our desires and pleasures, our habits of acting and modes of thinking, the motives and principles by which our conduct is framed, are all unsuitable. We could contribute nothing to the bliss of its inhabitants, nor could they minister to ours. The very enjoyments of the place would be no enjoyments to us.-But by the influence of the Gospel, where it strikes root in the heart, a new and divine life is begun; in which may be perceived the rudiments of heavenly virtue, the seeds of infinite happiness, and the elements of eternal glory. There may be traced in it the same principles which operate in the glorified spirits themselves; the same end in view, the glory of God; the same renunciation of our own will; the same agency producing peace and holiness, namely the Holy Spirit; the same sentiments of gratitude, and songs of praise, and objects of adoration; the same harmony and love; the same sources of refined and sacred pleasure. The difference in all these respects lies rather in the degree of strength, and purity, and completeness, than in the kind. Every thing below is weak, is imperfect, is defiled; but, as far as there is the spirit of true Christianity at all, it is of the same nature, has the same end, is produced by the same Agent, as the blessedness of heaven.

Consider Christianity in this light, and we shall see why it should require from us a much higher degree of purity and holiness, and other kinds of principles and affections, than would be necessary were its operation confined to the present world. The nature of the education which we give to a child is directed by the station of life which he is intended afterwards to fill. To the heir of a great empire we should endeavour to communicate not merely the principles of honesty, frugality, and common justice; but virtues of a higher and nobler stamp; such as munificence, magnanimity, and comprehension of mind. Now this life is our school for heaven; and, under the tuition of the Gospel, we are trained for the exercises and enjoyments of heaven. Hence a high degree of purity and strictness is de

VOL. II.

5

manded; desires rising above this sordid earth, and stretching into immortality; holy affections and heavenly graces such as will be called into exercise in that better state, and make us meet to enjoy it.

Of the nature of heaven, it is true, we do not know much. The account given of it in the Sacred Writings is very short; and consists chiefly in general descriptions, suited to convince us that it is a happy and glorious place, rather than to inform us in what particulars the happiness and glory of it consist; yet from the kind of happiness described; from the nature of the employments of its inhabitants, and the account given of their tempers and affections, we may form some estimate of what will conduce to make us meet for it: at least we may, in many cases, very certainly conclude what would unfit us for the enjoyment of it.

We know, for instance, that whoever is made fit for heaven, must be made so by a taste for devotion.One principal employment of the saints in light is worship. In almost every glimpse afforded us of the eternal world, we find the angels and spirits of just men made perfect, bowing with adoration before the throne of God. When Isaiah saw the Lord of Hosts on his throne, he was surrounded by the seraphim worshipping him, and crying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory."-When St. John was favoured with an heavenly vision, the "living creatures around the throne" (emblematical representatives either of the church or of its ministers) "rested not day and night; saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.' And when those living creatures give "glory, and honour, and thanks unto Him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever, the four-and-twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure

they are and were created." And again, he "beheld and heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands; saying, with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard 1, saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.'

Now what meetness can he have for such employment who has no taste for worship here; who when he comes to the house of God comes only out of form, with a careless mind, and wandering thoughts, and finds no delight in the exercise? What meetness would he have for the perpetual worship of heaven, who has been unaccustomed to all prayer in secret; and who, if forced upon it by his fears, or by his conscience, does but find the more certainly how much he dislikes it; who is soon weary of all such service, and would esteem it the greatest mortification to be compelled frequently to join in it? Would such a person be meet for heaven? Would it be agreeable to his taste? Would he think it a place of consummate felicity, and rejoice that he had now obtained the completion of his happiness;—all that an immortal spirit could desire; all that God could give? He has obtained-what? An entrance into the temple of true worship. He has gainedwhat? The liberty of serving day and night before God, with high adoration and heart-felt praise.-Alas! how evident is it that, unless he has a taste for such exercises, he could find no enjoyment in heaven, even if he were admitted there!

But worship in sincerity and truth supposes knowledge and love of the Object of adoration.-Without knowledge, our worship would be an irrational service; without love, it would be tedious and constrained. In

order, therefore, to make us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, it is necessary that we should be trained up in the knowledge and love of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. The angels and spirits of just men made perfect are represented as adoring God for his attributes, and Christ for his work of redemption;-subjects with which they appear to be well acquainted, and to contemplate with supreme delight. The holiness of God is celebrated, in a more especial manner, by them; but this is an attribute on which he who is not himself holy, would choose least to dwell. And the redemption of Christ is the grand subject of praise for all the redeemed: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain; for he hath redeemed us, and hath made us kings and priests to God." But how much would he be at a loss to join in the notes of heaven, to whose mind such subjects were strange; whose thoughts had moved in another channel; whose affections had been fixed upon other things; who had no taste for contemplating the glory of God; no eye for beholding him in his works; no delight in meditating upon his attributes! How ill would he be qualified to join in the song to the Lamb, who never had considered the state of man by nature, and sought for redemption in Christ; who had flattered himself with the idea of his sufficient virtue, and therefore neither had known any need of a Saviour, nor felt any obligation to him! How ill would such an one be prepared to fall at the feet of Jesus, and adore him with rapturous expressions of gratitude, love, and joy! No: it is the man who has loved, though he has not yet seen him; who "though he has seen him not, yet, believing in him, has rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory:" it is he who has been "constrained by the love of Christ;" who, even upon earth, has sought "with all saints, to comprehend the length and breadth, the depth and height" of that love, and has found it "to surpass his knowledge:" it is he who has made it his chief study "to. grow in grace, and in the knowledge and love of his

Lord and Saviour;" he it is, who is made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.

Let us attend, also, to the society of heaven, to those who inhabit that region of happiness.-"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God." To what company then, O thou that art unholy, wouldst thou join thyself if thou wert admitted into heaven? Search the whole extent thereof from one end to the other; try every individual of those countless hosts. Whom wouldst thou discover, to listen to the effusions of thy polluted mind? With whom wouldst thou concert plans of iniquity? To whom couldst thou make boast of thy intemperance, or tell thy wanton tales, or detail the exploits of thy licentious mirth? How solitary to thee must be that crowded place?—The prophets would turn indignant from thee. The Apostles would behold thee with terror. The pure angels and archangels, who never knew what sin was, would flee from thy presence with consternation. Wouldst thou accost those who had been thy companions in sin upon earth, but who afterwards repented and were converted? Ah! what lively emotions would thy presence excite in them, of gratitude to God who had pitied and redeemed them when in thy state, and of self-reproach and humiliation to think they were once like thee! These who, when on earth, dissolved the ties of friendship, to be separated from thy company, would they now welcome thy conversation? Or, indeed, couldst thou endure theirs? How tedious did the time appear, how dull and stupid the conversation, if thou wast compelled to be, for a season, with the pious upon earth! What constraint didst thou not feel! What desire to quit their society! What liberty the moment thou couldst rejoin those friends whose taste and conversation were as carnal as thy own! And couldst thou bear to dwell for ever with Apostles and Prophets;