the Scriptures,--"Comparing spiritual things with spiritual." To assist
him in the application of this divine rule, many chapters and verses are
quoted from other parts of the Bible, but especially within the
Apocalypse itself; that by concentrating the various rays upon
particular texts or symbols, their intrinsic light may be rendered more
luminous. Thus the interpretation given, if correct, may be confirmed
and illustrated.




NOTES ON THE APOCALYPSE.


The heavens and the earth did not make themselves. The material universe
furnishes to the intelligent creature a visible demonstration of the
"eternal power and godhead of its Author." Besides, a _sense of Deity_
is essential to humanity; and a supernatural revelation is not necessary
to convince rational beings that there is a God. Man is a dependent
being in common with all other creatures, and all creatures depend upon
a first cause. That cause is God. Dependent as a creature, man may know
something of the natural perfections of his Maker; and possessing a
conscience, which implies accountability to a superior, he may know,--he
_must_ know, something of the moral attributes of God.

In view of these positions, we may account for the fact, too often
overlooked by the reader of the Bible, that the Holy Spirit directed the
first of all historians to begin his narrative _so abruptly_. Assuming
that the reader is already assured of _God's being,_ Moses proceeds at
once to account for the origination of the material universe. In simple