thy service in heaven, so, by thy appointment, they may succor and defend us on earth!"

At the hour of death their services are eminently enjoyed. Dying seems ordinarily so'much like passing suddenly into the dark, like plunging into an unfathomed sea, that the soul shrinks, and longs for some hand to guide and uphold it. The thought of going alone into those untried scenes not unfrequently occasions trembling. But it does not go alone. Angels are, as Tertullian calls them, Evocatores ani

marum.

"Hark, they whisper, angels say,

Sister spirit, come away!"

They who have ministered unseen, now become visible guards. The departing soul is borne to its everlasting rest by the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. "It came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." Yes, Lazarus, without fortune, without friends, without home, without clothing, without food, exposed in the open air, and covered with sores, Lazarus, whom a moment before the meanest servant of the rich man held in contempt, blessing his stars that he was not so forlorn and

wretched; he, whom a moment before none but dogs cared for, is now carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. A vast convoy of mighty, holy shining ones bear that despised beggar's soul high up in the Paradise of God.

What, then, if, in the closing scene, you feel as solitary and friendless as he who was laid at the gate of Dives? Think of the waiting crowd, into whose friendly presence and kind ministrations death will introduce you. Gently will they bear you in their arms to your Father's house. Familiarize yourself with this animating thought. In the midst of deep contemplation on his death-bed, Richard Hooker remarked: "I am meditating the number and nature of angels, and their blessed obedience and order, without which peace could not be in heaven; and, O, that it might be so on earth!" "Now, angels," said an early pastor of New England, when dying, "now, angels, do your office ;" while Dr. Bateman exclaimed, "What glory! the angels are waiting for me! Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! Farewell!"

When, reader, your face shall be toward PadanAram, and you light upon a certain place to tarry there all night, and, with the stones thereof for your

pillow, you lie down in that place to sleep, may you behold the angels of God ascending and descending between heaven and earth! You will find it none other but the house of God; it will be the gate of heaven.

CHAPTER X.

SOCIETY OF THE SAVIOUR.

To Jesus, the crown of my hope,
My soul is in haste to be gone;
O, bear me, ye cherubim, up,

And waft me away to his throne!

My Saviour, whom absent, I love;
Whom, not having seen, I adore;
Whose name is exalted above

All glory, dominion, and power;

When that happy era begins,

When arrayed in thy glories I shine,
Nor grieve any more, by my sins,
The bosom on which I recline,

O, then shall the veil be removed,

And round me thy brightness be poured;
I shall meet him, whom absent, I loved ;
I shall see him, whom unseen, I adored!

COWPER.

A TWO-FOLD curtain hides heaven from our view, the curtain which separates the present from the future, and that which separates the world we now live in from the world of spirits. Yet fain would we pierce that screen. Fain would we know the

location and features of the Better Land. Fain would we find a telescope able to reveal to us the heavenly Jerusalem. Fain would we catch a glimpse of that particular mansion which we shall occupy. How shall I feel when disembodied? With what emotions shall I bid farewell to this earthly house of my tabernacle, when first its windows are darkened, and its door shut behind me? With what emotions shall I join the convoy of angels, pass the gate of pearl, and along the pavement of gold, up to the great white throne? With what eyes shall I look round upon that city of my God? With what ears shall I hear the harpers harping with their harps? Most of all, with what rapturous intensity, with what seraphic calmness, will the first glance and the protracted gaze be directed to Him that sitteth on the throne?

The most important view of the happiness of heaven has respect to the relations there between Christ and his people. And the question arises, Will there be a personal fellowship between the Great Redeemer and our glorified spirits? The intimations of God's word are, that in the Better Land there will be intimate communion between Christ and its redeemed inhabitants. The Holy Scriptures reveal but little concerning the mode and conditions of future exist