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creation. The productions of the earth burst forth at once to maturity, without passing through the gradation of different seasons. The fruits and the herbs stood instantly ripe, and meet for the service of the animal creation, which was the next day called also into mature existence; and for man, who was formed on the sixth day, after all was prepared and fitted, both for use and delectation. Then indeed the visible heavens began to tell the glory of God-then first the firmament showed forth his handiwork-the first day uttered its new speech to the second, as it led on the revolutions of time, and bade all sueceeding days to follow in its track, and be measured by its standard; then the setting sun first called forth the stars from their deep abysses in infinite space, and bade them sing together, as they taught to man and angels the marvellous knowledge of the all-creating God.

The sun had twice risen, and set, when man stood forth and walked erect the commissioned lord, the responsible head of the living creation. Now this was the beginning of human existence, and of human knowledge. From that period down to the present, and onward to the last day,' is the space within which all that man can know, by his bodily senses, is confined. Man's knowledge of what took place prior to the first day, and of what is to be after the last day of his life, and the last day of the world, must be received by different means, or it never can be gained at all; and then we should be excluded from a knowledge of some of the things it most concerns us to know. A knowledge of that which is to be at the last day, and after it, is of more importance than a knowledge of that which took place before the first day. What transpired before the commencement of time may be curious, may be interesting, may be gratifying and improving; but a knowledge of what is to take place, when time is no more, involves our welfare, and is connected with the condition of our souls through that eternity on which we are then to enter.

Besides, when time began, no one of our race was in existence. We were then only in the purpose and intention of the great Lord of all, to give us being and intelligence at that precise period in the lapse of time which pleased him. But we must all not only be in existence at the last day, we must be conscious of all that will transpire; we shall witness the great, the tremendous scene-we shall be parts of it-we shall have a direct personal share in its great transactions ; in fact, we have now the highest interests implicated in it. The deepest of all our emotions, the most solemn of our feelings, are those which it awakens in our minds. Though, perchance, these are not in all of us, the most serious, the most influential, or the most permanent of our thoughts and feelings.

There can be no doubt that the last day is a period to which the expectations of all in heaven are drawn with the most intense interest." Angels are anticipating it with all the ardour of their seraphic natures, as the faithful sons and servants of Him whose glory is then to be supremely exalted. And the spirits of the just made perfect are waiting in confident expectation of seeing the glory of that last day, and of being themselves partakers of the joy and honour of that grand and blessed consummation. The patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and

martyrs, are all waiting for the "adoption, to wit, the redemption of their body."

That last day of this world is especially appointed for the exaltation and triumph of that Saviour, for the testimony of whom so many of the saints cheerfully met their own last day, and bade adieu to all earthly scenes. Nor is it improbable that fallen spirits have some intimations, or some presages in themselves, or in that very state of partial liberty and partial punishment they are now in, that when the designs of the great Son of God are perfected, there is in reserve a more fearful display of divine wrath against themselves for they are "reserved in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day." It is impossible for them to avoid the most distressing apprehensions, the most terrific anticipations and this, perhaps, forms one ingredient in the bitterness of their present state-that they are perpetually looking forward to a period when that glorious Personage against whom they raged, but whose death, and resurrection, and ascension afforded to them so ominous a pledge of his final victory, shall pour out all the vials of his wrath upon their guilty heads. These anticipations of lost spirits all point to that last day, which will shut up and end the scenery of this apostate world, and complete the mystery of redemption.

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We then, if Christians, have many reasons for directing our thoughts to that eventful day, as seriously and exultingly as those who are now before the throne. Some on earth too, have as much reason to fear it as the fallen spirits of darkness, who are anticipating it by the constraint of an irresistible and omnipotent terror.

Let any heart conceive the aspects of that last day to the different orders of beings,-angels, and men, and devils! Assuredly it will be a day of terrors and of wonders, of triumph, and of dismay, of eternal joy and eternal wrath. For all the affairs, and interests, and objects, and inhabitants, and days of this our world, are implicated in it. The Lord Jesus Christ will be exalted then over all his adversaries, and his cause ennobled by a universal triumph. The scene will not be complete unless all those, whether human or infernal enemies, who have resisted his goodness, and fought against his cause, should be cast down under the weight of his indignation. But what a day of vengeance will that be, when he will say, " Depart ye cursed into everlasting punishments,”—when he will kindle the fire that is never quenched, and quicken in each of their bosoms the worm that never dies; when he will rain upon them fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest; when all the magazines of his wrath shall be opened upon them; when the anger which once broke up the fountains of the great deep, and tossed and fractured, and dashed together the elements of this guilty world, shall inflict new and unheard of punishments upon all his foes, and shall cast them into the fiery billows of that bottomless abyss of suffering, where the tides will for ever roll and swell in endless surges of consuming, and yet self-perpetuating torment.

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That day will shine upon all the rising dead, and see the ransomed church of Christ ascend above the visible heavens, to dwell in that place where they need no light of the sun, but where the Lord God

himself giveth them light. This last day is appointed for Jesus Christ himself to receive his full reward, and his servants their crowns of honour. The completeness of Christ will be the completeness of his elect, and the full accomplishment of all his gracious designs. He does not feel that his work is done, or that he has received his full reward, while yet there remains another soul to be brought through the conflicts of this earthly scene, and made victorious over death. When he was offered up on Calvary he saw his seed. What a day, therefore, will that be, when Jesus Christ shall see them all, actually and individually, brought into the possession of that better world, for which their probation in this has prepared them, and when he himself will present the whole redeemed family, before the presence of his Father's glory with exceeding joy. These are anticipations which ought to elevate Christian hearts, and make every follower of Jesus feel as though already he were treading upon the ashes of an extinct creation. The splendours of all this lower sphere are to be abolished, and to give place to the glory that excelleth, while every ransomed saint shall inherit the new heavens and the new earth.

The disclosures of revelation infinitely transcend all human theories of man and the world. The scheme of Christian philosophy bears upon its face the stamp of divinity. Every ray of truth is full of beauty and perfection. It manifests the source from which it emanates, and leads the longing, immortal soul of man to the inexhaustible fulness of the Deity. Years will cease to revolve, days will dawn no more, the sun will know his everlasting setting, and the moon will withdraw her shining, and the planets their lustre, and time itself will be spent, as an exhausted lamp-but, then, what sublime prospects unfold themselves to the eye of Christian faith!

ELPIZO.

THOUGHTS ABOUT HEAVEN.

By the Rev. W. Jay.

IT has been asked, Are there degrees in glory? We are persuaded there are. All analogy countenances the conclusion. We see diversities and inequalities pervading all the works of God. We know there are gradations among angels; for we read of "thrones and dominions, principalities and powers." And though all Christians are redeemed by the same blood, and justified by the same righteousness, we know that there are degrees in grace. We know the good ground brought forth in some places "thirty, in some sixty, in some a hundred fold." And the apostle tells us, Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour." But here we approve of the old illustration-however unequal in size these vessels may be, when plunged into this ocean, they shall be equally filled.

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It has been asked, Shall we know each other in heaven? Suppose you should not; you may be assured of this, that nothing will be wanting to your happiness. But, O, you say, how would the thought

affect me now? There is the babe that was torn from my bosom ! how lovely then, but a cherub now! There is the friend who was as mine own soul, with whom I took sweet counsel, and went to the house of God in company. There is the minister, whose preaching turned my feet into the path of peace, whose words were to me a well of life. There is the beloved mother, on whose knees I first laid my little hands to pray, and whose lips first taught my tongue to pronounce the name of Jesus! And are these removed from us for ever? Shall we recognise them no more ?-Cease your anxieties. Can memory be annihilated? Did not Peter, James, and John know Moses and Elias? Does not the Saviour inform us, that the friends benefactors have made, of the mammon of unrighteousness, shall receive them into everlasting habitations? Does not Paul tell the Thessalonians that they are his hope, and joy, and crown, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ?

Some would ask, Where is heaven? The universe is immense, but what particular part of it is assigned for the abode of the blessed we cannot determine. It will probably be our present system renovated. May we not infer this from the words of the apostle Peter"Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements -shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness!"

But is it a place? Our Lord has a body like our own, and this cannot be omnipresent; and wherever he is corporally, there is heaven-"Where I am, there shall also my servants be." Enoch and Elias have bodies; all the saints will have bodies; and these cannot be everywhere. We read of " the hope laid up for us in heaven of "entering into the holy place;" and "I go," says Jesus to his disciples, "to prepare a place for you." But though it is really a place, we must chiefly consider it as a state. Even now, happiness does not essentially depend on what is without us. What was Eden to Adam and Eve, after sin had filled them with shame, and sorrow, and fear? But Paul in prison was infinitely happier than Cæsar on the throne of nations.

What, then, are we allowed to reckon upon as the grand component parts of this exalted state? You may reckon upon

Pre-eminent knowledge.—This is a world of action rather than of science; and the wiser men are, the more readily will they confess that their present knowledge is unspeakably less than their ignorance. In whatever direction they attempt to penetrate, they are checked and baffled. Laboriousness attends every acquirement, and doubts and uncertainties diminish the value of every possession. The difference between the value of the knowledge of Newton and the most illiterate peasant will be far exceeded by the difference between the knowledge of the Christian on earth and in heaven. "The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven fold as the light of seven days, when the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound." Now they

understand as children, but they then will know as men. Now they see through a glass darkly; but then face to face. Now they know in part; then they will know even as they are known. How delightful the thought amidst my present perplexities and obscurities, and under a sense of the penury of my talents, and in want of means and opportunities of improvement, that "Messiah cometh, who is called Christ; and that when he is come he will tell us all things!" You may reckon upon—

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Perfect purity.-This announcement has little attraction for those of you who never saw the beauty of holiness, and never abhorred yourselves, repenting in dust and ashes. But O, to a Christian it is worth dying for, to leave behind him the body of this death; this law in the members warring against the law of his mind; this presence of evil ever with him; this liableness, this proneness to sin, even in his holy things-tarnishing every duty, wounding his own peace, and vexing and grieving the Spirit of his best Friend. To be freed from the enemy, and to have nothing in me that temptation can operate upon! To be incapable of ingratitude, and unbelief, and distractions in duty! To be innocent as the first Adam, and holy as the second! What wonder the Christian exclaims with Henry, "If this be heaven, O that I were there!" You may reckon upon

The most delightful associations.-We are formed for society. Much of our present happiness results from attachment and intercourse. Who knows not "the comforts of love?" Yea, and who knows not its sorrows also? We must weep when the objects of our affection weep: the arrows that pierce our friends wound us also. We tolerate, we excuse, their imperfections; but we feel them. And the thought of absence, separation, death, is dreariness, pain, and anguish. Hence, some have been ready to envy the unrelated, unconnected individual, whose anxieties and griefs are all personal. But it is not good for man to be alone in any condition. It is better to follow the course of Providence; to cherish the intimacies of life; to improve and to sanctify them; and under the disadvantages which now mingle with them, to look forward to a state where the honey will be without the sting, and the rose without the thorn; and attachment and intercourse without the deductions arising from pain, and infirmities, and pity, and fear. In the Revelation, heaven is always presented as a social state. You have now few holy companions; the many are going another way: but, says John, "I beheld, and, lo! a great multitude which no man can number, of all nations and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." And you will have access to them all. You will there have the most endeared society; for it will include those to whom you were so tenderly related by nature, or pious friendship, and at parting with whom you sorrowed most of all that you should see their face and hear their voice no more; and also those you left behind with reyou luctance and anxiety, in a world of sin and trouble. With these your fellowship, after a brief separation, will be renewed, improved, and

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