cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart." Matt. xiii. Here the `devil" and the "evil one" are terms descriptive of the Scribes and Pharisees; and the metaphor is most happily illustrated in the case of the blind man in John ix., where they tried so long, and argued so earnestly, and lied so wickedly, to catch away the seed of truth which Jesus had sown in his heart. And how simply and admirably he replied to them, and confounded them, and sent them away defeated; thereby illustrating another passage which says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Jas. iv.

The apostles employ the word, also, as a figure to represent the Heathen secular power in opposition to Christianity. The Revelator says to the members of the church in Smyrna, "Fear none of these things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the Devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days." Chapt. ii. Here the Devil is the Roman government or magistracy which persecuted and imprisoned the Christians. Indeed, the term is properly applied in figure to any persons, or influences, opposed to the Truth of God, or to the virtue and welfare of mankind.

SECTION IV.

METAPHORS AND IMAGES TAKEN FROM NATURAL OBJECTS AND

PHENOMENA.

Making speech visible, or representing thought by symbols or pictures, was, perhaps, the first step toward letters or a written language. Examples of this kind of writing may be seen in the hieroglyphics of Egypt, and the rude pictures of the Mexicans. The

method was to make one thing stand for another to which it had some likeness or resemblance. Visible objects were made to represent invisible realities, abstractions, principles, virtues, vices, &c. For example: An ant was used to symbolize industry; a lion represented courage or royalty; a mouse was the emblem of destruction; a serpent with its tail in its mouth, making a circle, represented eternity; the sun, moon and stars were used to represent States and Empires, or the kings and queens and nobles composing the State.

Taking the last example, it will be seen that the overthrow and destruction of a kingdom or nation, would be set forth under the figure of an eclipse of the sun and moon, or their being darkened or turned into blood, the falling of the stars, the destruction or passing away of the heavens, &c.'

These metaphors were taken up by the Jewish prophets, and freely applied to the events of their own times; and the example was followed by the Saviour and his apostles. Nothing is more common in prophetic language, than to represent great commotions and changes in the earth, or wars and revolutions among the nations, under the figure of changes and revolutions in the heavens, or commotions among the celestial bodies. The fall of Babylon is represented by the stars and constellations of heaven withdrawing their light; and the sun and moon being darkened. Isai. xiii. 9, 10. The de

1 Warburton's Divine Legation, vol. ii. B. iv. Lowтn's Isaiah, note on xiii. 10. See, also, NEWTON's Dissertations on the Prophecies. LIGHTFOOT's works, vol. iii., vi. and xi. PAIGE's Selections, Sec. cxxii, and MACKNIGHT on the Epistles, Essay viii.

struction of Egypt, by the heaven being covered, the sun enveloped with a cloud, and the moon withholding her light. Ezek. xxxii, 7, 8. The destruction of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes is represented by casting down some of the host of heaven, and the stars, to the ground. Dan. viii. 10.

So Christ announces the passing away of the old dispensation, and the destruction of the Jewish State and Church: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven," &c. Matt. xxiv. And Peter, speaking of the same event, employs the same metaphors: "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away (the Jewish State shall be destroyed) with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up..... Nevertheless, we, (the believers,) according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth (the Christian Gospel kingdom) wherein dwelleth-righteousness." 2 Pet. iii. And on a former occasion, years before, (Acts ii.,) he had quoted similar language from Joel, as descriptive of the overthrow of the old law dispensation, secular and religious "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel (it was then being fulfilled,).... I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the

Lord come." The wonders which the people then saw, were the heralds of the incoming of that great and notable day of the Lord, when the sun and moon, and the whole frame-work of the Jewish heaven and earth would be dissolved and pass away in blood and vapor of smoke, and give place to the new heaven and new earth of the Gospel.

The following from Orthodox theologians and commentators, distinguished for their learning and profound knowledge of the Scriptures, will further illustrate the usage of these bold metaphors and terrible images drawn from natural objects.

Hammond, on 2 Peter iii. 7-13, says, "What is here thus expressed by St. Peter, is ordinarily conceived to belong to the end of the world, and the beginning of the Millennium, or thousand years. And so, as St. Peter here saith, verse 16, many other places in St. Paul's epistles, and in the gospel, especially Matt. xxiv., are mistaken and wrested. That it doth not belong to either of these, but to this fatal day of the Jews, sufficiently appears by the purport of the whole epistle, which is to arm them with constancy and perseverance, till that day come, and, particularly in this chapter, to confute them who object against the truth of Christ's prediction, and resolve it should not come at all, against whom he here opposes the certainty, the speediness, and the terribleness of its coming. That which hath given occasion to those other common mistakes, is especially the hideousness of those judgments which fell upon that people of the Jews, beyond all that before are related to have fallen on them, or, indeed, on any other people, which made it necessary for the prophets, which

were to describe it, (and who use tropes and figures, and not plain expressions, to set down their predictions,) to express it by these high phrases of the passing away and dissolving of heaven, and earth, and elements, &c., which, sounding very tragically, are mistaken for the great, final dissolution of the world."

Witsius. "It certainly cannot be denied, that the manner of speaking, used by the holy prophets and apostles, countenances the opinion of those who call the Messiah's kingdom the beginning of the new world, or age. Thus, according to the prophet Haggai ii. 6, God says, 'When he shall send him who is the desire of all nations, will he shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land.' Likewise, according to Isaiah lxv. 17, God says, ' Behold I will create new heavens, and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.' Again he says, lxvi. 22, 'The new heavens and the new earth which I will make, shall remain before me.' This agrees with Rev. xxi. 1, where we read, And I saw a new heaven, and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away: and there was no more sea.' Nor does St. Peter differ from this, when he says, in his second epistle, iii. 13, 'Nevtheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth.' All these passages mean that a new scene of affairs was to be introduced into the world, by the Messiah, so that it might be considered the beginning of a new world or age.

"I cannot persuade myself to withhold from the readers of this dissertation a learned comment, which that most eminent man, John Owen, offers upon this last-named passage in St. Peter. He observes that