God, and must have been in his mind all through his dealings with the earth and with Jerusalem on the earth; and was it not that having thus fashioned things on the earth according to a pattern of things in the heavens, that therefore he bore with all the evil of the earthly failing thing, even because his eye the while rested upon the unfailing heavenly one? There is a depth too in the word holy as used in this connection which may not be passed over. The term holy simply means separated; but the measure of separation has varied in the things to which it has been applied: the temple was holy, but it has been overthrown. Jerusalem was the holy city, it has been sowed with salt: but in all these and other such cases the holiness was in man's day; not so in the matter before us, for here God has not displayed himself in man's circumstances, fashioning therein something for himself for a while, but has brought man into his own blessed and eternal circumstances, and the holy here, therefore, is of an abiding permanent character, for it implies not a separation simply to God, but, if one may so say, a separation into God himself and into his glory. And all the deep moral glory which has been shewn by God in his conduct toward Jerusalem, the unholy on earth, the church triumphant shall be the witness of in the resurrectionglory. This is no little matter, as such passages as these will shew us:-Ex. xxxiii. 17, “And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I beseech thee shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock; and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by; and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not be seen.... and the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children unto the third and fourth generation. And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped." The name or character of God as here presented was just the basis of all God's dealings with Israel and Jerusalem, and the full presentation of it, as prayed for, by the Lord in Ps. liv., Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength," is just the latter-day glory: but forasmuch (as we shall hereafter see) the earthly part of the latter-day glory is only a reflection in miniature in different matter indeed of the heavenly, it is in the heavenly alone that the name will be found in all its fullest manifestation. Another passage as connected with God's immutable truth and faithfulness of purpose to Israel, presenting principles, yet more largely developed in this scene, as has been shewn in Numb. xxiii. 19," God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold I have received commandment to bless, and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them." A most marvellous word to be found in a book which, if it records the numbering of the people in the camp, records also the numbering of the transgressions and rebellions of that people, and is a sort of catalogue or calendar of iniquities. Yet so it was as to Israel, and so will it be found perfectly and eternally in the new Jerusalem. Because He is God, he acts in and from his own purpose, in a fulness of patience quite unwearyable, and in faithfulness and truth to his own purposes and promises, come what may from those whom he is leading on. Blessed for us poor worms that it is so; for thus he makes us that which he would have us to be! The descending out of heaven as the city is here seen to be, marks its STATE during the thousand years, and therefore must be looked at a little. In 1 Thess. iv. 16, we read the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. This last clause here seems to describe two things; the continuing in the preencse of the Lord, and the manner of it so, i.e., in the clouds, where we meet him. For such is the residence of the saints during the 1000 years, whatever progresses thence they may make, as having that world subjected to them, and having with the Lord to reign over it, even as heaven is now the residence of the angels to whom the world has been subjected, and who are sent forth ministering spirits to minister unto them that shall be heirs of salvation. The two last verses of the 4th chapter of Isaiah tell of the same place. "And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain." The new heavens and the new earth spoken of in the first verse of the 21st chapter of Revelations clearly are not brought forth till after* the 1000 years, for it is not till the close of that day that the great white throne is placed, and the former heavens and former earth pass away, nor till then is death abolished and the sea done away. Yet during the 1000 years there is a partial exhibition of this new heavens and new earth in connection with the Land. This glory of God being set above the heavens being probably the power of both. At all events, it is the power of the heavenly blessing: the renovation of the earth partially may be proved by other passages, but the limitation of the blessing there will be found to be to the Land, as the following citations prove: Isaiah iv. 2, 6; xi. 6, 7, 8, 9; xxx. 19-26; xxxv. 1—10; lii. 9; lv. 12, 13; lxv, 8-end; Jer. xxxi. 5,9; Eze. xxxiv. 11—16, 23—31; Hos. ii. 18-23; Joel ii. 19–27; iii. 17, 18; Amos ix. 13-15. The moral and visible connection of the two in one, looked at from beneath, is most blessedly described in Hosea ii. 19, "I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies: I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the Lord. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel." And the righteous and glorious connection of the two, looked at from above, is shewn also in John i. 51, "Here * Some have found or thought they found an objection to this in 2 Pet. iii. 10; where speaking of the day of the Lord, he says, "In the which the heavens shall pass away,.. and the earth.. be burned." The answer to which objection is simply, that the things referred to will take place in the day of the Lord, as Peter states; but in the evening and not morn ing of it, for so John states, and Peter touches not upon the part of the day of the Lord in which these things are to be at all. after ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.' : But while the position is marked by the expression " descending," surely to us, who have known the heavenly calling with its rich fund of blessings and wonder, the clause which follows, "out of heaven," must awaken thoughts of joy and of wonder too. Heaven has been, by faith, our home and dwelling place ever since the person of the Holy Ghost came down to make the church in earth his dwelling, as the proof and result of heaven being opened consequent upon acceptance of the work of Jesus, in his resurrection-life, and ascension-glory. Thence onward we have seen, it may be as through a glass very darkly, yet still we have seen into heaven and the glory there, which is ours, and we have seen not only blessing and glory, but wonders and mysteries connected with them most marvellous. The person of Jesus seated, after having purged our sins, upon the throne of the majesty in the highest, full of all spiritual blessings for us, all things put under his feet for us, head over all things to us, made so by God on whose throne he sits. This is our blessing for present enjoyment; our glory is found in the inseparableness of our very being from him, for being dead and our life hid with Christ in God, we know that when he shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory. But besides this, the vision to faith of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus, there in heaven for us, has brought to light strange things for this treasure at once manifests the earthen character of the vessel in which it is, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us, and the more we live in communion with him, the more shall we know this; but this light so shining has revealed also in heaven marvels such as we knew not, and such as magnify the grace and whole name of the God with whom we have to do, and set forth his patience and faithfulness and power too. I refer to the enlarged discovery made to us of the results of sin in the discovery of the wiles of the devil. Eph. vi. 12, " For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places." And in Rev. xii. the power and leading of these adverse powers is shewn to us, "War in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night ... therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath." What a fearful discovery this of the power and working of the enemy to any one who will allow God's Word to mean what it says. What an opening too of the depths of God's patient faithful grace. Marvellous as grace seems when looked at merely as connected with sin at work on earth; it is much more marvellous, yea, unsearchably so, when this light breaks in and shews as it were the inroad sin has made into the very heart of the Divine dominions. It shews how very present a thing sin (that hateful nauseous thing) has been to God, the root and ringleader of it, not confined to the outer circle of our earth, but intruding into God's very presence, and yet our God unprovoked, patient, forbearing, faithful to his own counsel and the objects of his borne it all; yet not from want of power (yea, rather it is his conscious fulness grace, has of power which has enabled him to bear with it all (man in little power has not patience even with himself); and here we have (the heavens having been cleared of all intruding evil) the flowings forth of the stream of blessing and glory, and the controversy between God and Satan about the earth and man on it, proved to be coming toward a close by the city of God seen descending out of heaven. And it comes "from God;" for the power of the wicked one will then have been circumscribed, himself first cast down from the heavenlies so as no longer to be able to mimic the actings of God, as in the case of Job, and then shut up in the bottomless pit, chained, that the earth may keep an holy sabbath unto God. The Lord hasten the day. MISCELLANEOUS. THE GOSPEL IN AFRICA. [The following extract from a letter, dated Feb., 1840, written by a lady, now at Grigna town (a mission station, as it may be called of one of the Missionary Societies) presents an interesting proof of God's working in his own energy, in spreading truth apart from all systems.] The "Almost all the male members of any standing are preachers, local or itinerant; for every one who knows the Gospel is expected to do what he can to make it known to others. The mission has been for some time in a very prosperous state, owing to a cause, simple in itself, but remarkably indicating the Divine hand. fountain of Grigna Town was nearly the largest in Africa: many people were collected here; and the mission was almost confined to this spot, when suddenly the fountain ceased to run, consequently the ground could no longer be cultivated, and the people were obliged to disperse the effect was similar to that of the persecution in Samaria. "They that were scattered abroad, went every where preaching the word." Heathen were converted, churches formed, discipline maintained in them, and the most experienced among these simpleminded christians conduct their public worship. In most of these places : they have built themselves chapels and school-rooms; and all this has been done without the instrumentality, and, in some instances, without even the knowledge of the Missionaries. A female, called by the Missionaries Sister Seena, has been very useful in this way: she has a large school established by herself; and in addition to this, she assembles the people on the Lord's day, reads and prays with them, and if there is no male christian present preaches too. We have visited Sister Seena and her station, as well as several others. The chapel in which she officiates was built by another sister, named Myche, a widow with a large family; who in her younger days was equally useful. The most interesting and striking of these branch churches are two formed among the Batlapi, a tribe of Bechuanas on the Vaal River; one under the government of Siminu; the other under the old chief Mateebe (where we expect to go). A young heathen named Mokame, having been converted during a visit at Grigna Town, began immediately on his return home, to proclaim to his countrymen Jesus and his salvation; many received the Gospel, and the people generally were anxious to hear more of these things, and to be able to read for themselves. The Missionaries knew nothing of all this, until, to their astonishment, the people began to flock into Grigna Town, fill their outhouses, and literally beset them from morning till night with their demands to know more of the Saviour, and to be taught to read. The Missionaries had full employment all day in teaching A B C, and when they were obliged to cease, the poor people would go and take hold of any little child that could read and make him instruct them. They came in groups, and as soon as one party had learnt a little they returned to tell it to others at home, and were sure to meet another party coming on the same errand, who would, in their turn, be followed by others. And from time to time Mokame himself comes into the Missionaries, saying he has told the people all he knows, they must teach him a little more! There are now 300 of these people whom the Missionaries believe to be sincere Christians. Mokame still labours among them with success, a number of schools are established; and the Missionaries visit this and the other stations about once in three months. There are about 20 native teachers thus employed without any other appointment than the consent of the Churches, their evident fitness for the work, and the seal of God upon their labours. Some of these receive sums from individual Christians, sufficient to enable them to devote themselves entirely to the work, otherwise great part of their time must necessarily be occupied in providing support for their families; £10 per annum is enough for a native teacher. The Missionaries here were delighted at our arrival, they hope now to be able to make fresh inroads on the enemy's country; we must have other stations branching out from us, supplied in like manner by the native brethren, as the Missionaries designate them, and the Sichmana language is so extensively spoken in the interior that when we are perfect masters of it, I trust we shall be privileged to carry the Gospel where it has never yet been heard. We accompaniedon his last itinerating tour. One evening we outspanned near a cattle-post, inhabited by a number of ignorant Bechuanas. was not sufficiently acquainted with the language; but after we had retired to rest, our driver, entirely of his own accord, and after a fatiguing day's journey went in, and preached to his fellow-countrymen. Many interesting incidents occur during the Missionaries' visit to these places. I will mention one:-one night, long after had retired to rest in his waggon, he was disturbed by a pulling at the tent, as if some one was trying to enter. He shouted, thinking it was a dog; but the noise continuing, he arose to see, and found it was a man: the poor fellow said" He wanted to hear more of the good word.” MORMONISM. Dear Sir,―The following, put as it is (in the form of a small four-paged tract) has been circulated by a Clergyman in the neighbourhood of Ledbury; where as well as around Worcester, Mormonism is rapidly and widely spreading, particularly among the Wesleyaus. The simple account it gives of the origin of this delusion, may be of interest. "My dear Friends,-One of the duties which I solemnly engaged to perform when I was ordained a Minister of God by the hands of a Christian Bishop was, that, the Lord being my helper, I would be ready, with all faithful diligence, to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines, contrary to God's word:'to lift up my voice in warning, against all errors calculated to injure the souls committed to my charge. It is in discharge of this duty, that I address these few pages to you. I have seen with great regret, that for several months past, a set of men, calling themselves Latter-day Saints or Mormonites, have been going up and down among you, |