former is twelve, the number of the Apostles and patriarchs, as symbolizing all saints, multiplied by a thousand, to give an idea of their multitude. The latter is the square of twelve, or twelve multiplied by twelve; this may be considered as a number of perfection, and may, therefore, refer to the perfect security of the saints as enclosed within the emblematic wall*.-The building of the wall was of jasper. This would render it impregnable, and secure against all decay, as well as surprisingly magnificent; and it may be considered as an emblem of that eternal and immutable state of glory and bliss which the saints will enjoy in their heavenly inheritance. The foundations of the gate of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones, of which twelve different species are particularly enumerated. These various kinds of the most beautiful precious stones may denote that all earthly splendour is mean and poor compared with that of heaven; and that all possible excellency will there combine, abound, and centre for evert.-The twelve

In this explanation of the whole passage is given what, in my opinion, appears a sober exposition of the emblems, taken in general from some of the most judicious commentators. I would not, however, lay any great stress upon every particular circumstance, nor dogmatically argue that every symbol in this description of the heavenly city has some precise moral or spiritual meaning. The images in general evidently express beauty, magnificence, purity, strength, and solidity; agreeably not only to the ideas of eastern nations, but to the views and sentiments of men in general.

+ These precious stones are thus described by naturalists. The jasper is a very hard stone, of several colours: the best are a seagreen, spotted with red and purple. The sapphire is of a skycoloured blue, and next in hardness to the diamond. The chalcedony is a genus of the semi-pellucid gems, of which there are several species. They are of a shining grey, clouded with yellow, or purple, or blue. The finest are said to be yellow and red. The emerald is of a bright green colour, without any mixture, and is one of the most beautiful of all the gems. The sardonyx is a species of the onyx, which consists of several colours; but when the gem has a plate of pale red running through it, it is then called a sardonyx. The sardius, or sardine stone, is a gem of a blood-red colour. The

gates, mentioned before, and here represented as formed of twelve pearls (each gate consisting of one astonishing and immense pearl), may, in this point of view, be separately emblematical of Christ, as the pearl of great price, and as the only door of salvation by which his redeemed people can enter heaven. These gates of pearl may also denote that every thing belonging to heaven will be superlatively glorious; as much beyond all comparison with any earthly objects, as a pearl sufficiently large to form one of these immense gates, exceeds a common pearl found in an oyster.-The city and the street of it was pure gold, like unto transparent glass. This may be an emblem of the union in heaven of those excellencies which seem here to be separate and inconsistent. The exposition given of this emblematical description of the gold and glass by the late Rev. John Newton, is perhaps one of the most satisfactory, as well as elegant, comments of the text that has ever been produced from the pen of any writer ancient or modern. "Glorious things are spoken of "the city of God, or (as I suppose) the state of glory, "in Rev. xxi. from verse 10, ad finem. The descrip"tion is doubtless mystical; and, perhaps, nothing "short of a happy experience and participation "will furnish an adequate exposition. One expres"sion, in particular, has, I believe, puzzled wiser

chrysolite, or gold-stone, is of a dark green colour, with a shade of yellow. The beryl is a pellucid stone of a bluish green colour. The topaz is a stone hard and transparent, of a pale green, with a mixture of yellow. The chrysoprasus is a variety of the chrysolite, of a yellowish green colour. The jacinth is of a violet or purple colour; or, according to some, of a dead red with a mixture of yellow. The amethyst is of a darker colour than the jacinth, violet or purple, composed of a strong blue and deep red.-These stones are nearly the same as those on the breastplate of the high priest, mentioned in Exod. xxviii. 17-20. Whether there be any peculiar mystical meaning in these particular stones, I presume not to determine. Perhaps they may be only intended to exhibit the glory of heaven as infinitely superior to any of our present conceptions.

"heads than mine to explain. The street of the

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city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. "The construction likewise in the Greek is difficult. "Some render it pure gold transparent as glass: "this is the sense, but then it should be neuter, διαφανές, to agree with χρυσιον. If our reading is right, we must understand it either of gold pure, bright, and perspicuous as the finest transparent glass (for all glass is not transparent), or else, as "two distinct comparisons, splendid and durable as "the purest gold, clear and transparent as the finest glass. In that happy world the beauties and advantages which here are divided and incompatible, "will unite and agree. Our glass is clear, but "brittle; our gold is shining and solid, but it is opaque, and discovers only a surface. And thus "it is with our minds. The powers of the imagina"tion are lively and extensive, but transient and "uncertain. The powers of the understanding are

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more solid and regular; but at the same time, 66 more slow and limited, and confined to the out"side properties of the few objects around us. But "when we arrive within the vail, the perfections of "the glass and the gold will be combined, and the "imperfections of each will entirely cease. Then "we shall know more than we can now imagine. "The glass will be all gold. And then we shall apprehend truth in its relations and consequences; not (as at present); by that tedious and fallible process which we call reasoning, but by a single glance of thought, as the sight pierces in an instant through the largest transparent body. The gold will be all glass *."

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22. And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

* Newton's Cardiphonia, Letters to a Nobleman (Lord Dartmouth), vol. i. p. 15.

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23. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

The temple was essential to the literal Jerusalem, as its great ornament and honour; and it made a prominent part of Ezekiel's vision of the Church, during the millennium, under the emblem of a holy city. But there was no temple in the mystical, celestial city, which St. John saw. This is a demonstration that the heavenly state was exclusively meant. In heaven there will be no need of any external symbols of the Lord's presence: there will be no need of those means of grace which we now use; for what in the present state we receive mediately, we shall then receive immediately. Religion must now have her temples, as one grand means of obtaining and preserving communion between God and man. But in the heavenly state, consolation, felicity, and glory, will emanate from the immediate presence of Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Immanuel, the God-man, will especially be the medium of communicating felicity and glory to all the heavenly citizens. The eternal Son, as the Lamb that was slain, will be a temple, in which all the fulness of " the Godhead dwelling bodily," will be made manifest to the glorified bodies of the saints, whilst the perfections of the divine nature will be contemplated with open face by the exercise of their intellectual powers. The immediate presence of God and the Lamb will supersede the need of a temple, and the necessity of that stated worship which is now the usual means of our imperfect knowledge and sanctification. "For

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"we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But "when that which is perfect is come, then that "which is in part shall be done away." "For now

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we see through a glass darkly; but then face to "face: now I know in part; but then shall I know

"even as also I am known *."-In this illustrious city there will be no occasion either of the sun or moon to enlighten it; nor of any of those things which conduce to beauty, comfort, or happiness in the present state: for the glory of God will enlighten it, and the Lamb will be the light thereof. The city will be illuminated, honoured, and blessed with the divine presence; and God in Christ will be the everlasting fountain of knowledge, felicity, and bliss, to his people for ever. "The sun shall be no "more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall "the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall "be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy "glory."-While the holiness and felicity of the redeemed are here set before us as the immediate subject for our contemplation and joy, we have another incidental demonstration of that doctrine which is the pillar and ground of the truth, the essential divinity of the Lord Jesus. For what terms can more fully express the union and co-equality of the eternal Son with the Father, than the language here used: "The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb "are the temple of it."-" The glory of God did "lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."

24. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. 25. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there. 26. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

The inhabitants of this city shall be those of all nations of the earth who, through the blood of the Lamb, shall be saved from sin and the wrath to come; and who, being admitted to enjoy its light and glory, shall live in a state of holy communion with God, and with one another, for ever and ever. The imagery denotes that Jesus "will bring many

* 1 Cor. xiii. 9-12.

+ Isa. lx. 19: