with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God." 5 Further : "They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for He that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall He guide them." 6 Words true in their measure, spiritually, even in the present, of those who travel through the wilderness, holding fast by the Redeemer's Hand-for, 66 He leadeth them beside the still waters," 7 and He is to them a sheltering Rock from noontide heat. But how much more true of the future! "And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb... They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." 8 No more hunger! No more thirst! No more cravings after unattainable food, whether cravings bodily, cravings mental, or cravings spiritual. No more parched lips longing for waters, or wasted frames requiring food. No more vain pantings after more knowledge, lying stored in sight, yet beyond reach of the eager brain harassed by daily toil. No more soulemptiness for lack of Heavenly food, or useless efforts to fill the void with earthly husks. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness"-now, thrice-blessed, because in very truth—“THEY SHALL BE FILLED."9 O happy words-no more! no more! How much of Heaven's peace lies folded in them! "Came morning; can I tell How this poor frame its sorrowful tenant kept? "How often is it said! I sit and think and wonder too sometimes How it will seem, when in that happier clime "No tears! No tears! Over the dead. Will there a day come that I shall not weep? Yes, yes, thank God, no grief that clime shall keep, Well with my lambs, and with their earthly guide, Or strike sweet harps upon its silver tide, Aye, it is well." FROM "MY LAMBS." References. Rev. xxi. 4, 5. 14. 17. 2 Isa. xxv. 8. 3 Rev. vii. 4 Rev. xxi. 1. 5 Rev. xv. 2. 6 Isa. xlix. 10. 7 Ps. xxiii. 2. 8 Rev. vii. 14, 16, 17. 9 Matt. v. 6. CHAPTER XV. THE GOLDEN CITY. NE of the pictures under which Heaven is presented to our minds, is that of a City. It is of course a simple impossibility that God should tell us in plain terms precisely what Heaven is like. The glory of the reality lies completely beyond the utmost stretch of human imagination. If you were trying to describe to a little cottage child a magnificent kingly palace, you would have to use words suited to the child's capacity. You would have to say, speaking of things within his knowledge ;"It is like this, like that, like the other, only unspeakably more beautiful." Each picture would help to give the child some faint notion of the reality; and though his notions would be at best but dim and vague, they would be better than none at all. When God speaks to us of a City, we at once picture to ourselves an assemblage of human beings; community of interests; absence of loneliness; intellectual advantages; abundant interchange of thought; friendliness and fellowship. This is or ought to be the impression conveyed. But in thinking of the Heaveniy City, we must drop out of the picture all that is distasteful, oppressive, wearying, sad and shameful, in the details of earthly city life. There is no doubt that this thought of a City, is often used in the Bible, as a type of the Church of Christ, consisting of the entire body of believers in Jesus, as distinct from the Heaven in which that Church shall find her final home. St. Paul writes : 66 |