hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." J. Pet. 1.!!

The promise of this house was made in a particular manner, and with particular circumstances to King David. It was promised that one of his sons should build a house to the name of the Lord, of which the first image or subordinate event might seem to be fulfilled in Solomon; but it comes with such adjuncts, as plainly to shew that the second, or more remote event, must be understood, and that "a greater than Solomon is here." It was such a kingdom as David was to witness after he had slept with his Fathers; "And thine 2.5m.7.12,13 house," says Jehovah," and thy kingdom, shall be established (Le-Olam) through the hidden period, before thee." The duration of this kingdom struck David, and put him into a pleasing commotion, and he terms it a great while to come. The Chaldee paraphrase on this is re2.5m. 7.19 markable, and runs in this manner: "Thou hast spoken concerning the house of thy servant, as it extends into the future age." In the parallel passage in the book of Chronicles, the language is still more striking, and leads us to think that St. Paul had his eye on it when he spoke of the second Adam being the Lord from heaven. “Thou hast," says David, "regarded thy servant according to the dispensation of that Man who is from above,' (IIa-Adam ham-mealah) that is, this house and kingdom

2.8m.7.19

kingdom must, in its nature and extent, have something to do with HIM who was promised to bruise the serpent's head. St. John also speaks of Him who cometh from above.

In this house Moses appears as a servant, and with the commendation, that he was faithful in it. He had a trust committed to him, which he faithfully discharged; that of reporting to the nation of Israel, with conscientious accuracy, what was delivered to him from Jehovah on the Mount, respecting the tabernacle, in its every particular. A delineation of the whole house was given him, which he was to construct with materials of earth, of which we understand part, and part is yet wraped in the veil of mystery. This earthly tabernacle, and Moses himself, having for a season acted the part assigned them by the master builder, disappeared, and were seen no more.

In this way is the faithfulness of Moses noted, because it was to be seen both in the church on earth and in that which is within the veil, how exactly every thing, as delineated by him, corresponded to its original. This tabernacle is termed the true, in contradistinction to that in the wilderness, which was merely its shadow: for in the book of Revelation, the different scenes which St. John beheld, are not to be viewed as descriptive allusions to the tabernacle or temple, but as actual exhibitions of the substances themselves, which

are

"that

are termed the body, which is of Christ. Such was the light in which Jerom views the book of Leviticus: "Here each sacrifice, nay, almost each syllable, the robes of Aaron, and the whole Levitical order, breath the mysteries of the hea venly world."—" There was nothing in the tabernacle and its vessels," says Rabbi Bechai, did not receive its figure and service from something corresponding to it above." Similar to this is that saying of the wise men, that "the Mosaic tabernacle is called the middle world, because it reflects a resemblance of the upper and the lower world." By which they mean that the materials of the tabernacle were borrowed from earth, and that these, when so constructed, were á shadow of that which is within the veil. Such is the view the apostle Paul endeavours to exemplify, through a considerable part of the epistle to the Hebrews, and thereby shews, that being trained up in the same course of education, he has interwoven into his writings many of the sentiments of the Rabbins.

The book of Revelation, after all the attempts of commentators to open it up, and to accommodate, according to each one's humour, the meaning, either to past or to future events, still remains for the most part a very great mystery. It is singular it should be so, when we consider the title of the book yet by the command of Christ laid on

St

St. John to write, it seems intended that it should be read and understood, " blessed is he that readeth, and they who hear the words of this prophecy, and who keep," i. e. who watch for "those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand," Rev.1.3.

The literal meaning of the title (apocalypsis) is a lifting up of the veil, and a disclosing to the view things that before were hidden. This very well accords to (Olam) that hidden world, and which lies so remote from mortal investigation.

4.42

The things which St. John saw, were of two classes, things presently existing, and things that were to exist in a little time after. The former were in actual subsistence, the latter were exhibited only in the glass of vision, and were shortly after to obtain their accomplishment. Rev. i. 19. When this apostle heard a voice, "come up hither and I will shew thee what must be when this mortal scene is closed;" his being in the 1/2 spirit denotes the very act of (apocalypsis) lifting 17.1,3 up the veil; i. e. shutting up the external senses, drawing aside the curtain which they interpose, and putting, him in some sort, in the condition of a soul divested of the body. In this situation he enjoyed, a complete view of the things of (Olam) that future world, which were the true original of that pattern that was shewn to Moses in the Mount.

The

66

The Jews have among them a saying which receives a considerable degree of light, from a part of the vision which the apostle here beheld. Wherefore," say they, "do the Israelites pray in this world, and are not heard? Because they have not known the appropriate name (Jehovah.) In the future age, God will make it known to them, and then they shall be heard." This is the very reason Messiah himself assigns as the ground of their persecuting his followers. "These things they will do unto you, because they have not known the Father or me." In. 16.3

To know this name, is to understand what God himself declares the name promises, and to wait for it. It promises a steady unalterable attention to his covenant of being now what he was formerly, and in the end giving of himself, such an exhibition as no mortal eye had ever yet beheld. In view of this last act, he is said to be The About to come, which is a version of the Hebrew (Ehjeh) I shall be. This is the memorial or memorandum left to exercise the trust, both of men on earth, and of separate spirits in the invisible state.

We turn now to the passage of the Revelation,44 there we hear them crying day and night, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is about to come." This is the appropriate name expressed in Greek, by the three divisions of time it commands. The first, or past,