to the only department of society which is analogous to civil life, and
the famine symbolized, is like that predicted by Amos: "Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine into the land, not a
famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the
Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to
the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and
shall not find it," Amos 8:11, 12.

This, then, marks a period when the traditions and opinions of men are
substituted for the word of God. With Origen was introduced a new mode of
interpreting scripture, which afterwards became prevalent. The scriptures,
instead of being received in their natural and obvious sense, were
regarded as mystical and allegorical. Milner, in his Church History, says:
"From the fanciful mode of allegory, introduced by him, and uncontrolled
by scriptural rule and order, there arose a vitiated method of commenting
on the sacred pages." And Mosheim says: "The few who explained the sacred
writings with judgment and a true spirit of criticism, could not oppose,
with any success, the torrent of allegory that was overflowing the
church." Following this example, Luther says, "men make just what they
please of the Scriptures, until some accommodate the word of God to the
most extravagant absurdities."

Substituting the conceptions of their own fancy for the word of God, they
withheld from the people the bread of life, and produced a famine for the
word of the Lord. Crude notions took the place of Bible doctrines; and
pernicious speculations were substituted for the teachings of Christ and
his apostles. Baptism and the Lord's supper, lost their emblematic
significance, and were regarded as saving ordinances. Heaven was sought to
be merited by works, and sanctification was supposed to be gained by
penance and mortification of the flesh. In short, all the corruptions of
the apostasy were substituted for the primitive faith, and the Bible
became a sealed book to the great mass of the people.

The Fourth Seal.

"And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the
fourth living being saying, Come! And I looked, and behold, a pale
horse: and his name, who sat on him, was Death, and the pit
followed with him. And power was given to them over the fourth
part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with famine, and with
pestilence, and with the w