bring forth iniquity. They hatch cocatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.[1] In like manner the various plagues of frogs, lice, flies, and locusts, brought upon the Egyptians, were doubtless indicative of the various forms and degrees of their sin and hardness of heart, in disobeying the Divine command, and remaining obstinate in their purpose not to let the Israelites go. In proof of this, in the Apocalypse, unclean spirits are directly compared to frogs, and seem indeed to have appeared to the vision of the Revelator in the form of frogs: "And I saw," he says, "three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet."[2]
These passages seems plainly to indicate that ferocious, venomous, and unclean things in the animal kingdom are emblematic of fierce dispositions and vile propensities in the mind of man; and that there is a correspondence or analogy between them. But this analogy is not confined to the animal kingdom; it extends also to the vegetable and the mineral. Thus, to adduce once more the instance already dwelt upon,—thorns and thistles are spoken of not only as typical of evil in man, but the production of them is mentioned as the direct consequence of man's falling into evil: "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; thorns also and thistles it shall bring forth to thee."[3] So, afterwards, under the Jewish dispensation, we find, from the records of Scripture, that when the children of Israel
