Upon the opening of this seal the scene changes again. The symbols are all drawn from an entirely different source. We are taken out of the department of civil life into the scenes of nature, which is a clear evidence that the history of the church is no longer under consideration. Had God intended to here continue her history, he would no doubt have employed symbols derived from the same source as those preceding, so as to prevent our being led astray. No more horsemen or living characters appear, but we behold the most terrific convulsions of nature--a mighty earthquake, the darkening of the sun and the moon, the falling of the stars, and finally the dissolution of the heavens, together with the mountains and the islands being removed. If the history of the church is no longer under consideration, this great change of symbols directs us with absolute certainty into the political and civil world for their fulfilment. Of course, we are not to suppose that this is a literal description. In this manner the dignity and the excellence in the use and the interpretation of symbols is preserved. To describe the religious history of the church, noble symbols chosen from the department of human life are selected; while symbols drawn from an inferior department--that of nature--are chosen to represent political affairs. This point will appear very clear as we proceed in the interpretation of the Apocalypse. It is just what we might naturally expect. The question may be asked, If these symbols from nature represent political affairs, where in the events of civil history shall we look for their fulfilment? Every one will readily perceive the analogy between an earthquake and a political revolution, when all society is in a state of agitation as when the solid earth trembles. It is also evident that the sun, moon, and stars bear the same analagous relationship to the earth that kings, rulers, and princes do to the body politic; while the firmament of heaven is analagous to the entire fabric of civil government, the symbolic heaven in which the symbolic orbs are set to give light.