In Rev. ii. 7 this tree re-appears; "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." Has it changed its meaning or purpose? Is "spiritual life" the reward bestowed upon those who overcome? Surely it is only by possessing such life that they can overcome. "Ye have your fruit unto holiness"-that is overcoming,-"and the end everlasting life" by having perpetual access to the tree of life. In this message to the Church of Ephesus is promised-not the restoration on repentance and faith of what Adam actually lost when he fell, but the restoration hereafter to the Christian victor of what Adam, and consequently his descendants, lost by being debarred from the tree of life-immortality, or eternal life.

There is

In the New Jerusalem we see that promise fulfilled. the tree of life, growing in rich abundance, and bearing fruit all the year round, in the very midst of the city, the symbolic pledge that its inhabitants can never "die any more," that "they shall never perish, but have everlasting life."

Then is this all? Certainly not. Immortality, being promised as a blessing, must necessarily be one of holiness and happiness,as is constantly affirmed. Nor can there possibly be any other; inasmuch as the whole creation is to be reconciled to God by Christ (Col. i. 16-20), so that any creature who is to live for ever must share in that reconciliation. To give eternal life, therefore, to a fallen creature like man includes his being brought into moral harmony with God; and, although the two things can never be separated, "life" is spoken of in Scripture with special reference, sometimes, to the fact of our living for ever, and sometimes to its essential condition. Both are no doubt represented by the water of life, and the tree of life, in the Holy City. We may take them together, and say, that as our present bodily life is sustained by what we eat and drink, the water of the river and the fruit of the tree afford a symbolic pledge that all our wants to all eternity will be abundantly supplied; that we "shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more.' (Rev. vii. 16.) Or, perhaps, the water, being mentioned first, may be intended specially to denote the preservation of our moral character from injury or decline, and the tree of life, by its manifest reference to that in the garden of Eden, may point more emphatically to the assurance that they who believe in Christ shall never perish, but have everlasting life. We shall be better able to judge of this when we have considered the particular description here given of them.

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First, we are told, that the purity of the stream rendered it "clear

This is somewhat confirmed by its apparent meaning in Rev. xxi. 6; xxii. 17. If we are right in understanding the "thirst to be an earnest longing for reconciliation with God, the water which quenches it must be "the word of reconciliation" bringing to those who believe it a sense of present forgiveness.

as crystal." In one sense the water of life offered to us now is as clear as God can make it. "Ye are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power,"-in Him, "who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption." But it is very difficult for us to see it "clear as crystal;" our own imperfect vision, our own defilement, our manifold infirmities, the tears which dim our eyes, the world, the flesh, and the devil that we have to struggle against, if they do not discolour the water, are very apt practically to interfere with its perfect transparency, and hinder us from obtaining a clear view of its marvellous depths. There we shall be able to gaze upon it, look down into it, drink of it, without let or hindrance. The salvation realised now is enough to quench our thirst, to make us lift up our head and go on our way rejoicing; but "the salvation to be revealed" will be something vastly better still,-" clear as crystal," full as a "river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God."

Then we observe that this river was not a natural one, having its source in some earthly spring, but "proceeded out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." The throne, not the thrones. The life then enjoyed will flow directly from union with God in Christ fully manifested; not suffering, but reigning; not subduing his enemies, but sitting on his throne. The topstone will have been already put to the triumph of grace; but Divine power, exercised by him who is still the "Lamb as it had been slain," will for ever be needed to sustain our whole being in the highest condition of life. The Lamb will still be our Shepherd,* and lead us to the inexhaustible fountains of living water. Let us drink now of the life-giving stream which flows from the cross, that we may hereafter have access to that which will proceed out of the throne. The water will be the same, the Giver of it the same, those who drink of it the same,-yet all, how changed! Unbroken continuity with infinite development.

And now as to the Tree of Life. It is said to be growing "in the midst of the street thereof, and of the river, on this side and on that side." Our translation is misleading; as it suggests the idea of the tree standing both in the middle of the street, and in the middle of the river-the former of which is highly improbable and the latter absurd. Its position was in a middle place between the street and the river. The river itself ran down the middle of a broad street, and on each bank, throughout its whole length, was seen in rich luxuriance the tree of life. The singular number is used merely to show that they were all the same kind of tree: as

"Feed them," in Rev. vii. 17, is properly "shepherd them;" which is their security both against hunger or thirst, and against the sun smiting them or any heat oppressing them, that is, against suffering from within or from without. The correct version of "living fountains of waters" is probably "fountains of waters of life.

we might say of a certain place, that nothing but the oak will grow there. The street of the city," in chap. xxi. 21, probably means its entire roadway. Here, however, one street only is spoken of, no doubt the principal street of the city, and probably the only one that St. John saw. The other streets which, from there being twelve gates, must have existed, are not mentioned; and therefore, on the principle that is required in the interpretation of parables and other illustrative teaching, we must exclude them from view, and so far as concerns the river and tree of life, regard this as the only street in the city. The points to be noticed then about the latter are its close connection with the river, its abundance, and its accessible position to the inhabitant.

Its position by the river side marks the intimate connection between the moral and physical aspects of eternal life. In Christ we have "life and immortality," salvation from sin, and salvation from death, "our fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." The two cannot be separated. There is no eating of the tree without drinking of the river, or drinking of the river without eating of the tree. And therefore in their application the two figures are not always sharply divided, but as already observed, the one often includes the other. In the New Jerusalem the advantages represented by them both will be secured for ever: neither sin nor death can

ever enter.

In Eden there was but one tree of life, and that in the midst of the garden. In the New Jerusalem there is an abundance of them; their boughs hang richly laden with fruit, directly in front of every house. As the crystal clearness of the water represents the surpassing excellence of the life enjoyed there, so does the multiplication of the tree indicate the superabounding of that life throughout the whole body. There is no need to penetrate into the depths of the garden; it stands before every one's door. Endless differences there will doubtless be amongst that multitude which no man can number; but the water and the tree of life will be equally accessible to all.

And the supply will be unbroken. The river will never be dried up, or the tree be without fruit. The former possibility does not so readily occur to the mind as to require any direct assurance. But the latter does: for naturally a tree yields its fruit at only one season of the year. And therefore we are told that this tree "yielded her fruit every month," which would practically come to there being always fruit on its branches. How carefully we have now to store up the fruit we gather from this tree, as provided for us in God's word! And how often, when we want to use it, do we find it very far from as fresh, or as refreshing, as when first plucked. It is our own infirmity no doubt; but it is only a too real and disappointing fact. Some text, or truth, seemed at one time so full of juice, that we fondly imagined it would be an infallible specific for the rest of our lives. But we put it to our lips again, perhaps

when we most sorely need it, and alas it yields scarce a particle of moisture. That, the exact spiritual diagnosist will say, is because we do not get it to our lips, or at least not fairly between our teeth. Well, be it so; but it comes very much to the same thing. Thank God, a time is coming, when the fruit will not require all this laborious and sometimes very partially successful watching and tending, but will drop fresh into our mouths day by day; when we shall not need such constant efforts to "keep ourselves in the love of God," such wrestling in prayer, such strainings of faith, such patient searching of the Scripture, such care to lay it up in our weak hearts and treacherous memories. Now we eat of the tree of life growing on the field of battle, then we shall eat of it "in the midst of the Paradise of God;"-that Paradise which will be at once a garden and a city, combining all the repose and loveliness of the one with all the life and splendour of the other.

"The Home to which I am hasting

Is not in some silent glen;

The place where my hopes are resting
Is a city of living men."

Yes; but that city will be as peaceful and fresh as the sweetest glen, and we shall be able to enjoy the society of its living men, without any of that weariness or excitement that so often makes silence a relief to us.

The "twelve fruits " are understood by some to mean twelve different kinds of fruit, one appearing each month. But this is very unlikely. In marked contrast to the "all trees for meat" of Ezek. xlvii. 12, care is taken here to specify that the trees were all of one kind; "the tree of life;" and it would be exceedingly incongruous to imagine the same tree bearing a different kind of fruit each month of the year. Besides, although it would naturally enough suggest the idea of variety,-a most tempting thought in connection with the future life of the glorified church,-we should feel somewhat embarrassed and dissatisfied at that variety being represented by a regular succession, year after year, of the same fruit, always appearing in the same month, and then disappearing for eleven months. The twelve fruits are explained in the following words to be the twelve separate growths of fruit, which appeared every year "bearing its fruit each month." It is not "twelve manner of fruits," as in our version; nor is the second clause a separate statement, as we give it, but an explanatory one attached -to the first.

We must not, however, omit to notice that the fruit of this tree is the only food which is mentioned as being provided for the inhabitants of the city. And there are some peculiarities about fruit as an article of food which may be worth observing in this connection. It is the most delicate and delicious of all food; to appreciate it indicates a refined taste. It is also obtained with the least amount of

labour; and its production is the most free from any disagreeable associations. Bread, and edible grain of every kind, is obtained by a long succession of toilsome and tedious processes. Roots have to be dug out of the earth, and rendered fit for human food by cleaning and cooking. Animal food necessitates death, and a good deal more of what we like to think about as little as possible. While fruit, under favourable circumstances, is easily grown, easily gathered, and requires no artificial preparation. On the other hand, it is the least able to sustain life. Men can live on any other kind of food for a considerable time, and on some permanently but confine a man to fruit, and he will sink directly; there is not substance enough in it to repair the waste that is consequently taking place in the human body. Now the resurrection body being incorruptible, we can scarcely think that it will need any material food whatever, notwithstanding the fact of our Lord having eaten and drunk with his disciples.* But whatever may be thought of that, it is worth notice, that when the maintaining hereafter of our whole being in immortal vigour is represented under the emblem-it is of course nothing more-of a constant supply of food, it is of a kind the least suggestive of waste or decay. Whether we shall eat and drink or not, we are here represented as doing so; but only fruit and pure water.

Our life, of every kind, will be sustained then, as it is now, by union with Christ; a union to which our concurrence will still be necessary. We shall have to keep on for ever appropriating Christ to ourselves. To live by Christ, we shall have to live on Christ. But we shall not have to " eat his flesh, and drink his blood:" we shall not have to "labour for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life." It will not be a work of toil, and effort, and conflict; there will be no doubts, or fears, or unbelief; no dangers to guard against, or temptations to overcome; all that will be at an end for ever. We shall just eat of the tree of life, and drink of the river of life. Fresh fruit, and fresh water. No images more pure or simple, more refined or refreshing, could be drawn from anything which even conduces to our bodily sustenance.

But the value of this tree is not limited to its fruit: there is "healing" in its "leaves." The inhabitants of the city require no healing; but there are "nations" still in the flesh who do; and to them the leaves will bring it. This rebukes the narrow view of "the manifold wisdom of God" displayed in Christ's redeeming work, which would confine it to one method of application, and divide the human race simply into the saved and unsaved. There is such a division undoubtedly; but there are many others,far more perhaps than as yet we have the least conception of. Fruit

The difficulty is greatly lessened if we adopt the view maintained by Stier and others, that our Lord's body underwent a spiritualising process during the forty days between his resurrection and ascension.