of labour and of application, but much more of candour, and of impartiality, and, above all, of charity.

Even the celestial motions never appear equable and uniform, however they may be so in themselves, unless from some suitable and central position; the noblest objects of nature, and the finest specimens of art, require not only a patient and attentive investigation, but also some wellselected and appropriate spot for the examining and admiring their various and concentrated beauties; and much more the vast fabric, the massive and adamantine pillars, the costly and substantial materials, the simple grandeur, and the indefectible security and stability of the universal church, can only be duly scanned and admired from the elevated and central position of sober wisdom, of solid piety, of impartial equity, and of enlightened, ingenuous, and unbiassed charity. There only the exquisiteness of its beauty, the elegance of its symmetry, and the solidity and magnificence of its construction can be rightly observed and adequately appreciated; depart from this spot and the beauty is lost, the effect is spoiled; the most noble parts of the building, perhaps the dome itself, will be no longer visible, and a solitary tower or even a single column will interrupt the entire view, and engross the whole attention. The Psalmist did not limit the city of God to a single street or to a solitary building,

but invites us to pass from square to square, and from quarter to quarter, till with delighted and astonished gaze we have carefully traced the magnificent object of our observation, and have grasped the whole extent and compass of the vast and eternal city: "Walk about Zion, and go round about her, tell the towers thereof, mark well her bulwarks, set up her houses, that ye may tell them that come after, for this God is our God, for ever and ever, he will be our guide unto death."

The great Apostle of the Gentiles is still more earnest and ardent to convey and to impress the most lively and exalted notions of the church, as it most signally and irresistibly displays the mercy and love of God, and is moreover the most lucid proof and glorious manifestation of his wisdom and providence. For in order to comprehend the love of God, we must mark it in its objects, and investigate it in its effects. If we desire to discover the unsearchable riches of Christ, we must attentively and assiduously observe them in his members, and witness the oil of gladness descending from the head of our High Priest over all parts of his body, to the lowest skirts of his garments. We can best arrive at a just knowledge of his wisdom and goodness by means of his church; whose length extends from eternity itself, through every period of time, and every age of the world, to eternity again; whose breadth is all nations and the entire globe; whose

depth is the unutterable and unfathomable sorrows and sufferings of the Son of God, and afflictions of his members; and whose height is the highest heavens, and the throne of God himself. Such seems to be the design and the import of that noble passage and prayer of St. Paul's epistle to the Ephesians-" That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the length, and breadth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge;" the temple and city of God or his church, being alone capable of all those various dimensions and different considerations, for the city lieth four square, and the length, and breadth, and height are equal; the idea is taken from the oracle, or the holy of holies, which was a perfect cube *; its length, and breadth, and depth, and height, were equal; as appears, moreover, from the concluding paragraph-" that ye may be filled with all the fulness of God;" or, as the passage may be rendered, that ye may become fit and complete members of the whole body of Christ, or of the whole church; which is the utmost we can attain to on earth or in heaven. Neither could we in any other sense be filled with all the fulness of God. So that highly to

* See Lightfoot's Temple Service.

† ἵνα πληρωθητε εις παν πλήρωμα του θεου, where πλήρωμα, or complement, as elsewhere in St. Paul's epistles, signifies the church.

esteem and justly to appreciate the church, is not only the test and exercise of the love of God, but it is also the certain means of improving it, and of rewarding it; of being rooted and grounded IN it, or by it. And as the Catholic church is an article of the creed and an object of faith, so it is also the object, the standard, and the key of prophecy; and a clear conception and just estimate of the one are essentially requisite and necessary for the right knowledge and true interpretation of the other, and they reciprocally exhibit and enhance their respective value and importance. As the church is served and honoured by the aid and intervention of prophecy, so it is every way deserving of its testimony, and the fit object of its support; and when prophecy is enlisted in the service of THIS church, it assumes its due rank and character; it becomes the advocate of the Gospel, the defender of the faith, and the guardian of Christianity, and attests with infinite force and effect the truth and certainty of our religion, and the Majesty and glory of Christ.

SECTION III.

HIEROGLYPHICS, OR THE EMBLEMATIC LANGUAGE OF

PROPHECY.

LANGUAGE is the means and organ of human society, the channel of mutual intercourse; the storehouse and vehicle of our knowledge, in which our instruction is centered, and on which our improvement and consequent happiness depend. But it is not only the instrument, it is also the grace and ornament of human converse and information. And of all the various and prolific sources of error and of perplexity which have so greatly retarded or prevented the just and adequate interpretation of prophecy, we must always reckon among the chiefest, the splendid and adventitious dress in which it is generally decked and adorned. Prophecies from their nature revealing subjects and events neither intended nor adapted for immediate discovery and general notoriety, are with no little wisdom and propriety clothed and concealed in the rich and flowing robes of picture and fancy, and set out in the elegant embroidery and splendid ornamental work of visible objects and material resemblances. Nor are types and symbols merely the embellishnent and the investment of the Divine premoni