to a great and high mountain, (the mount Zion, the exalted spirit of holiness,) and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God." This great city is built by God himself: see Heb. Xi, 10, "For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker. God." Whereas we have seen that the city Babylon was invented by men, the buildings also of that wicked city are men's inventions; but the buildings of this great city are those people who are built for an habitation of God through the spirit, Eph. 11, 22; for this great city means the church of Christ which is his body, the fulness of him who filleth all in all, Eph. I, 23: for it is the bride, the Lamb's wife, and if I understand Eph. I, 23, it says, that the church or body of Christ is all things, and if so, this great city when it is completed so that Christ shall fill all in all, will comprise All of all nations.—From verse 11, to the end of the chapter, is represented the excellent qualities of the spirits of them who believe in Christ so as to be parts of this city, or habitation of God.

1stly. "The walls of the city," meaning salvation which surrounds them.

2ndly. "The gates of the city," meaning the passages of the soul, out at which flow prayers and praises; and in at which, flows the grace of God.

3dly. "Three gates each way; east, west, north, and south," showing that they pray for all, and praise God for his goodness to all men, and that the grace of God flows to them from all things, adversity as well as prosperity.

4thly. "The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve Apostles," meaning that the Apostles were the first in this salvation.

5thly, "The city is square, and equal in length, breadth, and height," meaning that they are built

up in the square equality of truth and righteous

ness..

6thly. "Its wall was of jasper, and the city of pure gold," showing that the salvation, and those who are saved, are very rich and have precious privileges.

7thly. "The foundations of the wall garnished with all manner of precious stones," showing that the doctrine of the Apostles was valuable and precious .

8thly. "The street of the city pure gold, like transparent glass," shows that their standing is clear, that is, nothing in it to prevent one from seeing how they walk, because they walk honest ly as in daytime.

9thly."No temple in the city, for God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it," shows that there is nothing in their religion which was built by the wisdom of man, for God and Christ are all their dependance.

10thly. "No need of the sun or moon to lighten the city, for the glory of God and the Lamb are the light of it." It means that they do not need the wisdom of men to instruct them, because they have that anointing that teacheth them of all things, 1. John Ii, 27.

11thly. "The kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it." We have seen that the kings of the earth were all 'slain in the battle at Armageddon, mentioned in xix, 19, 21, and their flesh eaten by the fowls of heaven. But they were the kings of the first earth, which passed away; but these are the kings of the new earth, meaning the leading motives to serve God, and all the glory and honor of these excellent motives are brought together into the habitation of God in the soul, for that is where the soul receives glory, honor, and peace in well-doing.

12thly. "The gates are not shut at all by day, and there is no night there." That is, they praises

P2

and pray without ceasing, and grace continually flows to them, and the inspirations of the spirit of Christ constantly enlighten them.

CHAPTER XXII.

pure

VERSE 1, "A river of water of life," mean ing the holy spirit of God.

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VERSE 2, "And in the midst of the street of it (that is, the street of the city,) and on either side of the river, the tree of life." This is another repres sentation of the church, for it is said, Psalm I, 2, 3, That they who delight in the law of the Lord shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither. Jer. xvii, 7, 8, saith, that the man whose hope the Lord is, shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and spreadeth out her root by the river, and shall not see when heat cometb, but her leaf shall be green. Question,. What is the fruit? Answer, It is good works, an upright life and conversation, works of love to men, doing good to them at every opportunity; which is yielding fruit every month,, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations." The leaves of the tree, mean the words of the testimony of truth, As the leaves of a tree are put forth and made to grow by the sap, or juice, of the tree which lives and circulates through the whole tree, so the words of the testimony of truth which are spoken by the Saints, are put forth by the living word, or spirit of God in the soul, and these wordsare healing to the souls of men. When any are wounded by sin, these words proclaim forgiveness of sins by the blood of Jesus; when any are cast down with doubts and fears, these words proclaim health and salvation to the sick and weak soul through the precious Jesus. And thus the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

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Now, in regard to this great city, the first timeit is mentioned by name, is chap, xxi, verse 2,. "And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, as a bride adorned for her husband," On which, (as I have noticed other particulars, and as this is the last figure I have to treat of,) I would submit the following advice and considerations :. You are not to suffer your mind to run literally upon this subject, according to the old, dark idea, as though some hundreds of years hence, a certain great temporal city will come down to this literal earth adorned with streets and walls of literal gold and precious stones, and pearls, from up above the literal starry heavens where it is now imagined to exist, and is only waiting for the end of the mate rial world, and then it will come down, &c. But, if you would get instruction, consider,

1st. That the dispensation of Christ is a spirit ual dispensation ever since his spiritual reign or kingdom begun, and is not of this world, of course, none of the things, nor elements of this world are any part of Christ's Kingdom while in their present state, and, of course, must be all renovated. before they can be any part of his Kingdom, or of this city," new Jerusalem," which is his Kingdom, for its being called "new Jerusalem," signi fies that it is in a new-made, or renovated state,. from which you may see, that this Scripture does not allude to literal things, but to spiritual things.

2ndly. I will now speak of its coming down from God out of heaven, as a bride adorned for her husband.. As a bride retires to the chamber to put on her attire, and her ornaments to prepare to stand with her bridgroom at her marriage, so the soul retires from every thing outward and lit eral, into the secret silence of the mind where he can find God and heaven, and while he there bows to, adores, and loves God, he receives thef garments of salvation, and "the ornaments of a

meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price," like those precious things which are said to adorn this city, 1. PET. II, 4* There also he receives the testimony, and in this testimony he comes "down from God out of heaven, like a bride adorned. for her busband." I mean that the soul is now prepared to stand with the spirit of Christ in the testimony of truth, as a bride. stands by her husband in marriage, that in this testimony he comes down to the understanding of those who are ignorant, and in this sense are as much below the knowledge of God as the literal earth is below the starry heaven. I would here observe that there is not enough of this retiring, and waiting on the spirit of Christ for the testimo ny, for it is still so smoky in the moral world, that but few have yet learned how much, or how great a degree of the anointing that teacheth all things, (which is the inspiration of God,) a man. may now receive. It is obvious that very few have any faith in it, and, of course, they never look for it, and consequently remain entirely ignorant of it; let such a person remember, that all he can say against present inspiration, can prove nothing more than this, that he is entirely ignorant of the subject..

now

NOTE. I have now presented the reader a "Key" tơ › open the mysteries of this book, called "Revelation," and if you wish to know what it is that I call this "Key? I answer: It is the manifest sense of the rest of the Holy Scriptures, which I have used as a "Key" to open the mysteries of this book; and I hope it will not be in vain that 1 have handed this "Key" to you; and if you are doubtful whether I have presented the manifest sense 01 the rest of the Scriptures in this case, you must search the Scriptures. for yourselves, and see: as those quotations which I have here made, will, of course, help you in searching for yourselves. I could have quoted Scriptures which would obvi ously have substantiated nearly every individual explanation which I have given, and this I should have done, but that I was unable to undertake so large a publication as this would then have been. There are several things Bow to be noted: