It is also to be observed, that the names are said to be not after the names of the children of Israel, but after the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. The names are twelve, the same in both cases, and the moral character and conduct of the twelve patriarchs on the same side (opposition to God) as the twelve tribes descended from them, but the volume of sin and iniquity is broader and deeper, and fuller, and more continuous in the twelve tribes than in the patriarchs themselves, and it would seem to me as though this settled which should be mentioned here, for throughout the whole account of the city, and amid all its glory, "grace" shines most conspicuously. In the 13th verse, where the fourfold division of the twelve gates into three on each side is mentioned, the order given is, east, north, south, and west, while the order in Jehovah-shammah is north, cast, south, and west. I note this merely from the feeling that no iota in the scripture is without meaning, and surely this little circumstance very simply throws us upon a very sweet and lovely subject-how that while the heavens and the earth, in that day shall be the double witness to Jesus, every knee in heaven and earth bending, and every tongue confessing to Him as Lord of all, to the glory of God the Father, yet that each sphere has its own proper order of blessing, and that the heavenly order of things differs from the earthly. The order in the earthly city is quite according to man's mind-north, east, south, and west; the order in the heavenly city is out of the order of man's mind-east, north, south and west, and I cannot but feel (little as the circumstance seems) it does very truly bring to our minds that most important and governing truth in 1 Cor. ii., how the natural man and the natural mind cannot understand the things of God, for they are foolishness unto him; and so it puts us upon the blessed remembrance, that we have the mind of Christ, which looks at things in an order quite peculiar to itself. There is one other point I would just note here, and that is the distinct and definite character of the order of heaven. The city had twelve gates, three on a side. Could any thing be more orderly? I see and know many, now-a-days, who confound spiritual order, and disorder, as though they were one and the same thing. Alas, poor man, how accurately is his picture unintentionally drawn, in the description which the poor father gave of his lunatic son: ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water! Having long set up, and cultivated, and defended an order of the flesh, in the things of God, and subjected God's church, and his truth, and his Spirit to an order of our own, in some church system of our own, no sooner is this discovered and confessed, and ceased from, than many get fully persuaded that as all their ideas hitherto, of order, have been fleshly, that order itself is a fleshly thing. But God is not the author of confusion, but of order, as in all the churches, and though we have to confess that our past order was order of the flesh, and therefore spiritual and moral disorder, yet most assuredly the Spirit's order is most perfect, and though it may be very unlike ours, yet most perfect order, yea, and even formal, so far as that means the order of perfect form. And I can see no more reason for the absence of the most perfect forms of order, and order itself, in the gathering of saints now, than a reason why this most perfect and convenient form of order, of three gates on each of the four sides, should not be in the new Jerusalem. Let the saints only take care really to secure moral and spiritual order perfect, and they will find it both perfect in itself, and though full of life and energy, and power of adapting itself to circumstances, most formal and regular.

What ideas of protection, separation, convenience of arrangement, suitability of appointment, blessedness of access, order, and form, do these two verses (12, 13) depict to us in connection with the city! and how do these things open

to us, as having the mind of Heaven, the moral glory, and characteristics of our God.

14th verse, "And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb."

If any proof were needed of the identity of this city with the church (so largely proved by the context), it might be found in a comparison of this verse and Eph. ii. 19, 22: Ye are... the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles, and prophets,* Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."

The limits and boundary of the city rise from the twelve foundations-and there the weight of the fabric rests, and the Church is built upon the foundation of the apostles, and prophets yet, while both these have a place in the foundation, there is reserved a special place for the apostles as orderers of the church. So far as to the general idea of apostles; though, as we shall see, there is much in particular to be noticed likewise on this subject.

For the names are not simply the names of apostles but of "THE twelve apostles of the Lamb." And this is not a little connected with the dispensational aspect, of the one thousand years of glory. When the Lord comes, he comes as Son of Man to take the kingdom: Dan. vii. 13, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.' The range of his power under this title, as the second Adam the Lord from heaven, seems to be universal. For his name "is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philip. ii. 11). And this is just the development of that word given in Eden to the virgin Eve— "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head"—and so blessedly unfolded in the substance of the 8th Psalm, as presenting universal dominion. As Son of man, then, he is Lord of the whole earth, and all its nations-Lord of creation and providence, with their stores; and Lord of all powers in heaven and earth.

But at the same time, he will bear the glory of Son of Abraham and Son of David. The former of which titles presents his connection with the household of faith; the second more emphatically with the kingdom of Israel. As Son of Abraham, the true Isaac (or, child of laughter), the heir of promise, he will have a double glory, for he will be head of heavenly and of earthly glory, in the myriads of the subjects of the household of faith in each; both of these

* That these prophets are the New Testament prophets is plain, and not, as some have thought, those of the Old Testament: for they are presented as the foundation in part of the church; and it is said, chap. iii. 2-5, "the dispensation of the grace of God...given me to youward: how that by revelation he made known to me the mystery... which in other ages [and therefore in Old Testament times] was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and PROPHETS by the Spirit." As connected with the foundation, "a prophet" would, I conceive, be any one through whom Scripture was given as the writer of the gospels of St. Mark and St. Luke, and the Acts; for there were apostles through whom no Scripture was given, and also prophets (not apostles) through whom Scripture was given.

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were pointed out to Abraham. In Genesis, chap. xiii., after providence had separated Lot from him, without any peculiar mark of faith on his part; but contrariwise, he had this promise:"Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered" (ver. 14-16). This seems to refer to the EARTHLY family in glory; while what follows, from chap. xv., to the HEAVENLY:t- 'Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them. So shall thy seed be" (ver. 5). The former promise seems to refer to the earthly seed in glory in that day that is coming; the latter to the heavenly. And, as Son of Abraham, this will be Jesus's glory, even headship over the households in heaven and in earth that in earth including more than Israel, as we see in Isaiah xix. 23 : "In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria; and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land; whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance." As Son of Abraham, he is head of the New Jerusalem and of the temple in Jehovah Shammah, and the application of its ordinances to Jew and Gentile: for the nations shall worship him also.

But his glory as Son of David is rather exclusively connected with the kingdom of Israel. This will be seen by God's promise to David, in which we find : "And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people, whom thou hast redeemed out of Egypt? For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people for ever; and thou, Lord, becamest their God. Therefore now, Lord, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, be established for ever, and do as thou hast said.... saying, The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the house of David thy servant be established before thee. For thou, O my God, hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him an house; therefore thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee. And now, Lord, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness unto thy servant; now therefore, let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever; for thou blessest, O Lord, and it shall be blessed for ever" (1 Chron. xvii. 21-27). The same may be seen in Psa. lxxxix. That a greater than Solomon is here is plain from Isa. ix. 7: "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the

* God had told him to get out from his country and his kindred-but he took his father, and Lot, and Lot's wife with him (chap. xi. 31, and xii. 1): and, moreover, his faith had failed; for, when the famine came, he forgot El Shaddai's leading him to the country he knew of, for him, and wandered into Egypt, and there denied and lost Sarah in the court of Pharaoh, and was rebuked by the worldling Egyptian; and the separation from Lot came in providence, not by faith.

This was introduced by Abraham's act of faith (chap. xiv. 22-24): refusing to be made rich by man, lest God should lose the glory; which leads God to say, "I am thy shield and thine exceeding great reward" (chap. xv. 1). And then, to give him the promise (of the desire of his heart) of an heir-yet not one, but many-and of an inheritance -and all this upon the principle, ver.6: "And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it unto him for righteousness."

throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even for ever.

Lord of hosts will perform this."

The zeal of the

As Son of David, he is king of Israel. (In all these glories the Church has a part with him.) And in Luke i. 67—79, these two glories of Son of David and Son of Abraham are blessedly brought out.

Now in each and all of these three characters was he rejected when in the world:-As Son of man when they said, "This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance" (Matt. xxi. 38). As Son of Abraham, because faithful and true, that faithless and wicked generation knew him not; as we see in John viii. 33 to 59; as also in his rejection by the Gentiles. And, as Son of David, he was most surely rejected when the nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom—his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. (Luke xix. 12-14.)

In these things he was rejected, and in these things he shall be honoured. He was rejected, too, as the Lamb, and in the house of Israel; and as the Lamb, and in the house of Israel, he shall be honoured. Now, the twelve apostles were chosen by him for his companions and attendants in his service, in connection with the house of Israel. There they left all to follow him, and there, in the regeneration, shall they sit upon twelve throues, judging the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. Moreover, the glory of this city we are meditating upon, is connected with that day, when the Lamb, as Son of Man, son of Abraham, and son of David, shall be glorified; and therefore are the foundations the foundations of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and involve in them all the blessed characteristics displayed by the Lamb toward the house of Israel in himself, and through the twelve apostles,* in the days of his humiliation. It was not that the church was more formed by the twelve, or that its weight rested more on them; for we know, that though Peter was the chiefest of the apostles, Paul was not one whit behind him-he was the apostle of the uncircumcision, as Peter of the circumcision, the chosen vessel for testimony-the one to whom "the mystery,” and “the heavenly calling," and "the ascension glory," were pre-eminently committed— the one with whom we, dispensationally, have, par excellence, to do. Yet his name is not among the names on the foundations of this city; for the same sovereign grace which had given him his pre-eminence, had also reserved this for the twelve apostles of the Lamb; and it is blessed to see, and to know, that he is not only the sole provider, and giver of grace, and glory, but the blessed distributer and divider to every man severally as he will, according as it is prepared for them by God his Father. And surely there is blessed grace, and perfectness, and character, too, in his love, as displayed in the distribution of glory; for he so does it, as to knit together in one the objects of his love. And if Paul was in labour more abundant than they all, and seemed to the twelve to outstrip them all in patience, and service, and love, this was, while humbling to them, but the memento, as connected with this city, of the freeness of that grace which gave to them to have their names upon the twelve foundations of the city. Paul shall have his place in the glory, too—be it to sit on the right hand, or on the left, in the kingdom; and let not the sons of Zebedee come in to say, whose these places shall be. Their own are fixed

* On the distinction between the apostleship of Peter and the Twelve, and that of Paul, see a Tract "On the Nature and Character of Office in the present Dispensation;" also one on the Apostleship of Paul.

from before the foundation of the world by Love Divine, and so is Paul's; and so, brethren, are others, be they what they may; but it is Love Divine, which, under the guidance of Infinite Wisdom, settles the whole, and leaves us lost in wonder, love, and praise, at the greatness and vastness of its ways. May we learn to know the Earner and Caller to Glory, as the Divider and Distributer of it. The whole boundary of the glory rests upon the twelve witnesses of the resurrection from the dead; as said Peter, Acts i. 21, 22: “Of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection." The order, as presented to us by Paul, is somewhat different from this; for this is "the sufferings of Christ, and the glory which should follow." Paul's is "the glory and the suffering;" still the basis of both is one and the same, and the appointed witnesses of it the Twelve. They were witnesses of the resurrection; Paul was witness of the ascension glory, consequent upon resurrection. And, O what grace it is, which in presenting to John (one of the twelve) this city, shews him how his place is, through grace, appointed as being that which in part sustains the burden! See how he loves to open to us his grace! Surely there is no grace so rich as this! The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, know very well, that the only worker, the only burden-bearer, in this matter, is God,- for salvation belongeth unto the Lord. But they have, one and all of them, this grace, to put the objects of their love in such places as for them to be the honour of the work, and of the service rendered, resting in part upon them. What grace this! and how blessedly does it open the high calling of the church-bought by the Father with the costly ransom of the blood of his dear Son, and so wrought upon, and sustained and used by the Spirit, as to be fellow-labourers with God, fellow-workers together with him; and that not only now before man, and principalities, and powers, but in the glory too! May the grace which gives to man such honour as this, fill our souls with admiration and praise! "And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." This terminates the apostle's gaze upon the city.

is

MISCELLANEOUS.

NOTICE OF THE LOLLARDS:

SIR LEWIS CLIFFORD.

SIR Lewis Clifford, Knight, of ancient and noble family, and having at one time of his life large possessions, flourished in the reigns of Richard II. and Henry IV. He is conspicuous in ecclesiastical history as a favourer of the Lollards. In the year 1395, the Lollards affixed to the doors of Westminster Abbey certain" conclusions," highly condemnatory of the Established Church; the second" con

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clusion" may be taken as a specimen of the rest of that extraordinary document. “Our usual priesthood, which took its original at Rome, and is feigned to be a power higher than angels, is not the priesthood which Christ ordained to his disciples. This conclusion is thus proved; foras much as the Romish priesthood is done with signs, and pontifical rites, and ceremonies, and benedictions, of no force and effect, neither having any ground in Scripture, forasmuch as the Bishop's Ordinal and the New Testament do not

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