long series of great and important events. Bow. The symbol of war and victory. Psal. vii. 12. BRIMSTONE. The symbol of dreadful torment, and everlasting destruction. Job, xviii. 15. Isa. xxxiv. 9. Rev. xix. 20. BURIAL, being an honour paid to the dead, the want of it is always considered as a sort of aggravation of death; and the denial of it as an act of the greatest punishment, as pursuing a person with vengeance, even after he is dead. 2 Kings, ix. 10. Jer. xiv. 16. Rev. xi. 9. But as in Psal. lxxxviii. 11, 12. the grave is synonymous to the land of forgetfulness, hence, not to be put into the grave, may denote that such shall be remembered, and not be put into everlasting silence. CHARIOTS are symbols of war, Psal. lxviii. 17. Isa. xxi. 7, 9. and, as appears from 2 Kings, ii. 12. sometimes of strength and defence. CITY. Cities are frequently represented in the prophecies under the type of women, virgins, wives, widows, and harlots, according to their different characters and conditions, as in Isa. xxxvii. 22. xlvii. 8, 9. Rev. xvii. 3, xviii. 7. The holy city signifies the Christian church, Rev. xi. 2. The great city in the Apocalypse is the same as Babylon the great, and stands in opposition to the true church of God; signifying the united polity of the beast's kingdom.* * Mr. King, I think, is evidently wrong, in rendering mónis husyahn in Rev. xvi. 19. a state, which was a great one, and applying it to Poland. This phrase must every where, in this book, signify the same polity, city, or state; and, if I may so speak, is always definite and emphatical. It is true that Poland has been divided between three robbers; but the division here referred to, is, I think, yet to come, and most probably points at some threefold division of the territory of the beast, which will succeed the dissolution of the Antichristian kingdoms. See Remarks on the Sigus of the Times, by Edward King, Esq. p. 13. CLOUD. If a cloud be without any tokens of a storm, it always denotes good, and implies success. As preserving from the scorching rays of the sun, it is the symbol of protection, Isa. iv. 5. A king, say the ancient writers on symbols, riding upon clouds, signifies his ruling over foreign nations, and his being exceedingly prosperous and successful. In holy writ, clouds are frequently the symbols of multitudes and armies, Jer. iv. 13. Heb. xii. 1. A white cloud is the symbol of exceeding good success. These ideas illustrate those passages where Jesus Christ is said to come in the clouds of heaven, and to sit on a white cloud. Matth. xxiv. 30. Rev. xiv. 14. A dropping cloud was considered by the ancients as a symbol of learning and wisdom. Deut. xxxii. 2. Daubuz Com. Rev. x. 1. DARKNESS. See light. DAY. See light and time. DEATH, is the destruction of the subject spoken of, according to the nature of that subject. Thus, when Amos predicts, (chap. ii. 2.) Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sounding of the trumpet, the meaning is that the king and government of Moab shall lose their power, and the nation shall be brought into subjection and slavery. Death is a ceasing to act, and to enjoy, whilst to live is the contrary. Isa. xxvi. 14, 19. xxvii. 7. Ezek. xxviii. 8. xxxvii. 1. Rev. xi. 7. Moral Death, is to be under the power of sinful habits, and in a state of alienation from God. Rom. viii. 6. Eph. ii. 1. DRAGON. All serpents, according to their size, are the symbols of greater or lesser enemies. The dragon among the ancients was esteemed the symbol of a king that was an enemy; as also of a pirate and a murderer. In Ezek. xxix. 3, 4. it is used as a symbol of the king of Egypt, See also Psal. Ixxiv. 13, 14. Isa. xxvii. i. Rev. xii. 3. With the Romans, dragons were the symbols of majesty, hence the figures of dragons floated in their banners, and were embroidered on the imperial robes. DOGS, are the symbols of persons who make themselves abominable by the practice of unnatural lusts, gluttony, persecution, apostacy, &c. Psal. xxii. 16, 20. Prov. xxvi. 11. Rev. xxii. 15. DRUNK. This is sometimes the symbol of the folly and madness of sinners, who, making no use of their understanding, involve themselves in all sorts of crimes; at others of the stupidity of idolaters, who act as though they had no reason. Persecutors also, as acting with the mad fury of drunkards, are represented as drunk, Rev. xvii. 2. It signifies likewise that astonishment, stupidity and misery, which arises from God's judgments. Isa. xxix. 9. EARTH, as opposed to heaven signifies, symbolically, the inferior, or governed part, of the political world, and this may be considered again as divided into land and sea, (Hag. ii. 6.) continents, and islands, and rivers, (Psal. Ixxxix. 25,) &c. The governing part being the heaven of this political world. This agrees with the ideas of the ancients respecting the three worlds; but I see no proof that the earth, as opposed to the sea, signifies, as some suppose, nations in a state of peace; for, though many waters signify peoples, and multitudes, and nations, yet unless the sea be described as in a perturbed state, (as in Luke, xxi. 25.) it is not a symbol of nations at war, but stands, generally, when not to be understood literally, for foreign countries and maritime parts, as Isa. xx. 11. lx. 5. Men of the earth, and such like phrases, signify men of base minds, in opposition to God's servants, whose temper is heavenly. EARTHQUAKE. As earthquakes, when great, overturn mountains, alter the courses of rivers, and produce great changes in nature, they are therefore made to signify great convulsions and revolutions in the political world. Joel, ii. 10. Hag. ii. 21. Heb. xii. 26. Rev. xi. 13. xvi. 18. EAT, in a symbolical sense, signifies sometimes to digest and meditate upon. Ezek iii. 1. Rev. x. 9. But when the idea of devouring is to be understood, it signifies plundering and destruction. Deut. xxxii. 42. Rev. xvii. 16. FAT and FLESH, signify the riches, goods, and possessions of any person or nation, Isa. xvii. 4. Jer. v. 28, Micah, iii. 2, 3. So that to cat the flesh of any is to spoil them of their riches, Rev. xvii. 16. xix. 18. FIRE, when not put for light, is the symbol of that which torments and destroys, particulary war, as in Isa. xlii. 25. lxvi. 15. Rev. xix. 20. It signifies also persecutions. 1 Cor. iii. 13. 1 Pet. iv, 12. TORCHES of fire before a throne are the symbols of the royal presence, it being an ancient custom for kings to have fire carried before them as a mark of honour and empire; and which, when they went to war, was used to give the signal of battle. This may illustrate Rev. iv. 5. Fire from heaven signifies the denunciations of vengeance from persons in authority. Rev. xiii. 13. FOREHEAD, signifies a public profession before men, and as servants of old were marked in their foreheads with the mark of their master, (a practice forbidden to the Jews, Lev. xix. 28.) therefore, to receive a mark in the forehead, signifies to make an open profession of belonging to that person, or party, whose mark is said to be received. FORNICATION, in the holy scriptures, is made the symbol of idolatry, and of alliances between nations for the purposes of commerce and mutual support. But something criminal must be supposed to be connected with these alliances. Isa. xxiii. 17. Ezek. xvi. 29. Rev. xiv. 8, xvii. 2. As this sin does not necessarily imply the breach of the marriage covenant, it is the apt symbol, not only of the crimes of Tyre, but of the mystical whore of Babylon. Her sin is never called adultery, because she was never in covenant with Christ. It is not, as with Israel, the true church corrupted, but quite another body, under an assumed name, that is directly opposed to the spouse of Christ. FROGS. The symbols (says Philo) of vain opinions and glory, having only noise and sound, without reason. They signify impostors and flatterers (says Artemidorus) and bode good to them that get their living out of the common people, as the itinerant conjurors and fortune tellers, who, by their false wonders, used to deceive the ignorant and superstitious. These are they who go forth to the kings of the earth, to flatter and deceive them, and so draw them into war. Rev. xvi. 13. 13. GARMENTS are the symbols of a person's state, condition, qualities, and the like. White garments, as being those worn by priests, kings, and nobles, and at festivals, are the symbols of holiness, exaltation, and joy. Psal. li. 7. Eccl. ix. 7, 8. Isa Ixi. 10. Rev. iii. 4. iv. 4. vii. 9, xv. 6. xix. 8, 14. Garments of sackcloth, signify affliction and mourning. To keep the garments, (Rev. xvi. 15.) is to preserve our faith and Christian virtue pure, whole, and entire, because as garments cover and adorn the body, so do these the mind. GEMS, or precious stones, according to their colour, signify different things, holiness, justice, truth, wisdom, honour, &c. Thus the blue sapphire pavement under the feet of Jehovah, Ex. xxiv. 10. appears to have been, to Moses and his companions, the symbol of the divine benignity. This idea of Gems, says Dr. Lancaster, may be confirmed by the exposition of the colour of them given by the Indian interpreter, in chap. 247. where he explains the white colour of good will and favour; the red of joy from success in war, and being a terror to enemies; the blue of joy, from gentleness and moderation; the green of great renown, from constancy, faith, and piety. These ideas may throw some light on several passages in the book of Revelation, particularly, as chap. iv. 4. xx. 11; 18-21. See also Isa. liv. 11, 12. GIRDLE. The symbol of peace and strength, defence, and honour, Job. xii. 18. Isa. xi. 5. xxii. 21. Rev. i. 13. XV. 6. HAIL, in the prophecies, signifies the inroads of enemics, killing and destroying, Isa. xxviii. 2. xxx. 30, 31. xxxii. 19. Ezek. xiii. 11. 13. Rev. viii. 7. xi. 19. xvi. 21. HARVEST, in several places in the scriptures, denotes some destroying judgment, by which people fall as corn by the scythe. It is thus used Isa. xvii. 5. Joel, iii. 13. Rev. xiv. 15. But it is sometimes used in a very different sense; for when the idea of separating and gathering in to lay up, is implied, it means good, as in Matth. xiii. 30. Mark, iv. 29. HEAT, if scorching, is the symbol of affliction and calamity. Isa. xlix. 10. Rev. vii. 16. xvi. 8. It is thus, whether it be from the sun, or occasioned by those burning winds which are so destructive in the eastern countries. HEAVEN, according to the ancients (agreeable to whose ideas of things the symbolic language and character were fashioned) there is a three-fold world; and, therefore, a three-fold heaven; the invisible, visible, and political. Which last may be either civil, or ecclesiastical: and relative either to a family, a single kingdom, or many kingdoms and states, just as the scene is laid. But wherever it is laid the heaven signifies the ruling power, or government; that is, the whole assembly of ruling powers, which, with the subjects, make the political world; and the former are to the latter, what the natural heaven, with its sun, moon and stars, are to the natural earth, standing over and ruling them. So that according to the subject (says Dr. Lancaster) is the term to be limited, and therefore Artemidorus (Lib. ii. c. 73.) writing in the times of the Roman emperors, makes Italy to be the heaven, |