restoration and recognition, and the relevancy is complete; the hope is exalted into certainty; the consolation is actual and perfect.”*

HEB. I. 14.

"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

In what manner the agency of these celestial beings is carried on, or upon what particular occasions it is ordinarily employed, are inquiries which revelation does not attempt to satisfy; and which, were it in our power to meet them, would be irrelevant to the present purpose. We know it, however, to be matter of fact, that from the earliest ages they have been, and still are, engaged in executing the office of guardian spirits to the righteous--a work for which the high attributes of their nature, and their exalted rank in the scale of creation, eminently qualify them. But it will hardly be supposed, that when the souls of good men enter into the presence of God, they become immediately unknown to the benevolent beings who exulted in the knowledge of their repentance, and never ceased to watch over them until they were

* Gisborne's Recollections.

safely conducted within the portals of the sanctuary above. Are we to imagine that these celestial intelligences who have always taken a deep and active interest in every thing relating to the work of the Saviour, and whose knowledge is as extensive as the zeal is fervent which glows within their bosoms, should fail to recognise, amongst their associates in bliss, the glorified souls of the prophets, apostles, martyrs, and reformers, who occupy a prominent place in the moral history of the species? Is it conceivable that Abraham, Isaac, Daniel, Isaiah, and others, with whom they communed on earth, should be strangers to them in the kingdom of God? Would it be rational to presume that these distinguished individuals have no consciousness of their angelic benefactors, with whom they are now living on terms of close and delightful intercourse? And when an inspired writer affirms of christians, that they are come to an innumerable company of angels, is not the certainty of a mutual acquaintance implied in the declaration? It cannot be necessary to remark, that the affirmative of the question has by far the preponderating evidence; and, guided by analogy, it is no less reasonable to believe, that the members of the human family, who are united by the bond of christian love upon earth, will be known to each other in a future life.

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REV. VI. 9-11.

"And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."

Although much of this language is figurative, it cannot be doubted that it answers the object for which it is introduced to the notice of the reader. Any differences of opinion which may be entertained concerning the date, or the particular individuals referred to in the passage, will not invalidate the evidence with which it furnishes us on the immediate point in question. For it is beyond all dispute that it relates to departed saints, since they are declared to be martyrs, and are represented to be clothed with white robes, the emblem of celestial purity and happiness. Yet the prediction supposes them to know one another, to have a distinct recollection of their martyrdom

in the service of God, to be acquainted with the situation of their persecutors upon earth, and to be apprised of the fate which awaited their surviving brethren.

This, however, is only one out of a numerous class of similar passages, which, were it necessary, might be extracted from the book of the Revelation. The Apocalypse, indeed, is scarcely less, in some places, than a continued illustration of the general truth we are attempting to establish. The spirits of the redeemed, which are there introduced to our notice, are represented to be an order of beings distinguishable from all the rest of the heavenly inhabitants. In their songs of praise we hear them actually referring to the particular tribes and countries to which, in the days of their mortal pilgrimage, they respectively belonged; and when their harps of gold burst into strains of rich and rapturous melody, the theme which inspires them is the greatness of that love which raised them from the depths of sin and tribulation to the possession of eternal life.

On the whole, then, it must appear, we conceive, to every reflecting person, both from the general principles, and more direct testimony of the scriptures, that the evidence in support of future recognition amongst friends, separated by death, is such as to exclude all reasonable doubt. In only remains, in conclusion, to remind the

reader, that in order duly to appreciate the force of the argument founded upon the above citations, he must advert to the specific character of the evidence contained in them. It may be objected, as it has often been, that in the passages adduced no formal proof or direct affirmation is to be found on the subject before us. But granting this to be the fact, what then? Does it follow that the whole argument rests upon uncertain data? This would be an irrational conclusion. For the proof is not the less certain and valid, because of its implied and incidental character. When a doctrine is assumed as the basis of any reasoning, or appears to be casually wrought into the texture of an illustration, it is evidently supposed to be true, and such an appropriation of it amounts to the same thing as a positive affirmation on the particular point, since it originates in a belief that the assumed topic is too obvious, or too generally received, to require that it should be made the subject of explicit statement or formal discussion. The evidence in this case is analogous to that which accompanies the incidental testimony of a credible historian, which, every one is aware, is often stronger than that of a direct assertion. The existence of God is not less certainly announced in the language with which divine revelation opens, than if this all interesting doctrine had been propounded in formal and positive terms.