other words, the Sanctuary, and more especially the holy of holies, is the heaven of which Solomon speaks throughout this prayer. In 2 Chronicles ch. vi. we have the same prayer: v. 2. of this chapter answers to v. 13. of 1 Kings ch. viii., and exhibits the same expression in the Hebrew,-"A

PREPARED PLACE for thy sitting ;" and v. 30, 33, & 39. answer to v. 39, 43 & 49. noticed above, all of them exhibiting, "THE HEAVEN, THE PREPARED PLACE of thy sitting,"-this prepared place being, in all the passages, in the temple, built by Solomon, in Jerusalem. But in 2 Chron. vii. 1. a circumstance of great importance is noticed, which is not stated in the book of Kings:"And when Solomon had ended his prayer, and the "fire descended FROM THE HEAVEN, and consumed "the burnt offering and the sacrifices; for the bright

ness of JEHOVAH had filled the house; then the "priests could not enter into the house of JEHOVAH, "because the brightness (or glory) of JEHOVAH had

filled the house of JEHOVAH." The answer thus given to the prayer of Solomon, in the presence of all the worshippers, gave evidence that GOD had accepted the house, the sanctuary,-the heaven, the place prepared for his sitting; for the fire here spoken of descended, not from "heaven above," but, from the heaven, THE PREPARED PLACE,-from the cloud which covered the mercyseat in the holy of holies. Observe-the cloud of

glory had filled not only the inner apartment in which the priests had placed the Mercy-seat, but the holy place or outer apartment in which the priests usually officiated, so that the priests could no longer continue there (1 Kings viii. 10). All were in the court without, in that part where the altar stood, viz. before the sanctuary (See 2 Chron. vi. 11. 13.); and when Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came forth from the sanctuary (from which the priests had been expelled by the luminous cloud), the prepared place of GOD's sitting, THE HEAVEN, and fell upon and consumed the sacrifice!-a glorious token of divine acceptance. The coincidence of the circumstances stated respecting this heaven-the place prepared by Solomon for the GOD of Israel to dwell in, and those stated by John respecting the heaven that he describes, are very striking. In Solomon's heaven there was a seat or throne (the Mercy-seat), so there is in John's: Solomon's heaven was a speaking-place (an oracle), and from Solomon's heaven came fire to consume the sacrifice from the throne described by John also proceed voices and lightnings, Rev. iv. 5., and the seat in each is occupied by one to whom divine honors are paid. Other coincidences have been before pointed out, and need not be repeated.

It seems to me impossible, from these pre

mises, to come to any other conclusion than that the scene of John's Vision was the sanctuary ; and that the throne which he saw, already set in the heaven, was the mercy-seat, seen through the thura [0úpa]; which, except on the great day of atonement, was always closed by the veil: but instead of seeing there a high priest of the Tribe of Levi, he saw a priest pertaining to another tribe,—to the tribe of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood,—even him who is a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec. This was the personage whom John saw in the habit of a priest "in the midst of the seven golden lamp-stands," and " having in his right hand seven stars :"—that is, he saw him opposite the centre light of the seven, here called stars, and his hand occupied with the lights. It was the office of the priest every morning to trim the lamps and put them in order, and this was done by the priest seen by John, in dictating the epistles to the seven churches,-for, in Ch. i. the lights or stars are made to symbolize the messengers of the churches to whom the epistles were addressed.

The foregoing are not the only passages which serve to prove that "the heaven," in which John saw the opened entrance and the throne, was the sanctuary. In proportion as the relation which subsists between the different things mentioned

in the Apocalypse is discovered, our knowlege of the particulars will be extended. This is made very obvious by the case before us; for it so happens that in other passages the place in which John was, in his vision, is actually called THE SANCTUARY. In Ch. xi. 1. a measuring rod is given to John, and he is commanded to measure τὸν ναὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, the sanctuary of God, C.V. the temple; but the Noun vaòs never means the temple generally, but always the holy place, though this circumstance has been overlooked by all our Translators, except Campbell.-See on this word his Preliminary Dissertations. The same sanctuary is again mentioned in the 19th verse of Ch. xi., and elsewhere.

From the facts that have been established we are now in a condition to proceed to another enquiry, which, however, will not occupy much time: namely,-Whom did John see sitting on the throne, in the heaven, or holy of holies?

§ 6. Particulars respecting the Kathēmenos or Sitting One.

In Rev. xxii. 12, 13. the speaker says “Behold "I am coming quickly, and my reward with me, to

requite to every one as his work shall be. I AM Tò

“ Α καὶ τὸ Ω, ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος, ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ

"FIRST AND THE LAST, THE BEGINNING AND "THE END." I have no doubt thatthe speaker in this passage is the same that speaks in v. 16., namely JESUS CHRIST; but as commentators are not agreed on this point, I shall not take it for granted, but will establish the fact by evidence. All that I remark at present is, that, whoever may be the person, he is "THE A AND THE ," -he is "THE FIRST AND THE LAST," he is "THE BEGINNING AND THE END."

In Ch. xxi. 5, 6. the Sitting one (i xatýμevos) declares, respecting himself, that he is, rò A xai τὸ Ω, ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ τέλος, "The Alpha and the Omega, The Beginning and the End." From this we learn that he who is called THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA, THE BEGINNING AND THE End, is THE KATHEMENOS (the Sitting One), and consequently that THE ONE SITTING ON THE THRONE is the speaker in the passage quoted from Ch. xxii. 13. But who is this individual?

We obtain an answer to this question, by attending to what is said by him who addresses the church in Smyrna (Ch. ii. 8.),—“ These

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things saith ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος, THE FIRST "AND THE LAST." It has already been proved that the Epistles to the Seven Churches were dictated by JESUS CHRIST, or, as expressed in the verse from which we have just been quoting, him "who became dead but liveth." Here he