for after the resurrection, we read of no distinctions among the saints; (all the saved will be then, as they are now, kings and priests to God;) those who had been kings on the earth can bring no more glory into it, than those who had before been the humblest of their subjects. (See Job xxxiv. 19.)

9. The gates shall not be shut; Is. lx. 11, with Rev. xxi. 25. This also evidently relates to the mortal state; for the gates are even now thrown wide open, that all who are "obedient to the faith" may enter in. And at the time when all shall walk in the pure light of the Gospel, there will be none to shut the door against, and consequently there will be no night there, no darkness, but marvellous light.

10. Nothing shall enter in that defileth; Is. iv. 3; lii. 1; Ezek. xliii. 7, with Rev. xxi. 27. So again in the 22nd and last chapter.

11. The water of life; Ezek. xlvii. 1-5, 9; Zech. xiv. 8, with Rev. xxii. 1.

12. The healing of nations. Ezek. xlvii. 12, with Rev. xxii. 2. This also appears to relate to men in the boay. (See Is. xix. 22; Jer, iii. 22; Hos. xiv. 4—7; Joel iii. 21.) For, however the saved may, after the resurrection, grow in the knowledge of God, it is evident, according to the Scriptures, that they must rise from the grave without spot, wrinkle, or blemish, and consequently will have no need of further healing.

13. No more curse. Is. xxxv. 10; li. 3, 11; Jer. iii. 17; xxxiii. 8, 9; Zech. ii. 10; iii. 9; viii. 3, with Rev. xxii. 3.

14. Shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. Ezek. xxxix. 29; ix. 4, with Rev. xxii. 4.

15. No night there; need no candle, nor light of the sun: the Lord giveth light. They shall reign for ever.

Zech. xiv. 7; Ps. lxxxiv. 11; Is. xlix. 6; lx. 19, 20; 1 Thess. v. 5; Dan. vii. 18, with Rev. xxii. 5.

The rest of this chapter, from the 5th verse to the end, as well as the 6th, 7th, and 8th verses of the 21st chapter, indisputably relate to the mortal state. The above comparisons, together with numerous passages before cited, coincide with the prophecy of Haggai, "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of Hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts;" (Hag. ii. 6—9;) i. e., in the spiritual kingdom of Christ, in comparison of which the first "house in her first glory" is as nothing. (Hag. ii. 3.) And it is in that kingdom that the Lord will give the "abundance" and "the increase" of peace which was foretold by the Psalmist, and by the prophet Isaiah; (Ps. lxxii. 7; Is. ix. 7; see also Is. lxvi. 12;) a peace which the world has never yet experienced. It has experienced for the last eighteen hundred years, and is even at this day experiencing, the truth of our Lord's words: "I came not to send peace, but a sword." (Matt. x. 34.) Nevertheless, "In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation; and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first

dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem." (Mic. iv. 6-8.) As a confirmation of all these great and precious promises, it is said, "These sayings are faithful and true; and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel, to show unto his servants the things which must shortly come to pass." (Rev. xxii. 6.)

The Revelator, after having shown what had been revealed to him concerning the glory of the church, the cessation of all sorrow, and the unspeakable joys that awaited the people of God in the latter day upon this earth, as summed up in the 21st and beginning of the 22nd chapters, appears to revert to the world, in its state at the time he wrote his visions; for in the 17th verse of the last chapter, he says, "And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." (An apparent allusion to the sixth verse of the preceding chapter, and which is in accordance with Is. lv. 1.) This is the last of a series of invitations which abound throughout the whole of the Old and New Testaments; and the Revelator closes the final "record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ," by the following awful declaration; "I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book;””a penalty similar to that which is attached to the charge given by Moses to the Israelites, "Ye shall not add unto

the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it," (Deut. iv. 2,) "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, (if ye do evil,) that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed." (Ibid. verse 26.)

A writer, of no mean authority, has said, "He who would understand the older prophets, must begin with the apocalypse."

"The order in which the visions are placed in the Revelation does not invariably mark the order of time; because the same things are exhibited in different forms, in successive visions; and the narrative sometimes retrogrades, and comes over the same ground again, with additional illustrations." So also it may be said of other parts of the Scriptures: for instance, the Apostle Paul speaks of the Lord himself descending "from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God," and also of the resurrection of the saints; (1 Thess. v. 15—17;) while in the following chapter he evidently retrogrades, for he there speaks of the times and the seasons, (as mentioned in Acts i. 7,) and not only changes his mode of expression, but the subject also. He does not say the Lord himself will descend as a thief in the night; but that "the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." When they (the wicked that shall be living at that day,) shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, &c., and this is in accordance with Matt. xxiv. 37-39, and Rev. xi. 13, 18, a destruction of both body and soul. But this does not in any wise apply to the righteous, who are spoken of in the 15th, 16th, and 17th verses of the preceding chapter, and to

whom the Apostle again reverts, when he says, “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." No; “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness."

So also the Apostle Peter, in 2 Epist. iii. 12. After speaking of the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved, &c., he appears, in the 13th verse, to revert to the Gospel day, and then says, "Nevertheless, (although this conflagration must take place,) we (that is, the saints,) look for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." This verse appears to be of the same import as that in Is. lxvi. 22, which says, “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain." And further, in the 23rd verse of the same chapter, it is said, “It shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." It is self-evident, therefore, that in the connexion in which the latter text stands, the allusion is not to an actual new earth, but to such an entire change on the face of the present earth as to give it the appearance of a new creation. For where all flesh shall worship before him, there of necessity righteousness must dwell. And again in the 65th chapter of Isaiah, the connexion in which the 17th verse stands shows the same thing; for the change shall be so great, so delightful, so exhilarating, as to blot out from the mind all remembrance of past pains and troubles. As our Lord said, "A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the