mation. So that Trebellius Pollio observes, that at one time, in the case of D. Claudius, some acclamations were repeated sixty times, some forty, some five, some seven times. The like was done to the emperor Tacitus; as Flavius Vopiscus relates.

If the Mischna, ch. vii. § 8, in Sotah, may be trusted to, there is proof that the Jews repeated the acclamations to their kings thrice. See Wagenseil's Note, p. 684, and the edition of Christ. Arnoldus, p. 1216.

none.

Two, is very often used in Holy Writ to signify very few. Thus in 1 Kings xvii. 12, "I am gathering two sticks: " i. e. a few. So in Is. vii. 21, "two sheep :" that is, a small flock. In Persius, "vel duo vel nemo," few or none, next to And the like is to be seen in Homer, Il. ii. ver. 346. FOUR, is a symbolical number, denoting a universality of the matters comprised. As in Jer. xlix. 36, "the four winds," signify all the winds. In Isa. xi. corners of the earth," denote all parts of the earth. And in Ezek. vii. 2, "the four corners of the land," signify all parts of the land of Judea. And therefore, with Philo, four is a number of universality in nature.*

12,

"the four

[In Ezek. xiv. 21, the four sore judgments of God denote all the instruments of grievous suffering. Rev. vi. 8, "To kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth," signify the same as the words of Ezekiel.]

SEVEN also denotes an universality in its proper district, as being a number of fulness and perfection. It is so at least in all the divine economies, from the day of the creation;t and from the glimmerings of that tradition the heathens looked upon it as a sacred number denoting also perfection; of which Clemens Alexandrinus,‡ and others, have sufficiently treated.§

* Philo de Vit. Mos. L. iii. p. 456. + Philo Jud. de Mund. Opif.

Clem. Al. Strom. L. v. p. 256.

§ Andr. Masii. Comm. in Jos. vi. 15. Epiphan. Lib. de Numer. Mysteriis. Vid. Lidenbrog. Not. in Censorin. c. 7.

H

In the divine economy, in respect of chastisements, it is very evident. Thus in Job v. 19, the just is only smitten six times, but not a seventh: "He shall deliver thee in six troubles : yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee."

Thus also in Ezekiel ix. 2, six men are employed to destroy, but the seventh has the ink-horn, whereby they that are to be saved are marked.

Philo observes, that "Nature loves the number seven :”* which Censorinus confirms by saying, "That the said number was of great efficacy in every thing."+

Farther, the two numbers of four and seven, are observed by Hippocrates to be critical in the growth and resolution of fevers he says, "Of seven days the fourth is the index; of the next septenary, the beginning of it, viz. the eighth day; and that the eleventh is also to be considered, as being the fourth day of the second septenary; and again, that the seventeenth day is to be considered, upon the account of its being the fourth from the fourteenth, and the seventh from the eleventh.”

That the number seven is a number of fulness and perfection, may appear also from the etymology of it in Hebrew. For yaw, seven, is plainly derived from yaw, he was full. And so yaw, to swear, is derived from the signification of fulness; an oath being an end of all strife for confirmation,§ when things are unseen or future, to content for the present, to satisfy and fill the mind.||

TEN, according to the style of the Scriptures, may have, besides the signification of that determinate number, that also of an indeterminate one; yet so as not to imply either a very great number, or a very small one.

See Gen. xxxi. 7, 41, where ten times is many times. And so in Lev. xxvi. 26, ten women are many women; in

*Phil. Jud. Allegor. L. i. p. 29.

Hippocr. Aphor. L. ii. § 24.

Terent. Hecy. Act. iv. Sc. v. ver. 27, 28.

† Censor. c. 7.

§ Heb. vi. 16.

I Sam. i. 8, ten sons are many sons; and in Eccles. vii. 9, ten men, many men. See also Dan. i. 20; Amos vi. 9; Zech. viii. 23. And so, in several places of Plautus, ten signifies many.*

0.

OIL. SEE FRUITS OF THE EARTH.

P.

PALMS. Branches of palm trees are the symbol of joy after a victory, attended with antecedent sufferings.

By the Mosaical Law, Lev. xxiii. 40, they were used as a token of joy at the feast of tabernacles. And they were used upon any solemn occasion of joy, as after a victory or deliverance, 1 Macc. xiii. 51; John xii. 13.

And

With Philo, the palm is the symbol of victory. Plutarch gives the same signification; assigning the reason of it, from the natural property of the palm-tree to rise up against pressure. Hence palma for victory, of which examples might be given in great numbers from Tully, Plautus, Ovid, Terence, and others. And hence the toga of a triumphing emperor was called palmata, as having branches of palms painted thereon.§

PAPS are, in the Oneirocritics,|| explained of sons and daughters; and the symbol is very adequate; the breasts being designed for the nurture of children. Hence Job, to

* Plaut. Mercat. Act. ii. Sc. iii. ver. 2. Act. iv. Sc. ii. ver. 3. Stich. Act. iii. Sc. ii. ver. 44. Amphitryon, Act. ii. Sc. i. ver. 27.

† Ph. Alleg. L. ii. p. 50.

Plut. Sympos. L. viii. c. 4. p. 887. Ed. Ald. Aul. Gell. L. iii. c. 6. Strab. Geogr. L. xv. p. 731.

§ Martial. L. vii. Ep. 3.

Servius ad En. L. ii.

Artem. L. i. c. 43; L. iv. c. 37; and the Indian, c. 80.

express that a man hath great substance to uphold his family, saith "His breasts are full of milk," chap. xxi. 24. And in Hos. ix. 14, "a miscarrying womb, and dry breasts," signify loss or want of children.

PARADISE, is a garden of pleasure. Such in ́particular was that in which Adam was at first placed, in the state of innocence, called by the name of y, pleasure.

From the pleasantness of such a place, Paradise is in general the symbol of any pleasant or happy state; as in Ezek. xxviii. 13. See also to this purpose the Indian, in chap. viii.

In particular, as in Luke xxiii. 43, Paradise signifies the mansion of good souls in their state of separation.

With Philo, Paradise is the symbol of virtue conferring peace, ease, and joy:* and according to the Indian, chap. viii., the fruits of Paradise are divine and useful notions.

PILLAR, is a support and ornament of a building, and symbolically signifies [the chief prop of a family, city, or state. St. Paul, Gal. ii. 9, uses the symbol, in speaking of the apostles James, Cephas, and John.

In Euripides, the pillars of families are the male children. In the Oneirocritics,‡ pillars signify the princes

or nobles in a kingdom.

Pillar of iron, the symbol of great firmness and duration, and as such, used in the prophet Jeremiah, ch. i. 18. Pillars burning with a clear fire, without being destroyed, signify, according to Artemidorus, Lib. ii. c. 10, "That the children of the dreamer shall grow better and more illustrious." For fire implies persecution and torment; and as fire trieth gold, so does adversity the good and valiant.

* Phil. Allegor. Lib. i. p. 33.

† Eurip. Iphigen. Taur.

The Persian and Egyptian, c. cxlvii., and all the Interpreters,

c. clx.

This interpretation of pillars burning with fire without being consumed, greatly illustrates the symbol of the bush burning with fire, and remaining unconsumed, in Exod. iii. 2. For this at once set forth the miraculous preservation of the Israelites in the Egyptian fiery furnace, or their state of oppression there; and their wonderful deliverance from thence.

POSTURE of persons acting, determines, in some measure, the nature or kind of their actions.

STANDING, signifies resisting, defending, struggling, and contending for victory; giving assistance to friends, and the like; as in Acts vii. 55, Christ is said to be standing, when he appeared to St. Stephen, as ready to assist him in his agony.

To stand before another, is a posture of Service, Deut. x. 8 ; 1 Kings x. 8; 1 Sam. xvi. 22; 2 Chr. xviii. 18; Luke i. 19.

WALKING among or in the midst, is a posture of dignity and authority, of one that is busy, and watching, and defending those whom he walks about or amongst.

one that

Thus God, to represent himself as protecting and governing the Israelites, saith, in Lev. xxvi. 12, "That he would walk amongst them." And the protecting angel, in Dan. iv. 13, 23, is called a watchman or patroller; goes about to defend from any surprise. [Hence, in Rev. i. 13, Christ is represented as walking in the midst of the seven candlesticks; i. e. the churches.] And so Homer, in his Iliad, Lib. i. ver. 37, has used the symbol in relation to Apollo, of whom he says;

Ος Χρύσην ἀμφιβέβηκας,

Κίλλαν τε ζαθέην, Τενέδοιό τε ἶφι ἀνάστεις·

where the scholiast explains ἀμφιβέβηκας by ὑπερμαχεῖς. For indeed ipi áváσrɛıç, is but synonymous to it.

SITTING, signifies ruling, reigning, judging, and enjoying peace. Thus in Judges v. 10, "Ye that sit in judgment,"