itself as the only standard of right and excellence, and therefore despises or hates every deviation from itself. Let the pride be removed, and the distinction would become a pleasing variety, instead of a source of hatred.

Alas, alas! what petty differences, engendered by pride, and nursed by the worst passions of the human breast, here separate, with unchristian hatred, those who are brethren, the children of the same God, the members of the same church, taught by the same book, partakers of the same hope, redeemed by the same Saviour, influenced by the same Spirit, travelling along the same road towards the same blessed country! Oh, Religion! our best, our dearest, holiest guide! is thy sacred name to be prostituted; is thy divine aim to be perverted, to sanction discord, to justify hatred, and to consecrate bigotry? No: Religion acknowledges nothing as her own work, but union and peace. In heaven, her throne, no odious denominations will parcel out the regenerated church, no frivolous distinctions be suffered to break the unity of the members of Christ; but people of every nation, and kindred, and tribe and tongue, will unite in one worship, will be animated with one spirit, will be actuated by one principleand that the principle of pure and universal love.

The society of that blessed place is composed of "angels" and "saints;"—of those, that is, who have never sinned against God; and those who having sinned, have been redeemed by the Cross of Christ, and have "washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb;"-of those who were created, and have continued; in the highest order of bright and glorious spirits; and those who once were "dead in trespasses and sins," who walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" but who have been "quickened together with Christ, and raised up together with him, and made to sit together," with angels, and with

the Lord of angels, "in heavenly places." Yet the angels scorn not such society; they reproach not the children of men with their fall: they refuse not to receive them into their company. On the contrary, they "rejoice" when any "sinner repenteth;" they convey the departed Lazarus into Abraham's bosom; they become "ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation;' they worship with them in the same adorations; they answer in responsive chorus to their praises. What a model for the conduct and worship of the saints below!

The employment of that innumerable company is represented as that of praise "to God and to the Lamb," who redeemed them and bought them with his blood. In other parts of the sacred writings, where the employments of heaven are described, worship and praise are represented as the chief occupation. We are not, however, to infer from this, that the exclusive employment is religious adoration; for we know that the angels, beings of a still higher order and more spiritual nature, are frequently engaged in active commissions to execute the will of God. What are the precise occupations of the "spirits of the just made perfect," we indeed know not; nor could we, perhaps, comprehend them. It is sufficient for us to rest assured that they are occupied in that work for which they are best qualified. It is sufficient for us to know that, whatever the employments are which their Creator and Redeemer assigns to them, they are such as must tend to produce the greatest happiness, and to excite new and continual praises to God; for, in every description which is given us of the heavenly world, it is the voice of incessant praise and thanksgiving we hear; it is the overflowing of thankfulness for a state of exquisite enjoyment; it is the universal burst of gratitude, extending from one boundary of heaven to the other. The voice of prayer itself is lost in the exultations of praise; the language of complaint

is unknown, the lamentations of sorrow, and the sighs of grief are never heard.

The happiness of that innumerable company is described in the most glowing colours:-"They shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more. The sun shall not light on them" (to scorch them,) "nor any heat" (molest them.) "The Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."-Here we see every source of evil, and even of inconvenience, removed, and every good bestowed, by the unrestrained bounty of Heaven.Descriptions of this kind must be figurative; but the figures are evidently intended to convey to us the highest possible conception of unqualified good, and the total absence of all evil.

The

The remaining part of the description both manifests the nature and the source of the happiness which they enjoy. They are "before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them." happiness which they enjoy is, then, a refined and holy happiness. It is not the happiness of a Mahometan paradise, but such as is suited to spiritual beings of the highest order and most exalted taste. It is a happiness founded upon religion and devotion, upon near and intimate access to the Lord of life and glory. And let

not this happiness be judged of by those who, far from having enjoyed pleasure arising from such a source, have, on the contrary, experienced from it only pain and restraint. They know not what religion is, nor are capable of appreciating its nature and excellence. To others, it will be sufficient to state, that religion is but another word for happiness. I do not mean this merely in the sense in which, without guarding them, the words may be understood-viz. that the effect produced by religion is happiness. I use the words literally; and design to state that religion itself the act and exercise of it, is the purest and highest happiness.-It

may here be necessary to rectify the general definition of religion. Religion is not merely the worship of God, or the exercise of obedience: it is the union of the soul with God; the conformity of the will with his will; the enjoyment of communion with him; and the transformation of every faculty of the soul to his image and likeness. Religion, here, is but the faint outline of this more sublime image of its nature; the outward expression of what it ought to be, and of what it is above. Now happiness arises from a frame of mind harmonizing with the objects which surround us. When the soul, therefore, is moulded into the perfect frame of religion in its most exalted state; when every affection and every faculty are put into perfect tune, and all are in unison with the Divine Source of all good; there must be happiness, arising from such a constitution, the most pure and perfect which a creature can enjoy. It is the happiness of God himselfof God, the Source of all happiness. It is a state of mind in which that necessarily gives pleasure which gives Him pleasure; in which there is a participation of His feelings; in which the soul drinks at the Fountain-Head of all enjoyment, in which the bliss of the Almighty becomes the bliss of his creatures. Thus religion and happiness are convertible terms. They are, in fact, one and the same thing: and it is not more impossible that God should be unhappy, than that his devout servants, dwelling near his throne, and "serving him day and night in his temple," should taste of misery.

To what an exalted height of happiness and glory, my Christian brethren, is then that "innumerable company" advanced! With what a glorious society do they hold communion! In what noble employments are they engaged; of what refined enjoyments do they partake! Blessed spirits! your lot is fixed; your happiness is permanent and eternal. You will suffer pain or feel distress no more. Your minds are cleansed from every taint of sin; your breasts are the everlasting abode Vol. I.

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of purity and joy. All around you is peace. Every thing is concerted by Almighty Wisdom and Infinite Goodness, to banish the very elements of evil; to dispel the slightest shade of misery; to pour around you in luxuriant profusion—a profusion designating the infinitely varied power of the Giver-all the richest stores of good.-How unlike this is our present state! What a different abode is this world below! Here, fear and terror, danger and violence, pain and suffering, sin and remorse, misery and grief, poverty and labour, the curse and the frown of Justice, have fixed their abode. But, my brethren, though "these days be evil," give not way to despair. Let me now present to you this innumerable company under a different aspect. Let me point out to you what was their former, as well as what is their present, state. Once, these were "men of like passions with yourselves;"-"they have come out of great tribulation;"-they once sighed and groaned under sufferings and sorrows as deep and grievous as those by which any of you are afflicted.Oh! what an invaluable and sure source of consolation is it, to every pious Christian suffering under the weight of worldly calamities, to direct his contemplation to this glorious host above! Standing before the Throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and with palms in their hands, methinks they say to him"We were once as you are; we were assaulted by the same temptations: we were stricken by the same arrows; we drank deep of the same bitter cup; we combated with the same enemies; we felt all the sharpness and bitterness of the Christian warfare. Often were we ready to faint; often we cried to God in an agony of grief, on the point of being swallowed up in despair. We felt all the weakness of our faith, and trembled under the infirmities of our common nature. Faint not, therefore, in your course. Behold the "cloud of witnesses" surrounding you. With one voice they bid you "lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees." "Be strong, fear not, your God