of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. Isaiah, 10. 24. O my people, that dwelleth in Zion. 29. 19. For the people that dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. Matth. 24. 23. When the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem. 27. 13. Ye shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. 31. 4. The Lord shall come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof. 5. So will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem. 1. 21. How is the faithful city become an harlot ! It was full of judgement; righteousness lodged in it. 33. 5. The Lord hath filled Zion with judgement and righteousness. 20. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation. 60. 14. They shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy one of Israel. 5. 35. Neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the Great King. Isaiah, 37. 32. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion. Isaiah, 40. 9. O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee into the high mountain: O Jerusalem, up that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. 41. 27. The first shall say to Zion, behold, behold them; and I will give to Jerusalem one 40. 2. 51. 3. that bringeth good tidings. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. For the Lord shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places. 52. 9. Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people: He hath redeemed Jerusalem. 59. 20. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob. 51. 17. Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem! 62. 1. For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace; and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest. 64. 10. Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Psalm 137. 1. Yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. 51. 50. And let Jerusalem come into your mind. Jere. Psalm 126. 1. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion. Joel, Zeph. Zech. Zeph. Zech. 3. 1. When I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. 2. 32. For in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance. 3. 14. Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel: be glad and rejoice, O daughter of Jeru salem! 9. 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, Odaughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee. 3. 16. It shall be said in that day to Jerusalem, fear thou not and to Zion, let not thine hands be slack. 1. 14. I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. 17. The Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Psalm 132. 13. For the Lord hath chosen Zion: He hath desired it for His habitation. I wish, Theophila, it were in my power to explain to you the real meaning of the words Zion and Jerusalem, in such a way as to make perfectly intelligible all that is said of them throughout the Scriptures. As I cannot pretend to it, I must content myself with giving you my opinion concerning them; requesting you will carefully examine how far it might help in reading the Sacred Writings. The arguments at the head of some of the Psalms and of some of the chapters in the Prophets, in the Latin, French, and English versions of the Bible, indicate that the translators have, in various places, understood that Zion and Jerusalem mean the Church or the assembly of the faithful, whether under the Mosaic law, whether under the Christian dispensation. I am so little acquainted with books that I know not whether they, or others, have attempted to apply that sense to whatever is said respecting Zion and Jerusalem; which have been, and continue to be, taken by most people for places of this earth, without inquiring whether that vulgar meaning agrees or not with the Holy Writ. Now this is what I think on the subject. In Gal. 4, from 22, &c. I find two Jerusalems mentioned as the two Covenants, which I consider as the two laws, the two doctrines or religions by which the Spirit God deigns gradually to make known Himself and His Will, and to ally Himself or His Spirit to the souls of His creatures. I look upon the first, or the one that is taught to degenerate men in one of the stages of their regeneration in the human philosophy, as being, though beautiful in its season, as being imperfect, terrestrial, human, partaking of the spirit of the world or of an unenlightened opinion of oneself; and gendering the soul in bondage in the philosophical knowledge of good and evil; and in the human works, to which one is prompted by that knowledge; but preparing to the second Covenant or Will, which I take for perfect; for the heavenly, moral, or spiritual system, that proceeds from the spirit of the heaven, from the knowledge of God and faith in Him, from the spirit of truth; and that gives freedom to the soul, freedom in Christ. I believe then that Jerusalem, and likewise Zion, which, as I have said, appear to me to mean the same thing, signify a doctrine or a religion, a religious spirit in which dwells the Will of God, an opinion of oneself more or less humble, an important degree of the religion of the first regenerate man and of the people of God, during the process of the regeneration of their souls; a religious knowledge or system, whether philosophical, whether spiritual, grounded either upon works or upon faith; constituting the religious state of their souls, or their degree in religion, according as it influences their mind, and turns their heart to the first, or to the second covenant: at which second and superior religious system I understand the soul arrives, after having been prepared to it by the previous instructions of the Mosaic law, and of the sojourning in Egypt, in the wilderness, in Babylon, in the city of David, and other mental abodes; also by the baptism of repentance, &c. As it is written of Christ in the Psalms and in the Prophets, I think that in some places the words Zion and Jerusalem, the holy mountain, that is the dwelling of the Lord, may be understood as signifying Him or His doctrine, which I take for the desired habitation, and the rest of the Lord. (Ps. 132. 13, 14.) The Scripture speaking of Jerusalem and Zion, before the going to Babylon and after the return from it, I think it would be well to follow the same plan, and to represent them, or the spirit of the Church, in two different degrees; first, before the captivity in the Babylonian error; and, secondly, after the release from it; making a distinction between both, between the bondwoman and the freewoman, between the Zion and Jerusalem of works and the Zion and Jerusalem of |