This tree of life is the Lord Jesus Christ; and that he is here called a tree, is to show how fruitful and exceeding advantageous he in all his benefits will be to the inhabitants of this city.  This is the tree under whose branches the fowls of heaven shall now most safely lodge, and find relief from the hot and fainting beams of the persecuting sun of this world.

In that he saith this city hath a tree of life in it, he alludes to the garden of Eden, the pleasant paradise that God began the world withal; whereby he signifies, that as the world began with a paradise, so also it shall end with a paradise, when sin and Satan have done their worst.  This new Jerusalem shall be the wind-up of the world; and in it shall stand the tree of life, as there stood one in the goodly garden which was the beginning thereof.

Now this tree of life being in the midst of this city, it signifies that the inhabitants of it shall be sweetly shadowed, refreshed, and defended with its coolness, and also sweetly nourished and comforted with its dainties.  “As the apple-tree is among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons.  I sat under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.”  Indeed the shadow of this tree of life, as always it is refreshing to the tempted and weary, so now it will be far more:  “They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine, and the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.”  His shadow will make us return, that is, to our first love—­to the days of our youth, to our young, fresh, tender, and flourishing faith, love, and self-denial, that we received in the day of our espousals.

O they will be green, savory, reviving, flourishing, growing Christians that shall walk the streets of the new Jerusalem.

Now there shall be a oneness of judgment and understanding in the hearts of all saints; they shall be now no more two, but one in the Lord’s hand.

Alas, the saints are yet but as an army routed, and are apt sometimes through fear, and sometimes through forgetfulness, to mistake the word of their Captain-general the Son of God, and are also too, too prone to shoot and kill even their very right-hand man.  But at that day all such doing shall be laid aside, for the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea:  which knowledge shall then strike through the heart and liver of all swerving and unsound opinions in Christ’s matters; for then shall every one of the Christians call upon the name of the Lord, and that with one pure lip, or language, to serve him with one consent.

XXII.  The Ministry.

Importance of the ministry.

The church itself, without its watchmen, is a weak, feeble, and very helpless thing.  What can the lady or mistress do to defend herself against thieves and sturdy villains, if there be none but she at home?  It is said, when the shepherd is smitten, the sheep will be scattered.  What could the temple do without its watchmen? 1 Chron. 9:24.