he uncertainty hitherto connected with the subject.

Since, as we have seen, symbolic language is based on analogy, it
is evident that there are some objects whose nature forbids their
symbolization, there being no corresponding object in existence.
God can not be symbolized. "To whom then will ye liken God? or what
likeness will ye compare unto him" (Isa. 40:18). There may be certain
symbols connected with his person setting forth the dignity, majesty,
and eternal splendor of his name, but he himself appears unrepresented
by another. The same is true also of the person of Jesus, our
Redeemer, although in this case we must distinguish between the
Christ incarnate and Jesus in his essential divinity. Considered as
incarnate--both God and man--the human aspect of his character as
manifested in his sacrificial death may be analogously represented as
a Lamb slain. But considered in his essential divinity, he can not
be symbolically represented. Therefore, whenever the glorified Christ
appears on the symbolic stage, he always appears in his own person
proclaiming his own name. "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and,
behold, I am alive for evermore" (Rev. 1:18). "He hath on his vesture
and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords."

In Rev. 6:9 the souls of the martyrs are represented as crying unto
God for the avenging of their blood on them that dwell on the earth.
There is no object analogous to a disembodied spirit. It is easy to
give them an arbitrary name. Therefore they simply appear under their
own appropriate titles as "the _souls_ of them that were slain."

Whenever we attach a literal significance to a symbolic object, we
immediately destroy its character as a symbol. This should not be
done. With the exception of those instances where the nature of
an object forbids its symbolization and where the description must
therefore of necessity be literal, we should always look for the true
fulfilment, not in that department from which the symbol is drawn, but
in another department--that to which the symbol by analogy refers us.

[Sidenote: Field of present inquiry]

The limits and object of the present work preclude an exhaustive
treatment of prophecy in general. Our immediate purpose is to set
forth particularly those prophecies of the divine Word which clearly
portray and outline the character of a world-wide religious movement
in the last days. To do this effectually, however, we must briefly