It is unnecessary to give a minute
description of the gems of which these foundation-courses were composed.
They were the most beautiful and costly of which men possess any
knowledge. In appearance they represent various colors of the most
delicate shades. Royal persons wear even the smallest of these gems upon
their persons and imagine themselves richly adorned; but in this city of
God they appear in such abundance that they are even selected to form
the basis, or foundation, of the wall. "And the twelve gates were twelve
pearls; every several gate was of one pearl." We have rich necklaces of
pearl; but where is the individual that was ever blessed with such a
profusion of wealth that he could ornament the gates of a city with
pearls? The gates of the New Jerusalem, however, were not merely
ornamented or studded with pearls--that were a very small thing for
her--but each gate was of one solid pearl. To conceive the immensity of
this representation we must consider the size of the gates required to
accommodate the multitudes constantly entering and departing from a
city. To be in proportion to the wall they would have to be of immense
size, and also of prodigious strength in order to resist the assaults of
enemies, as they would be the first places attacked. The gate of the
temple called Beautiful, mentioned in the Book of Acts, which was in the
wall surrounding the temple, is said to have been seventy-five feet high
and sixty in width, built of Corinthian brass. Yet immense as they were,
those in the New Jerusalem were each of one solid pearl. Oh, beautiful
city of God, the home of the saints!

The most prominent object within the walls of the ancient Jerusalem was
the magnificent temple on Mount Zion. It was the chief ornament and
glory of the city. In the New Jerusalem, however, no temple is seen.
Alas! is not this a great defect? What is Jerusalem without a temple
where the tribes may go up and worship before the Lord? Oh, they need no
temple in this glorious city of God; for there is one there greater than
the temple: "the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it."
This doubtless sets forth the fact that the worship of God is pure and
spiritual and of free access to all. Under the old dispensation the high
priest alone, and he but once a year, was permitted to enter the sacred
precincts of the Deity as limited to the inner sanctuary of the temple.
Now God's people need no mediating priest to offer up a sp