sorrow, than to endure this dismal serenity,-than to say in the morning," would to God it were evening; and in the evening, would to God it were morning." Such is what we shall not find in heaven. But what is it that is there? What vast fund of unexampled enjoyments, what crowd of fresh delights? What is there to interest our affections and to fill our thoughts?“ Even He that filleth all things;" the only Being that can satisfy our immortal spirit; "whom to know is life eternal," for "this is life eternal, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." All the blessings and delights of heaven are described as flowing from him. "In thy presence is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore." To see

his face; to rejoice in the light of his countenance; to awake and behold his glory,-are the strongest and loveliest ideas of happiness that even the language of inspiration, and "lips touched with fire," have been able to convey. "I beseech thee," said the prophet of old, "shew me thy glory." "If thy presence go not up with me, carry me not up out of this wilderness. I will stay here in the desert with thee for what is the land flowing with milk and honey without thee?" But the everlasting employment of the blessed spirits is praise, and adorations, and hallelujahs—they are for ever before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple, and they rest not day and night, saying," Holy! holy! holy!"

Now it may be well to ask ourselves soberly the question-how much of our present happiness consists in this which we find is to be the happiness of heaven to all eternity? Really, does it suit our ideas of happiness? Is it the happiness that we have been enjoying for our past life? As God liveth! have we been most happy when he was nearest to us, or farthest from us? Have we most enjoyed ourselves when he was most in our thoughts, or least in our thoughts? Really, are our greatest pleasures those with which God has least to do?-and does it appear strange to us that there

should be such a luxury in knowing God? Perhaps there are some to whom it conveys a very dead and very cheerless idea. To know God! to be engaged in celebrating his praises to all eternity! How long could we endure such a labour upon earth? Alas! alas! how heavy and monotonous would it appear! and what a release would it be to our spirits to launch again from the austerity of his society into the gay varieties of life! Then what becomes of your hopes of Heaven? Must it not miserably disappoint you? What would become of you, a forlorn and bewildered stranger, among the saints that rest not day and night, saying, Holy! holy! holy! What would you do ?-how would you dispose of yourself after the first glow of adoration had subsided, and the first swell of the anthem had died away upon your ears? Their joys would be lost to you for it is no stupid and senseless worship in which they are engaged; no idle clamour, or servile adulation. But they sing with the Spirit, and they sing with the understanding: they know wherefore they praise him; it is because they are becoming more and more acquainted with him who only is inexhaustible. Every other subject of thought would be drained by eternity; but him, boundless and unfathomable, they learn, and study, and adore for ever and ever!

It is no heartless inquiry into abstract science; no cold and merely intellectual disquisition; but the_pure and glorious delight of a celestial spirit observing Infinite Wisdom carrying into effect the designs of Infinite Benevolence; the thrill of admiration that arises from being allowed to contemplate the source from which love and goodness are for ever issuing in all directions.

They see and pursue him in the works of nature, and are permitted to discover his glory in the heavens, and his handy-work in the firmament. They are finding out, by his permission, secret after secret in the vast scheme of the universe; and are taught how he guides the sun in his course, and ordains her journey for the moon; for what purpose he made the stars, and how he

upholds them aloft, and makes them his servants; and thousands of mysteries, of which we never dream, are they discovering in his works; and at every discovery they fall down and cry-" Holy! holy! holy !”

But more especially do they study him in his work of Grace and Redemption; (" for these are things which angels desire to look into ;") they remember that he forsook his throne and left his glory to look for a guilty and outcast world, that had wilfully plunged into darkness; they remember that he took upon him our vile and loathsome nature, bearing our sins and carrying our infirmities; they remember that "he was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; that he was wounded for our sins, and bruised for our iniquities," and tasted the bitterness of death for our sakes they see him afterwards ascending up on high, and leading captivity captive, and bestowing gifts on man; and behold him seated at the right hand of the Father, and making intercession for the transgressors; and all this for beings who had deserted his pleasant pastures-who had flung away his rod and his staff, and leaned upon broken reeds; and (what is most astonishing,) had actually lost their taste and relish for immortal things; and yet talk of hoping to go to heaven, without waiting to inquire what heaven is, or what it means. This work of mercy do the blessed inhabitants of heaven study for ever and ever: for it is inexhaustible as the works of creation itself. New beauties and fresh glories are discovered at every view. Effects, which perhaps never occurred to the human imagination, may be developed from time to time; and at every new discovery of love the whole heavenly host brighten with immortal gratitude, and lay down their golden crowns before the throne, saying; "Holy! holy! holy !"

But this devotion to the one great source of happiness only serves to bind them to each other in ties that are delightful and everlasting: stronger than all the confederacies of sin; stronger than the affections of parent and

child, brother and sister, husband and wife, are the affections of these immortal spirits to each other.

It is true they all turn their faces towards the throne; but their love and their regards all meet in him who sitteth upon it. Jealousy and envy, malice and revenge, are far away, chained down in the lake that burns for ever. Truth, clear truth, that needs no concealment, shews them each other's hearts; and there they find Eternal Love written in living characters by the finger of God.

Delightful beyond all the pleasures of the earth is the sweet counsel that these blessed beings take with each other, and the converse in which they indulge it always binds them closer than before; for the subject is still-the one good God; the good and great Redeemer, who brought them together and still holds them in eternal union. Is this the heaven you hoped for? Do you find yourself capable of that happiness in which it consists ?

19*

SERMON IX.

LUKE, ix. 23.

And he said to them all: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

THESE are fearful words! It is true, they contain an invitation it is true, they are written by the mildest, the gentlest, and the most gracious being that ever mov. ed upon the earth; who loved us more than we have ever loved each other, or ourselves; and they invite us to follow him, who leads the way to all that is good, and pure, and holy, and delightful but they speak of selfdenial, and suffering, and mortification. There is not a single human passion to which they condescend to appeal ;-not one of our vices, our frailties, our prejudices, or our infirmities, not one even of the kind and generous affections of our nature, which they deign to conciliate or solicit for their support; for in the same breath it is declared-Whosoever loveth father, or mother, or sister, or wife, or his own life, more than me or the gospel, is not worthy of me."

These are fearful words: they need only be uttered in order to prove how we disobey them. If, instead of reading them in this place and on this day, when our minds have attained something of a serious and solemn cast from the service in which we have just been engaged, we were to meet them in the course of our daily occupation; if they were to cross us in the midst of active life, while we were pursuing some of the dearest