second, to whom the promise is made; of both which we will discourse in order.

Concerning the promise "I will give him to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God," there are two points chiefly requiring to be treated of. First, what is this tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God; and secondly what is this eating of it, which is promised to him that overcometh. Now before entering upon these great subjects I have one observation to make which beautifully connecteth it with the preceding parts of the epistle, and may serve to revive the memory of what hath been said, and to keep up the unity which is observable in the parts of each of these epistles. The inscription of it, the character under which Christ chooses to write it, is that generic one of the Bishop of the ministers, and the Pastor of the churches who sets each star in its place, each light in its candlestick, and trims them evermore, as he walketh up and down amongst them. The body of the epistle again explains the character of the angel, as a pastor commendeth his diligence and patience, in feeding the flock, his watchfulness in keeping out the wolf, and lamenteth over the declension of his love to the great Shepherd of the sheep, and to the sheep for whom he gave his life, and threatens to break his pastoral staff and bring dishonour, and decline, and death upon his flock. But now being minded to encourage every one of His sheep both pastor and people, he doth it by the assurance of an abundant pasture from the source and fountain of life, that he will feed them from the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God: that he will himself be the Pastor of those sheep, and of those shepherds, who stand stedfast unto the end, and overcome as he overcame. And accordingly we have the thing realized, vii. 17: "For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters." If these seven promises of the Spirit to every one that overcometh, be understood to compose the complete reward which Christ will bring with him for all his saints, then that part of it, or rather aspect of it which is preached to the Ephesian church is the food and nourishment of life. For life never hath been without a food. Adam had the trees of the garden, we have all herbs and flesh also for our natural life; for our spiritual, the flesh

and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; and here is a food presented for our eternal life even the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God: and what is signified by this the aliment of the use and glorified saints we have now to inquire. I desire and pray, O Lord my guide, to enter upon the exposition of these pregnant utterances of thy Spirit with the most deliberate wisdom, which I crave of thee. Oh help thy servant to set forth the substance and the excellence of these rewards which thou holdest out to our faith: for he that cometh unto thee must believe that thou art, and that thou art the rewarder of them that diligently seek thee. I trust in thee through Jesus Christ, and go on my way in thy strength.

No one can be at a loss to understand what is referred to by the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God:" for there is only one such tree mentioned in the creation of God. And it is mentioned in these words (Gen. ii. 9): " And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food: the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." This tree of life God planted in the midst of the garden, and the tree of life promised as the nourishment of the victorious is in the midst of the paradise of God. What connection there is between the Garden of Eden, and the Paradise of God, is a future question; that which we draw attention to at present is that in both cases they are in the midst thereof; and so I may observe of the tree of life, the only one in the new earth, is described in the midst of the street of the new Jerusalem, and on both sides of the river thereof (Rev. xxii. 2): “In_themidst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." Now of this tree of life let us peruse the history, and so furnish our minds for the work of an interpretation. Beside this tree of life which was planted in the midst of the Garden of Eden, there is but one other tree mentioned, which is the fatal tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon which the interdict of God was laid: and inasmuch as it was laid on that only, and full and free participation of all the rest was put in his power). "Of all the trees of

So

the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou mayest not eat"), we conclude that the tree of life was for the food of man, and that he was fully privileged to have partaken thereof. This, together with the effects which the eating of it would have produced upon him, is made clear by what is written in Gen. iii. 22-24: "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever; therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground, from whence he was taken. he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden, cherubims, and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." These verses put it beyond a doubt that man was originally intended to eat of that tree of life; that the eating of it would have conveyed to him the faculty of an eternal life; and that to prevent his eating of it he was thrust out of Paradise and to keep him out of Paradise God planted the cherubim, with a flaming sword. And thus I believe things continued until the Deluge put an end to that form of revelation, and made way for another. The antediluvians had a paradise lost before their eyes, and in it a tree of life, to which the way was not yet opened, but prevented by the cherubim and the cause of the prevention was the loss of original righteousness, these cherubim flaming with destruction against all unrighteousness. But when to Abraham was revealed the righteousness which is by faith, the barrier was removed, and Abraham by his faith entered into everlasting life, even as we also do. And because death must be endured, God gave the seal of the resurrection in the rule of circumcision - if, indeed, that was not already given in the deliverance of the church from the deluge, which I rather incline to believe, from the consideration of 1 Pet. iii. 21. But however this may be, there can be no doubt, that, when the new way of righteousness by faith through grace was opened up, the cherubim could not withstand the believer's approach to the tree of life, and sooner or later he must reach it and feed on it. Thus things continued till God, to curb the licence and wickedness of the chosen people, and to make his grace more precious in their

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sight, and the way of faith more sacred, did, without altering any thing of the promise, introduce new lets and hindrances; making his presence more private, that it might be more respected; as a father doth to an irreverent child, or a sovereign to ill-disciplined subjects. When grace is trampled upon, it must, for its own defence, draw out the law, which it had hidden in its bosom, and let the culprit know what his demerit is, in order that he may know what grace is. And now, behold, the holy of holies is introduced, instead of paradise; and there is the separated dwelling-place of God; and the cherubim are there also, and for the tree of life, there is the pot of manna, incorruptible food of an immortal life. But the way was not now defended from all approach, for the High Priest, having in his hands the symbols of the righteousness by faith, is permitted once a year to enter in. If indeed the translation of Enoch beyond the bourne of death was, as may be well believed, the receiving him within the garden in consideration of his walking with God, then the antediluvians also had the proof that the way of the tree of life was still open. When the Man Jesus came, and, having died, arose from the dead in an immortal body, and entered within the heavens, into the presence of God, the thing, which by Enoch's translation, and the High Priest's entering once a year into the holiest was shadowed forth, became a fully accomplished and realized thing. The fallen, interdicted substance of manhood hath prevailed to present itself blameless in the sight of God, and to win its way to immortality and all who believe in Him that hath accomplished this work, have the same access through the veil into God's immediate presence: as it is written, Heb. x. 18-20: "Now, where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the vail, that is to say, his flesh," &c.

It appeareth, therefore, that by faith we receive a righteousness which removes the curse and opens the way into eternal life; which doth introduce into my being an eternal life, instead of this mortal life in which I now subsist. But, still, this is not exactly the point in question; for our inquiry concerneth not so much the eternal life

which is in us, as that aliment upon which it is supported. Nevertheless we thought it good and useful, to prevent all cavils at the outset of that on which we are now to enter, to allay the lynx-eyed suspicion of our orthodox brethren against us Millenarians, by going into that previous question, Whence the eternal life is now derived; and the answer is, It is derived out of Christ's risen body, by faith upon Him who raised him from the dead, that He will do so to us also. And now we have to inquire into the aliment or nourishment of this life which is the proper thing presented to us in the promise, "To him that overcometh, I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."

Some may say, This is merely a figure for the resurrection of the body. But this cannot be entertained for if we look back to the tree of life in paradise, it was not for the giving of life, seeing God breathed into Adam's "nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul;" but it was for the support of that life which had been given. Had man preferred to eat of its fruit, he would have held on in life; but preferring to eat of the other, he fell down into death. The tree of life, however, did not lose its virtue because the other tree had put forth its poison, but had in it the antidote of that poison; and God, by violently dispossessing man of the garden, and constantly preventing his approach to that tree, did signify, that for man, now mortal, there still existed an antidote to his death; and that in mortal man there ever lived a craving for that healing food of immortality. But the holy cherubim, interposing, did say, Approach not, till ye have obtained righteousness. This is the simple truth declared by these symbols, Dead though ye be, there is an antidote of life in existence for you, but a righteousness must be found before ye can approach it. Look also to the new earth, in the last two chapters of this book, and in it we find a city, the New Jerusalem, which descendeth out of heaven, in the midst of which is this tree of life. This New Jerusalem is for the habitation of the saints; and in most of these seven epistles the Spirit promiseth a place and preferment therein to him that overcometh. Now, observe what is said of those that are permitted to partake of this tree of life in the New Jerusalem (Rev. xxii. 14): "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right