for we shall see him as he is." A special transforming power is ascribed to that view of Christ, and communion with him, which saints enjoy in heaven. Among men nothing is more common than to remark the formative influence which a person of commanding talents or position exerts upon others. The biographies of such men in turn, and one's favorite authors, sway our views and feelings by a power scarcely less marked. Alexander the Great always had a copy of Homer under his pillow. Cæsar, meeting with a statue of Alexander, was fired with an ambition he had never known before; Aristotle, by his writings, ruled over more thousands than his royal pupil subdued; and while the kingdom of Macedon survived only a few years, that of the philosopher maintains to this day a foothold in the world. By the force of his talents and scholarship Sir William Jones could infuse a literary spirit into the agents of a grasping commercial company. Tell me with whom you go, and I will tell you what you are. Such is man's social constitution, that his sentiments, language and deportment, will be formed, partially or entirely, by his associates, whoever they are. Seneca recommended to a friend to represent to himself Socrates, Cato, or some other distinguished worthy, as a con

stant observer of his actions. He suggests this as an excellent method for reforming a man's life, and rendering him eminently virtuous. There was reason in it. What, then, must be the assimilating power of the divine presence, when, by no fiction of the fancy, but in immediate vision, we come before the King of kings? How must the enrapturing glories of his person and converse mould the soul into harmony with his own! Even a glimpse of his loveliness must fascinate the beholder. The very clod beneath the rose-bush imbibes a perfume. You cannot walk through Oriental groves without bearing away somewhat of their precious aroma ; and can one walk in the paradise of God, and imbibe no fragrance? The ancients speak of a stream of which if a creature drank it turned to a pure white. It is fabled, too, that there is a stream,

"Where the leaves that fall,

'Neath the autumn sky, Grow gem-like all,

And never die."

Is there no virtue in the pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb? Is there no blessed influence in the atmosphere of heaven? With what

a mighty transforming power must the special presence of Him who is glorious in holiness be felt round about the throne! If the face of Moses shone as it had been the face of an angel, what will be the lustre of a countenance, on which in heaven those vital beams pour in a ceaseless and benignant stream! Then, as not before, will it be true, "Ye were sometimes darkness; but now are ye light in the Lord; " and when the gracious influences of heaven shall have brought the heart into perfect conformity to God, then will it be announced, with a meaning not now understood: "Ye have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him.”

not

It will not then be through ordinances; through shadows, like smoke of incense; not by symbols, like the pillar of cloud and of fire, or the light from between the cherubim; through no glass darkly, will Christ there be seen, but face to face. Not merely reflected rays, such as now shine upon us, can there be endured; but the inner eye will be strengthened to receive directly the concentrated beams of that effulgence. Not by tiresome study, not with a painful gaze in the dimness of twilight, but with clearest insight will believers exultingly contemplate the Lamb that dwells among them.

A

The knowledge thus acquired will be peculiarly full and comprehensive. In the present state, it is but a copy we behold, not the original. Much as

we may learn, still we say, God that hidest thyself!

Verily, thou art a Even the means by

which he reveals himself are means of eclipse. But

as when the sun, arising upon a cloudless sky, illuminates the whole hemisphere, so will the believer find the world of blessedness; only the light thereof will be as the light of the sun seven-fold. Christ will then seem all in all.

There was one Eudoxus, who longed to approach the sun near enough to have a full view of that glorious body, even though it should consume him. What is the strength of our aspirations to behold the Sun of righteousness? Do we long for that fuller view which shall so irradiate and transform the soul? While, then, we remain on earth, let us be often at the mount of glory; and, see to it, that in the structure of character, "thou make all things according to the pattern showed thee in that mount.'

CHAPTER XI.

HEAVENLY HONOR AND RICHES.

O, change! O, wondrous change!
Burst are the prison bars!

This moment there—so low

In mortal prayer- and now
Beyond the stars!

O, change! Stupendous change!
Here lies the senseless clod;
The soul from bondage breaks,

The new immortal wakes

Awakes with God!

C. BOWLES.

THE lose relationship of things apparently different is one of the most striking facts in nature. Νο two substances are to the eye more unlike, or in their elements more similar, than charcoal and the diamond. Wandering along the beach, how little do we think that the sand beneath our feet enters so largely into the composition of the splendid vase, or the humbler but still elegant utensils upon our table; that, clarified and combined with other substances, it forms the crystal ceiling of palaces, dazzling and