Principle No. 9 The Analogy Principle
By Clifton L. Fowler
Taken from Grace and Truth Magazine 1923
THE ANALOGY PRINCIPLE underlies
the entire Word of God. It is used
by the Holy Spirit for purposes of proof and of
revelation. After once its astonishing frequency
of occurrence is observed, its importance cannot be
logically questioned. Some philosophical writers have gone so
far as to declare that reasoning from an analogy is not
an acceptable proof of any point in any realm of
thought. With this extravagant view we most heartily disagree.
The analogy, employed
intelligently and under the
proper limitations, is of
inestimable value. God uses it
throughout the Inspired Book.
Although philosophers,
logicians, and scientists decry and belittle the value of the
analogy for purposes of argument, yet the theory of
evolution, so blindly accepted
by the lesser lights and would-be
great men of the philosophical and scientific world rests
upon nothing else than a supposed succession of analogies. But alas, their studied succession has in
it countless breaks or “missing
links” and the alleged analogies themselves are strained or grossly
imaginative. What consistency, that the so-called culture of today should demolish the analogy, and forthwith build upon the
wreckage the idol of evolution and call
upon the “kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the
mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man” to come and pay homage to the lying farce they have builded. If evolutionists could produce a
true and
complete succession of scientifically
demonstrated analogies to support
their contention, their theory would be proved. But the
succession of analogies which their cause requires does not
exist. The Bible is God’s Book, but it
is given to and for man. Although its message is
infinite, it is addressed to finite beings. God fully knew
the capabilities of the mind of man. Hence God’s Book is
so written that it fits the mind of man as the
waters of the sea fit the variations of the seashore. Man's
mind naturally and normally turns to analogies.
Emerson has said, with striking aptitude,—“Man is analagous,
he studies relations.” ‘The God Who created man, and
consequently knew the tendencies of man’s mind, is He
Who inspired the Book. In the Book which He has given
us He has placed abundant evidence that He fully knew
and understood the tendency of the human mind to
reason from analogy's. ‘The marvelous examples of the
Analogy Principle lie scattered through Holy Writ from
beginning to end, thus showing that God has prepared
the Book for man, the creature of analogy. ‘The Bible is not only God’s
revelation, but God’s recognition of man’s limitation,
In recognizing man's limitation, God does not seek to
reduce infinite truth to the level of the finite, but
simply unveils the infinite, in order that the finite may be
given a fair opportunity to believe. ‘The Bible invites the
mind of man into a vast field of beautiful and
convincing analogies, and in
every instance the analogies present
some mighty truth of doctrine or prophecy which can only
be received by faith. Those who argue against proofs
which are based on analogies are right when the
points of an analogy are in the realm of the commonplace.
For instance, 1 cannot prove that I saw the same man my
friend saw because I saw a man with a nose, and
hair, and two eyes, and he saw a man with exactly the same
characteristics. Certainly there is an analogy
between the men we saw, but every point in the analogy is so commonplace as to be valueless when used to prove that we saw the same man, ‘There are too many men with noses, and hair, and eyes, for such an analogy to carry any weight.
It certainly docs not prove that we saw the same man. It is such vapid. examples of reasoning by the
analogy that have caused certain men to take up the cudgels in wholesale fashion against it. Such a
course, however, is in accord with
neither common’ sense nor Scripture.
But if the points of an analogy
are in the realm of the unusual,
the unexpected, the unique, then
they take on tremendous’ value
for purposes of proof. For
example, my friend and I have
visited the city and upon our return trip
begin to compare notes. 1 tell him that I saw an
interesting couple on one of the main streets. ‘The man was over
seven feet tall, wore a battered stove-pipe hat and a
dilapidated Prince Albert coat and carried a huge
gold-headed cane. He was accompanied by a small weazoned-up
little lady who had spent a small fortune on
peroxide and “make-up.” Her bepowdered face was surmounted
by a huge picture hat which was decorated by a
gigantic henna plume. She wore a cream-colored taffeta
silk dress and was leading a water spaniel by a pink ribbon.
My friend instantaneously claps his hands and cries
out, “I saw the same couple.” His mind has performed the
analogy as rapidly as the words of description have left
my lips. His conclusion is that we have seen the same
couple. He is justified in his conclusion because all of
the points in the analogy are in the realm of the unusual.
‘The mind of man naturally takes to analogies and
comparisons. The analogy is a dependable, yes, reliable
method of reasoning when held within the limitations we
have indicated.
The definition of the Analogy
Principle is:
The Analogy Principle is that
principle of divine revelation under which God
embeds the wonderful truths concerning Israel,
Jesus, and the individual believer in some
apparently remote Biblical incident, making
these truths demonstrable by an extended
series of similarities or contrasts. The Analogy Principle is the
type principle. It is under this principle that the
beautiful types and shadows of the Bible come into view.
Under this principle the most ordinary event in Old
Testament history becomes ‘ a guide-post pointing to Jesus,
or a lamp illuminating personal truths so sorely needed
by the souls of men, or a prophecy of some event which
will yet transpire in the Tribulation or Kingdom age. When
an analogy of at least five points has been
adduced, and the points are beyond the ordinary, we may with
confidence declare that we have found one of the
many Biblical analogy's. When an analogy is adduced, a
type is revealed. The presence and activity of
this principle in the Scripture may be proved by
employing the Direct Statement Principle. In I Cor. 10:11
God places His unqualified endorsement on the
Analogy Principle:
“Now all these things happened
unto them for ensamples (the Greek word means
types, or analogies) and they are written for our
admonition.” This clear-cut passage is
plainly teaching that all the
records of the events of Israel’s
past carried two varieties of meanings,—First, the simple
surface meaning which we call “history,” and, second,
the deeper meaning which is completely lost on him who
carelessly reads the Inspired Book. These deeper meanings are
here called by the Holy Spirit Himself “types” or
“analogies” or “ensamples.” These analogies reveal
the fact that God Himself had so guided all the
history of Israel that it became a type-revelation of some event
or fact pertaining to the soul, the Saviour or Israel.
“All these things happened for
types.” Not “some” of the
events of Israel’s history, but “all” happened unto them for
types. We at once are forced to concede the
importance and prevalence of the Analogy principle. We find that more than one
analogy or type is often hidden in one divinely shaped
historical event. Another passage which definitely
teaches the presence of the Analogy Principle in
Scripture is Romans 15:4:
“For whatsoever things are
written aforetime were written for our learning, that
we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might
have hope.” Here the Spirit of God again
indicates two things which God purposed in the giving of
the Scriptures,—the things which were written aforetime.
These two purposes are:
(1) “our learning”;
(2) “that we * * * might have
hope.” When we read the history of
Israel, God’s first. purpose is accomplished in our lives. It
results in “our learning.” When we see the blessed
analogies scattered by God's hand throughout the Word,
revealing the blessings and glories which grace has wrought
for the individual soul, or the ineffable beauties which
cluster about the person of the Lord or the marvels of
the future, they bring to our hearts “hope.” The character of this principle
is such that its presence and activity in the sacred
writings would scarcely have become known but for these
direct statements to act as guide-posts. The Analogy
Principle is not a discovery. It is not a new thing.
It was inwrought in the Scriptures when God inspired
them. It is that principle which makes the ordinary events
of the past an inspired picture-book. revealing Jesus,
and unveiling God's grace to sin-cursed man, and
predicting the future.
The Analogy Principle
Illustrated by One of the Sections of the Life of Joseph.
All of the Old Testament
characters present examples of the activity of the
Analogy Principle in the Bible. Joseph is one of
the most remarkable among them. Two great
analogies stand out in his life as narrated by the Holy
Spirit. We give the first one:
Here the Gap Principle enters the analogy, separating the
lowliness and humility of Joseph from his exaltation and kingliness. As is
the case in every occurrence of the Gap Principle, the Holy Spirit leaps,
without comment, the centuries which lie between the extremes of the gap.
At Genesis 41:53, the
Overlapping Principle, a principle which we have not yet
studied in this series of lessons, appears in the type and
the Holy Spirit still presenting Joseph as a type of
Christ turns once more back to the first coming and carries
on to the victory of the second advent. In the beautiful
analogy which we have presented we see how the
incidents of the every day life of Joseph are so shaped by the
Divine Hand as to produce a photograph of that One
Who is above all others,— Jesus. The Bible fairly teems with
these analogies. Some of them, as in the case of the one
just set forth, present Jesus in some phase of His character
or work; some of them reveal prophetic truth
concerning Israel; while others
un fold the deeper personal truths
so greatly needed for the rightful growth-of the
individual soul. Many passages which would otherwise be dark
and obscure are made to glow with light upon the
application of the ubiquitous Analogy Principle. Copyright 1923, Clifton L. Fowler
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