of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, as the voice of speech.' For the doctrine preached by the Cherubim has come into all the world, 'not as the word of man, but, as it is in truth, the word of the living God, which is able to make wise unto Salvation.' We have, indeed, the very words or speech of 'the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who filleth all in all;' in the words recorded by John in the Revelation, to be uttered by the four living creatures; when they give glory, honour, and thanks to Him who sitteth on the throne-when they sing the new song, thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us to our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.' And, as if always on the watchthe eyes ever awake-resting not day nor night even when John himself continues the ascription in these words, Blessing, honour, and glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, to the Lamb for ever and ever,' the four living creatures instantly respond, AMEN!?

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Thus it is to be IN the church, as well as By the church, that the manifold wisdom of God' is to be seen. When he comes again, he is to be glori fied IN his saints, and admired IN all them that believe.' The puzzling or hard question has always been, how it was possible, consistently with God's ineffable attributes of holiness and justice, that sin could be pardoned, or 'mercy rejoice over judgment.' The answer to this will, at last, be seen and 'admired IN his glorified body,' when he presents it

'a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.' The figure, therefore, which represented that body, and which showed how its purification,' even as if tried by fire,' was to be accomplished, was called 'his glory,' 'the sum of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.'

Considering these representations as summing up the wisdom of God in a mystery,' or figure, there seems great propriety and meaning, when the seals are about to be removed from the book of prophecy in the presence of the apostle John, that each of these living creatures should alternately invite him to' come and see.'

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE STARS IN THEIR COURSES.

THE expression selected for the title of this chapter occurs in the triumphal song of Deborah and Barak, on occasion of the destruction of Sisera, Jabin's general. In the loftiness of her exultation, Deborah exclaims, 'They fought from heaven! The stars in their courses fought against Sisera!' This is one of the many singular allusions to the heavenly bodies, throughout the Old Testament, some of which have been already noticed, and none of which can be explained satisfactorily, save on the principles contended for in a former chapter. Those principles may be summed up in this, that the ancient people of God were instructed to trace in the heavens the prophetic purposes of God. Every objection to this is silenced by one fact, were there no other to corroborate it. Balaam prophesied of 'a star to arise in Jacob;' and when the Saviour was born, 'wise men came, saying, we have seen his STAR in the east, and are come to worship him:' and, 'lo! the star which they had seen, went and stood over where the young child was!' Scepticism and infidelity must

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overturn the authority of the word of God, ere they can eradicate this amazing attestation to the truth of God, prophesied of and fulfilled in the heavens.

We cannot now trace distinctly, neither is it necessary, how the speech of the firmament was read. We formerly stated the grounds for believing that it was by the hieroglyphical representations, implanted there at the first by the finger of God; who thereby declared that his purposes were from everlasting, settled as a faithful witness in heaven.' We shall now proceed to notice some other circumstances corroborative of this doctrine.

In the preceding chapter it was ascertained that the four principal standards of the Israelitish church formed the Cherubim. All the tribes, as well as these four, had standards; what they were is matter of historical record, on the part of those who could have no reasons for mistaking it. Historical tradition is of little importance, save when corroborated by Scripture; but it is, surely, to say the least of it, a most interesting circumstance, when we find Jacob on his death-bed, and Moses when about to ascend the mountain where he was to die, telling the children of Israel prophetically, what was to happen to them in the latter days;-telling them this, in language having several references to their standards; which standards corresponded with twelve signs arrayed in the heavens by the hand of God himself! We shall quote some of these passages without note or comment; leaving it to the reader to judge how far there is reason to trace allusions to the signs, as well as standards, in them.

'Reuben, my first-born, unstable as water.'

6 Simeon and Levi, brethren.'

'Judah is a lion's whelp.'

'Dan, a scorpion in the path.'

'Joseph's bow abode in strength.'

'Joseph's glory, the firstling of his bullock.'

If it were necessary to examine critically the 'blessings' from which the above are quoted, and to compare the original with the zodiac of Dendera and other ancient monuments, we should find the coincidences and references to be much more numerous and explicit. Our object, however, is not to prove what signs were actually referred to, or what the signs were, or what the interpretation, but to establish a general reference to them in the word of prophecy.

Connected with this part of our subject, it may be noticed, that the stones on the breastplate of the High Priest were arranged according to the encampment of the children of Israel; corresponding also with the precious stones forming the twelve foundations and the twelve gates of the Holy City, seen in the vision of St. John. In the midst of the precious stones on the breastplate, and corresponding with the situation of the Tabernacle and Schechinah (or shining of God's glory) in the midst of the tribes, the Urim and Thummim (Lights and Perfections) were placed. The following extracts from Jewish writers, relative to the standards and precious stones, are too curious to be omitted.

In Jonathan's Targum this passage occurs: "The standard of Judah was of linen, of three colours,