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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<rels, 
 Eev. xii. 7-9, do not symbolize beings of the 
 angelic order, but those of a different order, to 
 wit, living men of the epoch denoted, that is, 
 believers in Christ on the one hand and hostile 
 pagans on the other. This is evident from verse 
 tenth, where persons of the human species, repre- 
 senting those who had been symbolized by vic- 
 torious Michael and his angels, are introduced 
 in vision, according to the next law which wo 
 shall notice, and exhibited as saying — " ]N'"ow is 
 come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom 
 of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the 
 
 * Satan, the fallen angel, who is called the dragon, that old 
 serpent the Devil ; and who is used as a symbol in verses 7-9, 
 must not be confounded with the great red dragon having 
 seven heads and ten horns, with diadems on the heads, a 
 monster having only a visionary existence, who is used as a 
 symbol in verse 8, and who represents the civil rulers of the 
 Roman empire antecedently to its division into ten kingdoms, 
 and, after that division, the civil rulers of the Eastern or 
 Gr£Bco-Koman empire. 
 
OF SYMBOLIZATION. 37 
 
 accuser of our brethren is cast down, which 
 accused them before our God day and night :" 
 and then follows the statement — " and they 
 overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and 
 by the w^ord of their testimony; and they loved 
 not their lives unto the death," verse 11. This 
 clearly shows that those who had been symbol- 
 ized in verses 7-9, were not of the same order as 
 Michael and Satan, but of a different order; not 
 angels^ hut men : for the latter and not the former 
 are subject to death, and become victorious 
 through the blood of Christ. Heb. ii. 15, 16. 
 These examples from Scripture with the inspired 
 interpretations conclusively show that, under the 
 condition specified in the law, the symbol is 
 always of a different kind or order from that 
 which is symbob'zed : and that there is an ana- 
 logy between the one and the other has already 
 been proved in the discussion of the first law. 
 
 There are cases in which any other construc- 
 tion is utterly impossible, consistently with the 
 truth of the prophecy. Take one instance as a 
 sample of the rest. In Rev. xii. 3, 4, the sym- 
 bolic representation is — " And there appeared 
 another wonder in heaven ; and behold a great 
 red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, 
 and seven diadems, Si»Sv'fMTx^ upon his heads. 
 
38 THE SECOND LAW 
 
 And his tail drew the third part of the stara of 
 heaven, and did east them to the earth." l^o 
 one supposes that these symbols are to be verified 
 in anj real literal dragon of this description, of 
 such gigantic size and force as literally to sweep 
 down with his tail a third of the stars from the 
 sky to the earth. Such a supposition would be 
 absurd and incredible. They denote therefore 
 analogous agents of a different order. We might 
 examine in like manner other symbols of the 
 Apocalypse, and show the same thing in regard 
 to them which is manifest at once in regard to 
 the example j ust cited. 
 
 Hence this law refutes the erroneous interpre- 
 tations which have extensively prevailed with 
 respect to the first four seals. Rev. vi. 1-8. The 
 symbolic horsemen of those seals are evidently 
 taken from military and political life, and they 
 have frequently been regarded as representing 
 classes of persons of the same order as the sym- 
 bols. But according to the law that we have 
 just demonstrated, the agents thus represented 
 are not of the same, but of a different order. 
 We are therefore to look for them not in the 
 military and political, but in the religious world. 
 Hence the warrior of the first seal who carries a 
 bow and wears a crown, oTf>«»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(<f,£5£ru( (:= go forth), in the third person singular. The 
 16th verse is parenthetical, and the 16th is connected with 
 the 14th. The three unclean spirits, therefore, symbolize the 
 agents who gather the kings to the war of " Armageddon." 
 Rev. xvi. 14, 16. 
 
62 TIIK THTRI) LAW 
 
 angels. "• And I saw an angel come down from 
 heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, 
 and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold 
 on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the 
 Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand 
 yeare, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and 
 sliut him up and set a seal upon him, tliat he 
 should deceive the nations no more, till the thou- 
 sand years should be fullilled : and after that he 
 must be loosed a little season." 
 
 The person here styled the " dragon, that old 
 serpent which is the Devil and Satan," is not the 
 red dragon of seven heads and ten horns which, 
 symbolized the rulers of the Roman Empire pre- 
 vious to its division into ten kingdoms, but the 
 leader and chief of the fallen angels : nor does 
 he here symbolize hostile pagans, as in Rev, xii. 
 T-9, but beings of his own kind. To prevent 
 the domination of sin during the millennium, it 
 would seem necessary not merely that Satan 
 himself, but also the other fallen angels, should 
 be prevented throughout that period from de- 
 ceiving the nations. Hence Satan here repre- 
 sents not only himself, but also others of the 
 same order : and this symbolization was requi- 
 site, because in tliese circumstances they could 
 not appropriately be represented by men, or 
 
OF 8TMB0LIZATI0N. 63 
 
 bj any other beings except one of their own 
 class. 
 
 It is asserted, however, that in Kev. xx. 2, 3, 
 Satan symbolizes an antichristian party among 
 men. But he cannot there symbolize such a 
 party, for they as an organized confederacy were 
 represented. Rev. xix. 19-21, by the wild beast 
 and the false prophet and the kings of the earth 
 and their armies who had been destroyed : and 
 as he is shut up during the millennium " in the 
 bottomless pit," or abyss, which symbolizes the 
 place of his confinenaent throughout that period, 
 and not released until after its expiration, no 
 such party can, during that cycle of ages, be 
 re-organized on the earth, the nations being ex- 
 empted, until after the thousand years are ended, 
 from temptation by those symbolized by Satan. 
 Rev. XX. 2, 3, T, 8. 
 
 So on the other hand the antagonist angel, 
 who laid hold upon Satan the representative of 
 the fallen angels who were to be subjected to 
 the agency here indicated, symbolizes persona 
 of his order. The work performed by the sym- 
 bolic angel required an angel's strength : and 
 therefore to have represented men as performing 
 it would have been a false symbolization. Good 
 angels, in exerting the agency here foreshown, 
 
 v. 
 
64 THE THIRD LAW 
 
 could properly be symbolized only by one of 
 their own order: and evil angels, in being sub- 
 ject to such an agency, could be represented 
 only by one of theirs. 
 
 In Rev. XX. 12-15, we read : " And I saw the 
 dead, small and great, stand before God ; and 
 the books were opened: and another book was 
 opened which is the book of life : and the dead 
 were judged out of those things which were 
 written in the books according to their works. 
 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; 
 and death and hell delivered up the dead which 
 were in them : and they were judged every man 
 according to their works. And death and hell 
 were cast into the lake of lire. This is the 
 second death. And whosoever was not found 
 written in the book of life was cast into the lake 
 of fire." 
 
 "We have already sho-^vn that this is a symbo- 
 lical vision describing what St. John saw, and 
 therefore that the prophecy here is through the 
 medium of symbols. Otherwise the passage con- 
 tains no prophecy whatever, but only narrates 
 a past event. It is generally admitted that a 
 real resurrection is here foreshown : and what 
 other than a real, corporeal resurrection could 
 thai he which is to take place in connexion with 
 
OF SYMBOLIZATIOIS'. 
 
 the judgment hefore the " great white throne f " 
 verse 11. When therefore St. John says that 
 lie saw the dead, small and great, stand before 
 God, the risen dead, seen in the vision, manifestly 
 symbolize the risen dead of the epoch denoted. 
 They are called dead, because it will then be 
 true that those represented have been dead : and 
 therefore the epithet is used to identify the class 
 of persons referred to, not that they were to con- 
 tinue dead after their resurrection and appear- 
 ance at the final judgment: just as in the gos- 
 pels where we read that " the dead man o »sxf»5 
 sat up and hegan to speah^'' Luke vii. 15, "' the 
 deof hear,^'' Matt. xi. 5, " the dumb man o x«?«< 
 spaTie^' Matt. ix. 33, and in Matt. xv. 31, "they 
 saw . . . the lame to walk and the Hind to 
 56^," the epithets dead, deaf, dumb, lame, Hind, 
 identify the persons spoken of; but no one sup- 
 poses that they continued dead, deaf, dumb, 
 lame, and blind after the miracles had been per- 
 formed. So with regard to the dead here spoken 
 of, they were " dead " persons hefore their resur- 
 rection, not after it. The risen dead here sym- 
 bolize persons raised from a state of death at the 
 epoch denoted, there being no other symbol 
 which could properly represent them. The sce- 
 nic representation, therefore, of a real, corporeal 
 
QQ THE THIRD LAW 
 
 resurrection is exhibited in the vision, because 
 tliere is no other symbolization, no analogous 
 change of men or other beings, which could 
 adequately foreshow such an event. The tran- 
 sition of a chrysalis into a winged insect, for 
 example, beautiful as it may be for an illustra- 
 tion, would have been utterly insufficient as a 
 prophetic symbol of the stupendous change 
 which is to take place in the resurrection. The 
 former is but the passage from one state of 
 bodily life to another : the latter is to be a re- 
 animation from a state of bodily death. The 
 analogy, therefore, would have failed in the 
 very thing to be foreshown. 
 
 In like manner in verse fourth (Rev. xx.) 
 where the resurrection of the righteous is sym- 
 bolized, the beloved disciple speaks of the souls 
 of those who had been beheaded, &c., and says 
 " they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand 
 years," or rather, according to the reading of the 
 best editions, t« ;^;/>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 £<W, and in 
 English " areP In Rev. xx. 5, the same verb or 
 its equivalent is understood, — Autjj u' «v<K-T«!r/« ^ 
 TrpuTHj literally translated — "Tins, the resurrec- 
 tion THE FIRST," the verb eVr/v, is, being implied. 
 The invariable usage of Scripture, therefore, de- 
 monstrates that the correct exposition of the 
 words is — "this," i. e. this symboUzation just 
 described in verse fourth, to which verse we 
 must look as embodying the antecedent of the 
 pronoun «ut»} this — this synibolizatioyi or rejfyre- 
 sentation denotes or foreshows the first resur- 
 rection.* The word resurrection, therefore, is 
 an inspired interpretation of something that was 
 symbolized in the vision, and hence it must be 
 
 * Lord's Review of Brown. Theol. and Lit. Journal for 
 July, 1851. 
 
OF ST^fBOLIZATIOX. 73 
 
 taken in its literal import : for sncli is the usao-e 
 of Scripture. To recur to the examples just 
 cited : — when the seven candlesticks are explain- 
 ed as symbolizing seven churches, or congre- 
 gations of visible worshippers; the meaning is 
 literal congregations of real inen^ not something 
 which such congregations metaphorically re- 
 semble. When the waters are explained as 
 symbolizing vast multitudes of nations speaking 
 different languages, real literal nations and 7'eal 
 literal languages are obviously intended. When 
 the ram is explained as symbolizing the Medo- 
 Persian dynasty, a real dynasty^ and not a figu- 
 rative one, is signified. Agreeably to this usage, 
 therefore, the word resurrection^ which is here 
 employed as an inspired interpretation of some- 
 thing symbolized in the vision, must denote a 
 literal and not a figurative resurrection. No- 
 thing, therefore, can be more demonstrably cer- 
 tain than that the Scriptures teach that there 
 
 will be A LITERAL KESURRECTION OF BIXIEVERS* 
 
 * Professor Stuart, who was a strenuous anti-millenarian, 
 fully admits that this is a real and literal resurrection. He 
 says that he does not see how we can fairly avoid such a con- 
 clusion, and that he has " given reasons why we seem to be 
 constrained to admit the sense of a bodily resurrection like to 
 the last and final one." — Sluart on the Apocalypse, vol. il Ex- 
 cursus vL p. 476. 
 
 4: 
 
-^/ 
 
 74 ' TIIE TIITRD LAW 
 
 antecedent to the period denoted by " the thou- 
 sand years," commonly called the millennium 
 or age of millennial blessedness, when the earth 
 is to be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the 
 watei*s cover the sea, and when Christ and his 
 glorilied saints are to extend their beneficent 
 sway over all peoples, nations, and languages 
 under the whole heaven. 
 
 In a word, St. John saw in vision a collection 
 of the symbolic risen dead sitting upon thrones, 
 which foreshows that those whom they repre- 
 sented were, at the epoch denoted by the vision, 
 to be invested with regal authority — this collec- 
 tion of persons doubtless symbolizing the whole 
 number of the deceased righteous at the epoch 
 indicated : and among this glorious throng which 
 he beheld he mentions two classes iu particular 
 that attracted his attention. One was the mar- 
 tyrs : the other, those who, without sufiering 
 martyrdom, had not yielded an idolatrous ho- 
 mage to the persons symbolized by the beast. 
 
 " And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, 
 and judgment was given unto them," that is, 
 those who sat upon the thrones were invested 
 with authority to act as judges : " and I saw 
 the souls of them that were beheaded for the 
 witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and 
 
OF -SYMBOLIZATIOX. Y5 
 
 o'iTim whoever had not worshipped the beast, 
 neither his image, neither liad received his mark 
 upon their foreheads, or in their hands : and 
 thej lived and reigned with Christ rk x^^i* '■'"i 
 the thonsand years. But the rest of the dead 
 lived not again until the thousand years were 
 finished. Tms is the first kesurrection. Bless- 
 ed and holy is he that hath part in the first 
 resurrection : on such the second death hath no 
 power, but they shall be priests of God and of 
 Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand 
 years," Rev. xx. 4—6. 
 
 The vision, therefore, denotes a real, literal 
 resurrection antecedent to the millennium ; and 
 when it is said that the blessed and holy have 
 part in that resurrection, and tliat on such the 
 second death hath no power, the design is to 
 teach us that none but such as are blessed and 
 holy rise to a life of immortal glory, and become 
 exempt from the fearful doom which is in store 
 for the wicked. 
 
 The symbolic risen saints seen in the vision, 
 Kev, XX. 4, represent the real saints, the blessed 
 and holy, that are to be raised at Christ's com- 
 ing ; their resurrection foreshows the real resur- 
 rection of the saints at that epoch ; their investi- 
 ture with judicial power and regal authority, the 
 
76 TffE THIRD LATV 
 
 similar investiture of the saints whom they sym- 
 bolize : and in every instance in the sacred Scrip- 
 tures where a symbol is of the same species with 
 that which is symbolized, there is a reason for 
 such a symbolization in the nature of the' case, 
 inasmuch as to have used a symbol of a different 
 species would have involved an incongruity, and 
 have failed of its object. 
 
 We have thus proved the truth of the third 
 law of symbolization by the same line of argu- 
 ment as that adopted in regard to the first and 
 second, namely, by an appeal to the word of 
 God, and the interpretations either directly given 
 therein or legitimately inferred from the context. 
 "We have proved it by the vision in Ilev. v., 
 where the incarnate Son of God, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the risen and divine Redeemer, appears 
 in person as the Lamb whom saints and angels 
 worship ; and by the vision in Rev. xix. where 
 the celestial Leader who is followed by the ar- 
 mies from heaven is expressly styled " tue Word 
 OF God, King of kings and Lord of lords.'''' We 
 ha^'e proved it also by the vision in Rev. iv. 
 where God the Father appears as his own repre- 
 sentative ; by the white-robed palm-bearers, Rev. 
 vii. ; by the spirits of the martyrs under the 
 fifth seal, Rev. vi. ; by the men who hid them- 
 
OF SY^IBOLIZATION. 77 
 
 selves from the wrath of tlie Lamh, Rev. vi. : 
 hy the two witnesses, Rev. xi. ; by the servants 
 of Christ, Rev. xii., who are spoken of as over- 
 coming by the blood of the Lamb and as loving 
 not their lives unto the death ; by the men who 
 worshipped the beast, Rev. xiii. ; by the men Vv'hc 
 repented not of their idolatries and other sins. 
 Rev. ix. ; by the men who blaspliemed the name 
 of God and persevered in impenitence, Rev. 
 xvi. ; by the kings of the whole world, Rev. xvi. 
 14, 16; by Satan and the angel who confined 
 him, Rev. xx. 1-3 ; by the nnholy raised from 
 death, Rev. xx. 12, 13, 15; and by the enthroned 
 saints representing the " blessed and holy " who, 
 in " the lirst resurrection," are to be raised from 
 the dead to reign with Christ during the period 
 symbolized by the thousand years. Rev. xx. 4-6. 
 Such a multitude of passages demonstrating 
 the truth of this law must therefore be consider- 
 ed as fully establishing the principle, as one 
 revealed in the word of God, that sy^nhols that 
 are of such a nature, station, or relation, that 
 there is nothing of an analogous hind that they 
 can rejpresent, syvxbolize agents; objects, ads, or 
 events of their own kind. 
 
 if*" 
 
CHAPTER YI. 
 
 Discussion of the fourth law. 
 
 IV. "The Fourth Law: WTien the symbol 
 and that which it symbolizes differ from each 
 othei\ the correspondence between the representa- 
 tive and that which it 7'ejyresents, still extends to 
 their chief parts ; and the general elements or 
 parts of the symbol denote corresponding parts 
 in that which i^ symbolized. ''^ 
 
 Here also the Scriptures furnisli the most 
 al)uiidaiit proof. Thus, while the victorious 
 ram, in its successful pushing against other 
 beasts, denoted a conquering dynasty, its two 
 horns indicated that the dynasty was complex, 
 which was historically verified in the Medo-Per- 
 sian, Dan. viii. 4, 20. The inspired explanation 
 is-T-" The ram which thou sawest having tico 
 horns are the kings of Media andPersiaP This 
 is exactly what Las been stated in the law under 
 consideration, namely, that, in the circumstances 
 specified, the chief parts of the symbol have a 
 corresponding reality in that which is symbolized. 
 
'IHK FOUKTH LAW. 79 
 
 In like manner, when the rain was afterwards 
 overthrown by the he-goat, the symboHzation 
 foreshowed that the dynasty represented by tlie 
 ram would be subverted by that which Avas 
 represented by the goat, in other words the 
 Medo-Persian by the Grecian. The fact that 
 the " he-goat came from the west on the face of 
 the whole earth and touched not the ground," 
 indicated that the conqueror was to come from 
 that direction, and advance with great rapidity 
 in his career of triumph. Dan. viii. 5. The 
 large horn between his eyes denoted, according 
 to the inspired interpretation, verse 21, " the first 
 king," to wit, Alexander the Great who con- 
 quered Darius. The horn in its broken state 
 foreshowed a corresponding condition of the 
 dynasty symbolized : and the springing up of 
 four horns in its place, verse 8, indicated, accord- 
 ing to the inspired interpretation, verse 22, that 
 four dynasties were to arise who should divide 
 among themselves the empire of their former 
 chief All this was historically fulfilled. Tlie 
 regal sway w^as not perpetuated in the family of 
 Alexander: tlieir reign lasted only for a short 
 period after his death, and was little more than 
 nominal : and at length four of his generals, dis- 
 tributing the empire among themselves, reigned 
 
80 Tiir: FOL'ETii law 
 
 each in his own quarter, as the successors of 
 their illustrious master. Here, too, we see the 
 law verified in the fact that there is a corres- 
 pondence between the different parts of the sym- 
 bol and that which it represents. 
 
 So also the several parts of the great image 
 seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream had their 
 corresponding realities in the agents symbolized. 
 The head of gold, Dan. ii. 32, represented, ac- 
 cording to the in5i)ired interpretation, the Baby- 
 lonian dynasty : "Tliou, O king . . . thou 
 art this head of gold," vei-ses 37, 3S. The breasts 
 and arms of silver, verse 32, denoted, according 
 to the inspired interpretation, verse 39, another 
 dynasty which was to succeed the Babyhmian, 
 and that 8e<;ond d^-nasty, we know from history, 
 was the Medo-Persian, The belly and thighs of 
 brass, verse 32, represented according to the in- 
 spired interpretation, verse 39, a tfiii^d dynasty 
 which was to succeed the second, and that third 
 dynasty, we know from history, was the Grecian. 
 Tlie legs of iron and the feet part of iron and 
 part of clay (that is, according to the meaning 
 of the original, huiiit clay ov jjotters' ware), verse 
 33, denoted, according to the inspired inteq^re- 
 tation, verse 40, a fourth dynasty, and that, we 
 know from history, was the Boman which sue- 
 
OF STarBOLIZATION. 81 
 
 ceeded tlie Grecian or third dynasty in this 
 series. The strength of the iron indicated an 
 analogous element in the rulers of the fourth 
 great monarchy. The brittleness of the clay or 
 potters'-ware, on the other hand, foreshowed an 
 element corresponding to that symbol, verses 41, 
 42. The want of thorough union between the 
 iron and clay denoted, according to the inspired 
 interpretation, verse 43, an analogous want of 
 union between the strong and the fragile ele- 
 ments, that is, as verified in history, between the 
 powerful monarchs or chief rulers and the people 
 — "the seed of men" — admitted to a share in 
 the government by means of the elective fran- 
 chise. The crushing of the image by the stone, 
 verses 34, 35, denoted, according to the inspired 
 interpretation, verse 44, that the dynasties sym- 
 bolized by the image were to be destroyed by 
 that symbolized by the stone.* What stronger 
 
 *The dream with the inspired interpretation is as follows: 
 Dan. ii. 31-45. 
 
 Verse 31. "Thou, O king, sawest and behold a great imaga 
 Tliis great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before 
 thee , and the form thereof was terrible. 
 
 32. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his 
 arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass. 
 
 33. His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. 
 
 34. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, 
 
 4* 
 
82 THE FOURTH LAW 
 
 proof could we have of the truth of our fourth 
 law that there is such a correspondence, as we 
 
 ■which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, 
 and brake them to pieces. 
 
 35. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and 
 the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff 
 of tlje summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them 
 away, that no place was found for them : and the stone that 
 smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole 
 earth. 
 
 36. This is the dream ; and we will tell the interpret.\tiox 
 thereof before the king. 
 
 37. Thoit, king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven 
 hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 
 
 38. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, tlic beasts 
 of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into 
 thine band, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou 
 art this head of gold. 
 
 39. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to 
 thee, and another third kingdom of brass which shall bear rule 
 over all the earth. 
 
 40. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron : foras- 
 much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all tilings: and 
 as iron that breaketh all these, sliall it break ir» pieces and 
 bruise. 
 
 41. And whereas tluni sawest the feet and toes, part of 
 potters'-clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; 
 but there shall be in it of the utrength of the iron, forasmuch aa 
 thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. 
 
 42. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part 
 of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly bro- 
 ken (brittle or fragile). 
 
OF SYMBOLIZATION. 83 
 
 have stated, between tlie cliief parts of the sym- 
 hol and that which the symbol represents? The 
 inspired interpretations, as we have seen, de- 
 monstrate the correctness of that law, and this 
 demonstration is confirmed by acknowledged 
 historical facts. What further proof could be 
 desired? Or what more conclusive line of argu- 
 ment could be adopted in this discussion ? The 
 main point at issue is whether these laws are sus- 
 tained hy the inspired interpretations: and we 
 are proving that they are, by pointing out the 
 exact agreement hetween the one and the other. 
 
 But conclusive as are the facts already pre- 
 sented, there is additional evidence to which we 
 would briefly call tlie attention of the reader. 
 
 43. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, 
 they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men : but they 
 shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with 
 clay. 
 
 44. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set 
 up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed : a^td 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. 
 
 45. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of 
 the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the 
 iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold ; the great 
 God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass here' 
 after : and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof 
 
84 THE FOURTH LAW 
 
 111 the parallel vision* in Dan. vii., the rnlers 
 of the four great empires were symbolized by 
 
 * The four great empires in each case, Dan. ii. 31-45, and 
 vii. 3-27, cover the whole period from the time of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar to the establishment of the kingdom of Christ and his 
 saints. In Dan. vii. 17, "These great beasts, which are four, 
 are four kings which sliall arise out of the earth ;" the future 
 tense in tiie verb " shall arise," ib used in speaking of these 
 dynasties as a whole, because three out of four were then fu- 
 ture. Commentators are generally agreed that the four em- 
 pires whose rulers are s\-mbolized by the great image in Dan. 
 ii., are the same with those whose rulers are represented by 
 the four beasts in Dan, vii. 
 
 The only universal monarchy immediately' sneceeding the 
 Babj-louian, the Medo-Persian, and the Grecian, and answer- 
 ing to the description in Dan. vii. 7-23, as a fiei'ce and all-con- 
 quering power, was the Roman, and tlierefore the fuuith or 
 tea-horned beast must symbolize the supreme and subordinate 
 rulers of that empire. 
 
 Professor Stuart maintains (Commentary on Daniel, p. 202), 
 that the fourth beast symbolizes " the four kingdoms of Alex- 
 ander's successors." But the dynasties of Alexander's generals 
 were merely a part of the series or line of rulers sjuibolized 
 by the winged leopard with four heads, or third beast of Dan. 
 vii. 6, and by the he-goat with a great horn, in place of which 
 came up four other horns, Dan. viii. 8. They cannot, there- 
 fore, be denoted by the fourth beast, which was altogether se- 
 parate from the third, and represented an entirely distinct line 
 of rulers. 
 
 The ten-horned boast, in Dan. vii., symbolizes the rulers of 
 the Western Roman Empire in its different stages down to its 
 final overthrow, when Christ's kingdom is to be established. 
 
OF STMBOLIZATION. 85 
 
 four ravenous beasts. The first beast, like the 
 head of gold, represented the first or Babylonian 
 
 "VVe say the IVestern Roman Empire, because that division of 
 the Empire was the one which was distinct in its appropriate 
 territories from those which were governed by the d3'nasties 
 represented by the first three beasts; and the kingdoms in 
 modern Europe which occupy the territorial platform of the 
 Western Empire, are in the view of the Holy Spirit essentially 
 that same empire, just as the "ten kings" denote, not merely 
 the original chiefs of the primary ten kingdoms, but also their 
 successors in the sovereign rule. It is from overlooking this 
 fact that Professor Stuart has been unable to see how the fourth 
 beast, in the seventh chapter of Daniel, can rymbolize the 
 rulers of tlie Roman Empire, inasmuch as he caun^t discover 
 in that empire any element corresponding to the clay of tiie 
 great image, prior to "the conquest by Goths and Vandals, 
 and the subsequent division of the empire." "A moi'e com- 
 pact, undivided, powerful dynasty," he adds, "never arose on 
 earth" (Commentary on Daniel, p., 193). But such character- 
 istics correspond exactly with the " legs of iron," Dan. ii. 33. 
 It is to a later period that we must look for an element of 
 weakness corresponding to the clay that was mingled with the 
 iron in the ten toes. That we are not coining imaginary facta 
 to sustain a preconceived hypothesis, is evident from the lan- 
 guage of tlie celebrated historian, who had no belief in the 
 inspiration of the prophecies, and who speaks of the Wentern 
 Empire as having, after its previous decay, a renewed exist- 
 ence in the time of Charlemagne (Gibbon's Rome, chapter 
 xlix.). This shows that Gibbon perceived part, of the truth, 
 though he came far short of what is made known to the dis- 
 cerning Christian in the revelation of God's word. How strik- 
 ingly in our own day have the kingdoms of Western and 
 
86 THE FOURTH LAW 
 
 dynasty ; the second beast, like the breasts and 
 arms of silver, the second or Medo-Persian dy- 
 nasty ; the third beast, like the belly and thighs 
 of brass, the third or Grecian dynasty ; the fourth 
 beast, like the legs of iron, and the feet part of 
 iron, and part of clay, Dan. ii. 33, 42, the fourth 
 or Roman dynasty, Dan. vii. 17, 23 ; the ten 
 horns of this beast, like the ten toes of the great 
 image, the " ten kings," or supreme civil rulers 
 
 South Western Europe exhibited iu their rulers and people 
 what was foreshown by the prophecy-, the mingled character- 
 istics of iron and clay ! As the rulers symbolized by the ten- 
 horned beast bear swaj' until the epoch when Christ and the 
 saints (who, as we shall hereafter show, are not persons in the 
 "natural body," but those in the glorified or "spiritual body") 
 are to be invested with the dominion over all peoples, nations, 
 and languages under the whole heaven, Dan. vii. 9-18, 21, 22, 
 26, 27, the empire over which they (the rulers denoted by the 
 fourth beast) reign must be considered as essentially the same 
 empire down to that period; and as the third beast, iu Dan. 
 vii., represented the line of Grecian rulers, commencing with 
 Alexander the Great, and continued in his successors, and the 
 fourth beast, a series of rulers, which commenced the next in 
 point of time to the Grecian, and was to have dominion until 
 the period for the setting up of the kingdom of Christ and the 
 samts over all nation.s, the succession denoted by the fourth 
 beast had its historical counterpart in the Roman dynasties: 
 and these imhibitable facts overturn the opinion of the Futur- 
 ists, who hold tliat the fouith beast denotes, exclusively, a per- 
 secuting power which has not yet appeared. 
 
OF STMBOLIZATION. 87 
 
 of the ten kingdoms,* Dan. vii. 24: ; and the 
 little horn (which was the eleventh, and to make 
 way for the growth of which three of the other 
 horns were plucked up), a line of rulers who were 
 to be diverse from the others, Dan. vii. 8, 24. 
 
 Here, too, we see the same indications of cor- 
 respondence between the chief parts of the sym- 
 bol and that which it represents ; and the inspired 
 interpretations in verses 17, 23, 24 (Dan. vii.), 
 respecting the four great beasts and the ten 
 horns, and the little horn of the fourth beast, 
 fully sustain the law. 
 
 We might strengthen the argument in support 
 of this fourth law, by referring to the " seven 
 heads " which appeared on the apocalyptic dra- 
 gon and wild beast. Rev. xii. xiii. xvii. 
 
 Witliout entering, however, into the historical 
 exposition, it will be sufficient for our present 
 purpose to remind the reader that the "seven 
 heads" which were parts of the complex symbol, 
 denote, according to the inspired interpretation, 
 " seven kings," Rev. xvii. 10, that is, seven 
 lines or successions of chiefs or rulers having 
 the supreme authority, of whom five had already 
 passed away when St. John saw the vision, 
 
 * Those into which the Western Empire was divided by the 
 irruptions of the Goths, Vandals, and other barbarous tribes. 
 
88 THE rorKTH LA-W 
 
 and one (the sixth in the series) was then in 
 existence.* And what is this inspired interpre- 
 
 * "And here is the mind which hath •wisdom, the seven 
 heads are seven mountains at (Gr. im followed by a genitive) 
 ■which the woman sitteth. And there are seven khigs; five are 
 fallen, and one is, and tiie other is not yet come; and whea 
 he cometh, he must continue a short space," Rev. xvii. 9, 10. 
 When it is suid, that "tiie seven lieads are seven mountains," 
 or hills, "and there ai'e seven kings," the meaning is, that the 
 seven heads and the seven hills (which were probably' the seven 
 hills of Rome seen in vision) s^'mbolize the same persons, that 
 is, seven kings, or seven lines of chief magistrates, or supreme 
 rulers; just as the two witnesses I'epreseut the sa ne persons 
 as might be symbolized by two olive tree« and two candle- 
 sticks. Rev. xi. Ji, -t. Nearly all the comnientatoi-s, however, 
 have interpreted the seven heads as s>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 
 divide<l into three parts, verse 19. 
 
OF SYMBOLIZATION. 89 
 
 tation but another statement of our fourth law 
 of prophetic symbols that, in the circumstan- 
 ces speciiied in that law, there is a correspon- 
 dence between the chief parts of the symbol 
 and that which is symbolized. 
 
 So, also, the " ten horns " of the apocalyptic 
 wild beast, like the ten which were seen by 
 Daniel, are explained in the inspired interpreta- 
 tion to mean " ten kings," rulers or governors, 
 Rev. xvii, 12. Here, too, is another corresj)ond- 
 ence like that above mentioned, and an addi- 
 tional proof of the correctness of the law. 
 
 Tiie same is true also, of the woman who rode 
 npon the beast. This harlot sorceress, who is 
 styled " Babylon the Great," Rev. xvii. 5, is 
 exhibited. Rev. xvii. 3, as sitting upon (Gr. «t< 
 followed by the accusative case) a seven-headed 
 and ten-horned wild beast. She is said. Rev. 
 xvii. 1, to sit at (Gr. Ivt followed by the geni- 
 tive) the many waters which, in verse 15th, are 
 explained as symbolizing " peoples, and mul- 
 titudes, and nations, and tongues," that is,* great 
 
 * In another vision, Rev. xiii. 4, the masses of the people 
 (whicli are symbolized in Rev. xvii., by the waters at which 
 the woman was sitting) are exliibited as worshipping the 
 beast. Tlie body of the people, therefore, are not repre- 
 sented by the body of the beast, for that would be to confound 
 
90 THE FOURTH LAW 
 
 masses of people of different nations and lan- 
 guages, making in the aggregate a dense mul- 
 titude, analogous to a vast collection of watere. 
 The woman does not symbolize the civil rulera 
 of the ten kingdoms, for they are represented 
 by the seven-headed and ten-horned w41d beast 
 which carries and su]3ports her. She does not 
 symbolize the great body of the people com- 
 posing a church, or collection of churches, for 
 the masses of the people are symbolized by 
 the waters at which the woman sitteth. She 
 must therefore represent an orcjanized hody of 
 ecclesiastical rulers and teachers, as they are the 
 only class that is not (Comprised in the civil 
 rulers and coynmon people. She was " arrayed 
 in purple and scarlet color, and decked with 
 gold and precious stones and pearls," Rev. 
 xvii. 4. Her jewels and clothing represent the 
 wealth, luxury, and pomp of the pei-sons sym- 
 bolized. She had "a golden cup in her hand 
 
 the object Avorshipj)0(l with tliose who worship. The beast 
 is one thing, those who worship it another. In Rev. xiii. 4, 
 agreeably to our third law, the people, for reasons already as- 
 signed, are represented by those of their own species ; and as 
 the body and inferior parts of the beast do not symbolize tlie 
 great masses of the people, they must, as distinguished from 
 the heads and horns, denote the subordinate rulers and magis- 
 trates. 
 
OF SYMBOLIZATION. 91 
 
 full of abominations and filthiness of her forni- 
 cation." This indicates that those whom she re • 
 presents have the disposition to entice others to 
 idolatry and apostasy. " Upon her forehead was 
 a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, 
 the Mother of harlots, and abominations of the 
 earth," Rev. xvii. 5, which foreshows that the 
 character of those symbolized would be that of 
 persons exerting an artful and successful agency 
 in the seduction of others, and constituting an 
 organized structure of men analogous to that of 
 a great city like Babylon. She was " drunken 
 with the blood of the saints, and with the blood 
 of the martyrs* of Jesus," E.ev. xvii. 6, which 
 denotes that the persons here symbolized were 
 to become intoxicated with joy from persecuting, 
 even unto death, the people of God. 
 
 Bnt, without swelling this Essay into a large 
 volume, by gathering together the almost innu- 
 merable proofs which we lind upon the pages of 
 Scripture, the evidence already presented is 
 abundantly sufficient to show, in regard to this 
 fourth law of symbolization, that when the sym- 
 bol is of a different order from the thing sym- 
 bolized, the resemblance extends to their chief 
 
 * In the Greek, ruif ^apruptoi', the witnesses, the same word as 
 in Rev. xi. 3. 
 
92 THE FOURTH LAW. 
 
 parts, and the general elements in the one corres- 
 pond to the general elements in the other. The 
 two horns of the ram ; tlie great horn of the lie- 
 goat ; the four horns which grew up after that 
 horn was broken ; the various cliaracteristics, 
 acts, and relations exhibited in the scenic repre- 
 sentation of these symbol animals ; the several 
 parts of the great image ; the ten horns, and the 
 eleventli or little horn of the fourth beast ; the 
 seven heads and ten liorns of the apocalyptic 
 dragon and wild beast ; and the harlot sorceress, 
 vritli her gorgeous attire, her conspicuous name, 
 and her golden cup — all have their counterpart 
 in corresponding realities : and the same is true 
 of all the interpreted symbols. The law, there- 
 fore, may be considered as having the most am- 
 ple demonstration. 
 
CHAPTEE yil. 
 
 Discussion of the fifth law. 
 
 V. "The Fifth Law : The Names of Syrrir 
 hols are their Literal omd Proper NamesP 
 
 Tlius, as is evident from what was said in the 
 discussion of the third law, such denominatives 
 as " the Lamb,'' " the Word of God,'' " the Lion 
 of the tribe of Judah," " the Boot of David,'"* 
 Rev. V. and xix., are used in the Apocalypse as 
 proper names of the Son of God. The person 
 indicated by these titles is Jehovah-Jesus, God 
 manifest in the flesh ; and, in his risen and glo- 
 rified humanity, he appears in vision to the be- 
 loved disciple. 
 
 Again, when it is said that John saw seven 
 candlesticks, seven stars, seven heads, ten horns, 
 a great red dragon, diadems on the heads or on 
 the horns, a woman sitting upon* a beast, and 
 atf the many waters, a beautiful city adorned 
 with precious stones, and so in all other similar 
 
 * Gr. i-iTi followed by an accusative. 
 f Gr ini followed by a genitiv*. 
 
 ^*#' 
 
94 THE FIFTH LAW 
 
 cases, the language is, in every instance, literal- 
 ly descrij^tive of what was seen in the vision. 
 So in the account of the different parts of the 
 great image, Dan. ii., the words iron, ^1<^'V-, if'ciss, 
 silver, gold, are all used in their literal sense, and 
 tell us exactly what Nebuchadnezzar saw in his 
 dream. As there is no end to the objects which 
 resemble candlesticks, stars, cities, rams, he- 
 goats, heads, horns, iron, clay, &c., and might be 
 called such by a metaphor, if the terms used in 
 describing the symbols be not their literal and 
 proper names, we could not tell what the symbols 
 were ; we should find ourselves on a sea of con- 
 jecture, and, except where we had an inspired 
 explanation, there would be an end to every- 
 thing like demonstrative, or even probable inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 It is in vain to say that we could be certain 
 of the meaning when the prophecy was fulfilled : 
 for we could not tell whether a symbolic pro- 
 phecy was fulfilled in any given event, or that 
 a symbolic agent was verified in any given per- 
 son or class of persons, unless we could first tell 
 what the symbol was. IIow could Ave otherwise 
 perceive any analogy or correspondence between 
 the symbol and that which it represented ? As 
 well might we say that a given object resembled 
 
OF STJIBOLIZATION. 95 
 
 a cube, or a sphere, or a pyramid, or a cylinder, 
 or that a given figure was like a square, or a cir- 
 cle, or a triangle, or a parallelogram, when we 
 had no conception of the meaning of such terms. 
 The names of symbols, therefm'e, are tJieir li- 
 teral OMci proper names. 
 
CHAPTEE VlII, 
 
 Discussion of the sixth law. 
 
 YI. " The Sixth Law : A Single Agent, in 
 many instances, symbolizes a Body and Succes- 
 sion of Agents^'' 
 
 Thus, the fourth or ten-horned beast of Daniel, 
 which, as a symbol, was a single agent, represent- 
 ed a body or collection of agents, namely, the 
 rulers of the Roman Empire. It symbolized the 
 power which was to succeed the Grecian dynas- 
 ty represented by the third beast, and to bear 
 sway over the earth, Dan. vii. 23 ; and that 
 "power was undeniably the Roman. It also de- 
 noted a succession of agents, for it is described 
 as acting until the coming of the Ancient of 
 Days, and the possession of the kingdom by the 
 saints of the Most High, Dan. vii. 9-22, a period 
 which is yet future.* 
 
 In like manner, the fii*st three beasts, in 
 Dan. vii., each symbolized a collection and 
 succession of agents, namely, the rulers of the 
 
 • See above, Note, pp. 84-8ft. 
 
OF SYMBOLIZATIO^r. 97 
 
 Babylonian, Medo-Persian, and Grecian mo- 
 narchies. 
 
 A candlestick, as we have seen, symbolizes 
 an assembly of visible worshippers ; tlie seven 
 candlesticks symbolized the seven churches ot* 
 Asia ; and each of those churches comprised a 
 number of individuals, and also a succession of 
 individuals, so long as the churches existed. 
 
 The ram with its two horns, and the he-goat 
 with its great horn, in place of which grew up 
 four horns, Dan. viii., symbolized a body and 
 succession of agents ; the former, the Medo-Per- 
 sian ; the latter, the dynasty of Alexander and 
 his generals. 
 
 The two witnesses, Pev. xi., symbolize certain 
 faithful churches and their ministers,* who tes- 
 tify for Christ throughout the specified career of 
 those denoted by the beast from the sea. Rev. 
 xi. 3, compared with xiii. 5 ; and consequently, 
 they represent a body and succession of agents. 
 
 We might give additional proof of the truth 
 of this law by a reference to other symbols ; but 
 these are sufficient for its verification. 
 
 A single agent^ therefore, in many instances, 
 symbolizes a hody and succession of agents, 
 
 * See above, chapter v., pp. 62-68. 
 
 6 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DiSCrSRION OF THE SEVENTH LAW. 
 
 VII. The Skventh Law : The periods of time 
 dui%ng which a representative agent performs 
 certain representative actSy symholize the periods 
 during which the agents denoted hy the symbols 
 perform the corresponding acts ; and in all those 
 cases lohere such an interpretation is not contrary 
 to analogy, days symholize years. 
 
 If agents denote agents, and acts denote acts, 
 then the periods during which symboKcal agents 
 perform a given symbolical agency must fore- 
 show the periods during wliich the agents de- 
 noted by the symbols perform the corresponding 
 acts. 
 
 Thus, when Ezekiel, as a symbol of the house 
 of Israel, lay upon his left side three hundred 
 and ninety days, it foreshadowed an analogous 
 period in reference to Israel. AVhen, as a sym- 
 bol of the house of Judah, lie lay upon his right 
 side forty days, it foreshowed an analogous 
 period in reference to Judah, The inspired ex- 
 
THE 8:.:VENT1I LAW. 99 
 
 planation is — " I have appointed tliee eax;li day 
 for a yecbv^'' Ezek. iv. 6. The three hundred and 
 ninety days, therefore, symbolized three hundred 
 and ninety years; and the forty days, forty 
 years ; and this is according to analogy. The 
 shorter period of a day in which the earth per- 
 forms a revolution on its axis, is evidently fit- 
 ted to symbolize the longer period of an astro- 
 nomical or solar year in which the earth per- 
 forms a revolution round the sun. And that the 
 years denoted are solar, and not lunar years, is 
 corroborated by the fact, that while on the one 
 hand the Jewish months were lunar, being reck- 
 oned from one new moon to another, their years 
 were always solar^ being reckoned from equinox 
 to equinox, their civil year from the autumnal 
 equinox, and their sacred year from the vernal ; 
 and as they counted but twelve months to the 
 year, and these months were lunar, in order to 
 make up the deficiency they inserted, every 
 three years, an intercalary month called Yeadar, 
 that is, the second Adar. In the Apocalypse 
 twelve months are reckoned, in round numbei*3, 
 to the year, and thirty days to the month, or 
 three hundred and sixty days to the year ; as is 
 evident from the expressions, forty-two months, 
 twelve hundred and sixty days, and time, times, 
 
100 THE SEVENTH LAW 
 
 and half a time, or three years and a lialf, which 
 are used interchangeahlv.* In converting years, 
 tlierefore, in the symbolic prophecies into the 
 equivalent exj)ression in days, three hundred and 
 sixty days must be reckoned to the year; but 
 each of. those days, in its symbolical import, 
 must be considered as representing a full revo- 
 lution of the earth round the stin, for this is re- 
 quired by analogy, that is, a complete astronomi- 
 cal or solar year from equinox to equinox. Con- 
 sequently, according to the apocalyptic usage, 
 the equivalent expression for one thousand years, 
 Kev. XX., would be three hundred and sixty 
 thousand days ; and these days, according to the 
 law which we are considering, would represent 
 three hundred and sixty thousand astronomical 
 or solar years. 
 
 The inspired explanation in Ezek. iv. 6 — " I 
 have appointed thee each day for a year'"* — • 
 shows what is meant in all cases of the same 
 class I in other words, that in all cases where 
 the agency is symbolic, and the symholic period 
 measuring that agency h expressed in days or th«ir 
 
 Montha, Dayi. Difn. 
 
 * 42 X 30 = 1260 — Rev. xi. 2, 3; xiii. .5; and 
 
 Yeart. Days. Days. 
 
 3J X 360 = 1260 — Rev. xii. 6, 14; and 
 
 Teara. Momha Monlhs 
 
 Si X 12 = 42. 
 
OF sy:mbolizatiox. 101 
 
 equivalent, '■'' cacli day-'' represents "a year^' 
 provided that in the particular example tc 
 which the principle is applied, there he nothing 
 contrary to analogy in such an interpretation. 
 
 If a succession of rulers be symbolized by a 
 wild beast, it is cpiite according to analogy that 
 the beast on the one hand should be represented 
 as acting for twelve hundred and sixty days^ for 
 that period does not exceed the ordiuar};- life of 
 a Ijeast ; and on the other hand, as it respects 
 the series of rulers, that each day should sym- 
 bolize a year, for it is not contrary to the nature 
 either of a civil or an ecclesiastical dynasty that 
 it should continue for twelve hundred and sixty 
 years. 
 
 Thus, in Rev. xiii., the ten-horned Avild beast 
 is a symbol / his agency is symbolic / and, there- 
 fore, the jperiod which measures that agency is 
 also syinholic, and as there is nothing in this case 
 contrary to analogy in such an interpretation, 
 the twelve hundred and sixty days in which the 
 beast exerts his agency, symbolize the twelve 
 hundred and sixty years in which the succession 
 of civil rulers denoted by the beast exert their 
 coi'responding and analogous agency. These rul- 
 ers have already exerted for more than twelve 
 Imndred years the ageucy foreshown ; and that 
 
102 THE SEVENTH LAW 
 
 undeniable historical fact establishes the correct- 
 ness of the principle. 
 
 Similar remarks apply to this period in its re 
 lation to the " two witnesses," Rev. xi. It is not 
 contrary to analogy that for twelve hundred and 
 sixty days^ two individual men should continue 
 ftiithfnl to the truth ; or on the other hand, that 
 for twelve hundred and sixty years there should 
 be a succession of faithful ministers and people, 
 constituting the symbolized churches and pastors. 
 That prophecy, therefore, foreshowed that those 
 who are represented by the witnesses were to tes- 
 tify for Jesus through a period of this duration. 
 
 It has already been shown that there will be 
 a real resurrection of the saints anterior to the 
 millennium, and that the equivalent expression 
 for one thousand years. Rev. xx. 2-7, is three 
 hundred and sixty thousand days. As it is not 
 incompatible with the nature of Satan that he 
 should be imprisoned for three hundred and 
 sixty thousand years, or with the nature of glo- 
 rified and immortal saints, that they should 
 reign with Christ during the same period ; and 
 as the act of the angel, in the vision, in laying 
 hold upon Satan and shutting him up, is a sym- 
 bolical act, and consequently the period which 
 measures the duration of his imprisonment a 
 
OF SYMBOLIZATION. 103 
 
 symbolical period, it follows that tlie principle 
 of " a day for a year " must be applied here 
 also, and that the three hundred and sixty thou- 
 sand days symbolize three hundred and sixty 
 thousand astronomical or solar years. 
 
 It has been objected to these views, that the 
 seven times of Nebuchadnezzar's insanity, Dan. 
 iv., cannot denote two thousand five hundred 
 and twenty years, that being the product of seven 
 multiplied by three hundred and sixty. But how 
 does that affect this law of projihetic symbols ? 
 The seven times, in Dan. iv. 16, are not predi- 
 cated of the symbol, but of the person symbol- 
 ized ; and therefore the objection is of no force 
 against the law in question. This is demonstra- 
 bly the fact from what is said in that passage — 
 " let his heart he changed from 'man''s, a7id let a 
 heast^s heart he given him, and let seven times 
 pass over niM." A man's heart on the one hand, 
 and a beast's heart on the other, that is, human 
 sympathies and those of the brutes, cannot be 
 predicated of a tree, and therefore this part of 
 the prophecy is oiot symhoUcal, hut verhal* The 
 
 * The transition from the symbolical to the verbal, as we 
 stated in the first chapter, begins in the latter part of verse 
 15th — "and let his portion be with the beasts of the earth. 
 
 16. " Let his heart be changed from man's," <fec. 
 
104 TiK': aiiviiXTu law 
 
 language lierc used is not applicable to the tree 
 which was the symbol, but only to Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, who was the person symbolized ; and it 
 is over hi?n, and not over the tree, that the seven 
 times are said to pass, and hence they are to be 
 interpreted accordingly. The prediction, there- 
 fore, of tlie seven ti/nes, in Dan. iv. 10, was ]>art 
 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<l 
 the following :— 
 
 God the Father, He v. iv,, v. ; the Lamb, Rev. 
 v., vi., xiv. ; the Word, Rev. xix. 13, which uro 
 divine : — 
 
 Angels, devils, and men, Rev. xii. 7-12, &c., 
 which are created intelligences : — 
 
 Beasts, such as a lion, a bear, a ram, and a 
 goat, Dan. vii., viii., which are unintelligent or 
 irrational creatures : — 
 
 A ten-horned wild beast, with iron teeth and 
 nails, or claws of brass, a winged lion, a four- 
 headed leopard, Dan. vii., which are monster 
 animals : — 
 
 Waters, Rev. xvii. 1, 15, which are a symbol 
 from the natural world : — 
 
KECAPirULATION. 109 
 
 Candlesticks, Kev. i. 12, 20, and an image, 
 Dan. ii., which are artificial objects : — 
 
 A daij symbolizing a year^ which is a shorter 
 period representing an analogous longer period, 
 Ezek. iv. 0, " I have appointed thee each day for 
 a year .•" — 
 
 The prophets Isaiah, Is. xx., and Ezekiel, Ezek. 
 iv., which are examples where real men, as dis- 
 tinguished fro:n those seen in vision, are by di- 
 vine direction employed as symbols : — • 
 
 The great image and the stone from the moun- 
 tain, Dan. ii., and the fourth beast, Dan. vii., 
 which are examples of symbolic agents and ob- 
 jects existing only in dream or vision. 
 
 Several of the above-mentioned symbols, as 
 for instance, the waters and the candlesticks, are 
 examples, also, of the proper in distinction from 
 the monstrous. 
 
 The act of the fourth beast, Dan. vii., in tram- 
 pling on other animals, and the eftect produced 
 upon the great image, Dan. ii., by the agency of 
 the stone, are examples in which an act symbol- 
 izes an act, and an eflect represents an eifect ; 
 and the strength of the iron and the brittleness 
 of the clay, and their incapability of thorough 
 union, are examples in which qualities, condi- 
 
110 KECAPITULATION. 
 
 tions, and cliaracteristic relations, have their cor' 
 i'es})ouding counterparts. 
 
 So that it cannot be denied that inspired inter- 
 pretations of one or more of each class of sym- 
 bols are given in the prophecies. 
 
 These lnspiked interpretations, therefore, 
 are to be regarded as a revelation of the prm- 
 ciple applicable to all the staebols, and the 
 laws by which they are framed, revealed 
 
 LAWS. 
 
 If the uninterpreted symbols admit of any con- 
 sistent exposition, it must be on the principle of 
 analogy and resemblance as here stated ; and the 
 fact that such a multitude of expositions of the 
 symbols used have been given in the sacred vo- 
 lume, according to this very principle of analogy 
 and resemblance, and one or more of every class, 
 should be regarded as conclusive evidence that 
 these inspired interpretations are designed as the 
 key to all symbols of a like character. History, 
 also, in every instance accords with the prophe- 
 cies as thus explained, so far as they have yet 
 been fulfilled ; and this corroborates the view 
 which we have taken. 
 
 Now, when by a large induction of facts a 
 law has been demonstrated, in regard to mate* 
 
EEC APITULATION. Ill 
 
 rial phenomena, and no fact can be brought for- 
 ward at variance with the law, it is considered 
 as settled. For the same reason we claim that 
 these laws of sjmbolization, deduced from the 
 inspired interpretations, and in every instance 
 perfectly accordant with such interpretations, are 
 to be considered as of universal application. 
 
CHAPTEK XI, 
 
 Results of these laws. 
 
 I. These laws obviate difficulties and give con- 
 sistency and certainty to interpretation — proof 
 and illustration of this by various examples, and 
 particularly by an exposition of the drying up 
 of tlie symbolical Euphrates, Rev. xvi. 12. 
 
 II. These laws show that to spiritualize the 
 symbolic prophecies is altogether wrong. 
 
 lU. The slaughter of the two apocalyptic 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. 
 
 IV. The antichristian powers are to be de- 
 stroyed, not converted. 
 
 Y. There will be, anterior to the millennium, 
 a real and literal resurrection of departed saints. 
 
 YI. The second coming of Christ will be he- 
 fore the millennium. 
 
 YII. There will be men living in the natu- 
 ral body on the earth after Christ's second 
 coming. 
 
EESULTS. 113 
 
 Having thus deinonstrated from the inspired 
 volume the correctness of our hiws of symboli- 
 zation, we shall next consider some of their most 
 
 IMPOETANT RESULTS. 
 
 I. In the first place, it is evident from what 
 lias been already said, that these laws " obviate 
 difficulties, remove uncertainties, supply import- 
 ant defects, give consistency and certainty to in- 
 terpretation, and lead to a clear and demonstra- 
 ble explication of many symbols, of which no 
 satisfactory solution is obtained by other systems 
 of construction."* 
 
 The truth of this remark will readily be per- 
 ceived in its application to the first four seals, 
 which Ave explained on pp. 38-40 ; the two 
 apocalyptic witnesses, pp. 52-58 ;t the binding 
 of Satan, pp. 62-64 ; the first resurrection, pp. 
 64-76 ;:]; the seven heads and seven mountains, 
 p. 88 (Kote) ; the body of the beast, p. 89 
 (Note) ; the liarlot sorceress who rides upon the 
 beast, and sits at the many waters, pp. 89-91 ; 
 and the chronological periods, pp. 98-106. 
 
 Commentators in general, in the exposition of 
 
 * Circular respecting the Premium Essays — see Preface, 
 f See also below, pp. 121-124. 
 ^ See also below, pp. 126-131. 
 
lU 
 
 RESULTS, 
 
 these and many other symbols whicli we have 
 examined, have proceeded on no nnifurm and 
 consistent scheme of interpretation. Thus, for 
 example, Mr. Habershon and many others have 
 adojited the principle of a day for a yeai\ in re- 
 gard to prophetical periods, but they have ap- 
 plied it to cases where it is not admissible, as to 
 the seven times^ in the twenty-sixth chapter of 
 Leviticus, and in the fourth of Daniel, which we 
 have shown are not symbolical, the former de- 
 noting the intensity of the chastisements which 
 the Lord was to inflict on the Jewish nation in 
 case of their disobedience ; and the latter, the 
 seven years' insanity of the king of Babylon. 
 Mr. Elliott, who is one of the most learned and 
 interesting writers on the Apocalypse, interprets 
 the flrst four seals on the principle that the sym- 
 bol is of the same species, order, rank, or kind, 
 with the thing symbolized ; but, in his explana- 
 tion of the dragon and wild beast, he tacitly as- 
 sumes the opposite principle, that they are of a 
 different species or order, but gives no rule or 
 law by which the student, who wishes to ascer- 
 tain the true meaning of the symbolical prophe- 
 cies, can tell when he is to be governed by the 
 former principle, and when by the latter. Tliero 
 is the same deficiency in many other expository 
 
RESULTS. , 115 
 
 woi'ks of great erudition and research ; and the 
 consequence has been, that most persons have 
 well nigh given up all hope of obtaining any 
 •certain and satisfactory solution of a large part 
 of the prophetic symbols. If it be alleged that 
 our own expositions are liable to the same objec- 
 tion, we answer no ; for we have clearly stated 
 and abundantly proved the laws of symboliza- 
 tion which apply to all such cases, pp. 34-77 
 (chapters iv. and v.). Many writers, also, in- 
 stead of uniformly regarding symbols as repre- 
 sentative agents, objects, &c., by means of which 
 God revealed future events, have often spoken 
 of them as if they were mere figures of speech. 
 Tliey have also interpreted symbolic agents as 
 denoting abstract principles, explaining, for in- 
 stance, the three unclean spirits. Rev. xvi. 13, as 
 denoting three principles or systems, which is di- 
 rectly contrary to the law that living agents re- 
 present living agents, and not acts or effects, not 
 principles or systems. But there is jjerhaps no 
 one symbol which interpreters have more gene- 
 rally misapprehended than " the great river Eu- 
 phrates," E-ev. xvi. 12. Tlie exhibition of its 
 true import, with the refutation of the prevail- 
 ing false construction, will be sufficient for the 
 further illustration of the topic before us. 
 
lit! . RESULTS. 
 
 " And the sixtli angel ponred out his vial upon 
 the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof 
 was dried up." — Ilev. xvi. 12. 
 
 The river Euphrates flowed through ancient 
 Babylon, which was situated by its " many 
 waters," Jer. li. 13. That great city was the 
 symbol, in the visions of the Apocalypse, of 
 apostate and persecuting hierarchies within the 
 ten kingdoms. But the waters are symbolical 
 as well as the city ; and in all cases M'here the 
 interpretation is according to analogy, such a 
 symliol, as we learn from Kev. xvii. 15, denotes 
 a multitude of people. "The waters which thou 
 sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and 
 multitudes, and nations, and tongues." The wa- 
 ters of the Euphrates, therefore, in their symboli- 
 cal import, must represent that mighty sti'eam of 
 people of different nations and languages, which 
 sustains to the mystical Babylon a relation ana- 
 logous to that which the literal Euphrates did to 
 the literal Babylon. That ancient city was the 
 commercial emporium of the world, and, by 
 means of that great river, received into its bo- 
 som the wealth of the nations. From its im- 
 pregnable ramparts the inhabitants laughed at 
 all the eftbrts of the invader; and it was not 
 until the trenches had been dug, and the waters 
 
RESULTS. lit 
 
 diveried, and the river reduced to a shallow mo- 
 rass, that the coiiqnest of the city could l)e ef- 
 fected. In like nuxnner, when the vast stream 
 of peoples and nations, which has carried wealth 
 into the mystical Babjdon, is diverted from its 
 former channel, and tlie symbolical river dried 
 up, the " great city " must fall. Thus the mysti- 
 cal Euphrates, Rev. xvi. 12, in symbolizing a 
 grand obstacle to the downfall of the mystical 
 Babylon, analogous to the literal Euphrates in 
 its relation to the literal Babylon, denotes the 
 great mass of people who have brought wealth 
 and power to the apostate hierarchies. 
 
 The common interpretation, however, has been 
 that the Euphrates symbolizes the rulers of the 
 Turkish Empire ; and consequently the drying 
 up of its waters, the drying up of their resour- 
 ces. But do the rulers of the Turkish empire 
 support any hierarchies in Western and South- 
 Western Europe, the regions of the ten king- 
 doms? ISTone whatever. Hence they sustain no 
 such relation to the mystical Babylon as the 
 literal Euphrates did to the literal Babylon, and 
 therefore cannot be the persons symbolized. 
 
 The interpretation was based upon Isaiah viii. 
 7, S, where it is said — " Now, therefore, behold, 
 the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of 
 
118 RKSULTS. 
 
 the Hver strong and many, even the king of As- 
 syria, and all Ids glory, and lie shall come np 
 over all his channels, and go over all his banks. 
 And he shall pass throngh Judah," etc. The 
 waters of the Euphrates, referred to in that pas- 
 sage, were supposed to symbolize the king of 
 Assyria; and hence it was argued, that as, in an- 
 cient times, the waters of the river symbolized 
 the Assyrian monarch who then reigned upon 
 its banks, so, in modern times, they must sym- 
 bolize those who now rule upon its banks, to wit, 
 the Turkish dynasty. But in Isaiah viii. T, the 
 j^hrase " waters of the 7'iygr," is not descriptive 
 of a symbol. No such object was then presented 
 to the eye of the prophet, either naturally or in 
 vision, nor is there any evidence that in that pre- 
 diction it is in any respect used symbolically. 
 The prophecy is there given entirely through the 
 medium of words, and not of symbols. The 
 phrase quoted from Isaiah is simply a metaphor. 
 The king of Assyria, with his invading armies, 
 is figuratively denominated " the waters of the 
 river strong and manij^'' and is therefore said to 
 " come up over all his channels, and go over all 
 his banks." That ancient monarch is the sub- 
 ject of the elliptical affirmation, by which he is 
 called the waters of the river, &c., and the tigure 
 
RESULTS. 119 
 
 consists in ])ro(licating sometliing concerniDg him 
 •which in a certain relation lie strong! j resembled, 
 but which, i 1 t'i3 literal sense of the words, was 
 incompati')] > 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 tr<im 
 2 Tim. iv. 8, that the crown is for all that sliall 
 have loved the appearing of Jesus. 
 
 Again, the destruction, which in the scenic re- 
 presentation. Rev. xix. 11-21,* is exhibited as 
 being accomplished by Christ and the warrior 
 horsemen or glonjied saints (compare Psalm 
 cxlix. 9 — "to execute upon them the judgment 
 written — this honor have all his saints"), is evi- 
 dently the same as that which is foreshown by 
 the crushing of the great image by the stone, 
 Dan. ii. 31, 35. Hence the destroying agents, 
 though represented in the two visions by dift'er- 
 ent symbols, must be the same ; and therefore, 
 
 * The False Prophet, Rev. xix., represents the same line of 
 ecclesiastico-political chiefs that are symbolized, Dan. vii., by 
 tlie little horn of the Fourth Beast But that Fourth Beast 
 symbolizes the same succession of rulers as are represented, 
 Don. ii., by the legs, feet, and toes of the great image. The 
 rest of the Fourth Beast, Dan. vii., exclusive of the little horn, 
 corresponds with the ten-horned beast of the Apocalypse. la 
 our article in the Theological and Literary Journal for July, 
 1851, pp. llG-133, we have shown by a multitude of distin- 
 guishing characteristics that the Papal Dynasty is the one 
 symbolized by that little horn. 
 
RESULTS. 137 
 
 the kings symoolized hy the stone, and whose do- 
 minion was to extend over all the earth, Dan. ii. 
 35, 44, are Christ and the glorified saints. 
 
 Again, it is expressly revealed in Dan. vii. 27, 
 compared with verse 14, that the regal saints 
 (who, we have shown, are the glorified cliurch) 
 are, with Christ as their head, to exercise a do- 
 minion over " all peoples (Chaldee, 5^73^5?, in 
 the plural), nations, and languages," verse 14, 
 ^^ under the lohole heaven,^'' verse 27, that is, 
 ^^ over all the earth,'''' Zech. xiv. 9, there being 
 thus a manifest distinction between the rulers of 
 the kingdom and those who are its subjects. But 
 the latter class, the subjects of the kingdom, 
 those who are described by the words, " all peo- 
 ples, natio7is, and languages^'' are evidently men 
 in the " natural body," for such is undeniably 
 the import of that phraseology. The same iden- 
 tical words occur in Dan. vi. 25 (in the Chaldee, 
 vi. 26), where they indisputably mean the living 
 population of the globe, men in the natural body, 
 speaking different languages, and inhabiting the 
 earth ; for such were the men to wliom Darius 
 wrote. The passage is as follows, and settles the 
 import of the phrase under consideration : " Then 
 king Darius wrote unto all peoples, nations, and 
 languages, that dwell in all the earth." The same 
 
 c* 
 
138 RESULTS. 
 
 phraseology occurs with the same impm-t in Ne- 
 buchadnezzar's decree, Dan. iv. 1 (in the Chal- 
 dee, iii. 31) — " Nebucliadnezzar the king unto 
 all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in 
 all the earth." Tliere can be no question, there- 
 fore, that the subjects here spoken of, and over 
 whom Christ and the saints of the Most High 
 are to reign, Dan. vii. l-l, 18, 27, are men in the 
 natural body, and that they dwell on the earth. 
 It is just as clear, also, that this is after the com- 
 ing of the Lord, for the saints are not raised and 
 glorified until that coming, and therefore cannot 
 take possession of their kingdom till that epoch. 
 Again, the symbolic coming of the Messiah 
 with the clouds of heaven, Dan. vii. 13, as seen 
 in the vision, foreshows his real, visible coming 
 in the great day; and his symbolic investiture 
 with the dominion over all the nations, the cor- 
 responding real investiture with such a dominion 
 at the epoch denoted. The dominion, therefore, 
 exhibited in that vision, is a dominion which is 
 to be manifested after Christ's second coming ; 
 and as it is over men in the natural body, and 
 living on the earth, it follows thflt there will be 
 such men on the earth after that event ; and as 
 the kingdom is to endure /b/' ever, and the earth 
 to be the scene of its manifestation, that there 
 
RESULTS. 139 
 
 are always to be in this "everlasting kingdom" 
 of " all peoples, nations, and languages," Dan. 
 vii. 14, 27, unglorified subjects in the " natural 
 body," as well as glorified rulers in the " spirit- 
 ual body." 
 
 Let this mass of evidence be impartially 
 weighed, and the conclusion is irresistible that 
 there will be men living in the " natural body" 
 upon the earth after the second coming of 
 Christ. 
 
CnAPTER XII. 
 
 Answer to objections against the seven™ I!'^suLT. 
 
 1. Objection from what is said in 2 Pot. iii., 
 respecting the perishing of the earth by fire. 
 
 2. Objection from the parable of the sheep 
 and the goats, Mati. xxv. 31-46. Tlie verbal 
 prophecies confirm the view taken in the pre- 
 ceding chapter. 
 
 3. Objection from Christ's declaration, "my 
 kingdom ife not of this world," John xviii. 36. 
 
 4. Objection from Christ's delivering np the 
 kingdom, 1 Cor. xv. 24-28. 
 
 5. Objection from the post-millennial revolt, 
 Rev. XX. 7-9. 
 
 6. Objection from the limited extent of the 
 earth, and the insufiiciency of its means of nu- 
 trition. Moral impress! veness of the view here 
 presented. 
 
 If it be asked how can there be men on the 
 earth after Christ's second coming, when it is 
 said in the Scripture that the earth is to perish 
 
Aj>fSWER 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, 
 
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