read by ten times more persons than an octavo of superior merit, which costs two dollars. With him it is a very small thing who shall gain the reputation of authorship, provided the Word of God be explained, and His truth be widely diffused. If these ends be attained by the following pages, the whole purpose of their publication will have been accomplished.

INTRODUCTION.

THE distinguishing characteristic of the Apocalypse is, that it foreshadows what it reveals, not by words, like ordinary prophecies, but by representative agents and phenomena exhibited to the senses of the Apostle. These representatives are called symbols. The first thing to be studied, then, in order to a correct understanding of this book, is the law of symbolic representation. We cannot suppose that the Spirit of God employs, in an arbitrary and irregular manner, either words or things to reveal truth to man. There must be some fixed and uniform principle of interpretation, which should guide the student in all his inquiries. What, then, is this principle, as applied to the explanation of symbols? We answer, analogy. And what is analogy? It is not a direct resemblance between the representation and that which it is used to represent-but it is a resemblance of their relations to other things. Thus, a seed is not like an egg in shape or substance, but it is analogous to it, because it bears a relation to the producing plant, or to the future germ, similar to the relation which the egg sustains to the parent bird, or to the future nestling. Analogy, then, is the resemblance of relations. This principle, we conceive, lies at the foundation of all correct exposition of the Apocalypse. Whenever any object in nature, animate or inanimate, or any fictitious creature, is employed to symbolize any thing future, it bears an analogy to that which is symbolized. This principle is susceрtible of many modifications. I will mention a few.

1. The symbol is usually selected from species or orders diffferent from those to which the thing symbolized belongs. Thus, a ferocious wild beast denotes a dynasty of slaughtering kings-to whom it sustains an analogy-and not some other wild beast, to which it might have only a direct resemblance. A sea represents a vast multitude of persons united under one government, while fountains and streams flowing into that sea, symbolize tributary communities.

2. When the object to be described has nothing to correspond with it, either in the ideal or actual world, it is always introduced in its own name and character. Thus the Martyr-Souls, the Deity, the Incarnate Word, and Satan, are mentioned in their appropriate persons. Where no befitting symbol can be found, none is used, but descriptions are given to indicate the nature of the beings mentioned. The agencies exerted by those beings, as seen in vision, and the uses ascribed to their several insignia, are, however, to be considered symbolical.

3. When intelligent and living creatures are employed as symbols, they represent intelligent agents-never the mere qualities of such agents. In like manner, causes represent causes, effects denote effects, and actions correspond with actions. The several elements of the symbol thus stand for the corresponding parts of that which is symbolized.

4. The names of the symbols are their literal and proper names, not metaphorical titles and descriptions. This is manifest from the circumstance that the acts and qualities ascribed to them are suited to their nature-a circumstance that never characterizes the metaphor.

5. In some instances, agents that represent men denote, not individuals, but an order and succession of agents, acting in the same relations and exerting a similar agency. The offices they sustain, and the agencies and periods specified of them, justify this construction.

Our limits will not allow a more minute statement of the various modifications to which the great principle of analogy is subject, but these are regarded as the most important. See D. N. Lord's Theol. and Lit. Journal, Vol. I., No. 2, 1848.

What, now, is the proof of the correctness of this principle? We answer, the interpretations of the symbols given by the Son of God and the attending angels. "The seven stars are the angels-messengers of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks are the seven churches." Rev. 1:20. As the star gives light, so it is a suitable representative of a gospel teacher; and as the lamp-stand holds up the light, so it symbolizes a church, who sustains the teacher. In like manner, the “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, are the seven Spirits of God," (chap. 4: 5,) because the office of the lamp, like that of the Spirit, is to illumine. The seven heads of the wild beast are explained to be seven kings, and the ten horns to be ten kings. Chap. 17: 10-12. In vs. 15, the waters are explained to be peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues; and in vs. 18, the woman is said to be the great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. In the prophecies of Daniel we learn that the four great beasts which the prophet saw were four kings or dynasties which should arise out of the earth-7: 17. In the next vision the ram with two horns seen by the prophet is explained to be the kings of Media and Persia, and the rough goat to be the king of Grecia-8: 21, 22. Other examples might be adduced of the same kind. In all these cases the symbols selected bear a striking analogy to the objects for which they stand. Our inference, therefore, is, that the symbols of the Bible which are left without interpretation, must be expounded according to the same general law. If this conclusion be pronounced illogical, we ask the objector, with all sincerity and humility, to show us a better way. Until that request be granted, we shall hold to the principle of analogy, as the only safe guide to the exposition of this most remarkable book.