their own land" under the dominion of the Shepherd David, makes the Deity say, "I will place them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them, for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people." So St. John says, "I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of GOD is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and GOD Himself shall be with them, and be their GOD P." "At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord to Jerusalem. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north, to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers." "The place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile"." In this last passage, it will be observed, that the "house of Israel" is distinguished from the "children of Israel;" the "house of Israel" denoting the specific Israel, which, figuratively used, represents the "strangers from the covenants of promise;" while the

• Ezek. xxxvii. 26, 27.

Jere. iii. 17, 18.

Rev. xxi. 3.

Ezek. xliii. 7.

"children of Israel," used in a figurative sense, denote" the Israel of GOD," the members of Christ's church. When the throne of GOD is placed in the midst of the " Israel of GOD," the "house of Israel" shall no more defile His place or name; for that house shall then walk with the house of Judah, in the land which God gave for an inheritance unto their fathers. But, where these two houses shall be united together, there also shall the throne of the Lord be placed, and "He will dwell in the midst of them for ever "" But the throne of GOD is set in heaven". The new and heavenly Jerusalem is the seat of the throne of GOD and of the Lamb*. The "temple of the tabernacle" is in heaven". As the throne of GOD, then, and His tabernacle, are placed in heaven; and as these are mentioned as being placed in the midst of the united houses of Judah and Israel, when God shall dwell among the "children of Israel" in the land which He gave unto their fathers; and as this land is to be the seat of the kingdom of Christ, the second David, it follows, that the land in which Judah and Israel are to dwell, when they are incorporated together into "one nation," is the

heavenly Zion, and that this is the land which GOD gave unto the fathers.

Israel and Judah are called "sisters"," "two women, the daughters of one mother." Israel is also styled "Aholah" and "Samariab;' while Judah is called also "Aholibahb" and "Jerusalem"." Aholah signifies, her own tabernacle; for Israel (in its specific figurative application) represents those who do not dwell in the tabernacle of Christ. Judah is called " Aholibah," which signifies, my tabernacle in her; for Judah represents the followers of Christ, who hath established His tabernacled among the members of His church: "the tabernacle of GOD is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their GOD."

The two sisters, Aholah and Aholibah, are charged with having been guilty of "whoredom," which is a figure of speech, commonly used in Holy Writ, to denote spiritual impurity, and desertion of the true faith.

Israel is said to have been put away by "a bill of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot alsof." "Her treacherous sister Judah hath

z Jere. iii. 8.

a Ezek. xxiii. 2. b Ezek. xxiii. 4. CPsalm xv. 1.

d Hebr. viii. 2; ix. 11.

• Rev. xxi. 3.

f Jere. iii. 8.

not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord. And the Lord said, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judahs." The real infidel is justified rather than the lukewarm Christian. It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for Chorazin and Bethsaida; more tolerable for Sodom than for Capernaumh. The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of GOD before the Phariseesi. "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert hot or cold. So then, because thou art lukewarm, I will spue thee out of my mouth."

But, although these "sisters" are threatened with punishment for the "whoredoms" in which they had corrupted themselves', mercy and pardon are, nevertheless, promised to them: "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings m; "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married to you-I will bring you to Zion"."

Thus Israel and Judah are to form "one nation" in the heavenly Zion, and they are no more to be divided into "two kingdoms." So

Jere. iii. 10, 11.

h Matt. xi. 21-24.

i Matt. xxi. 31. See Rom.

ii. 27. Hebr. x. 26. 2 Peter, ii.21.

Rev. iii. 15, 16.

1 Jere. iii. 8. Ezek. xxiii.

5, 11, 13.

m Jere. iii. 22.

n Jere. iii. 14.

3

that we find, that the division of the temporal children of Israel into two kingdoms, was made subservient to the illustration of the history of the spiritual kingdom of Christ.

99

These sisters "committed whoredoms in Egypt," and they " doted on the Assyrians P; they forsook "the fountain of living waters"," they refused" the waters of Shiloah that go softly," and they went " in the way of Egypt to drink the waters of Sihors," and " in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the rivers" [Euphratest]. The Babylonians defiled Aholibah with their whoredoms". "Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, and abominations of earth," is the great whore that sitteth upon many waters," the great spiritual whore that sitteth upon many "people and multitudes, and nations and tongues';" it is the "great city" that hath" made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication"." This "Babylon," the spiritual whore, and mother of spiritual harlots, is also called Sodom and Egypt : “the great city which, spiritually, is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified"."

Gen. xxxi. 21. Isaiah, vii. 20.

w Rev. xvii. 5.

* Rev. xvii. 1.

y Rev. xvii. 15.

. Rev. xi. 8.