From sacred chronology, it appears that Abraham, the great Patriarch of the tribes of Judah and Israel, was born two thousand years (lacking four) before Christ, and two thousand and eight years after the creation, (three hundred and fifty-two after the flood) which brings the life of Abraham half way between the creation and the advent of Jesus Christ. Inasmuch, therefore, as God begins with Abraham more fully to disclose his good purpose towards man than he had previously done, it becomes the prophet to view Abraham as the threshold of the gate of that temple, from under which the fountain of this river proceeds, and accordingly the angel commences to aueasure the river at that place, in company with the prophet. The method pursued to measure this very extraordinary river, which is noticed in many other parts of the Scriptures, is singular and interesting. It would seem this glorious angel laboured to impress the mind of the prophet, that as he had measured this river by cubits, so must be measured the several dispensations of the increase of the knowledge of God in the earth, till it shall become embosomed in the great sea of universal holiness. These cubits cannot be understood to signify any thing else but years; a thousand cubits,therefore, mean a thousand years. And as illustrative of this opinion, we will notice, that the present mode of measuring latitudes and longitudes on the surface of the earth, to ascertain degrees and distances, is very similar to the way the angel adopted to measure that river. His cubits were the symbols of years, as our minutes are the symbols of miles: and as seconds are the integral parts of a minute, which by the astronomer is used as a symbol for a mile, so are inches the integral parts of a cubit, which by the prophet is here used as a symbol for a year. The first measurement, therefore, of the first thousand cubits, is considered a grand symbol of a thousand years, and extends from Abraham to the building of the first temple at Jerusalem by Solomon, which was finished exactly at the end of three thousand years from the creation; and is, therefore, a thousand years, lacking a mere fraction, from the birth of Abraham till this house was finished. During this thousand cubits or years, God gave to Abraham several glorious and gracious promises respecting the Messiah, who should come into the world through his lineage. These promises were made to him by the everlasting God, through the medium of supernatural vision. See Gen. xv. 12. "And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him." And also at verses 17 and 18 it is said, "And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In that same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham." The Lord also, in a supernatural way, gave to Abraham a son, when both he and his wife were past the time of life, and also supernaturally preserved that son from death by the intervention of an angel's voice, who cried from the air just above where he was bound on Mount Moriah to be slain and sacrificed. And to Isaac, Jacob was given, to whom God also conversed in vision. See Gen. xxviii. 12, 13, 14. " And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth; and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." And to Jacob was given the twelve patriarchs who went down into Egypt where Moses was born, and from thence the whole nation of the Jews, consisting of about three millions of souls, journeyed towards the country of the Canaanites. During this journey, the whole nation were carried as it were upon the wings of a great eagle; for God divided the Red Sea and let them pass over safe to the other shore. At this place also, the angel of the covenant stood between the two hosts in the form of a pillar of cloud. That side which looked towards the Egyptians, had the appearance of blackness or darkness, which involved their whole army in the shades of night. But that side which looked toward his people, the Jews, shone with the brilliancy of a lambent flame, and gave them light till the morning rose, when it again assumed its cloudy aspect. From this sea, in the process of years they came to Mount Horeb, at which place the angel of the cove : 1 nant, who is Christ, came down on that Mount in great glory and with terrible thunderings, and gave his people a law of righteousness. A lapse of not many years after the giving of the law, Moses stood on the top of Mount Pisgah, and from thence he saw the promised land, the land of his forefathers. At this place he died, and was hid in a valley of the mountain. To him succeeded the government of Joshua, who led the armies of Israel from conquering to conquest, till all Canaan was subjected to his arms. To Joshua succeeded the government of the elders, who had known him, and to them that of the judges, till the time of Samuel, the prophet, who anointed Saul, a Benjamite, to be king over Israel. And next to Saul came David, the king, to whose throne Solomon was exalted: who built the first temple, which Ezekiel in his vision saw spiritualized, when the angel measured the temple, and showed him the waters of salvation, which come out from under its eastern gate. Thus far has this descriptive and supernatural river of revelation flowed, whose waters are found at the temple as deep as to the ancles. If the disciples of Christ, who, after being a long time with Him, who spake as never man spake, and had seen that he was raised from the dead after his crucifixion, and had heard the Saviour say, "My kingdom is not of this world," yet could say after all this, to their risen Lord, "Wilt thou not at this time restore the kingdom?" Which question evinced extréme ignorance of the nature of the Messiah's kingdom. I say, if such ignorance was manifest, even among the Saviour's disciples, at that time, it may, therefore, with great propriety be said, that a knowledge of this river of life was only as deep as to the ancles, in the days of Solomon. Here, then, at Jerusalem, by the means of Solomon, did God build a house of prayer for his saints, and in the midst of opposing nations, establish the worship of himself; and here is finished the first measurement of the first thousand cubits or years. From this house and downward, these waters became more profluent; for, from the mouths of prophets and kings, flowed abundance of these healing waters of revelation, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Thus by the angel is measured a second thousand cubits, or years, which, from the finishing of the temple, brings this river to the advent of Christ, in the year of the world 4000, at which place, according to the prophet, the waters were only as deep as to the knees of a man. But some have supposed, that at this place, it should be considered, that this river of healing acquired its greatest magnitude and width. But not so; because its effects, as relates to the whole world, were then but partially commenced, nor were the days of miracles yet ceased, but continued three hundred years after, till the time that the Roman emperor, Constantine, became converted from heathenism to the Gospel. C |