signifies to have dominion.* Agreeably to this, the Oneirocritics say, "that if any one dreams that he rides upon a generous horse, it denotes that he shall obtain dignity, fame, authority, prosperity, and a good name among the people; in short, all such things which may accrue to a man by good success in martial affairs." And hence, from the horse's being the instrument of conquest, and therefore the symbol of the dignity, fame, power, prosperity, and success he causes, when Carthage was founded, and a horse's head was dug up by the workmen, the soothsayers gave out that the city would be warlike and powerful.+

As a horse is a warlike, so he is also a swift creature, and is therefore not only the symbol of conquest, but also of the speediness of it.§

If the colour of the horse be given, it must be particularly considered. White is the symbol of joy, felicity, and prosperity. And therefore white horses were used by conquerors on their days of triumph. And it was, and still is, the custom of the Eastern nations to ride on white horses at the marriage cavalcade.¶ White horses were also looked upon by the ancients as the swiftest.** By a white horse, therefore, all the good significations of a horse in general are greatly enhanced. And therefore a

white horse, in proportion to the capacity and quality of his rider, is the symbol of a very speedy and great advancement, and the certain prognostic of great joy and triumph upon that account.

For the rest of the Colours, see under COLOUR.

To ride armed.-For a prince to dream that he rides

* Deut. xxxii. 13; Ps. lxvi. 12; Is. lviii. 14.

The Indian, c. 152: the rest, c. 233.

Justin. Hist. L. xviii. c. 5.

§ Joel ii. 4; Hab. i. 8; Jer. iv. 13.

Virgil. Æn. Pompon. Læt. in the triumph of Dioclesian and Maximian. Ovid de Arte Amandi, L. i. ver. 214.

Cassiod. Var. L. i. Ep. i.

** Hor. L. i Sat. vii. ver. 8.

Virgil. Æn. L. xii. ver. 84.

armed, denotes, according to the Persian and Egyptian, in ch. clvi., that he shall overcome his enemies, and obtain great renown in war.

For the tail of a horse, see under TAIL.

HOUSE. To build an house, is, in the Hebrew style, to settle a family to make one prosper. So in Exod. i. 21,"he built them houses," signifies that they flourished and prospered. The same phrase occurs in 1 Sam. ii. 35; 2 Sam. vii. 27; 1 Kings xi. 38. And so in Euripides, "Wisdom is immoveable, and keeps together a house," an expression found in Solomon, Prov. ix. 1, to the very same purpose. And therefore, in the symbolical language, houses, palaces, and sons mutually explain each other.

*

Thus, according to the Persian and Egyptian Interpreters, ch. cxlviii. : "If a king dreams that he orders a new palace to be built for his habitation and it be finished, it denotes that he shall beget a son and heir :" children, or rather sons, being the settlement of a house or family.

HUNGER and THIRST, the symbols of affliction. Thus in Deut. viii. 3, it is said, "he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger," where the latter is the instrument of the former. So Deut. xxxii. 24, "they shall be burnt with hunger;" i. e. shall be tormented or afflicted. So to fast is often called to afflict one's soul; as in Lev. xvi. 29, 31; Is. lviii. 5.

In Aristophanes, hunger is proverbially used for great misery.† See 1 Cor. iv. 11; 2 Cor. xi. 27; Phil. iv. 12.

By several expressions of our Saviour, "to hunger and thirst," signify to be in want of hearing God's Word; that is, to be hindered by persecution from worshipping God in peace. See Ps. xxiii; Ecclus. xxiv. 19; John iv. 13, 14; vi. 35.

Eurip. Bacch. 389.

+Arist. Avib.

I.

INCENSE, in the Mosaical Service, was made out of four sorts of aromatics, as they are named in Exod. xxx. 34, stactæ, onycha, galbanum, and frankincense.

The use of this composition was twofold. The first was by the pleasantness of the smell to draw the favour of God, as it were to make him cheerful, and more willing to hear the petitions that, at the time of its being by fire offered, were made to him. As indeed everything that was burnt

in the service of the tabernacle was for that intent. If it was accepted, it was called a "sweet savour;" if on the contrary, a stink in the nostrils," Lev. xxvi. 31, or "stinking savour," Eccles. x. 1; Joel ii. 10; Ephes. v. 2; and Lev. iii. 5, 16. The other use was by the smoke thereof to make a kind of covering to take away the sins from the sight of God, and thereby to favour the expiation for to expiate and to cover are notions akin in the Hebrew language. Lev. xvi. 13.

Thus was it in the Mosaical dispensation, when men were kept at a great distance from the presence of God; who being their king was attended and served after the manner of monarchs. Now as these, when received by their subjects, are treated with cheer and perfumes, according to the Oriental manner; so must God be treated.

For these reasons, prayers or petitions being always received through the cloud of incense, the incense is become the symbol of prayers. From hence it comes, that many expressions used concerning prayers are borrowed from the use and offering of incense, and other sacrifices, to which they were always joined.*

So because by signifies both to ascend, and to light or

* See Mede's Christian Sacrifice, ch. vi.

burn, and by, both an ascent, and holocaust or burntoffering; therefore it is said, Acts x. 4, that "Prayers and alms ascend before God." So likewise, because the little portions of an offering, which are thrown into the fire, are called a memorial, therefore there is added in the same place ἀνέβησαν εἰς μνημόσυνον, (that they ascended up for a memorial.) So the Psalmist, Ps. cxlii. 2, saith, "Let my prayer be directed as incense before thee."

In the Oneirocritics incense is the symbol of favour and good fame. So the Persian, ch. clxix: "If any one dreams that he offers incense in the inner part of a temple, it denotes that in proportion to the fragrancy of the smell, he shall obtain a good character and power and authority from his prince."

To incense men with a censer, signifies, according to the Indian, ch. xxviii. to speak harsh words, but sweet at the same time, or profitable to them-the harshness being signified by the fire, and the sweetness by the incense.

IRON, the symbol of strength, patience, and constancy. So in Jer. i. 18: "I have made thee this day a defenced city, an iron pillar."

In general iron is taken in ill part, for stubborn, cruel, or hard. Thus in Isa. xlviii. 4: “Thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass." So Jer. vi. 28, of the rebellious Jews," they are brass and iron." And in Jer. xvii. 1," the sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron:"never to go out of their heart, nor to be expiated, as the following words imply.

In Lev. xxvi. 9, a heaven of iron signifies hard times, either on the account of scarcity or tyranny.

In Deut. xxviii. 33, earth of iron is an unfruitful land. So in Jer. xxviii. 13, 14, yokes of iron, signify grievous bondage. And 1 Kings xxii. 11, the false prophet Zedekiah, who made himself horns of iron, meant by that symbol to shew, that the king of Israel should have irresistible power.

And a rod of iron signifies a severe and

harsh government. [Mic. iv. 13, the Lord promises to make the horn of the daughter of Zion iron; i. e. to indue her with irresistible power for the destruction of her enemies.]

To dream of being changed into iron, denotes, says Artem. L. i. 53, lasting misery and troubles.

When the poet Statius describes the palace of Mars, to shew the mischief of war,* he makes it all of iron: so in the oracle about the bones of Orestes in Herodotus,† and Pausanias, the anvil and hammer are expressed by πñμ' ¿ñì týμatɩ kɛītaι, (mischief upon mischief): because, saith the one, iron was invented to do mischief; the other, because arms of iron were invented to that end. So that iron and mischief are in this oracle synonymous.

In Horace,§ iron troops are bold, hardy, mischievous enemies.

ISLAND, or 's, in the Hebrew tongue, is such a place to which men went by sea from Judea; whence Europe is in Holy Scripture called the Islands of the Sea: so in Isa. xx. 6, the land of Cush, or Ethiopia, seems to be called an island, because the Israelites went to it by sea from Eziongeber. And indeed any place or haven to which ships resorted, was by them called an island.

Thus the city of Tyre,|| as it was in ancient times, comes under the name of the Isle in Isa. xxiii. 2, 6, though seated only near the sea; and the Tyrians, under the name of the Inhabitants of the Isle, and at the same time of merchants; and their city, the merchant city, ver. 3, 11. And because the Hebrews looked upon islands as places of merchandise, to which men went to traffic and fetch riches; hence it comes, that an island, in their notion, is akin to Mart-Town, a rich trading populous city, a place

* Pap. Stat. Theb. L. vii. ver. 43.

Herodot. L. i. c. 67.

Pausan Lacon. p. 83. Stephan. de Urbib. Voc. Teyéa.

Hor. L. iv. Od. 14, ver. 29, 30.

| Vid. Jac. Perizon. Orig. Babyl. c. vi.