Ancient of Days—The Most High.—Dan. 7:9, 22.
Candlesticks—Churches.—Rev. 1:20.
Carpenters—Destroyers of governments.—Zech. 1:21.
Days—Years.—Num. 14:34. Ezek. 4:4-6.
Horns, of a wild beast—Kings or kingdoms succeeding to a divided
empire.—Dan. 8:22 and 7:24.
Heads, of a wild beast—Kings or forms of government.—Rev. 17:9, 10.
Image, of different metals—A succession of governments.—Dan.
2:37-42.
Incense, or odors—Prayers.—Rev. 5:8 and 8:4.
Lamb, the—Christ.—Rev. 5:6, 9, 10.
Lamb’s wife—Risen saints.—Rev. 19:7, 8.
Lake of fire and brimstone—The place of the second death.—Rev.
20:15.
Likeness of a man—The Lord.—Ezek. 1:26, 28, and 8:2, 4.
Linen, fine and clean—Righteousness of saints—Rev. 19:8.
Mountains—Kings, or forms of government.—Rev. 17:9, 10.
New Jerusalem—The redeemed Church, or the Bride, the Lamb’s
wife.—Rev. 21:9, 10.
Revivification of dry bones—Resurrection of the dead.—Ezek. 37:11,
12.
Stars—Angels, _i.e._, messengers of the churches.—Rev. 1:20.
Souls of martyrs living again—The first resurrection.—Rev. 20:4, 5.
Stone, becoming a mountain—Kingdom of God.—Dan. 2:45.
Waters—Peoples.—Rev. 17:15.
Wild Beasts—Governments.—Dan. 7:17.
Woman—A city.—Rev. 17:18. Explained to be a church.—21:9, 10.
24. TROPES are figures of various kinds, used to _illustrate_ the subjects
to which they are applied.—They embrace the Simile, Metaphor, Prosopopœia,
Apostrophe, Synecdoche, Allegory, &c.
25. LAWS OF FIGURES—(_a._) “The terms in which they are expressed are used
in their ordinary and literal sense.”—_Lord._
(_b._) “The agents or objects to which figures are applied are always
expressly mentioned. Figures, in that respect, differ wholly from symbols,
which never formally indicate, unless an interpretation is given, who the
agents, or what the objects are which they represent.”—_Ib._
(_c._) “The figurative terms are always predicates, or are employed in
affirming something of some other agent or object; and are therefore
either nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs.”—_Ib._
(_d._) “As their terms are used literally, the figure lies, when they are
employed in an unusual manner, simply in their being applied to objects to
which they do not properly belong.”—_Ib._
(_e._) “They are used accordingly in all such cases for the purpose of
illustration, and their explication is accomplished, not by assigning to
them some new and extraordinary meaning, but simply by conjoining with
them the terms of a comparison which expresses the relation in which they
are employed.”—_Ib._
(_f._) “It is in metaphors and personification only that acts and
qualities are ascribed to agents and objects that are incompatible with
their nature; or do not properly belong to them.”—_Ib. Theo. & Lit.
Jour._, vol. 1, p. 354.
26. A SIMILE, or comparison, is an affirmation that one agent, object, or
act, is _like_, or as, another,—there being a real or imaginary
resemblance. Sometimes only the mere fact of a resemblance is affirmed. At
others, the nature of the resemblance is indicated.
_Examples._—“As for man, his days are _as_ grass.” Psa. 103:15. “Whose
garment was _white_ as _snow_.” Dan. 7:9.
27. ANTITHESIS is a contrast, or placing in opposite lights things
dissimilar.
_Example._—“The wicked are overthrown and are not; but the house of the
righteous shall stand.” Prov. 12:7.
28. A METAPHOR is a simile comprised in a word, without the _sign_ of
comparison. It is an affirmation of an object, incompatible with its
nature—_i.e._, it affirms that an object is, what literally it is only
_like_; or attributes to it acts, to which its acts only bear a
_resemblance_.
_Examples._—“He is the _Rock_.” Deut. 32:4. “Her gates shall _lament_ and
_mourn_.” Isa. 3:25.
A metaphor may be a simple affirmation of what an object is, or it may
embrace “the agent, the act, the object, and the effect of an
action.”—_Lord._
(_a._) When an object is affirmed to be what it only resembles, that of
which the affirmation is made is always _literally_ expressed.
(_b._) “When a nature is ascribed to an object that does not belong to it,
the acts or results affirmed to it are proper to that _imputed nature_,
not to its own.”—_Lord._
(_c._) “The meaning of a metaphorical passage is precisely what it would
be if a comparison only were affirmed.”—_Ib._
29. AN ELLIPTICAL METAPHOR is where the figure is incomplete. An object,
instead of being affirmed to be what it only resembles, is introduced by
the name proper only to that resemblance. The literal name of the object
and the affirmation to complete the figure are to be supplied.
To find the meaning of an elliptical metaphor, trace the word through the
Bible, and find to what object such metaphorical term is applied.
_Example._—“And in that day there shall be a _Root_ of JESSE, which shall
stand for an ensign of the people.” Isa. 11:10. _Explanation._—“I [JESUS]
am the _Root_ and the offspring of DAVID.” Rev. 22:16.
30. PROSOPŒIA, or PERSONIFICATION, is an address to an inanimate object,
as if it were a person, and had intelligence.—_Lord._ _Example._—“Give
ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my
mouth.” Deut. 32:1.
31. AN APOSTROPHE is a _digression_ from the order of any discourse, and a
direct _address_ to the persons of whom it treats, or to those who are to
form a judgment respecting the subject of which it treats.—_Lord._
_Example._—“Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom: give ear unto
the law of our GOD, ye people of Gomorrah.” Isa. 1:10.
32. AN ALLEGORY is a narrative in which the subject of the discourse is
described by an analogous subject, resembling it in its characteristics
and circumstances—the subject of which it is descriptive being indicated
in its connection. _Examples._—See Ezek. 31:3-9; Ps. 80:8-16; Jud. 9:8-15.
Past _historical_ events, instead of supposititious ones, are sometimes
used for illustration. When thus used they serve as allegories, without
affecting their original historical significance. _Example._—Gal. 4:
22-31. See also Rom. 9:7, 8; 1 Cor. 9:9, 10, and 10:11.
33. A PARABLE is a similitude taken from natural things, to instruct us in
the knowledge of spiritual. _Examples._—Matt. 13th, and 21:28-41.
The Parable differs from the Allegory in that the acts ascribed are
appropriate to the agents to which they are attributed. In the Allegory,
acts may be ascribed to real objects which are not natural to those
objects. _Example._—See Judges 9:7-15.
The Parable is sometimes used to denote a prophecy, (Num. 23:7); sometimes
a discourse, (Job 27:1); sometimes a lamentation, (Micah 2:4); sometimes a
proverb, or wise saying, (Prov. 26:7); and sometimes to indicate that a
thing is apocryphal. Ezek. 20:49. The terms parable and allegory, are
often wrongfully applied.
34. A RIDDLE is an enigma—something to be guessed. _Example._—See Judges
14:24-18. It is sometimes used to denote an allegory. Ezek. 17:1-10.
35. TYPES are emblems—greater events in the future being prefigured by
typical observances, “which are a shadow of good things to come.” Col.
2:17.
36. THE HYPOCATASTASIS, or substitution, is a figure introduced by Mr.
LORD, in which the objects, or agents, of one class are, without any
formal notice, employed in the place of the persons or things of which the
passages in which they occur treat; and they are exhibited either as
exerting, or as subjected to an agency proper to their nature, in order to
represent by analogy, the agency which those persons are to exert, or of
which those things are to be the subjects. _Example._—“O, my people, they
which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.”—Isa.
3:12,—expressive of the manner in which they were misled by their rulers
and kept from the truth.
37. A METONYMY is a reversion, or the use of a noun to express that with
which it is intimately connected, instead of using the term which would
literally express the idea. Thus the cause is used for the effect, the
effect for the cause, the thing containing for that which is contained in
it, &c. _Example._—“Ye have eaten up the _vineyard_.” Isa. 3:14—meaning
the fruit of the vineyard.
38. A SYNECDOCHE is the use of a word expressive of a part, to signify the
whole; or that expressive of the whole, to denote only a part—as the genus
for the species, or the species for the genus, &c. _Example._—“_Man_ dieth
and wasteth away; yea _man_ giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” Job
14:10.
39. A HYPERBOLE is an exaggeration in which more is expressed than is
intended to be understood. _Example._—“I suppose that even the world
itself could not contain the books that should be written.” John
21:25—meaning that a great number might be written.
40. IRONY is the utterance of pointed remarks, contrary to the actual
thoughts of the speaker or writer—not to deceive, but to add force to the
remark. _Examples._—“No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die
with you.” Job 12:2.
“And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry
aloud: for he _is_ a god: either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he
is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked.” 1 Kings
18:27.
41. THE INTERROGATION—while its legitimate use is to ask a question—is
also used to affirm or deny with great emphasis. Affirmative
interrogations usually have _no_ or _not_ in connection with the verb.
_Example._—“Is _not_ God in the height of the heavens?” Job 22:12.
_Examples of a negative._—“Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one
day? or shall a nation be born at once?” Isa. 66:8. “Can the rush grow up
without mire?” Job 8:11.
42. EXCLAMATIONS are digressions from the order of a discourse or writing,
to give expression to the emotions of the speaker, or writer.
_Example._—“O that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and
be at rest!” Psa. 55:6.
43. FABLES are fictions—additions to the word of GOD. All false theories
and doctrines supposed to be based on the Bible, all interpretations of
Scripture which do violence to the laws of language and falsify their
meaning, and all opinions which are the result of mere traditions and
doctrines of men, are to be classed as fables. Mark 7:8-13; 1 Pet. 1:18; 1
Tim. 1:4; 4:7; Tit. 1:14.
44. SYNCHRONOUS SCRIPTURES are the several passages which have reference
to any one and the same event.
Each portion of Scripture respecting any subject, must be considered in
connection with all the Scriptures that refer to the same
subject.—_Compare_, for example, Dan. 2:34, 35, 44; 7:18, 27; Matt. 6:10;
13:37-43; 35:34; 1 Tim. 4:1; Rev. 11:15-18.