SE LIBRARY

of similar import;

such as, 'For your shame, ye shall have double, and A.
for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion:
therefore, in their land they shall possess the double,
everlasting joy shall be unto them.' It must be evi-
dent, even from this imperfect translation, that in
this quotation the period of the double' or second
change was expected at the resurrection. In the
original, to which no translation could do justice,
it is, in every case where the expressions occur,
so clear, as to put the hope of the ancient people
of God in the rising from the dead beyond all
question.

It is manifest, then, from the figures, from the types, from the metaphorical as well as the explicit language of the Old Testament, that the resurrection of the just, through the rising of the Messiah from the dead, was the hope which animated and supported the patriarchs, priests, and prophets of old. This hope was neither vaguely nor darkly expressed. If it appear to us to have been but seldom brought forward, it is only because the language we use cannot convey to us, in a translation, the force of the similitudes by which it was preached. 'O my people, I will open your graves;' 'after three days I shall raise you up'; 'together with my dead body shall they arise;' are sayings, which, if we could enter fully into the spirit and meaning of the sacred language and its figures, we should find re-echoed in all their preachings, illustrated and enforced in all their worship. The hope therein expressed is the key to all their customs;

without it their actions appear irrational, their words idle sounds, and their ceremonies superstition the most degrading. Take it away, and the Scriptures become a dead letter;-restore it, and we see them 'THE ORACLES OF LIFE!"

CHAPTER XVI.

THE BURNING BUSH.

WHEN the Church of God obtained, for a typical purpose, an earthly inheritance, and became a nation of priests, all their service consisted in carnal ordinances;- -the weapons of their warfare were carnal, and the meats and drinks' of the sanctuary ministered to the wants of the body, while the typical intention of them cheered and invigorated the mind.

Among the institutions of the sanctuary, the cherubim held a distinguished place. In conformity with the rest of the decorations, they were of man's workmanship: they were made out of the same piece of gold that formed the mercy seat. Yet, even although so framed, they appeared in the midst of fire, when God inhabited them and spoke from the sCHECHINAH. This appearance of fire around them was visible, as formerly noticed, at Eden, and in the spiritual visions of Ezekiel.

A few remarks on the meaning of that fiery appearance, is the design of this chapter, preparatory to a closer investigation of the figures which it enveloped.

There were three different operations and developments of the light recognised in the ancient theology and philosophy. The first was the shining forth or emanation of the light, as from the sun. The second, the hidden or secret pervasion of that heat through all nature. The third, its concentration and development again, in the form of flame.

As

The first we have already largely referred to. it prefigured the emanation of life, from Him who is the Fountain Head of Light and Life, so the other operations were looked upon as illustrating the effects of his Word, which is truth itself. The LAT, or hidden effect, (whence the Latin lateo, the English latent, &c.) was considered illustrative of the inward or secret operations of the Word of God; and was sometimes designated by words signifying to vivify, to comfort, &c. The concentration of this hidden heat, and manifestation as fire or flame, was connected rather with words applicable to purification or testing, as of metals in a furnace.

The connexion between all these operations and expressions, as applied to natural things, indicated an early and a perfect acquaintance with that universal distribution and operation of the electric fluid throughout nature, which is again beginning to be made the basis of scientific knowledge and research. Such a circumstance cannot be passed, without noticing the tribute, so unconsciously paid, to the philosophy of the Scriptures; the attestation so forcibly given to the words of Solomon, that 'there is nothing new under the sun.'

The connexion between the same operations, as

explanatory of spiritual matters, gave also great simplicity and force to the illustrations it afforded. As light was the emblem of TRUTH, so all the other operations were the effects of that truth. The truth of God shone forth; it also vivified and comforted inwardly, and worked unseen by man; and even when it came forth as fire, to purify, to test, and to consume, it was still THE SAME TRUTH. Thus God is a God of Love,' and the God of all Peace;' but he is also a Consuming Fire.' These characters and attributes are one and the same. In his truth his love is seen. The same truth gives that peace which the world cannot take away. The same truth consumes every thing perishable which it reaches. The God of Truth never varies, never appears under different characters. He and his

word are always the same. The truth which quickens is the truth which purifies. The Judge of all the Earth makes the truth which he disseminates, as the light, the test by which his judgment is to proceed.

We observe in this another instance of the peculiar aptness of all God's creations to illustrate the great truth contained in his revelations. We behold

in this another confirmation of what has been advanced, that creation was made, as we see it, that it might illustrate the invisible things of God.

The fire, being looked upon as figurative of the searching and purifying nature of the truth of God, explains the remarkable question and answer of the prophet, 'Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with ever