(4.) Ezekiel asserts that, "The leaf thereof shall be for mediSt John tells us, And the leaves of the tree were for

cine."

66

the healing of the nations."

These documents are quite sufficient to establish the certainty of their coincidence.

It may be objected, That they do not agree with regard to number. Ezekiel speaks of them as being "very many;" whereas John's account is in the singular. But a little attention to the description given by St John will convince us that it necessarily implies a plurality. "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life.” According to the most limited meaning that can be applied to the words there must be three. But the nature of the expression will properly admit of an indefinite number.

Is it not, then, in the highest degree probable that the fruit and leaves of the tree of life, and the water of life, will, in some way or other, be ordained by the Most High the means of restoring the human race to, and preserving them in, their primitive state of immortality? There certainly is nothing unreasonable, extravagant, or fanciful in the supposition. And the perfect agreement of every part of the descriptions with each other, (which no other interpretation will admit of,) strongly indicates it to be what was intended by the Sacred Spirit. And when any portions of Scripture are capable of such a rational and consistent literal exposition, what necessity is there, for the sake of a fancied, far-fetched, and distorted spirituality, of turning them into mystery, and rendering them worse than incomprehensible?

It is the opinion of some eminent writers that the original tree of life in the Garden of Eden possessed the peculiar property of keeping the human body in a state of immortality, free from decay and death. From the words of Moses, (Gen. iii. 22, 23,) according to the most correct rendering, this sentiment appears highly probable. And this probability is increased almost to certainty by the view given us in the above quotations from Ezekiel and John. While, at the same time, the literal sense that has been given of those passages is equally confirmed by its harmonising so completely with the Mosaic account of the primitive tree of life.

The subject will receive additional light and confirmation from other prophetic parts of Holy Writ.

3. Ps. xlvi. 4, "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God; the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High."

The prophetic language of this psalm appears to be that of the seed of Jacob after their renovation, and the commence

ment of the Redeemer's literal reign on Mount Zion, when the judgments of the Lord will be poured out on the wicked in the refractory nations. Thus viewed, the language of the psalm, and the circumstances described in it, are very appropriate; and, by a little transposition of the words in the verse just quoted, its import will more clearly appear. Take it thus: "There is a river" proceeding "from the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God." But without any transposition the meaning is sufficiently obvious. The satisfaction and joy of the inhabitants of the future earthly Jerusalem, produced by the numerous and valuable benefits which will accrue to them from the water of life, appear to be the subject contained in this prediction. Its harmony with the passages before considered is apparent, and the meaning is simple and easy.

4. Joel iii. 18, “And a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the Valley of Shittim."

From the nature of the language, we need not hesitate a moment to decide, that the fountain here spoken of is that of the water of life, according to the descriptions before given. But there is some difficulty in apprehending the manner in which this prediction can be realised. The phrase, "and shall water the Valley of Shittim," seems to imply that the river of the water of life will visit and water that valley in its course towards the Asphaltic Lake. This lake lies to the east and south-east of Jerusalem; and the Valley of Shittim lies beyond it, on its eastern side. The water of life, therefore, in order to run through that valley before it enters the Sea of Sodom, must wind round either its northern or southern extremity. But at the northern end the river Jordan enters it, and another river of considerable size. At the southern extremity, also, two rivers, or considerable brooks, empty themselves into it. How the river of life, then, can flow to this valley without being arrested by those rivers, or interfering with them, is a difficulty which is not easily solved. Nevertheless, from the words of the angel to the prophet Ezekiel, (chap. xlvii. 8,) "Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed," it appears somewhat probable that the river may take an extensive range, and visit a considerable part of the desert south of the lake before it enters it. If this should be the case, it may possibly wind round the sources of those rivers that run into the southern extremity of that sea, and so arrive at the Valley of Shittim in its course.

But, perhaps, the expression of "watering the Valley of Shittim," may signify no more than washing the shores of it, after having been mixed with the water of the Dead Sea. If this be admitted, there is then not the least difficulty in the case. For if the water of life be supposed to take an eastern direction from Jerusalem, there would be no river to prevent its running directly into the lake, opposite the Valley of Shittim. But, in whatever manner the Lord may be pleased to perform it, the prediction will most assuredly be accomplished.

But is it possible that any person can seriously believe that the Holy Spirit intended to convey no other idea in these words than this, that the barren nations of the Gentile world should be watered by the preaching of the gospel, accompanied by the powerful effusions of the Spirit of Christ?

5. Zech. xiv. 8, "And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be." Ezekiel had before indefinitely informed us (chap. xlvii. 9) that there would be two rivers; but this prediction of Zechariah not only confirms it, but fixes also in the most definite manner, the division of the water of life into two equal streams, the direction and termination of both their courses; that one part will flow toward the former sea, meaning the Sea of Sodom; and the other part toward the hinder, or Mediterranean Sea; and the permanency of those circumstances also is here expressed, that summer or winter will make no difference therein.

In the following places also there is probably a reference to the water of life :-Ps. xxxvi. 8, 9; Isa. xii. 3; Rev. vii. 17.

Upon the whole, we may observe, that as, on the one hand, the circumstances contained in the literal sense of these passages are so harmonious, so plain and easy, so rational, and, at the same time, so suitable to the nature of things contained in various other parts of prophecy, and, on the other hand, as every attempt to make them figurative necessarily renders them at best mysterious, and their meaning perfectly uncertain, reason powerfully declares which side of the question we ought to take, and which is the more likely to have been intended by the Spirit of God.

If the whole of this matter be deliberately and candidly viewed in union with the preceding parts, the author is at a loss to discover any objection that can be made to it on rational principles, and is not concerned to anticipate such as may arise from those of an opposite nature.

ART. III. THE DAY OF THE LORD IN THE EPISTLES

OF PAUL.

Ir is sometimes said that the general views advocated in this Journal are founded only upon dark and mysterious passages, and have no support in the plainer and more didactic portions of Scripture, and that, therefore, their correctness is to be regarded as, at least, very doubtful. This, however, is a mistake. They are not only to be discovered in passages that are mysterious, but are clearly and unmistakeably taught in passages that are in the highest degree didactic and plain.

None of the sacred writers is more free from the darkness and obscurity of metaphor and symbol than the apostle Paul; and he most emphatically insists upon these views, and most evidently proceeds upon them throughout his whole writings. We propose briefly to go over the passages wherein he speaks of the day of the Lord, for the purpose of ascertaining the amount of information he gives us on this subject. The passages in which he refers to it are very numerous, and may be classified in various ways, but the following classification seems to us to be as convenient as any for our present purpose:-1. Passages which teach what events shall happen in that day, and their order; 2. Passages which teach its nearness or remoteness, or rather its imminence.

I. The first passage to which we may refer under this head is Rom. viii. 18-23, in which Paul speaks of the manifestation of the sons of God, of the glory that shall be revealed in us, and of the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. It is hardly necessary to remark that the redemption of the body is its deliverance from the power of death at the resurrection of the just, or the better resurrection; that the saints shall then be raised in glory and the living changed; glory shall be revealed in them through their bodies, and thus the sons of God shall be manifested. This revelation of the sons of God takes place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, as appears from Col. iii. 4. It is interesting to compare the parallelism of ideas in the two passages in the original: Col. iii. 4, ̔́Οταν ὁ Χριστὸς φανερωθῆ, ἡ ζωὴ ἡμῶν, τότε καὶ ὑμεῖς σὺν αὐτῷ φανερωθήσεσθε ἐν δόζη. Rom. viii. 18, τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν ἀποκαλυφθῆναι εἰς ἡμᾶς. Rom. viii.

19, . τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ. The glory by which they shall be revealed is material. It is not, of course, to be compared with the spiritual glory that underlies it, which consists in perfect likeness to Christ Jesus, in the possession of

the perfectly-restored image of God. This latter glory is of an entirely different and infinitely higher nature than the former, and is altogether independent of it, and, in a sense, the only real glory. The material is, on the contrary, dependent on the spiritual; it is its outward expression, as it were; its accompaniment and consequence. The material cannot be without the spiritual, while the spiritual may exist in all its perfection without the material, as appears from our Lord's humiliation, although such a separation can only be temporary; and the material must at last shine out from the spiritual and continue permanently to proceed from it, as in the case of the saints, through the body which shall be redeemed. We are told in Phil. iii. 20, 21, that the Lord at His coming shall change our vile body, (τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν,) that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body. We are not concerned here with all the qualities which glorified bodies may possess; these are not fully revealed, and if they were, it is probable that we could not comprehend them; but we know in general that they shall be spiritual, incorruptible, immortal, being raised in 夤apoía and clothed with ả¤avaσía, and in particular, that one of their properties shall be a shining brightness and resplendency. This is one of the qualities of our Lord's glorious body; it was seen on the mount of transfiguration, by way of prelude, when His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light, and glistering; and more vividly and overpoweringly by Paul, when it shone round about him on the way to Damascus with a splendour exceeding even the brilliance of the noon-day sun. This glory is different from the Shechinah, as appears from the accounts of the transfiguration; but, like the Shechinah to the Egyptians and Israelites, it is terrible to His enemies, while it is an object of admiring wonder and delight to His people. To His enemies it appears as a flame of devouring fire, for He shall be revealed to them thereby, év Tupi pλoyòs (2 Thess. i. 8); and there is a power in it whereby they shall be driven to destruction, ȧπò Tŷs dóns Tŷs ioxúos avτoû; so also 2 Thess. ii. 8, and shall destroy τῇ ἐπιφανεία τῆς παρουσίας αὑτοῦ. He is revealed first, and the sons of God are manifested by participation in His glory; and He is glorified in them and admired, (1 Thess. i. 10,) chiefly, no doubt, for the moral or spiritual glory of their salvation, but also for the material glory which He confers upon them, and which they derive from Him. Not only does Paul inform us that the saints themselves shall shine with this glory, but also that their inheritance shall be