REST AND PEACE SOUGHT.

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selves in fearful array. Instead of conquering, they are often conquered, until, weary and disheartened, they would lay their armor by, and find repose from the din and strife of clamorous hosts in some more favorable condition. It is true this warfare is never waged intelligently until we learn to apply the motives and inducements of the gospel; but with no prompter but conscience, we know there must be something of antagonism, since right and wrong both battle for indulgence. With this state of things, there is ample occasion to lead the soul to the appreciation of peace, and to desire in its profoundest depths a home of rest.

Its native desires tend to a home where all things shall be spread out on a larger and more perfect scale than can be found on earth. We observe the tendency among the unenlightened, the unchristianized nations of the world; but, after all, the home of the soul is never known, never fully understood, until it is disclosed by the messengers which God hath appointed for that purpose. All that we have mentioned, and even more, might be supposed concerning it; but it would be nothing but baseless and unsatisfactory conjecture, comparatively. God hath prepared a place for the soul—a home where it is to dwell through inconceivable ages; and how natural to suppose that man would desire the most perfect knowledge respecting it that he would be eager for precise information of his eternal dwelling-place! It has been given. The nature, the characteristics, the employments of it are intimated, but no full and elaborate description is given. Some things are held in reserve by the Divine Proprietor, and enraptured guests are to find abundant blessing in the exercise of new and enlarged conceptions; but these things are to appear as we further unfold them in future chapters, guided by Scripture authority. There is a glorious home for the Christian. It is a happy, permanent, and peaceful home. Human conception has never reached the heights of felicity that tower so loftily here. All that can be imagined falls below the reality; "eye hath not seen, nor ear

THIS HOME ONLY FOR THE CHRISTIAN.

270 heard" such sights and sounds as are to be seen and heard when the disembodied spirit shall find itself an inmate of its eternal home.

But is this home, this blessed home, for all spirits? We know the distinction which is made. We know that "nothing which is defiled" can enter in; that the impure cannot be classed with the pure, the unholy with the holy, for this would destroy the blessedness, the sacredness, of the heavenly abode.

The peaceful enclosure will never be invaded by hostile bands, and the happy family, with their celestial guards, will dwell in conscious security, while those who rejected the alluring title must know the strife and unrest of a far different home through all eternity. O, surely nothing can equal in importance the home of the soul. Nothing can excel in anticipative interest the idea of admission into the blessed mansions of eternal rest the New Jerusalem. We turn to the contemplation of this - the purchased possession of the saints, the inheritance of believers, the world of light, and the Christian's home, with this reflection - that its real glory is yet unrevealed; that it is never to be fully comprehended until the gates unloose to let the travellers in, and the full splendor of the eternal throne bursts upon their wondering sight. Until then the Christian may labor, meanwhile singing, —

"Home, sweet, sweet home,

O Saviour, conduct me to heaven, my home."

-

The days of exile are fast passing away; the time of ban-` ishment is soon coming to an end; the period is hasting when Jesus will say to the faithful and obedient, —

A

"Well done! Sit down on my throne,

And dwell in my presence, forever at home."

"dark river," " a narrow stream," spans the way between this home and that; yet but a little while and we shall all have crossed over; a little while, and we shall be inhabitants of another country; we shall be roaming on the banks of another shore; it may be "singing salvation forever and ever."

Whether it be so or not depends upon the preparation which is made in time. Those who wisely care for these things close their eyes upon this sublunary sphere, with the triumphant ejaculation, "I'm going home." The prospect lures them onward. They may have enjoyed much in their earthly homes, and grateful songs may have ascended often for so much of goodness; yet there is no home like the heavenly home, and they welcome death, which "divides this heavenly land from ours," with peculiar joy.

"Sweet glories rush upon the sight,

And charm the wondering eyes —

The regions of immortal light,

The beauties of the skies."

272 NECESSITY OF HEAVEN TO PAGAN MINDS.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE NEW JERUSALEM.

Necessity of Heaven to Pagan Minds. The various heavenly Creations. -The New Jerusalem of the Bible. - Heaven prefigured by Paradise and Canaan. Locality of Heaven. Opinions of various Writers. —

Inspired Declarations. Inconceivable Glories.

"There is a happy land, far, far away,

Where saints in glory stand, bright, bright as day."

"Jerusalem, my glorious home,

Name ever dear to me.

Then shall my labors have an end!

When I thy joys shall see."

FOR long ages, pilgrims in this unsatisfying land have been pressing eagerly forward, hoping for some shrine before which their spirits might bow, to realize the deep, unspoken longings of mysterious, restless natures. They have been anxious to know what they should see and experience when they should look upon the receding shores of time. Happiness is the universal consideration; therefore all have conceived the idea of a happy land, the location, the characteristics, of which have been varied according to the ignorance, or the cultivation and refinement, of the people who originated the several creations. There is hardly a Pagan mind, however isolated or conditioned, but that from some corner of its contracted self there comes welling up a desire for fairer hills and plains than it has yet seen. It is inherent in the human soul. Be it Christian or barbarian, there is yet a kindred passion for the better; and this, in its fulness, is buried from sight in the expected future. There they place it the shrine is there. The difference is wide indeed. To the one it is the dignity and glory of the

PAGAN VIEWS OF THE FUTURE.

273

New Jerusalem; to the other, the low delights of a sensual Paradise, the place of the gods, the abode of their deities. Indefiniteness characterizes all ideas in the childhood of nations, and thus we find this as we look far back into the past. While they discoursed of the departed as having gone to the gods, they scarcely paused to inquire, even of themselves, where the divinities dwelt. They were satisfied with the strange and the vague. The more of distortion and mystery, the more their emotions were mingled with awe and solemnity — if, indeed, so meaning a term may be applied to so meaningless a religion. At a later date, when a train of logical and philosophical influences began to work, a quickening impulse was given to mind, and it began to speculate upon the realm of the gods, and the final position held in reserve for the good. It must embrace definite forms. There must be definite seats and thrones for the gods, and a definite place for the soul's home; but according as men were earthly in their ideas this was surrounded with those things which constituted their highest ideal of benefit, and located in sympathy with their knowledge and desire. Their ambition was bounded by the terrestrial. Even their gods were imperfect and vengeful, and their heaven was overhung with the drapery of earth-yea, it was a part of earth itself, a favored portion, a fortunate isle, wrapped in sacred mystery indeed, but free from the incursions of hostile invaders, and happily exempt from anything to break the charm which reigned within and around it.

Hence the sacredness and beauty of the Elysian fields, with their mildness of sky, serenity of air, refreshing shades, and perpetual spring, comprising all of loveliness that human fancy could suggest. These were ever spread out to invite the hopes of the ancients-peaceful and blessed places of abode. All the fascinations of poetry and romance were lavished upon them to increase their beauty and lend attraction, so that even the word Elysium passed into the language as the synonyme for everything that is bright and lovely.