by becoming the depository of a new revelation from heaven. Then also for the first time it became a divine law, that no images, statues, groves or high places should be suffered to remain, but that they should be universally broken to pieces, cut down, burnt and destroyed. Among the rest, it is remarkable that the brazen serpent which was set up by Moses at the express command of Jehovah, Num. xxi. 8, and which like other images had become the occasion of idolatry, was also, under the divine approbation, broken in pieces by the good king Hezekiah. See 2 Kings xviii. 3, 4.

It has been already observed, concerning the people of ancient times, that, during the state of their integrity, images, statues and groves were in constant use, not as objects of idolatrous veneration, but as mediums serving to introduce to their contemplation things holy, spiritual and divine, and thereby more readily to excite their devotion: which ancient state of society is frequently referred to in both the historical and the prophetical books of the Sacred Writings. The images or statues which were set up within their groves, reminded them of the more interior spiritual things taught by the church: whereas those which were placed on the outside, whether contiguous to them or more distant from them, represented such things as were relatively more exterior and natural. Properly speaking, the groves mentioned in the passage above quoted from Isaiah, involving all that was contained within them, denote worship from spiritual truths; and the images which according to the original were solar images, or solar pillars, either as bearing the image of the sun or as being exposed to its heat, denote worship from natural truths. It is by reason of this signification of the terms, retained from time immemorial, that the prophet uses such language in describing what will be the situation of the church, when man by his natural and depraved appetites, supported by his fallacious and perverse reasonings, shall utterly depart from the true worship of the Lord, namely, that it will then be divested of all genuine spiritual truths, and at the same time of all genuine natural truths; these being understood by the groves and images which shall no longer stand up, or have an existence in the church.

Stones for Pillars, Witnesses and Memorials.

(1.) Gen. xxviii. 18, 22. Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he said, This stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house.

for

(2.) Gen. xxxi. 45-52. And Jacob took a stone, and set it up a pillar. And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones and made a heap: and they did eat there upon the heap. And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Behold this heap, and behold this pillar, which I have cast betwixt me and thee. This heap be witness and this pillar be witness that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me for harm.

(3.) Gen. xxxv. 14. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God talked with him, even a pillar of stone. (4.) Gen. xxxv. 19, 20. Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.

(5.) Ex. xxiv. 4. And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

(6.) Josh. iv. 1-9, 20. And it came to pass when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that Jehovah spake unto Joshua, saying, Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man, and command you them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging-place where you shall lodge this night.

Then Joshua called

the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man. And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of Jehovah your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel: that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean you by these stones? then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever. And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as Jehovah spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bare the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there

unto this day. And those twelve stones which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.

(7.) Josh. viii. 28, 29. And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day. And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until even-tide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones that remaineth unto this day.

(8.) Josh. xxiv. 26, 27. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of Jehovah. And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of Jehovah which He spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.

(9.) 1 Sam. vii. 12. Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath Jehovah helped us.

From the preceding passages it is plain, that heaps of stones were collected, great stones set up, and pillars erected, not only for the purpose of marking the boundaries between the possessions of one man and those of another, but also as monuments or memorials to testify and evidence, in a way that could not be denied, the truth of certain historical facts, as well as the solemn engagements which had been entered into by individuals, or by a whole people, both with their neighbor and with their God. To the above ancient practice may also be traced the origin of the law of nations. And hence may be seen at least one reason why stones in the Sacred Scriptures are used to signify truths.

CHAPTER VIII.

TABLES OF STONES FOR THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

The Two Tables in General.

(1.) Ex. xxiv. 12. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone and a law and commandments which I have written.

(2.) Ex. xxxi. 18. And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

(3.) Ex. xxxii. 15, 16, 19. And Moses turned, and went down. from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand : and the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God graven upon the tables. And it came to pass as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing;-( for in the absence of Moses, Aaron and the people had made a golden calf, and were dancing before it :)—and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.

(4.) Ex. xxxiv. 1, 4, 28. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as Jehovah had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. And He (Jehovah) wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

Similar things are repeated in Deut. iv. 13; ix. 9-17; x. 1-5.

The ten commandments inscribed upon two tables of stone, as is well known, were the first-fruits of the Word, and contain an epitome of the whole duty of man. They are called the ten words, because the number ten signifies and involves all; and words or commandments denote truths which have respect to doctrine, and goods which have respect to life. The reason why they were written upon tables of stone was, because, as we have already seen, stone signifies truth, properly

external truth such as constitutes the literal sense of the Word. These tables were two in number, to represent thereby the conjunction of the Lord with the church, and by the church with the human race. Hence they are called the tables of the covenant, Deut. ix. 9, 11, 15; and the words inscribed upon them are called the words of the covenant, Ex. xxxiv. 27, 28: for a covenant implies the agreement or conjunction of two. On this account the tables, though perfectly distinct, were yet so adjusted to each other, that being placed together, and by application conjoined into one, the writing was continued in straight lines from one table to the other, in all respects as if they were only one table. And it is probable, as well from the circumstance of Moses carrying both the tables in his hands, as from their being laid together in the ark, that their dimensions and bulk must have been very moderate, perhaps considerably less than what have been usually assigned them.

:

It appears from Ex. xxxii. 15, that "the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written:" from which passage it might with some plausibility be inferred, that the writing was upon each side or surface of each stone, that is, upon both their fronts and backs. If this conjecture be admitted, then the dimensions of the two tables may have been proportionably diminished while the writing upon the fronts and backs might still denote the internal and the external sense of the Word, as in Ezek. ii. 9, 10; and Apoc. v. 1. But as it is more probable that the two sides, or rather, in strict conformity with the original, the two transits, had respect merely to the two distinct tables which were placed one against the other, the expression seems plainly to imply that both in writing and in reading each of the commandments, a transition was made from one table to the other, in the manner already described.

The common opinion is, that so many entire precepts were written upon one table, and so many upon another, as exhibited in almost all Christian churches: which idea has been thought to receive confirmation from its being usually said, that one table is for the Lord, and the other for man. This latter sentiment is indeed true in one respect, that is, representatively, as arising from the number of the tables spiritually considered, as well as from the twofold duty which man is bound to perform, viz., first to the Lord, and secondly to his neighbor. And hence we may also see the reason why the Lord in the Gospel comprises the whole of the decalogue in two commandments only, saying, that love to the Lord constitutes the first, and love to