and the earth, and of the operations of the divine Wisdom and Power antecedent to that event, where are the records? and what is said or known? Why, this only, -that JEHOVAH, the self-existent, who only hath immortality, was BEFORE ALL THINGS, and that, by HIM ALL Things consist; that HE who is To everlasting, was also FROM everlasting, GOD, blessed for ever more:-and, of Eternity, when the heavens and the earth shall be no more, how little comparatively is revealed, and how little understood! True it is, that the holy Redeemer, by His ministry and ascension, as well as by those subsequent revelations which followed the descent of the Spirit, did bring to light, or illustrate, life and

c 2

and immortality; He did, indeed, cast upon the battlements and towers of the heavenly Jerusalem the broad glare of revelation, and made her crystal streets and golden palaces dazzle the eye of gazing Faith; yet even this celestial glory itself is inseparable from the Cross of Christ;— every ray that emanates from that heavenly world, centres in this focus, shedding the pure light of eternal day upon that mournful scene which darkened the midday sun, and covered the heavens with blackness.

To subserve the high purposes of God, in connection with this Subject, all the machinery of Providence, and all the ministry of Angels, are employed;—the hea

venly

venly bodies, too, are retained in their orbits, and the energies of terrestrial nature perpetuated, only till these purposes shall be accomplished; and then cometh the end, when He [Christ] shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father.

All Antiquity, whether Patriarchal, Jewish, or Pagan, abounds with the most unequivocal notices of, or references* to,

The Writer is here reminded of the Crux Ansata of the ancient Egyptians, which has, he believes, been regarded by some Authors, as a mystical symbol of the Cross of Christ. Without pretending to determine this question, however, which, after all, must be left, where it is found, in the region of conjecture,

the great ordinance of Atonement for Sin: and, indeed, a belief in the existence of a Divinity, or divinities, and the practice of propitiatory sacrifice, seem to have run pa

rallel

conjecture, he is persuaded that his Readers will excuse the following observations on this remarkable character, introduced in this place for the purpose of suggesting what appears to him its probable origin. This Hieroglyphic, which is found upon the celebrated Obelisk of Heliopolis, as represented by several learned and highly respectable travellers, as Shaw, Clarke, Belzoni, and others before them, and which is stated to occur frequently in the symbolical writings of the Egyptians, has for centuries attracted the attention of Christian Authors; and it must be acknowledged, that the frequent recurrence of a Symbol of such high antiquity, whose Form

somewhat

rallel with each other, in almost all ages and countries; as if the ever-blessed God had indelibly impressed upon the minds of his fallen, but beloved creatures, amidst all

the

somewhat corresponded with that of the Roman Cross, and whose Signification was understood to be 66 Life," "Eternal Life," or, "The Life to come," was a circumstance in itself so remarkable, as fully to account for, if not to justify, the attention so long bestowed upon it. Whatever might be the mystical reference of the Egyptian Cross, however, it is certain that the Israelites, who sojourned long amongst that people, and whose religious institutions, both before and after their settlement in Canaan, must have been generally known to the more intelligent of the people of Egypt, and especially to the Priests, received from God, about 40 years

after