THE REVELATION.

N the visions of God given to John in Patmos he saw "a throne set in heaven." He that sat on it "was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone." "Jasper" (iaspis)—see under Exod. xxviii. 17. "Sardine" (sardinos)-see the same. "There was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald (iv. 3).

"Emerald," Heb. nōphek, Gr. smaragdinos. This gem gave its

rich, soft green hue to the other colours of the rainbow, without destroying their individuality. In nature this is sometimes seen. The yellowish lustre of the jasper, and the blood-red tints of the sardine, imply the presence here of other distinctive hues.

The finest emeralds are brought from Peru and Brazil. They are, however, also to be met with in Egypt, where, it has been ascertained, a regular trade was carried on in manufacturing them. "The immense

emeralds," says Sir G. Wilkinson, "mentioned by ancient authors were doubtless glass imitations of those precious stones. Such were the colossal statue of Serapis in the Egyptian labyrinth, nine cubits, or thirteen feet and a half, in height; an emerald presented by the king of Babylon to an Egyptian Pharaoh, which was four cubits, or six feet long, and three cubits broad; and an obelisk in the temple of Jupiter, which was forty cubits, or sixty feet in height, and four cubits broad, composed of four emeralds; and to have formed statues of glass of such dimensions, even allowing them to have been of different pieces, was a greater triumph of skill than imitating the stones.

"That the Egyptians, more than three thousand years ago, were well acquainted not only with the manufacture of common glass for beads and bottles of ordinary quality, but with the art of staining it of divers colours, is sufficiently proved by the fragments found in the tombs of Thebes; and so skilful were they in this complicated process, that they imitated the most fanciful devices, and succeeded in counterfeiting the rich hues and brilliancy of precious stones. The green emerald, the purple amethyst, and other expensive gems, were successfully imitated; a necklace of false stones could be purchased at an Egyptian jeweller's, to please the wearer, or deceive a stranger by the appearance of reality; and some mock pearls (found by me at Thebes) have been so well counterfeited, that even now it is difficult to detect the imposition.

"Pliny says the emerald was more easily counterfeited than any other gem, and considers the art of imitating precious stones a far more lucrative piece of deceit than any devised by the ingenuity of man. Egypt was, as usual, the country most noted for this manufacture; and we can readily believe that in Pliny's time they succeeded so completely in the imitation, as to render it 'difficult to distinguish the false from real stones.'

The emerald was the first precious stone in the second row of the high-priest's breastplate (Exod. xxviii. 18, xxxix. 11). It was one of the gems worn by the Tyrians in their clothing, and obtained by them through Syria (Ezek. xxvii. 16, xxviii. 13).

Judgment was arrested until "the servants of God were sealed in their foreheads" (vii. 3). As the seer gazed on the visions passing before him, he sees "the multitude which no man could number." Their character as righteous through the righteousness of Christ, the Lamb, is brought out by a simple figure-"They were clothed with white robes." Their condition is as simply and as briefly indicated

"They had palms in their hands.' The leaves of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) were used as symbols of gladness after victory. "With these Israel was commanded to cover their booths in that most joyful of all their feasts, the feast of tabernacles, when they were to 'rejoice before the Lord seven days' (Lev. xxiii. 40). With the figures of these the gold of 'the holiest' was carved (1 Kings vi. 29), and the 'wall of the house round about' (2 Kings vi. 29), and ‘the two doors' of the temple (2 Kings vi. 32), and 'the ledges and borders of the bases' (2 Kings vii. 36), and the golden ceiling of the greater house' (2 Chron. iii. 5). On all parts of Ezekiel's temple, which is in reserve for the day of Israel's glory, the palm-tree is seen on the 'posts' (xl. 16), on the southern gate (xl. 26), on the eastern gate (xl. 34), on the northern gate (xl. 37), on the doors and windows everywhere (xli. 18, 19, 20, 25, 26). For great and marvellous will be the triumph of that day. It was 'branches of palms' that the people took, when bidding welcome to the King of Zion (John xii. 13). And with this same emblem the triumphant multitude appears—‘I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and PALMS IN THEIR HANDS.' See under Exod. xv. 27, and John xii. 13.

The visions of the resurrection and the great day of judgment pass away from the rapt gaze of the seer. The new heavens and the new earth are fully realized. John hears a great voice out of heaven proclaiming―“ Behold the tabernacle of God is with men." He is then taken to get a full view of "the bride, the Lamb's wife :"-"And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper-stone, clear as crystal" (xxi. 10, 11). The glory of the foundations, walls, and gates of the holy city, are then described :-"And the building of the wall of it was of jasper and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street

Fig. 195.

of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass" (ver. 18-21). Most of the precious stones mentioned in Scripture have been noticed under Gen. ii, 12; Exod. xxiv. 10; xxviii. 17, 18; Lam. iv. 7; and Rev. iv. 3-which see. The "crystal named in verse 11 was no doubt pure rock crystal, or perfectly transparent quartz, with hues like the finest jasper. The original meaning of the Greek krystallos was ice, and the popular belief regarded rock crystal as water permanently frozen. In verse 19 the third foundation is stated to have been "a chalcedony" (Gen. ii. 12). The absence of agate from this list might lead us to expect some reference to it under another name. Chalcedony proper is a translucent, highly crystalline variety of quartz, generally of a yellowish grey colour. Some of the finest have different shades of yellow, laid down in bands, as shown in fig. 193. Many-coloured chalcedonies are known as agates. The oriental Bicoloured Chalcedony. agate is in colour milk-white, tinged with yellow, and generally in structure like the accompanying cut. When the second colouring matter is orange, the stone is named sardonyx, when green it becomes a chrysoprasus, when a dash of red is laid on the ground hue it is called sardius. The "chrysolite" may be best understood if it be likened to the highly crystallized variety of quartz known generally in Britain as "cairngorum."

The twelve gates were twelve pearls. "The pearl," Heb. gavish, Gr. margaritēs, is only once directly named in the Old Testament. Job says

"No mention shall be made of coral or of pearls:

For the price of wisdom is above rubies" (xxviii. 18).

Bochart and others will have "rubies" (peninim) in this passage to mean "pearls" but the scope of the verse, were there nothing else, is against this. Rubies can buy pearls; but wisdom is better than rubies, therefore let no mention be made in this contrast between wisdom and the choicest gems of earth. The Hebrew word (gavish), moreover, points to something like small hail. This has led our translators rightly to render it pearls. This jewel has been referred to also under Gen. xi. 12-which see.

The pearl of commerce is obtained from the shell of one of the Aviculido, or wing-shelled family of molluscs, the pearl-oyster (Avicula margaritifera) represented on Plate XVIII., fig. 1, as Margarita mar

garitifera. This shell yields the well-known "mother of pearl" which is much used for ornamenting furniture, articles of luxury, &c. The play of the sunlight on this was sufficient to suggest it to John in the description of the gates of the Holy Jerusalem. The vision is gloriously bright. The foundations are exposed, and seem to him like all "mauner of precious stones"-congregated gems of a lustre and size which the wealth of the world could not purchase. The wall is of jasper, the appearance of the whole like pure gold, gleaming before the eye like glass. The twelve gates were twelve pearls. They seemed like the nacre of the pearly shells when bright light strikes on it. There is no good ground for the popular opinion, that the pearl jewel is the result of disease. Injury done to the nacreous mass of these shells, does undoubtedly lead to concretions which go to form pearls proper, but they are generally found in circumstances in which nothing like injury to the general layer can be affirmed. When a section is made in a pearl, a number of laminæ, or thin plates, are arranged over each other like the layers of the onion. The layers are always of the same kind with those which constitute the mother of pearl itself. As far as is yet known, then, pearls are simply the result of a superabundance of the nacreous matter which goes to form the shell. "Perhaps the only species operated on by man is the famous Chinese pearl mussel (Barbala plicata). The people of the Celestial Empire produce artificial pearls in this shell, by introducing wire and other foreign bodies under the mantle of the animal. In the British Museum specimens may be seen where pearls of a fine lustre have been thus produced, as well as a series of little 'josses,' made of metal, and which, having been introduced under the mantle while the animal was alive, have gradually become quite coated with pearly matter."

The genus Barbala belongs to the family Unionidae, or river mussels. In addition to those already noticed, other five passages contain references to the pearl. When instructing his disciples in the sermon on the mount, our Lord urged to prudence and discrimination in the exercise of their spiritual gifts. It was not enough that they detected sin and had hearts to rebuke offenders, they needed also to judge both of the persons and circumstances met by them in fulfilling their ministry. They might meet men on whom reproof would be thrown away, and the word of God itself brought into contempt; such, for example, as would be seen were a sober man to lecture a drunkard on the evils of drunkenness when in a state of intoxication. "Cast not your pearls before swine."