Of these three divisions, the heaven, agreeably to its elevated situation, denotes the powers of government'. As such, it comprehends, subdividedly, the sun, or the supreme ruler; the moon, or the imperial authority of the realm viewed as the allegorical consort of the supreme ruler; and the stars, or the princes and nobles and magistrates of the realm*. If this idea be further pursued from an undivided Empire to an Empire split into many kingdoms, the sun will be the feudal supreme ruler or the acknowledged head of the Empire; the moon will be the imperial authority of the realm, as exercised by those who are in power; and the stars will be the yarious kings of the provinces, into which the Empire has been divided 3.

Of the same three divisions, the earth, agreeably to its depressed situation, imports the platform or territorial domain of the Empire. As such, it comprehends, subdividedly, mountains and islands, or kingdoms and states 5; trees, or men of eminence; and grass, or men of more humble condition'.

1 Isaiah xiii. 10. Ezek. xxxii. 7. Matt. xxiv. 29. Mark xiii. 25. Luke xxi. 26.

2 Isaiah xiii. 10. Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8. Matt. xxiv. 29. Mark xiii. 22, 25. Luke xxi. 25. Joel ii. 10. iii. 31,

3 Rev. viii. 10. xvi. 8.

^ Dan. vii. 14. Rev. viii. 5, 7. xi. 10. xiii. 11. xvi. 14.

5 Isaiah ii. 2, 14. xl. 4. xli. 10. lix. 15. Jerem. li. 25. Dan.

ii. 35, 45. Micah iv. 1, 2. vii. 12. Rev. viii. 8. xvi. 20.

Isaiah ii. 12, 13.

Dan. iv. 10-27. Ezek. xxxi.

7 Rev. viii. 7.

'

In a similar manner, the waters, which constitute the third principal division of the allegorical world, import the collective body of the people'. As such, they comprehend, subdividedly, the sea, which, being ever more or less in a state of agitation, shadows out a nation or nations in the restless condition of tumult or war or revolution; rivers and fountains, which in a divided Empire signify kingdoms or communities, or which (if no particular Empire be primarily referred to) denote any kingdoms or communities; and occasional floods or inundations, which signify large communities or bodies of men rolling onward for any given purpose, such for instance as a combination of wicked persons or an army of invading enemies.

Having thus ascertained the import of these various allied symbols, we shall readily perceive what we are to understand by the several modifications of them.

The blackening of the sun, the turning of the moon into blood, the falling of the stars, and the departing of the heavens like a scrowl, will mean great political revolutions tending to the subversion of a kingdom or Empire": the eclipsing of the hea

Rev. xvii. 1, 15.

2 Dan. vii. 2, 3. Isaiah lvii. 20. Jerem. li. 42. Hagg. ii, 6. Luke xxi, 25. Jude 13. Rev. xiii. 1.

3 Isaiah viii. 7. xviii. 2.

4 Psalm lxix. 15. Isaiah xviii, 2, 7. xxviii. 2. lix. 19. Jerem. xlvii. 2. Dan. ix. 26. Nahum i. 8. Rev. xii. 15, 16. 5 Matt. xxiv. 29. Isaiah xiii. 10. xiv. 2.

venly bodies will signify a partial calamity, not extending to the utter subversion of the body politic1: the shooting of a star from heaven to earth will denote the downfall of a sovereign prince: and the scorching of men with fire from the sun will import a grievous tyranny exercised by the supreme

ruler 3.

So again an earthquake is a sudden convulsion or revolution, which violently overturns the existing order of things; as a literal earthquake subverts cities and villages, and occasions general confusion and destruction*: a desolation of the earth by a storm of hail and fire and blood is the devastation of an Empire by a furious invasion from the north, where natural hail and snow are generated: the eruption of a volcano is a destructive attack made from the kingdom symbolised by the burning mountain and the removal of islands and mountains is the subversion of kingdoms and communities.

In a similar manner, the turning of the sea into blood denotes a furious and sanguinary revolution: the turning of rivers and fountains into blood signifies the bloodshed produced by violent

Rev. viii. 12.

2 Isaiah xiv. 2. Rev. viii. 10.

3 Rev. xvi. 8.

Isaiah xxix. 6. Matt. xxiv. 7. Rev. vi. 12. xi. 13. xvi. 18. 5 Rev. viii. 7.

Rev. viii. 8.

7 Rev. xvi. 20.

Rev. xvi. 3.

war against orderly and well-regulated governments: the tinging of rivers and fountains with wormwood is the introducing among nations the bitterness of war and discord and contention': and the drying up of a river imports the subversion of the kingdom thus symbolised3.

(2.) Such being the temporal interpretation of this class of symbols, the ecclesiastical interpretation will be strictly analogous.

The natural world, when interpreted ecclesiastically, denotes the whole ecclesiastical Empire or the complete body politic of the Church within the limits of any given geographical territory: and the three ecclesiastical divisions of this leading symbol exactly correspond with its three secular divisions.

. Heaven, or the first division, is the Church of any country with reference to its governing powers*. Hence the sun is Christ, the head of the Church": the moon is the general ecclesiastical authority of the Church or the Church viewed with reference to that authority: and the stars, the chief of whom is the high-priest of our profession himself, are the bishops and priests of the Church in question".

7 Dan. viii. 10. Jude 13. Rev. i. 20. ii. 28. xxii. 16.

Numb. xxiv. 17.

The earth, or the second division, is the territorial platform of a Church, viewed connectedly with that of the State. Hence mountains and islands are subordinate ecclesiastical establishments". The waters, or the third division, are the individual members of a national Church.

These symbols, as before when temporally considered, give rise to various perfectly intelligible combinations and modifications.

The passing away of a heaven and an earth and the introduction of a new heaven and a new earth denote, sometimes the cessation of one ecclesiastical establishment and the introduction of another in its place, and sometimes the transition of the same ecclesiastical community from one condition to another the bringing down of fire from heaven is the fulminating of ecclesiastical censures and excommunications: signs among the heavenly bodies represent ecclesiastical changes and revolutions": and an earthquake is an ecclesiastical convulsion or sudden mutation, by which the dominion of any particular Church is thrown down in the region affected by the earthquake".

Heaven, however, is itself sometimes employed

' Rev. xxi. 1.

2 Isaiah ii. I, 2.

3 Psalm lxv. 9.

Isaiah lxv. 17.

5 Rev. xiii. 13.

Rev. xvi. 20.

Ezek. xlvii. 1-12.. Zechar. xiv. 8.

lxvi. 22. Rev. vi. 14. xxi. 1.

Rev. vi. 12-14. Joel ii. 30, 31.

7 Rev. xi. 13.