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By the like metaphor, Jeremiah predicted the desolation of Moab, ch. xlviii. 40,

"Behold, like an eagle shall he fly,

And shall spread forth his wings over Moab."

Maimonides, in his More Nev. p. 1, c. 49, says, "Observe that all things, which are moved by a very rapid motion, are, on account of their celerity, said to fly." Hence Tertullian also says, "Omnis spiritus ales," every spirit is winged. And hence Mercury, the messenger of the gods, is said to be winged. Euripides applies the term to weapons, in Orestes, v. 274, "The winged arrows of bows ;" and Virgil, in Æn. 1. 5, has, "Swifter than the winds and the wings of the thunderbolt." And Claudian, 1. 2, de Rapt. v. 218,

"Jupiter æthere summo

Pacificus rubri torsisset fulminis alas."

Euripides in Hecuba, v. 70, applies the term to dreams:

"O venerable Earth,

Mother of Dreams, having black wings."

And to spectres, in the same play, v. 704,

"A spectre passed by me, having dark wings."

Hence we find them ascribed to the seraphim in Isaiah, ch. vi., whose wings, six in number, were used for a threefold purpose; to cover the face, to cover the feet, and to fly.

And God himself is said to "walk upon the wings of the wind," Ps. civ. 3. The theology of the Gentiles attributed wings to their deities. Thus Virgil, Æn. 5, v. 657,

"Cum Dea se paribus per cœlum sustulit alas."

494 WING...WITHIN AND WITHOUT...WOMAN.

And Homer decks his hero Achilles in a similar manner, Il. 19,

"The chief beholds himself with wondering eyes;

His arms he poises, and his motion tries;
Buoy'd by some inward force he seems to swim,
And feels a pinion lifting every limb."

WITHIN AND WITHOUT. These, in Scripture style, mean the Jews and the Gentiles, the one within, and the other without, the Mosaical Law and Covenant. Thus in Deut. xxv. 5, "The wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger."

And thus in relation to those who were Christians, or within the Church, and those who were not so, Paul says, 1 Cor. v. 12, "Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth."

Col. iv. 5, "Walk in wisdom toward them that are without," i. e. toward unconverted persons. And the same in 1 Thess. iv. 12.

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And this language is used in reference to the New Jerusalem, Rev. xxii. 15, “ For without are dogs and sorcerers," &c.

WOMAN. Woman, in the symbolical language, is frequently the symbol of a city or body politic; of a nation or kingdom.

Thus in Eschylus, Persæ 181, the monarchy of Persia, and the Republic of Greece, are represented in a symbolical dream by two women.

They who are acquainted with medals and inscriptions, many of which are symbolical, know that cities, as even Rome, frequently were represented by women. And so in like manner, statues in the shape of women were made to represent cities.

In the ancient Prophets, the symbol is very often

used for the church or nation of the Jews. Thus in Ezekiel, ch. xvi. there is a long description of that people under the symbol of a female child, growing up by several degrees to the stature of a woman, and then married to God, by entering into covenant with him.

And therefore when the Israelites acted contrary to that covenant, by forsaking God and following idols, then they became properly represented by the symbol of an adulteress or harlot, that offers herself to all comers; Ezek. xvi. 32, 38; xxiii. 45; Hosea iii. 1 ; Isa. i. 21; Jer. ii. 20; Ezek. xvi. 15, 16, 28, 35, &c. Hosea i. 2.

And adultery itself, or fornication in a married state, becomes the symbol of idolatry, as in Jer. iii, 8, 9; Ezek. xxiii. 37, and ch. xvi. 26, 29.

There is a very mysterious prophecy in Zech. v. 5, &c. where a woman is represented as sitting in an ephah, and as carried through the air by two others. It is not easy to say what meaning should be attached to it. Newcome says, "The meaning of the vision seems to be, that the Babylonish captivity had happened on account of the wickedness committed by the Jews; and that a like dispersion would befal them, if they relapsed into like crimes." Thus the whole chapter is an awful admonition that multiplied curses, and particularly dispersion and captivity, would be the punishment of national guilt.

But Capellus's interpretation well deserves attention. He considers verse 8, as denoting that God treads on the neck of wickedness, and restrains it from expatiating; and verse 9, 10, 11, as signifying that God was propitious to the Jews, and transferred

the punishment of iniquity to the Babylonians, whom the weight of the Divine vengeance should ever depress. It may be added to the remark of this critic, that Babylon was soon to suffer a signal calamity from the reigning Persian monarch.

See a dissertation on this subject in the Emblemata Sacra of Ewaldus, v. 3, p. 508, &c.

For an explanation of that other vision in Rev. xii. 1, &c. see the Dissertation of the same author, and Lowman on the Revel. in loc. where the church is represented by the figure of a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.

Woman is sometimes used metaphorically for weak and effeminate persons, as Isa. iii. 12; xix. 16; Jer. l. 37; li. 30; Nahum iii. 13.

WRITE, signifies to publish or notify, because this is the first intention of writing; and at first no writings were made but upon pillars or other monuments, merely to notify things.

Thus when God says in Isaiah lxv. 6, " Behold it is written before me ;" it immediately follows as synonymous, "I will not keep silence."

And in Jeremiah xxii. 30, it is said, "Write this man childless;" i. e. publish and let all men know, that this man shall be childless.

And hence, because writing is publishing, therefore an author not read, is, with Martial, one that hath not written,

"Versiculos in me narratur scribere Cinna,
Non scribit, cujus carmina nemo legit."

l. 3, ep. 9.

By the notification of things, the effect intended is brought about; and in this sense, to write is to effect. Solomon says, Prov. vii. 3,

"Bind my words upon thy fingers,

Write them upon the tablet of thine heart."

He of course meant that such precepts should be understood figuratively; and yet it was on such texts as these that the Pharisees founded their practice of binding Phylacteries upon their foreheads; See Exod. xiii. 16; Deut. vi. 5; xi. 18. And hence, perhaps, also the popular phrase among us, of having a thing at the finger's ends, when we are perfectly acquainted with it. (Durell.)

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