the meaning of all those passages in this book, in which "the third part of the Earth" is particularly mentioned. In Rev. viii. 7—12. and xii. 4., the phrase, "the third part," is applied to the Western Empire, to its political Heaven, and the various other particulars it involved: and in Rev. ix. 15. 18. the same expression is applied to the Empire of the East.

3. As "the Earth" was thus a type of the Roman Empire, so "Earthquakes" will become appropriate and very impressive symbols of those political agitations and convulsions, to which some of the nations which composed it, and even the Empire itself at large, may have been occasionally subjected, in the lapse of time. Examples of this application of the term occur in Rev. vi. 12. viii. 5. xi. 13. 19. xvi. 18-20.

4. For the word г has also another signification, which is not uncommon in the Sacred Writings, or, indeed, in ordinary phraseology. It applies not only to the Earth, considered as an extent of surface, but to its population, or the nations which inhabit it, and over whom its political Heaven is extended'. And in this sense it occurs in Rev. xii. 12. ; where the woe pronounced was evidently to fall, not only upon the inhabitants of the symbolical Earth, but also upon that

For the various import of this word, and especially as far as relates to this present sense, see Schleusner's Lexicon on the word.

multitudinous aggregate of nations which composed the symbolical sea,-nations, whose countries, though not reduced to the form of Roman provinces, were yet within the ancient limits of the Empire".

5. Proceeding upon the same principle, " Mountains," being the most elevated parts of the surface of" the Earth," will well represent the Seats of Government of the Nations with which the Roman Empire was overspread, and of which it consisted. Rev. vi. 14.; xvi. 20.

And that, which is emphatically called "a great Mountain," will no less clearly point out the metropolis of one half of that Empire itself, after its division into two parts. Rev. viii. 8.

And hence, in any case, in which the forms of government, attached to the same territorial dominions, have been various in successive times,— and the locality of the seat of government is fully established, so as not to be the primary subject of a prophecy,-the symbol of "a Mountain" may very properly be transferred to the external appearance, the particular model or modification, of the government itself, by which that seat may

m According to the Complutensian edition of 1514, and some of the MSS. the passage runs thus—Οὐαὶ τῇ γῇ καὶ τῇ θαλάσσῃ : the Wetstein edition has it thus—Οὐαὶ τοῖς κατοικοῦσι τὴν γῆν καὶ τῆν θάλασσαν. But the sense is the same in both cases; y being often used absolutely, in the same manner as "the Earth," or the name of any particular country, to denote the population contained within it.

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66

be at any time distinguished: for it is by this, that the seat itself acquires its elevation, and distinctive character. Thus St. John has specially informed us, that "the seven heads" of the beast, on which the mystical Babylon was seen sitting, seven Mountains." Rev. xvii. 9.—An explanation, which has no relation whatever to "the seven hills" on which the seat of government was founded, (for none of these were mountains in any proper sense of that term ;) but a very evident one to " the seven heads," or forms of government, which had successively prevailed there.

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6. But there was in the Roman Empire a class of beings, who were regarded as below the consideration of its laws, and on whom its political heaven poured forth no friendly rays. Such were the Servi, or Slaves; who, till the period of their manumission, had not the rights of Citizens. And this circumstance will enable us clearly to understand the meaning of two passages in "The Revelation," in which the phrase "under the Earth" is introduced. For "the Earth" being evidently employed, occasionally, by St. John, to denote the Roman people generally throughout the Empire, including those also who had obtained the immunities of Roman citizenship; therefore those, who are mentioned as " under the Earth," are such as are beneath the rank of Citizens; that is, they are the Slaves, with whom the Empire every where abounded. Rev. v. 3. 13.

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66 THE HEAVEN," and Its ATTENDANT SYMBOLS.

1. As the visible Heaven is spread forth above the Earth in the system of nature, so, in the language of Prophecy, are the political Heavens described as expanded above those Nations of the world, which are subject to their influences. The use of this familiar image occurs in Rev. xii. 12. where a number of independent Nations, each under its own particular government, are most distinctly pointed out. And when "the Earth," agreeably to a sense already pointed out", is designed to represent the mass of the population in the regions denoted by that term, then " the Heaven" will equally indicate the "Principalities and Powers," by whom the government of them is administered. Examples of this application of the term will be found in Rev. v. 13. vi. 13, 14. viii. 10. 13. ix. 1. x. 1. xi. 6. 19. xiv. 6. and in other places.

2. And, accordingly, all the various Splendours, and influential Powers, which distinguish "the Host of Heaven" in the natural world, are so many lively types or representatives of the various degrees of Dignity, Power, and Authority, which are no less observable in the political or symbolical Heaven.

The Sun, which is the great source of light,

and heat, and animation, in this lower world, is a very expressive emblem of that supreme Power, which is "the fountain of honour," and the source of all legitimate authority in a state. And as it is by reflecting the light which they derive from the Sun, that all the other heavenly Bodies in his system are enabled to perform the parts, and to exert the influences, respectively assigned them, so it is from the sanction which they receive from the supreme Ruler, that those in authority under him are enabled, in their various orders and degrees, to contribute to the security and good government of the people, over whom they are appointed to preside. Examples of this use of the type will be found in Rev. vi. 12. vii. 16. viii. 12. xvi. 8. xix. 17. xxi. 23. and xxii. 5.

3. The Sun and Moon, being the two most glorious and efficacious luminaries of heaven ;the one being appointed to rule over the day, or those parts of the Earth, which are immediately, at any time, exposed to his rays; and the other over the night, or those parts, from which he is for a time absent; therefore these heavenly Bodies will well represent the legislative Bodies of the symbolical Earth; which act, more or less, by their conjoint influence, at all times, and in all places, during the period of their continuance, for the government of the whole. Illustrations may thus be afforded, of the scenery described in Rev. vi. 12. viii. 12. and also of what is predicted in xxi. 23. and xxii. 5.