one upon a steamer's deck feels the throb of the engine and knows that he is near a force that helps him over the waves, so his friends were propelled by his power against adverse currents and over the crests of difficulties.

II. THE BEAUTY OF HIS CHARACTER.

1. His cheerfulness. This shone in his countenance, rang in his voice, was the elasticity of every movement. He believed mirth to be a real part of our moral nature, and he was one of its genial ministers.

2. His appreciation of everything natural. No matter how homely or insignificant, if it grew out of a legitimate germ he would give it due value. This directed his estimates, decided his tastes, and determined his criticism of art and character. It was not a weakness any more than it is a source of weakness to the oak to bear the foliage that elaborates strong roots and giant

arms.

EMOTIONS OF A SAINT IN HEAVEN.

BY REV. A. S. GARDNER, NEW YORK.

In thy presence is fulness of joy.-PSALM xvi. II.

HEAVEN is the Christian's goal. He feels more and more sensibly, as he advances toward it, that nowhere else is happiness in fulness to be found. And when he reaches it and enters upon his inheritance, then, and not till then, can he understand the full import of the words, "In thy presence is fulness of joy.'

1. He has been made the subject of a change that affects everything connected with him save his identity.

The scene of his dissolution may be supposed to be vividly present. The bed of pain, the long hours of wasting sickness, the sorrowing friends that gathered around, will doubtless appear before him in sharp contrast with the rest and peace into which he has entered. He may have struggled with doubts and fears, but now all tremblings are at an end.

The body, with all its fevers and pains and fatigues, has been left behind. But it is left only that at the resurrection, purified, glorified, spiritualized, it may rise again to be the home of the spirit forever.

2. The unencumbered action of the spirit.

Circumscribed while upon earth by its habitation of clay, checked by the imperfections and depravities of the natural man, now its powers are brought into most vigorous action, and everything is exactly adapted to its nature. And one of the results will be the instant recognition of the redeemed. Parent will recognize

child, and friend friend.

3. The friendships of heaven will be of a higher order than those of earth.

Doubts, suspicions, treacheries, will no longer endanger our friendships. Each may pour into the bosom of every other the most secret thoughts, and all will be worthy the same unbounded confidence. There will be no reserve, or pride, or selfishness. And, above all, the love of God will be realized in all its fulness, and His dealings with us upon earth, that sometimes caused belief to stagger, will now be seen in their true light.

4. He will stand in the presence of Christ.

The memories of all that Christ has suffered for him will mingle with exaltation at His unutterable glory. On earth he has followed Him through all the scenes of His earthly life, but at the ascension sight has become dim, and the longing to pierce the cloud which received Him out of sight is now for the first time gratified.

Such is a faint view of the joys of the redeemed. By it two reflections are inspired :

1. That excessive grief over the departed is unwarranted.

2. That we should make sure of our inheritance with the saints in light.

THE BLESSED DEAD.

BY REV. WILLIAM LLOYD, NEW YORK.

Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them. -REVELATION xiv. 13.

To read the Book of Revelation is like walking over a volcano, where here and there, on the very edge of the crater, surrounded by waste and fire, we find a beautiful flower. Amid the awful

threatenings of the Revelation we find, strangely mingled in the Apostle's vision, the most beautiful flowers of promise. Amid the pictures of the divine wrath are glimpses through which we see the grand procession of the redeemed as, crowned, they stand before the throne of God. "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.” What words could bring such sweet promise as these? They are like the sweetest wine, the Lachryma Christi, the grapes for which grow in the most desolate and sterile spots. They are as a star which breaks through the tempest at midnight to light the seaman home; as a chord of sweet music heard through dissonance. "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." These are words of divinest promise or mere mockery. Standing by the open grave, crushed with grief, the heart finds no comfort in them. It cannot understand how death can be blessed. There is no rainbow over the grave. Look at what was once a man, full of power. was our tower of strength, and now he lies there more helpless than an infant. The mighty man that throbbed with life, and the eye that looked into ours and flashed with wisdom, are dull and dead. Can you find much comfort in death then?

He

Blessed It is not

Amid the wreck of human hopes these words come down to us like a benediction. Why are the dead blessed who die in the Lord? Because they live. Death is not descent; it is ascent. Death is not extinction; it is elevation to the highest life. are the dead, because they live. They are the living. we that live. It is we who are dying; they are living. they are because they rest from anxiety and disappointment. so these words have been woven into the burial service. We gaze after our loved ones who are taken from us as we watch a ship which sails away with our friends. We strain our eyes until the last flicker of the sail can be seen no more, and we know that until we take the same voyage we shall know nothing more of them.

Blessed
And

But their work shall live after them. This life has in it immortality. There is an immortality in what we do here. True work has not mere personal aggrandizement for its end and aim. It is the helping of others-the being to the blind eyes and to the lame feet, the helping of the helpless. That is the definition of the work which lives after a man dies. The life of a true Christian will be spent in helping others, and this is the work that will bear fruit and live after him.

THE HIDINGS OF GOD'S PROVIDENCE.

BY M. W. HAMMA, D.D., BALTIMORE.

What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.-JOHN xiii. 7.

THESE Words Christ spoke to Peter when Peter could not comprehend the meaning of His actions.

Most of the facts of Providence have their meanings veiled. We live in a world of mystery. The physical world has revealed very few of its secrets. This is equally true of the events of our lives. They come to us shrouded. Yet we may ever discover traces of intelligence, traces of wisdom. We see evidences of a plan.

us pursue this thought:

Let

1. Every man's life is part of the great plan of God- a plan that has many alternatives. All extremes of life are within the boundaries of this plan. The man who rises to the greatest height shows forth God's glory; he who sinks to the greatest depth serves as a warning.

2. This plan of God is so great that you cannot judge of it by one event, or even by one life. You go into the workshop of the artist who is framing a great structure. You see here a stone of a peculiar color; there a stone of another color; here one of this, and there one of that angle. You would not say to the artist, You had better take this stone or that stone next: you would submit to his superior wisdom. He sees the whole of the structure as it stands complete before his mind. What do you know of the whole plan? These few stones that you see can give you but the most imperfect conception of the cathedral in which they are to be placed. In God's providence I submit to the superior wisdom of the Great Architect. He takes from the earth one man and leaves another. We are amazed; we cannot understand

it; we know not the plan that lies in God's mind.

a. Sometimes God reveals in this life the reasons for His providences. This we see in Job. Jacob lived to see the reason for the strange providence that permitted Joseph to be taken from him. Years he walked in the shadow of that great sorrow before light came.

b. There are other sorrows, the explanation for which comes not in this life. This was true of the death of Rachel-Naomi fleeing from famine, losing her husband, and her daughters losing theirs. The triple sorrow was probably not revealed in life.

HOW CHRIST TAKES AWAY FEAR OF DEATH.

BY REV. R. S. STORRS DICKINSON, SCOTLAND.

And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.-HEBREWS ii. 15.

To remove the fear of death is here given as one of the reasons why Christ descended from glory, to suffer and die in shame. He removes this fear simply by making application to the individual, through the Spirit's agency, of the truths about death which He came to reveal.

1. Christ teaches that death is not the end of our being.

Nature has hints that point to immortality, but they are only hints. The longings of man's nature afford a presumption that the soul shall live forever, but nothing more than presumption. Philosophy, learning, science, all the resources of the human mind. before the coming of Christ, failed to establish anything like certainty concerning immortality. And yet this is a subject concerning which a single doubt is agony. The bare possibility that the grave ends existence forever is a source of horror, and only the most emphatic proof to the contrary will satisfy the heart. Such proof Christ furnishes in His life, His teachings, and His resurrection.

2. Christ teaches that the soul does not wait in the grave for the resurrection of the body.

We are so accustomed to the association of the spirit and the body that we think of the person as lying in the grave. But the Bible tells us, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God, who gave it." (Eccl. xii. 7.) See also Luke xxiii. 43. He teaches us to fasten the mind, not upon the coffin, but upon heaven and the joy of the departed. At the same time we are not taught to despise the lifeless body. It is to rise at the resurrection and be transformed. But lest our