the benevolence of their nature leads them to delight in the happiness of men. Though they know nothing by experience of the evils from which the sinner is redeemed, yet they know much of the glory to which he is destined: they know that he is saved from the miseries of the second death; that he has a title to an incorruptible inheritance secured to him ;-that during his residence on earth, some beams of heavenly glory will be let down into his soul;and that ere long he will be taken up to be their companion, and will advance through everlasting ages, from one degree of purity and bliss to another. Inasmuch as, during a revival, the change takes place in respect to many individuals, which secures to them an exemption from so much misery, and the possession of so much glory, how natural that the angels, in contemplating this change, should rejoice; how reasonable that there native benevolence should lead them to turn an eye of transport toward the earth, while they bend with deeper reverence before the throne, in view of these wonderful displays of divine mercy.

But while revivals are a source of rich joy to the angels, we may suppose that they are so in a still higher degree to that part of the population of heaven who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. It is with them, in common with angels, a reason for joy that, in these triumphs of divine grace, they gain the most glorious view of the divine character; and also that they contemplate in them a mighty addition to the amount of human happiness. But there are other circumstances to operate in their case, the influence of which angels cannot be supposed to feel. They know by actual experience the misery of a life of sin, and the danger that is connected with it of being cast off forever, and the fearful forebodings of eternal torment which have risen under the influence

of a waking conscience; and they know too on the other hand the sweet hope that accompanies the sense of forgiveness, and the sustaining influences of piety in the hour of trial, and the cheering prospect that greets the eye of faith as it respects the future, and the aid which the soul experiences from the everlasting arm in the valley of death, and finally they know something of the exceeding and eternal weight of glory in which the sinner's redemption is consummated. They are able therefore to form a far more perfect estimate than the angels, of the real importance of a revival of religion, so far as it is connected with the happiness of its subjects; because their experience enables them to put the joy that is gained in more striking contrast with the woe that is avoided. They look back to the hole of the pit from which they were themselves taken, and then consider their present condition as kings and priests unto God, and the gain of bliss and glory which is secured by one revival defies the utmost reach of their laboring conceptions.

Moreover, it is reasonable to suppose that the joy which the redeemed feel in view of the triumph of God's grace on earth, must be heightened in many cases by the relations which they have themselves sustained to those who are the subjects of a gracious renovation. Suppose the glorified parent looks down and sees the children whom he left walking in the broad road to death, turning into the path to life and setting their faces firmly towards heaven; or suppose the wife beholds her husband, or the sister her brother, for whom she had offered a thousand prayers but had died without seeing them answered, now waking up to a concern for his salvation, and laying hold on the hope set before him in the gospel, and solemnly dedicating himself to the Lord; or suppose the faithful pastor to have gone down to his grave mourning over the obduracy of hearts

which he could never reach, and to look down from Mount Zion above and see them pierced with conviction, and melted in penitence, and rejoicing in hope; and I ask you whether you do not believe that in each of these cases, there would be a new and deeper thrill of joy in the breast of that glorified immortal? Do you not believe that he would strike his harp to a higher and nobler note of thanksgiving, that those whom he loved while he was on earth and whom he still loves though he is in heaven, have not only been redeemed by the blood but renewed by the Spirit of Christ, and are training up to be his companions through ages of happiness that will know no end.

I may say too, reverently, that Jehovah himself rejoices in a revival of religion; for he beholds in it the most precious of his own works. In such an event each person in the adorable Godhead is eminently glorified by an exhibition of the various attributes of the divine character. The Father is glorified in the display of that love and wisdom in which the plan of redemption originated; the Son is glorified in the honor which hereby comes to his mediatorial work, and especially in the efficacy which is thus proved to belong to his atoning blood: the Holy Ghost is glorified in the effectual energy of his operation on the heart; in changing stone into flesh-in new-creating the whole. man. Here is power, wisdom, mercy, faithfulness, holiness, every attribute of God, brought out in a living-I had almost said, a palpable form. If Jehovah rejoices in his own glory, and if that glory is illustrated in the conversion of even a single soul, what shall be said of his rejoicing in view of a revival of religion-much more of all the revivals which will have taken place when the whole number of the ransomed of the Lord shall be gathered home.

2. Revivals tend to the same grand result, by increasing the number of the heavenly inhabitants.

Who can estimate the number that have already not only had their names written among the redeemed, but have actually entered through the gate into the city, and taken up the anthems of heaven, who but for revivals of religion would have had no part nor lot in the matter? Limit your view, if you will, to the result of a single year, and think what a mighty accession to the heavenly host is furnished by one year's revivals. And then with the promises of God and the signs of the times in your eye, let your thoughts travel down the tract of coming years, and see how much the revivals of each successive year serve to increase the population of heaven. And finally anticipate the time when this earth shall no longer exist as a theatre for the triumphs of redemption, and the ransomed shall all be assembled on the plains of immortality; and behold in that vast community a multitude which no man can number who date their change of character and destiny to revivals of religion. And then think of what has been done for these myriads of immortals. Fix upon the moment when the scene of dying was over, and the spirit was rushing forth to meet its God; and estimate the importance of the change it has experienced, by all the horror which it henceforth avoids, and all the bliss which it henceforth attains. All this countless, multitude have escaped the pollution, and degradation, and wailing of the pit, and have risen to the purity, and glory, and ecstacy of heaven. The day of the resurrection and the judgment which, but for the renovation they have experienced, would have awakened in them nothing but shame and agony, is a signal for exultation and triumph. They walk in the light of the Lamb. They know how to use angelic harps. They are kings and priests unto God.. They go on from glory to glory, constantly approaching the perfection of the Highest, while immortality endures. Whose mind is not lost in

which he could never reach, and to look down from Mount Zion above and see them pierced with conviction, and melted in penitence, and rejoicing in hope; and I ask you whether you do not believe that in each of these cases, there would be a new and deeper thrill of joy in the breast of that glorified immortal? Do you not believe that he would strike his harp to a higher and nobler note of thanksgiving, that those whom he loved while he was on earth and whom he still loves though he is in heaven, have not only been redeemed by the blood but renewed by the Spirit of Christ, and are training up to be his companions through ages of happiness that will know no end.

I may say too, reverently, that Jehovah himself rejoices in a revival of religion; for he beholds in it the most precious of his own works. In such an event each person in the adorable Godhead is eminently glorified by an exhibition of the various attributes of the divine character. The Father is glorified in the display of that love and wisdom in which the plan of redemption originated; the Son is glorified in the honor which hereby comes to his mediatorial work, and especially in the efficacy which is thus proved to belong to his atoning blood: the Holy Ghost is glorified in the effectual energy of his operation on the heart; in changing stone into flesh-in new-creating the whole man. Here is power, wisdom, mercy, faithfulness, holiness, every attribute of God, brought out in a living-I had almost said, a palpable form. If Jehovah rejoices in his own glory, and if that glory is illustrated in the conversion of even a single soul, what shall be said of his rejoicing in view of a revival of religion-much more of all the revivals which will have taken place when the whole number of the ransomed of the Lord shall be gathered home.

2. Revivals tend to the same grand result, by increasing the number of the heavenly inhabitants.