prudence, according to the final aim of heaven, for which it has been established. The heavenly lessons taught in this department are, an enlarged republication of natural religion in its genuine simplicity, by which we are instructed, that this world is the work, and under the natural and moral government of an all perfect, wise, benevolent and Omnipotent Being, whose law is virtue, and whose judgments are righteous, in this world and in the world to come. An elucidation of all the essential points in the introductory dispensation of the Messiah, since the creation. And a full discovery of that marvellous plan for the redemption of the world, by Jesus Christ (who now assumed the form of a man,) and the Holy Ghost. IV. From this institution, the Revelation informs us, we are to be advanced into that economy, which will be established during the Millennium, properly called the personal kingdom of Jesus Christ, and of the people of God on earth. This dispensation is represented here by that living Being like a flying eagle, which figure may denote, as general characteristics of this economy, a ready swiftness in obeying the divine commands; great penetration and sagacity to discover errors, enemies and danger; a particular capability to soar on high into the divine councils, and mysteries of God; a steady look by the eye of faith into the eternal sun of righteousness, the fountain of primeval light in the world of spirits; and an incessant endeavour to soar aloft towards it, as the final destination of man, and the centre point of all spiritual activity, without ever being able to approach it in all eternity. This economy will again be as much elevated above the present, as the Christian is above the Mosaic, by an enlarged re-publication of all the truths of former dispensations, and many new discoveries of God to man. Those qualified for this department, will be saints indeed. Verse 7. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: And they rest not day and night, saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. Full of eyes before, and behind, and within. These four Beings are very properly called (wa, and represented as large conservatories of many lives; for by them the Lord both preserves, nourishes and propagates the spiritual life in his people on earth. They are said, to be all alike full of eyes, by which, I apprehend, we are to understand the `ministers of the word of God, and his special servants, the seers, the prophets, the apostles and reformers, by which, as principal teachers in these divine institutions of education and discipline, these economies have been managed and conducted. The eyes before, directed towards the *throne, in order to watch the commands of Almighty God, may denote the prophets, and extraordinary servants under the immediate inspiration of the Lord. The eyes behind, directed towards the sea of electrum, denote the ordinary ministers, who have need to look into the Scriptures of truth, to search their sense, and pry into their spiritual meaning; to overlook the flock, committed to their charge; to espy enemies and danger, and give the necessary notice of them, from the appearing signs of the times, according to prophecies and the sure word of God. The eyes within, may represent all the children of God in these economies, as endowed with spiritual light and knowledge by divine illumination; or the body of these beings of life may denote the people of God under these dispensations, and the eyes within, those ministers particularly instrumental in promoting the internal prosperity of Zion, and the life of God in the souls of men. Verse 8. The four beasts had each of them six wings. The living creatures in Ezekiel i. 6. had four wings, and the seraphims, Isa. vi. 2. had six also; which more immediately belong to the whole body of these beings of life, and no doubt, express certain virtues, common to all the children of God, in all ages. The prophet Isaiah informs us of their use. With two they covered their faces through reverence, from the beams of venerated glory, too bright for seraphims themselves to behold. With two they covered their feet, by which is indicated a deep sense of their sinfulness, weakness and imperfection in all, and even their best works, as the foundation of that cardinal virtue humility. And with the other two they-fly, signifying their readiness to fulfil the command of the Lord to the best of their power. They rest not day and night, saying, holy, holy, holy. O blessed restlessness! There is no night in heaven, only here on earth, where these Beings of life exist. They are wholly devoted to the service of God, in which they live, and move, and possess spiritual life. Their whole existence is penetrated by a deep sense of the holiness of this Triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit; by which they are animated and directed to an incessant and perpetual worship, either more or less, in every hour by day or night, throughout the whole economy. This word ayos, holy, and in Isaiah kadosch, signifies a thing separated from all things common, and solely devoted to sanctified purposes; but when used of God, it denotes his infinite perfection and supreme excellence in every power and virtue constituting his Deity, which finite beings may endeavour to imitate, but never fully attain. This supreme excellency of God in all his moral attributes they praise continually, to shew the beauty which they behold in it, and their earnest endeavour after holiness in person, doctrine, life, and conversation. They also praise him as the Lord of his Church, as God, the only object of worship-as the Al mighty, avтoxgáτwę, the supreme ruler of the Universe-which was, is, and is to come. Verse 9. And when those beasts give glory, and honour, and thanks, to him that sat on the throne, who 10. The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and ⚫ honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Here the tense changes, and runs on in the future. Verse 9. Jsous, and when they shall or will give glory. Verse 10. Esouvται, when they will fall down. Barouss, they shall cast down their crowns. By this change of tenses we are referred to a future period, when the sublime machinery of this chapter will meet its full completion, in the personal kingdom of Christ on earth during the Millennium. This kingdom will fill the whole earth, and will be divided into four different economies, in which the four and twenty elders, and with them the holy Martyrs will rule with Christ, as kings and priests on earth a thousand years, as an equivalent for the sacrifice they made for Christ's sake. When these four Beings of life encompass the four parts of the world, and fall down in unanimous worship; the elders will likewise cast down all their power and authority at the feet of the Lamb, and govern the human family in perfect compliance with his will and pleasure. Then will the Lord receive glory for his sufferings, honour for his humiliation, and the thanks of a formerly ungrateful world.-He, for whose pleasure the world has been created, Rom, xi. 56. |