Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1920-01-05
REVELATION" A BOOK
OF SYMBOL|SMS
Last Of Bible Should Not
Be Read In Spots" But
As A Whole
DIR. SMITHS LECT U R E

upon minor details in reading the BOOK
Of Revelation" said Prof Aiphonso
Smith yesterday morning in his ad- ,
dress before the class at the Presby-
terrain Church. in the tenth. and last,
lecture in the course on the Bible.
Continuing. he said, in part, that in
one chapter Cthe twentieth the word
zone thousand years" is used The
Prophet seizes on this word in his en-
thusiasm. the same as a child does who
says "a trillion The child does not
even know what a trillion is, but uses
the word in its intensiveness TO en-
phasize some great thing
The Bible speaks of foEgiving our
enemies 20 times T." Ii does not
mean that number. il has no reference
TO 490. but I stands for completeness.
Daniel used the word 1000 years,
which is peculiar to the Book OF Reve-
lation. and commentators have written
a great deal on this subject The mil
lennialists base much on the phrase
Il 600 years" which really should be
interpreted intensity, and literally
means the time is coming when Christ
shall reign for all eternity.
John the writer of the Book of Reve-
lation, wrote it on the Isle of Patmos,
where he saw visions and expressed
them with eloquence.
Instead of Christ being enthroned in
the hearts of people. there was much
opposition against the small, strug-
Cling Christian church, and very little
prospect of this little grain of mustard
seed you call Christian faith de
veloping Blk the vision ST John saw
has been surpassed in these eighteen
and twenty centuries. We have seen
thousand things more Christianity is
the religion today, and when the
church bell rings, the sound girdles
the earth. and calls men and women to
worship everywhere the one ST. John
walked with, journeyed with, Christ.
the Divine.
Prof Smith advised not taking up
the Book OF Revelation lin spots but
as a whole" illustrating that a man
or woman doesn't live, who has ac-
complished anything. who holds his or
her eyes too close to the present, Prof
Smith quoted:
Yesterday and today have been
heavy with labor and sorrow, should
| be unhappy if | did not see the day af-
ter tomorrow" 1t is our duty, he said,
OF use our spiritual eyes to look into
the future The whole world believes
in the Golden Age" Of the past Vir-
gil and all the rest said they were liv-
ing in the Iron Age"
81 John told us TO right about
face" If the sun is behind; there are
shadows This man caused tae sun to
rise in front.
Prof Smith advised makinfg three
divisions of Revelation; first, The
Church Hesitant, the church doubt
full, respondent. This will cover about
the first three chapters.
From the fourth to the twentieth,
the second division will be The
Church Militant" and from the goth to
the 22nd The Church Triumphant"
St. Johns launches his message TO
the Seven churches Seven in the
Hebrew means Perfection There is
no English word for any such thing
The Seven" churches is typical. just
as John Doe" is typical man The
early part Of the Book is getting ready
for the fight To him that overcometh.
this and that will be done. The second
part of the Book of Revelation is OBJ
scure. but full of symbolisms We are
all familiar, DR.. Smith said of the sym
bolism Of Hawthorne's Scarlet Let
ter" Always visible on the poor wo-
mans breast, not hard TO understand,
the symbolism of sin. Bunyon's sym
bolisms are not difficult TO understand.
or Maenterlinck' Blue Bird" this
most successful piece of modern sym
bolism. Revelation. however, is very
different kind of symbolism 1t doesn't
paint the things We are familiar with
The second part of the Book might be
called the Battle of the Symbolisms
The writer had a view of certain pro-
cesses and new genera. First, were
certain Seals" The seals played a
great part in the early centuries. Ger
Il.
had a vision OF the truth to be fnown:
of secrets yet TO be discovered when
the seals we're broken.
The second symbol is the great
trumpet The trumpet stands for an
nouncing great things yet to be. The
third symbol was great personalities
The vision was of monstrous good and
bad that Will come when great people
viii arrive. The fourth symbol was
Walls of Wrath" The oVerturning Of
the "Vials of Wrath means pestilence.
earthquake. plague, devastating forces
of the earth. The last symbolism is
Doom" the great fight between right
and wrong No one can read this part
of Revelation without being thrilled
There is a conflict of INSTRUMENTATION
and individualism. personality and en-
yironment. There are just two forces.
right and wrong They are divided by
straight line. right on one side