But let us give this symbol further consideration. It is not enough that its interpretation alone be given, but the reader is justly entitled to a knowledge of the process by which we arrive at the truth. In the first place, we have a symbol of great dignity and excellence, and we must look for an object of corresponding character. The symbol is that of a living agent, and consequently, we must look for its fulfillment in an active, intelligent agent. The purity, or whiteness, of the horse on which the rider was seated would indicate an agency of mild, beneficent character. Finally, the symbol is drawn, as before stated, from the civil and military life of the Romans. Now, according to the laws of symbolic language, a symbol never represents an object like itself, but an analagous one in another department. A wild beast does not represent a wild beast, but something of analagous character. Seven fat and seven lean kine do not represent kine like themselves, but something analagous--seven years of plenty and as many of famine. There are only two great series of events described in the Revelation--the history of ecclesiastical events and the political history of certain nations. The present symbol is drawn from one of these departments--the political or the civil life of the Romans; and leaving the latter department to find its signification in another department, we have no place to go except into the department of ecclesiastical affairs. Entering, therefore, the spiritual realm, and looking about us for an object that perfectly meets every requirement of the symbol, we find it in _the humble ministers of Christ_, who boldly went forth in obedience to the divine command to extend the peaceful triumphs of the cross and to carry the gospel of the kingdom of God "into all the world." Mark 16:15-18; Mat. 28:19, 20. This succession of faithful, holy, devoted men is worthy of a place in Apocalyptic vision. They went forth "conquering and to conquer"; and the victories they gained were such as the world never witnessed before. Worthy are they to wear a victor's crown, for they have "fought a good fight."