THE

GLORY OF THE RIGHTEOUS IN

HEAVEN.

MATTHEW xiii, 43.

Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

ALL men may be divided into two classes, the righteous and the unrighteous. The unrighteous are those who have never been melted into due contrition for their sins, who are strangers to the sanctifying influence of the gospel of Christ, who have never been created again in Him unto good works. Miserable men! if they continue impenitent they must perish.-The righteous again, are those who are made free from sin, and have become servants of

God: who are quickened together with 'Christ,' and have their fruit unto holi'ness. Precious in the sight of the Lord,' they are blessed in their going out and coming in, through life, in death, and for ever. They only are the excellent' and the happy here; and yet all that they are here, is nothing when compared with their glory hereafter. Then shall they shine 'forth as the sun in the kingdom of their 'Father.'

WE who profess to be Christians must, if we really be what we profess ourselves to be, feel it pleasant, delightful, now to contemplate that heaven of perfection and happiness which lies before us. We pretend not indeed, fully to describe, or even to conceive it; but this we know in general, that it will consist in the maturity of our nature, in its intellectual, moral, and social capacities. For when minds are sufficiently enlarged and enlightened, invested with perfect purity, and united together by the delightful ties of friendship and love, they -have attained the consummation of felicity. conclude, then, with the fullest certainty, that the vast enlargement of in

We may

tellect which they shall have received, the perfection in holiness to which they shall have arrived, and the divine society to which they shall be joined, will be the chief ingredients of that bliss which is represented as the portion of the righteous, when they shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.'-Let us now meditate on these ingredients of our future happiness ;—and may the Lord bless our meditations, by making them the means of fitting, more and more, our temper and character for the enjoyment of this happiness!

FIRST, let us consider what will be the vast enlargement of our intellectual powers. -From the right exercise of our intellectual powers, arises one of the chief sources of our happiness. The light of the sun is not so pleasant to the eye, as the light of knowledge to the mind. The gratifications of sense yield but a delusive charm compared with the intellectual joys of which we are susceptible. But these intellectual joys, however refined, are at present much interrupted. However wide the extent of human knowledge; however deep the re

searches of human wisdom; still it must be confessed, that in this life our faculties are exceedingly limited, and our views exceedingly confined. Light to us is everywhere mixed with darkness. Wherever we cast our eyes, or turn our thoughts, we are reminded of our ignorance; are liable to perpetual mistakes ; and often fall into them even in our wisest pursuits. But when the day of immortality dawns, all this shall vanish: the incumbrances of flesh and blood shall no longer grieve us, nor the thick shades of ignorance ever more surround us. The happy spirit emancipated, and having left the spoils of mortality behind it, shall be able to comprehend, fully and at once, all the truths and objects which now either come but very partially within, or entirely escape its observation. Here we are only children, but in heaven we shall arrive at the manhood of our being: and therefore we may justly infer, that the strength and vigour of our intellectual powers then, will surpass, at least, as much what they are now, as the reason and judgment of a man exceed those of a child. Nay, it is probable that various and unknown faculties inherent in the

human mind, may there be unfolded and gratified, which here have never been evolved; because, perhaps, in this sublunary world there is no occasion for their exercise. As those faculties which, in a state of infancy, lie dormant, and scarcely begin to make their appearance, at a more advanced period strikingly display themselves, put forth all their energies and press on the sphere of angels ;-so likewise upon our removal from this to the heavenly scene, it is by no means unreasonable to suppose, that powers formerly latent will then be displayed and exerted on their proper objects, adding to mind a lustre so transcendent as to eclipse all that has preceded. But however this may be, certain we are, that the faculties with which we are at present blessed, and which are essential to our nature, shall be to a wonderful degree invigorated and improved. They shall be capable of taking in far more copious views, and abundantly larger emanations of God's excellence, nay, of tracing the hidden springs of his mysterious operations.

The volumes of nature, of providence, and of redemption shall be revealed: all the records both of time and eternity shall be