more severe in punishing the wicked, than He is good and liberal in rewarding the just. Now, it is not precisely in the senses of taste and feeling that the saints have suffered most for God? Look at that countless multitude of martyrs. Many were starved to death; others were scourged until they died under the torture; others were torn by the wild beasts; others were crucified; others were burnt with a slow fire; while others were tortured for days together in every limb and sense, and that, too, with all the ingenuity and appliances that the most refined cruelty could devise. Then again, look at that countless multitude of confessors, virgins, and others, who, in the practice of virtue, became their own executioners. They suffered inconceivably by frequent and long fastings, by coarseness of diet, by wearing hair-cloth, and by otherwise torturing their flesh. And now, shall these senses go unrewarded in the Blessed, while they are so terribly punished in the reprobate? Certainly not. All that we can say is that, at present, we do not know how all this is to be realised; but as the whole man in all his senses has served God, and suffered for Him, it is but just that he should be rewarded in his whole being, which includes every sense of the body as well as every faculty of the soul. Hence, in our meditations on heaven, we must let the pleasures of the glorified senses enter as an integral element of man's happi ness. We must contemplate these pleasures as seriously as we do the pain of sense in the reprobate, only avoiding the introduction of anything gross or carnal, and, therefore, repugnant to a state of incorruption. Hence we must, as already shown, avoid introducing eating, drinking, sleep, or anything else which, by its very nature, belongs to the animal life of man. We must also banish from our ideas of heaven all the carnal pleasures of this world, as they are now understood. Our Blessed Lord Himself told the Jews, who believed such pleasures to exist in heaven: "You err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they shall neither marry nor be married; but shall be as the angels of God in heaven." All such pleasures, which were intended only for this world of imperfection, will be replaced by others of a superior order, and suited to our spiritualised bodies. So, then, we see that the life of heaven is one of sensible pleasure through the glorified senses, as well as one of exquisite mental and moral enjoyment in the Beatific Vision. These sensible pleasures have, moreover, a peculiar characteristic, which the pleasures of sense have not in our present state of imperfection. In heaven the Blessed can enjoy them all without fear, for none of them are forbidden, and consequently they can never be followed by bitter remorse or *St. Matt. xxii. 29. shame. Neither have they, as in this world, a tendency to darken the mind and turn the heart away from God. They will rather intensify our love for Him, Who is the Author of our exceeding blessedness, whether it comes immediately from Himself, or partly from the beautiful creatures He has prepared to complete the happiness of His beloved children. CHAPTER XI. SOCIAL JOYS OF HEAVEN. THE life of heaven is also one of pure social joys. Among all the joys outside of the Beatific Vision, there are certainly none so sweet as those which arise from our social intercourse with the Blessed. We are social beings by nature. Our highest and best powers are framed for society, and we are never in our normal state except when in communion with our fellow-men. Hence all men love society, if we except the misanthrope or man-hater, who is a moral monster. He has unfortunately developed in his bosom some of the worst passions of our fallen nature, and they have built an element of hell in his heart. For in that godless and hopeless region there is no love either for God or neighbour, and therefore social joys can have no existence therein. With the ex ception of a few persons of this kind, all men love society. Even the lonely hermit loves it. But he sees in it dangers to his soul, and he cuts himself off from it in this world, that he may enjoy it in the next, where it shall have lost its dangerous element. Social intercourse with our fellow-beings affords us some of our purest joys in this world; yet they are not, and never can be, perfect. They are roses with cruel thorns, that wound and make us bleed, almost as often as they delight us with their delicious perfumes. How often does it not happen that we go into society with a light heart, and return home sad and heavy? And why so? Because our heart has been wounded, perhaps crushed, by some wicked insinuation, or some unkind interpretation of an action performed with the best of intentions on our part. Even our holiest actions are criticised, and unworthy motives, which never entered our minds, are attributed to us. Then, again, they whom we had considered our best friends may betray us, and reveal to a cold and cruel world the secrets which, in our simplicity, we had confided to them. In a word, if intercourse with our fellowcreatures is often the source of pure joys, it is not unfrequently the occasion of our keenest sufferings. And why? Because in our present state of imperfection we are sinful and selfish. Because we allow ourselves to act towards others through jealousy, envy, natural aversion, and other ungoverned pas sions of our fallen nature. We do not love all men, and all men do not love us. We see many defects in others, which make them unamiable, and they see as many in us, which make their love for us almost an impossibility. Wherefore, so long as we live in the flesh, our social joys must always be mingled with a certain amount of bitter ness. Let us now raise our eyes to our heavenly home, and there contemplate a life of the purest and most perfect social pleasures. There, neither selfishness, nor uncharitableness, nor any unruly passion can exist, and consequently our social joys will never be mingled with the gall of bitterness. Putting aside, for a moment, all the shortcomings and imperfections that mar our social joys in this world, let us look at their bright side only, and see what it is that makes our social intercourse with others a pleasure. This will be as a mirror wherein we shall behold some faint reflections of social joys as they exist in heaven. What are the personal attributes or qualities in others that make our social intercourse with them a pleasure? They may be reduced to six, which really include all others that could be mentioned. These are virtue, learning, beauty, refinement, mutual love, and the ties of kindred. We will say a few words on each of these. 1. Virtue is the attribute which gives us our highest similitude to God, and it is |