The quality or dignity of this banner, or the name inscribed upon it, is Jehovah Nissi—the most exalted, the most dignified, the most glorious of all names. Jehovah, denoting the Divine Love, and Nissi, my Banner: in other words, The Divine Love is my Banner. To this will I elevate my affections, to this will I lift up mine eyes: this Divine Love, this Divine Banner, shall ever go before me. It is this which waves its protecting folds over my soul. It is this which prostrates all my enemies before me. In the Lord, in Jehovah Nissi, is my strength and my salvation, and with this in my possession, I will fear no evil, for by the truth and love of the Lord shall I prevail.
December Second.
THE TWO WITNESSES—THE OLIVES.
"These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth."—Rev. xi. 4.
THE olive trees and candlesticks are undoubtedly symbols of those virtues which are ever in the Divine presence. The olive tree is the representative of celestial love, and also of the celestial church and state, and these are ever before the face of the Lord of the earth. When applied to man, the olive is significative of the goodness derived from love to the Lord. Happy, indeed, is the man who has the virtue of the olive planted in him; who carries to the holy place that oil which makes the face to shine.
Schiller has written, "Love, the fairest phenomenon in the animated creation, the omnipotent magnet in the world of spirit, the source of devotion, and the
