concerns.

or civil, or sacred, oblige him to take his part with them in the management of these But in heaven he will be eternally relieved from all anxieties, or occupa tions of this kind; then his thoughts will be all spiritual, and his only employment will be praise. There the blessed inhabitants will have no wants to be supplied, being no longer subject to hunger, or thirst, or disease; there they will neither" marry nor be given in marriage, but be as the angels;" their only exercise will be the service of Jehovah, and their supreme felicity will consist in his enjoyment. They are therefore represented "as standing before the throne, and serving God day and night in his temple;" they are for ever lost in the admiration of the INFINITE THREE, in contemplating their perfections as displayed in the works of creation and redemption; they will especially adore that sovereignty, and wisdom, and love which brought the greatest good out of the greatest evil, and over-ruled so exactly every event for the glory of the uncreated Majesty, and the happiness of the "election of grace. After this I beheld," sings the NewTestament prophet, " and a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb."

But it is not merely the prospect of changing his residence, or society, or employment which transports the believer in the approach of his dissolution, and renders him "desirous to depart." He is actuated by higher, and more disinterested motives; "he desires to depart, that he may be with Christ,

HIS BELOVED AND FRIEND.

1. In heaven all the faithful will be brought into the most intimate, and endearing union with our Lord Jesus Christ. They are even in the present life really and indissolvably joined to the Saviour. They are united to him as the branches are united to the vine, or as the members of the human body are united to the head. They are actually "espoused to this one Husband, and rendered one spirit with him." But hereaf ter this relation will be inconceivably improved and perfected. The marriage union, which commenced in their conversion to the living God, will then be consummated, and the spiritual bride admitted to the full enjoyment of Jesus her Husband. That extatic anthem will then resound through every street of the heavenly city; " let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." For this more intimate and perfect union of his members to himself, our enthroned Advocate earnestly intercedes at the right hand of the Majesty on high. "I pray for them, that they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I

in thee, that they also may be one in us; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one."

2. In heaven they will enjoy the unclouded vision, and uninterrupted fruition of our Lord Jesus Christ. Believers in the present world are required "to walk" chiefly "by faith; they see as through a glass darkly, and their nearest approaches to Jesus whom their souls love, are comparatively distant. Through ordinances, as through a dark medium, a few solitary rays beam forth, to cheer their drooping hearts, and guide their feet in the ways of righteousness. Sometimes, while they are employed in reading the promises, or contemplating the divine perfections, as they shine in the face of Jesus Christ; sometimes while they hear the messages of salvation from the ministers of the cross, or as they receive, under visible symbols, the body and blood of their dying Lord, they enjoy lively pledges of his love, and are emboldened to utter the language of assurance," My Lord, and my God.My beloved is mine, and I am his: I know that my Redeemer liveth, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold him:" But in heaven every veil will be removed, and in the effulgence of his own light they shall "see their Saviour face to face." There, with a familiarity ten thousand times greater than even the inspired evangelist had attained upon earth, "their eyes will see, their ears will hear, their hands will

handle of the word of life," and all their wants shall be supplied from the overflowings of his love.-Yes, that very Jesus of whom they had so often read in the scriptures, of whom they had so often heard in the sanctuary, of whom it had been their greatest delight to discourse, and whom they had so ardently desired to behold; that very Jesus who "for their sakes" lay obscure in "the manger" of Bethlehem, who was" despised and rejected" by the world, who endured sorrows unremitting, sufferings the most exquisite, and a death the most ignominious and painful; that very Jesus will then be exhibited without one intervening cloud, for ever and ever. None of "the spirits of the just made perfect" will ever have reason to expostulate with Moses -"Lord, shew me thy glory, for Jehovah will be all, and in all: Their sun shall no more go down, neither shall their moon withdraw itself, but the Lord shall be unto them an everlasting light, and their God their glory." None in the streets of the New Jerusalem will be found inquiring with the disconsolate spouse; "saw ye him whom my soul loveth?" or uttering the plaintive exclamation of Job; "O that I knew where I might find him: I would go even to his seat for every eye shall see him, and all shall know, even as also they are known."

3. In heaven all their fellowship with the Father will be in the face, and through the

mediation of Jesus Christ. From the moment of our apostacy in the first Adam, our representative in the covenant of works, there could be no comfortable approach to an absolute God: He could become propitious to man, and afford the pledges of his good will only through the interposition of a Mediator. "God was in Christ;" when immediate access to the uncreated Majesty was rendered impossible by the disobedience of the first Adam, "a new and a living way was opened up" by the mediation of the second; "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing unto them their trespasses."-"Through him," through the Eternal Son, appearing in the character of a Mediator, "we, both" Jews and Gentiles, "have an access by one Spirit unto the Father." All our approaches to Jehovah are exclusively through the sacrifice, and mediation of "the Word made flesh." As all our communion with the Father in grace, all our communion with him in glory must be through the mediation of Jesus Christ. This is a consideration to which I wish your attention particularly directed. It is the opinion of some, that when all the "election of grace" are brought in, and the present dispensation of mercy shall terminate, that our dependance on the Son as Mediator must then cease, and our fellowship with the Father be immediate.-This is certainly a very great mistake, and tends to derange the whole economy of redemption. What