So in the 1st Ep. of Peter, Ch. 1. V. 24.

*For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.'

SPRINGS AND FOUNTAINS.

The

pure doctrines of the gospel are expressed by this metaphor, which is so used by our Lord, * If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.'—John 7. 37. As these are the source of spiritual life, so poisoning the springs, evidently means corrupting the purity of these doctrines.

WATERS AND RIVERS.

Rivers are often used in prophetic lauguage, to symbolise the people residing on their borders, as in Isaiah, Ch. 8. V. 7.

Now, therefore, behold the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory.'

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So also in the Apocalypse, the drying up of the Euphrates,' is understood to signify the downfal of the Ottoman empire.

Waters are expressly declared to have this meaning, in Rev. Ch. 17. V. 15.

The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.'

SEA AND LAND.

These symbols, when put in apposition, are used in scriptural language, to designate the Jewish and Gentile nations; the land, signifying the Jews or inhabitants of the holy land; and the sea, the Gentiles or the nations of Europe, called in Genesis, Ch. 10, The Isles of the Gentiles ;' a phrase, still familiar among the Jews.

Ships, accordingly signify, as Arch. Woodhouse observes, those who are distinguished among the Gentiles for their eminence, and lift their heads above the plain of waters.'

Howl ye ships of Tarshish'

is an address to the inhabitants of Tarshish, not literally to their ships.

MOUNTAIN AND ISLAND

These were considered as places of the greatest security from hostile invasion; accordingly in prophetic language, says Arch. Woodhouse, a mountain signifies an eminent seat of power, civil or religious. Under such figurative language, the Christian religion is called Mount Sion, and is contrasted with the Jewish law, called Mount Sinai, in the Epistle to the Hebrews.' A further explanation of this will appear in that of the next symbol, fire.

FIRE AND SWORD,

Are terms frequently used in scripture, as the emblems of strife and discord; thus in Matt, Ch. 10. V. 34.

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth, I came not to send peace but a sword.'

So also in Luke, Ch, 12. V. 51.

Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell ye nay, but rather division.'

And again in the same chapter, V. 49.

I am come to send fire on the earth.'

Accordingly the symbol fire, when in conjunction with the mountain; as a burning mountain,' will come to signify religious discord; and in this sense it seems peculiarly applicable to those controversies, on the nature of the Godhead, which for two hundred years involved all Christendom in blood, and form the most prominent feature in the history of the fourth and fifth centuries.

BLOOD AND HAIL,

Blood, which in figurative language has some latitude of meaning, seems in the original sense to be synonymous with murder or death; as a man of blood' means one who sheds blood. And such a one being esteemed polluted, as David, who was therefore forbidden to build the temple, so it signifies also pollution; and in this sense, it is said, the

sea was turned into blood,' as signifying the corruption of Christianity among the Gentile nations. Again, the moon became as blood,' or the purity of Christ's church was polluted, when the disciples forsook and denied him at his crucifixion. So the harlot of Babylon, a persecuting and idolatrous church, is represented as drunk with the blood of the saints.' But as blood was atoned for by blood, it came to signify also the means of atonement or purification; so the saints are said to wash their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.' The context, however, will sufficiently shew in which sense it is used.

Hail-storms, which are destructive of vegetable life, when spiritually interpreted, signify storms that are injurious or fatal to spiritual life. The meaning of this symbol is rendered still less ambiguous, when conjoined, as it is in the Apocalypse, with the foregoing symbols, blood and fire;' as storms of hail and fire, mingled with blood.'

The bloody wars carried on between the fourth and fifth centuries, by the Christian bishops and patriarchs contending for power and supremacy, such as arose from the Donatist and other factions, and were eminently fatal to the cause of true religion, could not be represented by any symbol moré strikingly applicable.

FIRE, SMOKE, AND BRIMSTONE.

The source from which these are commonly represented as issuing, namely, the bottomless pit,' sufficiently stamps their character as signifying

what most commentators now admit, deadly and infernal doctrines, which darken the light of truth, and corrupt the purity of religion. As the symbol fire is used to signify heat and discord in other combinations, as fire and sword, hail and fire, the burning mountain,' &c. so it may have the same signification here also; heat and animosity being the invariable attendants upon sectarian disagreement, arising from the corruption of true religion. To understand the symbols, fire, smoke, and brimstone, as signifying great guns and gunpowder, seems to be a force upon prophetical language, unworthy,' says Archdeacon Woodhouse, of the respectable names, which have countenanced the interpretation.' To which we may add, that they occur repeatedly in the prophecy, while there is only one instance in which they can possibly be applied to the invention of artillery and gunpowder, and that not the first instance of their

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Occurrence,

THUNDER, LIGHTENING, AND EARTHQUAKE.

These symbols evidently denote great commotions of some kind, and most commonly signify denunciations of divine wrath, as in Isaiah, Ch. 13. V. 13.

Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fiercè anger.'

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