earth, he offered a petition, the acceptance of which secures this crowning felicity of heaven: "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory.—I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them." John xvii. 24, 26. Oh, what must be the blessedness of beholding the unveiled glory of Him, compared with whom the most radiant sons of light, the principalities and powers in heavenly places, are but as the twinkling stars before the orb of day! What must be the blessedness of beholding Him who has redeemed his church from death and hell; who has reconciled to God a world of apostate rebels; who has united in bonds of strictest unity the host of angels and the family of men; who has restored order and harmony to the creation of God! If, in the contemplation of the Redeemer's glory, the minds of angels should attain an elevation above the level of our inferior powers, yet our hearts will surely be conscious of ecstatic emotions which angels themselves are not qualified to feel. It was our nature which he assumed when he descended from his eternal throne; it was in our world that he dwelt when angels ministered to his wants; it was in our stead that he drank the cup of sorrow, even to its very dregs; it was in our cause that the sword of justice pierced his heart, when the nails of the cross pierced his hands and his feet; it is still

in our nature that he displays the effulgence which is the light of heaven, and supersedes the necessity of any other sun! With what feelings then shall we see his face and celebrate his love! If now we love him, although unseen, what will be the ardour of our attachment when we see him as he is! Frigid is our highest fervour, and torpid our most intense excitement of feeling, compared with the emotions of indescribable rapture, with which we shall at that day sing, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Rev. i. 5,

6.

This train of thought directs our views, III. To the blissful worship of the celestial world.

Heaven is represented, in the book of the Revelation, as a temple, and all its orders of inhabitants as adoring and delightful worshippers. The redeemed of our race are, in reference to this hallowed employment, consecrated priests, whose proper function it will be eternally to present the fragrant incense of praise from the altar of a grateful heart. These acts of holy worship will call forth the noblest exercises of our noblest powers, and the most joyous feelings of our joyous souls. Even with all our present imperfections of state and of character, it is good, it is pleasant to draw near to God; and never is it so pleasurable, as when we are engaged in the offer

ing of praise. Then have we the most direct and the most ennobling communion with God, when we endeavour to present, by the sacrifice of our lips, the glory due to his name. What then must be the blessedness of worship, when there is no petition to present, no transgression to confess, no sin to disturb, no infirmity to lament, no tempter to molest; when the glorious object of adoration is present to the eye as well as to the mind; when every one of the perfections he unfolds, and every one of the operations he displays, becomes an inspiring theme of most exalted praise! With what inexpressible delight will the multitude of celestial worshippers exclaim, on a survey of his wondrous works, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created!" Rev. iv. 11. With what elevation of mind, and yet with what prostration of spirit, will they enter into the meaning of those words, "God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God." Psa. lxii. 11. "How sublime a pleasure will they find in the adoration of that power which stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth; which gave impulse and regulation to the mighty wheels of providence, throughout successive ages; which called into being the new creation; which restrained the outrages of a rebellious and tumultuous world; which chained up malignant and destroying fiends, and preserved,

amid appalling dangers, Christ's little flock!" On such a survey as this, well may they exclaim with enraptured minds, "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." Rev. xv. 3. Penetrated with such sentiments, with what entireness of self-dedication will they consecrate themselves to the service of their God, and learn to place their supreme felicity in the spirit of dependence on his all-sufficient fulness! How exquisite must be the delight attendant on such emotions, "when the soul shall have no conception of greater blessedness than that of an ever-living sacrifice always ascending to God in the flame of its ardent and its pure devotion!"

And there is one theme of praise, to which the voices and the harps of heaven are most peculiarly attuned, and which he who sitteth on the throne is most delighted to hear. It was of old the favourite theme of the son of Jesse, and the son of Amos, and of all the prophets, and of all the apostles. It is the theme of redemption by the blood of the Lamb that was slain. Do not our hearts already glow and burn within us, at the thought of being ere long introduced into the number of the ten thousand times ten thousand, who sing with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing!" Rev. v. 12.

Let me invite you to contemplate,

IV. The refined enjoyment of social delight, which shall augment the happiness of the heavenly world.

Of all the elements of future blessedness, there is not one of which we are better prepared to form delightful anticipations, than of that which will arise from the renewal of endearing intercourse with those we love. To a Christian who has no reason to fear the consequences of dissolution, the bitterest ingredient in the cup of which the last enemy 'causes him to drink, is the thought of separation from the objects of his tender love. What then can be so cheering as the prospect of a speedy reunion, under circumstances incomparably more favourable to delight! In the world which death never invades, Christians, previously attached to each other by the ties of nature or of friendship, will be in each other's estimation even more excellent and more amiable than ever they appeared before; and the pleasures of uninterrupted and most intimate converse will immeasurably transcend all that was enjoyed on earth.

And what an accession will there be to the circle of their associates! Can we possibly be indifferent to the thought of meeting and of conversing with the best and the greatest of men that ever breathed our air, and trod our earth, and obtained a name in the records of inspiration? If, in the language of the Old Testament, for a believer to depart out of life, is to be "gathered to his fathers;" if to be admitted into heaven is to be received to "the