elders as diocesan bishops of Judea, and the living creatures as four apostles, symbols of the saints who are to attend the Almighty as assessors in judgment! See Lord on the Apocalypse, pp. 58, 59. ¶ _Full of eyes._ Denoting omniscience. The ancients fabled Argus as having one hundred eyes, or as having the power of seeing in any direction. The emblem here would denote an ever-watchful and observing Providence; and, in accordance with the explanation proposed above, it means that, in the administration of the divine government, everything is distinctly contemplated; nothing escapes observation; nothing can be concealed. It is obvious that the divine government could not be administered unless this were so; and it is the perfection of the government of God that all things are seen just as they are. In the vision seen by Ezekiel (ch. i. 18), the “rings” of the wheels on which the living creatures moved are represented as “full of eyes round about them,” emblematic of the same thing. So Milton―― “As with stars their bodies all, And wings were set with eyes; with eyes the wheels Of beryl, and careening fires between.” ¶ _Before._ In front. As one looked on their faces, from whatever quarter the throne was approached, he could see a multitude of eyes looking upon him. ¶ _And behind._ On the parts of their bodies which were under the throne. The meaning is, that there is universal vigilance in the government of God. Whatever is the form of the divine administration; whatever part is contemplated; however it is manifested――whether as activity, energy, power, or intelligence――it is based on the fact that _all things are seen from every direction_. There is nothing that is the result of blind fate or of chance. 7 And the first beast _was_ like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast _was_ like a flying eagle.