sons shall be advanced to the kingdom; they shall, every one of them, be kings and priests unto God, and unite together in ascribing glory, and honour, and praise, and power unto Him who redeemed them, and conferred this honour upon them. They shall have dominion over their sins, over the world, and over Satan, who shall be "bruised under their feet shortly." They will be invested with a holy office, reigning under Christ, and for His service and glory for ever.

Immortality shall be the blessing of this kingdom; the subjects shall partake of endless life, a life that shall never be extinguished. In the Scriptures we read: "Whosoever believeth in Jesus shall never die. The fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and are dead ; but he that eateth of the bread that I shall give him shall never die." He that keepeth the sayings of Christ "shall not taste of death." Death, in the Scripture sense, includes that separation from God which begins in spiritual and is completed in eternal death; this is that of which believers cannot taste. They receive in them the embryo of eternal life; the spiritual life rises up into life eternal, and will be displayed in its perfection in the world of

glory. As subjects of Christ's kingdom, His servants are immortal; whatever may affect their frail bodies, nothing can separate them from the love of Christ. Baxter.

THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN HEAVEN.

N heaven, the presence of God will not be restricted to a particular place, it will diffuse itself everywhere; in consequence of which the whole will become holy. There will be no part of it consecrated as a local temple, because the whole will be a temple. As it is said of the sun, that the city will have no need of it, because the Lord God will enlighten it, and the Lamb be the light thereof, so it will be with respect to this temple. The whole will be so illuminated with the glory of God, so adorned with the most impressive indications of His august presence, that there will be no distinction possessed by any part above another. Every region of it will be equally replete with the glory of God, which is the thing chiefly meant by the latter clause of the text, "The Lord

God Almighty and the Lamb will be the temple thereof." The inhabitants will have no occasion to remove from one place to another, or to approach to a particular spot, in order to behold the glory of God; but, where they are, they will be alike sensible of His presence, and equally awed and transported by it. None will have occasion to adopt the language of the devout Psalmist, and say, "When shall I come and appear before God?" for they shall always appear before Him alike; "they shall continually behold his face, and serve him day and night in his temple."

Robert Hall.

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ: if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Romans viii. 17, 18, 20.

IMMUNITY FROM SUFFERING IN HEAVEN. N heaven, anything in the shape or of the nature of evil or suffering is impossible.

However needful tribulation may be for militant saintship, for saintship triumphant it is useless. Tears and toils in the lot of good men here serve out their design when death separates soul and body; hence the emphasis of the account given of the celestial inhabitants, "These are they which have come out of great tribulation;" let it be noted, they have "come out of," and are never more to be in, tribulation. What wise or merciful purpose could tribulation serve now? If it kept them humble and patient; if it wrought out of them all earthly-mindedness, and constantly augmented their spirituality; if it refined them so purely that they became, at death, fully meet for the inheritance above,what good object could it promote in heaven? None whatever. To afflict them still, after all their chastisements on earth, would indicate either imperfection in the work of mediation, or wanton cruelty and injustice in the Almighty.

But the idea is profane: "all tears are wiped away." Did they weep on earth over their

sins, especially over their ingratitude to that dear Lord who had bought them with His blood? Such tears cannot flow now; for they are not only sinless, but they know that it is impossible for them ever again to sin. Did rivers of waters run down their cheeks when they saw the law of God dishonoured by abounding iniquity? Such rivers cannot flow now; for their eyes witness nothing in heaven but what is glorifying to God. Did the desolations of adversity send them to their solitudes, to weep over ruined fortunes and empty barn-yards? Such tears

they cannot shed in Eden; for no storm ever gathers in its clime, and no treasure once possessed there can be either pilfered or consumed. Did they sometimes weep when staggering under the dark menaces of future poverty to themselves and children, and when realising the terrors of calamities which might never come? Such tears they cannot weep in a land where they have the divine assurance that they shall never want, and that no evil of any kind, through all eternity, shall ever approach them. Did they weep over the cold and heartless repulses of men once considered their friends? In heaven they shall never form an acquaintance which shall not be ripened into friendship, and