THE BLESSEDNESS OF HEAVEN. HEN I think of leaving earth, with its imperfect society and occupations, its brief and scanty enjoyment, I think at the same time of entering heaven, where those around me are robed in purity and "walk in white," and where I shall see His face, and praise Him in rapturous hallelujahs; where no sin shall cloud and no infirmity shall distract; where the Sabbath never comes to an end, and the congregation never breaks up; where the heart shall never be out of humour, and the harp never out of tune; where the Lord I love shall be loved with an intensity of which I cannot now dream, and where the cup of which I have now partaken shall be replenished, fresh and full, out of the fountain that rises up from beneath the throne. Eadie. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 2 Timothy ii. 10. THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN ETERNAL. "he shall go no more out." In this world, change and decay are stamped upon everything around us. Our choicest blessings are suspended on the slenderest threads. The man this morning lifting to heaven a head lofty as the cedar, and spreading forth his green branches on every side, may ere night be struck by the fires of heaven, and lie blasted and lifeless on the plain. And even our spiritual joys partake in some measure of the same fluctuating character. How great, for instance, are apt to be the ebb and flow of the religious affections! How soon is the ardour of devotion chilled! How difficult is it to sustain the vigour of our first love! How does the body seem to hang upon the soul, and to chain it to earth when it is soaring to heaven! But the Christian, exalted to be a "pillar in the temple of his God," shall "go no more out." The sun of his joys shall never go down. The well-spring of his comforts shall never fail. The joys of one moment shall be the joys of eternity. Once lodged in the bosom of his Father, no force shall drag him from it. Inseparably united to God, he shall eternally participate in the pleasures which are at His right hand. He shall "shine as a star in the firmament for ever and ever." Cunningham. THE GLORY OF THE SPIRITUAL TEMPLE. UPPOSE the period arrived when the scaffolding is struck down, and the rubbish moved away; that is, suppose this earth, which was the stage of its erection, now removed from beneath it, and the wicked, the refuse of mankind, cast far away out of sight. Conceive that you see nothing but the building. Lo! it stands high in view, for the admiration of the surrounding universe. “Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof: mark ye well her bulwarks; consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation following" (Ps. xlviii. 12, 13). What is her foundation? the Rock of Ages! Who is her inhabitant? her inhabitant is God! Not a flaw, not a blemish is to be seen; every stone is in its proper place, and all contributing to the beauty of the whole. No want of symmetry in the general outline and plan; nothing imperfect in the execution of each part: behold, it stands an eternal monument to the glory of God, of His power, and wisdom, and grace! It is all bright and glorious, wherever you take your view of it, radiating in every part with the beamings of divine glory! Her light is like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper! It is a temple of souls. Every stone is a living soul-a blood-bought spirit: every one is a chosen warrior, who has fought his battle in his days, and has conquered! They have come out of great tribulation, to be stones for this building! Affliction gave them their polish, and the cement which unites them is love! But while we admire its beauty, let not the suspicion arise that anything should happen to mar its form or impair its glory. Earthly fabrics have, indeed, everything to fear from the effects of inclement skies; for they must all, in their turn, become like those ancient cities where thorns come up in the palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof-where the mouldering arches and half remaining walls show the devastating hand of time. But our Zion hath naught to fear from time, for time G ceases when her glory begins; and though she must be exposed to the storm and beating of the rain during the dark watches of the night, yet when the morning of the resurrection cometh, it will be as clear as sunshine after rain, even a morning without clouds. (2 Sam. xxiii. 4.) As she shall suffer by no natural causes of dissolution, so neither shall she fall by hostile violence. It was truly said by Christ to those who spoke of the temple at Jerusalem, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, that the day should come upon her when one stone should not be left upon another which should not be thrown down; but it shall not be so with our spiritual temple. Even now we may ask, Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? Even now we may look at her foundation and ask, "What shall shake thy sure repose?" Resting on Him, she mocks the assaults of besiegers even in her weakness; but when the day of her perfection is come, the very sound of the shoutings of her enemies can be heard no more. Satan and his agents must first break through their chains of darkness ere they can again plant their engines against her. "In |