of men shall be made low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Isaiah ii. 17.

2. IF THE EARTHLY JERUSALEM IS IN THE AGES TO COME TO BE THUS GLORIOUS, WHAT WILL BE THE SURPASSING GLORIES OF THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM The scriptures clearly reveal two Jerusalems; one earthly, the other heavenly. THE EARTHLY JerusaLEM is now trodden under foot of the Gentiles. Luke xxi. 24. It is in bondage with her children. Gal. iii. 25. But this earthly Jerusalem is only so trodden down till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. In the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power, the kingdom will be restored again to Israel (Acts i. 6, 7); and under the new covenant, the city shall be built to the Lord. Jer. xxxi. 31-40. THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM, on the other hand, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. This is the glorious inheritance of the saints, the first fruits unto God and the Lamb. It is the scripture term for the description of the fullest blessedness of the glorified church. Ye are come to the Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant. The minute description of the restored earthly Jerusalem we have in the latter chapters of Ezekiel; and the rich descriptions of the glories of the heavenly Jerusalem we have in the 21st chapter of Revelation; and these descriptions have many corresponding agreements and differences which shew that the one is but the type of the other, and designed to shadow forth its superior glory. The earthly has a fixed place on earth in the land of Judea; the heavenly descends from heaven. The earthly is the residence of men in the flesh; the heavenly is the perfected communion of the saints in glory. In the

earthly, present human circumstances and relations still subsist. There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for every age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Zech. viii. 4, 5. Isaiah Ixvi. 20. In the heavenly, among the glorified saints, in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. Matt. xxii. 30. The earthly is the joy of the whole earth. Psalm xlviii. 2; and Jacob is called to walk in the light of the Lord. Isa. ii. 5. But the heavenly reigns over the whole earth (Dan. iv. 26; vii. 18, 27. Luke xxii. 29, 30); and the nations of them that are saved walk in the light of it. Rev. xxii. 24. The earthly has its gates open continually they shall not be shut day nor night. Isaiah Ix. 11. Of the heavenly it is said, The gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. The earthly is built of earthly materials; the heavenly is of unearthly materials, of pure gold like glass. The earthly is of human size and admeasurement; the heavenly is of breadth, and length, and height all equal, shewing that our bondage relation to earth and space has all ceased. It far surpasses all cities of this world. Glorious as is the earthly Jerusalem, the heavenly infinitely exceeds it: as the perfect blessedness of the saints in their state of glory will infinitely surpass the most prosperous condition of men living in the flesh. The Saviour will indeed manifest his presence on earth, for it is his wonderful and peculiar attribute to be able to describe himself as in heaven and on earth at the same time. No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. John iii. 13. He has his temple therefore in the earthly Jerusalem, and it will be enlightened with his glory. Exek. xliii. But the heavenly Jerusalem possesses a far fuller blaze of his glory.

St. John (xxi. 22, 23, says, I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of sun neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. In the Old Testament we have the full descriptions of the earthly Jerusalem; and in the book of Revelation those descriptions are used as the basis, the type and figure of the heavenly, with such additions as shew its superior glory. Nor can the description in the 21st chapter of Revelation be taken merely in the literal sense. The apostle says he was carried away in the spirit, and there is an evident incongruity in the literal sense of the symbols. A city and a bride as being truly one, taken literally, is unmeaning; figuratively it alludes to the whole body of the church, animated with one soul. A city 1500 miles long, broad, and high, is quite opposed to our present ideas of material laws or possibilities, yet figuratively resembling the holy of holies of old, which was four-square, it may teach us that in our spiritual bodies we shall not be so limited by the laws of matter and space as we now are. Spirits are not confined to localities, and can have a perfected union and communion far beyond our present conceptions.

Learn THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES BOTH OF THE WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. This is the great lesson which the apostle teaches as the issue of the dealings of God with Jews and Gentiles. Dark as in ages past his dispensations may have seemed to man, there is a largeness and comprehensiveness, and an equity and a loving-kindness, beyond-far beyond our thoughts. There is a fulness of wisdom, goodness, and glory in them, designed to bring on, in the result, higher and fuller, and still higher and fuller degrees of blessedness, in a growing progress, through eternity, to the praise of the glory of his grace. This blessedness also is not a selfish and in

dividual happiness merely, but it is an enlarged, a corporate and universal blessedness of sanctified men on earth, with angels and glorified saints in heaven, and uniting all creation; it being the good pleasure which God hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. Eph. i. 11. All things being by the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, brought into subjection to him, that at length God may be all in all,-Then his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads; aud there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and

ever.

In conclusion, let one and all, in this our day of grace, COME TO CHRIST THE SURE LIGHT OF LIFE. Much as the merely spiritualizing of the Old Testament has led men's minds from its true literal application to Israel, there is a just spiritual application of our text, that points out the way to the highest glories of the cburch. St. Paul apparently alluding to this passage of Isaiah, after shewing that Christians were sometimes darkness, but now are light in the Lord, bids us walk as the children of the light, and exhorts us (Eph. v. 14), Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. O let us not sleep as do others; but seeing what a glorious prize is set before us, let us willingly make present sacrifices to attain the full reward. Christ calls us as well as the Jews, Arise and shine. He tells us he is our light our light then is come; O believe in Jesus! O come to him! and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shall shine in your hearts in the face of Jesus Christ.

DISCOURSE XIII.

THE EFFECT OF ZION'S BLESSEDNESS ON THE WORLD.

[PREACHED AT YORK, SEPT. 23, 1838.]

ISAIAH XXVII. 6.

He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit.

THIS is one of many blessed promises to Israel coming in a series of predictions, contained in this and the three former chapters, which have never yet been fulfilled.

The opening verse of this chapter is, In that day the Lord, with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan, the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

Comparing this verse with Rev. xix. 19, and xx. we may see they refer to the same period, And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army, that is, against our Lord Christ. And the beast was taken, and with him the