW- LEDGE OF THE Prophecies : XI. Their claims to the consideration of Ministers OF the Sacred Word, and of Christians generally. '* Writers are at liberty to select and arrange the order" of Ml PREFA ('!•:. the points they may discuss to suit themselves ; and it is expected that they u-ill not merely state their opinions, but give their reasons also for the judgment which they express; and that tliose vvho reject the views advanced in the Jol'knal will state what they regard as the true Characteristics and Laws of Prophetic Symbols, and the considerations by which they believe tiieni to be sustained. "Men of ability and higli standing will be selected as the Adjudicators, wiiose names will be duly announced. " The Essays whidi obtain the awards arc to be the pro- perty of the contributors to the Premium Fund, and to be published in the Journal or otherwise, as they may deem expedient. " The Manuscripts, with a note from the author, should be addres.sed to the Adjudicators, and sent (post paid) to Fra)iklin Knight, Publisher of the Theological and Lite- rary Journal, 140 Nassau street, New York, on or before the 1st of February, 1852. " Many clergymen and other gentlemen have expressed a desire that this subject, which they regard as one of great interest and importance, may be thus carefully investigated and thoroughly discussed — among whom are the following : " Rev. James S. Cannon, D.D., Rutgers College, N. J. ; Rt. Rev. Charles P. INPIlvainc, D.D., Ohio ; Rev. Nathan Lord, D.D., Dartmouth College, N. H. ; Rev. Leonard Woods, D.D., Mass. ; Rev. Jolin Forsyth, D.D , Princeton College, N. J. ; Rev. Mark Hopkins, D.D.,. Williams College, Mass.; Rev. J. H. Thorn well, D.D., S. C. ; Rt. Rev. J. P. K. Ilenshaw, D.D., R. I. ; Rev. Willis Lord, D.D., Ohio ; Rev. Leroy M. Lee, D.D., Va. ; Rev. Edward N. Kirk, D.D., Mass. ; Rev. William Thompson, D.D., Theol. Inwt., Conn. ; PEEFACE. XIU Rev. Edward Hitchcock, D.D., Amherst College, Mass. ; lit. Rev. Alonzo Potter, D.D., Pa. ; Rev. Robert Ryland, Richmond College, Va. ; Rev. George Duffie'd, D.D., Mich.; Rev. Henry Gregory, D.D., N. Y. ; Rev. John M. Krebs, D.D., N. Y. ; Rev. Isaac Anderson, D.D., Tenn. ; Rev. Richard Newton, D.D., Pa. ; Rev. Edward Winthrop, Ohio ; Rev. Charles K. Imbrie, N. J. ; Rev. Thumas E. Peck, JMd. ; Rev. Randolph Campbell, Mass. ; Rev. William B. Stevens, D.D., Pa.; Rev. L. H. Van Doren, N. J.; Rev. M. L. P. Thompson, D.D., N. Y.; Rev. Walter Clarke, D.D., Conn.; Rev. John Richards, D.D., N. H. ; Rev. J. F. Halsey, N. J. ; Rev. D. S. Miller, Pa.; Rev. Adam Empie, D.D., Va. ; Rev. George Potts, D.D., N. Y. ; Rev. John M. Macauley, N. Y.; Rev. William Ramsey, Pa.; Rev. Thomas V. Moore, D.D., Va.; Rev. William R. Williams, D.D., N. Y. ; Rev. E. Dunlap Smith, D.D., N. Y. ; Rev. W. W. Blauvelt, N. J. ; Rev. J. T. Ward, Pa. ; Hon. J. C. Hornblower, N. J. ; Hon. Bellamy Storer, Ohio ; Messrs. Benjamin Douglass, Henry Smith, James Donaldson, B. R. Winthrop, D. O. Calkins, Chester Driggs, N. Y." New York, June 10th, 1851. Such was the Circular. The Rt, Rev. Charles P. M'llvaine, D.D., D.C.L. ; the Rev. Alexander T. M'Gill, D.D. ; and the Rev. John Forsyth, Jr., D.D., consented to act as Adjudicators. The result is that but one premium has been awarded, and that to the writer of the following Essay. The author has carefully discussed all the topics proposed in the Circular; and in revising his work for the press, has endeavored to present the argument with clearness and condensation, to call the attention of the reader to the exact line of reasoning, to answer the main objections, and to bring out prominently some of the chief results of the laws here demonstrated. He indulges the hope that this Essay, on the characteris- tics AND LAWS OF PROPHETIC STMBOLS, will prOVC a useful contribution towards the settlement of right prin- ciples for the interpretation of the Word of God ; and thus be the means of advancing the Redeemer's glory, confirming the faith of his people, and unfolding the revealed plan of the divine administration. EDWAKD WINTHROP. NoBWAiK, Ohio, November llth, 1868. CHARACTERISTICS AND LAWS PROPHETIC kSYMBOLS CHAPTER I Introduction. — Design of the present Essay — the Holy Scrip- tures, the paramount authority in this inquiry — mode of argument and line of discussion adopted by tlie author — NATURE AND OFFICE OF PROPHETIC SYMBOLS — they are not figures of speech — difference between symbols and meta- phors — their representative import proved b}' vai'ious exam- ples from the Scriptures — marks by which symbolic pro- phecies ARE DISTINGUISHABLE FROM THOSE WHICH ARK VERBAL. The prophetic Scriptiu-es reveal to us the pur- poses of God and the destinies of men; and hence, to demonstrate the true principles on which these Scriptures are to be interpreted, and to develop the consequences of their correct application, is to confer a lasting benefit on all who love the saci'ed oracles, and bow, with ador- ing acquiescence, to their infallible decisions. It is our design, in the present essay, to exhi- 1 2 CIIARACTEKI^Trrp ASD LAWS bit the nature and office of prophetic symbols ; to point out certain marks by which tlie sym- l>olic are distinguishable from the verbal prophe- cies ; to arrange the symbols in classes ; to un- fold the principle on which they are employed ; to expound their laws ; to show that the symbols interpreted in the prophecies are interpreted by these laws ; that interpretations of one or more of each class of symbols are given in the 2:)rophe- cies ; and that these inspired intei*pretations are to be regarded as a revelation of the principle applicable to all the symbols, and the laws by which they are framed revealed laws ; to notice the results to which they lead, and the ease with which they may be mastered and made the }neans of a large and useful knowledge of the prophecies ; and to present the claims which they have upon the attention both of ministera and people. These are the topics to which the Circular* calls our attention. We shall examine them all, and discuss them thoroughly, but with as much brevity as justice to the subject will admit. In traversing this wide field of inquiry, the Holy Scriptures must be the lamp by which our feet are to be guided ; for it is only by walking * See Preface, p. x. OF PROPHETIC SYMBOLS. in the light of these divine oracles, that we shall be kept from going astray. We must resort not to the fancies of ancient soothsayers, or the spe- culations of modern rationalists, but to the Bible itself, in order to perceive the manner in which symbols are used, and to deduce the laws by which they are to be explained. A careful and accurate analysis of jjassages from the word of God is absolutely indispensable; and that will undeniably be the best and most powerful mode of reasoning, which, by the clearness of its state- ments and the simplicity of its proofs, carries conviction to the unbiassed mind. Luminous and consistent exposition, therefore, in which we compare Scripture with ScrijDture to show the true meaning of the inspired volume, and to exhibit the principles of interpretation which those Scriptures themselves reveal, is the kind of discussion most needed. Such will be the line of argument in this essay. Avoiding collateral issues, and confining ourselves, for the most part, to the main points in question, we shall en- deavor to ascertain the real import of the sym- bols themselves, as well as of the language which describes them. We hope that our readers will study the work with attention, fairness, and candor ; for on such a subject involving the 4 NATURE AND OFFICE most gi'ave and momentous questions, it is only by divesting ourselves, as far as possible, of all perverting influences, and examining the evi- dence deliberatelv, impartially, and prayerfully — looking to the Spirit of God to guide us in our investigations — that we can arrive at the truth. Let us then consider, in the first place, the NATLTRE AND OFFICE OF PEOPHETIC SYMBOLS. The symbols are not rlietoriGal images employ- ed by the prophets, that is, they are not figures of speech : but they are representative agents and ohjects (with their acts, effects, characteristics, conditions, and relations) ; and, unless naturally perceptible, they were in dream, or vision, made perceptible by the Almighty, who thus indicated what should come to pass at tjie time appointed : and hence a metaphor (which is a mere mode of expression) and a symbol (which is an agent, ob- ject, act, effect), though often confounded by writers on prophecy, are entirely distinct from eacli other. Thus when the Psalmist says, " the Lord is . . . my high tower," Psl. xviii. 3, there is a metaphor. Jehovah, and no one else, is the subject of the afiirmation. The metaphor is in the phrase high tower : and the figure of speech consists in predicating of the Deity that which, OF PKOPHETIC SYMBOLS. in tlio litenil sense of the words, is incompatible with his natnre, it being impossible that God who is a spirit, a living being, should be literally a wooden or stone building, a mere inanimate edifice, such as is called a tower. The meanino; of the Psalmist obviously is, that as men resort to a tower for defence and security, so he trusted in the Lord for defence and security ; and there- fore on account of the attributes by which he is capable of affording protection, the qualities in which, in a certain relation, he resembles a strong building, Jehovah is figuratively denomi- nated a tower, which literally he is not. Nor is the language in Psl. xviii. 2, descriptive of any scenic representation either naturally or in vision, so that neither Jehovah nor the tower is there used as a symbol. On the other hand, when Daniel says that he saw a he-goat rushing violently against a ram and overthrowing him, Dan. viii. 5-7, the terms 7'a))i and Jie-goat are not used metaphorically but literally, and designate exactly what was seen in the vision, namely, a literal ram and a literal he-goat acting in the manner described: and tliose animals were symbols, that is, they were agents representing, according to the inspired interpretation, Dan. viii. 20, 21, opposing hings. G NATUKE A^^D OFFICE In the great image, Dan. ii., the great tree_ Dan. iv., and the four ravenous beasts, Dan. vii.,* we have examples of symbols which were perceptible in dreams: in the proj)het Isaiah, chap. XX., the prophet Ezeldel, chap, iv., and the liigh priest with the crowns, Zech. vi., we have examples of symbols which were percepti- ble naturally I and in the locusts. Rev, ix., the seven-headed and ten-horned beast, and the two- horned beast. Rev. xiii., and the woman support- ed by the beast. Rev. xvii., we have examples of symbols which were perceptible in ecstatic visions. The office of the symbols, the representative agents, objects, acts, effects, &c., is to denote agents, objects, acts, effects, &c., of the same order or kind, or those which are of a different but nevertheless analogous order. In the dreams and visions of the Hebrew prophets, and so too when those prophets or other real men were employed naturally as representative agents, and so also in the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar respecting the great image and the great tree, an agent, when used as a symbol, always sym- bolizes an agent and not an act or effect, not a * "Daniel liad a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream." Dan. vii. 1. OF PKOPHETIC SYMBOLS. 7 principle or system, not an attribute, quality, or condition : an object upon whicli agency is exerted always represents an object upon which agency is exerted : and the symbolic acts, eflects, characteristics, conditions, and relations foreshow corresponding acts, effects, characteristics, con- ditions, and relations of the things symbolized. And thus whenever future events are disclosed exclusively through the medium of prophetic symbols, it is by a species of scenic representa- tion. That such is the nature and office of prophetic symbols, the Scriptures furnish the most ample proof. Thus, in the eighth chapter of Daniel, to recur to an example already given, the Medo- Pcrsian dynasty is represented by a ram which had two horns. "The ram which thou sawest liaving two horns are the kings of Media and Persia," verse 20. Tlie prophet says, " I saw^ the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward," verse 4. The ram was a symbolical or representati've agent, and his action, in push- ing successfully against the other beasts, fore- show^ed the analogous action of the Medo-Persian kings against other chiefs in the same directions. The term " ?•«;;?," as we have stated, is not used metaphorically but literally : and the language 8 ^'ATL■RE AND OFFICE here employed, Dan. viii, 4, is simply descriptive of a past event which the prophet had seen in a vision, to wit, the agency of the ram. Hence the prediction in this verse is not at all through the medium of the language, but entirely through that of the symbols. By a correct interpretation of the lancjuage we learn what the symbol was, and what it did. The symbol was a ram, and the ram was seen pushing with his horns against other beasts, so that they could not stand before him. AVhen therefore we have explained only the oneaning of the luords^ we have not given an exposition of the true import of the prophecy. We have merely shown lohat had been perceived in the vision. In order to give a full exposition of the prophecy, we must show also what is sig- nified by the symbol, and by the agency lohich it exerted. So also in regard to the " he-goat.''^ Tlie language is so plain that it requires no com- ment — it is nearly all literal — the verbs are all in the past tense, and the prophecy is clearly through the medium of the symbols. " And as I was considering, behold a he-goat came from the west, on the face of the Avhole earth, and touched not the ground ; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen OF PROPHETIC SYMBOLS, 9 standing before tlie river, and ran unto him in the furj of his power. And I saw him come cL^se nnto the ram, and he was moved with cholcr against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns : and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him : and there was none that could deHver the ram out of his hand." Dan, viii. 5-7. From the twenty -first verse we learn what was symbolized by the he-goat — " the king of Grecia : and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king." The ram had been explained in verse twentieth, as symbolizing " the kings of Media and Persia," The overthrow of the ram, there- fore, by the lie-goat indicated the analogous overthrow of the Medo-Persian dynasty, and was historically verified in the conquest of Da- rius by Alexander the Great. The inspired interpretation in this, as in all similar cases, is an interpretation of the symbols only, and not of the language : and this is decisive that the pre- diction is through the m.vlium of the former, and not througli that of the latter. In many of the prophecies there is no prediction whatever, un- less it be through the medium of the symbols : as in those just cited, and in that of the last 1* I 10 NATCKE AND OFFICE resurrection and tlie linal judgment, Rev. xx. 12- 15, where, witli the exception of the clause in verse fourteenth — '■'■this is the second death'''' — which is an inspired interpretation thrown in parenthetically, all the words are descrij)tive of something that was past, namely, the s^'mbolic exhibition which had been seen by St. John, and which foreshowed a corresponding future reality. Hence the only way in which this and other passages of similar construction can fore- show the future is through the Tnediurri of the SYMBOLS, THE REPKESENTATIVE AGENTS, OBJECTS, AND ACTS which point to the future. This is just as true when the symbol is of the same class, order, or species, with the thing symbolized, as it is when it is of a diflerent but analogous order. Thus the vision in E.ev. xx. 12-15, is truly sym- bolic or representative in its import. The un- holy raised from death, as seen in that vision, represent the real deceased wicked who are to be raised after the expiration of the millennium : and their resurrection, and their being judged and cast into the lake of fire, foreshow the cor- responding real resurrection, judgment, and punishment of that class of persons at that epoch. Sometimes there is a transition from prophecy OF I'ltOl'iUaiC SYMBOLS. 11 through the medium of symbols, to prophecy through the medium of language. Thus in the fourth chapter of Daniel, after the symbol tree has been spoken of in verses 10-15, there is a transition in the latter part of verse fifteen to I*^ebuchadnezzar himself, who was the person symbolized by that tree : " Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the eartli ; let his beart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto himj and let seven times pass over A«V;i." Dan. iv. 15, 16. This is a ver- bal prediction of the seven years' insanity of that king. So also in the second chapter of Daniel, at the thirty-fourth and thirty-fiftli verses, a pro- phecy is given through the medium of symbols. The verbs are all in the past tense ; the words are all used in their primary import ; and the only figure is a simile, in which the broken image is compared to the real and literal chaft' of the summer threshing-floors : " Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet, that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors ; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found 12 TS'ATUKE AXD OFFICE for tlicm ; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." In verse forty-fourth, however, where Ave have an inspired explanation of the foregoing prophecy, the same events are predicted through the medium of language : " And in the days of these kings," that is, those who are syraholizcd by the ten toes, "shall the God of heaven setup a kino-dom, which shall never be destroved : and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." Sometimes there are verbal statements respect- ing the future, in connexion with prophetic sym- bols ; as for example, in Rev. xxi. 24:, " And the nations of them which are saved shall toalk in the light of it," the New Jerusalem. Here the verb '■'shall wall;^^ is in the fiffu7'e tense, and therefore cannot he descriptive of a past symholi- zation, although the New Jeriisaleni is a si/mhol, and one which had been exhibited to the beloved disciple in the scenic representation mentioned in verses 10-23. As the Lamb is the light of the Kew Jerusalem, verse twenty-third, the meaning of this prediction is, that these nations shall be guided' by the light which Christ gives to those who are denoted by that symbol city — a city OF PKOPHETIC SYMBOLS. IS whicli, according to verses 9, 10, represents the same class of persons as " the Bride, the Lamb's wife.* Let us next observe the maeks by which sy^i- BOLIC PROPHECIES AKE DISTINGUISHABLE FKOM THOSE OF WHICH LANGUAGE IS THE MEDIUM. The symbolic prophecies are easily distin- guished by the fact that the representative agents or objects were apparently cognizable, either na- turally, or in dreams, or in ecstatic visions, bi/ some one or more of the bodily senses j that is, the persons to whom the revelation was syraboli- cally made, seemed to themselves to see, hea/r, touch, or taste such agents or objects ; and the language descriptive of such a symbolization, in- stead of pointing to the future, speaks of the past, namely, of the scenic representation which had been perceptible in the dream, or vision, or otherwise. Nebuchadnezzar, for instance, saw, in his dream, a great image which was made of diverse materials, and which was dashed in pieces by a stone that struck it on the feet. Dan. ii. 31-36. St. John, in the sublime visions at Patmos, saw a seven-headed and ten-horned beast rising from the sea, Rev. xiii. 1 ; and heard * See the passage explained more particularly in the eleventh chapter of this essay, under the seventh result. 14 NATLKK A>D OFFICE seven thunders, and touched and taded a little book, which was sweet in his mouth, but bitter in his stomach, Rev. x. 3, 4, 8-10. These are evidently symbolic prophecies. In the seventh chapter of the book of Daniel, and at the seventh verse, the prophet says : " After this I saw \\\ the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dread- ful, and terrible, and strong exceedingl}^ ; and it had great iron teeth ; it devoured, and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it; and it was diverse from all the beasts that w^ere before it ; and it had ten horns." There is no difficulty in distinguishing this also as a sym- bolic prophecy. The language simply describes what Daniel saw, and the prediction is made through the medium of the symbols. The " fourth beast," according to the inspired inter- pretation, verse twenty -third, represented a fourth ruling dynasty, which was to be celebrated for its irresistible prowess and universal dominion.* On the other hand, when Zechariah says : " The Lord shall be king over all the earth," Zcch. xiv. 9 ; or when Christ says : " They (the Jews) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led * III the parallel dream, Dan. ii., the great strength of the fourth dynasty was shown by the iron in the image, Dan. ii. 33, 40. ^^ OF PKOPHETIC SYMBOLS. 15 away captive into all nations ; and Jerusalem sliall be trodden down of tlie Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled," Luke xxi. 24, tlie prediction is wholly in the language ; for that language^ instead of 'being descriptive of any symholization, points exclusively to unsymholio events^ which v^ere then future. In all such pro- phecies the verbs are commonly in the future tense, though occasionally, for the sake of in- creased s^ividness, the present or the past is used for the future. Bnt this is whei*e the general strain of the prophecy shows that a future event is spoken of, and thus furnishes ns with the means of avoiding a false interpretation. Examples might be multiplied to a very great extent, illustrative of the diflference between symbolic and verbal prophecy, that is, between prophecy given through the medium of repre- sentative agents and objects, and prophecy given through the medium of language ; but those which have been already adduced will be suffi- cient to enable the reader to discriminate be- tween the one class and the other. CHAPTER II. Classification of the symbols — principle on -which symbols ark emi'loyed. The symbols may be divided into five classes :* I. Living conscious agents. II. Dead bodies. III. Natural unconscious agents ok objects lY. Artificial objects. Y. Acts, effects, characteristics, conditions, AND RELATIONS OF AGENTS AND OBJECTS, together with the chronological periods during which certain representative events take place, or a specified agency is exerted, or eflects endured by the symbolical subjects of such agency. "We shall mention some examples under each of tliese classes, and refer to passages of Scrip- ture where they may be found. I. Living conscious agents. 1. Divine. 2. Created beings. * Theological and Literary Journal, edited by David K Lord, New York. K umber for April, 1851, p. 668. CLASSIFICATION OF THE SYMBOLS. 17 1. Divine : as God (the Father), Rev. iv. 2, 3 ; v. 1 ; xi. 16, 17; xix. 4, called the Ancient of Days, Dan. vii. 9, 13. The Son of God called, in Rev. vi. 1, 16, the Lauib, and in Rev. xix. 13, the Word of God, and in Dan. vii. 13, Rev. i. 13, one like a son of man. (See the Chaldee and Greek.) 2. Created beings. (1.) Intelligent. (2.) Unintelligent. (1.) Intelligent created beings : as (a.) Living creatures, fiLa, Rev. iv. 6, 8, 9. (b.) Angels, Rev. xii. 7. (c.) Satan or the Devil, Rev. xii. 9, 12; xx. 2, 10. (d.) Unclean spirits, or spirits of demons, Rev. xvi. 13, 14; fallen angels, Rev. xii. 9. (e.) Souls, Rev. vi. 9. (f.) Human beings in the natural life, as the pro- phet Ezekiel, Ezek. iv. and v.; the prophet Isaiah, Is. xx. 2-4, and the apostle John, Rev. X. 8-11, xi. 1, 2. (g.) Risen and glorified saints sitting upon thrones, Rev. XX. 4 ; clothed in fine linen and riding upon white horses. Rev. xix. 14. (h.) The unholy raised from death. Rev. xx. 15. (2.) Unintelligent created heings : as (a.) Beasts, such as the bear, Dan. vii. 5 ; the ram Dan. viii. 3, 4, 6, 7 ; the goat, Dan. viii. 5-8. (b.) Monster animals, such as the winged leopard with four heads, Dan. vii. 6; the ten-horned beast with iron teeth, and nails or claws of 18 CLASSIFICATION OF TUE SYJiIBOLS. brass, Dan. vii. 7, 19; the dragon with sever heads and ten horns, Rev. xii. 3. (c.) Monster insects, the locusts of the fifth trum- pet, which had shapes like horses, faces like the faces of men, hair like the hair of women, teeth like the teeth of lions, and tails like those of scorpions, with stings in their tails. Rev. ix. 7, 8, 10. n. Dead bodies : as The slain \vitnesses, Rev. xi. 8-11. m. Natural unconscious agents oe objects, as The earth, Rev. xii. 16; the sun, moon, and stars. Rev. viil. 12; waters, Rev. xvii. 15; a burning mountain. Rev. viii. 8 ; the stone that smote the image, Dan. iii. 34, 35 ; a tree, Dan. iv. 10-12. IV. Artificial objects, as An image, Dan. ii. 31-33; candlesticks, Zech. iv. 2, 3, 11 ; Rev. i. 12, 13, 20 ; xi. 4 ; a sword, Rev. i. 16; \-i. 4; xix. 15, 21 : cities, such as the great city Babylon, Rev. xvi. 19; and the Holy City, New Jerusalem, Rev. xxi. 2, 10; a crown, att^avoi (the badge of victory), Rev. iv. 10; vi. 2; ix. 7; xii. 1; xiv. 14; diadems, StaS^fuata (the token of dominion), Rev. xii. 3; xiii. 1; xix. 12; books, Dan. vii. 10; Rev. V. 1-5, 7-9; X. 2, 8, 9, 10; XX. 12, 15; white robes, Rev. vi. 11; vii. 9, 1 3, 1 4 ; fine linen, clean and white, Rev. xix. 8, 14. V. Acts, effects, characteristics, conditions, AND relations OF AGENTS AND OBJECTS, US Speaking, Dan. vii. 8; fighting, Dan. viii. 7; CLASSIFICATION OF THE SYMBOLS. 19 Rev. xii. 7 ; being broken to pieces, Dan. ii. 35; ferocity and strength, Dan. vii. 7 : heat. Rev. xvi. 9 ; magnificence and height, Dan. iv. 1 1, 12; direction, Dan. viii. 4, 5. To wliicli may be added chronological periods during wliicli certain representatire events take place, or a specified agency is exerted by the representative agents, or effects endured by tlie symbolical subjects of such agency ; as the three hundred and ninety days during which Ezekiel was to lie on his side for the iniquity of the house of Israel, the forty days during which he was to do the same thing for that of the house of Judah, " each day for a year," Ezek. iv, 5, 6 ; the forty- two months during which the wild beast from the sea was to exert his characteristic agency, Rev. xiii. 5 ; the twelve hundred and sixty days during which the witnesses were to prophesy in sackcloth. Rev. xi. 3, previous to their slaughter by the beast from the abyss ; and the one thou- sand years during which Satan was to remain bound and shut up in the abyss, Rev. xx. 2, 3. The above is, substantially, the classification advocated by Mr. Lord in the Theological and Literary Journal, and it is demonstrably correct, for all the kinds of symbols included in this dis- tribution are found in the sacred Scriptures, and 20 THE PRIXCIPLE OX WHICH there can he no other than such as these, namely "divine and created; intelligent and unintelli sent; livinir and inanimate ; natural and artifi- cial ; real and visionary ; proper and mon- strous;" together with their acts, effects, cha- racteristics, conditions, relations, and chronologi- cal periods. "We come next to unfold the prtxciple on WHICH SYMBOLS ARE EMPLOYED, and tO CXpOUlld their laws. If we recur to the symbols which are explain- ed in holy writ, we shall find that in every instance where the symbol and that which it represents are of a different class, species, or order, they are employed on the principle of analogy or resemblance. For example, there is an obvious analogy between- a lofty and wide- spreading tree which affords shelter to the fowls of the air, and shade to the beasts of the field, and an illustrious and powerful monarch who gives protection to his subjects and extends his sway over the earth, Dan. iv. 10-27 ; between a ferocious wild beast which tramples on other animals, and an aggressive dynasty of rulers who exert a corresi)onding agency towards their adversaries. Dan. vii. 7, 17, 23. In such ex- amples the resemblance is only partial, as a tree SYMBOLS AEE EMPLOYED. 21 is not literally a monarcli ; nor a beast a man. On tlie other hand there is, in many instances, a mnch closer likeness between the symbol and the thins: svmbolized, as where men in the natural life represent snch men, and persons raised from death denote such persons, and in general where the symbolic agents and ol)jects which appeared in the visions represent agents and objects of the same kind or order. This we shall have occasion to show in treating of the LAWS OF SYMBOLIZATION. CHAPTEK III. Seven la'ws of stmbolization — discusstox of the first twr. I. "The First Law: Tlie symbol and that which it represents resemble each other in the station they fill, the relation they sustain, and the agencies they exert in their respective spheres." II. " The Second Law : The representative and that which it represents, while the counter- part of each other, are of different species, kinds, or rank, in all cases where the symbol is of such a nature, or is used in such a relation, that it can properly symbolize something different from itself" III. " The Third Law : Symbols that are of such a nature, station, or relation, that there is nothing of an analogous kind that they can represent, s^'^mbolize agents, objects, acts, or events of their own kind," IV. "Tnii FouKTii Law: When the symbol and that which it symbolizes differ from each other, the correspondence between the repre- LAWS OF BTjrBOLIZATIOIf. 23 sentative and that which it represents still ex- tends to their chief parts ; and the general ele- ments or parts of the symbol denote correspond- ing parts in that which is symbolized." Y. " The Fifth Law : The names of symbols are their literal and proper names." VI. "The Sixth Law: A single agent, in many instances, symbolizes a body and succes- sion of agents." To these six laws of symbolization enumerated by the editor of the Theological and Literary Journal in the number for April, 1851, may be added for the sake of perspicuity, a seventh, though it is perhaps comprehended in the first. YII. The Seventh Law : The periods of time during which a representative agent per- forms certain representative acts, symbolize the periods during which the agents denoted by the symbols perform the corresponding acts : and, in all cases where such an interpretation is not contrary to analogy, days symbolize years. Tlie main question at issue, and which it is proposed to settle by this discussion, is, whether these laws are implied in the inspired interpre- tations of symbols : and to determine that point we must appeal to the Scriptures themselves, and enter upon a fair and candid examination 24: THE FmST LAW of tlniir contents on the topic before us. It will thus be seen that the above-mentioned laws are all susceptible of a complete demonstration. I. " The Fikst Law : The symbol and that which it represents resemhle each other in the station they Jill, the relation they sustain, and the agencies they exert in their respective spheres^ " This is true universally, whether the symbol is employed on the principle of a partial resem- blance, or of an exact likeness. Thus an agent symbolizes an agent ; an object of agency repre- sents an object of agency ; an act denotes an act ; an effect foreshows an effect ; an office, condition, or characteristic" of the symbol, " an office, condition, or characteristic" of the thing symbolized. " A living agent symbolizes a liv- ing agent ; a conquering agent denotes a con- quering one ; a destroying . . one represents a destroyer." Tlius the prophet Ezekiel, in performing cer- tain symbolic acts enjoined upon him, was a symbol of Israel ; and in certain others also en- joined upon him, a symbol of Judah. The di- rection which the Lord gives him is this : " Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity OF symdolizatio:n'. 25 of the house of Israel upon it : according to tlie number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days : so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast ac- complished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Ju- dah forty days : I have appointed thee each day for a year." Ezek. iv. 4-6. Here Ezekiel, who was himself a living agent, represented the people of Israel and Judah, who were also living agents. In Daniel vii. 3-7, the four great beasts which were living agents, represented four ruling dy- nasties, which were also living agents. The fol- lowing is the inspired interpretation : "• These great beasts which are four, are four kings," verse 17, that is, they symbolize or represent four kings, or ruling dynasties. So also in the eighth chapter, the ram with two horns, and the he-goat with the great horn between his -eyes, themselves living agents, are explained as sym- bolizing living agents ; namely, on the one hand, the Medo-Persian dynasty, and on the other, the Grecian. " The ram which thou sawest having two horns, are the kings of Media and Persia. 2 26 THE FIRST LAW And the rough goat is the king of Grecia.'' Dan. viii. 20, 21. In Zechariab vi, 12, the liigh priest Joshua, the son of Josedech, a living agent, is a symbol of the man Christ Jesus, that is, of the Saviour in his hnman nature, though not a symbol of him in his godhead, which, as is evi- dent from Rev. v., no created agent would be adequate to represent. "Take silver and gold and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest, and speak unto him, saying : Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the branch." Zech. vi. 11, 12. The term '-hrancli^ is here used as a proper name of the man Christ Jesus, with reference to his con- nexion with the stock of David, as is evident from Jer. xxiii. 5 : " Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a right- eous Branch, and a King shall reign and pros- per, and shall execute justice in the earth." The seven-headed and ten-horned dragon and wild beast, themselves living agents, symbolized liv- ing agents; the seven heads, according to the in- spired interpretation, representing "seven kings," or lines of chiefs, of whom, in St. John's time, five had already fallen ; and the ten horns, " ten kings," or governors, which were afterwards to OF SYMBOLIZATION, 27 arise. " There are seven kings ; five are fallen^ and one is, and the other is not yet come, and when he cometh, he mnst continue a short space. . . . And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet." Kev. xvii. 10, 13. The inspired intei-pretation of what was sym- bolized by the fourth beast, Dan. vii., is another proof of the truth of this law. According to that interpretation, those who were symbolized by that beast were, in their sphere, to exert an agency resembling that which the beast did in his. " After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly ; and it had great iron teeth ; it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it : and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it ; and it had ten horns." Dan. vii. 7. Such was the symboliza- tion — such the agency of this beast as seen in the vision. Now observe with what exactness the inspired interpretation sustains the law that we are considering. As the fourth beast was a living agent, so were the rulers which that beast symbolized ; for it is said of all the four beasts, "These great beasts which are four, are four kings," Dan. vii. 17; and again, "The fourth 28 THE FIRST LAW beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the w^hole earth, and shall tread down and break it in pieces." Dan. vii. 23. As the fourth beast was diverse from the others, so the fourtli ruling dynasty which that beast sym- bolized, was to be diverse from the others ; and as the fourth beast trampled down and brake in pieces the "others, and was an all-conquering beast, so the dynasty or line of rulei-s which it symbolized, was to trample down and break in pieces the others, and to be an all-conquering dynasty. How perfectly, therefore, is the law verified by the inspired interpretation. In all these examples living agents represent living agents, and so in all the interpreted symbols of the Hebrew prophets. The dream of Pharaoh, concerning the seven fat and the seven lean kine, is an excej^tion to the general principle, that living agents repre- sent living agents ; but inasmuch as it is ex- plained in the Scriptures, it presents no practical embarrassment; and being in accordance with the arbitrary hieroglyphics ammig the Egyp- tians, and thus far, according to the ordering of God's providence, taking its complexion, per- haps, from the monarch's waking thoughts, it ia OF SYMBOLIZATION. 2G not to be considered as sotting aside the lawa which govern the interpretation of the symboli- cal image and stone, Dan. ii., and the symboli- cal tree, Dan. iv., or the symbols which were perceptible naturally, and used by the Hebrew prophets under the Lord's direction, or those which were exhibited to them in dream or vi- sion. Again : while living agents in all such casse never symbolize inanimate objects, it is equally true that in many instances, inanimate objects that act or exert agencies, do represent — on the principle of general resemblance or analogy — ■ living agents. The one exert in their sphere an agency analogous to that which the others exert in theirs. Thus, in Rev. i. 20, the seven candle- sticks, or lamp-stands, symbolize seven chvirches, assemblies, or congregations of living men, iKy.xyirUi ; and the seven stars, seven messengers of the churches. A candlestick or lamp-stand supporting a lamp which gives light in the circle around it, is an appropriate symbol of a church or congregation of worshippers, which supports a religious teacher who sheds the light of divine truth in the circle of his ministrations. The stars, on the same principle of analogy, are suitable em- blems of sacred messengers, ministers of the gos- 30 THE FURST LAW pel commissioned by God, and sent bj tlie churches to preach the word and administer religious instruction, warning, or consolation. The terra xyyi^^oi being here used in the same connexion with exx>.nrtce^ the one as an explana- tion of what is denoted by the stars, and the other of what is meant by the candlesticks, is doubtless to be taken in its primary import of niessenger^ and not in the secondary import of angel, a being belonging to a rank of intelligen- ces superior to man, and deriving this name from his office. The stone from the mountain, Dan. ii. 34, 45, which smote the image on the feet, and brake it in pieces, is explained in the con- text, as denoting the kings whom God is to es- tablish in his kingdom, and who, in demolishing the dynasties represented by the ten toes, are to exert in their sphere an agency analogous to that which in its corresponding sphere was exerted by the stone. " In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." Dan. ii. 44. The stone strikes the image on the feet, and of course on the ten toes, and crushes it : the meaning of OF SYMBOLIZATIOK. 31 which is, that those whom tlie stone symbolizes, are at the time appointed, to wit, at an epoch subsequent to the division of the fourth great monarchy into ten kingdoms, to overturn with resistless might, and utterly demolish the oppos- ing dynasties, and establish their own everlasting kingdom uj)on the wreck and ruin of these an- tagonistic sovereignties; just as the stone, with great violence and overwhelming force, utterly broke in pieces the symbolic image, wdiicli " be- came like the chaff of the summer threshing- floors," and was carried away by the wind, '' that no place was found for " it. Dan. ii. 35. Tliat what was thus true of the symbol is also true of the dynasty which it represented, is clearly indi- cated in the inspired interpretation, by the words, " hreak in pieces,^^ and " consume^'''' Dan. ii. 44 ; which denote, in this connexion, not reformation, but destruction. Similar language had just be- fore been used, Dan. ii. 40, to signify the crush- ing force with which the dynasty represented in that chapter by the iron and clay, and in the seventh by the fourth beast, was to overwhelm its opponents ; and here also it must have the same meaninof. From these inspired interpretations it is evi- dent that an object of agency denotes such an 32 THE FIRST LAW object, and an effect in the symbol foreshows a like effect in the thing symbolized. Thus the image, which was dashed to pieces by the stone, represented the dynasties which are to be des- troyed by those whom the stone symbolizes. The agency of the stone foreshowed the analo- gous agency of the corresponding dynasty ; and the effect produced by the one, the analogous effect which is to be accomplished by the otlier. So the act of the fourth beast in trampling down and devouring other animals signified that of the symbolized rulei's in crushing and destroying their antagonists : and the slaying of that beast and the burning of its body denoted the utter destruction of those whom the beast represented. We have thus proved the first law by the symbolic agency of the prophet Ezekiel, Ezek. iv., and that of Joshua the son of Josedech the high priest, Zech. vi., by the four great beasts, Dan. vii., the ram w'ith tlie two horns, Dan. viii., the seven-headed and ten-horned dragon and wild beast, Rev. xii. xvii., the seven candlesticks and seven stars, Rev. i., and the stone and the image, Dan. ii. We have therefore, in these inspired interpretations, contained in the word of God, the most complete demonstration of the truth of the law — that the symhol and that which OF SYMBOLIZATION. 35 it r'ejyresents resemble each other in the station they Jill, the relation they sustain, and the agen- cies they exert in their resjpective spheres. CHAPTEK IV Discussion of the second law II, " The Second Law : TAe representative and that which it represents^ lohile the counterpart of each other, are of different spheres, hinds, or ranh, in all cases where the symbol is of such a nature, or is used in such a relation, that it can properly symholize something different from it- self :''"' — or, in other words, the symbol, where the nature of the case admits, is of a different class or order from that Avhich is symbolized, as, for example, a heast is of a different order from a hing / a military or political chieftain, in his appropriate sphere, as such, is of a different order, class, or rank, from an ecclesiastical ruler : but in these cases the analogy between the sym- bol and that which it represents is always pre- served. Thus the ram and the he-goat, Dan. viii., according to the inspired interpretation, did not symbolize a herd or succession of rams and he- goats ; but these animals, leaders of their re- THE SECOXD LAW. 85 spective flocks and antagonists of each other, symbolize agents of a different order, namely, not brutes bnt men, chieftains who contended the one against the other, in a manner analogous to that exhibited in the symbols. So in the great image, Dan. ii., the head of gold, according to the inspired interpretation, did not symbolize a collection of metallic heads, but objects of a different kind, to wit, a dynasty of men who were to be succeeded by other dynasties of men represented by the other parts of the image. The four beasts, Dan. vii., according to the in- spired interpretation, did not denote a herd or succession of beasts, but agents of a different order, namely, aggressive dynasties of civil rulers, who in their sphere were the counterpart of what the wild beasts were in theirs. The waters. Rev. xvii. 15, according to the inspired interpre- tation, did not symbolize a collection of waters, but a vast multitude of people belonging to different nations and speaking different lan- guages. " The waters which thou sawest, where thft harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." The seven candle- sticks and seven stars. Rev. i. 12, 16, 20, accord- ing to the inspired interpretation, did not repre- sent a collection of candlesticks and stars, but 36 THE SECOND LAW churclies or congi-egations of men, and reli- gious teachers who were the messengers of the churches. " The seven stare are the messen- gers of the seven churches : and tlie seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches," Kev. i. 20. Michael and his angels warring in the skv with Satan* and his an«»a«, the badge of OF SYTMBOLIZATION. 39 victory, and rides upon a white horse, symbol- izes ftiithful and successful ministers of the gos- pel. Tlie age immediately following that of the apostles was distinguished for ministers who gloried in winning trophies for Christ, and con- verting their fellow-men to the knowledge of the truth : and these and their successors of like character were represented by the symbolic horseman of the first seal, the rider on the white horse, who '' went forth conquering and to con- quer." Rev. vi. 2. But in the subsequent ages other clergy arose of very difi"erent charac- ter and doings — " the ambitious and contentious, who usurped an unauthorized dominion over the church, and distracted and wasted it by strifes and misrule," — also " the unfaithful and treache- rous, who perverted their office to the suppression and adulteration of the truth, and reduced their flocks to famine and misery :" — and lastly, those who "introduced new objects of homage, a new worship and new conditions of pardon, rendered their teachings a moral pestilence that tailits and kills all who fall under its power, and made . . . the civil rulers . . . their instru- ments in the work of destruction."* And these * Lord's Exposition of the Apocalypse, pp. 162, 163. 40 THE SECOND LAW ministers and their successors of similar disposi tiou and conduct are represented by the sym- bolic horsemen of the second, third, and fourth seals, the riders on the red, black, and pale horses. Kev. vi. 4, 5, 8. It may be thought at the first view, that the four symbol horses are exceptions to the general law, that living agents denote living agents. If that be so, the exception in each case relates to the subordinate part of a complex symbol, and must be treated accordingly, as necessary to exhibit the symbol riders in the attitude of military or civil officers who, as we have just explained, are employed in the vision to represent leaders of a different order, to wit, ministers of religion. But it cannot be shown that the four horses are ex- ceptions to the general law.* The horses were of course auxiliaries to their respective riders, and therefore, for aught that appears to the con- trary, may symbolize the men who sustained an ** Mr. Cuninghame, in expounding the first seal, saj's: "The rider on the horse may be understood to signify the rulers or ministers, and the horse the body of the church." — Cuning- hame on the Apocalypse, pp. 5, 6. London, 1832, Third Edi- tion. The symbolic horsemen of the second, third, and fourth seals also, he considers as representing ecclesiastical rulers. — lb., pp. •7-19. OF SYJiIBOLIZATION. 41 analogous reliition to the ministers represented bj those riders : — jiist as the ten-horned beast in the seventeenth chapter symbolizes the auxiliaries of those who are represented by the harlot sorce- ress that rode on that beast > — living agents de- noting living agents, and where the nature of the case admits, those of a different order or kind. From what has been already said, it is abun- dantly evident — and the truth of the remark will be more fully exemplified as we proceed — that there are definite principles of interpretation clearly implied in the inspired volume, which should govern the exposition of prophetic sym- bols; and therefore this whole subject, instead of being, as many suppose, vague, uncertain, and indeterminate, is controlled by well established laws ; and God's word in all its parts, the sym- bolic as well as the unsymbolic, contains what is properly called a revelation, or disclosure of the high counsels of heaven in regard to the condi- tion and prospects of men. The second law, therefore, of prophetic sym- bols, as well as the first, we have fully verified by the inspired interpretations. We have proved it by a reference to the ram and the he-goat, Dan. viii. ; the great image, Dan. ii. ; the four beasts, Dan. vii. ; the waters. Rev. xvii. ; the 42 THE SECOND LAW. seven candlesticks and tlie seven stars, Rev. i. ; Michael and his angels, and Satan and the fallen angels, and the great red dragon, Rev. xii. ; and illustrated its utility bj an application of it to the first fom* seals, Rev. vi. The law, therefore, has been not merely exhibited, but fully demon- strated by the authority of God's sacred word, agreeably to the line of argnment and discussion w^hich we proposed to adojit in this essay ; and therefore it may be regarded as a revealed prin- ciple or law, that the representative and that which it re/presents^ while the counterpart of each other, are of dijferent spheres, kinds, or rani', in all cases, where the syinhol is of such a nature, or is used in such a relation, that it can properly symbolize something different from itself. CHAPTEK Y. DiSOtJSSION OF THE THIRD LAW. m. " The Thikd Law : Symbols that are of stwh a nature, station, or relation, that there is nothing of an analogous kind that they can re- present, symbolize agents, objects, acts, or events of their own Jcind.^'' Thus in Rev. v., the Lamb, the incarnate Son of God, appears in the vision as his own i-epre- sentative, because in respect to his deity in union with humanity, and the peculiar relations which he sustains, and acts which he performs as a di- vine person, he could not properly be represent- ed by any created agent. The terms, " Lamb,''^ " Lion of the tribe of Judah^'' " Root of David,'''' are here used as Proper Naynes of the Son of God. That these are appropriate denominatives of the Messiah, will not be questioned, and that Jesus Christ himself is the Lamb here spoken of, is evident from the context, where it is said : " And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And 44r THE TIIIKD LAW Avlien he had taken the book, the four living creatures, ^««, and four-and-twenty eklers fell down before the La:s[b, having every one of tlieni harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof ; for thou wast slain, and HAST REDEEMED US tO God bv tllY blood, OUt of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and na- tion ; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests ; and we shall reign on the earth." Rev. V. 7-10. None but Jesus Christ has performed the work of redemption, and to none but him ■would such a song be applicable. None but a divine person could rightly be associated with God the Father in such an ascription of praise as that in verse 13th: " Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lairib for ever and ever." To have paid such adoration* to a mere creature, * See the full exhibition of the worship rendered to the Lamb, Rev. v. 8-13, and compare Rev. xiv. 1, where God is alliulc'd to as the "Father" of the Lamb: "And I looked, and lo, the Lamb* stood on the mount Sion. and with him an hundred forty a^d four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads." Surely, the Son of the Father must be Christ, the Lamb of God, and not a mere brute animal • The best edilions have here, Rev. xiv. 1, to fn", the Lamb. OF SYIVIBOLIZATION. 45 whether a lamb or any other animal, would have been as much an act of idolatry, as that of the children of Israel when they j^roclaimed a festi- val unto Jehovah, and worsliipped a golden calf as the representative of the great God who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt. Exod. xxxii. 4, 5, 6, 8. It is no mere created agent, therefore, but the almiglity and divine Redeemer, the risen and glorified Saviour, who is here presented to us as the Lamb whom saints and angels worship. The symbolic appendages of seven horns and seven eyes, Rev. v. 6, which John saw in the vision, were doubtless assumed for the occasion, as emblematical of Christ's om- nipotent and omnipresent Spirit in its sevenfold or complete and entire perfection — the Holy Spi- rit of God. Tliis epithet, therefore, the " Z«mJ," is in that vision a denominative of the Lord Jesus Christ, as it is in Rev. vi. 16, where "the kings of the earth" and others "said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on tlie throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb ^'''' and in Rev. vii. l-t, 17, where it is said of the white-robed palm-bearers, that they have " washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb " — and that 46 THE TIITRD LAW " the Lamb which is hi the midst of the throne^ (compare Rev. v. 6, wliere the Lamb is spoken of as occupying, in that vision, the same posi- tion, namely, " in the midst of the throne''') — " ///(' Lanih whicli is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters."* The omission of the article in the Greek of E.ev. V. 6, does not seem, when we examine the context, a sufficient reason for the opinion that the being whom John saw in the vision was a mere brute animal. The Lamb spoken of stood by the throne of God, Rev. v. 6 ; he came and took the book from the right hand of him who sat upon the throne, verse 7th; he received the worship of the heavenly hosts, verse 8th ; and the reason assigned in the "new song" why he was worthy to take the book and open the seals * Compare John i. 29, 35, 36: "The next day John seeth Jems coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketli away the sin of the world." "Again, the next day after, John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesris as he walked, he saith. Behold the Lamb of God " There can be no question, therefore, that the term Lamb might properly be used in the Apocalj'pse, as a denominative of the Lord Jesua Christ; and if the Lamb in the viiiUt of the throne, as spoken of in Rev. vii. 17, is Christ, so also is the Lumb in the midst of the throne, as spoken of in Rev. v. 6. OF STMBOLIZATION. 47 thereof, was because he had been slain, and had redeemed them to God by his blood, verse 9th ; which shows that Christ was the person ad- dressed. The visible indications that Christ the Lamb had been slain, Hev. v. 6, consisted, per- haps, of the marks on his person, such as the print of the nails in his hands and his feet, and the impression of the spear in his wounded side, marks which, it will be recollected, were visible in the resurrection body in which he appeared to the disciples, John xx. 27; and in which he ascended to heaven, Luke xxiv. 39, 40, 51 ; Acts i. 9. The term Lamh^ therefore, in these passages, is to be taken as a Proper Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamh that was slain, Rev. xiii. 8, In like manner in Rev. xix. 11-21, Christ ap- pears as his own representative. This is evident from the description there given. He is styled " THE Word of God," verse 13tli, a name which, in the first chapter of St. John's gospel, is aj)- plied to that divine person, the Eternal Son of God, who took human nature into union with himself. " He hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords^'' verse 16th ; compare Rev. xvii. 14. He has " a sharp sword" proceeding from his 48 THK TinRD LAW mouth, one of tlie symbolic badges of the risen Saviour, in Rev. i. 16, indicative of the fact that his avenging sentence is to result in the destruc- tion of his enemies; "and he treadeth the wine PRESS of the fierceness and wrath of Ahnighty God," verse 15th. Hence his characteristic as an Avenger in that day, is symbolized in verse 13th, by the raiment in which he is clothed — "a VESTURE DIPPED IN BLOOD." Tlicrc Can bc no question, therefore, that the Leader of the hea- venly armies. Rev. xix. 11-21, is the risen and glorified Saviour. He cannot be a mere " per- sonification of Christianity." Such an exposi- tion is wholly at variance witli the symbolization, which evidently represents a living agent. As well might it be said that the ram and the he- goat, Dan. viii., are mere personifications of war. If the one symbolized " the kings of Media and Persia^'' Dan. viii. 20, and the other, " tlie king of Grecia^'' verse 21, as we are expressly told in the inspired interpretation of that vision, so this celestial Leader is shown, with equal clearness, by his name and characteristics, to be the " King of kings and Lord of lords,^^ Rev. xix. 16 ; the personal " Word of God," verse 13, the Lord Jesus Christ. For a similar reason, namely, because no OF SYSrBOLIZATION, 49 created agent could properly represent him, God the Father also symbolizes himself. Tlius in Rev. iv., the person seated on the throne in heaven, verse 2d, and who is distin- guished from the Lamb that came to liim, Rev. V. 7, is evidently God the Father, for he receives the adoration of saints and angels. Rev. v. 13, and holds in his hand a book. Rev. v. 1, symbol- ical of the divine purposes, and written within and without to show that those purposes are complete and full, a book which none but the Lamb can take and open. Rev. v. 2-7, he being the Revealer of the counsels of the deity. In Rev. vii. 9-17, the white-robed palm-bear- ers symbolize those victorious believers who come out of the great tribulation — ourot els-iv d (px.'>/^i'">i Ix r^i 6xi-^ia>i rrii /ttjyasAuj?, literally translated — "these are they who come from out of the TRIBULATION THE GREAT." Rcv. vii. 14, Compare Dan. xii. 1, Rev, xvi. 18. They are manifestly individuals of the human race who are believers in Christ, because none but such can be said to .wash their garments " in the blood of the Lamb," verse 14. As the persons indicated are those WHO COME OUT OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION, they can only be those who were once in it, and are therefore believers who, after having lived at 3 50 TIIE THIRD LAW tlie epoch denoted by the vision, and continned faithful to their trust in the midst of unprece- dented trouble, are to rejoice, as here represent- ed, in their ultimate deliverance. They are clothed in white robes to show that they are accepted before God : and they bear the palm in token of victory. They enjoy the beatific presence of their God and Saviour, for they are " before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple : and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; neither shall the sun strike them, Trcs-Tt fV oct/rdui, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Kev. vii. 15-17. In other words, they are to be exempt from all evil, to be clothed with immortality, to liave the most delightful communion with their heavenly Father, to receive the visible mani- festations of his personal presence, and to be for ever with Jesus. The glory of their deliver ance — h o-«T>»f/«e, "the salvation" — they ascribe with adoring gratitude to "God which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb," verse 10. They are symbolized in the vision by those of OF STJIBOLIZATIOX. 51 tlieir own order, for no others can properly represent them as performing the acts and re- ceiving the rewards here specified. The spirits of the martyrs under the fifth seal symbolize such spirits, for disembodied spirits, in the intermediate state between death and the resurrection, calling upon God for retribution, could not appropriately be represented by any persons except those of their own order or spe- cies. " And when he had 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 unto 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 fulfilled," Eev. vi. 9-11. The souls here spoken of are departed spirits of good men wdio, at the epoch denoted by the vision, had been slain for their fidelity to the truth : for they are the souls of those who had suffered martyrdom " for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held :" they are clothed in «f- 52 TIIE THFRD LAW white robes, which denotes that they are accept' ed before God : and the period at which the persons represented utter the cry is anterior to the resurrection, for the symbol spirits are told to rest for a little season until the number of martyrs should be complete. The men spoken of in Rev. vi. 15, 16, also symbolize those of their own order, for there was no other way to represent individual human beings in the natural life performing the acts there mentioned. " And the kings of the earth, and tlie great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of tlie mountains ; and said to the mountains and rocks. Fall on us and hide us from the face of him tliat sittetli on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb : for the great day of his wrath is come ; and who shall be able to stand?" Rev. vi. 15-17. Tlie witnesses in Rev. xi., represented, for a similar reason, persons of their own order. The statement in verse 3 is — " I will give* unto my two witnesses," (that is, I will bestow upon them the gifts requisite for their office and work) " and * Tlie word power in the common English version, Rev. xL 8, is not iu the oi-igiual Greek. OF SYMBOLIZATION. 5S tliey shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth ;" that is, they shall, in a state of depression and humilia- tion, continue to proclaim the truth as it is in Jesus throughout that entire period. The wit- nesses are explained in verse 4, to represent the same as might be symbolized by two olive trees and two candlesticks. A candlestick, as we learn from Rev. i. 20, is the symbol of a church. These "• candlesticks," therefore. Rev. xi. 4, de- note churches which bear a faithful testimony to the truth as it is in Jesus throughout the whole period symbolized by the twelve hundred and sixty days. Rev. xi. 2, 3. The " olive trees^'' as we learn from Zech. iv. 3, 12, 14, denote the " anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth," that is, priests or ministers of the Lord, and, in this connexion, ministers of the churches here symbolized. In ancient times priests were set apart for their office by being anointed with oil, and hence they are called " anointed ones." It would be incongi'iious, however, to represent candlesticks and olive trees as prophesying or as being slain and rising from the dead and ascending to heaven : and hence, in order to exhibit them in such relations, the followers of Christ here referred to, both 54 THE THIED LAW ministers and people, are symbolized by two individual men, called witnesses in verse third, a.wA prophets in verse tenth, persons of tlieir own species, to whom such acts and conditions are, in all respects, appropriate. Tlie "anointed ones" here indicated cannot mean the persecuting civil rulers, for these are symbolized by the wild beast who makes war npon them and slays them ; and they are evi- dently persons who testify for Christ ; and therefore as the candlesticks would symbolize churches, the anointed ones, corresponding to the olive trees, must mean ministers, and, doubt- less, the ministers of those churches. ^ If the number tivo be interpreted according to the use of the number seven in Rev. i. 20, " the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches," to wit, the seven in pro-consular Asia mentioned in a previous verse of the same chap- ter, Rev. i. 11, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Th3'atira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea — • then two candlesticks, if used as symbols, would represent two churches ; and two olive trees would indicate two lines or successions of minis- ters, namely, the ministei*s of those two churches : and consequently, in tluit case, the two witness- es " would represent two sets of witnesses, the UF Si'MBUUZATlOiS'. 55 pastors and people of tlie churches symbolizetl, as already explained. If, however, we adopt the opinion that tlie number two is here used simply because two are necessary to make out a complete testimony (compare Matt, xviii. 16) — as the number seven in Rev. v. 6, taken in connexion with the sym- bolic horns and eyes, {^' seve7i horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God,") de- notes the sevenfold or complete omnipotence and omnipresence of the Holy Spirit of the incar- nate Deity — if we take this view, the result will not vary much from that given above. The two witnesses will then represent all the churches of faithful believers with their pastors, who, during the period symbolized by the twelve hundred and sixty days, and in the localities to which the prophecy has reference, bear the testimony, and exert, in other respects, the agency here fore- shown. But whether we take the one view or the other, we must rank, among the witnesses here represented, the church of the Waldenses or Vallenses, a people whose name is derived from their residence, and signifies men of the valleys.^ * Some writers have fallen into the error of representing them as deriving their name from Peter "Waldo. The incor- 56 THE TIIIKD LAW "Tlie Cliristian religion which was planted in Italy by Paul has ever since been retained in the primitive purity of its fundamental doctrine . in the churches of Piedmont to this day."* Tliat line of faithful witnesses exists to the present time. The little renmant of the martyr race is still flourishing in Sardinia, but — ■ regarded with an evil eye by deadly, unrelent- ing, and powerful enemies — the way seems pre- paring for their final slaughter.f Tlie learned Peter Allix, a French Protestant divine who flourished in the reign of Louis the Fourteenth, and took refuge in England after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, in his rectness of tliat opinion has been shown by Allix, Faber, and others. See especially the Ecclesiastical History of the An- cient Cliurches of Piedmont b}- Peter Allix, D.D., chapter xviii_ pp. 182, 183, and chapter xix. Oxford ed. 8vo. 1821; and Faber's Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses, pp. 271-531. Lon- don, 1838. * Hist/>ry of tlie Ancient Christians inhabiting Ihe valleys of the Alps, from the works of Jean Paul Perrin and Dr. Brav, with illustrative notes from modern historians and theologians, published by Griffith and Simon, Philadelphia, 1847. Preface to Part iii. p. 275. ■j- The liberality of Victor Emanuel, in granting them per- mission to build a church edifice in Turin, is no proof that hostile powers will suffer them to enjoy a perpetuity of ci/il and religious freedom. m OF SYMBOLIZATION. 57 Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont, has traced the Waldenses to the age immediately succeeding that of the apostles ; vindicated the purity of their morals; success- fully defended them from the charge of heresy and schism ; and shown that they maintained their faith until the Reformation :* and if Rome inquires of Protestants, where was your church before the time of Luther, we answer it was in ancient Britain,f in Italy and Gaul, protesting against the corruptions of the great Apostacy, its faith derived from the apostles and continuing to the present time. But without enlarging upon the historical ex- position, which would take us too far from the * The Rev. George Stanley Faber has given a similar vindi- cation of these faithful Christians in bis nvork referred to in a previous note and entitled — " An Inquiry into the History and Theology of the ancient Vallenses and Albigenses ; as exhibit- ing, agreeably to the promises, the perpetuity of the sincere church of Christ." London, 1838. His Romish antagonist, the acute and learned Bossuet, cuts but a sorry figure in the hands of the Anglican divine. •(- Not only on the continent of Europe but in Britain also, as D'Aubigne has shown in the fifth volume of his History of the Reformation, Christ had a church previous to the first introduction of popery into that country by the monk Augus- tine, A.D. 597, — a church which manfully resisted the usurpa- tions of Rome. 3* 58 THE xniRD law main point under discussion, we sum up our re- marks upon the question, as to who are symbolized by the apocalyptic witnesses, by observing that two circumstances are necessary to identify any churches and their line of pastors with those wit- nesses : first, they 7nust exist throughout the entire jperiod symbolized hy the twelve hundred and sixty days, Rev. xi. 3 ; and next, they must hear a faithful testimony for Christ during the whole of that same jperiod, and in the local/ities to which the prophecy refers. But in regard to the reason for using the num- ber two in its application to the witnesses, pro- pheis, candlesticks, and olive trees. Rev. xi. 3, 10, 4, there is room, perhaps, for difference of opi- nion as to whether it be designed to point out two collections of churches and their respective lines of pastors, or simply intended to indicate the fact that the churches and pastors symboliz- ed, bear a complete testimony, and constitute a COMPLETE CHAIN OF FAITHFUL WITNESSES. To return to the third law of symbolization, we remark further in its support, that in Rev. xii. 10, the servants of Christ, who in verse seventh had been symbolized by celestial beings, are re- presented by some of their own species, because it would have been incorrect to speak of Michael OF SYilBOLIZATION. 59 aud his angels as overcoming by the blood of the Lamb, and as loving not their lives unto the death, verse 11th ; for angels and archangels are neither subject to death, nor redeemed by the blood of Christ. In Rev. xiii. 4, the men who are exhibited in the vision as worshipping the beast, sj^mbolize persons of the human species, for those who per- form the corresponding acts of idolatrous sub- servience to those whom the beast represents, could properly be exhiliited in that relation only by those of their own kind. To have introduced angels, either fallen or un fall en, as engaged in worshipping a beast, would have been a need- less incongruity, and hence they are not employ- ed as the representatives of men in their idolatry of civil rulers ; to have used rivers, or fountains, or a sea of waters, in that symbolic relation of worshippers of a beast, would obviously have been impossible : to have exhibited the beast as worshipped by other beasts, would have been a false symbolization, for the object here is to fore- show that a collection of rulers would be wor- shipped by the great mass of the population over whom they reign, and not that those rulers would be worshipped by other rulers ; and therefore the 60 THE THIRD LAW mass of the people are here represented by those of their own species. The same may be said of the men spoken of in Rev. ix, 4, who had not the seal of God in their foreheads, and those in vei'ses 20, 21, who repented not of their idolatries and other sins. The same also of the men who, under the scorching effects of the fourth vial, Rev. xvi. 9, " Blasphemed the name of God . . . and repented not to give him glory." Blaspheming and impenitent men could be properly repre- sented in that character only by such men. The same may be said of the men who are Bpoken of in connexion with some of tlie other vials. Rev. xvi. 2, 11, 21. In Rev, xvi. 14, " The kings (or rulers) of the whole world, ""'^ represent persons of their own order. Those persons could not appropriately be symbolized by the wild beast, which repre- sented only the rulers of a particular part of the world ; and in Rev. xix. 19, where the same war is spoken of as in Rev. xvi. 14, 16, that to which * The best editions of the Greek Testament omit the nit yijj KaX of tlie textus rcceptus, and instead of "the kings of the earth and of the whole world," read simply " the kings of iht whole world." OF STMBOLIZATION. 61 the "three unclean spirits" gathered* those kings, we read of " the beast and the kings of the earth." The symbolization, therefore, was designed to include other rulers besides those de- noted by the beast. Neither the beast, nor the dragon, nor the ftilse prophet, nor all combined, could represent " the kings of the whole world?'' It was therefore necessary that they should be their own representatives. In Rev. XX. 1-3, the angel who laid hold upon Satan, represents good angels ; and Satan, fallen * There is an inaccuracy in our common English Version in Rev. xvi. 16, which obscures the sense, and which has arisen from overlooking the principle of Greek Grammar, that nomi- natives •plural of the neuter gender have commonly a siiigalar verb. The phrase rendered, " And he gathered them," should have been translated, "And they gathered them," that i:^, the three unclean spirits gathered them, Tri/eu/iura rpt'a, in verse 13th, being the antecedent of the pronoun in the nominative plural neuter understood before the verb (rvvfiyayzv, in verse 16th. They are spoken of in verse 14th as going forth "unto the kings of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." In that very verse. Rev. xvi. 14, there is a similar construction in the original Greek ; a (= which), a pronoun in the neuter plural, nominative to the verb £/(7r(i/« IfTj?, " the thousand years," that is, those which had been mentioned in verse third as indicating the period of Satan's confine- ment in the abyss. He calls them souls, to identify them as those who having been departed spirits were to have their portion, at the epoch denoted by the vision, in the resurrection to OF SYMBOLIZATIOi^. G7 immortal gloiy. This is evident from tlie fact mentioned that this class of the dead, the hlessed and holy, " lived " at the beginning of the thou- sand years and reigned with Christ during tluit whole period, whereas " the rest of the dead '' — that is, those wh(^ at that epoch had already died without being in the number of " the blessed and holy " — '' lived not again until the thousand years were finished," verses 4, 5. The one class were raised previous to " the tliousand years :" the other not till after the expiration of that period. Both classes were disembodied souls and dead persons before their resurrection, not after it : and hence as these epithets are used as marks of identity in the two cases, the word souls presents no more objection to the real literal resurrection of the one class, than the word dead does to that of the other class. When it is said that the souls of the martyrs " lived " at the epoch referred to, the meaning cannot be that their disembodied spirits had no conscious existence during the previous period which had elapsed since the death of their bodies : for that is contrary to the symbolization under the fifth seal in Rev. vi. 9-11, where they are represented as having such an existence, and are enjoined to wait patiently until their nmnber should be 68 THE THERD LAW complete, when they were to be avenged npon their enemies, [t cannot mean that these de- parted souls were then to have a sijiritnal resur- rection from a death in trespasses and sins, for no such change takes place after death : neither was it any more necessary in their case, for they were '"'' thehlessed and holy^ and hence had been already regenerated. It cannot denote that the martyr spirit was to revive during the millen- nium, for livinor a^'ents denote liviiijj agents, and not mere acts and states either of body or mind. Besides, the martyr spirit is an enduring patient disposition in the midst of trials and persecution : but there will be no opportunity for the exercise of any such spirit during the millennium. It is conceded that men in general, if not uiiiversally, will at that epoch be holy. Public opinion will then be as strong against persecution for right- eousness' sake, as it ever was in its favor. The persecuting civil and ecclesiastical rulers denoted by the wild beast and the false prophet will have been cast into the place of punishment symbol- ized by the lake of tire. Rev. xix. 20. The organized confederacy against Christ will have been completely overthrown. Rev. xix. 11-21. The fallen angels symbolized by Satan their chief, Rev. xx. 2, 3, will have been shut up in %'. OF STlilBOLIZATION. 69 the place denoted by " the bottomless pit," '' that the J should deceive the nations- no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled," Kev. xx. 3. jN"either men nor devils can disturb the saints during the period foreshown. It is a time of triumph and rejoicing, not of endurance and suffering. How then can there be any room for the exercise of the martyr spirit ? It will not do to say that the martyr spirit is a holy disposition, for such a disposition is not by any means con- fined to the martyrs, but is the common charac- teristic of all the righteous. The martyr spirit is not simply a holy disposition, but such a dis- position exercised under circumstances of trial, suffering, and persecution. There is but one other meaning that the word " lived " can have as here used, and that is, that the souls of the righteous lived again in union with their bodies, though, as we learn from other passages, those bodies will be in a glorified condi- tion, like the risen body of our Lord Jesus Christ. This word therefore implies a real, corporeal re- surrection at the epoch denoted by the vision. This is demonstrably evident from the fact that the blessed and holy who had part in the first resurrection are in the context contrasted with the rest of the dead who lived not again, 70 THE THIRD LAW that is, who did not rise from a state of death till after the thousand yeai*s had expired. "VVe have an account of that resurrection in verse twelfth, which, as we have already shown, mani- festly denotes a real and literal resurrection. The whole collective mass of the dead are divid- ed into two parts — " the blessed and holy " whose portion is in " the first resurrection " — these are oi%e part : the other part have their portion in the last resurrection. As the latter is real, so the former must be real also. As the resurrection at the end of the thousand years is a literal resurrection, so also is that at the begin- ning of the thousand years. But further, there is no express explanation of the symbolic vision respecting the former, namely the post-millennial resurrection. "We are left to deduce that resurrection from the con- text and the symbolization : and tliat a real resurrection is foreshown, is undeniably true. It is, however, a matter of inference: whereas in regard to the other symbolization contained in verse fourth, namely, that of the pre-millennial resurrection, we have the inspired explanation — • "this is," — in other words, this symbolization denotes, or this scenic representation is the sym- bol of " THE FIK8T EK8UEKECTI0N," llcv. XX. 5. OF SYMBOLIZATTON. 73 That sucli is the true meaning of that verse is demonstrable from the invariable usage of the sacred writers in the inspired interpretation of symbols. Thus when the risen Saviour says — " the seven stars are the messengers of the churches : and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches," Rev. i. 20, the meaning evidently is that those symbolic stars DENOTE or kepkesent those messengers, and that those symbolic candlesticks denote or ee- PEESENT those churches. When it is said in Kev. xvii. 15 — " the waters which thou sawest where the harlot sitteth are peoples, and multi« tudes, and nations, and tongues," the meaning clearly is, that those symbolic waters denote or KEPEESENT vast multitudes of different nations speaking different languages. When it is said in Dan vii. 17, " these great beasts which are four are four kings," the meaning is that these beasts denote or eepeesent or are the symbols of four kings, that is, four ruling dynasties. When it is said in Dan. viii. 20, 21, that " the ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia, and the rough goat is the king of Grecia, and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king," the meaning confessedly is, that the ram denotes or kepeesents the Medo- 72 THE THIRD LAW Persian dynasty ; and tlie goat, the Grecian ; and the great liorn, the iirst dynasty among the ^nctorijns Grecians. In these inspired interpre- tations, and so in all the others in the Scriptures, wherever it is said that a given symbol such as a candlestick, a ram, a wild beast, &c., is any given thing, the meaning invariably is, denotes or represents such a thing. The verb to he is commonly expressed, as in Rev. i. 20, where it occurs in the form of the third person plural present indicative — in the Greek £j)nbolizvig iint o.ly the sevn kings, but also the seven hills, which is absurd; for if the seveii hills, as well as the seven kings, or lines of chiefs, are sym- bolized by the seven heads, then as these ''kings" were not coa- temporaneous, neither could the hills be. So also, in Rev. xvii. 18, the meaning is not that the woman, who was seen riding on a ten-horned beast, was a symbol of the city of Rome, but that this " woman," whose name was " Babylon the Great," Rev. xvii 5, s^'mbolized tlie same class of persons as the 'great city" Babylon symbolized, which is repeatedly' spoken of in the Apocal3'pse under the appellation of the "great city," and "great Babylon," Rev. xiv. 8; xvi. 19; xviii. 2, 10, 18, 19, 21, and which, as a symbol city — " the great citj' having dominion, i^Qvaii ffaaiXeiav, over the kings of the earth," Rev. xvii 18 — had been exhibited to St. John in the visions in which he saw the Euphrates flowing tlirough it. Rev. xvi. 12, and the city divideart of a verbal j)rojjhec>/ which foreshowed that Ne- buchadnezzar should be deprived of his reason, and be degraded for seven years from the dignity and glory of a man, to the level of a brute, llow, then, does this chronological 2)eriod hi a verbal prophecy disprove the law under consideration, which has reference exclusively to symbolical prophecy ? So, also, the seven times, in the twenty-sixth chapter of Leviticus, are not symbolical. The Hebrew- 3>ntIJ* "i Lev. xxvi. 18, 21, 21-, 28, is equivalent in that connexion to sevenfold^ and denotes not the duration but the intensity of the judgments which the Lord would inflict upon the Israelites in case of their disobedience. The * Forma ^'lH'IlJ ctiani est adv. septies. — Lev. xxvi. 18, 21. Ge- seniub's Hebrew Lexicon, Leipsic ed. 1833, p. 979, column 2d. In the passages in Leviticus xxvi., there is no word in the original to correspond with the English word "times," as there is in Dan. iv. OF SYMBOLIZATION, 105 language of that chapter is not descriptive of any synibolization which had been perceptible either naturally, or in dreams, or in ecstatic vision. The prophecy is exclusively verbal, and therefore is not to be adduced either for or against the law in question. If it be further objected that the three years during which Isaiah was to walk " naked and barefoot," represented a three years' captivity of the Egyptians and Ethiopians, Is. xx. 3, 4, we answer that the Hebrew* phrase translated three years, does not necessarily belong to the emblem- atical condition of the prophet, but may be ren- dered as referring to the captivity of which that condition was a symbol, and then the meaning of the original will be, as in Bp. Lowth's version, " a sign . . of three years."f So, also, the Vul- gate — " trium annorum signum.";}: Bp. Lowth' conjectures that the symbolical act of the pro- phet lasted only three days. If that was the fact, then this case, in respect to the point before lis, resembles that of Ezekiel, who was directed * See Alexander in loco, 8vo. edition, 1846, p. 372. f Translation of Isaiah, -with a preliminary dissertation and notes, by Robert Lowth, D.D., Ac , Bishop of London, 8vo. London edition, IS'JS, pp. 113, 308, 309. \ Antwerp Polyglott in loco, p. 58. 106 THE SEVENTH LAW. to lie on his side " each day for a year^'' Ezek. iv. 6, and is precisely according to the law of symbols, the three days representing three years. No one can prove from the original Hebrew that the symbolical action of Isaiah continned longer than three days, and therefore this passage, Is. XX. 3, presents no valid objection to the law which we have endeavored to establish. The evidence, therefore, already addnced in support of the law, remains unimpeached, and most clearly and conclusively demonstrates that; in the circumstances stated in the law^ days syrri' holize yea/rs. 4 CHAPTER X. Bbief Rkoapixtoation, in which it is shown that the symbols interpreted in the prophecies are interpreted by these lawa — that interpretations of one or more of each class of sym- bols are given in the prophecies — and that these inspired interpretations are to be regarded as a revelation of the principle applicable to all the symbols, and the laws by which they are framed revealed laws. We have thus carefully examined the forego- ing laws of symbolization. and have sustained them by the most abundant scriptural evidence; and from what has been already said it is mani- fest that THE SYMBOLS INTERPEETED IN THE PROPHE- CIES AKE INTERPRETED BY THESE LAWS. This we have shown in the case of a large number of inspired interpretations, and not a single instance can be adduced from the visions of the Hebrew prophets, or from the cases where those prophets or other real men were employed naturally as representative agents, or from the dreams respecting the great image and the great tree, in which prophetic symbols are interpreted in the sacred volume on any other principle. The exception in regard to the dream of Pha- 108 EKC.VriTULATION. raoli, king of Egy})t, lias been shown not to afiect the general laws of symbolization. It is evident, therefore, that the symbols inter- preted in the prophecies are interpreted hi) these laws. Again : — Interpretations of one or more of EACn CLASS of SYMBOLS ARE GIVEN IN THE PRO- PIIECIES. Among the symbols of each class of which, as we have shown in the previous discussions, there is an inspired interpretation, either directly or l)y implication, in the context, may l)e mentione witli his nature, it being impossi- ble that a civil ruler, a Imman being, should be literally an inanimate river overflowing its banks. Hence the mistake of Mede, Edward Irving, Cun- inghame, Faber, Elliott, Bicker^eth, and others, in the interpretation of the sixth vial, arose from confounding- metaphors with symbols. It is the more important to notice that confusion, as it frequently occurs ; so much so that learned writ- ers even speak of the apocalyptic New Jerusa- lem as a metaphor! Whereas, instead of a meta- phor, it is a symbol, and the language which de- scribes it is for the most part literal, and tells exactly what St. John saw in the vision, namely, a beautiful and magnificent city adorned like a bride, and descending from heaven. Tliat city, as we shall hereafter show, is the symbol of re- deemed and glorified men. The drying up of the mystic Euphrates is now going on, and shows us the precise spot which we occupy on the great chart of prophecy. But it is one of the singular anomalies in the history of Europe, that while a multitude of people are withdrawing their support from the papal hier- 120 RKSULTS. archies, especially in Germany and Italy, and in some parts of Ireland, and while tiie Pope is kept nj^on his throne by a foreign force against the wishes of the Italians, his inflnence as an ecclesiastico-political ruler, a horn of the beast, Dan. vii. 8, is so great as to convulse to its cen- tre a powerful country like Englaiid, and cause an agitation of which we have seen as yet only the beginning. II. In the next place, tlfese laws show that to spiritualize the symbolic prophecies is altogether wrong. If, for example, as we have already prov- ed, living agents always denote living agents, and not mere abstract principles or systems, acts or effects, or inanimate objects, then the living Re- deemer, visibly descending from heaven. Rev, xix, 11-lG, cannot denote Christianity ; the three frogs from out of the mouth of the dragon, and from out of the mouth of the beast, and from out of the mouth of the false prophet. Rev. xvi. 13, 14, cannot symbolize lawlessness, despotism, and superstition; the "two witnesses" or "prophets," two living men prophesying twelve hundred and sixty days, and then slain and rising from the dead. Rev. xi. 3-12, cannot mean the Old and New Testaments. in. In the third place, these laws demonstrate €*- RESULTS. 121 fliat the slaughter of the two apocalj^ptic wit- nesses, Rev. xi., foreshows a real, literal slaugh- ter of the faithful followers of Christ thus repre- sented — a slaughter which is yet future. The beast from the abyss symbolizes the civil rulers of the ten kingdoms ; and the two wit- nesses represent certain churches and their line of ministers existing throughout the twelve hun- dred and sixty years, and bearing a faithful tes- timony for Christ during that whole period. According to the laws of symbolization, living agents denote living agents, and acts foreshow acts. The act of the wild beast, therefore, in killing the witnesses, must symbolize a corre- sponding act on the part of those rulers towards these followers of Jesus. The slaughter of pious men by a ferocious beastj is well fitted to rejDre- sent the murder of such men by sanguinary rul- ers, the witnesses here symbolizing those of their own order, kind, or species, agreeably to a law already established ; but the mere act of silenc- ing their testimony, which has been the common interpretation, does not by any means come up to the full significance of the symbol. Those who advocate such an exposition maintain that that part of the prophecy has been already ful- filled, which is contrary to historical fact. Whe- 6 % 122 RESULTS. tlier we explain the prediction as referring to two churches and their ministers, or give it a wider application, ihe witnesses have never been si- lenced. The mere fact, upon which so much sti'ess is laid by Mr. Elliott, that those whom he considers the witnesses did not appear when sum- moned before a Papal Council, and the orator of the Pope exclaimed in triumph on the 5th of May, 1514 — Ja7n nemo redamat, nullus dbsistit — " now no one gainsays, no one opposes^"" is no evidence that they were either dead or had ceased to testify for Jesus. The council itself, as Elliott has shown, was an antichristian abomi- nation, and the witnesses for Christ were under no obligation either to respect or acknowledge its authority. Such witnesses have never yet become wholly extinct within the territory of the old Western Roman Empire, and, ever since Christianity was planted there by the apostles, they have always testified, and do still testify for the truth as it is in Jesus. Hence, as those of Christ's faithful followers who are represented by the two apocalyptic witnesses, have never been silenced, such an interpretation is inadmissible. It is inadmissible for two reasons : first, because it is contrary to analogy ; and next, because it is contrary to historical fact. Tliough from the ne- RESULTS. 123 cessity of the case, the symbol may sometimes fall short, in some respects, of the thing symbol- ized, yet as the latter never falls short of the for- mer, there must thus far be a correspondence between them ; and therefore the literal, corpo- real death of these two witnesses* must foreshow the corresponding death of those whom they re- present. Nothing short of that can come up to the significance of the symbol. If, as it has been well remarked, the symbolic act on the part of the wild beast had been a mere obstructins; of the vocal organs of the two witnesses, then the silencing of their testimony might have been the thing foreshown. But the symbolic slaughter of the witnesses was something very far beyond a mere obstructing of the jDOwers of speech, and has a corresponding analogy in nothing short of the literal and corporeal slaughter of those faith- ful followers of Jesus whom the witnesses repre- sent ; and therefore that is the event which is thus foreshown. Again, the slaughter here symbolized, Rev. xi., is yet future. * It is not formally mentioned that the symbolic witnesses were seen by the prophet in a state of corporeal death, but it is implied in the symbolic representation, described verses 11, 12, Rev. xi., in which those witnesses were seen rising from death, and ascending to heaven. 124 KEStJLTS. Tills is evident from two considerations : first, because there lias never yet been, on a scale suf- Jtciently comprehensive to corresjjond with that which is here foreshown hy the symbols, a slaugh- ter of Christ's faithful followers by the rulers of the Western Empire, since the commencement of the twelve hundred and sixty years ; and next, because the period during which those re- presented by the two witnesses were to continue their testimony, and then to be slain, Eev. xi. 2, 7, has not yet expired. The two witnesses, as we have already seen, represent certain churches and their respective lines of pastors ; and the wild beast denotes the persecuting civil rulers of the ten kingdoms; but ■when have these rulers ever yet slain all of those whom the two witnesses represent ? Never. Asain, the commencement of the tweh'e hun- dred and sixty years cannot, with any probabili- ty, be dated earlier than the time when the Ro- man Catholic religion was established by law throughout the ten kingdoms ; and as that ap- pears to have been either almost at the end of the sixth century, or soon after the beginning of the seventh, the period has not yet expired. It follows, therefore, that the epoch for that slaugh- ter of the witnesses which is foreshown in the KESULTS. 125 eleventh chapter of the Apocalypse, though not far distant, is still future. IV. In the fourth place, it is evident from the.?e laws that the antichristian powers are to be destroyed, not converted. According to the laws of symbolization there is a resemblance or analogy between the symbol and the thing symbolized. Now, in the symbolic representation recorded Rev. xix. 20, the beloved disciple saw the beast and the false prophet " cast alive into a lake of fire burning with briin- stone." But there is no analogy or resemblance between such an event and the conversion of those here symbolized. It can foreshow nothing short of a terrible and remediless destruction. The same thing is evident from the symboli- zation in Dan. ii. 3i, where it is said that the stone from the mountain smote the great image upon the feet, and crushed it in pieces. The de- struction of the great image by the stone clearly foreshows that the rulers symbolized by the im- age will meet with a corresponding destruction from those symbolized by the stone. As the fourth kingdom, Dan. ii. 40, was with its iron strengtli to " hreah in pieces " its adversaries, so the kingdom which God is to establish in the latter days is to " hrtak in pieces and consume 126 RESULTS. all these kingdoms," and to "stand for ever," Dan. ii. 4i. The same crushing violence is pre- dicted, according to the inspired interpretation of the symbols, in the one case as in the other. So, also, in Dan. vii. 11, the utter destruction of the wild beast, and the giving of his body to the burning flame, can foreshow nothing short of an utter destruction of those whom the wild beast symbolized. The antichristian powers, therefore, are to be destroyed, not converted. It will not do to say that all that is foreshown by the destruction of the beast and the ftilse pro- phet and their armies, is the destruction of their systems of error, for we have already demon- strated that living agents symbolize living agents^ and not acts or effects, not princijples or systems. See chapters I. and III. Y. Ill the fifth place, the laws of symboliza- tion demonstrate that anterior to the age of bless- edness, purity, and peace, commonly called the millennium, there will be a real and literal re- surrection of departed saints. This is evident from the symbolization in Rev. XX. 4. We have already prov^ed that a real and literal resurrection is there foreshown.* Some * See the two resxirrections discussed under the third law of pi'ojilietic symbols, pp. G-i-75. RESULTS. 127 of the commentators object to such an interpre- tation of verses 4-6, on tlie ground that the Apo- calypse is a book of symbols, and that therefore it is absurd to suppose that a literal resurrection is here indicated ; but these very same commen- tators, with strange inconsistency, interpret verse twelfth, a little further ou in the chapter, as de- noting precisely that kind of resurrection ! If the symbolic character of the book is a valid ob- jection to the interpretation which maintains that a literal resurrection is foreshown in verse fourth, it is equally so to the interpretation which maintains that a literal resurrection is foreshown in verse twelfth. But the laws of symbolization demonstrate, as we have already proved, that both the one and the other are literal resurrec- tions, living agents representing living agents, acts denoting acts, and effects, effects ; the sym- bolic pre-millennial resurrection of the saints, as seen in the vision, Rev. xx, 4, foreshowing a cor- responding pre-millennial resurrection of the saints who are to be raised at Christ's coming; and the symbolic post-millennial resurrection of the wicked, as seen in the vision, Kev. xx. 12, 13, foreshowing a corresponding real resurrec- tion of that class at that epoch. Tlie " hlessed and holy''' have part in " the first resurrectimt^'' 128 liiisLLrs. Kev. XX. 6 ; " the rest of the dead^'' Rev. xx. 5, have part in tlie second resurrection. Again, it is expressly stated that the blessed and holy who have part in the first resurrection, reign with Christ during " the thousand years ;'' and therefore their resurrection is anterior to that period. There is no reason to believe that at that epoch any of the holy dead will be left un glorified. The symbolization represents a col- lection of persons sitting on thrones, among whom two classes are specified, first the mar- tyrs, and next those who had not worsliipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands. There were many of this class who had not been slain. There were also multitudes of the right- eous who lived before the reign of the beast ; and who, having been faithful servants of the Lord, will then be openly rewarded. These, doubtless, are included in the number of regal saints whom St. John saw sitting upon thrones. The crown, we are expressly told by St. Paul, will be given by the Lord, the righteous Judge, to all them that love his appearing, 2 Tim. iv. 8. Tlie doctrine of the first resurrection, which in Rev. xx. 4, is taught through the medium of symbols, is implied in many passages which KESULT8. 129 describe no symbolic representation whatever and wliicli must, therefore, be interpreted by the laws of language. Take one from the Old Testament and one from the New to corroborate our conclusion. The doctrine under consideration is implied in Zech. xiv. 5. " The Lord my God shall come, AND ALL THE SAUSTTS WITH THEE." "What tliis pre- diction means is clear from the similar languase used by St. Paul in speaking of the second com- ing of Christ, and the resurrection of the saints — "To the end he may stablish your hearts un- blameable in holiness before God, even our Fa- ther, at THE COMING OF OUR LoRD Jcsus Christ WITH ALL HIS SA.INTS," 1 Tliess. iii. 13. The iden- tity of language in the two cases shows that the event spoken of in Zechariah is the second com- ing of our Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, attended by his risen and glorified saints ; and the context in Zechariah, that it is pre-millennial, for it precedes the destruction of the antichristian confederacy against Jerusalem, after which, as we learn from the concluding part of that chapter, the millennium is ushered in, and holiness generally prevails. Tliis doctrine is implied, also, in Phil. iii. 11, where St. Paul represents himself as ready to 6" ISO RESULTS. make any sacrifice, if he could only " attain unto the resurrection from amongst the dead." The common reading of the Greek is t/,v £j«v««- a-roLTi', tui ley.pZv^ whcre the preposition U (which before a vowel becomes f|), in composition with the word ctMotTrxriv^ makes the phrase equivalent to «K«v-T«5-/v f'x T»v vtxpaTv, and the literal ti'anslation is that which we have given above. The read- ing in the critical edition of the Greek Testa- raent by Dr. M. A. Scholz, of Leipsic, is still stronger, containing a repetition both of the article ry\i and the preposition f'x — iU '■'5» f5«»«- TTxa-tv rrjt tic vcKpat — unto the reswrection which is from out of dead ones. The resurrection here spoken of by the apostle is thus an eclectic re- surrection, the righteous being taken from out of the collective mass of the dead, and the wicked left behind. If there be no first resurrection, as distinguished from a second, if it be the purpose of God that both the righteous and the wicked shall rise simultaneously, why should St. Paul express it as the object of his highest hopes to attain unto the resurrection ? It was precisely for the very reason that there is such a distinc- tion as we have noticed, and that the first resur- rection^ at the appearing of Christ, when the regal saints are to sit with the Son of man upon RESULTS, 131 the throne of his glory, Rev. iii. 21, Matt, xxv. 31, is the peculiar jyrivilege of the righteous, that the apostle was pressing forward with untiring ardor, through evil and through good report, in order to obtain it. YI, In the sixth place, it is evident from these laws that the second coming of Christ will be before the millennium. The symbolization in Rev. xix., where the glorified Redeemer appears for the destruction of the antichristian rulers and their organized confederacy, clearly foreshows a personal and visible manifestation. His visible descent from heaven is evidently symbolical of his visible de- scent to the earth ; and his being followed by the risen and glorified saints on this work of re- tribution, shows that at the epoch denoted by the vision, their resurrection will have taken place. But the destruction of the antichristian confederacy is before the general prevalence of holiness and peace, or in other words, before the age of millennial blessedness. The coming of Christ, therefore, which precedes that destruction must also be pre-millennial. It is only by false principles of interpretation that our opponents can avoid this conclusion. If, instead of spiritualizing the symbolic prophe- 132 RESULTS. cies, thn}' admitted and followed the laws of svmbolization which have been demonstrated in this Essay, they would grant that the second coming of Christ is before the millennium. Again, it is evident from tlie symbolization ir Kev. XX. 4, as we have already proved, that the resurrection of the saints is pre-millennial ; but the Scriptures teach us that the second coming of Christ is at the same epoch — " Christ the first fruits ; afterward they that are Christ's at his COMING," 1 Cor. XV. 23 — and therefore that com- ing is pre-millennial. The result at which we have thus arrived from the laws of symbolization, is corroborated by a multitude of unsymbolical prophecies. Take, for example, the verbal prediction in 2 Thess. ii. 8 — ''Then shall that wicked (or Lawless One, « avojttfls) be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming." The whole con- text shows that the coming of which Paul speaks in that passage, is the second personal and visi- ble appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, which the Thessalonians thought was instantly impend- ing, and in view of which they had become agi- tated and alarmed. But as the destruction of Antichrist is admitted to be pre-millennial, the EESTTLT8. 133 personal and visible coming of Clirist, to eftect that destruction, must be pre-millennial also. VII. In the seventh place, these laws clearly show that there will be men living in the " natu- ral body " upon the earth after the second com- ing of Christ. The glorified church is symbolized in the Apo- calypse by the holy city, New Jerusalem, for that city, as we learn from Rev. xxi. 9, 10, re- presents the same class of persons as are denoted by the Bride, the Lamb's wife ; and in another vision. Rev. xix. 8, the Bride is exhibited as " ar- rayed in fine linen, clean and white," a symbolic badge which is explained as indicating " the righteousness of the saints," rZt kyivv^ and which identifies also the warrior horsemen who follow the Lord Jesus Christ in his descent from heaven. Rev. xix. 11-21, on the work of retribution. Now, as the holy city New Jerusalem sym- bolizes the glorified church, the nations who walk in the light of that city. Rev. xxi. 24, and are thus distinguished from the city itself, must represent nations composed of living men in the "natural body," unglorifled inhabitants of tlie earth at that epoch, who are to be guided by the teachings which Christ communicates to his re- gal, glorified saints, and through them, as his as- 134 EESULT6. sociate " kings and jyriests,'''' fixrixln xxi lepsn. Rev. V. 10, XX. 6, to the subjects of their concurrent jurisdiction. And all this is clearly after the second coming of Christ, for it is not until that coming that the descent of those who are sym- bolized by the New Jerusalem is to take place. Now it is clear that the regal saints who are associated in the dominion with Christ, are glo- rified men in the " spiritual body," and not un- glorified men in the " natural body ;" for neither in the symbolical nor the verbal prophecies are the men in the natural body ever exhibited as, in that state, reigning with Clirist over the kings and nations of the earth. That is the prerogative of those who are symbolized by the New Jeru- salem, in whose light walk " the nations of the saved," and within whose walls "the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor," Rev. xxi. 24. It is either by their resurrection from the dead, or by their living transliguration into glory from the " natural" to the "spiritual," that men are exalted to the condition of tiiose who are symbolized by that holy city. Among the regal saints must be classed the blessed and holy that had part in the first re- surrection, and were seen in the vision. Rev. xx. 4, sitting upon thrones.^ and who lived and reigned • ^ RESULTS. 135 "with Christ during the thousand years. The men seen in that vision, as we have ah-eady shown, symbolize the real men who are to be raised in spiritual bodies at Christ's second coming, and exalted to thrones in the regeneration of glory. In the number of the regal saints must also be ranked, after their transfiguration, those be- lievers who at the epoch of Christ's advent to judgment (when he is descending to the earth to take possession of his throne, compare Zech. xiv. 4), are to be " changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump," 1 Cor. XV. 51, 52, and caught up alive together with the risen saints to meet the Lord in the air, and to be, in consequence of this translation to glory, for ever with the Lord. In the language of the apostle — " The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch- angel, and with the trump of God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air ; and so shall we ever be with the Lord," 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17. That these translated believers are to be associated in the kingly sway with Christ and the risen saints, may be inferred from the promise which is made to every victorious be H- 136 EESULT8. liever of sitting with Christ upon liis throne, Rev. ill. 21 ; the promise that those who suflfei Avith him shall also reign with him, 2 Tim. ii. 12 ; and the express statement already cited trfSWER TO OBJECTIONS. 141 bj fire ? we answer, it is said also in the Scrip- ture, and in the same connexion, that the eaith once perished by water, 2 Pet. iii. G. If in pe- rishing hy water tlie earth was not annihilated, it is just as possible that in perishing by fire the earth may not be annihilated. As the world that now is, emerged at the command of the Lord from the flood of waters, so the world to come, at the command of that verj^ Lord, who is " the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever," may emerge in new beauty and glory from the flood of fire ; and as by the providence of God a seed was left' to replenish the earth after its baptism by water, so also by the providence of that same God, " who worketh all things " ac- cording to "the counsel of his own will," a seed may be left to replenish the earth after its bap- tism by fire. If it be asked how the preservation of a rem- nant of men in the natural body, after Christ's second coming, is compatible with the parable of the sheep and the goats, in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, seeing that that parable in- cludes all the individuals of the then living popu- lation of the globe? we answer, that although it is probable that the phrase 9r«v7« t« « flv^), " all the nations" here denotes, exclusively, nations of 142 ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS. living men in the natural body, inasmuch as that is its general, and perhaps uniform import in the Scri])tures, and as there is no intiuuition in the parable that those who are here spoken of are persons raised from death, still, whatever in that respect be the true meaning of the phrase in question, there is decisive evidence in the pa- rable itself, that that phrase does iwt include, in the most unrestricted sense, all the individuals of all the nations, and therefore presents no evi- dence against the fact that there may, neverthe- less, be other persons in the natural hody besides those here called the sheep and the goats. When nations are spoken of in their collective capa- city, either as exerting an agency themselves, or as the subject of an agency exerted by others, the meaning commonly is, either that the official delegates and representatives of those nations, or else a multitude of individuals from among those nations, exert or are the subjects of such agency. Thus, when it is said in Zech. xiv. 2, " I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle," no one supposes that the phrase " all na- tions'''' means, in the most absolute and unlimited sense, every tnan^ woman, and child, but a mid- tit ude of people from all those nations ; in that case, all the nations as represented by their ar- ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS. 143 mies. "When Christ says to the disciples, Matt. xxiv. 9, " and ye shall be hated bj all the na- tions," t>7t\ -TTuinm rZv e'^va; v, it Cannot mean all the individuals of all the nations, for, to say nothing of the thousands of infants who cannot be sup- posed to have had these feelings of hostility, the disciples had many converts among the nations, and those converts must be exceptions. The phrase, therefore, in that passage, also denotes a Tnultitude of jpeople among all those nations ; and such is its import in the thirty-second verse of the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, where it is said, " and before him shall be gathered all the nations^'' vxviec t« (6iyi — that is, those who might be considered as in some sense representing all the nations. That this language does not include, in the most unrestricted sense, all the individuals of the earth's population, is evident from the fact that there are very many persons who, either from ex- treme youth, or from other causes, have not access to the sick, and the naked, and the hungry, and the imprisoned, and consequently have not perform- ed the deeds done in behalf of Christ's suffering disciples, by those called " the sheep^'' or been guilty of the cold neglect which is charged upon *^ the goataP It follows, therefore, that those who 144 ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS. are designated as " tbe sheep and the goats," will hy no means include all the individuals of the nations living upon the earth at the epoch of Christ's secon"d coming ; and hence the para- ble furnishes no evidence against the fact in question. Tliat there will be a remnant of men in the natural body on the earth after Christ's second coming, is not only taught in symbolic prophecy, as we have shown in the preceding chapter, but is expressly stated in the verbal prophecies ; for example, in Isaiah Ixvi. 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, and Zechariah xiv. 1-5, 16-18, where, after the com- ing of the Lord with all his saints^ Zech. xiv. 5, and his pleading " by fire and by his sword . . with all flesh," Isaiah Ixvi. 16, compare 2 Thess. i. 7, 8, a remnant is still spoken of in such lan- guage as this : " And it shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the iiations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts," &c., Zech. xiv. 16 ; and, '' I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS. 145 tliat have not lieard mj fame, neither liave seen my glorv ; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations, upon horses and in chariots, and in litters, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord," Is. Ixvi. 18, 19, 20. In the parallel passage in Zech. xiv. 16-18, the nations or '-^families of the earth'''' are threatened w^ith the deprivation of rain in case of their neglect to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, in the manner prescribed ; and the nation or " family of Egypt . . . that have no rain," is threatened, in case of similar neglect, with " the plague." Who can doubt that the planet on which we dwell, the material globe, is the place to be inhabited by the nation or family of Egypt, and the other families of the earth referred to in these passages, and that the nations spoken of are nations of living men in the natural body, at the epoch to which these pro- phecies refer ? The destruction from which they are to escape, as is evident from the context, is the . one which is to occur at the coming of the Lord with all his saints, Zech. xiv. 1-5, and therefore this remnant is still to live after that coming. That there is to be such a remnant on the earth 146 ANSWEK TO OB,IECTI0XS. ill its renewed state, is still further evident from the description of the '' neio eart/i,'^ in Isaiah Ixv. 17-25, where it is expressly said, in speaking of men living in the natural body at that epoch, that such men are to huild, and plant, and have ofsprinr/ — " they shall hui/d houses and inhabit them ; and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them . . . they shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble ; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their of- spring with them," verses 21, 23, with which compare verse 17. Whatever difficulty, there- fore, there may be in reconciling such state- ments of the inspired word with other revealed truths, it is clear from these express declarations that there will be at that epoch on the" " new earth,-'' Isaiah Ixv. 17, compare 2 Peter iii. 13, a seed of men in the natural life — men who, as we liave already shown, are to be enlightened by instruction from the glorified saints — in the lan- guage of tlie Apocalypse, ^^ nations'- who are to " walk in the light " of the Holy City, New Je- . rusalem, which is the symbol of those saints. If it be asked, again, how are these views con- sistent with Christ's declaration, John xviii. 36, " my kingdom is not of this world ?" we answer, the unworldly nature and origin of Christ's king- AJ^SWEK TO OBJECTIONS. 147 dom are in no respect incompatible with the ex- istence of men in the natural body on the earth after his second coming. If he can, at this pre- sent moment^ administer an unworldly kingdom over men in the natural body — and that he does, our opponents believe as well as we — then most assuredly he can continue to administer an un- worldly kingdom over such men after his second coming. If the mere fact, that the subjects of Christ's kingdom are men in the natural body, would make it worldly then^ that fact woidd make it worldly now. But as it confessedly does not have that influence now^ neither v/ill it then. How, therefore, does the declaration, " my king- dom is not of this world," prove that there will not be men in the natural body on the earth after Christ's second coming? Again, according to the views of our oppo- nents themselves, the subjects of Christ's tnillen- nial sway will be men in the natural body on the earth : but if that fact make the kingdom a worldly one, then, on their own theory^ Christ's administration during the thousand years would he a worldly administration ; and if in this con- sists the point of the objection, it is one which refutes itself. If it be said by our opponents, that they be l-iS AKSWER TO OBJECTIONS. lieve that diirinor tlie millennium the kins; will be invisible, and that his j^resence and reign, in- stead of personal, will be exclusively spiritual, while on the other hand we maintain that the king will* be visible, and his presence and reign personal as well as spiritual ; we answer, how does the fact of visibility necessarily make the kingdom a worldly one ? That fact will not alter the pure and heavenly principles of Christ's government, or nullify their celestial origin. If his high and holy administration is free from carnality, while he conceals himself from our view, where is the impossibility of its being wholly free from it after he appears in his glory ? If it be said that we maintain that, after Christ's second coming, his gloriiied saints are to be associated with him in the kingly sway over all peoples, nations, and languages, under the whole heaven ? we answer, very true ; but that fact will not make the kingdom a worldly one. The principles of administration, instead of being imperfect or unjust, like those which often prevail in this world, will evince, by their unrival- led excellence, their heavenly origin. IIow, then, do the views which we have advocated conflict with Christ's declaration, "my kingdom is not .«' w^ ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS. 1 !0 of this world ?" The kingdom which he now administers does not partake of the corrnpt spi- rit of the world, its principles did not originate in the world, and therefore it is certainly not a worldly kingdom ; nor will its visible manifesta- tion, after his second coming, entail upon it that character. It is now a kingdom over this world, and its subjects are in this world, and what is more, Christ the hing was personally and visibly present in his humanity, when he said, " my kingdom is not of this world," and there- fore that dechiration does not necessarily imply either that the king will always be personally absent from this province of his dominions, or that he will have no subjects in the natural body on the earth after his second coming. But if Christ's kingdom is not now a worldly king- dom in any objectionable import of the term ivorldly, it is evident from what has been said that in no such import will it be a worldly king- dom " when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that be- lieve." It will not be worldly either in its na- ture or its origin, for it is " not from hence.'''' Its chief rulers will not be the dwellers in the flesh, they will be Christ and the glorified saints ; and the principles of their administration, instead of 1.jO answer to objections. being corrupt and selfisli, Ifce those wliich are now dominant in the world, will be pure aud lieavenlv. But the futility of this objection will be still more apparent, when we turn to the context of the passage which is supposed to occasion the difhculty. Christ had been accused before Pontius Pilate of sedition, of plotting the overthrow of Ciesar's government, in order to make himself a king in his stead. Pilate asked him, " What hast thou done ?" Jesus answered, " My kingdom is not of this world ; if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to tlie Jews ; but now is my king- dom not from hence," John xviii. 35, 36. The phrase translated, " not of this loorld'''' — mx. . . IX 7«v y.^T/^ov ro-jTov — is, literally, '"'' wot from this world." The passage may be illustrated by the (question which the Saviour put to the Jews, Matt, xxi. 25, " The baptism of John, whence was it ? f'l from heaven, or t^from men?" The Greek preposition in John xviii. 36, is Ix, and in Matt. xxi. 25, the same preposition changed into f'l before a vowel, and it meaus, from, out of. Baptism was indeed a sacred rite of divine ori- (/ill ; it was ^'■from heaven,^'' but nevertheless, it Aiq-SWEE TO OBJECTIONS. 151 was administered by John ^personally and vlsihly on earth. So in reorard to the king^dom of Christ, Its origin is from the same source with the bap- tism of John, " not from this world^'' but from heaven, and after the second coming of Christ it is to be administered by the Saviour and his glorified saints personally and visibly on the earth. As Jesus was accused of sedition, of ex- citing the people against the existing govern- ment, it was enough for him to say in answer to the question, "What hast thou done?" I have done nothing to jvistify the charge ; I have not stirred up the people against Coesar ; for my kingdom is not of this world ; it is not of earth- ly but of heavenly origin ; it is not to be esta- blished by the might of armies in the flesh, or upheld by human power ; if it were, then would my servants fight that I should not be de- livered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hence. Such appears to have been, sub- stantially, the import of our Saviour's answer to the Roman governor. The rejily was pertinent to the circumstances of the case, and seems to have been satisfactory to Pilate. There is a very important sense, therefore, in which Christ's kingdom is " not of this world,^'' but that fact is in no respect at variance with 153 A2s'i5\VKIi TO OJiJiilCilO^'S. our po:;iliou, that there will be men in the natu- ral body on the earth after his second coming. If it be asked, again, how are these views com- l^atiblc with what is said in the Bible respecting Christ's delivering up the kingdom, and conse- quently the termination of his office as Media- tor, and the cessation of man's existence on the earth in the natural body \ we answer, that al- thougli the Bible speaks of an event called the delivering up of the kingdom, it nowhere says that there is ever to be a termination of Christ's office as Mediator, or such a cessation of the hu- man race. The passage referred to occasions no more difficulty for the millenarian than for the antimillenarian. That jjassage is as follows : " Then cometh the end., lohen he shall have de- Imered iip the Mngdom to God., even the Father / when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power. For he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things un- der him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself he sid)- ject unto him that put all things under him,^ ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS. 153 tliai God may he all in all^^ 1 Cor. xv. 2J:- 28. It is very true, that after the expiration of the millennium, and the final scenes of the judgment, death, the last enemy, shall be de- stroyed ; but where is it said in this passage that there is to be a termination of Christ'' s office as Mediator, or that men are to cease to exist on the earth in the natural body after Christ's se- cond coming ? There is not a syllable to that effect. To say that it is implied either in the act of delivering up the kingdom, or in the phrase, " then cometh the end^'' is a mere gratuitous as- sumption. On the contrary, we are taught in the Scriptures that Christ is to be '■^ a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedec," Ps. ex. 4, Hebrews v. 6, vi. 20, vii. 21. As the existence of Christ in glorified humanity is eternal, it is therefore altogether possible that his priesthood should be eternal, and that, in the most absolute and unlimited sense, he should be " a high priest for (?ye/'," Heb. vi. 20. To say that the known nature of the subject limits the duration of that priesthood, and that therefore the words "/w ever " must be taken in a qnalified sense, is a mere begging of the question. The reason as- signed by the apostle why his priesthood is un- changeable, is because his existence is eternal^ 154 ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS. and hence the fair inference from that fact is that this lyriestlwod^ which knows no change, is eter- nal also. After speaking of the mortality of the Jewish Levitical priests, the apostle adds, in re- spect to Christ : " But this man ( Jesns), hecanse he continueth ever^ hath an nnchangeal)le priest- hood," Heb. vii. 2-1:. If it be said that the word ever^ as here nsed, is meant only to teach that as Christ continues to exist as long as the earth exists, therefore his priesthood can exist during tliat period, and that hence, as the existence of the earth is to cease, the priesthood must cease at the same time — we answer, that here again is a begging of one of the very points at issue, namely, that respecting the future eternity of this material globe. If it be said that the Scrip- tures speak of the burning up of the world, we answer, that we have already shown that it can- not be proved that the perishing by fire there spoken of, means the annihilation of the globe, for similar language is used by St. Peter re- specting the former destruction by water. The destruction by fire is to result not in annihilation, but in renovation. The earth is to be changed^ not f truck out of existence. The old world, that is, •' the world that then was" before the flood, per.-^hed by water, 2 Pet. iii. 6. " Tlie heavens ANSVVEK TO OBJECTIONS. 155 and the earth which are now," that is, the pre* sent earth with its surrounding atmosphere, is "reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men," 2 Pet. iii. 7 ; but out of the wi'eck and ruin of that conflagration are to emerge, according to the promise, Isaiah Ixv. 17-25, Ixvi. 22, " new heavens and a new earth," that is, a new condition of the planet, with a new and purer atmosphere — " new hea- vens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth right- eousness," 2 Pet. iii. 13. Where is it said in the Scriptures that the new earth, that is, this mate- rial globe in its renewed condition, is ever to be destroyed ? Not a word to that effect. All that is said upon that subject would lead us to believe that the earth, after its baptism by fire, is to con- tinue for ever. As the priesthood of Christ and the existence of the earth, as it respects the fu- ture, are to be eternal, so, also, according to the decisive evidence already presented, both from the symbolic and the verbal prophecies, there are to be men on the earth in the natural body after Christ's second coming, and as Christ ever liveth to make intercession for them, and present before his Father the infinite merits of his aton- ing sacrifice and death, the human race upon the earth, for aught that is said to the contrary, 156 ANSWEE TO OBJECTIOJ^'S. may exist for ever, and a blessed immortality, by virtue of the redemption which is in Christ Je- sus, be given to them as the reward of their obe- dience. Those who are cast into the lake of tire are of course irretrievably lost, and remain an awful monument of God's inflexible abhorrence of sin ; but as to those who, when death shall have been abolished, exist upon the earth in the natural body, after the last resurrection and hnal act of the judgment, the work of salvation may go on for ever. We return to the question respecting Christ's delivering up the kingdom. If the Father has intrusted to Christ a sceptre which the Saviour now wields over the universe — a sceptre which he is to continue to wield till the close of the millennium — and which, after the sub- jugation of all his foes, he is to return to him who gave it, that he may ever afterwards exercise his dominion in subordination to the Father, " that God may be all in all," 1 Cor. xv. 28, is it not just as possible for him in that new form of administration in which "the Son also himself shall be subject to him that put all things under him " — is it not just as possible for him to exer- ^ cise a dominion over men, and that, too, over men in the natural hody, provided that there are ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS. 157 then such men — 'is not this just as j)ossible as it ever was? Most assuredly. How, then, does the delivering up of the kingdom prove that the existence of the human I'ace in the natural body is to cease? The fact under consideration afibrds not the slightest ground for that conclusion. Is it not just as possible, also, for Christ to deliver np the sceptre of millennial and pre-millennial rule, when he has visibly appeared, and visibly reigned during the thousand years^'' as it would be if he had, through that whole period, kept himself concealed from the view of his earthly subjects f If the mere fact of visibility renders such a delivery impossible, if it cannot be done because there is a public manifestation of the splendors of his kingdom, then, our opponents themselves being judges, it cannot be done at all, for, according to their view, Christ is not only now visible in heaven, but is to continue thus visible there through the whole period of the millennium, and is to be visible somewhere, when " every eye shall see him," Rev. i. 7, in the scenes of the judgment. What difference, then, does it make in regard to the possibriity of delivering up the kingdom, whether Christ's visible appearance take place before the mil- lennium, or be delayed till after it is ended ? 158 ANSWKK TO OBJECTIONS. Kone whatever. This delivering up of the king- dom, therefore, is no argument either against Christ's pre-millennial advent and personal reign, or against the existence of the human race in the natural body on the earth after liis second coming. The order of events, as stated by the apostle, is this — " Christ the first fruits " — he passes over the interval between the first and second advents — " afterward, cTreirx^ they that are Christ's at his coming " — he passes over again the interval be- tween the first and second resurrections — " then {siru* afterward), the end" — the end of that chapter in Christ's high and holy administration — the end of his possession of that sceptre which he is to deliver up after the close of the millen- nium, and the subjugation of all his foes, that he himself also may be " subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all," 1 Cor. XV. 23, 24, 28. The aposrle is speak- ing of the resurrection of the body, and events connected therewith, " As in Adam all die, even * This is a particle denoting succession, not contemporaneous- ness, as is evident from Mark iv. 28, where we have this very pai'ticle £?.-« — "For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then (aru, afterward) the ear, after that (ara) the full corn in the ear." ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS. 15S SO in Christ shall all be made alive. But every mail in his own order (literally, i7i Ms own Tjand) ; Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then (or afterward) Cometh the endll'' the end of that stage in his go- vernment, and the opening of a new scene in the history of the universe. If at that period death is to be abolished, and Christ to deliver up the sceptre which he has previously held, his enemies having been subjugated for ever, it is certainly a most marked epoch, and well may it be said, " aftervmrd cometh the end^'' as there is an end of i\\fxt particidar forin of rule which he will have thus far exercised. But where is there any intimation in this passage either that the w^orJv of the Mediator in sending his Holy Spirit to secure his subjects in obedience is to cease, or that men are no longer to exist in the natural body on the earth? There is none whatever. If the continued existence of the race in the natural body on the earth is elsewhere taught in God's sacred word, there is nothing to conflict with that fact in what is meant by Christ's deli- vering up the kingdom, and the consequent ter- mination of that stage in his government, for it is clearly taught in the Scriptures, and admitted by all believers in the Bible, that in some form 160 ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS. of administration, Christ will " reign for ever and ever," Rev. xi. 15 ; that " of his kingdom there shall be no end," Lnke i. 33 ; and that " his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away," Dan. vii. 14. But that " dominion " is a dominion over " all peoples, nations, and languages," ih., " under the whole heaven," Dan. vii. 26, " over all the earth," Zeeh. xiv. 9, phraseology which, as we have already proved, denotes men in the natural body on the earth, the subjects of that kingdom whicli is to be administered by Christ and the glorified saints. He is therefore to reign for ever, to be a priest for ever, a priest on his throne, and his glorified saints are to reign with liim everlasting- ly. Is it not, then, perfectly compatible, that after what is called the delivering up of the king- dom, Christ, the Son of Man, with his beloved Bride, should be subordinate in ofiice to the Eternal Father, and that at the same time the nations of living men should also be subor- dinate to them, and be holy and happy under their righteous and beneficent sway? Most assuredly. How, then, is there any incompati- bility between this delivering up of the kingdom and the views which we have exhibited? Or how does that delivery prove either that Clirist's ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS. 161 office a^ Mediator is to cease, or that there will no longer be men in the natural body after Christ's advent to judgment? The Scriptures have said but little respecting Christ's delivering up the kingdom to the Fa- ther, but aside from that, enough is revealed to prepare us for his coming. It is not necessary that we should, at present, know all the particu- lars of his millennial and post-millennial reign, or be able to explain the precise mode in which God will accomplish his high counsels of justice, mercy, and love. Our faith should rest in the facts, simply as they are revealed. It is enough, at present, for us to know that the sure word of prophecy informs us that Christ will, at his glo- rious a^^pearing, raise from the dead the church of the first born, and translate those who are alive and remain, and love his appearing ; that he will execute judgment on those who at his second coming are found in organized confe- deracy against him, and indeed upon all men in the natural life, except those whom, as the re- ward of their affectionate faith, he changes from mortal to immortal, and those whom in his infi- nite wisdom he saves from the general destruc- tion, and leaves as a seed to replenish the earth, and to serve and. obey him ; that there will be / 162 ANSWEll TO OBJECTIOXS. an overwhelming and irremediable discomfiture of those of his unglorified subjects, who revolt from his sway at the expiration of the millen- nium, after Satan is loosed out of prison, and goes forth to deceive the nations ; that he will raise the unholj dead to inflict upon them, in body and soul, in that complex nature in which they have sinned, the just recompense of their deeds ; and that, having made this impressive demonstration of his supreme hatred of sin by the punishment of the wicked, he will abolish death, and reign for ever, in subordination to the Father, and in blissful association with his glo- rified church, "the Bride, the Larnb's wife," over a holy and happy creation. If then it be asked again, how is the visible reign of Christ and the glorified saints over men in the natural body during the period represent- ed by the thousand years, compatible with what is foreshown in Kev. xx., respecting the post-mil- lennial revolt? we answer, that such a revolt will be just as possible, if Christ and the saints shall have been reigning in visible glory over such subjects, as if he alone, without these asso- ciate rulei*s, had been reigning over them in in- visible glory. Probation is just as possible in the personal presence of Christ as in his absence. ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS. 1(33 The angels wlio, when on probation, rebelled against God, were doubtless in the presence of the Eternal Son, and if such probation was pos- sible to angels, how does it appear that proba- tion, when Christ is personally present on earth, is per se {in itself) impossible to men ? If Satan, with no one to seduce him, could rebel in heaven^ then most assuredly man, uihen tempted hy Sa- tan, can revolt on earth. If the personal presence of the Son of God did not prevent the fall of Satan, an archangel of transcendent powers, when connparat'mely free from temptation, how will that presence necessarily prevent the disobe- dience of un glorified men, beings of very inferior powers, and in the case before us, under circum- stances of very strong temptation f Miraculous displays of divine power do not always j)revent transgression. The children of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai, after they had heard the voice of the living God, and seen the manifestations of his special presence, worshipped a golden calf; our first parents in Paradise, when perfect- ly hDly, and enjoying the most intimate com- munion with their Creator, were seduced by the machinations of Satan ; nay, in heaven itself, as we have just said, angels fell from their high es- tate, and revolted against the throne of God ; lO-i ANSWEK TO objp:ctions. and in view of such facts, lield by anti-millena- rians themselves, where is the impossibility that Satan, when k'josed out of prison, shoiikl suc- ceed in deceiving a vast multitude among the nations, notwithstanding the visible displays of glory from Christ, their king? However quiet and peaceable they may have been nnder the dominion of Christ and the regal saints, while Satan was shut np in the abyss, and thus debar- red from tempting them to evil, where is the im- possibility of their revolting from that sway when Satan is loosed, and goes forth to deceive them? Such a revolt, therefore, is possible even among many who have lived during the millen- nium. It cannot, however, be proved tliat it ex- tends to them. AVhether it does, we know not. It may, perhaps, be confined to their descend- ants, to individuals living after the thousand years are ended. We are not told in the Scrip- tures how long is that " little season," Hev. xx. 3, in which Satan will once more be permitted to practise his wiles. It may be short, compared with the vast period denoted by the thousand vears, and yet be long enough for him to exert his agency on a very large scale. New genera- tions may grow uj) in that time, embracing many individuals who do not give their hearts to ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS. IGj Christ, individuals whom, in their comparative inexperience, it may be very easy for Satan to seduce in great numbers into open rebellion. In view, therefore, of all these facts, how does this post-millennial revolt conflict with the probation which Scripture elsewhere informs us will be given to those that are left from among the na- tions, and to their posterity ? — a probation after the second coming of Christ, to men living in the natural body on the earth. There is no dis- crepancy whatever. But though successful in deceiving vast multitudes to their ruin, Satan suffers a final and hopeless defeat — his army is destroyed by the special interposition of God — and he himself consigned to the lake of fire, to be with those who are denoted by the beast and the false prophet, and to be " tormented day and night, for ever and ever," Rev. xx. 7-10. The glorified saints have no part in that apos- tasy. Faithful to Christ as his Bride, united to him in bonds of the most ardent and unwaver- ing love, secured in their holy and happy state by an everlasting covenant, they shall continue to reign upon Immanuel's throne for ever and ever. Rev. iii. 21, Dan. vii. 18, 27, Rev. xxii. 5. The remnant of the human race in the natural body, those who have not been engaged in the ^« 166 ANSWER TO OBJECTIOXS. post-millennial rebellion, confirmed in their alle- giance by the influence of God's Holy Spirit, and by these awful judgments on the disobedient, will never revolt from the dominion of Christ and the saints. Death, the last enemy, will be destroyed ; and, the curse having been removed, God will look forth upon his work and pro- nounce it, as it was when it first came from his hands, to be vej[^ good. The post-millennial revolt, therefore, is no va- lid objection to the existence of men in the natu- ral body after Christ's second coming. There are to be such men on the earth till the closing scenes of the judgment, and for aught that the Bible says to the contrary, there will be such men here through eternal ages. That, indeed, as we have already shown, is a legitimate inference from the fact that the kingdom of Christ and the glorified saints is an everlasting kingdom, and its subjects for ever, the men of all peoples, nations, and languages, under the whole heaven. If, then, it be asked once more, how is that possible, in view of the limited extent of the earth, and the insufficiency of its means of nutri- tion, what can be done with so vast a population as there will necessarily be after death shall have been abolished, and men have continued to mul- ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS. WJ tiplj through innumerable ages ? where can they find space to dwell, or food to sustain them ? we answer, there is no more difficulty in this case than there would have been if our first parents^ had not sinned, and death had never visited the race. The omnipotent Jehovah has resources in- exhaustible, and we doubt not that he will be able to provide for the exigency. Successive generations, after being trained up for glory, may be changed from the natural to the spiritual body, and translated alive into a more exalted state as the reward of their obedience. How vast, therefore, is the salvation which Christ is to accomplish ! How inconceivably sublime are the results which shall send a thrill of ecstasy through all the obedient provinces of his exulting empire ! What heaven can be more glorious or more desirable than a world rescued from the grasp of Satan ; emancipated from death and sin; delivered from the curse; enli- vened by the songs of countless myriads who will chant hallelujahs to God and the Lamb, when the tabernacle of G-od shall be with men, and he shall dwell among them ; a world cheered by the per- sonal as well as spiritual presence of Jesus ; and governed by an administration perfect in wisdom and strength, holiness and love ? Give me such 168 AA'SWKK TO OBJECTIONS. a world, full of beings who are perfectly good and perfectly liappy, in the presence of Christ, their Lord and Life, and I want no other heaven — give me, as a glorified saint, a share in that dominion which Christ has pledged to his belov- ed Bride, and let me have the promise and oath of God that this bliss shall know no end — that I with all his chosen shall be for ever holy and for ever happy — and I ask no more. I want no other paradise than such a world, with such inhabit- ants, and such enjoyments. I will rejoice with all my soul in the '" new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." If, as our opponents must admit, the scene in which, when raised from the grave and re-united to the soul, the bodies of the saints are to reside, is a material place, and if the most essential ele- ments of its blessedness are the presence of Christ and holiness in the believer's heart, why then, so far as the mere locality is concerned, will not the new earth, surrounded by a pure and healthy atmosphere, and gladdened by the most tender and sacred associations, be just as good a heaven for the abode of the righteous, as some other place, in some distant quarter of the universe ? Why will not this be as good a point as any other from which Jehovah may send forth glorified ANSWER TO ORTECTIONR. IGO sfiiiits on missions of love to his dependent pro- vinces ? Let the universe be ever so vast — let the tele- scope reveal sj'stem after system, throughout a crowded immensity — let suns, and planets, and stars, be indefinitely multiplied, still there must be some spot which shall be the metropolis of the universe ; some favored place where the Deity specially manifests his presence ; some palace-royal, where Jesus our king appears in his glory, and from which he sends forth minis- tering spirits to execute his behests ; and why, then, may not the renewed earth be the pavilion where he shall hold his court ? why may not this globe, on which he suffered and died — the scene of his humiliation — become the theatre of his triumph and tabernacle for ever ? CHAPTEE XIII. Results — (Continued.) VIII. The millennium is to continne three luiudred and sixty thousand years. IX. A series of the most stupendous events is not very far distant. Having thus answered, and we hope satisfac- torily, the main objections to the existence of men in the natural body on the earth after Christ's second coming, we shall notice, and that very briefly, but two other results of the laws of syra- bolization. VIII. In the eighth place, these laws demon- strate that the millennium is to continue during: three hundred and sixty thousand years. We have already shown, that according to the mod© of reckoning in Daniel and St. John, tlie equivalent expression for one thousand years, Eev. XX. 4, is three hundred and sixty thousand days, and that those days symbolize the same number of astronomical or solar years. RESULTS, 1 7 I Take, therefore, tlie view to wliich we are led by the laws of symbolization, and wliat noble conceptions does this interpretation give ns of the redemption which is in Christ Jesus ! During these three hundred and sixty thousand years, under the beneficent sway of Christ and his glo- rified church, the boundless population of this rejoicing planet, undisturbed by the machina- tions of Satan, will walk in the paths of the Lord their Redeemer. What immense additions will be made to the happiness of the universe during the mighty roll of that vast succession of ages ! While " the god of this world," 2 Cor. iv. 4, has rule, there are many who walk the broad road to destruction, and comparatively few that are saved ; but ultimately, as God's plans become developed in the full manifestation of Messiah's reisn, the number of the lost will bear but a small proportion to that countless throng who ascribe their eternal deliverance to God and the Lamb ! Well may we exclaim — " Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty ; just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints!" Rev. yav. 3. It is not to be inferred, however, that the reign of Christ and the saints is to cease at the expira- tion of the millennium. Li the first part of the 1 72 RESULTS. twentieth chapter of tlie Apocalypse, it is men- tioned that Satan, according; to the svmboliza- tion witiie-sed, was shut up in tlie bottomless pit. The symbolical period of his confinement is stated to be a thousand years ; and then it is added, that during that period the saints lived V again, and reigned with Christ. That, however, is only the first grand epoch of their associate sway. Tlie sovereignty of Christ and his belov- ed Bride is to endure through eternal ages. Thus it is declared respecting the Messiah, in Dan. vii. 14, "his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away ;" in Luke i. 33, " he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever / and of his kingdom there shall he no end f and in Rev. xi. 15, "he shall reign ybr ever and ever.^^ The same thing is said of the glorified saints in Kev. xxii. 5, "they shall reign for ever and ever f in Dan. vii. 18, "the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever^ even for ever and ever ;'''' and in verse 27, as Professor Stuart renders the Chal- dee, '•'• their kingdom shall be an everlasting king- dom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them."* * The pronoun in the original is frj^, whicli means it, and refers for its antecedent to the word ''people,'' and tlierefore. KESTLTS. 173 IX. In the ninth and last place, thene is rea- son to believe that a series of the most stupen- dous events is not very far distant. The destruction of the antichristian rulers, civil and ecclesiastical, is to take place under tlie seventh vial, Rev. xvi. 17-21, xvii., xviii., xix. 2, 11-21, and, as v^^e have already shown, p. 119, we are now living under the sixth. Those whc are s^^mbolized by the apocalyptic witnesses testify to the truth as it is in Jesus, throughout the twelve hundred and sixty years; and accord- ing to the general opinion of the best interpre- ters of Scripture, more than twelve hundred years of that period^ have already elapsed. The slaughter of tlie witnesses, therefore, the gathering of all the chief rulers of the world, Rev. xvi. 11:, to a general war, the second com- ing of Christ, the resurrection of the saints, the overthrow of those denoted by the Beast and False Prophet, the binding of Satan, and the age of millennial blessedness, are at hand. according to the English idiom, must be rendered in the plu- ral. " And the kingdom and dominion, and power of the king- doms under the whole heaven, sliall be given to the j^eople of the saints of the Most High ; their kingdom shall be an evej-- laatitig kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them" Dan vii. 27. * See above, p. 124. CHAPTEE XIY. 3oNCLUsio\. — Practical Reflections — the impending cri'is— state of the visible church — duty of investigating al.' the Scriptures — testimony of the Holy Ghost to the utility of studying unfulfilled proplicc}- — grandeur of redemption — • the ease with which the laws of sj'mbolization may be mas- tered, and made the means of a large and useful knowledge of the prophecies — the claims of the subject upon the atten- tion of Christians in general, and especially of ministers and teachers of the word — exhortation to trust and «bey the Lord — origin, grandeur, and duration of the kingdom of Christ If these things are so, we are on the eve of a crisis unprecedented in the history of the Avorld ! But how utterly unprepared for these events is the great body of the visible church ! The professed worshippers of the Lord are, for the most part, sunk in spiritual lethargy, wedded to sensual pomps and vanities, and unmindful of their high obligations as the betrothed of the Lord Jesus Christ. When St. Paul wrote his second letter to the Thcssalonians, they were apprehensive that the second coming of Christ in glorious nuijesty was immediately impending. The apostle told them PllAUriCAL KKFLKUTIONS. 175 that there must first be the rise of the apostasy, 2 Thess. ii. 3, and the manifestation of the man OF SIN. For more than twelve centuries there has been a most fearful apostasy from the truth as it is in Jesus ; and the Papal " False Prophet," whom many believe to be the Man of Sin, has long exerted his blasphemous and persecuting agency. Kearly eighteen hundred years have passed away since Paul wrote to the Thessalo- nians, and therefore we are so much nearer to the second coming of Christ, by wdiich the Man of Sin is to be destroyed, 2 Thess. ii. 8. But alas ! how many there are who " know not, nei- ther will they understand ; they walk on in dark- ness," Ps. Ixxxii. 5. We rejoice, however, that the prejudice against the study of prophecy is gradually giv- ing way before the march of enlightened in- quiry. The command of the Saviour is, "Search the Scriptures," John v. 39, and this compre- hensive injunction includes the prophstical, as truly as the devotional. If the study be not use- ful, why does the Lord enjoin it, and why did the Saviour reprove the two disciples who were travelling to Emmaus, for being so "slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spok- en ?" Luke xxiv. 25. If the fair and candid in- 1T6 PEACTICAI. ELFLECTIONS. terpretation of prophecy be not beuelicial, wliy did the Saviour begin " at Moses and all the prophets," and expound " unto tliem in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself?" Luke xxiv. 27. If it be said, that when nihiisters and private Christians have as much wisdom and as much self-control as the Saviour, they too nuiy be permitted to expound the prophecies, we re- ply, that of course no such claim is advanced ; but if the true ])rinciples of interpretation are revealed in the word of God, as we have endea- vored to show in this Essay, tlien we have a safe guide, and ought to use it. If it be inexpedient to note the signs of the times, and to compare the indications of God's providence with the tes- timony of his Avord, why did the Saviour reprove the men of his day for their voluntary blindness? Matt. xvi. 3. Alas, through wilful negligence, they knew not the Lord of glory ; and hence, were led to set their seal and sanction to the wickedness of all preceding ages. Matt, xxiii. 35, by crucifying their own Messiah, their God and king ! We ask, again, if such expositions be not advisable, why did the Lord, by the propliet Daniel, explain to Nebuchadnezzar the meaning of his dream, concerning a long series of events from his own day to the setting up of the king* PKACTICAL REFLECTIONS. 177 dora of Jesus Christ? " There is a God in hea- ven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days," Dan. ii. 28, compare verse 45. If a reveUation has been made, it is most assuredl;y our duty to try to understand it, and be wise up to what is written. But we are not left on this point to mere in- ference. The Holy Ghost hath expressly de- clared, not only that " all Scripture is given by in- spiration of God," but that it is " profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruc- tion in righteousness ; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works," 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. God pronounces all Scripture to be profitable for instruction, and other practical purposes — " all good worksP Man, on the other hand, says that a part of it, and a large part of it too, is xinprofitahle ! I need not ask which is of the highest authority — the wis- dom of God, or the opinions of men. See 1 Cor. 1. 25, iii. 19. And if all of the sacred volume be useful for instruction, then it is the duty of every minister to study the prophetic Scriptures, the symbolic as well as the unsymbolic, and make their exposition a part of his pulpit minis- trations. In 2 Pet. i. 19, it is written— " We 8* ITS PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS. have also a more sure word of prophecj ; where- unto YE DO WELL tTicit ye take heed^ as imto a light that shineth in a dark place." God declares that we do well to take heed to it. Man, on the otlier hand, affirms that we have nothing to do with it; that the study of prophecy is useless, and even pernicious ; and that to investigate it tho- roughly, according to our ability and opportuni- ty, as the command clearly implies, is the mark of extravagance and folly ! jSTow, as if the di- vine Spirit would expressly put us on our guard against such "enticing words of man's wisdom," 1 Cor. ii. 4, it is declared in the third verse of the first chapter of the last, and what is com- moidy regarded as the most mysterious book in the Bible — as if there would be a peculiar ten- dency and disposition to neglect the sublime vi- sions of the Apocalypse — " Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this pro- l^hecy, and keep those things which are written therein," Rev. i. 3. So far, therefore, from the study being unprofitable, when rightly pursued, a special blessing is pronounced on those who thus engage in it; and, what is more, that bless- ing was promised and recorded when the j^i'o- ])hec]j was UNFULFILLED. But notwithstanding this plain declaration of the Holy Ghost, to the rKAcricA!. r.i:ir.i:(n-ioN8. 179 utility of studying anfuljilledji^'opheey, we are told tliat it will not repay iis for the labor of the investigation, and that, if we touch npon pro. l^liecy at all, we ought to confine ourselves to that which has been fulfilled ! Nor are such commendations in the inspired volume confined to one or two passages. They are scattered through different portions of the Bible, and reach their culminating point in the last book of God's revelations to the church. In the last chapter of the Apocalypse, as well as in the first, is the blessing pronounced on him " that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book," Rev. xxii, 1. But how can he yield an intelligent obedience to those sayings, unless he knows what they are ; and how can lie know what they are, unless he applies himself to the Scripture in which they are contained ? If our heavenly Father has condescended to give us an explanation of the mysteries of the Bible — as for instance by the angel in Rev. xvii. T, where it is written, "I will tell thee the mystery " — the least we can do, in grateful return for his kindness, is to study such explanations with diligence, hu- mility, and prayer. Let us direct our energies to the task, and meditate on the thrilling decla- rations of the sure toord of prophecy, and our la- 180 PRACTICAL KEFLECTIOK3. bor, SO far from being either useless or irksome, will be a source of the highest pleasure and profit. The sure word of prophecy ! By its heavenly light, in what immeasurable grandeur appears the plan of redemption ! Ages upon ages roll by, and still the throng of unnumbered worship- pers shout hosannas to the Lamb. True, indeed, during the " little season," Kev. xx. 3, 7-9, in which Satan, after the expiration of the millen- nium, is loosed from his prison, and goes forth "to deceive the nations," a part of the unglori- fied iniuibitants of the earth revolt from their allegiance, and are destroyed without remedy ; yet nevertheless, how vastly must the number of the righteous exceed that of the wicked ! There is no intimation in the Scriptures, that even after the three hundred and sixty thousand years are ended, there are no longer to be men in the natural life. On the contrary, it is a legiti- mate inference, as we have already proved, that through eternal ages, generation after generation will appear on the earth. Innumerable multi- tudes may thus give full proof of their allegi- ance, and be rewarded with immortality, as were Enoch and Elijah, without seeing death. And if this be so, with what rapturous transport will PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS. 181 the Saviour reflect upon his atoning sacrifice ! "With what triumphant exultation will he con- template his victory over Satan and the grave ! And with what intense delight will all the saints and angels regard the fulfilment of the predic- tion — "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied," Isaiah liii. 11. A monu- ment of the evil of sin will remain in some part of God's dominions— a most impressive warning against all disloyalty — a most powerful motive to persevere in the pathway of honor and truth ; but the necessity of upholding the moral govern- ment of Jehovah by the execution of legal pe- nalty on incorrigible transgressors, will be so clearly seen, and the will of the righteous so per- fectly in accordance with that of their heavenly Father, that the wretchedness in the prison-house of the universe will not detract from their bliss. It is in this respect in the spiritual as it is in the material world. The spots on the surface of the sun are but small when contrasted with the rest of his disk; we can, indeed, discern them, but they do not perceptibly diminish his effulgence when he floods creation with his glorious beams. The laws of symbolization, which have been treated in this Essay, are clear and intelligible, few in number, remembered without difficulty, 182 PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS and generally obvious in their apjjlication. If but a moderate portion of tlie time and labor which are often devoted to the study of foreign languages and abstruse sciences, were given to the investigation of these principles, the}' could be easily and thoroughly understood. They are a master key to the different wards of symbolic prophecy ; and by rightl}^ applying it, we obtain a vivid and realizing view of the perfections of God, and a more accurate knowledge of his high counsels of love. What was before dark is clotlied in light. What was before uninviting, because regarded as unintelligible, is invested with surpassing interest. We are furnished with new and more powerful motives to glorify our Maker, to do good to our fellow men, and to run with patience the race set before us. We are supported under trials, cheered amidst difficul- ties and discouragements, and go on our way re- joicing. Confiding in God, we ascend the mount of promise, and looking beyond the present scene of trouble and darkness, a prospect more glorious than that which Moses saw from the top of Pis- gah, meets our enraptured vision. Surely such a subject demands the attention of Christians in general, and especially of ministers and teach- ers of the word. Its claims ought not lightly PEACTICAL REFLECTIONS. 183 to be disregarded. We are directed to endure hardness as good soldiers. We must not faint by the way ; and if it requires dihgent study to understand these parts of the sacred word, we must buckle on the harness, and put our shoul- der to the wheel. Tlie church has a right to ex- pect it from those to whom she looks for instruc- tion. The providence of God calls for it. The signs of the times demand it. We live in a most wonderful age; and if events, such as those which have been noticed in this Essay, are revealed, and the time of their accomplishment is at hand, we ought to know it ourselves, and proclaim it to others. Let us, therefore, search the oracles of God ; let us take his word as a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path ; and while faith- fully performing our duties day by day, instead of being disheartened and cast down by present trials, let us look at the prospect which is be- yond, and lift up our heads, knowing that our redemption draweth nigh. The agitations of worldly politics will soon be over, and instead of empires governed by the principles of man's wisdom, and which rise and fall in the fluctua- tions of human affairs, there will be a kingdom which cannot be moved, a kingdom whose origin was laid in the counsels of eternity, whose mani- 184 PRACTICAL K1-;FLECTR)NS. festation has been foretold by all the prophets since the world began, whose grandeur will «nr pass our loftiest conceptions, and of whose dura- tion there shall be no end. THE END. BOOKS ON THE LAWS OF SYMBOLTZATION AKD FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE. As among those who read the foregoing Essay there may be persons who are not aware of the origin of the laws of which it treats, the discussions respecting tliem, and tlie extent to which they have been applied to the interpretation of the Bymbolic Scriptures, the Publisher gives notice that those who desire it may obtain the requisite information from an Exposition of the Apocalypse, by the Editor of the Theological and Literary Journal, in which they were originally stated, and are applied to the interpretation of the whole series of the symbols of that prophecy ; and from the Journal itself, which, was established mainly for the purpose, on the one hand, of investigating, demonstrating, and applying them, and on the other, of pointing out the errors of other modes of treating the symbols. They are accordingly presented there, as they are quoted in the Essa}-, discussed at length, applied to near!}' all the symbols of the Old and New Testament, the results unfolded to which they lead, atiswers given to objec- tions to them, and the most ample evidence furnished that they overturn the current notions which those who spiritualize the prophecies entertain of God's great purposes of merc}^ towards our race. The principles, also, on which other writers — spi- ritualists and auti-spi ritualists — proceed in their expositions are stated, many of their volumes and essaj's reviewed, and their defects and errors pointed out. The laws of Figurative Language also — respecting which as erroneous views prevail as in regard to symbols — ar.' presented in the Journal, and exemplitied in the interpretation of much of Isaiaii, and many passages from other parts of the Sacred Volume. These laws are as new, and as just, and work as important changes iu interpretation, as the Laws of Symboli- zation. 186 coNTK^'■is. Besides these discussioiis, there is alsu iu tlic Jimnial a series of artieles on the principiil philosophical and st-ientific theo- ries of the period, that touch in a measure the doctrines of theology, and the understanding of which is necessary to the just interpretation of the Scriptures: — such in metaphysics, as the idealistic Atheism of Kant and Coleridge ; the Pantheism of Swedenborg, Schleiermacher, Schelling, and Hegel ; the schemes of their disciples, Parker, Newman, Bushncll, Park, and Nevin ; the development theory of Neander and Schaflf; and such in natural science, as the doctrine of modern geolo- gists respecting the age of the world. Those anti-Scriptural systems which have been openlj' advocated, or in a measure sanctioned and eulogized by most of the periodicals of the day, are thorouglily discussed in the Journal ; their principles un- folded so clearly as to be easily understood b}' the reader, and their antagonism to the Scriptures demonstrated. Beside these, there is also in the Journal a variety of Essay's and Reviews on other topics of interest, as is seen from the following list of the articles of the several volumes: — CONTENTS OF VOL. I. NO. L IMPORTANCE OF A JUST UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES. BY THE EDITOR — FALSE METHODS THAT HAVE PREVAILED OF INTERPRETING THE APOCALYPSE. BY THE EDITOR — THE LATE REVOLUTION IN EUROPE — DR. CHALMERs's SCRIPTURE READINGS RELIGION TEACHING BY EXAMPLE CRITICAL AND LITERARY NOTICES. NO. II. THE LAWS OF SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION. BY THE EDITOR STRAUSs' AND NEANDEr's LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. BY THE EDITOR — MORELl's HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE SPECULATIVE PHILOSOPHY OF EUROPE. BY THE EDITOR — FLEMING'S RISE AND FALL OF PAPACY — CRITICAL AND LITERARY NOTICES. NO. III. ANALYSIS OF THE PRINCIPAL FIGURES OF THE SCRIPTURES AND STATEMENT OF THEIR LAWS. BY THE EDITOR — MR. FA' BEr's sacred CALICNDAR OF PROPHECY. BY THE EDlTuR — DR. spring's power of the pulpit. by R. W. DICKINSON, D.D^ THE RELATION OF THE PRESENT DISPENSATION TO CHRIST's FUTURE REIGN. BY THE EDITOR — SPRATT AND FORBEs's TRAVELS IN LYCIA, MILYAS, AND THE CIBYRATIS — MEMOIR OF MRS. MARY E. VAN LENNEP — JOURNAL OF AN EXPEDITION INTO THE INTERIOR OF TROPICAL AUSTRALIA — MR. BICK'ERSTETHS SIGNS OF THE TIMES IN THE EAST — A WARNING TO THE WEST LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. NO. IV. MR. FABER's SACRED CALENDAR OF PROPHECY. BY THE EDITOR — ALE.XAN-DER'S EARLIER AND LATER PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH. BY THE EDITOR — DESIGNATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE FIGURES OF ISAIAH, CHAP. L BY THE EDITOR — COLE- EIDGE's philosophy OF CHRISTIANITY, AN ATHEISTIC IDEALISM. BY THE EDITOR — TROTTER's EXPEDITION TO THE NIGER — ■ smith's VOYAGE AND SHIPWRECK OF ST. PAUL — LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. NO. I. A DESIGNATION OF THE FIGURES OF ISAIAH, CHAP. U. BY THE EDITOR THE RESTORATION OF THE ISRAELITES. BY THE EDITOR DR. BUSHNELl's DISSERTATION ON LANGUAGE — THE CITIES AND CEMETERIES OF ETRURIA — NOEL's UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE— HOARE's HARMONY OF THE APOCALYPSE — LITE- RARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. NO. II. DR. BUSHNELL's discourses — A DESIGNATION OF THE FI- GURES OF ISAIAH, CHAP. HL AND IV. THE RESTORATION OF THE ISRAELITES — UNITED STATES EXPEDITION TO THE JORDAN AND DEAD SEA — THE PRI.NCIPAL PREDICTED EVENTS THAT ARE TO PRECEDE Christ's coming — narrative of events in Borneo S.ND CELEBES — LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES NO. III. MORELl's PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION — A DESIGNATION OF THE FIGURES OF ISAIAH, CHAP. V. AND VI. — FABER's SACRED CA- 188 CONTENTS. LESDAR OF PROPHECY THE RESTORATION OF THE ISRAELITES SWEDENBORG's THEORY OF SYMBOLS AND LANGUAGE — LAY- ARDS NINEVEH — LITERARY AND CRITICAL iNGTlCES. NO. IV. WORELl's philosophy OF RELIGION — THE DANGERS AND DIFFICULTIES OF THE MINISTRY — OBJECTIONS TO THK LAWS OF SYMBOLIZATION — A DESIGNATION AND E.SPOSITION OF THE FI- GURES OF ISAIAH, CHAP. VII. — A HISTORY OF COLONIZATION ON THE WESTERN COAST OF AFRICA BEATTIE's DISCOUHSE ON THE MILLENNIAL STATE OF THE CHURCH LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. CONTENTS OF VOL. III. NO. I. MR. Steele's essay on christ's kingdom — a designation AND EXPOSITION OF THE FIGURES OF IbAIAH, CHAP. VIII — RE- SEARCHES IN ASIA MINOR, PONTUS, AND AKMENIA — PROF. MC- CLELLANd's RULES FOR THE INTERPRETATION OF PROPHtCY OBJECTIONS TO THE LAWS OF FIGURES CRITICS AND CORRES- PONDENTS — MISCELLANIES — LITERARY AND CRITICAL NO TICES. NO. II. PROFESSOR park's THEOLOGIES OF THE INTELLECT AND THE FEELINGS — MODERN SYSTEMS OF BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS — PKOFESSOR CKOSBY ON THE SECOND ADVENT A DESIGNATION AND EXPOSITION OF THE FIGUKES OF ISAIAH, CHAP. IX. DR. KEITH ON THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES — CRITICS AND CORRES- PONDENTS — MISCELLANIES LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. NO. IIL PROFESSOR STU art's COMMENTARY ON DANIEL A DESIGNA- TION AND E.KPO^ITION OF THE FIGUKES OF ISAIAH, CHAPTER X. DOBNEY ON FUTURE PUNISHMENT — PKOFESSOR AG.4SSIZS THEORY OF THE OKIGIN OF THE HUMAN RACE — THE ADV^RB — MISCELLANIES— CRITICS AND CORRESPONDENTS — LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. NO IV. BROWN ON Christ's second coming — a designation ant CONTENTS. 180 EXPOSITION OF THE FIGURES OF ISAIAH, CHAPTERS XI. AND XII, OBJECTIONS TO THE LAWS OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE — THOUGHTS ON THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PK"PHEC1ES — THE CHIEF CHARACTERLSTICS AND LAWS OF PROPHETIC SYMBOLS- LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. CONTENTS OF VOL. IV. NO. I. BROWN ON Christ's second coming — a designation and EXPOSITION OF THE FIGUKKS OF ISAIAH, CHAP. XIH. AND XIV PHILOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS — THE THROPHANY CKLE- BKATED PSALM XVIII. REAL, NOT FIGURATIVE THE PAPAL POWER IDENTIFIED WITH THE LITTLE HORN OF THE FOURTH BEAST. DANIEL VII. — GOBAT's THREE YEARS' RESIDENCE IN ABYSSINIA CRITICS AND CORRESPONDENTS — LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. NO. II. BROWN ON Christ's second coming — a designation and EXPOSITION OF THE FIGURES OF ISAIAH, CHAP. XIV. 28-32. XV., XVL, AND XVII. FOREIGN MISSIONS AND MILLENARIANISM, AN ESSAY FOR THE TIMES THE HOLY GHOST THE AUTHOR OF THE ONLY ADVANCEMENT OF MANKIND TODD'S DISCOURSES ON THE PROPHECIES — FERGUSSOn's EASTERN ARCHITECTURE — LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. NO. III. FAIRBAIRn's typology OF SCRIPTURE — THE ORIGIN OF THE SABBATH. BY R. W. DICKINSON, D.D., THE INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. BY E. POND, D.D., — A DESIGNATION AND EXPO- SITION OF THE FIGURES OF ISAIAH, CHAP. XVIII., XIX., AND XX. THE FULNESS OF THE TIME. BY JOHN FORSYTH, JUN., D.D. THE ORDER OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS THAT ARE TO PRECEDE Christ's coming — critics and correspondents — LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. NO. IV. GENESIS, AND GEOLOGICAL THEORY OF THE AGE OF THE EARTH — THE SABBATH AND ITS MODERN ASSAILANTS. BY R, i:* I CONTENTS. W. DICKINSON, D.D , PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY BY REV. D. INGLIS METAFHV'SICAL AND GOSPEL TRUTH AND ERROR. BY THE REV. S. D. CLARK THE FIGURATIVE CHA- RACTER OF THE SACRED WRITINGS. BY E. FOND, D.D. — LITE- RACY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. CONTENTS OF VOL. V. NO. I. THE THEORY ON WHICH GEOLOGISTS FOUND THEIR DEDUC- TION OF THE GREAT AGE OF THE WORLD — A DESIGNATION AND EXPOSITION OF THE FIGURES OF ISAIAH, CHAP. XXI. — THE TRUE GOD KNOWN ONLY BY FAITH — DR. SPRING'S DISCOURSES ON THE MILLENNIUM LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. NO. II. THE SOURCES FROM WHICH THE MATERIALS OF THE PRESENT CRUST OF THE EARTH WERE DERIVED A DESIGNATION AND EXPOSITION OF THE FIGURES OF ISAIAH, CHAP. XXIL THE EXCELLENCE AND IMPORTANCE OF TRUTH. BY REV. S. D. CLARK — TENDENCIES OF THE TIMES — CRITICS AND CORRES- PONDENTS — ANSWERS TO THE OBJECTIONS OF GEOLOGISTS — THE SIXTH VLAL LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. NO. III. DR. Hitchcock's religion of geology — the neglect of THE sacred scriptures. BY R. W. DICKINSON, D.D — DR. Wordsworth's lectures on the apocalypse — a designa- tion AND EXPOSITION OF THE FIGURES OF ISAIAH, CHAP. XXIII. THE FULNESS OF THE TIMES. BY J. FORSYTH. JR., D.D — • MR. WILLIAMSO.n's LETTERS TO A MILLENARIAN THE RE- ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NAPOLEON DYNASTY LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. NO. IV. henry's LITE AND TIMES OF JOHN CALVIN. BY R. W. DICK- INSON, D.D. — DR. J. P. SMITH ON THE GEOLOGICAL THEORY — THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. BY THE REV. W. C. FOWLER — THE DOCTRINES OF DR. NEVIN AND HIS PARTY — CRITICS AN! CORRESPONDENTS LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. CONTENTS. 191 CONTENTS OF VOL. VI. NO. I. DR. J. P. SMITH ON THE GROLOGICAL THEORY THE REV. ALBERT Barnes's notes on revelation xx. 4-6. by the REV. H. CARLETON — THE PRINCETON REVIEW ON MILLENA- RIANISM THE DISTASTEFULNESS OF CHRISTIANITY. BY THE REV. E. D. SMITH, D.D. — ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. BY THE REV. W. C. FOWLER DR. NEVIn's PANTHEISTIC AND DEVELOPMENT THEORIES — LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. NO. II. LETTERS TO A MILLENARIAN — FALSE TEACHERS : THEIR CHARACTER AND DOOM — MERCANTILE MORALS — COMMENTA- RIES ON THE LAWS OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS. BY E. POND, D D. THE PRESBYTERIAN QUARTERLY REVIEW ON MILLENA- RIANISM THE ECLIPSE OF FAITH — THE REVIVAL OF THE FRENCH EMPERORSHIP — A DESIGNATION AND EXPOSITION OF THE FIGURES OF ISAIAH, CHAP. XXIV THE SYMBOLS OF THE SIXTH VLa.L LITERARY AND CRITICAL NOTICES. NO. Ill HIPPOLYTUS AND HIS AGE THE REV. A. BARNEs's NOTES ON REVELATION XX. 4-6. BY THE REV. H. CARLETON — THE DOCTRINE OF ATONEMENT AS TAUGHT IN ISAIAH LII., LUI. BY THE REV. E. C. WINES, D.D. CHRIST's SECOND COMING — THE INSPIRATION OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. BY THE REV. J. W. HALL, D.D. — A DESIGNATION AND EXPOSITION OF THE FIGURES OF ISAIAH, CHAP. XXV. AND XXVI — HENGSTENBERG ON THE SONG OF SOLOMON. BY THE REV. JOHN FORSYTH, JUN., D.D — THE FALL OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE — LITERARY AND CRITICAL KOTICES. NO. IV. Christ's second coming — inquiry into the meaning of matthew xxiv. 14. by the rev. john richards, d.d. — BEECHER's CONFLICT OF AGES — INFIDELITY, ITS ASPECTS, CAUSES, AND AGENCIES. BY R. W. DICKIN.SON, D.D THE PRIEST AND THE HUGUENOT — HISTORY OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH — LITERARY CRITICAL AND NOTICES. THEOLOGICAL AND LITERARY JOURNAL, EDITED BY DAVID N. LORD, Is publislied quarterly on the first of July, October, Janu- ary, and April; by Franklin Knight, No. 140 Nassau street, New York; at $3,00 per annum. Each year makes a volume ot 700 pages. Exposition of the Apocalypse ; by David N. Lord, $2 00 Letters on Prophecy; by the Rev. Edward Win- throp, 37i The Messiah in Moses and the Prophets, by Ele- azar Lord, $1 00 Perpetuity of The Earth; by Rev. John Lillie, 37^ Analysis of the 24th chap, of Matthew ; by the Rev. H. Carleton 12, Views on Millenarla.nism ; by the Rev. Alfred Bryant 75 Orders for these and other valuable works on the Prophe- cies will be promptly attended to by the subscriber. Franklin Knight, No. 140 Kassau street, Xeio York. ?5H > DATE DUE ^^. ,.^ mrntf' GAYLORD PRINTED IN US A. BS477 .W788 The premium essay on the characteristics Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 1 1012 00011 1395