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parably mean the language, when compared with the language in which St. John describes the vision of the bright and heavenly city! But still "the place of his feet is glorious."

"And the sons of thine oppressors shall come to thee to do homage;

And all that rejected thee shall prostrate themselves at the
soles of thy feet;

And they shall call thee the city of Jehovah,
The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

Instead of being deserted and hated,
And no man passing through thee;
I will make thee an eternal boast,
The delight of generation after generation ;
And thou shalt suck the milk of the nations,
Even the breasts of kings shalt thou suck.

And thou shalt know that I am Jehovah, thy Saviour,
And thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

Instead of brass I will bring gold,

And instead of iron I will bring silver,

And instead of wood, brass,

And instead of stones, iron.

And I will make thine inspectors peace,

And thy governors righteousness.

Violence shall no more be heard of in thy land,

Destruction nor injury in thy borders.

And thou shalt call thy walls salvation,
And thy gates praise.

It shall not continue to be to thee the sun for a light by day,
Nor, on her shining, shall the moon give light to thee.

And Jehovah shall be to thee an everlasting light,
And thy Elohim for thy glory.

Thy sun shall no more go down,

Nor shall thy moon be withdrawn.

For Jehovah shall be to thee an everlasting light,
And the days of thy mourning* shall be changed.

And thy people shall be all righteous,

They shall inherit the land for ever," &c.

Their joint participation in this light of the glory

of the Lord, above the brightness of the sun, whatever be the excellency of majesty denoted and symbolized by the created light which our mortal eyes have seen, clearly identifies the local situation of the restored Jerusalem and the heavenly city; and it is because of its near connexion with the latter, that this glory rests upon the former. But the earthly inhabitants of this glorious metropolis, though a holy people and most blessed, are not to be confounded with "the saints in light, "the children of the resurrection," "clothed upon with their house which is from heaven"-though the connexion between the two is indissoluble, and the state of both in its duration everlasting-a want of such a distinction was that which led to the monstrous error of the ancient Chiliasts.

The "Jerusalem above," and the Jerusalem restored below, though united together, ought, therefore, to be ever carefully distinguished, though the latter is, in some sort, invested with the beams of that bright light, and manifestation of the glories of the Divine Majesty, which shines from the former.

So much, indeed, is said, in the description of the renewed land of promise, that it seems to bear the impress of the heavenly country above. We are to remember, that there is to be " a new heaven," as well as "a new earth," in order to the establishment of Jerusalem in the full amount of the prophetic symbols. We read of a scene in "the heavenly places," revealed to St. John:

* Or "of thy vicissitudes alternation of light and darkness."

Rev. xxii.-" And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him. And they shall see his face; and his name shall be upon their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever."

Now, as though it were a counterpart of this heavenly mansion and country, not only is the earthly Jerusalem described as illuminated by a beam of the same heavenly glory, so that she needs not the light of the sun and moon; but, in the land of promise, as new created by the hand of God, there is something that corresponds to this pure river of the water of life, and to the tree of life on its banks : and yet there is distinction enough to shew, that they are not the same, or symbols of the same, blessings. Thus Ezekiel tells us,* he beheld waters issuing out from under the threshold of the house eastward: he is shewn how these waters gradually swell into a great river, which flows eastward, and revives the desert country, healing the waters of the Dead Sea, and causing them to teem with life.

* xlvii. 1.

Ver. 12.-" And by the river, on the bank, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed : it shall bring forth new fruit according to its months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine."

Thus, as in the "heavenly places" there is that which appears as a symbol of life, flowing like a river from the throne of God and the Lamb, or "of God, even the Lamb," -" rivers of pleasure at his right hand for evermore;" so, on the earthly land of promise, there flows a fountain of water from the holy temple of God, of such virtue to sustain vegetable and animal life, "that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live." And I look upon it, that the paradisaical state of these happy countries will owe its origin in a great measure to these salubrious streams. And as, again, in the heavenly country is the tree of life bearing fruit perpetually, and "leaves for the healing of the nations," -emblem of the sustenance of the spiritual life, and of the spiritual benefits that flow from the New Jerusalem, to those nations that walk in her light; so, on the rich carpet of the earth spread out below, for the sustenance and recruiting of animal life, we read of fruits and trees of paradise, to which the present creation produces nothing similar or like. "The whole land is as the garden of Eden;" and this, I think, is the "plant," or "plantation of renown," spoken of in a former chapter of the same prophet.

T

SECTION THE FIFTEENTH.

ON THE DIFFERENT INHABITANTS OF THE UNITED MANSIONS OF THIS HOLY CITY.

The elect and risen Church, inhabiters of the New Jerusalem, as it comes down from God out of heaven, shewn by various symbols in the Revelation of St. John-As distinguished from these, the restored Israelites at the head of the redeemed nations in the flesh are also clearly shewn in the symbols of the same vision, and in other prophetic scriptures-The feast of tabernacles, and the other annual festivals of the Old Testament.

THE measures of the heavenly Jerusalem, which are shewn to St. John, * -the "twelve thousand furlongs" of the city, and the "hundred and forty-four cubits" of the wall, may, indeed, be susceptible of a literal interpretation; but, upon the whole, I conclude them to be mystical, denoting that the dimensions of the heavenly city will be commensurate with the increase of the mystical body of Christ, through the receiving, by the Holy Ghost, of those doctrines which the twelve apostles of the Lamb were sent to preach. As St. Paul addresses the believing Ephesians :

* Revelation xxi. 15.

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