life; for God has made it one of the inseparable conditions of terrestrial existence. It is not merely a necessary idea, but, also, a necessary fact. It is part and parcel of this present economy, because God has made it such. It has its specific sphere, its obvious and palpable relations to all our present uses and necessities. But we are not thence compelled to assume that place in heaven is invested with precisely the same relations. Some, perhaps, will be ready to say: Not so; place, whether on earth or in heaven, must be what place now is, or nothing.

Let us consider this. What is place now? It is any portion of this round globe where gravitation asserts its sway; where cohesion of parts obtains; where land or water interpose between us and the centre of the globe; which sunlight illuminates; which is filled with oxygen and hydrogen; which is warm or cold; or wet or dry; hard or soft; and convenient or inconvenient, by reason of the presence or absence of any one or more of these properties.

You will scarcely venture to indulge the belief that these are the properties of place in heaven; especially as you are distinctly informed, by Divine revelation, that several of these are excluded.

I do not in the least doubt that heaven is, to all intents and for all our needs, a place; but I cannot name the properties which constitute it such, nor is there occasion to do so. To my apprehension, it is enough to conceive of it as meeting the uses of the heavenly life as perfectly, and even more perfectly, than place now meets the uses of this present life. St. Paul says: "There is a spiritual body;" but not a word does he say of the peculiarities of the place inhabited by such bodies.

Christ brought heaven, in its elements, down to earth; and, being taught of him, we have no need that the furniture of heaven should be uncovered to us. Invited to dine with the king, it is not necessary to our happiness to possess, in advance, a picture of his palace; nor do we need to know either its architecture or its upholstery. Knowing the wealth and the taste of the king, we are sure of kingly appointments; and, knowing our King, we know that his house will be worthy of him.

Cultivate your taste to the utmost, and be sure that you will not be disappointed. No unexpected discoveries will revolt you, no detected deficiency will pain you. To the eye of faith, the six days of the creation inaugurated a grand

procession of the elements of heavenly beauty. Add to these all ideas of beauty and of magnificence since bestowed on us. Picture to yourself the magnificence of the Temple of Solomon, on which millions of dollars were expended. The blaze of beauty and of glory which broke upon the astonished gaze of the Queen of Sheba, herself abounding in magnificence, so overpowered her that there was no strength left in her.

Having realized all this, as fully as may be done, and having added to it all the pomp and gorgeousness which your own sight or reading may have supplied, remember that the sum total of seeing, reading, and imagining, is but a feeble emblem of God's resources, and of what may properly be anticipated of heaven.

"What God, our Father, to his own hath given,
With warring words, O seek not to define!
Question not that which hath its root in heaven;
It claims thy childlike faith, by right divine."

MRS. G. P. MARSH'S TRANSLATION OF THE HALLIG.

20

CHAPTER X.

THE SOCIETY OF HEAVEN.

Fulness of joy in thee, my Lord;
Such is the promise of thy Word;

And fellowship with Christ, thy Son.
O joy, to look that face upon,
To hear his voice, and speak my love,
Which he hath won, and will approve!

The fellowship of noble men,

Refining now, transcendent then,

In zeal, and power, and purity;

For this, to all eternity,

When death for life exchanged shall be,
Dear Lord, I'll render thanks to thee.

Earnest, guileless, and serene,

Of radiant but unworldly mien,

Thoughtful for all, herself forgot,

By such an one have I been taught;

More precious than the ruby even

On earth; will she be less in heaven?

PERHAPS the first thought suggested to most Christians by the mention of the society in heaven, is of their own personal friends, whom they have a right to hope to meet there. The frequency

and the earnestness with which the question is asked: Shall we know our friends in heaven? serves to illustrate the fact that God made man to find no inconsiderable portion of his happiness in loving and in being loved by a limited number of peculiar, personal friends. The question just quoted seems to be gratuitous; yet it has a great interest for multitudes, precisely because so much of human happiness depends upon the proximity and the fellowship of earthly friends. Close upon the question, Shall we know our friends? follows another, Shall we be with them? and still another, Will they be to us in heaven what they have been to us on earth?

Nothing can be more natural than the asking of these questions; yet they ought never to have occasioned great anxiety in the heart of Christians, nor would they have done so, but for the lamentable distrust of God's kindness which prevails. Just as surely as God gave to friendship all its charm and worth, just as surely as he has made love, and friendship, and the interchange of friendly offices our necessity as well as our joy, and an inseparable portion of our immortal nature, just as surely as God himself is love, and the truest, warmest friend in the universe, just so surely will he reunite Christian friends in heaven.