the "just made perfect" were said "to sit with Abram and Isaac and Jacob;" nay, more than all, "I heard a voice out of heaven, (writes the author of the apocalyptic vision,) saying, 'God will dwell with us, and we shall be His people: God Himself will be with us, and be our God." What is sickness the divinely-appointed means of conveying us hence to such an abode, and yet, when our summons cometh, we hold back and cry, "Not yet, spare us a little longer?"

It will be well for us not to pass too hastily over the Christian's conception of heaven. What does it matter that we know neither in what part of the Universe it is situated, nor with what bodies we shall be clothed? What are all such things compared with the one vital truth, that we shall be in the presence of our God, and behold His more immediate glory, and enter into a closer and holier communion with Him, than we can now conceive? Can we possibly wish more for

the "just made perfect" were said "to sit with Abram and Isaac and Jacob;" nay, more than all, "I heard a voice out of heaven, (writes the author of the apocalyptic vision,) saying, 'God will dwell with us, and we shall be His people: God Himself will be with us, and be our God.'' What! is sickness the divinely-appointed means of conveying us hence to such an abode, and yet, when our summons cometh, we hold back and cry, "Not yet, spare us a little longer?"

It will be well for us not to pass too hastily over the Christian's conception of heaven. What does it matter that we know neither in what part of the Universe it is situated, nor with what bodies we shall be clothed? What are all such things compared with the one vital truth, that we shall be in the presence of our God, and behold His more immediate glory, and enter into a closer and holier communion with Him, than we can now conceive? Can we possibly wish more for

our last breath, than that it should enable us though in broken accents to utter, "I go to my Father, I shall rest in my Father's bosom, I am henceforth to dwell with my Father for evermore?" Can we possibly need more information, than that we shall have God's love and confidence, become His messengers, assist in carrying out His great scheme of universal redemption, and hold with Him a spiritual intercourse, that shall do more than anything else can, to raise us in the scale of being, to assimilate us to the Infinite ?--Not only, however, will our sickness introduce us to the more immediate presence of God, but it will also introduce us to that of His best-beloved son, the 66 once crucified, but now exalted Jesus."

We shall see

He will take us

him as he is, face to face. by the hand, and call us his brethren. Notwithstanding all we have read of him, in those faithful Gospel narratives, he is now a stranger compared with what he will become; and, much as he has already

done for our souls, how much more will he do when he is constantly with us, when we are enabled to drink so much more deeply of his godlike spirit, when, with minds enlarged and hearts improved, we become more alive to his unrivalled greatness, and when, having a common cause, we all work together to carry out the stupendous plans of everlasting mercy!-But another joy awaits us still. There also shall we meet apostles, martyrs, philanthropists, philosophers-all, who by being faithful unto death, have won the crown of life, and with them shall we participate in the new light continually bursting forth, and the fresh fields of usefulness and improvement ever unfolding themselves. Happy community! and such the society which we are to join when we enter the kingdom of God, when sickness has released us from our fetters of flesh! Nor even yet have we described all the attractions of that bright, celestial land. As we mingle with the multitude, which