THE SYMBOLIC MEANING AND USE OF HORSES

The Six Seals Opened
(Revelations 6)

By Rev. Abiel Silver

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." Rev. 19: 11, 14.

What a scene for heaven! The Most High God, the Creator of the universe, marshaled at the head of mighty armies, all upon snow-white horses, and clothed in fine linen, white and clean: and this Infinite Commander, leading the countless hosts to battle; with a sharp sword going out of His mouth; His eyes as a flame of fire, and His head surmounted with crowns upon crowns, many in number; with the significant motto upon His vesture and thigh, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS! What a scene of sublimity! How awfully grand and exciting even to natural thought! But we are not enough awake to truly imagine its grandeur. Could we peer, with our natural vision, into the open firmament and behold such a scene, how utterly we should be lost in wonder and dismay! Such a magnificent army of horsemen, with an Almighty Commander, all upon such proud, white steeds, rushing through the vaulted skies to battle, would be completely overwhelming to every earthly beholder!

Yet this is the plain literal description, given in the sublime language of Jehovah, of a spiritual scene which we may all realize and enjoy. A scene which will prove equally wonderful and captivating to our souls; for it will open our minds to a clear understanding of the nature of this divine warfare, present us with beautiful white horses, enable us to join the mighty armies of heaven, and to follow the Great Commander on to victory and glory. But as it is a spiritual scene, he who would behold it, must find it in the human mind. The heaven which John saw opened, and where he beheld these wonders, was that heaven which "cometh not with observation," it is not "Lo, here, nor lo, there," but within the human mind.

Let us then turn our thoughts inward to the proper field of action, that we may learn the divine lesson taught in the text; and join the armies of heaven; and fight the battles of Jehovah, like faithful soldiers of the cross. But how can we learn this divine lesson? We must learn it, in humble dependence upon the Lord, through the light of the divine Truth; by looking through the natural symbols of the Word, up to the spiritual realities; remembering that "the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made."  But, what invisible things can we behold in the human mind through the symbol of a white horse?

In that symbol, we may see represented, the truth of the Word in man's understanding. How can we know beyond a doubt, that a white horse denotes the understanding of the truth? We may know it from the study of the symbols of the Holy Word; for there in God clearly teaches it by correspondence.

The Book of Nature and the Holy Word are God's two great books. Both speak the same language--the language of divine and human thoughts and feelings. But man's words, in this age are arbitrary signs of ideas. We must first learn their definitions, and keep them in the memory, before we can know what ideas they signify. But God's words contain their definitions in their qualities. And we should see them there if we were spiritually minded. Words are called signs of ideas. Now, all the things of nature are signs of ideas. They are living signs of living ideas, and they must bespeak, by their life and quality, the ideas which formed them and which constantly give them life and character. Indeed, there can be no other pure language--no other full and perfect signs of ideas--no other certain expression of the various qualities of human souls, than the symbols of nature. For the human mind constantly receives life from the Lord, and that life flows down through man into nature, carrying with it the qualities of the human passions and propensities; and thus making nature, at all times, a symbol of humanity as it is.

Now, all language was drawn from the things of nature.  "There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard." But men have perverted and corrupted the true language, in thousands of ways, until they have lost sight of the real symbol, and see not the law of correspondences. They know not that the human mind is perfectly symbolized in nature, and that our thoughts and feelings, and all the various qualities of our souls, can be accurately described in no other language; and that the language of the Holy Word is, therefore, written in the speech of nature, by a universal law; and could be perfect and divine in no other language. Did the world see this, the ten thousand apparently strange and mysterious things of the Word, would soon lose their mystery, and open their heavenly treasures of light and life, to the souls of men. Then men would look into nature's significant mirror for a view of their mental qualities. And they would there behold

Their Thoughts symbolized in the Birds,
Their Innocence symbolized in the Lambs,
Their Watchfulness and Combativeness in the Dogs,
Their Selfishness and Indolence in the Hogs,
Their Slyness and Artifice in the Foxes,
Their Malice and Cruelty in the Wolves,
Their Subtleness and Sensuality in the Serpents, and
Their Understanding of Knowledge in the Horses.

And so they might go on with their investigations, until they gained full possession of the lost key of analogy, which unlocks the divine casket of heavenly wisdom, and opens to the human mind, the spiritual truths of the Holy Word, in great glory and beauty. But in this discourse we must inquire particularly into the correspondence and use of the horse, in the Divine Word. The Holy Word speaks much of horses, where every one must see that it cannot mean natural horses; but must, in the divine language, mean something of the human mind. Now, if we will only admit that the term horse means the understanding of knowledge, and read the Word with that idea in the mind, connected with other correspondences, all the strange passages of the Word, where the term horse is used, will be rationally understood. But if we should adopt any other signification, the passages could not be understood. We could make nothing out of them. The Word speaks of horses and their riders. The horses signify knowledge in the understanding. or the understanding of things, whether true or false. The riders are the persons themselves, who have this understanding and knowledge. If I have the truth in my understanding, my knowledge or understanding of that truth performs the same uses for my mind, that a horse does for my body. For by the knowledge of that truth, my mind travels or advances. If it be scientific truth, it carries me on in science. If it be spiritual truth, it takes me on my spiritual journey, as a horse takes me on a natural journey. By the divine truth in our understanding, we perform the heavenly journey, passing around the mountains of sin, through the valleys of humility and repentance along the streams of science, over the hills of charity and kindness, drinking at every crystal fountain of wisdom, avoiding the bogs and marshes of iniquity, and the thorny jungles of vice; crossing the pleasant plains of peace and plenty, till we find our heavenly home in the top of the Mountain of the Lord, or in love to God and the neighbor.

Without the understanding of divine truth, we could not possibly make spiritual progress. We rest and rely upon the understanding and power of the truth, as we rest and rely upon the ability and strength of our horse; and there is a perfect correspondence between them. For the natural purposes, for which we use the horse, are perfectly analogous to the spiritual purposes for which we use our knowledge of the truth.

Now, if, instead of the truth, our understanding be filled with false, absurd, and evil views, it will be like a wild, frantic, ungovernable horse leaping all the fences or rules of law and order, starting at every new object, getting into mud and mire, and often jeopardizing our life on the way. A man with such a mind needs to keep a strong bit and a straight rein over his headstrong understanding, or it will surely run away with him, and throw him among the rocks of error, on the wayside of destruction, or down the precipice of vice.

Now, all the qualities of the horse prove the truth of this correspondence. His strength denotes the powers of our intellect; his speed, the activity of our thought; his great memory, our powers of recollection; and, his sagacity, our quickness of perception.

But now, to the law and the testimony for the proof of these things. The Lord, in prophesying of the future dark state of the church, says, through Zechariah 12:4, "In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness." This prophecy has reference to the state of the Jewish church when the Lord should come in the flesh. Now, this prophecy is fulfilled; and we know that every natural horse was not smitten with astonishment and blindness; while we, at the same time, know that the understandings of the Jews became astonished, and were blind to the truths of the gospel; and that they remain so to this day.

Again, it is declared in Genesis 49:17, "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward."  Now, all see at once, that this can have no reference whatever to a natural serpent or horse. But we may also see that the debasing principle in man, to which the serpent corresponds, would, by its poisonous bite, soon sicken and destroy the understanding of truth, to which the horse corresponds, and prostrate the rider in sin.

In Habakkuk 3:8, 15 it is written, "Thou [Lord] didst ride upon Thine horses, Thy chariots of salvation. Thou didst walk through the sea with Thine horses."  Now, all know that the Lord does not ride through space on natural horses, nor in chariots, nor in the natural sea. For He is the Omnipresent God--everywhere at all times. But if the sea denotes man's knowledge; horses his understanding; chariots, doctrines; and the Lord, the Word of truth, the passage becomes exceedingly beautiful and instructive. For, with the Lord as the divine truth, in the understanding, we can ride through the sea of our memory, examine all the qualities of our knowledge, and make that sea give up its dead; or cast away all its false and evil principles. Thus the Lord, as the Truth, rides on the horses of men's understanding, or enables them to progress in wisdom and goodness. And so it is that the Lord rides in the chariots of salvation, or in the doctrines of the Word. For the Lord is the Truth of those doctrines. And men's understandings of that truth are the horses of those chariots. And those who love and daily live in obedience to those heavenly doctrines, through the truth of them in the understanding, are riding with the Lord, in the chariots of salvation. They are progressing heavenward with the Word of Truth. Thus, the darkness of the letter is everywhere made luminous by the brightness of the spirit.

Who can tell, from the literal sense, why Elijah and Elisha were called the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof. (2 Kings 2:12; 13:14) And yet, the doctrines and truths of the Word, in their understandings, as prophets of the Lord, would make them, spiritually speaking, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof. The Lord in Psalms is said to ride on the Word of Truth. Why so? Simply because, by the Word of Truth in the understanding, man makes spiritual progress, when he looks to the Lord to curb and guide that understanding in the use of that Word of Truth.

In Psalm 76:6, we have this apparently strange expression: "At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep." We, of course know that there can be no such thing as the waking or sleeping of a natural chariot. But if we have false views and false doctrines in our understandings, our mental horse and chariot need the rebuke of the Lord. And if we yield to that rebuke, they will be cast into a dead sleep, and laid aside as useless.

Now the Word speaks of white horses, red horses, black horses and pale horses. But the color of the horse always denotes the quality of the knowledge in the understanding. A white horse signifies true knowledge, or truth in the understanding, because white denotes truth. A black horse signifies false knowledge, or falsehood in the understanding, because black denotes falsehood. A red horse in a bad sense, signifies guilty knowledge, or crime and evil in the understanding, because red in a bad sense, denotes sins. A pale horse signifies lifeless knowledge in the understanding, or knowledge having no strength or power of good, because paleness denotes sickness or death.

Now, all these kinds of horses are mentioned in the Word, where they can in no light whatever, mean natural horses. For these four horses are mentioned in the sixth chapter of Revelation, as coming out of the Book when the seals were opened by the Lord. And though this prophecy relates to the last judgment in the spiritual world; yet, let us apply it to ourselves individually, for all Scripture is applicable to individuals.

Now, the books which are opened at the Lord's second coming, are nothing else than the Holy Word and the books of life in human minds. The understandings of men are opened to the reception of the light of the spiritual sense of the Word. The understanding of this sense is really the white horse seen in the book of the human mind. This sense in the mind, is the Lord on a white horse; or, in other words, it is the spiritual truth of the Word in the understanding, coming to judgment. This white horse is seen at the breaking of the first seal, or when our mind first begins to receive, by correspondence, the spiritual sense of the Word in a rational light. Then, our understanding of the spiritual truth is the white horse. The new truth looks pure, white, glorious to us. And we behold the heavenly doctrines with great joy and delight. And we feel as though heaven were indeed near to us.

But we have only been gazing outwardly at the glory and beauty of the truths; and have not yet looked, by their light, in upon our evils. And the Lord now opens His Word still further to our mind, which opens the second seal of our book of life, and we begin to look into ourselves, in judgment; and what do we see? Alas! a red horse! Our understanding is now filled with a view of our own evils. Our sins are before us, red as crimson. But the rider on the white horse, who entered our mind at the opening of the first seal, had a bow, which denotes power: and a crown was given Him, which denotes victory and dominion: and He went forth conquering and to conquer. Thus we have a bow and a crown offered to us by this heavenly truth, which means that the Lord will give us power to gain dominion over our evils. For the Lord Himself is with us, with the crown of His wisdom and the bow of His might. And, notwithstanding the formidable appearance of the red horse and his mighty rider, with his great sword, and power to take peace from the earth; yet we can, with our white horse, ride on, conquering and to conquer: we can overcome every evil.

Then another seal of our book of life is opened; and, as we look in, behold a black horse presents himself, with a rider having a pair of balances in his hand. Our understanding is now filled with a view of our falses. By the spiritual light, we see our own selfish proprium, separate from what God gives us, and it is all deceitfulness and untruth--black with dissimulation. We even see a pair of balances in our hand, which we are holding out to make the world believe we are honest and just. But, in our dependence upon the Lord, we can surely rout the black horse and his rider; or the falsehoods and powers of the natural man; but we must see that they hurt not the oil and the wine, or things good and true.

And the fourth seal of our book of life is opened, and as we survey our selfhood closely, by the divine light, we behold a pale horse, whose rider is death; and hell follows with him. It is a sad picture. Thus the book is opened gradually. We are not permitted to see ourselves all at once. Here, at the opening of this seal, we are brought to see ourselves as dead in trespasses and sins. As having no good whatever of our own; that death and hell are in every unregenerate human soul; that everything good and true is of and from the Lord; and that we shall receive them, only as we conquer and overcome our evils, by new life from the Lord, in obedience to His Word.

Thus the Lord, as the divine Truth of the Word in its spiritual sense, is coming to judgment. He comes with the law of analogy and the philosophy of life; and with them He opens the seals of our understanding and presents, to the free inquiring mind, a rational view of human nature, at this age of the world, in all its evils and falses. And how graphic the description and humiliating the scene! How it tries the heart and the reins, as we see and feel the force of its truth! And yet, he who sees and feels it, is ready to say, "Even so, come Lord Jesus:" for he sees his selfishness, and feels his dependence.

And how orderly the book is opened! After the reception of the White Horse, or when we have seen, by the spiritual truth of the Word, a glimpse of its glorious doctrines, and commence looking into ourselves; we first, by that light, behold our evils and their powers, expressed by a red horse and his rider; next, our falses and their powers, by a black horse and his rider; and then, our state of death and hell, by a pale horse and his rider. In the red and black horses, we see great strength and power. We see depicted all the energy and force of the hells. While in the pale horse, we see our own weakness and entire inability.

Now as the pale horse comes after the red and black ones, we are further taught that spiritual death and hell are produced by the exercise of evil affections and false thoughts; and that, consequently, life and heaven can be given, only in the exercise of good affections and true thoughts. And that these can be received from the Lord, only as we ride the white horse with the bow of the Holy Spirit and the crown of victory; going forth against our evils and falses, conquering and to conquer; acknowledging, at the same time, that it is truly the Lord and His bow and His crown, that gain the victory.

But dark and depraved as the picture of our soul appears, we are not to be discouraged. For the opening of the fifth seal shows us the good things which the merciful Lord has stored up and protected within us. As that seal is opened it is said that we see, under the altar, the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God; and that white robes were given them. Now what can this mean? Like all other things of the Word, we must look within for them; for souls are elements of life given us by God. And when we use this Scripture, as applied to ourselves individually, these souls that were slain for the Word of God mean all the good and kind germs of heaven which were implanted in us during our infancy and childhood; and which, though they have been slain and buried by our disorderly lives, yet, are not destroyed. The merciful Lord has guarded them. And now the divine goodness and truth flow down into them, and white robes are given them. They rise to life and shine with the truth. Thus all the honest, true, virtuous, and affectionate principles of our whole life, which have sprung from these germs, and yet have been lying dormant for want of light, but which were internally regarded by us, are now separated from our evils, and raised to light and life. Nothing good is lost. And we are now enabled to see, by the heavenly light, that while, in and of ourselves, we are spiritually dead; yet, that the Lord is light and life for us. That He has freely given to every one all the germs and elements of heaven. And that He guards and protects these germs and elements of heaven with all care; but that they can never be developed into a human soul, of angelic form and beauty, without our cooperation. That the goats, in us, must be separated from the sheep, by our free opposition to them, and be cast out of the fold. And that every principle which God has given us-all the lambs of the fold-must look to the Good Shepherd for sustenance, and obey His voice.

And now the sixth seal of our book of life is opened. And as we look in, we behold, exhibited, our dark religious views before we saw the spiritual light. We see the false ideas we then had of God; of the trinity; of the fall; of redemption; of regeneration; of resurrection; of judgment; of heaven; and of hell. We behold, in the light of heavenly truth, the whole picture in its own dark colors. And we see it to be contrary to the whole Word of God, in its true literal and spiritual senses. And it is declared in the prophecy that, at the beholding of this scene, "there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell." This graphic picture describes the appearance of our former system of faith, as seen in the light of truth. And we now behold it as without sun, moon or stars; entirely destitute of all true light and life. It trembles and quakes before the light of truth. And with astonishment, that we ever could have believed it, we roll it together as a scroll, and put it out of sight. Thus, the imaginary heaven of our former theology passes away from our mind, and we turn our faces, with renewed joy and delight, toward the new heaven, which God is creating within us; where all is light and glorious in the Lord; and only our remaining evils and falses look dark. For we are now closing and putting by our old book of life, with all that we believed and loved that is false and evil, and retaining all that is good, and are turning to the new book of love to God and man. Now, an entirely new theology is filling our heart and mind. Old things with us are passing away, and the Lord is making all things new. The New Jerusalem is coming down; and we are preparing to join the armies of heaven that follow the Lord on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. For this great army comprises those who have the spiritual truth of the Word in their understandings. And their white horses are nothing but the understanding of that truth. And their white clothing is nothing but the pure, spotless character which their love and devotion to the truth manifest in their sphere. Their warfare is against nothing but the evils and falses which infest humanity, destroying all true peace and happiness. The horse of their Commander is nothing but their own understanding of the truth of the Word. It is therefore not a horse out of their minds, but in them. And the Commander Himself-the "King of kings and Lord of lords?" is that very divine truth of the Word. He is, therefore, not their commander out of them, but in their understandings; though He fills the universe.

And the many crowns which He wears are a crown each, for every mind He enters. And it becomes an ensign of victory to the man that wears it as he, through the Lord, conquers the death and hell of his soul. And the crown itself, is nothing but the dominion which truth gains over his evils and falsities. And the sharp sword, which went out of the Lord's mouth, is nothing but the divine truth, which He speaks. But it is indeed a sharp sword against everything impure and unholy, going forth for their eternal dispersion and destruction, from every heart that wields it.

And it is our blessed privilege, in the spiritual light of the Word which we now have, to make use of this divine sword as true and faithful soldiers of the cross. King of kings and Lord of lords therefore means, the Lord Jesus Christ as the divine truth of the Word, with power and great glory, coming to establish His kingdom over all the earth, by entering all human minds that will receive Him; presenting them with the bow of His power and the crown of His might; and riding on with them, in their understandings, conquering and to conquer, until every evil spirit shall be driven from our earth, and every sinful desire subdued among all nations and kindreds and tongues and people: when peace shall rest in every bosom, joy beam from every face, and plenty crown every board. And then, in view of the future life, the departure from this world will be cheerfully welcomed by every individual, whenever it shall please the Lord to say to that individual, Come. Come, my child. Come home to your Father's house of many mansions. "Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." (Matt. 25:21)