PREFACE.

THE design of the Plate which fronts the title of this little work, is to represent the two different and distinct Dispensations--the Shechinah Glory and " Temple of the Tabernacle," which belong to the Jews; and the Light and the Cross, which belong to the Gentiles in the present Dispensation, as Simeon testifies: "A Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel," (Luke ii. 32); and as Paul says, to them "pertains the Glory." (Rom. ix. 4.)

When the veil is rent (which now impedes our view of the Heavenly Order) by the Shechinah, or the visible manifestation of God's presence by the Glory, then will be understood the fourth chapter of Revelations: the whole of which chapter is intended to make known to us what is in the heavens; and "to shew unto God's servants things which must shortly come to pass." (Rev. 1. 1.) Then the substance and prototype, "the temple and the tabernacle of the testimony in

heaven, will be opened" (Rev. xv. 5); and then "will be seen lightnings, and voices, and great hail." (Rev. xi. 19.) Then it will be said, "And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them." (Rev. xxi. 3.) "Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: and, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his Glory (Shechinah.) And the glory of the Lord came into the house, by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east: and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house. And he said unto me, Son of man, 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." (Ezek. xliii. 1—7.) This prophecy most certainly has never been fulfilled : neither has the following, "My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore." (Ezek. xxxvii. 27, 28.) All that the children of Israel possessed in the wilderness (except the

Glory that overshadowed the Cherubims and Mercy Seat) was but a figure or pattern of the "heavenly things themselves" (see Heb. ix. 23); and therefore it was said to Moses, "See that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed thee in the mount." (Heb. viii. 5.)

But after God has made an end of first visiting the Gentiles, and taking out of them "a people for his name," he "will return and will build again the Tabernacle of David," (Acts xv. 14, 16) and exalt the Jews and their Tabernacle, by their promised glory, and we Gentiles will be under them, in our proper mansion, for which we are only prepared; as Jesus has informed us in John xiv. 2, "I go to prepare a place for you. In my Father's house (mark! his Father's house, the temple of the Tabernacle itself, that was shewed to Moses in the Holy Mount) are many mansions:* if it were not so, I would have told you." And then we will understand and wonder at the strangeness of their salvation, and exclaim, “O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge

* Observe, the Gentiles can have no mansions above the first Jewish Christians, who were faithful and who understood all the order of the service of the Tabernacle, because to them "pertain the service of God" in the Tabernacle, for this very reason, namely, to prepare them for the first order, when the Temple of the Tabernacle in heaven shall be opened.

of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all." (Rom. xi. 32, 33.)

Many persons ignorantly blame the Jews for not embracing Christianity as a nation—not knowing that according to the purposes of Jehovah they cannot as a nation receive the promises of God in relation to their being the medium, the "election,” the adoption, (to bear the Glory), and "the service of God" in the Temple itself, when revealed and disclosed to the world, "Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." For God promised to Abraham, (see Gen. xxi. 13); "And also the son of the bond-woman (Hagar) will I make a nation, because he is thy seed." And also to Hagar in the wilderness of Beersheba (Gen. xxi. 17, 18); "And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not ;;

for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand, for I will make him a great nation:"* and again: "As for Ishmael, I have heard thee; Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him

* And the Mahommedans are truly "a great nation."