LET the student of prophecy place these rules on a card, that he may have them at command while reading the predictions of the prophets. I. A sentence is figurative which contains one or more figures. a. It is as improper to call language figurative which contains no figures as it would be to call a day cloudy, without a cloud, or rainy, without the fall of any rain. b. When we say that a sentence is figurative, we are bound to show a figure. c. As we peruse verse by verse in the Scriptures, at the close of each verse, ask the question mentally, Is it figurative or literal? II. All language is either literal or figurative; there can be no third meaning. The spiritual meaning, when properly examined, will be found to belong to one of the above classes. We have no spiritual lexicons; the followers of Swedenborg have. Allow a third meaning to words, and we may have any number. III. Words do not have a double meaning in the same sense. a. A word cannot at the same time be both literal and figurative: but if literal, it must be literal; if figurative, it is thus to be understood. IV. Each figure is to be interpreted by its own laws. Thus, a simile must be interpreted by the rules of a simile; metaphor by its rules, and so through the whole catalogue of figures in the English language. By this rule we are to understand that the figures contained in the Bible are to be interpreted in the same manner as the same figures in any other book. So soon as we ascertain the name of the figure, we are required to explain it by the established laws of that figure in any other writing. V. Figures are introduced to explain or illustrate, that we may have a better view of the person, place, or thing thus illustrated. This law of figures should ever be kept in view. VI. The person, place or thing which is designed to be illustrated is never figurative. The word or words which contain the affirmation contain the figure. As each sentence is read, ask mentally. What is the subject of the sentence or the verse? So soon as this is learned, you must keep in mind that that word is literal. Then ask, What is said of the subject? If there is any figure, it is in those words which contain the affirmation or explanation. VII. Prophecies are either verbal or symbolic. VIII. Verbal prophecies are such as have the predictions contained in the words in which the prophecy is expressed. The language may be either literal or figurative, though not symbolic. Other figures may be used except the allegory, or parable, or symbol. IX. Symbolic prophecies are such as are contained only in symbols. The visions of the 2d, 7th and 8th chapters of Daniel, and the principal visions of the Apocalypse are of this kind. X. As figures are designed to illustrate, the person, place or thing illustrated is always expressed. In this they differ from symbols. XI. The language in which figures are expressed, is to be taken in its most obvious meaning.