a place of security as well as a place of enjoyment. Applied, as it is, in the Septuagint to the garden of Eden, it is evidently understood to be applicable to a place where there is every provision for sustenance and for enjoyment-every plant pleasant to the eye and good for food. Hence, metaphorically, it has been employed to express the condition of the blessed in a future state, in which sense we may presume it was intended to be understood by the thief on the cross. It is also said to be figuratively employed to express the sacred Scriptures, or that revelation, perhaps, by them, in which the tree of life may be said to be found. Notat (says Suicerus) scripturam sacram, quæ frequenter Paradiso confertur. In this figurative, or rather in a spiritual sense, we suppose the term to be employed in the Apocalypse. As it is said, Cant. viii. 13, Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: Cause me to hear.

Jesus, the Redeemer, is to be found in, or dwelling in, the Scriptures ; but it is more particularly in the economy of redemption, or plan of salvation, revealed in those Scriptures, that he may be said to dwell. So it is by participating in the benefits and privileges of that plan, that his followers may be said also to dwell, or to be with him-as in a garden, park, or paradise; a position where there is abundant provision for eternal life, where there is ample security from evil or danger, and where all is to be found that is necessary for the attainment of endless happiness.

In this economy, or paradise of God, the tree of life (the cross of Christ) occupies a prominent position; the one is in the midst of the other, as the tree of life once stood in the midst of the garden of Eden, (Genesis ii. 9.)

The appellation, the paradise of God, or of my God, may be intended to point out something in contradistinction to the first paradise, or to that position in a spiritual sense of which the first paradise was intended as an illustration.

The first paradise was of a temporary character, and its enjoyment was conditional. The second paradise is eternal, and its enjoyment unconditional, for it is freely given, without money and without price. So long as our first parents were ignorant of the difference between good and evil, they were accounted innocent in the sight of God. They were alive, as the apostle says, without the law, (Rom. vii. 9.) We are not obliged to suppose their natures more perfect then, than they were afterwards; but whatever of imperfection or of depravity existed in them, so long as they had not tasted of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they were not held accountable as those subject to the law. For them, with the exception of a single command only, there was no law; and sin is not imputed when there is no law, Rom. v. 13. If they acted morally wrong, with one exception, it was the action of ignorance, and for this the tree of life stood

in the midst of the garden, and they in common with the whole creation around them enjoyed the benefit of its healing influence. No sooner had they tasted of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, however, than their whole position was changed. They were now accountable beings-the law came, sin revived, and they died—they were now subject to condemnation for every action not morally correct. The plea of ignorance no longer availed them; they now stood upon their own merits, and in this position, they could no longer participate in the benefits of the tree of life. The condition of the enjoyment of the first paradise was, that those who possessed it should be ignorant of good and evil, and consequently should not be dependent for this enjoyment upon any merit of their own. To become wise was to become accountable; and every creature not perfect as God is perfect, if accountable, must be in a state of condemnation—a state spiritually called death. The declaration of the Almighty-in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die-was an annunciation of the nature of things. It was an annunciation of the truth, that the only way in which the creature can be innocent in the sight of God, is by being in that position in which sin is not imputed; and consequently in that position in which the subject of judgment is not treated upon his own merits.

Our first parents, however, preferred a position under the law—at least our first mother did so; she thought it was a good thing to be wise. We think, if we had been in their place, we should not have acted thus; but every self-righteous person does the same thing. He prefers being under the law he wishes to stand upon his own merits-he braves the condemnation which the law denounces against every soul of man that doeth evil. In this position man is virtually expelled from paradise-in this position, he cannot, in the nature of things, partake of the tree of life. In this emergency, what is the remedy? How is man to be brought back to his original state-not of ignorance, but of imputed innocence? Imputed innocence, too, notwithstanding his knowledge of good and evil-under the law, and yet delivered from its penalties! The remedy, we may say, has been applied without his consent. In despite of his own self-righteous pertinacity, Christ has fulfilled the law in man's behalf. He has endured its penalties-He has absorbed, as it were, in his own merits, all the baleful influence of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and He now stands in the midst of the paradise of God-the tree of life, free of access to all who draw near to participate in its fruit.

The disciple is now again in a position of accounted innocence; a position in which iniquity is not imputed to him. Not now because he is ignorant, but because, in the sight of God, he is looked upon as substituted in the place of him who was without sin; who became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him, 2 Cor. v. 21. Such is

the ample provision pre-eminently to be called, in a spiritual sense, the paradise of God-a provision furnishing all the requisites for a position of perfect security from the wrath to come; and for insuring the enjoyment of endless happiness. As it is said, Ps. xci. 1, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." So, John xix. 2, 3, "In my father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, ye may be also ;" or, as it is expressed by Paul, 2 Cor. v. 1, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands-eternal in the heavens."

The bliss of the first paradise being, in respect to the law, the bliss of ignorance, it may be called the bliss of the paradise of man. The bliss of the second paradise is that of justification, through the imputed righteousness of Jehovah, and may be, therefore, appropriately styled the Paradise of God. In the first paradise, man, with a knowledge of good and evil, was precluded from sharing in the benefit of the tree of life, (Gen. iii. 22-24;) in the second, notwithstanding this knowledge, he is not only permitted, but called upon, to put forth his hand and eat, and live for ever.

Epistle to the Angel of the Church in Smyrna.

V. 8. And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; these things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive.

Καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν Σμύρνῃ ἐκκλησίας γράψον· τάδε λέγει ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχα8 τος, ὃς ἐγένετο νεκρὸς καὶ ἔζησεν·

$49. The announcement here shows the message, from the characteristics already analyzed, (§§ 22 and 36,) to come from the same source as the preceding, viz., from Jesus, the beginning and the ending of the economy of redemption; "who was delivered for our offences and was raised for our justification, and is ever at the right hand of God to make intercession for us," (Rom. viii. 34; iv. 25.)

V. 9. I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and (I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

οἶδα σου τὰ ἔργα καὶ τὴν θλίψιν καὶ την πτωχείαν (ἀλλὰ πλούσιος εἶ) καὶ τὴν βλαςφημίαν ἐκ τῶν λεγόντων Ιουδαίους εἶ ναι ἑαυτοὺς καὶ οὐκ εἰσίν, ἀλλὰ συναγωγὴ

τοῦ σατανᾶ.

I know thy works.'-That is, the works of the angel, the elements of the system, the tendency of its principles. This declaration is made to each of the seven churches, even to the Laodicean angel, so especially rebuked for lukewarmness. The sense must therefore be, I know thy works, both those which are good and those which are otherwise.

And tribulation.'-The term lips, rendered here and elsewhere tribulation, or affliction, carries with it an idea of pressure, or compression. We may suppose the system represented to afford that peculiar view of reli

gious faith which produces a sense of mental pressure, as it were, under a load of duty. The disciple, instead of rejoicing in Christ, goes mourning all his days, under an impression of his dependence upon some merit of his own; in respect to which he is at the same time continually sensible of his deficiency. Instead of enjoying the gospel air of freedom, he feels himself imprisoned even in a closer state of confinement than those who are altogether dependent upon works of the law. Instead of throwing himself upon the mercy of God, as it is exhibited in Christ, he is under continual apprehension of vindictive judgment. His language is that of complaint"Thou puttest my feet in the stocks, and lookest narrowly upon all my paths," Job xiii. 27. "Blessed are they that mourn," it is said, " for they shall be comforted." Here is a mourning, however, without the comfort. Godly sorrow worketh repentance, (change of mind,) not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death, (2 Cor. vii. 10.) We may suppose a conviction of sin to work that sorrow which leads to an utter renunciation of self-dependence. This change of mind, directing the disciple to the Saviour, is a repentance unto life; but the conviction of sin which goes no further than to prompt the disciple to greater efforts in fulfilling the law for himself, confining his views to some propitiation of his own working out, is a sorrow of the world, that worketh death. Such we may suppose to be the tribulation of this system. It exhibited the cause of mourning, but not the means of comfort.

§ 50. And poverty, (but thou art rich.)'-Corresponding with the tribulation, or compressing view, of the system, is its poverty. Personified as a disciple, it is supposed to look to its own want of merit, which, indeed, is a cause of tribulation; but besides this, it overlooked the true richesthose imputed merits of Christ which constitute the only real wealth. Every Christian adopted in Christ, and sharing in his imputed righteousness, or in the imputation of his merits, must be rich in effect, because sovereign grace has given him this inheritance. But every such Christian may not enjoy the knowledge of this truth. Like the servant of the prophet, although there are more for him than there are against him, he does not perceive this till his eyes are opened. He is, in fact, rich in Christ; while, looking only to his own unworthiness, he feels really poor. As there may be a tribulation, or sense of sin, which does not lead the mind to dependence upon the atonement of Christ, so there may be a sense of poverty or unworthiness which does not lead to a trust in the merits or riches of Christ. As it is said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, (or, in a spiritual sense,) for their's is the kingdom of heaven, (they are rich.) But they do not enjoy their blessedness till they come to the knowledge of the truth, or of their true position. This we may suppose to be the defect of the system of the Smyrnian Church.

The ransom of a man's life it is said is his riches, (Prov. xiii. 8.) The

means of ransoming eternal life, (Job xxxiii. 24,) must be the greatest of all riches. Such as are called, (Prov. viii. 18,) durable riches and righteous ness. To be without this means is real poverty, to possess them is to be indeed rich. To believe that we do possess them, may be said to be rich in faith-a faith possessed by the Apostle Paul, as he describes it, (Phil. iii. 7,) -but an element of faith, wanting we suppose in the system represented by the angel of the Church of Smyrna. The reason of this deficiency is probably alluded to, under the figure of the blasphemous errors of certain false teachers introducing themselves into the Church. The system having to contend with the erroneous principles introduced into it, as the pastor of a congregation, in a literal sense, might have to contend with those whose doctrines were calculated to turn his people from the truth.

§ 51. The blasphemy of them which say they are Jews,' &c. Blasphemy, according to John x. 33, consists essentially in making one's self God, or equal with God. Whoever is the efficient author of man's salvation, to him must the glory of that work redound. If man were saved by his own merits, he would be the efficient author of his own salvation. In such case man would be glorified by the work, and not God. If man represent himself to be thus the author of his own salvation, he puts himself in the place of God; he makes himself equal with God, and this is blasphemy; not in words, perhaps, but in effect.

The Jews were particularly scrupulous in eschewing the sin of blasphemy; and yet here is an error charged particularly upon those who professed themselves to be Jews:-"He is not a Jew, says Paul, (Rom. ii. 28, 29,) which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew (in a spiritual sense) who is one inwardly: and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter: of which the praise is not of man, but of God;" something of which the praise does not belong to man, but to God. For the sinner cannot be entitled to praise for that which God has wrought either in him or for him.

The words rendered inwardly, as above, are έv zo zquare, in the hidden, or mystic sense; as the hidden wisdom, 1 Cor. ii. 7; and the hidden manna, Rev. ii. 17. He is a Jew who is so in that hidden, or mystic, or spiritual sense which is represented or symbolized by the literal Jew. In this spiritual sense we suppose the really uncircumcised to be those depending upon the carnal or self-righteous covering of their own merits, to hide the shame of their guilt in the sight of God: whereas, he is the true Jew, or the truly circumcised, who renounces all dependence upon such covering; counting all merits of his own but loss, and trusting wholly to the robe of Christ's imputed righteousness to cover his iniquities, and to protect him from the wrath to come.

§ 52. The heart, in Scripture, we suppose to be put for what we call