DURATION OF HEAVENLY BLISS.

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extended and it will be until his nature is changed-and such a change enters not into our conceptions. Jesus is "the same, yesterday, to-day, and forever;" and herein do we find a warrant for the continuance of heaven. It is his blissful presence that makes heaven, and this is his abiding throne; therefore he assures his followers, saying, "Where I am, there ye may be also." "Ye shall go no more out."

The foundations stand sure, the corner-stone cannot fail; it is everlasting in its nature, and fully equal to the support of all that rests upon it. Ages upon ages may pass away, and the jewelled walls will glisten as brightly as in the day when the first fruits of redemption entered in. Cycles may run their lengthened rounds again and again, and the pearly gates will be as clear and transparent as ever; saints may pass and repass the pathway leading through triumphal arches, and the golden streets will neither be dusty nor dim; the anthems of love may be sung for a period transcending our highest calculations, and they will never grow old and wearisome; they will be as fresh and inspiring at the last as the first. So it will be with all things; time will bring no evidence of decay into the heavenly world, no element to weaken the blessed combination which the Saviour has provided for his people to insure their perfection in character and condition; and not only this, there will be no diminution, but a constant increase, of the power to bless through eternity. And who can comprehend the import of this? The leaves of the forest, the drops of the ocean, the sands of the globe, have all been employed to give an idea of the duration of that we call our future; but they fail entirely of an adequate calculation. The utmost power of numbers is exhausted in the attempt to grasp it; the "eternal years of God" belong to it; and man, by searching, can never find it out. We know that with the Lord "one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." It is to this land of perpetual things, this everlasting habitation, that the Christian is hasting. A little while longer on this side, in the land

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THE INFINITE GLORY.

of the dying, and he will go to the land of the living, to open his eyes upon an endless and spiritual existence. It is not a wonder that expiring saints sing so much of glory, as they gain a glimpse of the goodly prospect; it is only strange they so often choose to stay longer among the things that are fading and transitory. Watts could sing,

"One day within the courts

Harriet Newell

earth, "For one them all away."

Where my dear Lord hath been,

Is sweeter than ten thousand days
Of pleasurable sin."

could say, in view of all the pleasures of
blest hour at God's right hand, I'd give

If such be the sweetness of anticipation, such the soul-fertility occasioned by the little rills that flow down from heaven, what will it be to be constantly refreshed "with the river of God!" The things that we anticipate most in time, the days that we can scarcely wait for, the pleasures that we are eager to grasp, are soonest to disappoint us. Not so with heavenly things. Imagination hath never pictured those in their brightness; anticipation hath never compassed them. After all the thoughts, ideas, and conceptions we can bring to cluster around our future home, we are still compelled to say, it "passeth knowledge." We wonder at the love that has prepared such joy, and made it eternal. Such bliss for a season would show a heart of love; but when we see it flowing on, like a mighty wave, until we lose sight of it in the distance, when we see it surrounding us like a fathomless ocean, we have a view of infinite depths of tenderness and compassion - an amazing sense of what divine goodness has wrought. We say with the apostle, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" We sympathize with Israel's singer in his yearnings to find full entrance into the holy place, where he could join in the Lord's songs forever. "They will still be praising thee," was the idea that kindled the ardor of his soul; that made the flame burn bright upon the altar of devotion;

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that made hope mount up to the very gates of the heavenly city; that opened them and showed the "stream" which made

it "glad.”

That which constituted the charm of heaven to him will be the same to us, if, like him, we have our hearts in unison with the Lord supreme; if we wear the signet ring, and carry the certificate of our espousals with us continually.

There will be no commotion in which the Lord will lose sight of us, if we are thus distinguished. He will recognize and own us when earth's assembled millions shall appear for their final allotment, and the "well done" will thrill our souls with delight, such as was never known before. These things have been again and again repeated; but what can detract from this blessed reality? It is like the mercies of God, that are "new in the morning and fresh in the evening."

Eternity itself cannot produce satiety. And this, O Christian, is thy destiny-thy glorious reward to enter the City of God, and dwell in its mansions-its costly and indestructible mansions; to have a rich share in its fadeless possessions; to recline peacefully in its evergreen bowers, looking out upon prospects which bear no mark of the sin-blight; to be ever undisturbed by envious and jealous spirits; to be always at rest, in the midst of loving and congenial companions; to be led through scenes of rare beauty by the guiding hand of Jesus; to experience a soul-expansion during a period that is commensurate with the Eternal; for,

--

"When we've been there ten thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun,

We've no less years to sing God's praise

Than when we first begun,"

and the enjoyment of this must surely make one purer and better. Praise is ennobling; it exalts and blesses; peculiarly so when the object of praise is so worthy, so noble, so good, and high as the triune God-the everlasting Father-the Prince of Peace-the Divine Spirit.

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EXPERIENCE OF WORLDLY VOTARIES.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE EDUCATION OF THE SOUL.

Home Preparations always cheerful.- Soul-Education the Work of Life.— Enjoyment proportioned to Cultivation. - The Sea Captain. The ripe Christian. The glorious Destiny of Believers. - Passing away not a gloomy Thought to them.

"Be Christ your first selection,
And yours his kind protection
Till life is done.

Then shall you rise,

All earthly hopes releasing,
To scenes of bliss unceasing,
Where joys are still increasing

In Paradise."-S. D. Phelps.

"IT requires but little elevation of soul to discover," says a French writer, "that here there is no substantial delight; that our pleasures are but vanity; that the ills of life are innumerable; and that, after all, death, which threatens us every moment, must in a few years, perhaps in a few days, place us in the eternal condition of happiness, or misery, or nothingness." These thoughts force themselves upon the most determined votaries of the world, and their experience, barren of everything that is truly worthy and abiding, testifies strongly of its truth, and draws forth expressions from their lips, indicative of gloom and unrest within. A stern necessity is upon them, from which they are always shrinking. Disappointment and ill must come, and death will close the scene, and therefore life is imbittered. But not so with the Christian: he utters language of different character, in which words, as gems and jewels poured from the casket of hope, are resplendent, for they

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are associated with ideas of ever-flowing pleasure, of blessed deliverance, and choicest freedom, in the "eternal condition" in which he confidently expects death will place him. Such have an "elevation of soul" that lifts them above sublunary things, and discovers bright regions beyond, that fully compensate for all intervening trials-all that must be endured before they land on those shores. They are "only waiting" until they shall be permitted to weigh anchor and sail on toward the bright isle; and there are no sweeter strains that come to our ears than those which float back over the waters from those who are gliding into the "harbor of heaven," on the "silver tide" of grace, singing, "Homeward bound."

There are no preparations more cheerful and hearty than those made for returning home after a long absence: the heart is light, the countenance smiling, the welcome anticipated, and expectation crowds every hour of the stay with pleasure. We are wont to speak of these seasons as oases in the desert of life, as very Bethels, the sight of which recalls visions of a golden ladder, upon which we almost hear the "stately steppings" of celestial messengers as they come laden with precious gifts to enhance the joy of the home-meeting. Thus does the Christian feel, seeking his Father's home in the skies; thus is his heart affected when he sees the cable loosening, and himself drifting out into the ocean of immortality, where rises the blessed isle upon which appear the lofty towers and battlements of the heavenly city, which is to be henceforth and forever his happy home. Preparations for this he deems of the utmost importance. It demands a peculiar robe- he adjusts it carefully; it requires a peculiar dialect—he studies to acquire it; it needs a peculiar appreciation, and he employs the means to secure it. Everything in any way connected with the event excites the deepest interest. Nothing is trivial that goes to make up the wardrobe which he will need when he mingles with his angelic brethren; nothing is meaningless that in any way promotes fitness for such companionship. There is a soul-education which is absolutely indispensable for a heavenly home.