affords the fullest and most exquisite gratification to that taste for whatsoever is sublime, splendid, and magnificent, which the Creator has implanted in the human spirit; and which, in reference to the pure in heart, we may assuredly conclude, will find in the world of brightness in which he dwells its appropriate objects of satisfaction and delight. [Note q.]

I am perfectly aware that, in their views of heaven, many excellent individuals are disposed to reject every idea of material glory, as opposed to what they deem the spiritual character of that holy place, and as bordering upon that which is low and earthly. Such persons, however, would do well to remember that the inspired writers, so far from condemning views like these, have done what they could to excite and to encourage them within us. Upon the supposition, therefore, that it is wrong to contemplate heaven as a scene of material glory, I can hardly conceive a greater inconsistency than that with which these holy men are chargeable, when they describe its appearance under images which naturally convey such ideas to the human mind.

And what, I ask, can more strongly and vividly convey them, than those which the writer of the Apocalypse employs in his description of that great city, the holy Jerusalem?" And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like jasper stone, clear as crystal; and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chysolyte; the eight beryl; the ninth, a topaz ; the tenth, a crysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several

:

I

gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass."

Now although the above description may refer, as I think it does, to the outward splendour of the New Jerusalem as it will one day be seen on earth; it is nevertheless described as descending from God out of heaven. And then in reference to the habitation of God itself, the apostle has more than once described it under images of material glory, particularly in the fourth chapter. "And immediately I was in the spirit, and behold a throne was set in heaven, and one sat upon the throne; and he that sat, was, to look upon, like a jasper and a sardius stone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald, and round about the throne were fourand-twenty seats; and upon the seats were four-and-twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold, and out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunderings, and voices; and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God:

and before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal."

Hence, if heaven be regarded as a place of material grandeur only, it cannot, as the spirit is entering into it, but fill her with the highest admiration and delight. As yet, however, she takes but a hasty glance at the magnificence it exhibits, at the glory with which it burns, at the splendours which are diffused throughout it, and at the enchanting objects with which it abounds, her tree and fount of life-her immortal amaranth

"A flower which once

In Paradise, fast by the tree of life,

Began to bloom, but soon for man's offence

To Heaven removed, where first it grew,

there grows, And flow'rs aloft, shading the fount of life ;”—

Her

"river of bliss," which

"Through midst of heaven

Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream;" and her pavement, "shining like a sea of jasper," are for a while unnoticed; nay, she even passes the groups of bright and blissful creatures that are around her, and with whom she will associate for ever, that she may make her way to the throne of God, and present before him her first act of adoration on entering into glory.

To that throne she now directs her course, and soon arrives within sight of that awful mount, where, in burning brightness and throned inaccessible, Jehovah sits high and lifted up. At the sight of this awful mount,

"Dark with excessive bright,"

the spirit is seized with emotions of the deepest awe-to behold the eternal throne, that only object of durability in the universe, with all its awful and sublime appendages of seraphim blazing about it, and cherubim bending towards it, and elders prostrate before it, and angels encircled around it, is more than she can bear. The terrific grandeur of the scene represses every ebullition of joy within her, and by its dreadful sublimity produces a temporary sadness-a sadness similar to that felt by the patriarch when he exclaimed, "How dreadful is this place!" As yet the spirit can utter no distinct expression of thanksgiving for the salvation which has been effected on her behalf, and for the felicity to which she has been raised; but, sinking beneath the "weight" of so much glory as that which is now upon her, falls prostrate before the throne in awful, silent, and profound adoration. From this depth of awful