length arrived at a demonstration. If, then, in the present world, where the subjects of our research are often so insignificant, where our knowledge is obtained with such labour, is limited by so much ignorance, and blended with so much error; if amidst such circumstances the pleasure of knowledge be so great,-what will it be in the heavenly state?

Let us consider what will be the OBJECTS of our knowledge.

If we may be allowed the expression, we shall know all things that are knowable, so far as an acquaintance with them will contribute to our felicity. We shall know every thing that is essential to the right performance of duty, or to the most perfect gratification of our intellect all that lies within our proper sphere or compass as creatures.

We shall perfectly comprehend all the laws which govern the material world. The discovery of these are now considered to be among the most dignified and gratifying employments of the human understanding. It was his discoveries in natural philosophy which gave to our great Newton his celebrity. What a high station in the records of fame is assigned to Linneus, La Place, Davy, and Watt, and to others, who have explored the secrets and explained the laws of nature! They are ranked among the illustrious members and most valuable benefactors of their species. They are looked up to with a kind of semi-idolatry, and their praises are continually chanted for their vast achievements, not only in adding to the stock of knowledge, but

in accumulating fresh honours upon human nature. What sublime and astonishing facts are included in the sciences of astronomy, optics, chemistry! how much of the power, wisdom, and goodness, of the divine Architect are displayed in the works of creation!-yet these things are now hidden from a great portion of the redeemed, who, by the disadvantages of their education, are shut out from these sources of knowledge. But they will be admitted to them in heaven. Creation will not be

destroyed at the judgment day, but only purified. The vast and splendid machine will not then be thrown aside, broken up, and consigned to oblivion. Nothing which the hand of the Creator hath framed shall be forgotten. The brilliant scenes which are now passing before our eyes, but on which many even regenerated minds look without understanding them, are not a mere pageant. Beautiful was the remark of the eminently pious Bishop Hall, who, on being told in his old age that his views of astronomy were not quite correct, replied, "Well! it may be so; but I am soon going to heaven, and as I shall take the stars in my way, I must leave the subject till then, when every mistake will be rectified." So completely will all the disadvantages of our earthly condition be removed in heaven, whether those disadvantages arise from the Christian being born in an age when knowledge is in its infancy, or amidst those privations of poverty which deny him access to the sources of information. In the hour of death, the pious but illiterate tenant of the cottage, on whose mind the orb of science never rose, though the sun of righteousness poured

upon it the light of a spiritual illumination, ascends above the disadvantages of education, makes a glorious transition from the shades of ignorance, in which he dwelt upon earth, into the cloudless transparency of the firmament on high. His natural faculties, compressed and enfeebled now by the circumstances of his birth, shall then expand to a comprehension, and attain to a vigour, probably not surpassed by the loftiest of the human race; and he; too, shall know in heaven, the works of the God of nature, as he knew below, and shall still better know above, the works of the God of grace.

Providence will form another mighty range of inquiry, and another source of delightful knowledge in heaven. By providence, we mean God's moral government of the universe-the course of the divine administration towards rational and moral creatures : that mighty scheme, which commenced its application before time was born, or the foundations of the earth were laid; which embraces the annals of other worlds besides ours; which includes the history of angels, men, and devils. Providence comprises the whole range of events, which have taken place from the formation of the first creature, to the last moment of time, with all the tendencies, reasons, connexions, and results, of things; the separate existence of each individual, with the continuation and influence of the whole, in one harmonious scheme. Providence is now full of mysteries. We are puzzled at almost every step. Innumerable are the events over which, after having in vain endeavoured to sound their depth with the line of our reason, we must exclaim, "O the depth!" But we shall know all; why sin was

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permitted, and how it entered, with all the attendant train of incomprehensible results which followed its introduction into the moral universe. It will then be made apparent to us, why so long a period elapsed between the first promise of a Saviour, and his incarnation, sufferings, and death: why, for so many ages, the world was left in ignorance, sin, and misery: why such errors were permitted to enter the church; and so soon, and so extensively, to corrupt the simplicity and deform the beauty of the Christian profession: why the Man of Sin was suffered to establish his seat in the temple of Christ; to exalt himself above all that is called God; to utter his blasphemy; to shed the blood of the saints; and so long to spread the clouds of superstition, and the shades of death, over Christendom: why the impostor of Mecca was allowed to arise, and for so many ages to render a large portion of the earth inaccessible to the rays of the Sun of Righteousness: why idolatry, with all its sanguinary deities, and all its bloody and obscene rites, was left so long to insult the heavens, to pollute the earth, and to curse mankind. What deep, unfathomable mysteries are these! How confounding to our reason, and how utterly beyond our research! What astonishment and delight, what inconceivable emotions, will be produced by the gradual unfolding of the mighty scheme, by the progressive discoveries of the connexions and issues of things, and the wondrous display of divine glory which will be made by the whole. How shall we be enraptured to find, that those events which now so confound us, were dark only by excess of wisdom, and that those facts which

so often distressed us upon earth were but the more sombre shades of the perfect picture! What manifestations of Deity will then be made, when God shall admit us to his cabinet, and lay open to us the arcana of his government!

And, doubtless, we shall not only see the harmony and wisdom of Providence, in its general aspect and its more comprehensive combinations and arrangements, but in its particular bearing on our own private and personal history. The most important and interesting chapter in the volume of universal history is, to us, that which contains the record of our life. What clouds and shadows still rest, and in the present state ever must rest, upon our obscure and humble annals. How often is Jehovah, in his dealings with us, a God that hideth himself! how often does he wrap himself in clouds, and pursue his path upon the waters, where we can neither see his goings nor trace his footsteps! How many of his dispensations are inexplicable! and of his judgments, how many are unfathomable by the short line of our reason! But whatever we know not now, we shall know hereafter: the crooked will be made straight, the cloud of darkness will be scattered, and all his conduct towards us placed in the broad daylight of eternity. We shall see the connexion which our individual history bears with the general scheme of providence; and perceive how, notwithstanding our insignificance, our existence was no less necessary to the perfection of the whole plan, than that of the great ones of the earth. We shall see how all the varying and numerous, and seemingly opposite, events of our history were combined