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beyond. And He is pleased to do this, not once or twice, but repeatedly. He says, by his apostle St. Peter, 'Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.' And when St. Paul and St. Barnabas go about, confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, they tell them 'that we must, through much tribulation, enter the Kingdom of God.' But the Apostles can assure them too that there is for those who are troubled, 'rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty Angels.' 'We sent Timotheus,' says St. Paul, 'to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith, that no man should be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know that we are appointed thereto.' But yet, 'our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.' The lot of suffering and the inheritance of joy are both represented to the faithful. 'I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.' The prospect thus disclosed is of infinite solace to the sufferers in the day of their adversity. Of this we have the highest proof, since we learn that the

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human nature of our blessed Lord Himself was thus sustained,- Who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame.'

These contrasts are helpful and comforting to us under the disappointments which meet us continually. Have we never, in early days, allowed ourselves to believe that, could we but change places with certain others around us, we should be supremely happy,—that to have what they had, and to be as they were, would make for us a real Paradise? Their condition represented to us all that we could most desire. Perhaps we were afterwards suffered to attain to such a lot as theirs. Alas! was it only that we might say with the Preacher, 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity? Holy Scripture, instead of mocking at our childish folly, points us to a satisfying fulfilment of more than our highest anticipations, shewing us that while these things on which we had set our hearts never could, as they never were meant, to fill the empty spaces of our being, there are unspeakable joys which may be ours instead, that the best condition of man's life here, even could we gain it, is immeasurably below the blessedness to which we are called.

When we read that 'here we have no continuing city,' but that 'there remaineth a rest for the

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people of God,' what memories and what anticipations fill our hearts! Which of us has been allowed to find any true resting-place here? Change after change has been our portion. We have been, as it were, drifting down some rapid stream, anchoring nowhere; watching fair scenes that seemed to pass away from us, just as our souls began to rejoice in their beauty, with a longing to remain amongst them, and there to dwell, even though we knew of their manifold insufficiencies. And still the current has drawn us onward, and we have been constrained to leave all these behind. What is to comfort hearts thus wearied and disappointed, but the blessed assurance that the rest we yearn for is not refused, but only deferred?

Indeed we have looked beyond these earthly abodes, ever since we knew that God hath prepared for us a City. We were told of a daily cross, of a weary land, of a solitary way, and of an adversary seeking to devour ; now we have learned that there shall never be any of these things, for the faithful in Christ, hereafter. Instead of bearing a cross, they shall carry palms, the emblems of triumph; instead of the weary land, there shall be the very Land of Promise; instead of a solitary way, there shall be thereon a rejoicing company; instead of

an adversary seeking to devour, there shall be a blessed deliverance from both danger and fear: ' no lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast.'

And so again, when we read that we are strangers and pilgrims, which of us has not felt that he, more or less, answers to this description? This is not our own land, and every step that we take over its soil tells us that it is not. In a thousand ways we are made to feel that it is indeed the land of the stranger. We can call none of its fruits our own. When we would claim any portion in it, that portion is taken away. We are but pilgrims here, footsore and travel-worn. yet, even thus may we not rejoice, since, like the Israelites of old, 'we are journeying unto the land of which the Lord said, I will give it you ;' and we know that when by His mercy we have arrived there, we shall fully enjoy and possess it, and 'we shall go no more out, for ever.'

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Perhaps in the details given us of the future state of the blessed, some of the particulars may have, in contrast, a closer reference than we quite realize, to the trials and sufferings of the present time. Here we are described as passing through the waters—struggling with the waves: 'All thy billows,' says the Psalmist, are gone over me.' Possibly because of this the promise is given,

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'There shall be no more sea.'

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be 'tost with tempests and not comforted,' but 'great shall be the peace of God's children.'

But, however this may be, there are sure promises concerning higher things than these. Το him who lives the most dutiful and holy life, the greatest want in this world must be the want of the visible and sensible presence of his Lord. If we are in heart and affection His, we must desire more than anything else, unrestrained and perfect communion with Him. None of His blessings can be to us in the place of Himself. Here,' says St. Paul, 'we are absent from the Lord,' and therefore it is that we know but in part,' and see but through a glass darkly.' Our imperfect faith supplies but scantily the lack of open vision.

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Now nothing is more absolutely promised than the reversal of all this. Instead of being absent from Him, we shall be, it is written, 'ever with the Lord;' instead of knowing in part, we shall 'know even as we are known;' instead of seeing through a glass darkly, we shall see 'face to face.' will be the consummation of joy! That will make the bliss of heaven! What higher reward can God give us,' asks Saint Augustine, 'than Himself?' Of the angelic condition this is the Crown. When the Angel who brought tidings to

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