command. I was warned of this judgment before it came, and provided for it; and where all my interest is, Lord, thou knowest."

True, it was not the rich man's wealth, nor any man's wealth, which of itself kept him out of heaven. Lazarus was carried to the bosom of one who had been rich in flocks, herds, and all possessions. Nor was it Lazarus' poverty that carried him to heaven, nor his sufferings either. He was none the better saint for his sores, or his penury, except as they contributed to his sanctification. Yet, unless Christ was mistaken, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven." "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God." Upon first thought, it seems incredible that such wealth and such a weight of glory should be in reserve for any of the children of men. There would, indeed, be a hopeless incongruity between present character and future exaltation, were it not for the glory thus accruing to the munificence of God through Christ. His ultimate design in saving sinners is to bring honor to the person and priesthood of the Great Mediator, "that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us, through Christ Jesus"

Riches of grace are now exhibited, but their exceeding fulness cannot be known in the present state. The great day of disclosures is yet to come. Crowns are not given here; but the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give them at that day when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.

day will be public to the universe.

That coronation

Then will the

King of kings make up all his jewels; then will he display all his purchased treasures. There will

be a divine pomp, a glorious splendor, on that day. "Then they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars, forever and ever." "Then the trial of faith in all the redeemed saints

being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire will be found unto praise, and honor, and glory; unto the praise, and honor, and glory of God the Father, in his electing love; unto the praise, and honor, and glory of Jesus Christ in his mediation; unto the praise, and honor, and glory of the Spirit in regeneration and sanctification; unto the united, equal, eternal praise, honor, and glory of the triune God, 'who is blessed forever.

Many are the collateral purposes of God, in the

salvation of men; but all centre in this, an eternal display of his grace in the gift of Christ. The whole of God's moral government has a reflexive aim; all moral arrangements originating in him centre also in him. The gift of his Son was the result of an infinite and eternal impulse of love; and while ransomed sinners will experience its fullest benefits, yet they are to make an eternal exhibition of the grace of that gift, for the glory of the giver. Here believers are only stammering on the alphabet of praise, and honor, and glory to God. But their tongues will be unloosed at the day of Christ's appearing. Then, and forever after, will they strew palm-branches; then will they sing, Hosanna to the Son of David! blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: hosanna in the highest!

!

CHAPTER XII.

NO TEARS IN HEAVEN.

O, happy, happy country! where
There entereth not a sin;

And death, who keeps its portals fair,

May never once come in.

No grief can change their day to night;
The darkness of that land is light:
Sorrow and sighing God has sent
Far thence, to endless banishment.
And never more may one dark tear
Bedim their burning skies;
For every one they shed while here,
In fearful agonies,

Glitters a bright and dazzling gem

In their immortal diadem.

C. BOWLES.

Is this the believer's only heritage?

Does this

To this

vale of tears open to no brighter region? stormy sea is there no quiet haven? Beyond this firmament, so often overcast, is there no cloudless sky? We toil on, struggling with the elements, alternately parched and chilled, famished and surfeited; we buffet with human selfishness and Satanic malice; we grope in a labyrinth of fallacies;

we chase fatuous lights; calumny shoots her poisoned arrows; bulletins of war come daily, written over, within and without, in blood; the earth we stand on heaves beneath us; presently it opens, and we are swallowed up.

What means this mysterious drama? Is the whole tale thus told? Is man's life only a riddle? Many bright dreams have we; there are traditions of Paradise and a golden age; for thousands of years have men been talking of Hesperian regions; but for thousands of years have they dreamed, sinned, and suffered, till they drop into the grave.

Amid this perplexity and gloom, a voice is heard, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” We go to him; we find him infinitely benignant; yet perfect rest we do not find. The sun loses none of its fierceness thereby, nor frosts aught of their chill; disease has the same virulence, and slanderous tongues have the same venom as before. Emancipation from sin and its consequences is anything but complete. Even to the day of our exit from earth do we go on sighing O, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? How, then, is it true, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord"? What are we to think of those who,