HEAVEN.

HEAVEN is the climax of the christian's hope. But what is heaven? Not thrones-not coronets

Not victory-branches-princely-simple robes
Not choristers of light, with flaming songs
And lyres melodious-not crystal streams-
Nor yet the throne of brightest emerald;
Compose the lofty pictnre faith has shetched,
When climbing Pisgah's favoured eminence,
It has descried the promised land afar.
These are divine; but the vitality,
The soul of all is Christ: bereft of Him,
Thrones, crowns, and palms would be as fes-
tal pomp

On death-struck corses-the pure robe, a shroud

The choristers with bursting breasts would heave

Deep sighs of anguish the translucent

streams

Forsake their channels, unnourished by the spring

The lyres would yield but melancholy dirges, Touched not by hand, but by the breath of grief,

As evening breezes wake the Æolian harpAnd the so radiant throne would lose its brightness,

Like crystal buried in impervious night.

But Christ is there: and in his presence, say, Ye christians who profess to know the Lord, Can there be aught but glory, bliss, and splendour ?

No; 't were as right to think of summer skies, Beaming with brightness from a summer's sun, With southern breeze blowing salubrious; And yet the landscape a drear winter scene, With swampy pastures, leafless trees and hedges,

And groves unperfumed with the breath of flowers!

Faith, with inspired pencil, chiefly draws
Its outline of celestial happiness,
From rapturous moments which the soul en-
joys,

(Like veins of gold hid in vast caves of earth,)
In sweet communion; when the Lord descends
Into the mind, with a resplendant train
Of heavenly graces, and reveals Himself,
His dazzling beauty, and his wondrous love:
When gratitude and adoration spring,
And the soul, dead to sublunary things,
I filled with joys absorbingly divine.
And only when these happy hours have fled,

In sadness of desertion, does it add,
On the back-ground of its diviner Object,
Lesser adornments, tracing the features
From the unveilings seen at Patmos' isle
By its lone exile.

"T is from such seasonsThe happiest hours of life-that faith aspires To His more frequent visits. But still below The choicest blessings come by saddest means. The shower of grace most generally falls From the black thunder-cloud, whose frowning looks

Threaten destruction to our fondest hopes. Nor is the radiant bow discernible-

Sweet symbol of the covenant-till the cloud
Has poured its contents; then its airy form,
Pierced by the radiant beam, presents an
arch

Of rubies, emeralds, and all precious stones.
Jacob at Bethel had the blessing: true;
But when the vision ended, and again
Earth broke in on his joys; he had, alas!
To hasten from the vengeance of his brother:
Which also was the cause that led him there,
Where the intended favour was reserved.
Joseph was Egypt's ruler: but the means
Which placed him in that station, would have
urged,

Had they been known, from coward flesh

the cry,

For humbler welfare and less poignant trials. From this the saint most anxiously desires That happy day, when from the wilderness It shall be welcomed to the better land Flowing with milk and honey unalloyed.

Happy the man who can his features see In the pure mirror of celestial grace : Who can perceive his own possessions traced In Canaan's chart: and blessedly has had The free-gift title deed to heaven bestowedWithin his breast the copy, the original Safely deposited in heaven's archives.

O Holy Spirit let thy grace descend: Each lucid drop conveying lustrous rays From Jesus: just as the burning-glass Directs the beamings of the natural sun Upon an object with redoubled power. And may our souls, taught, and endued by

OH, THAT I MIGHT RECEIVE MY SIGHT!

Mark x. 51.

Lift the veil, the shrouding veil,
And let me, Father, know,

The scheme in all things ordered well,
Hath ransomed me from woe:
That when, pavilioned in thy love,
Thou undivided Three ;

The covenant which can ne'er remove,
Included worthless me.

Lift the veil, the shrouding veil,
And let me, Saviour, see,

In saving all the elect from hell,

That thou hast saved me:

That when my bleeding Lord supplied
A purple tount for sin,
Recipient of the cleansing tide,
Stern justice saw me clean.

Lift the veil, the shrouding veil,
And, Holy Spirit, bring,
Borne on a soul-reviving gale,
A whisper from my King:
Oh! let me see thou art my Guide,
My Teacher, Leader, Friend;
Who hath of Jesus testified,

And wilt unto the end.

Lift the veil, the shrouding veil,
And demonstrate, Great God,
That what seems now unfav'rable,
Is working all for good:
That every cloud and tempest here,
That every trial given;
Are but to cleanse the atmosphere,
And educate for heaven.

Lift the veil, the shrouding veil,

And let me likewise view,
The wheel thou shew'dst Ezekiel,
And understand it too:
Lord, let me see my mean affairs
Are managed all by thee;
Let me, encircling worldly cares,
Heaven's bow of promise see.

Lift the veil, the shrouding veil,
And let what did entrance
The pupil of Gamaliel,

Fill mine enraptured glance :

To the third heaven my faith would rise,
Or do thou bless me here;

My spirit craves realities,
Lord, pardon and appear.

Lift the veil, the shrouding veil,
And let my strengthened sight,
See, towering on the heavenly hill,

The homes of saints in light:
The streets of gold, the walls of gem,

The living stream and tree.-Say, Lord, the New Jerusalem

Contains a home for me.

Lift the veil, the shrouding veil,
And let there, Lord, be shown,
The city's King, Immanuel,

Bright on his gorgeous throne : Lord! let me hear the tall concave All quivering with thy praise; Impatient then to cross the wave, And fresh hosannas raise.

Lift the veil, the shrouding veil
Mortality begone!

And let the bliss of Gabriel
My rising soul adorn:
Let faith be turned to perfect sight,
Hope in fruition die;

This darkness to celestial light,
And war to victory.

A YOUNG DISCIPLE.

LINES

On the Sudden Death of Mr. H, one of the Deacons of the Surrey Tabernacle.

HAPPY Soul! from shades of night,
Thou hast soared to realms of light;
To the gospel promised land,

To thy throne at Christ's right hand.
Now thy doubts and fears are fled,
Now thou seest thy l.ving Head;
Now eternal pleasures roll,
Now full pleasures charm thy soul.
Now the tear of sorrow gliding,
Now the voice of foes deriding,
Now the waves of life's rude shore,
Never now shall vex thee more.
Thou hast reached thy glorious rest,
Thou hast reached thy Saviour's breast;
Where, when tempests beat aloud,
Where, when skies were veiled in cloud,
Hope, thine anchor, sought and found,
Sure support on solid ground.
Thou didst travel much by night,
Now 't is all unclouded light.
Here thy sun was often dark,
Oft thy soul was Satan's mark;
Now above the tempest high,
'Bove the cloud, and 'bove the sky,
In that home which knows no night,
Where Christ is th' unvarying light,
Thou dost songs of rapture sing,
Praising thy all-conquering King.
Short the summons; hark! it says,
Heir of heaven, the chariot stays:'
Heaven's loud hallelujahs swell,
Jesus hath done all things well.
Mount and join the choir above,
Mount and see the Lord you love;
Praise him for what he hath done,
Praise the Father and the Son,
Praise th' Eternal Three in One.

MOSES G.

"

ZENS OF ZION.

Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." -Eph. ii. 19.

THE word of God speaks of two mysteries, namely, the mystery of iniquity and the mystery of godliness; and I am most assuredly at a point here, and blessedly established in this truth, that every living soul, made alive to Christ by the almighty power of the Holy Ghost, knows something of the above named mysteries. Moreover, I am bold to affirm that souls thus taught of God, cannot sit with sacred pleasure under that ministry, which does not shew how these mysteries are made known to the church by the Spirit, and their effect upon the heart.

The great God of heaven and earth was pleased to make known the mystery of his will, according to the good pleasure which he purposed in himself, to the writer of the epistle before us (see Eph. i. 9); and he felt a great delight in divulging those secrets to the spiritual church. He tells the saints at Ephesus, that God our Father "predestinated them unto the October, 1840.]

to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will;" and then he informed them how it rejoiced his heart when he heard of the infinite mercy of the Lord, in that he had blessed their poor souls with his great salvation and then he goes on to relate to them, how his heart was pregnant with ardent desires for their spiritual welfare, and how he brought their case before the mercy-seat. The purport of his prayer for this church you will find in the first chapter of this epistle.

It is a truth, that though the apostle delighted much to speak of the precious doctrines of the everlasting gospel, yet he spake freely of the work of God the Holy Ghost upon the hearts of the redeemed of the Lord; so then we come to this conclusion, he was indeed an experimental preacher. The words at the head of this paper are a demonstrative proof of this, as well as are all his other writings.

In looking to the Lord the Spirit for divine wisdom and understanding from above, I purpose, first, to enquire what inference may be fairly drawn from the apostle's reminding the church that they were strangers

D D

It

and foreigners, previous to salvation's blessings reaching their hearts. was an humbling lesson that literal Israel was taught, when said God to them, Thou shalt remember all the way the Lord thy God hath led thee." Yea, he often remonstrated with them relative to what they were when in Egypt, and how he had advanced them. Likewise the prophet Isaiah was commissioned by the Lord to remind the church of their lapsed condition, in order that they might admire the great love of Jehovah in raising them up from the same (Isa. 1. 1). And this appears to be the drift of the apostle," For (said he) remember that ye being in time passed gentiles in the flesh, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus, ye who were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ," Eph. ii. 12, 13.

Secondly. But I proceed to shew how these foreigners are made willing to forsake the world, which is their native country, and take up their abode with the citizens of Zion. You know, beloved, that a literal foreigner has no current knowledge of the manners and customs of the land in which we dwell, whilst he remains in his own native country: and thus it is with the elect sinner, 'he has no proper knowledge of the 'manner and way the Lord takes in bringing his people to a sense of their lost condition, whilst he lives at a remote distance from God. Again, foreigners are sometimes necessitated to leave their native land, in consequence of their having violated the laws of the land: this always the case of the elect sinner who is brought to the fold of Christ; he feels himself a violator of the righteous law of God, he knows that his just desert is hell, he finds himself in a world of sin, -"and

Gladly he leaves the world behind,
For there no comfort he can find.

Again, literal foreigners are sometimes

so embarrassed in their circumstances

that they see nothing but extreme poverty before them, and this is an inducement for them to seek for sustenance in another country: this also is a striking representation of a sinner who is awakened from the sleep of spiritual death by the Spirit of the living God; such souls feel extremely poor, they see that they have contracted an immense debt and are quite insolvent (Luke vii. 41), and when Moses appears in view demanding a full payment, it brings them to their wits end, and they greatly fear they shall be shut up in the prison of endless woe for the injuries done to infinite justice: the feelings of such are well described in the character of the prodigal son, it is said, "And when he came to himself," mark, that when he came to himself, which fairly infers that he had been in a benumbed and stupid condition; "he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father:" and thus is it with those spiritual foreigners cited above,

From self and sin they gladly flee To take their refuge Lord in thee. Again, a foreigner has not a proper knowledge of our language, this is a lesson that he has to learn, and sometimes it proves a painful task; but it may be observed that a foreigner soon becomes familiar with a small part of our language when he comes into our country, so much so that he can speak some words very correctly: "and thus it is with the children of the Most High, they cannot understand the speech of those called' by grace, while they remain strangers to the work of God upon their own souls; but, like the foreigner of whom I have just made mention, he soon becomes acquainted, in part, with the language of Canaan, for there is a part of that

ven,

spiritual alphabet which they cannot articulate without stammering (Isa. xxxii. 4) for the life of them: they can say "I have sinned against hea and in thy sight, and am not worthy to be called thy son," Luke xv. 18; and We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnes ses are as filthy rags," Isa. lxiv. 6; and "Have mercy upon me a misera, ble sinner," Luke xviii. 13: these are some of the expressions of those who emigrate from the land of spiritual darkness into newness of life, and I must say that they soon speak this language with the greatest clearness, but if they attempt to say I know in whom I have believed," or, " My beloved is mine and I am his," they appear almost like those who have an impediment in their speech; but, and in all probability my reader may have witnessed the same, they are very anxious to learn this lesson, and were you to see such in private, as I have, you would behold them upon their knees, sometimes pleading in sincerity with their heavenly Guide for this unspeakable gift; and all praise to Zion's King, as their Teacher is divine and he has promised to make " the lame man to leap as an hart and the tongue of the dumb to sing for joy," Isa. xxxv. 6, so he fulfils this his pre cious promise in his own appointed time: yes, beloved brethren, it is a substantial truth, that

The soul that does confess his sin,
From what he really feels within;
The Lord in love will on him shine,
And bless his soul in his own time.

When Jesus says I've loved thee,
His bands then break, his fetters flee;
His tongue is loos'd to sing and tell,
That Jesus hath done all things well.

Thirdly, I come now, in the last place, to notice the city and citizens as recorded in the scripture before us, and shew how cordially they receive those poor spiritual foreigners. If I am asked who is the founder of this city, we have the most authentic ac

count in the pages of eternal truth; there it is legibly written, that "he who built all things is God." We err not when we affirm that this is a most spacious building, a very magnificent palace; and if you ask what makes it have such a stately appearance, it is, that the name of the city is called " The Lord is there,” Ezek. xlviii. 35: as for its foundation, thousands and tens of thousands have testified that there is not its equal in all the world, for proof whereof read 1 Cor. iii. 11. The inhabitants of this. city are likewise diverse from all other people in their language (Mark xvi. 17), in their food (John vi. 56), and in their clothing (Isa. lxi. 10). Moreover, these citizens have greatly rejoiced at times under the consideration of this, that the walls and gates of this city are impregnable; for, said they of ancient times when speaking of the safety of all those that are by the Lord brought into this city, thou (said the founder to them) shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise (Isa. lx. 18). Another thing I make no reserve in declaring, and the reason is obvious, because I know it to be a most decisive truth, that these citizens are very particular who they receive into their communion, for they have their instructions from their illustrious Lord and Master of this city, who they are to receive into their enclosure: "Open ye the gates (says their spiritual guide to them), that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth that are taught the truth from the mouth of the Most High-that embrace the truth in the love of itmay enter in,” Isa. xxvi. 2. Thus I have proved that those spiritual fo reigners are called a righteous nation, notwithstanding all they feel within to the contrary; they are lovers of the pure truth, and such and only such as these are admitted into this royal city. That numbers do profess to belong to this city we readily ad mit, but the citizens are taught to receive none but the poor in spirit, as