glory, when yet the citadel of David crowned its top. But then already was it to the believing Jew a figure of the Heavenly Kingdom of God and His Anointed; it was to him rather a heavenly symbol, than a heavenly manifestation. To him, the true royal citadel lay on high. Later, this mountain of God became, in the plainest manner, symbolical; hence it is said of it, that in the last days the mountain of the Lord's house shall be higher than all hills. In the times of the Apostles, however, when the earthly Jerusalem continued in impenitency, and its inhabitants became the murderers of Christ, and after He had ascended to Heaven to enter upon his eternal throne, then the thoughts of Christians, being strongly directed towards the heavenly Zion, withdrew themselves entirely from the typical representation of it in the earthly Zion, and then the earthly Jerusalem lost its sacredness in their minds, and was rather regarded as part of the great profane Babel of earth.

"Shall we still look upon it as shadowing forth and pointing out to us the Heavenly Zion? Is not this a mere play of mystic Christians? Does not this remind us of the time of Zion's watchmen? Yes, it is a play; but a higher truth is to be sought in this constant use which the children of God made of this heavenly Zion. It reminds us certainly of the time when men still thought of the eternal city of God as a certain place of blessedness, and had a desire to depart from earth to enter that bright and beautiful city, the heavenly Jerusalem, where the Patriarchs and Apostles dwell, and where Christ's throne stands. This feeling of confident expectation which at that time

reigned in the hearts of men was a true feeling; their hopes were scriptural and reasonable. This heavenly city, where Christ's throne is, is called Zion, because there all the expectations which the Old Testament saints connected with the earthly Zion, will be fulfilled, and because also there every thing which the Jews associated with the shadowy picture of the earthly Zion, is forever perfected in a glorious actualization. Thus, there reigns the true son of David, the peaceful prince, (Solomon) on an everlasting throne. From thence God's gracious Kingdom, in all directions, is supplied, preserved, sanctified, and built up by blessings and gifts. For this reason that place is called, in the Epistle to the Galatians, Jerusalem which is above and free, the mother of all His believing children, the true and eternal metropolis of Christendom. There Jesus assembles His own around Him - the spirits of the just made perfect. It is the Fatherland of all His holy citizens. From thence also He will come, accompanied with holy angels, in the revelation of His judicial and kingly glory to judge the quick and the dead. That is, therefore, truly the royal City and Palace, constructed in the most perfect form, and of the rarest materials which the upper world of light can furnish. This Zion-like nature of the highest Heaven is referred to in the Epistle to the Hebrews, when he says to Christians: 'Ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and

to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.""

Thus much we have thought it necessary to offer by way of gentle correction and reproof to the rationalistic and spiritualistic skepticism of the age, in reference to the Heavenly Place. It belongs more directly to our present purpose to speak of this place in its relations to the happiness of the saints. To this we devote the following Chapter. The seeming digression which the present Chapter has occasioned, will be readily pardoned, upon the ground that a foundation is of equal importance with the building itself; or rather, the falling away of the false must ever precede the appearance of the true.

THE BETTER LAND.

I hear thee speak of the better Land,
Thou call'st its children a happy band.
Mother, oh! where is that radiant shore?
Shall we not seek it and weep no more?
Is it where the flower of the orange blows,
And the fire-flies glance through the myrtle boughs?
-Not there, not there, my child!

Is it where the feathery palm-trees rise,

And the date grows ripe under sunny skies?
Or midst the green islands of glittering seas,
Where fragrant forests perfume the breeze,
And strange, bright birds, on their starry wings,
Bear the rich hues of all glorious things?
-Not there, not there, my child!

Is it far away, in some region old,

Where the rivers wander o'er sands of gold?

Where the burning rays of the ruby shine,
And the diamond lights up the secret mine,
And the pearl gleams forth from the coral strand—
Is it there, sweet Mother, that better Land?
-Not there, not there, my child!

Eye hath not seen it, my gentle boy!
Ear hath not heard its deep songs of joy;
Dreams cannot picture a world so fair-
Sorrow and death do not enter there;
Time doth not breathe on its fadeless bloom,
Far beyond the clouds, and beyond the tomb,
-It is there, it is there, my child!

MRS. HEMANS.

J

CHAPTER VIII.

The Beavenly Place

IN ITS RELATION TO THE BLISS OF THE SAINTS.

Come with us, and behold far higher sight
Than e'er thy heart desired, or hope conceived.
See, yonder is the glorious hill of God,
'Bove angel's gaze in brightness rising high,
Come, join our wing, and we will guide the flight,
To mysteries of everlasting bliss,

The tree, and fount of bliss, the eternal throne,
And presence-chamber of the King of Kings.

POLLOCK.

TAKING now the general conclusion which we reached in the preceding Chapter-that the future abode of the saints is a local and material world—as our premises, we are prepared to extend our inquiry into greater detail. In doing so, we shall be careful to proceed in the sure and steady light of divine revelation. While we shall seek to avoid the error of those who go beyond what is written, we shall also keep in mind the error of those who stay behind what is written. The first is the error of the fanciful, the second of the idle. Both are equally evils, and both are to be avoided with equal care.