Heaven. those cruel spoilers of our peace, yet if death and dissolution were certain, the eminence of our bliss would only render the stroke doubly dreadful! In heaven, then, to secure the perpetuity of our delight, there shall be no more death : this mortal shall put on immortality-and, free from pain and from sorrow, we shall fear no end of the transporting scene. Positive blessings, numberless and unutterable, shall attend these negative ones. God will not only wipe away all tears from our eyes; will not only invest us with eternal security in bliss; will not only remove every thing defiling and noxious from those regions of joy; but he himself will dwell among us, and be our God.-He, the adorable Father, with the Lamb of Love, and the Spirit of Holiness, shall be the object of our contemplation. He, the blessed and all-glorious Deity, whose presence is joy, and bliss, and heaven, shall be the life, the light, the praise of the NEW JERUSALEM, and all its divine inhabitants! Love shall reign triumphant in every heart every pure and celestial desire shall be gratified to the full: every holy and devout affection shall find its adequate supply; and one Heaven. uninterrupted scene of thankfulness, serenity, and comfort, shall smile eternally, and eternally be found where the harps of ten thousand times ten thousand shall ceaselessly hymn the Father of Mercies, and the Lamb who sitteth on the throne for ever and ever! Come, then, Lord Jesus! come and put a speedy period to this miserable world of confusion and sin! Hasten, blessed Lord, hasten thy kingdom; whence every evil shall be wholly removed, and where all good shall be found which can perfect the bliss of men and of angels! Faint and dark, indeed, are our earth-bound conceptions of this consummate glory, and of that which thou hast purchased for thy servants-purchased at a price which may justify our most elevated hopes, even at the price of thy own loved life, and ever precious blood! Yet, through the riches of thy wondrous grace, the humble Christian, who by faith now enters into rest, hath some sweet foretaste, some pleasing anticipation of the joys to come Love, grateful love, looking to thee, feels a transport which enraptures the soul, fills it with sweet complacence toward all its fellowcreatures, and makes the afflictions of this tran Reader. sitory world light and easy to be borne-nay, which makes death itself no longer formidable, but devoutly to be wished, as the happy conveyance of an imprisoned spirit to its God and its hope; to its freedom and perfection; to its dear departed friends, and all the joys of blissful immortality! Give me then, oh give me Love, thou bountiful bestower of every good gift! so shall I experience the beginning of heaven in my heart, and die with full persuasion that the fair bud will burst into a perfect blossom-that my joys, begun in grace, will be consummated in glory everlasting! For thee, too, my READER, let me offer up this fervent prayer: "Oh! mayest thou feel and be made perfect in the love of Christ!" so will thy life be blessed below; so will thy death be comfortable; so wilt though be made partaker of thy Saviour's kingdom! Serious and important have been the subjects which have employed our mutual meditations: may they be impressed no less strongly on thy heart than on my own: may they awaken thee, if careless, to a life of love: may they confirm Reader. thee in that life, if happily thou art already devoted to it! This, this be sure is the only road to peace; this, this be sure is the only wisdom of man! Earnestly wishing thee much success in thy Christian course, I bid thee farewell, and exhort thee to keep thine eye stedfast on the Author and Finisher of thy Salvation! all beside will fail and forsake thee! But a little while, and as well the hand which hath written, as the eye which reads these lines, shall become cold and inactive, and moulder in the dust: speedily, oh! my friend, our days will be completed, and we must bid adieu to all things below! Then let us live like men conscious of this truth-let us live like those who know they must die, who know that they must live for ever. So shall we secure our own salvation; and, however strangers to each other here, shall meet and rejoice together in that kingdom, where mutability shall be known no more. sudden end AVARO, character of AGRICOLA, a wealthy farmer, his manner of life and ALTAMONT, the noble, his last hours 34 35 Consolations against the fear of death Duke of ****, his elegy 181 133 31 75 & 93 2 Father, heavenly, a regard to him the best security of obedience to the earthly father Family prayer, its necessity Feelings of humanity, finest, well consistent with Christ- ianity Funeral, melancholy, described |