DISCOURSE V. REV. XXI. 3. "And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men!" It is not my design to enter into a minute examination of the occasion, or specific reference, of this passage; but rather to attempt an elucidation and practical use of the principles it may suggest, and of the obligations it is adapted to enforce. Derived as it is from perhaps the most obscure among all the sacred oracles, it would, even for this reason alone, forbid, on my part, any lengthened or elaborate comment. For, whatever may be the impression resting upon other minds as to the advantage of an anxious scrutiny into this book, I candidly acknowledge my belief, that its just interpretation demands not only an acquaintance with the history and condition of the church, but with the genius of prophecy, and with the mind of the Spirit, very far beyond the reach of my attainment, and perhaps also beyond the compass of those acquisitions which have been too generally consecrated to the task. Το "darken counsel by words without knowledge," has appeared to me, I confess, far easier, in relation to this mysterious document, than to unravel what is intricate, or to elucidate what is obscure. The progress of events, and the lights of advancing experience, seem essential to the proper understanding, not only of many of its separate portions, but of their general structure and mutual relations. Whether such an air of remoteness from our ordinary apprehensions may not have been intentionally given it; and whether this may not accomplish, both in the present and the future, objects of greater value than could have been otherwise attained,—in the one, by teaching us expectation and humility,— in the other, by reserving for divine truth unlooked for and irrefragable confirmation even to the latest period;-perhaps it is not possible that we should now determine. But so much, at least, is unquestionable, that a solemn reverence for the divine authority, and a modest distrust of our own faculties, are indispensable to the right application of this, rather than perhaps of any other, part of scrip ture. And yet, in the case before us, two or three particulars seem obviously certain. The first, that this reference is to some glorious and happy era, near to, if not absolutely at, the very close of time:-the next, that it relates to some illustrious manifestation of God's favour, immediately and specifically to the human family; not as blended with the other participators of celestial happiness:-the third, that it points out a state of honour and felicity to be enjoyed, not in some distant region of existence, but in direct connection with the sphere we now inhabit, and the scene of all our present toils and conflicts:the last, that it implies, respecting these enjoyments, that they shall be as permanent as they are peculiar, and thus constitute an imperishable memorial of almighty grace, operating under an aspect of especial adaptation to the necessities and history of man. For the magnificent scene here depicted is not the opening of the heavenly paradise, and the entrance of the church into that seat of blessedness;-but the descent of heaven to earth, beheld under the similitude of the new Jerusalem, prepared and beautified, even as a bride adorned for her husband; whilst the first heaven and the first earth have passed for ever away. Further; we are wholly uncertain, whether the great voice, which uttered the proclamation before us, was that of much people in heaven, such as we read of repeatedly in the same book, and which was so lately heard saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgments!". while all the celestial company echoed, responsively, "Amen. Hallelujah!"—or whether it was that only of some single angel, as in the instance of him who was beheld "standing upon the sea and upon the earth, while he lifted up his hand to heaven, swearing by him that liveth for ever and ever, that time should be no longer." The latter, however, appears more probable; and it admits not of a moment's |