And as to the practice of the heathen in this respect, all the Greek writers are more or less copious. See under Horns. Heb. xiii. 13, "We have an altar," &c. The Christian altar, i. e. the table of the Lord, considered as furnished with the memorials of the sacrifice of his death, of which memorials Christians are to partake, but of which they have no right to eat, who serve the tabernacle. So Parkhurst. But Macknight explains it thus: "Here, by an usual metonymy, the altar is put for the sacrifice, as is plain from the Apostle's adding, of which they have no right to eat. This is the sacrifice which Christ offered for the sins of the world; and the eating of it does not mean corporal eating, but the partaking of the pardon which Christ, by that sacrifice, had procured for sinners." Rev. viii. 3, " Offer it with prayers on the golden altar." Rev. ix. 13, "From the horns of the golden altar." In these two passages, the scenery is taken from the holy place, where the priest used to officiate in the worship of the Jews; there being, in this representation of the heavenly presence, no veil, and so no distinction between the holy and most holy place. Altars were built of stones, which, in the case of those erected to the true God, were forbid to be hewn, Exod. xx. 25, Josh. viii. 31, 1 Kings xviii. 31, 1 Sam. vi. 14. The Gentiles imitated the same, as appears from Pausanias, 1. vi. p. 382, where he mentions altar of white stone;" and Apollonius Rhodius, in speaking of the temple of Mars, Argon, l. ii.— 66 an "And all devoutly round the altar stood; This of small stones composed, was placed before Within the fane a stone of sable hue Stood, where the Amazons their victims slew." FAWKES. The tombs, says Bryant, in his Mythology, of which frequent mention is made by the ancient writers, were in reality high altars or pillars, and not, as has been supposed, monuments erected in honour of the dead. Such an one the Argonauts are said to have found in the temple of Mars, when they landed upon the coast of Pontus. This was the express object to which the Amazonians paid their adoration, as they lived in an age when statues were not known. Altars were generally erected at the gates of the city. See 2 Kings xxiii. 8. And we may refer to this Acts xiv. 13, where the priest of Jupiter is said to have brought filletted oxen to the gates, to perform sacrifice. It is observable, that Buos in the Greek, and Ara in the Latin, is used only of an altar erected in honour of idols; whilst that for the service of the true God, is constantly called uriasngov in Greek, and Altare in Latin. One wooden table was wont to be placed in the midst of every meeting-place of the primitive Christians, upon which each of them laid what he bestowed for the use of the poor, as we are informed by Theodoret, lib. v. c. 18. (see Heb. xii. 16); and because alms are noted with the name of sacrifice, that table upon which they were laid was called by the ancient Christians an altar. ANGEL. A name, not of nature, but of office, as Austin observes. signify messenger. In the prophetic style, every thing is called an angel, that notifies a message from God, or executes the will of God. A prophetic dream is an angel. The pillar of fire, that went before the Israelites, is called God's angel. The winds and flames of fire are angels to us, when used by God as voices to teach us, or as rods to punish us. So that God is properly said to reveal by his angel, what he makes known, either by voice, by dream, by vision, or any other manner of true prophetic revelation. Secular princes may, in some such sense, be termed angels. See 2 Sam. xiv. 17, 20. The Angel of a Nation, denotes its king or ruler. Ecclesiastical officers are named angels in the epistles to the Seven Churches, the chief pastor of each church being addressed by that title. Angel, simply taken, sometimes signifies any visible agent made use of by God in bringing about the designs of his providence. Angel from the Altar, signifies an ecclesiastical minister. Angel of the Waters, Rev. xvi. 5. Rivers and fountains of waters may not unfitly signify the original countries or seats of empires, in distinction from the provinces; and the angel here denotes the minister or instrument employed in executing this judgment of God upon the kingdom of the Beast. Angel who had power over Fire, Rev. xiv. 18, signifies the minister of God's vengeance having power over fire, which is the emblem of his wrath. So the priest in the ancient temple service, who had charge of the fire on the altar, was called the priest over fire. See Fire. Rulers have the same name given them, Rom. xiii. 6, as is given to angels in Heb. i. 14, with the necessary exception of the term spirits. The Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Rev. xi. 9. These figurative locusts are represented as having a king, though the natural locusts, as Agur observes (Prov. xxx. 27), have none; and this king is that evil spirit, who, from the constant mischief he is doing in the world, is called the Destroyer. Four angels bound on the Euphrates, Rev. ix. 4. See Four. Michael and his angels, Rev. xii. 7. This state of the church is described under the form of a severe contest between faithful Christians and the abettors of idolatry, wickedness and error, which should terminate in a complete victory over the enemies of true religion. But see this text further illustrated under Seven. ARM. The symbol of strength or power. Ps. x. 15, "Break thou the arm of the wicked;" diminish or destroy his power. Ezek. xxx. 21, "I have broken the arm of Pharoah, king of Egypt." See the same image in Jer. xlviii. 25. Put to denote the infinite power of God: Ps. lxxxix. 13, "Thou hast a mighty arm". Ps. xcviii, 1, "His holy arm hath gotten him the victory." Isa. liii. 1, "To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed," i. e. his power in making the Gospel effectual. See John xii. 38. Exod. vi. 6, " I will redeem you with a stretched out arm," i. e. with a power fully exerted; and so in other passages. The metaphor is taken from the attitude of warriors þaring and stretching out the arm to fight, after removing every impediment to its action. Thus in Isa. lii. 10, "Jehovah hath made bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations." And it is under the same figure, though not the same term, that Paul, speaking of the Gospel, Rom. i. 16, says, "It is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth." Isa. ix. 20, "They shall eat every one the flesh of his own arm." Bishop Lowth has here corrected the reading, from the Seventy and other versions, and shewn that it should be "the flesh of his neighbour," similar to Jer. xix. 9; that is, they shall harass and destroy one another. See his note on the place. ARROW. The symbol of calamities or diseases inflicted by God. Thus, Job xxxiv. 6, which our translators have rendered, " my wound is incurable without transgression," should be translated, "I am desperately pierced through by arrows." See also Job vi. 4; Psa. xxxviii. 2; Deut. xxxii. 23: and compare Ezek. v. 16; Zech. ix. 14. Ovid has this passage: "Non mea sunt summa leviter districta sagitta It is also applied figuratively to lightnings, which are God's arrows. See Ps. xviii. 15; Ps. cxliv. 6; Hab. iii. 11 and compare Wisd. v. 21; 2 Sam. xxii. 15. On Hab. iii. 11, Calvin says, that the arrows and spears of the Israelites are called those of God, under whose auspices his people fought; or the instruments |