and according to the particular nature of the things displayed to view. And, in proceeding upon this principle, I trust it will soon become manifest, that the symbolical language of the Prophet is as precise as any other language can be; and that the images he has employed are most highly descriptive of, and peculiarly applicable to, the objects and events which he was divinely appointed to foreshew.

I.

66 THE ABYSS."

This word ("Aßvoroç) is used, in the writings of the New Testament, to denote a Gulf of immeasurable depth, whose recesses are utterly concealed from the sight and penetration of man.

In this sense it is used to denote the receptacles of the souls of the dead; as in Rom. x. 7. ; where St. Paul, in order to shew the unreasonableness of a disbelief of our Lord's Resurrection, and the vanity of expecting any further revelation respecting it, says, "Who shall descend into the Abyss?" that is, to "bring up Christ again from the dead;" as if the fact of his resurrection was not to be believed, without a second death and resuscitation.

In the same sense it is also applied to the

VOL. I.

• Τις καταβήσεται εἰς τὴν ̓́Αβυσσον ;

D

infernal regions', according to the ordinary acceptation of that term,-the place of confinement, in which "the Angels, who kept not their first es"tate, but left their own (celestial) habitations, are "reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, "unto the judgment of the great day*;" and where, after that judgment has been held, that wretched portion of the human race, who, by their instigation, have lived wickedly, and died impenitently, will be associated with them, partakers both of their guilt, and of their torment'.

In short, the abstract meaning of the word is that, which more or less enters into every application of it; and conveys the idea of a durk, impenetrable, and fathomless depth.

In "The Revelation" the term has a two-fold use, according as it is applied to what proceeds out of, or is cast into, "the bottomless deep" denoted by it.

1. It is employed to point out the SOURCE of certain Doctrines or principles of action. And, in this sense, it is repeatedly used by St. John, in this extended scene of prophecy; where it serves most clearly to demonstrate the infernal Origin from which they proceeded, and their utter want

i See Luke viii. 31., where the Devils, when cast out of the Gadarene, are represented as beseeching Christ, "that he would "not command them (ɛis Tǹv äßvσσov åπελ0εiv) to go away "into the bottomless deep."

k Jude ver. 6.

1 Matt. xxv. 41-46.

of all bottom or foundation in right Reason and Divine Revelation.

Examples of this occur in Rev. ix. 1, 2.—xi. 7. and xvii. 8.

Hence, also, the Person, who, on one occasion, was stirred up by the Powers of darkness, to be the prime mover in the propagation of such principles, is expressly called (ó äyyedos rñs áßúoσov) "the Angel of the Abyss." Rev. ix. 11.

2. It is used, as in Luke viii. 31., to denote the place of Coercion, for the Apostate Angels and their Chief; in which they will be restrained from carrying into effect their accustomed machinations, against the sons of men, during the period predetermined by the good Providence of God. See Rev. xx. 1. 3.

These are the only cases, in which this image is employed, in the course of the book.

m

II.

66 THE AIR," &c.

1. The Air is that peculiar combination of elements which we breathe and the medium in which we live. It also gives passage to the light proceeding from the sun, the moon, and the other heavenly bodies; and thus enables us to perceive, and avail ourselves of, that exquisite and beautiful

m See M. Lavoisier's Elements of Chemistry, Vol. I. chap. ii. and iii., or any other subsequent treatise on the subject.

order of things, which is carried on around us, in the great system of nature. But, at the same time, it is capable of great contamination, from the operation of local circumstances; and may, therefore, sometimes prove fatal to the life, which, in a state of purity, it is so admirably adapted to support.

Thus it is in the natural world; and the simile will hold equally good in the moral.

In this latter sense," the Air" is the very Principles, by which men are actuated, and which give a distinguishing life and character to the scenes in which they move.

When it is pure, it denotes those sacred Principles of action, which the sincere Christian is continually inspiring; and that state of spiritual Communion, in which he lives. And, through “ the means of grace" peculiar to this state, fresh light, and warmth, and animation, are incessantly transmitted to him from "the Sun of Righteousness ";" and from the illustrious examples of many, who "shine as the brightness of the firmament":" so that he is enabled to perform his appointed routine of duty, with regularity and delight; and, on all occasions, to “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness."

When it is rendered impure, by any base admixtion, the corresponding effects will naturally be produced; and, in some cases, the deterio

Malachi iv. 2.

• Dan. xii. 3.

ration may actually become such, as to extinguish altogether a life of piety and virtue. And, hence, as it was in consequence of the first Parents of mankind yielding to the permitted temptation of Satan, that their minds became darkened, their principles depraved, and their very nature corrupt and subject to death,-therefore he, who achieved this victory over them, is expressly called "Apxwv The Eovolas Tou ȧépoç,-" The Prince of the doτῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ ἀέρος, minion of THE AIR," - even "the Spirit that

NOW worketh in the children of disobedience."

This imagery is employed by St. John in "The Revelation," in only two of his descriptions; as

1. Where he represents the opening of the pit of the Abyss; and says, "there arose a smoke out "of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and "the Sun and the Air were darkened, by reason "of the smoke of the pit."

2. Where, in order to display the extreme of depravity in a certain portion of the human race, and the immediate infliction of the most terrible of all the judgments of Heaven as the punishment of it, he pronounces, that "the seventh Angel "poured out his Vial into the Air; and there "came a great voice out of the temple of the heaven, from the throne, saying-IT IS DONE." P Ephes. ii. 2.

4 Rev. ix. 2. καὶ ἐσκοτίσθη ὁ Ἥλιος καὶ ὁ ̓Αὴρ ἐκ τοῦ Καπνοῦ τοῦ φρέατος.

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Εξέχεε τὴν φιάλην αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν ̓Αέρα. Rev. xvi. 17.