quire, and sufficient, one should think, to satisfy the most exacting. For the great oceans have disappeared; there is no more sea; there are only fountains, streams, lakes, and freshwater expanses, some of them as large, perhaps, as the Mediterranean. No one, of course, will deny that the new earth shall possess such features of beauty; for there is the river of the water of life, and, suppose we were informed of its existence merely, we should irresistibly be led to infer, that it would diffuse itself abroad into pools, lakes, expanses as large as the Sea of Galilee, Lake Superior, the Mediterranean. Who could say they would be less? But this is virtually the same with the supposition just now made. We find that the change above spoken of shall actually pass upon the waters, and that it shall be effected by the river that proceedeth out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, (Rev. xxii. 1;) from under the threshold of the house, (Ezek. xlvii. 1;) out of the sanctuary, (ver. 12;) out of the house of the Lord, (Joel iii. 18;) out from Jerusalem, (Zech. xiv. 8.) These waters are the same, and they form two rivers, (, Ezek. xlvii. 9,) one of which flows into the Eastern Sea, the other into the Mediterranean, (Zech. xiv. 8,) to heal the waters,-i.e., to deprive them of their saltness, and maintain their freshness and salubrity, as is evident from the fact that not to be healed is just to be given to salt, (Ezek. xlvii. 11.) They are, as it were, substituted for the present saltness, and produce similar beneficial effects, but in a far higher degree. The rivers, therefore, are the means by which it comes to pass that the sea is no more. Zechariah, no doubt, speaks of " sea even after the waters have suffered this change, but this is just in accordance with a common custom of calling things by the names which have been long attached to them, and with which people are familiar, for the sake of brevity and being easily understood, although the things themselves have undergone such a change as that the names are no longer properly applicable to them, the things being no longer the same. Now, the healing of the waters, on either of the above suppositions, namely, the water-covered surface remaining the same, on the one hand, or being lessened, on the other, destroys Mr Hall's difference, inasmuch as it leaves the millennial and the new earth in precisely the same circumstances in respect to sea, i.e., neither of them has any sea.

* Do not these texts shew that the site of the temple shall be within the city of Jerusalem? They proceed out of Jerusalem, and also out of the sanctuary; and it is not easy to see how the two rivers can have different sources, for Ezek. xlvii. 1 speaks of the waters composing them as issuing out from the threshold of the house, or, ver. 2, of the sanctuary.

2. "The heavenly city, though in constant communication with the millennial earth, never joins it, but it does in the new earth; and then we are told that the tabernacle of God is with men," (Rev. xxi. 3.) But Rev. xxi. 3 does not say that the tabernacle of God is with men. Is is not in the text. It ought to be, the tabernacle of God shall be with men, as is plain from the future tense that immediately follows. The text does not state when the tabernacle shall be with men, in the sense of being upon the earth; that time may not be, for aught we are told, for a thousand years after the new earth has been created.

3. "The new earth has no sun, (Rev. xxi. 23;) during the millennium the sun is much more brilliant," (Isa. xxx. 26.) Scripture gives no countenance to the former half of Mr Hall's statement. He says the new earth has no sun; Rev. xxi. 23 only says that the city, i. e., the heavenly Jerusalem, has no need of the sun. But is the city the same with the earth? or can it be inferred from the fact that the city has no need of the sun, either that there shall be no sun, or that the new earth shall have no need of it? Certainly not. The city, and the earthly Jerusalem below it, shall have no need of the sun-Isa. lx. 19, 20: "The sun shall be no more thy light by day," &c. The regions more immediately adjacent will no doubt be enlightened in like manner, but the more distant parts of the earth will require the light of the more brilliant sun, just as at present. This is another merely imaginary difference. The next difference,

4. Is precisely of the same character. He says, there is "no temple in the new earth, (Rev. xxi. 22;) offerings to be brought to the house of the Lord during the millennium,” (Isa. lxvi. 20.) Now, Rev. xxi. 22 only says, "I saw no temple therein," i. e., in the heavenly city, for it is that of which the apostle speaks; but he does not say he saw no temple in the new earth or in the earthly Jerusalem, and that there shall be none cannot be inferred from the fact that there shall be none in the heavenly city. There will be a temple, to which offerings will be brought, in the Jerusalem upon the new earth, when the city in which there is no temple shall be over it. 5. There will be sin and death in the millennium; but the new earth shall be entirely holy, nothing that defileth shall ever enter therein. For the latter half of this statement, Mr Hall must refer of course to Rev. xxi. 27 and xxii. 14, 15. Now Rev. xxi. 27 has reference to the heavenly city, and not to the new earth at all; but, from the perfect holiness of that city, you cannot infer the perfect holiness of the new earth, nor that it is different from the millennial earth. There

are only two things to which Rev. xxii. 14, 15 can refernamely, the heavenly city, or the earthly city on the new earth; if to the former, the same conclusion as above must follow if to the latter, then it teaches that what defileth shall be in the new earth, though the great sinners mentioned shall not be allowed to enter into the city, which agrees with Isa. lii. 1; but it does not teach that saints, "those who do His commandments," still in a state of mortality and imperfection, shall not enter in through the gates, even though sin, that which defileth, yet dwelleth in them. There is therefore nothing whatever against the identity of the new and millennial earth; on the contrary, there is the strongest proof in its favour.

ART. II.-READINGS IN FIRST CHRONICLES.

CHAP. VI. 31-81.-THE TRIBE OF LEVI.

THE THREE BANDS OF LEVITICAL SINGERS.

Ver. 31, 32.- "And these are they whom David set over the service of song [, the management of, the handling of song] in the house of the Lord, after that the ark had rest. And they ministered before the dwelling-place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem; and then they waited on their office according to their order."

LET us not fail to notice the interesting fact that God's priestly tribe has charge of the praise. The Lord would thus have His servants on earth breathe an atmosphere of cheerfulness, ay, of heavenly happiness. The Levites, who have most to do with God's offerings and God's house, are to have most to do also with the heavenly service of praise.

It was "after the ark had rest" that this "service of song" was instituted. It was after the "tabernacle" (N) had got a "dwelling-place" (D), and was no more moving from place to place. This seems typical of the joy and praise that were to arise when Christ had ceased His wanderings, and sat down on the Father's right hand. This service of song shall ever continue while He sits there. His people are ever to be a joyful people, who convey to men some idea of the joy of heaven and the employments of the heavenly hosts.

It continued " till Solomon built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem ”—the well-known temple. But it did not cease

then; it continued still. It was all transferred to that temple -thus intimating to us that our praise begun here shall pass into the praise of the kingdom. Our joy and peace in believing on an unseen Saviour shall not cease when the kingdom of the Prince of Peace has come; but shall all be taken up therein with infinitely fuller meaning and expression. Oh that these days of our Solomon were come! If it be pleasant now to hear the swell of praise, when all in a mighty multitude join with one accord-" the trembling voice of age, the vigorous bass of manhood, the sweet depth of woman's melody, and the thrilling sounds of happy childhood" what will be the swell of the melody of that ocean, the voice of the great multitude that no man can number!

But let us, before proceeding further, dwell a little on this interesting feature of the tabernacle service at the period to which ver. 28 carried us onward. There seems to have been, in David's time, a fuller development of the joy and gladness which were to issue from the offered sacrifice of atonement. For it is then that we begin to read of a service of song, and of the worship at the altar being accompanied by instruments of music. Next, in Solomon's days, the voice of " trumpeters and singers, with trumpets, cymbals, and instruments of music," made a sound to be heard on high, in addition to the psalteries and harps, (2 Chron. v. 13.) And then, in Hezekiah's days (2 Chron. xxix. 27, 28,) we find it an ordinance in Israel, "When the burnt-offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel. And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt-offering was finished." Meet it was that, as the time drew nearer when the type should give place to the Antitype, there should be a fuller proclamation of the joy that was to flow as a mighty river from this sourcethe very joy and peace which the sinner now finds in believing on the Lord Jesus, as having finished His work and presented a perfect atonement for us. But there may have been something more than this signified by the fact that it was in David's time, when the ark rested for a season on Mount Zion, that this increase of gladness took place. Did it not declare that when our David should have ceased His wanderings and days of trial, and was at rest, with all power given to Him,--in other words, when Christ should have finished His days of sorrow, and entered on the rest at the right hand of the Father, then should the unspeakable joy that arises from His accepted sacrifice begin to be felt and known to a degree hitherto unthought of,

and then should the trumpet's sound go forth to summon every tribe and people to come and partake the joy!

Ver. 33.-" And these are they that waited with their children."

We shall find that each of the three families of Levi furnished their quota of singers. Kohath has his in the family of Heman; Gershon has his in the family of Asaph; and Merari has his in the family of Ethan.

(a) THE BAND THAT KOHATH FURNISHED.

Ver. 33-38.-" Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman a singer, the son of Joel, the son of Shemuel, the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah, the son of Zuph, the son of Elkanah, the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai, the son of Elkanah, the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah, the son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel."

Some names here call for special remark. Though most of them have already met our eye, yet all have not; and, besides, their connexion with Heman the singer makes such a name as Korah's worthy of further notice.

Heman's father, Joel, lived in days when the schools of the prophets were becoming famous in Judah's land; and in the service conducted by these sons of the prophets we find the psaltery, the tabret, the pipe, and the harp very prominent. (See 1 Sam. x. 5.) Now, we suppose that this feature of instruction in these seats of sacred learning had become specially interesting to Samuel (who is the Shemuel of ver. 33) and his son Joel; and this being so, we can understand how it was that Joel, in his enthusiasm for song, gave his first-born son the name of Heman, the famed singer of Judah in early days. (See chap. ii. 6.) Just as a like feeling of admiration for the ancient men of song, mingled with hope that in his own day and in his own family the fame of the early worthies might be revived in, and rivalled by, a new singer, may have led the Merarite, Kishi, to name his first-born son Ethan, with reference to chap. ii. 6, and perhaps, too, in imitation of Joel doing the like in his family.*

It has been thought that in the appointment of Samuel's grandson, Heman, to this high office, we see David's fond partiality for the memory of his friend Samuel. Let us rather say

* Hence, also, Heman and Ethan are elsewhere called Ezrahites. (See titles of Ps. lxxxviii. and Ps. lxxxix.) As emulating the fame of the old worthies in chap. ii. 6, they have got this appellation of honour. It is as if we were to speak of the Handels or Mozarts of our day.

VOL. XII.