212 THE SYMBOL. 



been rejected if oflfered in an abstract or didactic form ; 

 they insinuate themselves insensibly, while the mind 

 is pleased in tracing the resemblance of the shadow to 

 the substance. It is a very ancient notion, that all 

 things have been created, as it were, in series, each of 

 which is, in all its members, a representation or coun- 

 terpart of all the rest. Or, as the Platonists expressed 

 it, that " the Creator having conceived in Himself 

 the exemplars of all things, produces them from Him 

 in images." The whole system of Scriptural parabo- 

 lism and typology depends on this analogy, which 

 assuredly exists, though perhaps not to the extent 

 assumed in the above notion. 



Examples of this use of natural objects are num- 

 berless in the Holy Scriptures, and will occur to 

 every thoughtful reader. Often the resemblance is 

 confined to a single point, and is alluded to in a 

 .simile or comparison ; as when the effect of a single 

 indiscretion upon character is likened to a dead fly 

 in a pot of ointment (Eccl. x. i) ; the state of a 

 sinner wandering from God, to that of a sheep going 

 astray (Isa. liii. 6) ; and the inveterate love of sin, 

 to the incorrigible filthiness of the dog and the 

 swine (2, Peter ii. 22). The Book of Proverbs and 

 the Song of Songs are full of these similes, those of 

 the latter poem often running into the more elaborate 

 allegory. 



Somewhat like this is the adoption of natural 

 objects to form types, emblems, or symbols. These 

 commonly suggest many points of parallelism, though 

 they are not always expressed. The various types of 

 the ritual law illustrate this use ; as do also the exten- 



