PREFACE.

THE Bible is considered by all classes of Christians to be the only standard of religious truth, and the source whence all doctrines respecting God, the soul of man, heaven and eternal life, are to be drawn. If this be a right view of the Sacred Records, it follows that a correct and uniform mode of Scripture interpretation, were such pointed out, would be one of the greatest blessings that could be conferred upon the human race.

It is the object of the following pages to show that such a certain mode of Scripture illustration really exists, and that it is grounded in the universal law or language

of correspondence, by which spiritual states of mind are seen to be shadowed forth by the historical narratives, precepts, parables, and miracles recorded in Scripture.

If the Bible were viewed in this light, the boasted strongholds of atheistical and deistical objectors would not only be thrown down, but the great truths of Revelation be with ease and certainty explained; and unless this high ground be occupied by Christian divines, they will not be able to defend their sacred cause against the specious and subtle reasonings of either mistaken or designing men.

Mr. Thomas Paine, in his "Age of Reason," part I. says, "The Word of God cannot exist in any written or human language. The WORD OF GOD is the CREATION WE BEHOLD, and it is this Word which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God speaks universally to men." Again, "The idea or belief of a Word of

he says,

God existing in print, or in writing, or in speech, is inconsistent with itself, for reasons already assigned. These reasons, among many others, are the want of an universal language; the mutability of language; the errors to which translations are subject; the possibility of totally suppressing such a Word; the probability of altering it, or of fabricating the whole, and imposing it upon the world."

Now all the objections of this writer to the Word of God in print or written language, are easily answered; for, (as will be seen in the perusal of the following work) we assert that the science of correspondence is a universal language; that the Word of Inspiration is written in and according to its principles, and can only be correctly explained by it. While all other languages are mutable, this is immutable and certain in its application. We assert that the errors to which translations are subject have

nothing to do with the purity of the original text, and that the abuse of a thing is not a valid argument against its use. As to the idea of the possibility of suppressing a written Word, of altering it, or of fabricating the whole, we may as well talk of the possibility of suppressing, altering or fabricating a world, as to do these things to that DIVINE WORD, over which Providence has kept a watchful eye, and to uphold which Omnipotence itself has been, and is still exerted.

If inspired Scripture were no more than what such writers as Mr. Thomas Paine, and many others of the same school think it to be, a mere human production, it would have been destroyed long ago; but inasmuch as it has God for its Author, and contains, within the letter, a Revelation of the Divine will to the human race, describing, in its own language, by correct, beautiful, and corresponding imagery, the successive