It is the moral spirit that pervades the inhabitants of that peaceful world; it is the moral element in which they live; it is the moral atmosphere by which they are surrounded; it is the moral air they breathe; and though every virtue which can adorn and grace an intelligent spirit is existing within them, yet love is the brightest and the strongest of them all. It is that which most of all assimilates them to the likeness of their heavenly Father; it is that which is continually prompting them to acts of kindness towards each other, and of benevolence to the universe at large; it is that which unites them in one holy and happy fellowship, and which secures the continuance of that perfect harmony which has hitherto subsisted amongst them. But for this "bond of perfectness," their perfect harmony would be broken, and their happiness destroyed. If, then, we would be qualified for a fellowship so pure, so peaceful, and so harmonious as is the fellowship above, love must be the bond which unites us to it. Oh! in proportion as love to God and holy beings becomes the ruling and habitual feeling of the heart, shall we be

qualified to mingle with that holy company.

Then

"Happy the heart where graces reign,

66

Where love inspires the breast;

Love is the brightest of the train,
And strengthens all the rest.

Knowledge, alas ! is all in vain,
And all in vain our fear;

Our stubborn sins will fight and reign,
If love be absent there.

"This is the grace that lives and sings
When faith and hope shall cease;
'Tis this shall strike our joyful strings
In the sweet realms of bliss.

"Before we quite forsake our clay,
Or leave this dark abode,
The wings of love bear us away
To see our smiling God."

"Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which

When I was a

is in part shall be done away. child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. AND NOW ABIDETH FAITH, HOPE, CHARITY, THESE THREE; BUT THE GREATEST OF THESE IS CHARITY."

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.