in the treasury of God's knowledge. "The ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He pondereth all his goings." "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord." "All things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

Every thing relating to our individual characters will be brought to light. "For the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." Aye, even the "counsels of the hearts."

THE EVERLASTING REST.

"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."-HEB. ix. 4.

Heaven is never presented to our view as a state of conflict. Having passed through his period of trial, the Christian will enter the world of holiness and bliss, never again to be subjected to the loss of his peace. Secured from falling, by an Almighty arm, there is no danger that he will ever apostatize. He will love and serve God in full accordance with his capacities; and he will evermore be surrounded by beings of the same character with himself. There will be no sinful propensities in his soul, struggling for the mastery; no consciousness of transgression; no painful regret for past errors; nothing of this nature to interrupt and destroy his peace. All the woes incident to our fallen, sinful nature will be excluded from the heavenly rest. The fear of poverty will not disquiet the mind, nor that of want oppress; the jealousies and envies of earth will there be unknown; nor can we think of any evil to which we are here subject, from which the Christian will not there be free; and, with his holiness, his bliss will then be perfect.

The employments of heaven will be such as to increase and perfect his joy. We reason from the nature of the mind, and its capacity for the acquisition of knowledge, that in heaven it will still be active; and it will make the study of the works of God a chief employment, and be engaged, with the angels, in all that conduces to the divine glory and its own happiness. Here, the body occupies a large proportion of care. But in the future state, all its wants will be provided for, so that our whole time may be actively devoted to serving God, in such rational and pleasurable pursuits, as may conduce to his glory and our good.

The ideas common on this subject are strangely wrong, contradicting everything that we know of the nature of celestial feli

city and glory. It is not in idleness that the saints are to spend eternity. There must, and will be something for them to do, which will call into activity their holy and benevolent affections, or else heaven would soon become a dull place to them. Nor can we doubt that, in this respect, there is ample provision made. Heavenly happiness is represented by symbols drawn from material objects of beauty and grandeur. We are not to suppose that heaven presents to view a beautiful garden filled with choice fruit, or a crystal stream, or a city paved with gold; nor that there are in heaven harps of gold, and crowns and raiment pure and white; nor that our Father has a house there, and tables spread for the hungry, for these are only emblems, and are used to convey the idea of happiness to minds otherwise incapable of its conception. We should not therefore materialize heaven, but use these scriptural metaphors to heighten our ideas of its bliss.

There will be both pleasant and useful occupation in which the saints will be engaged. It is needless, however, to speculate, where the facts have not been revealed. And yet it is pleasant to think that there are innumerable ways of occupying ourselves in heaven. There is much yet to be learned of God, and of his works. Here, we gain only the rudiments of knowledge. Even Newton, at the close of life, could say, that he appeared to himself to have been like a little boy upon the seashore, picking up a smoother pebble and a prettier shell than ordinary, while the vast ocean of truth lay unexplored before him.

When we reflect that the whole of the boundless creation will in heaven be spread out to our view, that suns and systems of worlds will rise upon the astonished vision, and that new works of creation, new forms of matter, and fresh creations of mind, may occupy us with a view of Jehovah's wisdom for ever, we may feel assured that, to follow in the path which he thus opens before us, will give us enough to do, and even inspire us with fresh motives to adoration and praise.

Social friendship will there be enjoyed and perpetuated. Much of the pleasure of life is that derived from social intercourse. But, in heaven, this communion will be purely spiritual. As kindred minds naturally take pleasure in each other's society, so will it be in the everlasting rest. That the saints in heaven will there recognize their friends, does not admit of a doubt. There we shall see as we are seen, and know as we are known. It greatly enhances the pleasure of anticipation to reflect, that the friendships begun on earth may be transferred to heaven, and there be perpetuated. No thought suggested in view of friends who sleep in Jesus, is more consoling. We know that they will be happy, and that abiding faithful, we shall join them in that kingdom of our Father. There is nothing which so effectually removes the sting of death, or imparts such consola

tion to the bereaved, as the thought that those we knew and loved on earth, and who have gone before us, may be deputed, by our Saviour, as ministering spirits, to convoy us home; so that, on dying, our eyes may be open, in eternity, on the friends who surround our dying bed, waiting to receive, and to welcome us to glory.

Does the parent rejoice in the return of a wandering son? How much higher, and holier, the joy of that parent in heaven, to meet his beloved child there, well knowing that every danger is now past, and that everlasting blessedness is, through sovereign grace, secured? The spirits of our friends in heaven are, as the angels of God, enjoying the same interest in each other, and ever susceptible to the same holy friendships. When it is reflected how greatly the happiness of life depends on such pleasant associations, can we doubt that the pleasures derived from this source are, in heaven, infinitely enhanced? Not only those we knew and loved on earth, but holy persons of past ages, will share our love. Beings of a higher grade will constitute part of the celestial society. The saints will mingle with the angels, partake of their knowledge, listen to their wisdom, and rejoice in their love.

But above all, the saints will there hold converse with God, and enjoy the blessedness resulting from communion, and intercourse with the Redeemer. They will feel a conscious joy in the thought, that the great and good Father, who sits upon the throne of the universe, is their friend.

What can equal such society, or confer such happiness? Friendships so exalted and glorious, formed on such a basis, and cemented by such relationships, will furnish every thing needed to make us happy.

And the happiness thus created for the blest will never terminate. The saints will have found the everlasting rest. Earth presents to view no such blessedness. In comparison with this, all its pleasures are trivial; its joys are transitory--here to-dayto-morrow--gone. Its friendships are often withered in an hour. All the pleasures that spring from earth bear the stamp of their earthly origin. But the rest of the saints is a state of blissful employment, and social intercourse and friendship, pure, spiritual, and eternal.

And this rest is as glorious as it is enduring. Heaven is a bright, a glorious place. It is pictured forth to view by the emblem of the golden city, adorned with precious stones, and illumined by God himself, whose glories are resplendent, and whose brightness casts the orb of light into the shade. While the world of the lost is described as darkness, heaven is set forth to view in all its splendors, as a place worthy to be the residence of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Language fails to express the thoughts which cluster around that happy place, or to convey any suitable idea of that holy

and blest abode. Nor can any mind but one renewed, and which knows by experience the blessedness of a life of peace, form a proper conception of the beauty and holiness of the everlasting rest.

To this rest, the way of peace conducts all who love God. This is heaven; its portals are just beyond the river of death. He who walks in the way of peace till he reaches that river, will pass over it unharmed. He has the sure promise of God, "when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." And of all who have pursued this way, none have ever found God unfaithful to his promise. For it is written, for the encouragement of all that love him, that "though the mountains depart, and the hills be removed, yet my kindness shall not depart from thee, nor the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee."-The Way of Peace.

THE DOMESTIC ALTAR.

It is something to bring the members of a family together twice a day. For "in proportion as the subjects of mutual obligation live apart, they will cease to care for one another. No customs of society are laudable or safe which tend, in any considerable degree, to separate parents from children and brothers from sisters." All such customs go to weaken that sense of mutual dependence, which is commingled, as a vital element, with the domestic affections. Love must be on the wane in any house, the inmates of which rarely meet together. But in the case we are contemplating, they are not merely convened morning and evening to look each other in the face, or to hold a familiar talk. They assemble to engage in one of the most tender and impressive of all services-to listen, as a family, to the counsels of inspired wisdom; to sing in unison their hymns of praise, and bow down together before the throne of grace, and follow the hallowed accents of a father's voice, while he presents, as the revered priest of his household, their common confessions, supplications, thanksgivings and intercessions. Can you wonder that a service like this should have enkindled the enthusiasm of one of the sweetest poets,* who, though his own worst enemy, could never forget the daily worship of his father's house?

Is it possible to conceive of a service better adapted than this to repress all jealousies and envies, to drive away the gloomy

* Burns.

vapors of moroseness, to restore serenity to every clouded brow, to reburnish the chain of affection, and diffuse an air of cheerfulness through the house? If there is a transient interruption of conjugal cordiality, can the coolness survive the familyprayer? If there are heart-burnings among the children, will they not dissolve like snow in the sun as the petition goes up, "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us?" If misfortune has come down upon them, will they not cling more closely to each other as they pour their common sorrows into the ear of their common Father? If they are enriched with unlooked-for blessings, will they not feel them to be the more precious as they present their united thank-offering to the Giver of all good?

But I must not detain you with this animating theme. Let me rather invite you to prove for yourselves the efficacy of family worship as a help to domestic happiness. Let it be your first care to rear an altar to God if your house is without oneto repair your altar if it has fallen into decay.

And by this and every other means which God has placed within your reach, strive to prepare yourselves and those who are dearest to you, for a better world. Give the BIBLE the place in your families to which it is entitled, and then, through the unsearchable riches of Christ, many a household among you may hereafter realize that most blessed consummation, and appear A WHOLE FAMILY IN HEAVEN.--The Bible in the Family.