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him who built an altar on Mount Moriah, and with him who was laid an offering thereon; with him who put off his shoes on Sinai, and forty days and forty nights spake familiarly with God, in the thick cloud that was on the mount? O, what will be the luxury of listening to the sweet psalmist of Israel, as he strikes his heavenly lyre; of sitting down under the tuition, successively, of all those holy men of old who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost! What rapture must there be in talking with those who had the gift of tongues, who wrought many miracles, and-what is far more memorable went everywhere, in the midst of perils and reproaches, as the first ambassadors for Christ! What shall I say more? "For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets; who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Yet was it ordered that they, without us, should not be made perfect. Our presence at that table was wanting. One reason why they were called to

endure what they did for the cause of truth and righteousness was, that they might in heaven have the higher satisfaction of recounting to us and others what was done through them for the glory of God. Our happiness and theirs would want somewhat of its fulness but for that recital, which will never be exhausted.

That banqueting assembly is not, however, limited to Scripture worthies. It embraces multitudes from subsequent times. There sit Ignatius and Polycarp, Augustine and Chrysostom, Athanasius and Bazil. Around that board are gathered the mighty army of Protestant reformers, the chief fathers of New England and Old England, and the renowned champions for truth and holiness from all countries and all centuries of the Christian era.. Who will not esteem heaven a more desirable place because John Howe and John Owen are there; because Usher and Leighton, Wesley and Whitfield, Eliot and Brainard are there? Who will not esteem it peculiar happiness to associate with one who discoursed so fully on the Saints' Everlasting Rest, and with one whose sweet strains are sung Sabbath after Sabbath by thousands of assemblies on earth? Who will not be rejoiced at such an interview with that ingenious dreamer who immor

talized Bedford jail, and whose pilgrim has gone forth over all the earth?

The stars of that firmament, however, are not all of the first magnitude; nor is the surface of the earth made up wholly of mountains. There is far more of undistinguished level. Our religious interests and our heavenly anticipations may not be limited only to those known to fame, any more than to our kindred after the flesh, or our personal acquaintance. There is, indeed, an important sense in which all mankind are our brethren. We speak, to be sure, of heathen nations as benighted. We think of them as removed further from us in moral character than in space. In regard to most of them we understand very imperfectly the depth of their degradation. Comparatively elevated, we are, by this very goodness of God, made in a sense incapable of realizing how corrupt they are. Still, however brutish, they are not brutes. They do not belong to a different species. God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth. We talk about the European, the African, and other races, but do they not all belong alike to the human race? Whatever varieties of complexion and social condition there may 66 we are all one man's sons." A family like

be,

ness pervades all. We all stand at an equal remove from him who was expelled from Paradise. Yes, and some of those lowest in the scale, and with fewest social attractions, are called to our Lord's table, in his kingdom. They come in from the highways and hedges. The vast majority of those sitting down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, were comparatively obscure on earth. "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue, and people and nation, and hast made us unto our God, kings and priests."

And how many will be there? "A great multitude, which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and tongues.' Even in ancient times, and when the church was confined to a single nation, a nation by no means the largest, and at a period of extreme degeneracy, there were seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal. On the single day of Pentecost, three thousand signified their acceptance of the Gospel offer; and the time is predicted when a nation shall be born at "The Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints." It is estimated that already, within the

once.

Christian era, more than fifty thousand millions of human beings have died. As to how many of these were nominally Christian we attempt no conjecture; nor how many of the latter were really such; but admitting that even of those connected with churches many will, at last, cry "Lord, Lord!" to whom he will reply, "I never knew you ; admitting the proportion of such to be the same as in the original twelve chosen by Christ, or as high, even, as the parable of the virgins may indicate, we must still believe that millions have already passed into glory, and that, when the remainder of the elect shall have been gathered in, the host will be inconceivably great. No want of guests will there be at that marriage supper. We hear of festivals here on earth, where thousands assemble. We read of millions in the army of Xerxes; but the greatest throng ever thus gathered together are only the small dust of the balance to that host which "shall return and come to Zion, with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads.”

Notwithstanding, however, the vastness of that assemblage, individuality is unimpaired. Peter, John and Paul, are, perhaps, as unlike now as wher on earth. The identity of Matthew, Mark and Luke, is undisturbed. Apollos and Sylvanus,