World to come. One might have supposed, beforehand, that the Bible would have been full of glowing pictures of Heaven: that there would have been long accounts of the joy of the Saints, promises without number of what is reserved for those who love GOD. But no. A thick veil is drawn over it all. It seems solemnly determined by our Master that His Church shall walk by Faith, not by sight. St. Paul was caught up to the third Heaven, caught up into Paradise; but there he heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful (or possible) for a man to utter. Those who die, and enter into rest, come not back again. Doubtless, they sometimes wish it b. Doubtless, those who taste the joys of Heaven, or experience the miseries of Hell, burn to come back and warn their friends of the folly, the madness, of the way in which so many are passing their lives: but it is a vain wish. We shall go to them, but they can never return to us. Between us and them a great and an impassable gulph is fixed. Thus GOD has not seen fit to reveal, and men cannot discover for themselves, what there is beyond the grave. Nay, GOD makes a severe trial of our Faith. He hides His countenance behind a cloud.

a 2 Cor. xii. 4.

b St. Luke xvi. 27, 30.

He

tells us, instead, much about the sufferings and trials which await us in this life. The way is strait, and the gate narrow, by which we are to enter into Life Eternal. There is a great deal said about a cross to be borne daily: much tribulation; tears and sighing; hunger and thirst; the blessedness of giving away, and so making oneself poor; of forgiveness of injuries, and so enduring mortification, yea, scorn, it may be; the need of purity of heart, which may require the plucking out of an eye; and of selfdenial, which may require that the hand or the foot should be cut off and cast away. These are not attractive things in the World's account. These are not the things by which the World induces us to love and serve it. The World keeps pain in the back-ground, and talks of pleasure. CHRIST, our LORD and King, keeps pleasure in the back-ground, and talks of pain. And it is not hard to guess the reason why. It is because the World has so little pleasure to offer as a bribe, that it had need to talk much about it: whereas the LORD of Glory has so huge an amount of blessedness in store for those who love Him, that if He were to reveal the greatness thereof, Faith would be swallowed up in present certainty, and Hope in present en

joyment. And thus it is that GOD makes clouds and darkness the habitation of His seat. Thus it happens that verily He is a GOD who hideth Himself!

And yet, the solemn silence of Holy Scripture concerning Heaven is now and then all but broken. The lips are sometimes opened, as it were, to speak; and though closed again immediately, enough has escaped to fill the soul with wonder, and to make the spirit attentive. Here and there, I say, a ray of glory steals athwart the gloom. Here and there a few bright words flash like meteors through the dark. Here and there something is said which makes the heart thrill, and the pulse beat..... I reckon,' (says the Apostle,) that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.' He does not describe

Heaven, you see. He does not enter into any details. But he tells us that something wonderful might be told. There is, at least, no comparison between Earth and Heaven. Something of the same kind is found in another place: Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we

:

at.

look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.' There is not much said here, but a great deal is hinted Present affliction is set against future glory, (just as, in the text, 'the sufferings of this present time' are contrasted with the glory which shall be revealed in us'). The affliction is declared to be a light thing, (our light affliction;) but the glory is spoken of as 'a weight of glory,' and a far more exceeding' weight. Again, the one is but for a moment;' whereas the other is eternal lasts on, and on, and on,-and still is nothing spent.

:

In another place, we read, 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. A wondrous declaration, truly; and if true of this present life, in how much loftier a sense true of the life to come! Not only did mortal eye never gaze upon such scenes of joy; not only did human ear never drink in such sounds of rapture; but the very heart of man, in its most curious mood, the mind of man when it bends d 1 Cor. ii. 9.

c 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18.

all its powers to pry into the deep things of GOD, the heart and mind have never so much as suspected what is reserved for the Saints in Heaven!... O depth of wonder! So then, we may think as we will, and what we will; and we shall still be far, far behind! To see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph: to hear the voice of Adam and of Abel; of Noah, of Daniel, and of Job: to behold Enoch and Elijah, (the two mortal men who never tasted death,)—Moses and Joshua, and the long line of prophets, still filling themselves, yet never filled with the contemplation of the mystery of the Incarnation, which they had prophesied of so long, yet understood so little to look upon St. John, and St. James, and St. Peter: to witness Paul and Barnabas rejoicing in the companionship of the Saints who had been nursed in the Churches of their planting,-Rome, Corinth, Galatia; or again, the company of Holy women, from first to last; the blessed Virgin, and all the other female Saints who have ever been-to see all this will be much, to be sure; yet will it be as nothing compared to what shall be!

:

So again, (and oh, the unspeakably higher privilege!)-so again, the beholding of the face