[If we have solid grounds for believing that God has begun a good work in our hearts, we must still remember that much remains to be done : many conflicts must be sustained before we can get the victory ; and " it ill becomes him who girds on the armour, to boast as one that puts it off0." The difficulties which the builders of the material temple ' expe- rienced, were shadows of those which we must expect in the divine life. Numberless are the devices of our subtle enemy ; nor can we defeat his purposes, unless, while we build with one hand, we hold our sword in the other". Be not then high- minded, but fear ; and, while you rejoice in what God has done for your souls, " rejoice with trembling."]
0 1 Kings xx. 11. p Neh. iv. 17.
Zech. iv. 11 — 14. Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive-trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive-branches, which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves ? And he answered me, and said, Knowest thou not what these be ? And I said, No, my lord. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.
VISIONS, under the Old Testament dispensa- tion, were like parables under the New : they gave a shadowy representation of some important truths. They are frequently very obscure : yet there is almost invariably a clew given us, whereby to discover their real import ; and not unfrequently an explanation of them is given by God himself. As in the parables, there will be sometimes found circumstances, the precise drift of which is not easy to be explained : but an attention to the main scope of the whole will keep us from ever deviating far from the true interpretation.
The vision which we are about to consider is cer- tainly not very obvious at first sight ; and it requires to be investigated with great sobriety of mind : but, when properly understood, it will richly repay the care we have used in the investigation of it. The
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