Rome, and the system which has so long made Rome its capital.*

Whatever may be the truth or probability of such conjectures, in relation to the parts of this extended symbolical prophecy remaining to be fulfilled, certain it is, that the alphabetical interpretations given in the seventeenth chapter of Revelations, the accuracy of the description, both of the beast, viz., the political Roman empire, and of the woman riding on the beast, i. e. papal Rome, and the amount of the prediction already fulfilled, direct us to literal historical verities which have occurred in the world, and are yet destined to occur, in the cotemporaneous destruction of the ten kingdoms and of the papacy. Other examples might be adduced, but these may suffice to prepare the reader to understand what we mean by the literal interpretation of symbolical prophecy, and to appreciate a few further remarks on the subject.

In alphabetical language, words are signs of things, and often different words are used to denote the same thing, giving rise to what we call synonyms, which, instead of rendering language obscure, only serve to render it more precise and beautiful. When a word, however, as is sometimes the case, is used to denote different things, or as Paul does the word law, in different senses, then obscurity is apt to arise. Symbolical language avoids this obscurity. The same symbol is not used to denote different things, which have no analogical resemblance and relation to each other, for there would then be inextricable confusion in the interpretation of prophecy. Different symbols are indeed used to denote the same thing, but the same symbol is not used to denote different things, unless,

*Rev. 18. 21.

indeed, there is a close relationship and a manifest resemblance between them; as when the sun is made the symbol of supreme power, it may denote the supreme power either in the church or state, according to the nature of the subject spoken of. "Hence," as Mr. Faber has remarked,* "the language of symbols, being purely a language of ideas, is, in one respect, more perfect than any varied language ever known and employed; it possesses the varied elegance of synonyms, without the obscurity which springs from the use of ambiguous terms."

The symbols employed in the prophetical Scriptures, may be divided into PURE and MIXED, and the former again into SIMPLE or natural, and COMPOUND or artificial. MIXED SYMBOLS are those which possess sometimes a metaphorical and sometimes a symbolical character, being found in allegorical description, in theological and didactic statements, and in prophetic story. Thus, parturition or birth is used metaphorically to denote the sinner's change of heart, and symbolically the origin of a community. The world, metaphorically,§ denotes wicked men, but symbolically, a body politic, either ecclesiastical or political, or a dispensation. Sores, metaphorically speaking, denote both morally and theologically the vices or corruptions of society, and symbolically the profligacy of a state, or the corrupt notions and principles in the body politic, after they have broken out into overt action, as Isaiah has allegorically described the condition of a corrupt and degenerate church and state. T It is unnecessary to multiply examples: but it must be obvious, that, in the interpretation of this class of symbols, great care and discrimination are necessary, to deter

* Sacred Calendar of Prophecy, vol. i. p. 15. † John, 3. 5, 6. ‡ Is. 66. 8. § John, 17. 14, &c. || Heb. 2. 5; 6. 5. ¶ Is. 1. 6.

events to occur.

mine when the prophet speaks metaphorically, merely to embellish his description or to illustrate a truth, and when he speaks symbolically, to set forth things or The neglect of this sort of discrimination, has led to much confusion with some, as to the nature of symbols, and of the figurative language of prophecy in general, as well as to their interpretation of it.

PURE SYMBOLS comprehend those things, which, either in their simple state, as existing in nature or art, or as compounded by the fancy of the prophet, are used as the representatives of ideas. Of SIMPLE SYMBOLS, the most numerous class is those taken from the natural world, with its various divisions and constituent parts. As a whole, the world symbolically denotes a body politic, and that, according to the analogy above referred to, may be either sacred or profane, ecclesiastical or secular.

But, as the world may be viewed as associated with other parts of the universe, as for example, the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, the clouds, and the earth, as comprising several constituent parts, such as the seas, the rivers, the islands, the mountains, &c., so, each part becomes in its turn a distinct symbol :-the Heavens, from their high elevation, and from their being the region or space in which the sun and stars, &c., are placed, denoting in general the constitution or fundamental structure or basis of the government,-the sun, the supreme authority-the moon, the next highest co-ordinate authority, the Queen, for example, in regal governments-the stars, the principal officers, such as princes and magistrates of the realm, or of the territorial domain-the mountains, principal kingdoms-the islands, inferior states-the sea, the mass of the people collectively taken,-rivers, the people of

different provinces, or the subordinate kingdoms of an empire-and floods, the irruption and invasion of hostile armies or predatory communities.

These symbols, applied to ecclesiastical bodies or churches, possess an analogous import. Accordingly, when applied to secular empires, the blackening of the sun or a solar eclipse, denotes the destruction or suspension of the supreme authority—the turning the moon into blood, the destruction of the higher subordinate authorities-the falling of the stars, the revolt or destruction of the princes, or principal officers of state-the rolling of the heavens together like a scroll, great revolutions issuing in the destruction of the constitution and taking all together, in general, great political convulsions tending to the subversion of the state or empire.

In reference to ecclesiastical and spiritual things, the darkening of the sun will denote the decay of evangelical religion by obscuring the light and influence of Jesus Christ, who is metaphorically and symbolically the Sun of Righteousness-the turning the moon into blood, the calamities, afflictions, and persecution of the church-the falling of the stars, apostasies among ministers of religion-the heavens rolling together like a scroll, the revolution and subversion of the visible church.

In like manner, an earthquake, politically, denotes a revolution—a storm of hail and fire, the desolation of an empire by invasion, or the irruption of barbarian hordes-the removal of mountains, and islands, the subversion of kingdoms and communities-the turning of the sea and rivers into blood, the destruction by sanguinary war of large masses of people-and the drying up of rivers, the wasting of the population and revenues of a kingdom. These may be called SIMPLE

or NATURAL SYMBOLS, whether used singly or grouped together, for they, both individually and collectively, really exist in nature.

COMPOUND SYMBOLS are those which, although in their individual or integral parts they have a veritable existence in nature, are nevertheless grouped or combined together, sometimes in monstrous forms, and always in such combinations as find nothing answerable to them in nature, but are the creations of the prophet's mind, or the pictures that were presented to him in vision. Of this sort are the wild beasts described by the prophets, differing, sometimes monstrously, from any actually existing. A beast being the symbol of an empire, its different members are employed to denote something pertaining to that empire. Thus, the beast with the seven heads and ten horns, is explained to denote the political or secular Roman empire-the heads, distinct forms of supreme authority—and the horns, separate and distinct kingdoms. Others of like complicated character might be noticed, such as the woman clothed with the sun,* having the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars, while in parturition attacked by a great red dragon with seven heads, and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head, having a tail which drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth, all which, when interpreted according to the import of the symbols, gives us, as we are disposed to believe, though differing from most commentators on this subject, a description of the opposition made by the secular government of pagan Rome against the piety of the Christian church, and which finally issued in the birth and prevalence of popery for 1260 years.

* Rev. 12.