when beginning his long and minute predictions of the millennian ftate, under the hieroglyphics of the temple, of the city of Jerufalem, and of the holy land, which fills up the whole last nine chapters of his prophecies; in chap. xl. 2. fixes upon the fame "very high mountain" as the fcene of his vision: "In the vifions of God brought he me "into the land of Ifrael, and fet me upon a very

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high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city "on the fouth :" and in ch. xlviii. 35. “The name "of the city from that day fhall be the Lord is "there." The whole of thefe nine chapters is a defcription of the millennian state, with a particular reference to what fhall be the fituation of the tribes of Ifrael at that period. By the name which he gives to the city that he describes, and with which he closes the description, "The Lord "is there," he fhews that his defcription of Jerufalem, and that of the new Jerufalem by John in this chapter, both predict the fame period of the Chrif"tian church." Of the new Jerufalem John fays, "The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will "dwell with them, and they shall be his people, "and God himself shall be with them, and be their "God." Of the city of which these things are faid, may it not with the utmost propriety be faid "The Lord is there."

I have been the more particular in fixing the import of the high mountain as the scene of the

vision,

“in

vision, because the right knowledge of the scene of vilion is the beft key for opening up the time or period to which the vifion refers. Thus in chap. -X. 2. xiii. I. xvii. 3. and xxi. 10. the particular fcene of vifion, in all these paffages, clearly pointed out the particular time to which each of thefe vifions referred. John was not carried away bodily to a high mountain. He was carried away "the Spirit." This is the ordinary fcriptural phrafe for being under the immediate influence of divine inspiration. Not to mention many other paffages of fcripture, where this phrafe is used to fignify that a perfon is under the immediate influence of divine infpiration, it is thus used in this book, chap. i. 10. iv. 2. xvii. 3. and in this paffage. By divine inspiration upon his mind, the fame impreffions were made, and the fame ideas were raised in him, that would have been had he been actually carried away to and placed upon the top of a great and high mountain.

Upon that mountain the angel was to fhew John the bride the Lamb's wife. By the bride the Lamb's wife is meant the new Jerufalem: for ver. 2d, it is faid, “I John faw the holy city new Je"rufalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.' And in verse 1oth, after the angel had told John that he would fhew him the bride the Lamb's wife, John says, "And he shewed me that great

"city

city, the holy Jerufalem, descending out of hea"ven from God." The reader is defired to read the whole lxii. chapter of Ifaiah, in which the prophet predicting the millennian period fays, that Jerufalem fhall be called by a new name, viz. the new Jerufalem; and Beulah, or married: "For "the Lord delighteth in her, and her land fhall be "married. And the shall be called Sought out,

"A City not forfaken."

In the fymbolical language, the new Jerufalem and the bride the Lamb's wife. both. fignify the fame period and state of the church, even the millennian state. The former is as it were the proper name of it, and the latter the defignation of that relation in which it ftands to Christ. John must be carried up to the great and high mountain, before he could obtain a full view of the new. Jerufalem as the bride the Lamb's wife; to fignify that the state of the church, represented by these two fynonymous fymbols, fhall not in fact appear in the world, until the time come when the kingdom of God fhall be no longer "the ftone cut out without "hands," but "the great and high mountain "which fills the whole earth." From this high mountain John in vifion faw the holy city, the new Jerufalem; and by this hieroglyphic defcribes the purity, triumph, and glory, of the church of Chrift during the millennian or mountain period of it. The unequalled grandeur and magnifi

cence

cence of this city in general reprefents the unequalled grandeur and triumph of the church or Chrift during that period. The beauty of this grand hieroglyphic will appear more ftriking on an examination of fome of its principal parts.

"The new Jerufalem defcends out of heaven "from God." The defcription of the city, for the wonderful assemblage of fimplicity and of grandeur, baffles all human architecture. Then the church of Chrift will not be modelled on the plan of this or that church or fect. Chriftians will not be bigots to the church of Rome, to the Lutheran church, to the church of England, to the church. of Scotland, or to any other church. They shall not fay, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas; for they fhall all be of Chrift. And the Chriftian church fhall in every refpect correfpond to the model of it which is contained in the infpired fcriptures of the New Teftament.

"This city fhall have the glory of God in it." It fhall illuftriously display the glory of God. To fhew forth the glory of God shall be the chief aim and the happy attainment of every individual Christian, and of the church as a collective body. "Whether they eat, or drink, or whatsoever they do, they shall do all to the glory of God." Her light, the fymbol of purity and knowledge, fhall be like the bright and uniform luftre of a precious ftone. Her purity and knowledge fhall be at 3 F

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VOL. II.

once

once very great, and very uniform and permanent. They fhall not ebb and flow. They fhall not change like the light of day unto the twilight and gloom of night.

"It had a great and high wall;" fo great as to encircle every part of the church, though it fhall then extend over almoft the whole earth, and fo high that no enemy fhall be able to fcale it. This great and high wall is that peculiar care with which divine providence fhall then protect the church of Chrift. Such is the account which Zechariah gives of this wall, when he predicts both it and the glory of God which shall be in the new Jerufalem, chap. ii. 1,-5. The reader is defired to look into this paffage. I fhall transcribe only verfe 5th. "For I, faith the Lord, will be unto her "a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory "in the midft of her."

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The city had twelve gates, at the gates twelve "angels, and names written thereon, which are "the names of the twelve tribes of the children of "Ifrael. On the east three gates; on the north "three gates; on the fouth three gates; and on "the weft three gates.". By gates to every quarter of the earth, it is fignified that the church of Chrift fhall then become univerfal, and that men fhalf flock unto it from every quarter of the globe.

The