304 THE PURITY OF PARADISE. than even Eden afforded? The earthly is the type of the heavenly, "and it must needs be that the pattern of heavenly things on earth should have some similarity to their substance in heaven." Like, and yet how unlike! The sun shone upon Eden, but the Paradise above is sunless, and yet inconceivably bright. The evening and the morning were known in the garden where Adam and Eve dwelt, and day and night alternated as now; but there will be no night and no darkness in heaven. Better than all, the tempter will never be there to lure with his enticing words, and the fair heritage will never be blighted with sin. It is a guarded place, a holy place, and "nothing that defileth" shall ever enter in; so that, through all the blessed region, there shall be nothing but beauty and harmony, nothing but peace, and perfect love. The pearly gates never open to receive any but the pure and the good, and the mansions are never inhabited save by the loyal subjects of the heavenly King; so that delightful tranquillity pervades the whole realm, and the most perfect sympathy is always and forever manifest. The emotions which incite one to bow before the great white throne, in adoring gratitude, are the same that move the mighty multitude to shout the praises of the Lamb. How blessed a thought that there is one place, one world, where order, harmony, and sympathy are perfect; where there are no differences and contentions, no jarrings and confusion! "No rude alarms of raging foes, No cares to break the long repose, For such a place how natural to suppose a careful preparation would be needed, and that every one would be solicitous to make it! Well might Jesus exclaim, "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" To lose the soul is to lose heaven, and to lose heaven is to lose God, and everything that is most valuable and dear. Earth GARDEN OF THE LORD. 305 and time will pass away, and the place that now knows us will soon know us no more; but we know that Jesus hath prepared a place, for he has told us; and we know that it is one of infinite blessedness, for he has told us this also; and, moreover, that it is accessible to all. It is, and yet it is not, an exclusive place. All may enter if they will; and yet they will not, because they refuse to observe the conditions by which it is gained. Just without a certain city is a beautiful and extensive flower garden. The walks are laid out with scrupulous exactness, and the borders are tended with the nicest care. Rich and rare flowers may be seen, and plants of the choicest variety, among which is a murmuring fountain, making soft, sweet music, which, together with the beauty clustering around, render it a very attractive place. The gardener holds the key, and is pleased to admit those who come to admire and appreciate his efforts, while he persistently refuses entrance to those who have evidently other motives in view. And we call this just, and it is. He values his labor and its results, and it is right that he should. He cares for his "vineyard," and it is a wise prudence that he shows. God values heaven, for it has cost him much. He has been at infinite pains to prepare the celestial garden, and who can say that he has not a right to hold the key — a perfect right to admit or exclude, according as he sees a fitness or unfitness? He does welcome those who come to appreciate what he has done, and he shows them all his richest and rarest things, and how so much beauty and perfection were gained. O, who can tell the beauty of the garden of the Lord - the trees of righteousness which his hand hath planted? Who can tell what it will be to stand in the shadow of the "tree of life," and look out upon the fair borders of Paradise - to stretch forth the hand and pluck the life-giving fruit, which sends a grateful sensation through the whole refined and spiritual being? 306 PREPARATION FOR HEAVEN. Whatever heaven may be, we know it is rich in everything that can gladden and bless the soul. "Measureless affluence" is written upon everything that it contains, and upon every joy that thrills the beatified spirit there is traced, in fadeless characters, "forever and ever." There exists the freshness of immortality, and happiness is a perpetual stream; but we need other dialect than that we know to speak the fulness of heavenly blessing. To win it is the work of life; and who would count it dear, although a lifetime of suffering be the price to be paid for it? It has been said that "The path of sorrow, and that path alone," will lead to the blest abode; and who would not be willing to wade these dark seas, if the goodly prospect is only thus reached? We may shrink at "the waves and the billows," but a little farther on and there is "no more sea," and no more "Heaven's long age of bliss shall pay " for all God's children will suffer here. It will fully compensate for all experience of woe in the mortal life. When we dwell, happy saints, sorrow. "High in yonder realms of light," - it will be enough to feel that our place is where God is, and that our heaven will always be in his presence. We shall stay where he bids us stay, with infinite delight; go where he bids us go, with joyful steps, and engage in whatever he calls us to with inexpressible satisfaction, for we shall be willing subjects of the heavenly King, and serve him continually, with an interest ever fresh and ever new. "All hail! ye fair, celestial shores, Ye lands of endless day; Swift on my view your prospect pours, TWO IDEAS OF HEAVEN. 307 CHAPTER XIX. HEAVEN AS A STATE. Man never satisfied with Revelation. Platonic Notion. Senses the natural Channel of Activity.— Heart-sentiments superior to Place.— Illustrations drawn from Blind and Deaf.— Poet Imagery. - Heaven to be sought. "And what if much be still unknown? The Lord shall teach us that, When we shall stand before his throne, "Wait till he shall himself disclose Things now beyond our reach, God's secret ways to teach."-Hind. THE Bible-revealed heaven is a blessed object of hope to all Christian pilgrims who are conscious of nearing the height of immortality, and are anxious to exchange their dusty and sinstained robes for the peculiar drapery of those who walk there. But, notwithstanding all allusions and descriptions, mankind are not yet quite satisfied with revelation. They do not know whether heaven is a place or a state, and they speculate upon the likelihood of one and the probabilities of the other: but, after all, they must leave the subject where they found it, and wait" until He himself shall disclose," meantime comforting themselves with the assurance that his own shall eventually behold his glory, where he is. We glance, however, at some of the considerations by which those are influenced who deny the locality of a material heaven, and maintain that it is simply a state, having no reference to time and place, as we are accustomed to speak of a state of 308 PLATONIC VIEW OF HEAVEN. freedom or the contrary. Feeling and enjoyment are retained, and somehow these are fed, ministered unto, and the source of supply constitutes heaven. It may be, indeed, the impalpable something of an exquisite joy; but when we come to definiteness, to a basis, we feel all things, as it were, retiring, shrinking away before the intangible being; "Faith, the substance of things hoped for," becomes shadowy, and the spirit-realm so abstract, so entirely disconnected with all which mind at present grasps, that an idea of it can scarcely be formed. Upon this ground, the materialist and the rationalist are wont to tread, and here and there are eminences upon which reason climbs to look out upon the ethereal region. From these points, and from such data as reason furnishes, they tell us of "that undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns." If from want of clear spiritual perception they fail to see the distinct outline of a heavenly country, they theorize upon matter and spirit, and finally settle down with a heaven of their own, introducing or excluding the material, as best suits their ideas. There may be the recognition of a certain sort of spiritual element with some, but in most cases everything is so entirely separated from all which is tangible to the senses, that mystery is doubly written upon its front. At one period of history, and under the influence and teachings of a leading mind, it came to be considered that matter is essentially evil, and that the highest good of which man is capable is to be removed from any and every connection with it. To be rid once and forever of the fetters and entanglements of the flesh was thought the supreme good, and that thereafter the spirit was to be no more subject to such thraldom. True, there will be no such thing as bondage in heaven. Let destiny assume what form it may, there will be the most delightful freedom; and to insure this, who shall say that the spirit must necessarily be shut off from all connection with the external and the material? Do we not know that the latter may exist, "more refined in its constitution, more delicate in its combinations, and consequently |