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REV. J. H. INGRAHAM'S
POP ULAR WORKS.
THE PRINCE OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID;
or, Three Years in the Holy City: being a Series of Letters
relating, as if by an Eye-witness, all the Scenes and Wonderful Incidents in the Life of Jesus of Nazareth. In one
volume 12mo, cloth, gilt. Price $1.50.
THE THRONE OF DAVID; from the Consecration of the Shepherd of Bethlehem to the Rebellion of
Prince Absalom; a Series of Letters addressed by an Assyrian Ambassador to his Lord and King on the Throne of
Nineveh. In one volume 12mo, cloth, gilt. Price $1.50.
THE PILLAR OF FIRE; or, Israel in Bondage:
being an Account of the Wonderful Scenes in the Life of
the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter (Moses). In one volume
12mo, cloth, gilt. Price $1.50.
ROBERTS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
143, WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON.




Uniform  with this volurlne,
BY THE SAME AUTHOR,
HEAVEN  OUR  IO M E.
WE HAVE NO SAVIOUR BUT JESUS,
AND
NO HOME BUT HEAVEN.
1 vol. 16mo. Price $1.00.
LIFE IN HEAVEN.
THERE FAITH  IS CHANGED  INTO  SIGHT,
AND
HOPE IS PASSED INTO BLISSFUL FRUITION.
I vol. 16mo. Price $1.00.
ROBERTS  BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
143, VASTIINGTON STREET, BOSTON.




MEET FOR HEAVEN.
A STATE OF GRACE UPON EARTH
THE ONLY PREPARATION
FOR A STATE OF GLORY IN HEAVEN.
BY T'HE AUTHOR OF "HEAVEN OUR HOME."
SECOND EDITION.
BOSTON:
ROBERTS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
143, WASHINGTON STREET.
1864.




BOSTON:
STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON,
No. 5, Water Street.




PREFA C E.
IN my former work,  Heaven our Home," I have
endeavored to portray a social heaven, as the home of
love which God has prepared for his children, and in
which, on the other side of the Jordan's dark stream,
they meet to spend a happy eternity, in possession
of the fullest recognition and loving intercourse, and
feeling still in their hearts the most lively interest, not
only in all the saved who are around them in heaven,
but in the whole of the children of God who are still
lingering behind them in the homes of earth.
In this volume, I attempt to give a description, not
of heaven, nor- of the family assembled in it, considered in its social aspect, but of the state of the children of God who are already glorified,.viewed chiefly
in their individual exaltation and personal glory; and
I notice what it is — a state of grace upon earth —
that gives us the preparation to join their exalted
ranks.
[71




8                  PREFA CE.
Some Christians have a lofty view of heaven, as the
Holy of Holies in God's great creation, and of the
high qualifications in grace here that are needed to
prepare us for its habitation of holiness, of love, and
of peace; but, along with this, they cherish the too
common and seductive belief, that death will effect,
when it comes to them, not a mere transition and improvement, but something like an entire change on
the spiritual and moral condition of their souls. I am
led to show that such an anticipation is not only
wrong, but dangerous.
Personal Christianity consists, not merely in the
adoption of a creed or in an outward profession, but
in a habitual looking to Jesus for the grace which the
Father hath treasured up in him, in such abundance,
for the supply of all our spiritual wants, and for the
example how we who are Christians should live in the
world.  I have accordingly, in the following chapters, viewed Christ's life upon earth as the example of
what our life here ought to be, and Christ now in a
state of glory in heaven as the pattern of what we are
yet to be. Thus I have attempted to exhibit the Lord
Jesus as all and all, both in a state of grace and in a
state of glory.
In the Second Part, I have pointed out, and to




PREFA CE.                  9
some extent illustrated, certain analogies existing betwixt a state of grace upon earth and a state of glory
in heaven. I have done, in a higher province, what
Butler, in his celebrated " Analogy," has done in a
lower. He has pointed out certain resemblances existing betwixt God's procedure in the course of nature and
in religion, natural and revealed.  I have endeavored
to point out certain resemblances existing betwixt
God's arrangements with us in our state of grace upon
earth and in our state of glory in heaven. The views I
have thus been led to present are somewhat philosophical and novel; but it is hoped the reader will find
them not the less interesting.
Reasoning from analogy, in the absence or in supplement of the direct revelations of God to us in his
Word, is one great source of information to us here,
and, when cautiously prosecuted, becomes a subject
of delight to the human mind. The time is coming
when these analogical reasonings will not be required;
when we shall see the things above as they are, and
not merely in their resemblances.  "For now we see
through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now
I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I
am known."








CONTENTS.
PART I.
fWCeet for 34eaben.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
-TRACE OBJECTIVELY CONSIDERED......... 19
II.
GRACE OBJECTIVELY CONSIDERED (continued)......   32
III.
THE GRACIOUS UNION.............. 45
IV.
GRACE SUBJECTIVELY CONSIDERED......... 56
V.
GRACE SUBJECTIVELY CONSIDERED (continued)..... 68




12                    CONTENTS.
VI.
A STATE OF GRACE....82
VII.
PAGE
A STATE OF GRACE (cotintued)..........    89
VIII.
A STATE OF GRACE (continued)......         104
Ix.
A STATE OF GRACE (conZtinued)......... 118
x.
A STATE OF GLORY.......O 185
XI.
XII.
A STATE OF GLORY (continued)......... 166
XIII.
A STATE OF GLORY (continued)..........  175
THE RELATION EXISTING BETWIXT A STATE OF GRACE
UPON EARTH AND A STATE OF GLORY IN IHEAVEN.. 185




CONTENTS.                    13
PART II.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
FIRST ANALOGY. - THE TRANSITION INTO A STATE OF
GLORY, AS WELL AS INTO A STATE OF GRACE, GENERALLY TAKES PLACE IN CIRCUMSTANCES OF SORROW. 195
II.
SECOND ANALOGY.-OUR TRANSITION BOTH INTO A STATE
OF GRACE AND ALSO INTO A STATE OF GLORY USHERS
US INTO THE POSSESSION OF NEW LIFE; OR, RATHER,
THE LIFE OF THE SOUL IS THEN FURTHER EVOLVED
AND IMPROVED....                           217
III.
THIRD ANALOGY.- GRACE CONFERS NO NEW FACULTIES
UPON OUR SOULS, AND TAKES NONE AWAY. ANALOGY
SUGGESTS THAT THE SAME THING HAPPENS WHEN GOD'S
CHILDREN ENTER INTO GLORY......... 222
IV.
FOURTH ANALOGY.-THE CHIEF FEATURE IN THE LIFE
OF THOSE WHO ARE IN A STATE OF GRACE, AND ALSO
OF THOSE WCHO ARE IN A STATE OF GLORY, IS THEIR
COMMUNION WITH GOD....               229
V.
FIFTH ANALOGY. - OUR ENTRANCE INTO A STATE OF
GRACE USHERS US INTO THE POSSESSION OF NEW AND
DIVINE ENJOYMENTS.  OUR ENTRANCE INTO A STArTE
OF GLORY DOES THE SAME...........   237




14                  CONTETN TS.
VI.
PAGE
SIXTH ANALOGY. — THE LIFE OF THOSE WHO ARE IN A
STATE OF GRACE UPON EARTH IS A HOLY ACTIVITY
IN THE WAYS OF GOD. ANALOGY COUNTENANCES THE
VIEW, THAT THE LIFE OF THOSE WHO ARE IN A STATE
OF GLORY IS THE SAME..                      244
VII.
SEVENTH ANALOGY. - THERE IS CONTINUOUS PROGRESS
IN A STATE OF GRACE. ANALOGY COUNTENANCES THE
VIEW, THAT THE SAME IS THE CASE IN A STATE OF
GLORY........  252
VIII.
EIGHTH ANALOGY. —MEANS ARE INSTITUTED BY GOD,
WHICH WE ARE TO OBSERVE, THAT WE MAY BE ADVANCED IN A STATE OF GRACE. ANALOGY COUNTENANCES THE VIEW, THAT GOD HAS ADOPTED A SIMILAR
ARRANGEMENT WITH HIS CHILDREN WHO ARE IN A
STATE OF GLORY...........       257
IX,
NINTH ANALOGY. -DIFFERENCE OF SELECTIVE AFFINITIES AND TASTES EXIST IN GOD's CHILDREN WHO ARE
IN A STATE OF GRACE. THERE MAY BE THE SAME IN
A STATE OF GLORY............. 264
X.
TENTH ANALOGY. -DIFFERENCES OF RANK EXIST AMONG
GOD'S CHILDREN IN A STATE OF GRACE.'ANALOGY
COUNTENANCES THE VIEW, WHICH SCRIPTURE CONFIRMS, THAT THE SAME IS THE CASE AMONG THOSE
WHO ARE IN A STATE OF GLORY.                  268




CONTENTS.                   15
XI.
PAGE
ELEVENTH ANALOGY. - THE TRANSITION INTO A STATE
OF GRACE DOES NOT LESSEN, IT INCREASES, OUR INTEREST IN OUR FRIENDS AND FELLOW-SAINTS AROUND
US. ANALOGY SUGGESTS THAT THE CASE IS THE SAME
WITH THOSE WHO ENTER INTO A STATE OF GLORY.. 275
XII.
TWELFTH ANALOGY. -CHRIST'S CHURCH IN A STATE OF
GRACE UPON EARTH IS STILL INCOMPLETE.  SO IS
CHRIST'S CHURCH NOW IN A STATE OF GLORY.. 285
XIII.
THIRTEENTH ANALOGY. -UNITY WITH DIVERSITY EXISTS
IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST UPON EARTH. IT IS THE
SAME WITH CHRIST'S CHURCH NOW IN A STATE OF
GLORY..................   294








PART I.
geIt       for EIbeAc.
" WHOM HE JUSTIFIED, THEN HE ALSO GLORIFIED."
[17]








CHAPTER I.
GRACE OBJECTIVELY CONSIDERED.
HE Christian dispensation is entirely a system
of grace, whether viewed in its origin, in the
stream of divine favors which it confers upon
those Ywho so little merit the free gifts of Heaven, or
in the change which it effects upon the souls of believers.  It has its origin in the bosom of God as its
fountain-head: thence, in a never-ceasing stream of
heavenly favor, it descends upon the human family,
and will continue to do so till it flows back again to
heaven, and merges in the dispensing Power; and
thus terminate in that glory which is to encircle the
family of God, who are to meet and dwell and associate with each other in their Father's home of love,
in all the endearments of holy friendship, and the
warm reciprocations of holy affection, for ever.
The grace of God is the sun in the summer sky of
divine favor towards us mortals: on the other hand,
[19]




20           THE GRACE OF GOD.
a state of grace in us is the earth revived with his
light and his heat, the valleys becoming carpeted
with the grass growing up in its life and greenness,
the trees putting forth their leaves, the birds singing
among the branches, and Nature presenting the aspect
of light and life and joy.  The grace existing in the
bosom of God towards us is the spring-head of that
pure river of the waters of life, clear as crystal, which,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,
and descending upon us from on high, flows and reflows, in its vitalizing streams, through the souls of all
who are believers in Christianity.  A state of grace
in us is the soul revived and watered and refreshed,
giving out the buds and blossoms of a new life, and
bringing forth the fruits of righteousness, to the praise
and glory of God.  The grace of God is the tree of
life, ever green, ever bearing believers as undecaying
branches, and pouring into them that vitality by which
they become fruitful.  A state of grace is the effect
produced by this permeating, all-pervading principle
of divine life in our soul; so that in union with Jesus
we bring forth the clustering bunches of spiritual
grapes, in the form of works of faith, and labors of
love, in the vineyard of the Lord. The grace of God
is the foundation of heaven's favor towards us, which
has been laid in Zion, and upon which the whole superstructure of the Church of God is built. A state of
grace in us is what we become, when as living stones
we are built by the Holy Spirit into the spiritual




THE GRACE OF GOD.               21
temple of the Lord of hosts.  The time is coming
when " He shall bring forth the headstone thereof with
shoutings, crying, Grace, grace, unto it."  Grace in
the bosom of God is the cause: a gracious state produced in us by its operations is the effect. Thus a
description of a state of grace in us would be manifestly
incomplete, and shorn of half its sublimity and grandeur, if viewed apart from the grace that is existing
and glowing in the bosom of God. That there is
grace specially directed towards us, will be readily
admitted by every Christian; and the great work
of our redemption is, in truth, the convincing and
accumulating evidence of its existence.
Grace in our bosoms is not a mere cold, inoperative,
abstract, and dormant principle: it is a life, a stream
of loving action; and it flows out from the living
fountain of our regenerated souls, created anew by the
Holy Spirit, through various channels towards those
who are around us, conferring blessing, and doing
them good. So, too, with the grace of God, as set
forth in the descriptions of the Bible. It is not an
abstract, dormant, and inoperative emotion, existing
high and transcendentally apart from us who are
dwelling upon the earth: it is a life, -if I may use
the expression,- it is a principle of generous, sacrificing, loving activity, going forth into effect on our
behalf, ever flowing out in its warmth towards us, and
pouring down its streams upon us through many a
varying channel.




22           THE GRACE OF GOD.
There never was a time when grace did not exist
and glow in our heavenly Father's bosom towards
us his creatures. It was there, and had been there
throughout a past eternity, before the glad morning
of creation dawned, and the morning-stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy:
it was there when he spake, and it was done; when he
gave the command, and the heavens and the earth
came into being.
There was a time when God was alone in his great
universe, with no created eye to behold him inhabiting eternity, and no tongue to sing the praises
thereof; when as yet neither angels nor men, nor, so
far as we know, any living creatures, existed; when
the great heaven in which he has established the
throne of his glory and power; into which Jesus in
our nature has ascended, to sit down at the right hand
of the Majesty on high; in which the Holy Spirit
appears as seven lamps of fire burning before the
throne; in which the angels and the glorified members of the human family dwell,- was not existing:
for the heavens were created, and consequently there
was a time when they were not.
There was then no voice but his to break the silence that slept undisturbed throughout the immensity
of space: angels were not in existence, and the human
family had not yet been called into being; no ocean
was seen, as yet, sitting in its restless chamber, with
its nimble fingers upon the key-board of the rugged




THE GRACE OF GOD.               23
shore, playing its hoarse tune of praise to Him whose
way is in the sea, and his footsteps in the deep
waters; no wind as yet breathed forth his praises,
either in the whisperings of the gently blowing breeze
upon the clear, quiet summer's afternoon, or in the
loud and terrific hurricanes that sometimes descend in
resistless fury to stir and heave the waters of the
heavy and sullen oceans of earth.
The great unpeopled, silent universe then must have
appeared - had there been a created eye to look upon
it - like the lonely, dreary expanse of a becalmed sea,
upon which no ship is seen with its whitened sails
flapping in the breeze; when a night without a star
in the encircling firmament is brooding over it; and
when there is not a stir in the dull, motionless, and
heavy air.
God was then alone, in his awful majesty, more
than filling the unpeopled universe, that I would not
say was around him, - for he created the universe,
and the Creator must be greater than the creature,but, rather, which was within the circle of his almighty presence.
Even then grace was existing in the Creator, and
had its field of operations, not within merely, but
without: it flowed forth, not towardscreated objects,
for then there were none, but towards the eternal Son
and ever-blessed Spirit.  Oh, what a field was here
for the outgoings of the Father's grace! But what
pen can portray the holy communings, the divine




24           THE GRACE OF GO-D.
interchanges of love's purest emotions, the flowings
and reflowings of that wondrous grace, when as yet
that divine influence had no outgoing towards any
creature? Oh! could even the recording angel, as he
stands before the throne above, with the pen of love
in the hand of wisdom, ready to write down another
and another believer's name in the Lamb's Book of
Life, describe the holy fountain that even then existed in the centre of all affection?
God's grace, however, was not to be confined for
ever within the ocean of this divine and high communion. It is to swell and rise, and flow over at
last these divine shores, in a spring-tide of favor
towards a universe that is to be called into existence, and towards angels and men who are to be
created.
On the morning of creation, - a morning pregnant
with great events, -that grace flows forth over its
previous divine limits. The Creator looks forth upon
a dark and unpeopled universe, like one standing upon
the shore, and surveying by night the grim and gloomy
expanse of the great ocean. He stretches forth his
arm over the void of a dark and empty universe, in
which Night had been quietly sleeping, and never
been awakened to see even one young and joyous
morning dawn. He speaks, and it is done; the command goes forth, and the heavens and the earth hear
his voice, respond to the call, and come into existence
glittering in the dew of their youth. The command




THE GRACE OF GOD.               25
again goes forth, " Let there be light, and there was
light."  What a change! The long previous night
of eternity passes away, and Light, the brightest and
most glorious manifestation of the invisible God, flows
down and fills space, like water filling the bosom of
the ocean.
That grace again flows forth in the creation of
angels; forming them like the Father, purely spiritual
beings; assigning them heaven as their home; raising
them very high in the scale of existence; clothing them
with glory and honor; making them the very models
of beauty and perfection; admitting them into the
palace of heaven, to be there his courtiers for eternity,
to see his face, to hear his voice, and to be ravished
and delighted with the joy of his presence.
That grace again finds vent in the creation of man:
" And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life; and man became a living soul." Man, thus
made in the image of God, abides not in his first
estate. He is tempted, and falls; yet that grace
does not turn away from him even at this trying and
awful season: its goings-forth have been from of
old, even from everlasting; and it still follows man
even in his apostasy, to make provision for his salvation.
We lose sight of the greatness of the grace existing in the Father's bosom towards us, by not fixing
our attention enough upon the painfulness of the
2




26          TSE GRACE OF GOD.
scheme which necessity led him to adopt to bring
us deliverance from sin and death and hell. Through
all eternity, he was cherishing an infinite love to his
only-begotten and well-beloved Son. Who indeed
can fathom the depth, or estimate the warmth, of
that affection?  The Father loves Jesus, and yet
gives him up to enter upon the terribly humbling
and painful mission of our salvation.  In infinite
wisdom, he adopts the plan, through grace, of bringing us deliverance by giving up the Son of his love
for us. God loves not Jesus less: he loves us more.
His grace to us prompts him to send forth his Son
into the world, not to condemn the world, but that
the world through him might be saved.
It appears from Holy Scripture, that the very question has been put by God himself in the high court
of heaven that is often upon the lips of speculative
Christians upon earth. Why did He who is supreme,
and who can do as he will, not spare Jesus his awful
humiliation and his terrible death, and adopt some
other method to redeem us?  "Who shall redeem
man, or give to God a ransom for his soul?"  The
earth, with its gold and its silver and its precious
stones and its sparkling diamonds, and its cattle
upon a thousand hills ready to bleed in sacrifice,
says, " It is not in me." The sea, with its pearls and
its golden sands and its coral gems, says, " It is not in
me." Heaven, with its mighty hosts of angels, high
in rank and glory and beauty, with its streets of gold




THE GRACE OF GOD.                27
and its river of life and its tree of life, and its great
riches gathered into it as the metropolis of the universe, says, "It is not in me."
Upon occasions of great emergency, there is often
a whole flood of conflicting emotions warring in our
bosoms.  There may have been, nay, I might almost
say there must have been, such a commingling of conflicting emotions in the bosom of God in giving up
the Son of his love for us.  Love is flowing in its
eternal glowings towards Jesus, who is the brightness
of the Father's glory, and the express image of his
person.  He had ever been his Father's delight,
rejoicing always before him: but grace towards us is
in the ascendant, and prevails upon the Father to
give up his Son for our salvation; to look upon him
as he leaves his bosom, and goes forth from the
pavilion of life and of everlasting blessedness, that in
our nature he might die; and the same grace is manifested towards us, and is evidenced in the gift of
the Holy Ghost. The missions of the Son and of the
Spirit in our salvation are just the visible manifestations and proofs of that grace; and these missions
are again the evidence that the covenant of grace
was not only formed in the great cabinet consultation
of eternity, but that grace has already so far, and is
still carrying out its blessed provisions. Yea, God
himself makes to us in the Bible the clear and distinct revelation, that, in the far-distant depths of a
past eternity, that covenant transaction, having for




28           THE GRACE OF GOD.
its object our salvation, took place in heaven: " For
the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed;
but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither
shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the
Lord that hath mercy on thee."  "Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant."
I may mention that whole volumes have been
written by theologians in describing this covenant;
which proves to us that our salvation has evolved not
from any sudden impulse in the bosom of God; that
it is not a thing of mere contingency, of accident,
and of chance: on the contrary, grace, through this
covenant, is just fulfilling in time what the Father
had previously agreed upon, i?& and through eternity,
with the Son and Holy Spirit. In the rainbow reflection upon our view of the covenant of grace, our
salvation is seen to be a work upon which its Author
had, from  the beginning, set his heart, and the
accomplishment of which has been his predominating
desire through all past duration.
In how wonderful and startling and impressive a
light are we shown the value of our souls, when we
lift our eyes, if I may so speak, to this eternal federal transaction, with the purpose to decide upon the
way in which we might be saved, and escape the everlasting condemnation which the fall had brought upon
us, in consistency with the inflexible principles of
divine government!  It does throw over our salvation the whole sublimities of eternity, and over the




THE GBACOE OF GOD.             29
dark and tear-bedewed path of Christ's vicarious
obedience and sufferings upon earth the whole light
and sanctities of the Godhead, when we lift our eyes
in faith upwards, and see in Christ's sojourn in our
world —no, in his own world - the manifested
outgoings of that grace that had through eternity
glowed towards man in the bosom of God.
This view of the yearning anxiety of God to bring
us salvation gives a terrible rebuke to many a
thoughtless and careless sinner, who is living in the
world without God, without Christ, and without
hope; and who gives himself as little thought and
trouble about the salvation of his immortal soul, as
if he had not a soul to be saved, a God to meet,
eternity to enter, a Judge to face, and a portion
awaiting him in eternity, - if grace change him not,
-not of joy, but of woe.  It does show, most
strikingly and impressively, the infatuation of many a
nominal Christian, who refuses, through sheer laziness and unconcern, to put himself to the trouble of
going up to the house of the Lord on the sabbath,
of reading the Bible, of kneeling in prayer; of making any sacrifices in time, in labor, or in money,
either to secure his own salvation or that of others, -
when we lift our eyes to the glories of eternity, and
see Jesus leaving these in humiliation for us, and undertaking the long and sorrowful journey that led him
to the cross of Calvary; and when, in connection
with this mission of Christ, we see God the Father




30           THE GRACE OF GOD.
making the sacrifice for us of his only-begotten and
well-beloved Son.
Readers, this grace is existing in the bosom of your
Father in heaven towards you still, even at this very
moment; for he is the great Father of lights, with
whom there is no variableness, neither the least
shadow of turning.  Do not then, for a moment,
doubt God's willingness, through grace, to save you;
yes, you.  Do not cherish hard thoughts about
your Creator, as if he is even now listening with a
grudging spirit to your cry for salvation that may be
entering into the ears of the God of sabaoth..Distrust is the cruelest wound that you can possibly
inflict upon the tender regard of an affectionate
friend. The Father of mercies is more anxious to
bestow salvation upon you than you are to ask it, or
to accept it at his hands. He is even now bending
over you from  his throne of love in these high
heavens, and, in all the yearnings of his everlasting
desires, watching to see if you will not turn away.
Will he implore you to accept of salvation, and all
in vain? Listen! He speaks respecting you: " Say
unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have
no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the
wicked turn from his way, and live: -turn ye, turn ye
from your evil ways; for why will ye die, 0 house
of Israel?"  He is stretching forth the arms of his
mercy; and he is inviting you, yes, you, to enter into
covenant with him.  You have, perhaps, lived long,
r"-^~r~7 ^'" —V0




THE GRACE OF GOD.              31
without God in the world; but listen. His words
over you still are, "How  shall I give thee up,
Ephraim?"  Arise, then, in the strength of the
Lord.  Say, "What have I to do any more with
idols?  Father, I am thine by creation and preservation.  Oh! make me thine for ever through the
blood of Christ, accepted in the Beloved.  Receive
me. Oh! save me."
For your encouragement, look up. Lo! a Father
is waiting to receive you, and to infold you in the
embrace of everlasting love.  God is a sovereign
upon his throne; but he is also a Father at home, and
he is surrounded by his great family. See! there is
the smile of a Father upon his countenance towards
you; there is the benignity of a Father upon his
brow; there is the love of a Father glistening in that
pitying eye; there is the affection of a Father in that
bosom which Jesus left to save you; there are the
love-pleadings of a Father in the invitations and
promises through which he speaks to you in his
blessed gospel, " Whosoever will, let him take of the
water of life freely."




CHAPTER II.
GRACE OBJECTIVELY CONSIDERED (continued).
THE GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS.
HRISTIANS generally, I believe, have not
such a vivid and impressive view of Christ's
grace in the work of our redemption as
they ought to possess, and might. This arises from
the habit of looking at Christ's grace manifested
towards the human family merely during his sojourn
in the world, and overlooking the perhaps higher
manifestation of it towards us as a fire of divine
love that was never kindled, but has glowed in his
bosom for ever; as a stream of favor, having its origin in Christ's bosom, and which has been flowing
side by side with the stream of an endless time.
Christians often practise the same deception upon
themselves, in their views of Christ's grace to them,
that we sometimes do in our views of a once-beloved
but now departed friend. They view only one part
[231




GRACE OF THE LORD JESZUS.           33
of the stream, and do not rise so high in their soarings as to look upon the whole.
Take the case of a departed beloved daughter who
is dead. You realize what she was when in your
bereaved and now deserted home.  You look back
upon her life here through the vista of memory. You
see her thus still flitting before you in her life upon
earth of pious devotion, of holy communion with
God, of high spirituality of mind, with her conversation much about heaven; her inner life hid with
Christ in God, and manifesting its internal existence
by an outward stream of gentleness and affection in
many a work of faith, and labor of love. You see
her vividly, with the eye of memory, still flitting about
your home in her serene joyfulness, her countenance
still lighted up with the smile of purest affection,
and turning the love-gaze of that eye upon you,
bright and gleaming with the soft, shrinking, indescribable flashings of filial love. Oh! you still see
her before you, the very embodiment of the purest
affection that exists upon earth, - a sunbeam of joy
dancing upon your path, the sun of comfort to your
soul in the day of your prosperity, the moon of consolation to you in the night of affliction, the serene
morning-star of a sweet opening day, smiling upon
you from her orient sky. Have you lost that beloved
child? Did you see her sun go down while it was
yet day? Did you see her visited by the trouble
which so suddenly and unexpectedly entered your
2*




34.      GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS.
home, and which soon did to your fair beauteous
flower what the worm did to Jonah's gourd? Did
you stand with a sorrowful heart beside her restless
bed, and look mournfully upon the inroads which
disease so quickly made upon her once-lovely countenance and previously vigorous frame?  Did you
see her eye become dim like the shadows of a peaceful evening gradually gathering over a pure lake;
the rose in her cheek wither, and lose its previously
fresh and dewy lustre; the breathing becoming more
and more oppressive; the restless tossing, the look
of uneasiness and pain? Did you listen to her, at
last, in weak and sinking accents bidding you farewell, till you should follow her to the skies, and
meet her in heaven?' Did you see the silver cord
loosed, the golden bowl broken, the pitcher broken
at the fountain, the wheel broken at the cistern?
Did you, upon her funeral-day, follow the cold remains of a once warmly loving child to the deep,
dark grave, and leave her there in her sleep? Oh,
deep is the sleep of the dead! low are their pillows
of dust! Did you leave her in yonder tomb, around
which your tender recollections of her, and warm,
loving, fond associations, still cluster and hang, with
the long night of the grave resting upon her nowmotionless and beclosed eye?  Did you leave her in
yonder cold home, where she will, with the bodily
ear, hear no sound, and her bosom will feel no emotion, till the voice of the archangel and the trump of




GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS.           35
God, on the resurrection-morning, break in upon her
leaden repose?
What is the realization and the view which you
have of your once-dear daughter now, -now that
she is in heaven, saved through grace, — now that
she is mingling with the glorified who are before the
throne of God? I believe your views of your nowsainted child are very dim; so much so, that whilst
you realize pretty vividly her life upon earth, through
the aid of memory and fond associations, her life in
heaven is but in glimpses, if at all, realized by you
through faith.
It is the same with many Christians in their views
of the Lord Jesus in his grace to us. They see
Christ's grace manifested towards us whilst upon
earth; but they do not realize it in its onflowings
towards us throughout the long eternity that is past,
and in its still warm glowings through his bosom,
while now appearing in our nature, on our behalf,
in the court of heaven, and in the presence of God.
Yea, few Christians mount upwards and backwards
in their thoughts along the seemingly interminable
and dizzy heights of the far-off past, till they ascend
in their realizations to Christ before he came to
earth, and when no joy appeared to him like that of
making preparation for our salvation.
This grace to man in the bosom of Jesus had thus
a history and a field of operations before it began to
exhibit its overflowings in his life upon earth.  It is




36       GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS.
this realized view of Christ's grace towards us that
gives us the highest and sublimest evidence of its
greatness; for the grace shown by him whilst upon
earth was no new emotion, but was from everlasting,
and will be to everlasting.
Lo! the time for the lower and nearer and more
palpable manifestations of Christ, in his grace to us,
is come. Jesus is about to undertake his mission to
earth. The whole assemblies of heaven are looking
on; and, with clear eyes and intelligent minds, they
are marking the movements of the Son of God, the
Lord of glory. They see him rise in that pavilion
of love which overshadows the Father's bosom,
where he had dwelt through eternity; they see the
Sun  of Righteousness beginning- startlingly to
them —to gather about it the first eclipse upon his
splendor that ever had darkened his shining; they
see him drawing a veil of concealment over the previous outburst and gleamings of his divine attributes;
they see him now in motion, entering upon a mighty
mission. It is not upwards to a higher throne in
heaven than that of God, nor to higher realms of
bliss than the heaven of heavens spread around him,
but downwards towards the earth, over which sin and
death were brooding in their dark and terrible reign.
He passes in his downward mission from the Father's
bosom, and from the whole onlooking assemblies of
heaven who are congregated around. He passes by
the highest archangel, who shines in his glory and.




GRACE OF THIE LORD JESUS.           37
beauty, and glows in his love before the throne of the
Eternal. He passes the whole angelic hosts, who
stand in their array around the throne of God: he
takes not on him the nature of angels. He passes
the whole congregated assemblies of the redeemed
from among men, and who move beneath the outshining splendors of God unveiled, like a shoreless ocean
filled with light and life.
Do not suppose that this movement of Christ, in this
grace to the earth, takes the inhabitants of heaven by
surprise.
The whole inhabitants of heaven expected it, and
were long, in joyous hope, looking forward to it,
and longing for its arrival.  Angels had spoken
about it centuries before it took place; and many
prophets were in heaven, who had predicted its arrival whilst down in the world; and assuredly they
interestedly looked on, not in wonder, as at something suddenly and startlingly occurring which they
did not expect, but in joy and praise, when they beheld grace to us triumphing over all interposing
obstacles and barriers, and forming the chariot of
love, seated in which, Jesus, the Beloved of all who
were in heaven, and the Longed-for by many in the
world, enters upon his mission of salvation to earth.
But who can portray the emotions of these inhabitants of a high and glorious eternity, when they thus
look upon Jesus going forth to procure by his obedience and sufferings, the redemption of fallen man?




38       GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS.
The Father looks on, and sees now the fulfilment
of these words, which, through the sweet Psalmist of
Israel, he had long before uttered in the language
of earth': " will declare the decree: The Lord hath
said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I
begotten thee."  The Holy Spirit looks on, and now
beholds this prediction realized: "VWho is this that
cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?
this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the
greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in
thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth
in the wine-fat? I have trodden the wine-press alone;
and of the people there was none with me: for I
will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in
my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my
garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the
day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of
my redeemed is come." Angels look on, and rejoicingly see the fulfilment of this prediction uttered by
Gabriel, one of their number: "And the angel
answered, and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee, and the power of the Highest
shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God." Adam and Eve look on in the joy of
their hearts, and now see the prediction that cheered
them in Eden, as it fell upon their ear from the
lips of God in accents of love and comfort, about




GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS.           39
to receive its accomplishment.  Abraham looks on,
and, with a glow of holy gratitude, sees this promise, once given to him whilst upon the earth, about
to be fulfilled: " In thee, and in thy seed, shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed."  Jacob looks
on, and sees in Christ's mission of love these words,
which he had once uttered in the spirit of prophecy upon earth, about to be fulfilled: " The
sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver
from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto
him shall the gathering of the people be."  David is
looking on, and beholds this prediction, which he
uttered in the spirit of prophecy whilst down in the
world, about to be realized': " Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do
thy will, 0 my God."  Isaiah, who once lived upon
earth the most evangelical of all the prophets, is
standing before the throne of God in heaven, and,
in a rapture of holy delight, beholds his Saviour and
his God leaving yonder glorious courts to fulfil these
words which he uttered about Jesus whilst his life
upon earth yet remained: "For unto us a child is
born, unto us a son is given; and the government
shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no
end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom,
to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with




40       GRACE OF THIE LORD JESUS.
justice from henceforth, even for ever.  The zeal of
the Lord of hosts will perform this."  Daniel looks
on, as he stands in his robe of white before the throne,
and sees these records, which he once wrote while
down in the world, about to receive their accomplishment: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy
people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlast
ing righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy."  " And
after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut
off, but not for himself."
The whole inhabitants of heaven, throuYghout their
congregated and deeply interested assemblies, wonderingly look on, and see their long-cherished hopes
beginning, to be realized in Christ's mission of grace
to a lost world.  "And, without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the
flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received
up into glory."
Christ's whole life upon earth is an unchanging
manifestation of his grace and favor: he went
about continually doing good. The same grace is
touchingly shown in his vicarious sufferings and
death; in his triumphant resurrection from the
grave; in his glorious ascension to heaven; in his
session at God's right hand; in his intercession for




GRACE OF THE EOLY SPIRIT.          41
us with God, as our great High Priest, before the
mercy-seat of heaven; in giving us a day of grace
upon earth to attend to the things that belong to our
everlasting peace; in establishing within his visible
Church the means of grace. for our conversion, and
advancement in the love of God, and preparation for
glory; in his long-suffering patience with us, not
willing that we should perish, but that we should
turn to God, and live; in opening over us the windows of heaven, and pouring forth upon us the lifegiving, reviving, and gracious influences of the Holy
Spirit.
THE GRACE or THE HOLY SPIRIT.
The Holy Spirit is a distinct person in the Godhead; whilst he is, at the same time, one with the
Father and the Son, the same in substance, equal in
power and in glory.  The Holy Spirit is not an
attribute of God: he is God. He is not to be
looked upon as a divine energy merely, going out
from God, and unconsciously pervading and controlling the universe of mind; acting something like
gravitation in its blind and unintelligent power as a
law, whilst it moves, controls, and regulates the
universe of matter. The beams of the sun in summer, in their light and heat, stream forth in all
directions throughout space, and exert a mighty
influence upon the surface of the earth in the promotion of vegetation: but these sunbeams act quite




42       GRPACE OF TIlE HOLY SPIRIT.
unconsciously; they know not, they see not, they
contemplate not, the effect upon the vegetable kingdom  which their action produces.  It is not so
with the Holy Spirit.  He is a person, and acts
just as consciously and intelligently, in the spiritual and moral change which he produces in our
soul, as the Father and the Son do in the performance of their respective parts of the work of our
redemption.
This is the clear and distinct teaching of Scripture:
"Not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, by the
washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy
Ghost."  "And hope maketh not ashamed; because
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the
Holy Ghost which is given unto us."
The Holy Spirit is in possession of personal properties; and, through his work of grace upon our
souls, he communicates these properties to us,life, love, holiness, peace, joy. In the economy of
redemption, he has the province assigned to him of
applying to us, through the renovating change he
effects within us, the great salvation that is in Christ
Jesus.
We see the Holy Spirit's grace manifested towards
us when we view him as the High and Holy One, -
so infinitely holy, that he cannot but recoil at the sight
of what is sinful, and from every thing like contact
with what is polluted; yet so anxious is he for our




GRACE OF THIE ITOLY SPIRIT.         43
salvation, that, in the condescensions of his grace, he
leaves the Father and the Son, in their holiness and
purity, to associate with us in our pollution; he
leaves a heaven, where all is love and harmony and
delight in God, to enter and dwell in our souls,
which are, at the momlent of his advent, in a state
of enmity with God, and coldness and alienation.
lie finds our souls in a state of distance and wintry
alienation from God; and, through his operations of
grace in them, he brings us a summer of warm and
loving communion with Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, and imparts to us that heavenly-mindedness,
and thirsting after nearer and still nearer communion
with good, which fit and prepare us for the exercises
and enjoyments of heaven.
I do feel strongly that we greatly fail to realize
the greatness of the Holy Spirit's grace to us, and to
see the infinite obligations under which we lie to him
in coming forth from the Father and the Son upon
the mission of our personal salvation. We feel overwhelmed with wonder when we look up in faith, and
view Jesus coming forth from heaven in his mission
of grace arid love to save us. We have not such a
lofty view of the Holy Spirit's grace in his mission.
Why is this?  It is by overlooking his divinity and
personality, and the awfully repulsive work which he
comes to accomplish in our souls. Through the
Spirit's mission in our personal salvation, holiness
comes into contact with sin, life with death, love




44       GRACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
with enmity: the holiest Being in the universe not
only becomes our companion, but the inmate of our
polluted hearts, that he may cleanse and purify,
and make them the living, holy habitations of the
Lord of hosts.




CHAPTER  III.
THE GRACIOUS UNION.
DESCRIPTION  of "a state of grace"
M  would be incomplete without a short reference to the union that exists, through grace,
betwixt the Lord Jesus and every believer.  Were a
gardener to undertake the task of describing to you
the state of a healthy and richly fruit-bearing appletree that grows in his garden, he would naturally be
led to describe the process of graffing, and the wonderful union thus formed betwixt the root and the
fruitful branches, before he attempted to give you a
description of the tree itself.  For the same reason,
before describing what a state of grace is, it is both
natural and logical to refer to the gracious union
existing betwixt Christ and believers.
The Lord Jesus is in a state of union with believers not merely as their Creator and new-covenant
Head: he is one with us now who believe, and will
be so for ever by a community of nature. I can now




46    UNIOiN BETTVIXT CJIlrISXT iN H.EAV~EN
look up by faith into an eternity of glory, even to
yon resplendent throne which God has established in
the heavens, and upon which he is seated in terrible
majesty, as he reigns over all in the sovereignty of
his high almightiness; and what do I see? I see
not merely God the Father upon the throne; I see
not merely the glorified members of the human family
around that throne, in their robes of white, with their
crowns of life glittering upon their heads, and'in their
countless numbers all joining in the high praises
of eternity; I see not merely angels in their bright
battalions, before, round about, and above the throne,
shining in the light of a day to which no night ever
comes, veiling their faces before God with their
wings, and praising him with a fervor that never
cools, and with a gush of holy ecstasy that never
lessens: I lift my eyes upwards beyond these, and
I see, exalted above them, my Redeemer upon the
throne with God the Father.  He has my very
nature, and has carried it upwards to the throne; and
now, in that nature, Jesus is reigning over all. He is
bone of my bone, he is flesh of my flesh; he is my
elder Brother; he is my great High Priest; he is not
merely the Son of God, he is also the Son of man;
he possesses a human heart, with all its holy affections and tender emotions and warm sympathies: he
is looking down upon me with a human eye, in which
there glisten the love-beamings of a brother's regard;
for there are in his bosom the holy emotions of




AND THOSEY IN A S1TATE OF GRACE.   47
the most fervent affection, the purest, holiest, and
most heavenly desires, the most ardent, benevolent,
and expansive sympathies. The throne of God, in
its awful sovereignty, is thus to me changed into a
throne of grace; for Jesus, in my nature, is upon it,
and is reigning in absolute sovereignty over the great
universe, having all power in heaven and upon earth.
My once-alienated nature is thus, in Jesus, brought
back into high and loving and holy communion with
God; for Jesus, in that nature, has returned into the
bosom of the Father's love.  The Lord Jesus has
not carried up the nature of angels to the throne of
God: he has carried up mine.
Believers are also one with Jesus through the inhabitation of the Holy Spirit in their souls.
There are certain elements in nature, the presence
of which is essential to the existence of either vegetable or animal life: heat is one, water is another,
air is another.  The Holy Spirit, as the seven lamps
of fire burning before the throne of God, as the live
coal from off the altar of heaven, is the all-pervading
and the all - diffusing heat of life and holy love
throughout the world of sanctified minds; he is the
pure river of the water of life, flowing forth from
beneath the throne of God and of the Lamb, whose
streams make glad the city of God; he is the breath
from the four winds of heaven, whose celestial gales
and breathings quicken dead souls, and cause them to
live to God.




48   UNION BETWIXT CHRIST IN IJEAVEN
There are several figures which the sacred writers
have employed in Holy Scripture to shadow forth to
us Christ's union with believers.  He is the Captain
of salvation: "For it became him, for whom are all
things and by whom are all things, in bringing many.sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." Believers are the
soldiers of the cross, enlisted beneath its banner to
fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold upon
eternal life.  Whilst so engaged, Jesus, from these
high heavens above us, is thus addressing each spiritual combatant: "Be thou faithful unto death, and
I will give thee a crown of life." Jesus is the chief
Shepherd, spreading a table for his people in the wilderness;. anointing their heads with the oil of the
Holy Spirit, and causing their cup of blessing to run
over. Believers are his flock, feeding upon the evergreen pastures of his grace, and drinlking at the
river of his pleasures. Christ is the spiritual Bridegroom of his Church, fairer than the children of men,
into whose lips grace is poured, and who loves
believers with more than a lover's affection: the
Church is his bride, and so is every believer who has
entered into an eternal marriage with Christ in the
joy of his heavenly espousals. Christ is the chief
corner-stone laid in Zion. Believers, collectively, are
God's spiritual temple, built up an habitation of God
through the Spirit. Every believer is a living stone
in the mighty edifice: " To whom coming, as unto a




AND TTHOSE IVN A STATE OF GRACE.   49
living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen
of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer
up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ."  Jesus is the ever-living vine in the garden
of the Lord of hosts, to whom the Church collectively is joined, as the boughs are to the tree:
believers are the fruitful branches: "I am the true
vine, and my Father is the husbandman.  Every
branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh
away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he
purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit."
Jesus is the head: believers are the members of his
mystical body:'"From whom the whole body fitly
joined together and compacted by that which every
joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in
the measure of every part, maketh increase of the
body unto the edifying of itself in love." All these
figures shadow forth to us, through the medium of
material and visible objects, that close and vital union
that is existing betwixt Christ and believers, and
which is such a source of comfort to their souls, bbth
in the sunshine of prosperity, and also in the dark
and sorrowful nights of their affliction.
Again: there are certain facts, mentioned incidentally in Holy Scripture, which very vividly and
impressively and touchingly show the vital and sympathetic union which exists between Christ in heaven
and believers upon the earth.  The three Jewish
3




50   UNION BETWIXT CHRIST INTr EA T EN
children are cast into the burning fiery furnace:
Jesus is with them in it, and fulfils to them this gracious promise: " When thou walkest through the fire,
thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame
kindle upon thee." The Apostle John is an exile in
the Isle of Patmos, and in a state of separation from
his Christian friends: Jesus is with him there, in his
glory and in his love: "I was in the Spirit on the
Lord's Day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of
a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first
and the last. And I turned to see the voice that
spake with me; and, being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks, and, in the midst of the seven
candlesticks, one like unto the Son of man, clothed
with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the
paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs
were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes
were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine
brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice
as the sound of many waters. And he had in his
right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a
sharp two-edged sword; and his countenance was as
the sun shineth in his strength.  And, when I saw
him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right
hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the
first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead;
and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and
have the keys of hell and of death." Stephen,
when suffering martyrdom, sees the heavens above




AND THIOSE IN A STATE OF GRACE.   51
him opened, and beholds Jesus looking down upon
hiln in his sympathy and love: "But he, being full
of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven,
and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on
the right hand of' God; and said, Behold! I see the
heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on
the right hand of God." What a comforting sight
to Stephen in that terrible season of his painful
death! what a refreshing view, to believers, of Christ's
union with his people! This is the inspired description of Saul's conversion: "And, as he journeyed,
he came near Damascus; and suddenly there shined
round about him a light from heaven; and he fell to
the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me?"  Mark the form
of the Lord's question: it is not, "Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou the innocent and defenceless Christians?" it is not, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
those who believe in me, and who call upon the
Father in my name?" but, "Why persecutest thou
me?" The blow by the persecutor's hand, which
strikes Christians upon earth, is, through the sympathetic cord of that union which exists betwixt
believers upon earth and Christ, vibrating upwards
to the very heavens, and is felt by Christ upon the
throne as a blow struck at him.
These Scripture facts vividly exhibit to us that
unwion of closest sympathy which exists betwixt Christ
and believers; and, moreover, this is a union that




52   UNTION BETWIXT CHRIST IN REAKTEN
will exist for ever. NWhat other union will?  Not
Christ's union with the material universe as its Creator and Preserver.  For "the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the
works that are therein, shall be burned up."  The
heavens are to be dissolved, -not the heaven of
heavens, where God has his throne; into which
Jesus has ascended, our forerunner, into a glorious
eternity; where angels have their usual glorious habitation, and in which we who are believers are to find
a home of love for ever; but the starry heavens, the
great outer porch, gleaming with its numerous lamps
on the outside of the door of our Father's home.
Yon sun, that has been travelling in his pavilion of
light, in the face of the overarching sky, for the long
period already of nearly six thousand years, is not to
traverse on and on, in his long-accustomed path, for
ever: his long day -for, wherever he goes, he takes
day with him —will come to an end; the comining
night to him will put him to bed, -the bed of nothingness, from which he will never awake again.
The angels of God, the glorified up in, heaven, will
one day look out and down upon the orbit in which
they so long saw him moving on in his brightness;
but his face, once so familiar to them, and bright and
shining, will not meet their gaze, and give them an
upward smile of friendly recognition, as of yore; he




AND THOSE IN A SITATE OF GRACE.   53
will be away: just as you look out upon the ocean
after a storm, and no longer behold the gallant ship
riding there, with its dark hull and its white clustering sails; for it has foundered and gone down, and
has disappeared beneath the wide waste of waters.
These heavenly spectators will look forth, and see the
sun's orbit dark, and deserted for ever. The celestial
onlookers, in their gaze of inquiry towards the place
in the lower creation where the orbs of the solar
system once moved, will miss also the moon, the
maiden moon, from the chamber of night: she will
have left it, never to return.  The moon has long
occupied a prominent place in our views and associations of the night, and has been looking forth upon
us from  her nightly chamber reflecting the sun's
light, - like the church reflecting the glory of Christ,
and has long appeared to the imaginations of the
poets of earth one of the brightest gems that gleam
and sparkle and glitter in the crown that is encircling
the sable brow of night; but she will also depart,
disappear, and her former place in the sky will be
vacant for ever. The stars, that have so long been
looked down upon by the hosts of heaven, and looked
up upon by the passing generations of the human
family upon earth, shining like so many islands of
light studding in their silvery brightness the bosom
of the ocean, or like so many diamonds sparkling
upon the tiara which diadems one of the nobles of
earth, are one day to fall from the firmament, and




54  VUNION BETW.iXT CHRIST IN HEAVEJN
strew the plains of annihilation, as the ripened figs
fall from the fig-tree in autumn upon the plain beneath, when shaken by a mighty wind.  This earth,
tp1on the bosom of which so many of the human family
are living, and in the bosom of which so many of the
dead are sleeping, is one day to dissolve and disapiear like snow from one of its mountain summits
when the sudden thaw descends upon it.
The whole social unions of life are soon, too soon,
alas! in our sorrowful experience, broken up; and
in tears we are parted from dear friends with whom
we took sweet counsel together, and went up to the
house of God in company.  Man goes to his long
home, and the mourners go about the streets. "Man
that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of
trouble.  He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut
down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth
not.... Yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where
is lie? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood
decayeth and drieth up; so man lieth down, and
riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall
not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep."  "Like
as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he
remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his
days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he
flourisheth: for the wind passeth over it, and it is
gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more."
"As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, so




ANvD  HOSE IN A SlTATE OF GRACE.   55
he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no
more. He shall return no more to his house,
neither shall his place know him any more."
Amid these changes, what a comfort is it that there
is at least one union, which neither time with its
changes and fluctuations, nor eternity with its unchangeableness and stereotyped fixedness, can dissolve! Believers in Jesus! the union which is now
formed through grace betwixt your souls and your
living, exalted, and reigning Redeemer, will outlive
all the relationships of earth, and will remain through
eternity, stable as the throne of God, and unchangeable as HIe is that sits upon it, without variableness or
the shadow  of turning.'Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ?  I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor
powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor
height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord."




CHAPTER  IV.
GRACE SUBJECTIVELY CONSIDERED.
DISTINCT and intelligent view of what
"a state of grace" is will be of importance, not merely to the minister in dealing
with souls, that he may be able timeously, appropriately, and suitably to administer comfort and consolation to mourners in Zion, when dejected spiritually
through improper misgivings, and cast down before
God; and that he may with a skilful hand unmask
the mere religious pretender and formalist; but
also to the private Christian, whilst in the realized
presence of the great Searcher of hearts he sits in
calm and scrutinizing and anxious judgment upon
his religious condition.  For this fact should never
be overlooked, that it is quite a possible thing for an
individual to pass one judgment about his spiritual
state in the court of conscience, whilst a totally different
judgment may be formed about it in the high court of
heaven by Him who is upon the throne, who is now
our witness, and will ere long be our righteous Judge.
[56]




A STlaTE OF GRA CE.            5 7
Job's case is a striking instance and illustration of
this. He is in darkness. He feels as if God had
forsaken him, having in wrath shut up his tender
mercies, and appearing to be favorable no more. In
the despondency of a sad spiritual bereavement, he
exclaims, " Oh that I were as in months past, as in
the days when God preserved me; when his candle
shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked
through darkness; as I was in the days of my youth,
when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;
when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me!"  " Oh that I knew where I
might find him!"  What is God's judgment of the
patriarch's spiritual state at this very time? It is
this: "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that
there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an
upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth
evil?"  The church at Laodicea has one view of its
spiritual condition; Christ, the faithful and true
Witness, has another: "Because thou sayest, I am
rich, and increased with goods, and have need of
nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched
and miserable and poor and blind and naked; I
counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that
thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou
mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy
nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with
eye-salve, that thou mayest see."
In travelling, a good map is of great benefit; in
3*




58           A STATE OF GRACE:
sailing, a good compass; in drawing, a good model;
in medicine, a good diagnosis; in experimental religion, a distinct and enlightened view of what "a
state of grace" is, what is apt to be mistaken for it,
and what causes may be operating, so as to lead an
individual to doubt the fact that he is in a state of
grace at all, even at the very moment that his name
is in the Book of Life, and he is accepted by God in
the Beloved.
It is somewhat strange, that very few religious
writers have even attempted to give us a description
of what a state of grace is. Anatomists have described, in many an able treatise, the views which
they have obtained by dissection of the human body.
Philosophers have been for centuries sitting in judgment upon the human mind, - considering it not as
in a state of grace, but merely in its natural condition, -have been viewing with the most minute
attention its various faculties and powers, and have
been giving in numberless works their disquisitions
upon it to the world.  Few, if any, have attempted
to describe what a state of grace is, — the condition of
the soul when under the divine operations of the Holy
Spirit.
The general subject of preaching is grace considered objectively.  Some writers and preachers occasionally refer to the signs or evidences bespeaking the
soul to be in a state of grace; but the portrait of a
state of grace, the delineation of the soul in that state,




DIFFtICULTY OF DESCRIBING IT.          59
so as to make the description a mirror in which
Christians might see reflected their own gracious condition, has scarcely ever been done. This has arisen,
I believe, from the difftculty of the task; for there is
a difficulty in describing to the religious world what
constitutes a state of grace.  If natural life, in its
beginning and manifestation, is to be taken as an
illustration of what a state of grace is,- which is
just the soul in possession of spiritual life,- in that
case, it must be a difficult thing to describe it.
The soul is many months in possession of natural
life before it becomes conscious of existence; and,
even when the individual has come to mature years,
there is not at all times the consciousness of life:
sleep removes from the soul this consciousness;
drunkenness may; so may insanity.  WN'hen Cowper awoke to reason, after a long, and dreary aberration of mind, he appeared to himself as if he had been
sleeping merely through one horrifying and terrible
night. Thus, judging from analogy, the child of God
may be in a state of grace for a considerable time without possessing the consciousness of it; and this
consciousness, by various causes, may be lost for a
time.
There are great analogies, if we had only eyes to
see them, which pervade the whole works of -God;
nay, I believe, the whole of creation.  In fact, the
whole visible works of God's hands may, and probably
are, s mply the manifested types to us of the great




60            A 1STATE OF GRACE:
and invisible realities of eternity, just as the material
temple at Jerusalem  was the visible type of the
invisible heavens; and thus, apart from actual observation, we might with plausibility infer, that our experiences, in possession of the life of God in the soul,
will resemble, to some extent at least, what we are
experiencing in the possession of natural life.
Do not feel surprised that a lucid and delineated
description of what " a state of grace " is should be
encompassed with such almost insuperable difficulties.
Before giving way to a feeling of surprise about this,
take into consideration the following facts.
FIRST FACT. - The Bible was not given to us by
God to describe what a state of grace is, no more than
it was given to portray to us what a state of glory
is: any allusions that are made to either state in
HIoly Scripture are made in an incidental manner.
The great subject which the Bible comes to make
known to us, and which it exhibits in the words of inspiration, like the beams of natural light issuing from
the sun in the sky, is grace objectively considered,the grace of God manifested in the great work of our
redemption. The Bible does not describe to us what
a state of grace is; it does not profess to do so: it
merely; in a few passages, incidentally refers to it.
Does any one feel surprised at this?  Bear in mind
that there are many subjects highly important and
deeply interesting respecting which the Bible main



DIFFICULTY OF DESCRIBING IT.         61
tains a lofty and nearly an entire silence, neither describing them, nor professing to do so,- the essence
of the divine nature, and what that is which forms the
distinct and separate personality of each of the three
persons of the adorable Godhead; whether God be
absolutely without bounds and limits, like the limitless creation; whether God be greater and more expanded than the great creation, as it is natural to
suppose that the Creator must be greater than the
creature; the form and features and appearance of
the soul of man when disembodied, and existing in a
state of separation from the body, the exact locality
of heaven in the great pavilion of space; the precise
way in which the redeemed in heaven spend their joyful existence; whether at times there is no song
heard in heaven, or whether the roll of the multitudinous praises of the exulting hosts above is always
heard rising before the throne of God; whether or
not God now appears entirely unveiled to the eyes of
the redeemed in heaven; whether or not God audibly speaks to the assembled hosts who are in heaven,
and permits them to speak personally, individually,
to him; whether or not Jesus is now as familiar to
all who are in heaven as he was to his disciples and
followers whitst he was yet down here in bodily presence upon earth; whether or not the Holy Spirit
is as visible to those who are in heaven as the Father
and the Son are; whether or not the souls of the
redeemed in heaven are permitted to leave it, like




62            A STATE OF GRACE:
angels, when going forth upon their mission appointed them by God, either to revisit their homes which
they have left in this world, or to go and survey other
regions in God's great universe.
The Bible does not explicitly tell us what God is,
but leaves us to infer what God must be, by describing to us what he has done, and is still doing, in
creation, in providence, and in redemption. "Thou
art verily a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel,
the Saviour." " Who by searching can find out God?
who can find out the Almighty unto perfection? It
is higher than heaven; what canst thou do? it is
deeper than hell; what canst thou know?  The measure thereof is longer than the earth, it is broader than
the sea."  The same thing is true in reference to "a
state of grace." The Bible, I repeat, does not describe
it; does not profess to do so: so that the views which
we form of what constitutes this state are not entirely
drawn from inspiration. This is the reason why the
views of Christians, in their musings about what "a
state of grace" is, differ so much.
SECOND FACT. -A state of grace is just the possession of spiritual life.  Natural life is possessed by
us; but who can describe what that natural life is?
Try your hand upon it. You tell me what are the
signs and evidences of it; but you do not tell me what
it is. The action of the heart is not natural life,
neither is the circulation of the blood, nor the posses



DIFFICULTY OF DESCRIBING IT.            63
sion of the senses, nor the power of walkingl, nor the
exercise of thought.  What, then, is it?  If you
have reflected upon the subject at all, your answer
will be, "I cannot tell.  I know its source: it comes
from  God.  God breathes into man's nostrils the
breath of life, and thus it is that we are put into possession of a living soul.  I know the cause of its
continuance; for in God we live and move, and have
our being.  I know its outward manifestations; but I
know not what it is in itself.  I cannot describe it."
The same thing is true of " a state of grace,"
which is just the soul in a condition of spiritual life.
Perhaps the only description you can give of it is, " I
feel its glow; I experience its throbbings: I am now
sensible that I have passed from death into life; that,
whereas I was once blind to God and to spiritual
things, now I see.  Natural life is enjoyed; but what
it is cannot be described. So is it with spiritual life
considered in itself."
THIRD FACT.-  The experience of different Christians, when entering into A STATE OF GRACE, differs
very much.  This may be regarded as a type of their
widely different religious ex2erience when in it.
Some have a long season of darkness and mental
distress and sorrow at their conversion; whilst others
pass at once into a state of grace, of peaceful favor
and covenant-communion with God, as if entering a
calm and secure haven, leaving the stormy sea behind




64           A STATE OF GRACE:
them, with all their sails of comfort outspread, and
beneath a clear and cloudless sky.  Paul is struck
down beneath the outbursting splendors of Christ's
manifested presence, and for three days and three
nights he is blind; he neither eats nor drinks, but in
sorrow and anguish mourns before God over his past
guilt and folly.  How different is the experience of
the Ethiopian eunuch at the moment of.his conversion, and immediately after it! He is seated in his
chariot, returning from Jerusalem, whither he had
been to meet with God,- and to join in his worship
with his assembled people.  He is reading, whilst
journeying homewards, in the prophecies of Isaiah
respecting the sufferings of the long - promised
Messiah, and of the glory that was to follow.  The
Spirit of the Lord asks Philip the evangelist to go and
join himself to the chariot. Philip obeys, and enters into religious conversation with him.  Through
the reading of the Scriptures, and the religious conversation of that herald of the cross, the Holy Ghost
carrying home the word read and spoken to his soul
in demonstration of the Spirit and with power, the
Ethiopian eunuch is converted. His conversion is
not a process of long mental anguish and trembling
and sorrow: he passes along a flowery path, and
leaving a state of nature behind him, whilst all is
light and gladness and joy, he enters into a state of
grace, to feel at once, shining in its gladness over and
around his heart, "the light of the knowledge of the




DIlVlFICULTY OF )ESCRIBING IT.        65
glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ;" for it is
immediately added, " He went on his way rejoicing."
The publican in the temple realizes vividly his guilt,
and mourns before God over his unworthiness.  He
feels himself cast off from  God's presence: mountains of separation, dark and frowning, are seen by
him rising in their lowering blackness betwixt his soul
and heaven, and hide the light of God's countenance
frolm  him.  He feels himself sinking in the deep
waters of anguish and despair; and even when he
gains a footing upon the dry land, so that he is enabled to cry in prayer, " God be merciful to me, a
sinner!" all appears gloomy and almost hopeless
above him and around him. It is along such a path
of anguish as this, around which the terrors of the
Almighty are gathering, and over which they are
hanging as a darl, frowning sky, that he leaves
behind him the world of nature, and enters the kingdom of grace.  How different is Nathanael's experience at his conversion! He rises from his knees,
where the branches of the fig-tree weave for him a
quiet and holy retreat from the world, and form for
him a calm and peaceful house of prayer; and, at the
call of Christ's voice of love, he leaves the world of
nature behind him, and, apparently without even a
cloud of doubt in his spiritual sky or a pang of sorrow in his bosom, he enters the new and delightful
world of reconciliation with God, and the calm and
joy of his Saviour's covenanted pavilion. The Phi



66            A STATE OF GRACE:
lippian jailer feels a more terrible convulsion in his
breast at the hour of his conversion than that throe
of nature which shook the prison-doors open, and
seemed as if upheaving the walls from their very
foundations.  He is suddenly awakened to see his
sinfulness and danger as a sinner in the sight of God.
He feels that he is perishing; he sees a lost eternity,
in all its gloom, ready to ingulf him; and, in the
anguish of his awakened and agitated spirit, he calls
for a light, rushes frantically into the inner prison,
where Paul and Silas are at the hour of midnight
singing praises to God, and cries out, "What must I
do to be saved? " How different is the conversion of
Cornelius! He is at the hour of prayer, being the
ninth hour, before the family altar; and he is kneeling
in supplication in the midst of the beloved members
of his family.  He is not yet in a state of grace; but
he is seeking the way, and is inquiringly groping in
the path that leads to it.  His prayer, judging from
the answer vouchsafed to it, is for more light, and for
divine instruction in the things that belong to his
eternal peace. " The eyes of the Lord are over the
righteous, and his ear is open unto their prayers."
His prayers rise like the cloud of morning incense
from the temple of Jerusalem, and come up into
the audience-chamber of the God of sabaoth.  The
Lord God of hosts gives command to one of these
ministering angels of his, who are sent forth to minister to them who are the heirs of salvation, to leave




DIFFICULTY OF DESCRIBING IT.           67
for a season his companions in bliss, to go down on
a visit of love to earth, that he may direct Cornelius
what he is to do. Upon the wings of a joyful obedience, that angelic messenger leaves the front of the
throne of God, and the great roll of praises in the
upper sanctuary; and, lighting at the door of that
house where Cornelius is praying, he enters, and conveys this message to him from a prayer-hearing God:
"Thy prayers and thine alms are come up in memorial before God." By the angel's advice, Cornelius sends for Peter, who comes to him at his call;
and, whilst the apostle is preaching the gospel of
grace to Cornelius and his assembled friends, the
Holy Ghost falls upon him and upon all the members of his household, and instantly the joyous light
of the morning of a spiritual day dawns and flashes
in upon his heart.  He sheds not a tear apparently,
he heaves not a sigh; but, beneath the calm sunshine
of God's uplifted and reconciled countenance, he
passes into the peaceful and holy pavilion of God's
favor and love.
This great diversity in the roligious experience of
these Bible saints to whom I have alluded, at their
entrance into " a state of grace," may be fairly assumed
as just a prefiguration of the divers'fied operations of
grace in their souls which they afterwards experienced in
the divine life. Hence the difficulty arises of giving
in a description a portrait of what " a state of grace"
is in the experience of each believer.




CHAPTER V.
GRACE SUBJECTIVELY CONSIDERED (continued).
OURTH  FACT. -  The religious experience
t7 ~'~~1 of different Christians in a state of grace differs
very much.
The Apostle John's religious experience of a state
of grace is a day of sunshine, spent by him beneath a
clear and cloudless sky. He has his soul constantly
enveloped in an atmosphere of divine love.  The
smile of the Father of mercies and God of all comfort seems to have been the continuous light of his
soul.  The Apostle Peter's day of grace is more boisterous; his sky is not so clear and warm: it is a
stormy, gusty day, with frequent winds and rain.
David's religious experience is a thirsting for God.
He breathes seemingly the very atmosphere of devotion with which he is encompassed. "As the hart
panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul
after thee, 0 God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God.  When shall I come and appear
[68]




A STATE OF GRACE.               69
before God?"  "O God, thou art my God; early
will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh
longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no
water is, to see thy power and thy glory so as I
have seen thee in the sanctuary."
Here is the ecstatic experience of one of the chosen
of God: "I then by faith saw God'lay his vengeance by, and smile in Jesus' face.' It appeared to
be real and certain that he did so. I had not the
least doubt that he then smiled upon me with the
look of forgiveness and love, having laid aside all his
displeasure towards me, for Jesus' sake; which made
me feel very weak, and somewhat faint..... Under
a delightful sense of the immediate presence and love
of God, these words seemed to come over and over
in my mind:'My God, my all; my God, my all.'
The presence of God was so near and so real, that I
seemed scarcely conscious of any thing else. God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ seemed as distinct
persons, both manifesting their inconceivable affection,
mildness, and gentleness, and their great and immutable love to me. I seemed to be taken under the
care and charge of my God and Saviour in an inexpressible and endearing manner..... I seemed to
dwell on high, and the place of defence to be the
munition of rocks."
Here is the religious experience of another of God's
children; and the east is not further distant from the
west than the two experiences are: "My spiritual




70           A STATE OF GBRACE:
conflicts to-day were unspeakably dreadful, heavier
than the mountains and overflowing floods. I seemed
enclosed, as it were, in hell itself: I was deprived of
all sense of God..... My soul was in such anguish, that I could not eat, but felt as, I suppose, a
poor wretch would that is just going to the place of
execution."  It would be easy to multiply illustrations of such diversified religious experiences in different Christians as I have quoted above; and these
great diversities - in fact, infinite varieties - increase the difficulty of describing what "a state of
grace " is.
FIFTH FACT. - The religious experience of the same
Christian differs very widely at different times.
Take in illustration the case of David.  The Book
of Psalms is just a diary of the Psalmist's religious
experiences.  How  different is David's spiritual
condition at different times! At one time he is in
darkness, feels cast off from God, and looks up
despondingly to his heavenly Father; and gives us a
description of what he feels, in such expressions as
these: "Oh, send out thy light and thy truth: let them
lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to
thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of
God, unto God my exceeding joy; yea, upon the
harp will I praise thee, 0 God, my God.  Why art
thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? — hope in God; for I shall yet




DIFFITCULTY OF -DESCRIBING IT.       71
praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and
my G6d."  "Will the Lord cast off for ever? and
will he be favorable no more? Is his mercy clean
gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?
Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger
shut up his tender mercies?  And I said, This is my
infirmity; but I will remember the years of the right
hand of the Most High."  At another time, the
Psalmist feels his soul glad beneath the light of God's
uplifted countenance, - all with him is light and joy;
and he gives us a description of what he feels, in such
expressions as these: "The Lord is my light and
my salvation."  "There be many that say, Who
will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their
corn and their wine increased. I will both lay me
down in peace, and sleep; for thou, Lord, only
makest me dwell in safety."
The weather is not more variable than the religious
experience of every child of God. The Christian has
his seasons of heavenly sunshine and of holy calm, in
which he serenely walks beneath the unobstructed
light of reconciled Heaven: but, again, he has his
hours of darkness and of doubt; his spiritual sky is
beclouded, and his views of God and of divine things
are greatly obscured and overshadowed. At one time,
the Apostle Paul uses these words, whilst giving us a
description of his inner life: "Oh wretched man that I




72           A STATE OF GRACE:
am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"
At another time, his language is, " Therefore, being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access
by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice
in hope of the glory of God." Through the want
of holy watchfulness, and through the pressure, suddenly, of unexpected circumstances, the Apostle Peter
is led to deny his Lord and Master.  What, then, is
his religious experience?  Here is the inspired description of it: "And the Lord turned, and looked
upon Peter; and Peter remembered the word of the
Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock
crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went
out, and wept bitterly." This is his heavenly experience at another time: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his
abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last timne:
wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season
(if need be) ye are -in heaviness through manifold
temptations; that the trial of your faith, being much
more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it
be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ;




DIFFICULTY OF DESCRIBING IT.         73
whom, having not seen, ye love; in whom, though
now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy
unspeakable, and full of glory; receiving the end of
your faith, even the salvation of your souls." This
continuous varying of the spiritual condition of every
believer makes a description of what "a state of
grace" is no easy task.
SIXTH FACT. - A state of grace is chiefly the development and regulation of our moral nature, including
our emotions, by the gracious operations upon our souls
of the Holy Sypirit; but who can define our emotions?
I do not believe in the views of those who think
that the fall injured the moral past of our mental
constitution alone, whilst it left untouched and unimpaired the whole of our intellectual faculties. Such a
belief is not taught us in the Bible; nay, the opposite
is given there as the view of the Holy Ghost upon
the subject. The understanding has become beclouded
through the fall; and ignorance, with its grim and
restless visage, now occupies the throne of the mind,
upon which knowledge, encircled by a world of light,
once sat, and peacefully and serenely smiled. " Thy
word giveth light: it giveth understanding to the
simple."  "This I say, therefore, and testify in the
Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles
walk, in the vanity of their mind; having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of
God through the ignorance that is in them, because
4




74           A STATE OF GRACE:
of the blindness of their heart." I believe, however,
that, in a state of grace, the intellectual part of our
mental constitution is not so much changed, improved,
and strengthened as the moral. I believe this to be
a faict, that grace operates principally, but not exclusively, upon our moral nature, which is chiefly made
up of the will, with the emotions and affections flowing out from it as their fountain.  But the emotions
are indefinable.  Who can define love?  Who can
tell me what it is? - not its cause, not its operations
upon the soul, not its effects, but itself. Who can
define faith, and describe it as an emotion?  We
know its source, for it is the gift of God in the mission of the Holy Spirit; we know its object, that
being the Lord Jesus; we know it is a mental operation, for it is the exercise of a regenerated soul looking
to Jesus, as the wounded Israelite to the brazen serpent, as the man-slayer when fleeing for safety to the
city of refuge, as the sinking shipwrecked mariner to
the life-boat that is approaching to deliver him. Who
can describe what faith is in itself?  WNho can define
religious joy? The Christian feels it: he knows how
different it is from the presence of remorse or despair
in his soul; but he cannot define what it is in itself.
The same is the case with all tile emotions; they
cannot be defined: though a state of grace may be
said to consist chiefly in the religious emotions of the
soul, as these bud, blossom, and grow up towards a
state of ripening maturity beneath the sunshine and




D.IFFICULTY OF DESCRIBING IT.           75
the showers of a spiritual summer. Hence, again,
arises the extreme difficulty of describing what "a
state of grace" is.
SEVENTH FACT. - A state of grace is a state qf
2rogress; and this increases the difficulty of describing
it.
Let the painter execute the most accurate portrait
of an individual that was ever taken by human hand:
it will, nevertheless, not remain an exact and unchangeable likeness; for the individual is in a state
of progress and of change, and thus he grows away
from it.  Were I to paint the rose whilst budding
and glittering with the dew-drops of a summer's
morning, such a painting would not be an exact
delineation of the same rose when fully blown; and
this not from any defect in the painting, but because
the thing painted is progressing,, developing, and
changing.  The stream  at its fountain-head is not
the exact likeness of itself in every feature after it
has flowed hundreds of miles continuously, increasing
in width and in depth, amidst flowery banks, till it
reaches at last, and loses itself in, the great ocean;
like the believer's present river of grace, flowing on
and on, increasing and enlarging as it advances, till
it flows into heaven, and is lost in the ocean of eternal glory. The facts which I have now briefly stated
will show the difficulty of giving a portrait-description of "a state of grace."




76           A STATE OF GRACE:
So far as I can see, there are only four ways in
which it is possible to give to the religious public a
portrait-description of it.
First Way. -I might gather into one connected
delineation the casual and incidental allusions which
are made in the Scriptures to what takes place when
the Holy Spirit begins to operate in the soul, and to
carry on his work of grace there; and thus, by
bringing these detached passages into one combined
whole, I might endeavor to place before my readers
the Bible view of what a state of grace is. But this
would clearly be an unsatisfactory view of what a
state of grace is: for the Scriptures were not given
by God to us mainly to describe it, but to make
known the grace existing in the bosom of God
towards us, and which has manifested itself in the
great work of our redemption; and thus my elaborated Scripture delineation would be merely a constructive view of what the Scriptures say about a state
of grace.  Let another interpreter of the Bible set
himself to the task of gathering into one view all
those passages in which he thinks the Holy Spirit, in
the words of inspiration, refers incidentally to what
a state of grace is, and it is quite possible, nay, it is
morally certain, that his Bible description will be very
different from mine.
Second Way. - I might give my own experience
of what I find a state of grace to be. In the exercise of my religious consciousness, and by giving




DIFFICULTY OF DESCRIBING IT.         77
attention to what I feel and experience of the life of
God in my own soul, I might thus form a pretty accurate view of what a state of grace must be in the case
of every believer. This, however, would clearly be
both an inaccurate and also an unsatisfactory way of
describing a state of grace; for the religious experience of different Christians is infinitely various, and
even my own religious experience differs very much
indeed at different times.  At one time, I feel that
God is near me in all the outbursting joyousness of
his covenant presence.  I see the whole heavens
above me and around me enlightened, and blazing
forth upon my view, reflecting in their light and
calmness the glorious effulgence of Him who made
them; so that I experience the blessedness of those
who know the joyful sound, who walk in the light
of God's reconciled countenance. At another time,
and that at no distant interval, I see God in the gladness of his realized presence, as if gradually and
silently retiring from me: the heavens appear beclouded, the light and comfort they previously shed
down upon my heart becoming dimmer and darker,
until they lower upon me in the sombre hues of an
approaching spiritual night, whilst God appears to
have shrouded himself, amid the gathering darkness,
behind the curtain of an awful and frowning eternity.
Again: I feel these words of the apostle fully realized
in my own joyous experience: "And I, John, saw
the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from




78           A STATE OF GRACE:
God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband.  And I heard a great voice out of
heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be
his people; and God himself shall be with them, and
be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes; and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any
more pain: for the former things are passed away."
I feel at times as if heaven had in reality come down
into my soul, with its peace and its calm, and its
sabbath of rest, and its holy fervor, and its songs
of seraphic praise; so that I am led with the Psalmist
to exclaim, "One thing have I desired of the Lord;
that I will seek after,- that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the
beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.
For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his
pavilion; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide
me: he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall
mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round
about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle
sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises
unto the Lord."  I am  on the mount with God.
I see Jesus walking with me in his glory and love. I
come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the
city of the living God; to God, the Judge of all; to
Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant; to an innumerable company of angels; to the general assenmbly




DIFFICULTY OF DESCRIBING IT.          79
and church of the first-born, whose names are written
in heaven. ~ But how suddenly is this heavenly vision
dissolved! and how unaccountably do my spiritual
elevation and heavenly joyousness subside! I leave
— with the clouds of coldness and apathy again
beginning to gather, and hovering around me- the
mount of God, the pavilion of his presence, the holy
chamber in which I gained but a short time before
an audience of the Most High, saw with a gladdened
eye the King in his beauty, and beheld the land that
is very far off, with the sunshine of an unchanging
day shining upon its mountains of bliss, and with the
verdure of an ever-present summer spreading ever
green over its plains; and soon again I am deep
down in the valley of religious despondency, with its
mists and its clouds around me, and its river of sorrow
flowing at my very feet.  This changeableness is felt
by every believer in his spiritual and religious experience of the divine life. Thus it will not do to give
my experience of a work of grace in my own soul as
the portrait of what a state of grace is in the souls
of all God's children who are around me in the world.
As well might I get my portrait carefully and accurately drawn, and send it forth as the portrait of
every member of the human family. Why, as I have
said, there are not two faces in the world exactly alike;
and the influence of time soon changes my own.
Third WVay. - I might give a tleory of what I suppose a state of grace to be.  This is what Doddridge




80            A STATE OF GRACE:
has done in his "Rise and Progress of Religion in
the Soul."  I believe that treatise — written, doubtless, with the best intentions - has done an injury to
the cause of experimental religion, and has been the
means of awakening doubts in the minds of many of
the children of God about the reality of their personal religion.  When a Christian compares a stereotyped theory of a state of grace with his own variable, changing experience of it, the effect that must
be produced in his mind, if he believe the truthfulness of the theory, is to doubt his own personal acceptance with God.  What I need is, not a theory of
what a state of grace is, but a life to give me a representation of it; and our God and Father has made
provision for this in the person of Jesus.
Fourth WVay.-The exhibition of the life of the
Lord Jesus upon earth is the only safe and infallible way to show us what a state of grace is. If
you wish to see your bodily face, you must go to the
mirror and look into it, and there you see it depicted.
If you wish to see what a state of grace in your soul
is, you must look to Christ's life. Jesus is the gospel mirror, in whose glorious brightness every child
of God sees himself reflected. I believe it was that
we might be put in possession of such a mirror as
this, that Jesus tarried thirty-three years upon earth,
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.  Jesus
might have taken our nature, when he came down
into this world, in its maturity; just as Adam ap



DIFFICULTY OF DESCRIBING IT.          81
pears to have entered upon life, not as a child, to
pass through the varying stages of infancy and youth
towards manhood, but in the full maturity of all his
mental faculties and of all his bodily powers; and,
the very hour he came to earth, he might have ascended the cross, and died, to mnake an atonement for sin.
He might, the very next moment after death, have
opened his eyes upon the crowds below; and immediately thereafter he might have ascended from the
cross, to re-enter heaven, and to sit down upon the
throne with God. Instead of this, Jesus remains
thirty-three years in bodily presence upon earth.
I ask, Why so long?  The only probable reason
that can be given is  for the Scriptures are silent -
that he remained out of heaven, and with his glory
veiled, during that period, to show to the world in
his life what a state of grace is, or rather what it
ought to be.




CHAPTER VI.
A STATE OF GRACE.
HIIE Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven, the
manifested exemplification of what we are
to be when raised to a state of glory; and
his life upon earth is the pattern of what a state of
grace in us ought to be.  "For Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that we should follow
his steps."  This view of the Lord Jesus tends to
hold him up to the eyes of Christendom as all and in
all in our salvation; and it is also calculated to lead
us to endeavor to make our Christianity a life, a
habitual desire to imitate him in all things, that thus
the same mind may be in us that was in Christ Jesus.
It is thus only that we can adorn the doctrines of God
our Saviour, by a walk and conversation becoming
the gospel.
Before, however, I notice the leading features of
Christ's life upon earth, as the pattern of what a state
of grace ought to be, I observe that there is a distincr821




A STATE OF GRACE.                83
tion, which should never be overlooked, betwixt a
state of grace and the soul's transition out of a state
of nature into it.  Great dimness and confusion of
view have been produced in the minds of many Christians by overlooking this distinction.  The birth of a
child is one thing: the enjoyment of life afterwards is
another. The passage of the Israelites through the
Red Sea, the wilderness, and the Jordan, was one
thing: their settlement in the Promised Land, with
the smile upon the countenance of a covenant God
lifted upon them, with the shield of his protection
encircling them, and with the full streams of religious
fervor flowing down into their souls from God's favor, as its fountain-head, was another. We can only
form a proper estimate of what a state of grace is by
keeping in view this distinction betwixt that state and
the soul's transition into it; the process through which
we, who are by nature afar off from God, are brought
nigh to him through the blood of the cross, and obtain liberty of access into that grace wherein God's
children stand, and are enabled to rejoice in the hope
of the glory of God.
Azwakening to a sense of danger, conviction of sin,
conversion, or turning to God in Christ Jesus, jutstfication, adoption, regeneration, repentance, faith in its
first act of lZftinzg the newly opened eye in search of
a Saviour, are not, properly speaking, a state of
grace, but so many steps by which an individual
passes into it.




84            A STATE OF GRACE:
Again: here is a fact that should not be overlooked, when we are taking into consideration what
"a state of grace" is.  There is a distinction betwixt
the Christian's internal exp)erience of it, and its outward
manifestation, just as there is a difference betwixt the
vitality that circulates unseen through the roots and
trunk and branches of a tree, and the outward, visible effects which that vital principle produces; betwixt the invisible principle of vegetation in the earth,
and the productions which it annually pours from  its
bosom in such inexhaustible abundance; and betwixt
the fountain hid beneath the surface of the earth, and
the stream that wells up from it, and, by its flowings,
forms the beginning of the river, which, narrow and
shallow in its commencement, increases as it rolls on,
till in a volume of water, broad and deep and visible,
it is lost in the bosom of the ocean.
INTERNAL EXPERIENCE OF A STATE OF GRACE.
It is a most difficult thing, as I have said, to describe a state of grace in its internal experience. I
have read the diaries of many Christians, giving a
description of what they felt, and how they felt, in
their experience of a state of grace in the soul; and
nothing strikes me more in the perusal of these biographies than the great differences which exist among
believers in their religious experiences.  I cannot tell
whether these differences arise from  the diversity of
their constitutional temperaments, from their particu



ITS INTERNAL EXPERIENCE.              85
lar stage of progress in the divine life, or from the
differing supplies of grace given out to them by the
God of grace, or from the differing circumstances of
life around them.  Even Robert Hall, one of the
most eminent ministers of Christ who ever preached
the gospel to perishing sinners, whose ministry was
largely blessed by the great Head of the Church, and
who through a long life had been giving the brightest example of what the grace of God can do in the
soul of man, tells us that he had not the assurance
of his own personal salvation. But even the same
Christian has an endless variation in his spiritual experience of what a state of grace is, in its internal
manifestation. We may vary our figures, and say,
that, for a period, his soul, like a vessel brimful, is
flooded with the streams of religious joy, even as
the river Jordan overflows its banks: but, alas!
soon these refreshing streams of heavenly fervor
pass away, and his soul is left with the feeling of
parched emptiness and withered desertion; the
streams that make glad the city of God, are, in his
experience, turned away from him, and his heart is
left dry as the parched wilderness.
The mere possession of peace, and the undisturbed calin
of a serene splirit, are not the usual internal manifestations of a state of grace. I fear that some Christians
have accepted the view - and a most erroneous view
it is - that this is the case.  It is perfectly true that
the soul in "a state of grace" obtains a peace and a




86            A STATE OF GRACE:
calm and a holy joy, to which the wicked are strand
gers, whose souls are haunted by the terrors of the
Almighty, and are trembling with horror at the thought
of the wrath to come, and at the prospect of meeting
at death the frown of an angry God; but it is not true
that a state of grace bestows upon the soul uniform
peace, an exemption from all anxiety and striving.
Indeed, the first effect of grace communicated to the
soul is its awakening out of the peaceful slumber of
nature to a state of anxiety about its eternal interests,
and to a restless desire after spiritual and divine things.
The mere possession of peace in the soul is neither
the exemplification of the way in which grace operates
there, nor is it the infallible evidence that our eternal
account is settled, and that we are accepted of God in
the Beloved. The man who is travelling with a large
treasure in his possession feels far less peace, and far
more anxiety, than the individual who has nothing.
We are pilgrims and strangers here, as believers put
by God in possession of the fulness of the riches of his
grace; and the more we think about the value of our
soul, and the terrible consequences that will follow if
we lose it, the more anxious-not the more peaceful
and calm-will we become.  Doubt of our acceptance with God is no unusual manifestation of a state
of grace. Jealousy and distrust are often the effects
of intense love. Anxious misgivings are often the
consequences of strong friendship; and doubts and
tremblings lest we should come short of the great sal



ITS INTERNAL EXPERIENCE.             87
vation that is in Christ Jesus are often the very manifestations of a state of grace in the soul. When we
feel doubts about our acceptance with God, darkening
our minds and marring our religious joys, let us examine our souls, and carefully consider, Is there the
longing after assurance, the unquenchable aspiration
within to be like Jesus, to rise to the possession of
his glorious image?  If this desire exists, our souls
may be dark; doubts, gloomy and dismal as a frowning winter night, may lower over them: still that
aspiration for the light of God's countenance to be
lifted upon us, and for conformity to the image of
Jesus, is the evidence, even in darkness, that the soul
is in a state of grace. I believe, upon the whole, the
sky is more frequently covered either in whole or in
part with clouds, than perfectly clear: it is the same
in the believer's religious horizon. During a day of
wind and rain in summer, vegetation exists, and is
producing its effects in the bosom of the earth, even
whilst all the time it is unseen; and the sun is shining
serenely in his bright pavilion above and beyond us,
though entirely hidden from our view. It is the same
in our spiritual experience: the Sun of Righteousness
may be hid from our eyes and concealed altogether,
and yet grace may be operating in our soul, even at
the very time that a day of darkness and of gloom is
around us, and even when we have not the consciousness that our soul is in a state of spiritual life.
What natural life is cannot be described, except by




88            A STATE OF GRACE.
its manifestations: it is the same with spiritual life
within us.  I might as well endeavor to paint a
portrait of the weather.  I might as well attempt to
take a painting of the sky, which will represent it at
all times and in all seasons, during the day and the
night, the morning and noon, when its face is clear,
and when overhung with clouds, as to give a description of a state of grace in its internal experience, that
will be an unchanging portrait of it in its different
degrees of progress and ever-varying phases. Natural life, in short, can only be experienced through
our consciousness, and described by its outward manifestations: it is the same with spiritual life, —a state
of grace in the soul.




CHAPTER VII.
A STATE OF GRACE (continued).
HRIST'S life upon earth is the beautiful portrait which has been painted by the hand of
the Holy Spirit himself in the Gospels, by
the words of inspiration, and which is hung up in the
gallery of the world for the inspection of Christendom,
that Christians may see in it what a state of grace, in
its outward manifestation, is, or at least ought to be.
The flowers, when glittering with dew on a summer
morning, are all in the attitude of looking upon the
sun's face: through the dew the sun's image is reflected in every flower. Jesus sees, in like manner,
his image reflected in the believer's life: Christians
are looking to Jesus, and see in his life what their
life is to be.  I now proceed to give the leading
features of that life, in illustration of what is required
of us for our salvation.
LOVE, man Jfesting itseU' in action, is a prominent
feature in Christ's life; and consequently it is a trait in
your moiral image who are in a state of grace.
[89]




90           A STATE OF GRACE:
Christ's love to us is a subject that is infinitely
worthy of our earnest attention and frequent consideration. It is arresting the gaze, and is making vocal
the voices, of all the angels of heaven. "WVhich things
the angels desire to look into."  "And I beheld, and
I heard the voice of many angels round about the
throne, and the beasts and the elders: 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 honor and
glory and blessing."  Christ's love to us is also a
subject that is awakening more and more, as the
cycles of ages roll on, the admiration of these high
and now glorified members of our race, who have
through much tribulation entered the kingdom; who
have come from the east and from the west, from
the north and from the south, and have been sitting
down with Abraham and Isaac and with Jacob in
the kingdom of heaven; who have washed their robes,
and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb;
and who are now before the throne of God, serving
him day and night in his temple. The voices of ten
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, are even now rising before the throne of God in
this hallelujah acclaim: "Unto Him that loved us, and
washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath
made us kings and priests unto God and his Father;
to hinm be glory and dominion for ever and ever."




CHRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERiV.          91
"And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is
come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our
God, and the power of his Christ; for the accuser of
our brethren is cast down, which accused them before
our God day and night. And they overcame him by
the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."
"Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in
them."
The sacred writers seem to have lived much in the
view and contemplative meditation of the love of
Christ, as well as under its influence; and thus they
speak of it, in the words of inspiration: "As the appletree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved
among the sons.  I sat down under his shadow with
great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
He brought me to the banqueting-house, and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons, comfort
me with apples; for I am sick of love. His left hand
is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace
me."  "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear
children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved
us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweet-smellinog savor.".
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved
the Church, and gave himself for it; that he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing' of water by
the word; that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such




92           A STATE OF GRA.CE:
thing; but that it should be holy, and without
blemish."  "Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ?"  "Whom, having not seen, ye love; in
whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye
rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory."
Christ's love to us is a subject that will form the
song of our unceasing praise through all eternity.
But who can portray it? Neither the tongue of man
nor of angel can adequately set it forth.  It fills immensity; it embraces eternity: it is an ocean without a
shore. It is higher than heaven; what can we do? -
it will yet lift us up to heaven's mansions of glory,
and to its courts of everlasting praise. It is deeper
than hell; what can we know?-it has snatched us
as brands out of the eternal burnings; it has broug-ht
us up out of the fearful pit and from the miry clay;
it has put a new song into our mouth, even salvation
to our God. It is longer than the earth, it is broader
than the sea.
Think of the nature of the love that glows in the
bosom of Jesus towards us, when you who are believers contemplate it as the object of your imitation;
and be followers of God as dear children, and walk
in love, as Chzrist also hath loved us.  This love is not
an abstract attribute merely, a kindly emotion lying
dormant and inactive in his bosom. I can easily conceive Christ to have been, and to be, in possession of
love to us, in this form of it. I have seen individuals
in the possession of the grace of love that imparted a




CHRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTEIRNV.         93
gentleness and a tenderness and kindliness both to
their looks and to their voice, but whose love never
went out into action, into ptalj)able form, into deeds of
kindness. I can conceive Jesus in possession of such
a love to us as this,- a most beneficent Being, filled
with affection towards the whole intelligent universe.
I can conceive Jesus seated upon the throne of glory
above, with all the heavenly hosts around, looking
down upon us in our ruin, and about to go down into
an eternity of woe.  I can conceive Christ to be in
possession of such a love as this to us, and at the
same time doing nothing to save us, and, even whilst
pitying us, allowing us to descend into everlasting,
wrath.  Oh! if the Lord Jesus had merely been in
possession of this negative, soft, kindly, inactive affection, we must have inevitably perished. It is not such
a love as this that existed through a past eternity, and
that exists even now, at this very moment, in Christ's
bosom.  It did not content itself with the utterance
of a few kind words of lamentation over our ruin: it
brought Christ into action; it flowed forth towards us
in a stream of unwearied exertions, loving deeds, unparalleled sacrifices.  I thus look at what Christ has
done for us; and in this I see the evidence of his love.
We are so constituted, that we look upon the actions
performed, and the works that are executed, and the
sacrifices that are made in our behalf by our fellowmen, as still greater tokens and evidences of their love
to us than even their words and professions.  What




94           A STATE OF GtRACE:
is it that leads the mother to spend anxious days and
sleepless nights, that she may minister to the comfort
of her child?  It is her love to her infant.  What is
it that leads the father of a family to deny himself to
ease and to the pleasures and enjoyments of life; that
leads him to embark in the merchant-ship, and brave
the dangers of the ocean; to expose himself to the
perils of the deep, to hardship and fatigue, -that he
may provide for the wants of his young family? It
is his love to these children.  What is it that leads
the student to sacrifice his ease, it may be his health,
to pore with patient industry over his books, to converse thus with the dead as well as the living, to
gather into his own mind the thoughts that beam in
upon him through the words written upon the pages
of many a volume? It is his love of learning. W hact
was it that led Columbus to commit himself to the yet
unvoyaged bosom of the Atlantic Ocean, that he might
seek for a new world on the other side of its rolling
billows? It was his love of discovery. What is it
that leads the missionary to leave his native land, the
home of his youth, the friends who are dear to him,
to cross the stormy ocean, and to visit the benighted
lands of heathenism, there to preach the unsearchable
riches of Christ to those who are perishing for lack
of knowledge, who are sitting in the region and tinder
the shadow of spiritual death?
It is his love of souls.  Real love sometimes
exhibits itself in something like supernatural action.




CHRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.         95
This is exemplified by what took place upon one
occasion in the Highlands of Scotland, where a
little infant was placed in circumstances of the most
extreme danger. That little child happened to be
left exposed by its mother for a short period, sleeping
peacefully in its plaid, upon a lovely day, at no great
distance from its parent's home. In the mother's
absence, one of those eagles that are so dangerous
to the lambs of the shepherds' flock, and even to
little children, sails with expanded wings over the
spot where the helpless infant lies, halts in its aerial
voyage, suddenly darts downwards, snatches up the
child, and bears it away to the eyry, high up in one
of the cliffs upon the rugged brow of the neighboring
mountain. The tidings of the child's danger run
upon the wings of sympathy, and with something of
the rapidity of lightning, through the district. The
population of the surrounding country speedily assemble in the vale below, with commingled emotions
of the intensest sympathy and horror. The child is
still alive; but its position is such, that in a single
moment it may be torn in pieces, or hurled down over
the frowning precipices of the mountain to the vale
below. First one man, and then another, the strongest
among the crowd, attempt to scale the mountain's
side, and bring deliverance to the helpless child. It
is in vain. They are baffled in the attempt, and are
reluctantly obliged to come down. At last, a female
form is seen to emerge from the midst of the excited




96           A STATE OF GRACE:
crowd, and, seizing the projecting cliffs with a death's
grasp, she is seen, slowly but determinedly, climbing
her way upwards.  She ascends higher, and still
higher, amid the breathless gaze of the onlooking spectators. She reaches the child, still alive; and, flinging her arms around it, clasps it to her bosom with.
tears of joy. That female is the child's own mother.
-What is it that has enabled her to do what baffled
the strongest men in the crowd? It is the yearning,
glowing, irrepressible gushings of a mother's love.
This is the nature of Christ's love to us. - Jesus
leaves, not yon crowd up in heaven amid their gazings
of wonder, to ascend the mountain-side of difficulty
and of trial, to snatch us from the talons of the great
destroyer; but with a bosom all in a glow, and filled
with emotions of everlasting love, he leaves, amid
the delighted gaze of all the assemblages of heaven,
the courts of glory, that he may brine us deliverance
from sin and death and hell. We were, by the fall
and by our own sin, lying helpless, and exposed to
death, upon the precipice of perdition and of everlasting woe. The lake of fire, the bottomless pit, the
awful gulf of damnation, was yawning below. There
was no eye to pity, there was no hand that could save;
but his eye pitied us, his own right arm brought us
salvation. His voice is heard over us, about to perish,
in accents of love, saying, " Deliver from going down
into the pit; for I have found a ransom."  Christ
comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah,




CIHRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.        97
travelling in the greatness of his strength, mighty to
save. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me;
because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good
tidings unto the meek: he hath sent me to bind up
the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the
day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that
mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to
give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy
for mourning; the garment of praise for the spirit
of heaviness; that they might be called trees of
righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he
might be glorified."
This love, not as an abstract emotion, not as a feeling of mere good-will and kindness, but as an active
principle of the soul, is one of the outward manifestations of a state of grace.
Have you, who believe that you are in a state of
grace, that you are now numbered among the saved,
that your names are in the Book of Life, and that you
are now accepted of God in the Beloved, this love? -
this love shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy
Ghost? this love to God the Father, to Jesus, to the
Holy Spirit, not only existing in your souls, but
flowing out in a stream of action and of exertion for
the good of others? This is the first commandment:
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.
5




98           A STATE OF GRAACE:
And the second is like unto it:' Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself. Upon these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets."
When you rise to heaven at death, love will be the
atmosphere that you will breathe there; it will form
the vehicle in which you will soar for ever through
shoreless regions overhung by a sky of never-fading
joy; it will lighten up with a heavenly lustre the
eyes with which you will look there upon God, upon
Jesus, upon the Holy Spirit, upon angels, upon the
whole assemblages of the redeemed; it will impart a
softness, a sweetness, a thrilling power, both to the
voice and to the words with which, in your Father's
home, you will address, through eternity, those with
whom you are mingling and associating there. Ever
remember that love is not merely one of the leading
features of a state of grace: it is, moreover, one of
the chief elements in that present preparation for
heaven which is required of you who are the children
of God, and which will fit you for the upper sanctuary.
Again: sacrifices made for the salvation of men is
another feature in Christ's life, and in yours also who
are in a state of grace.
The sacrifices Christ has made for our salvation
cannot be estimated by the mind of man: who can
describe them, or give us an inventory of them? Tf
Christ's love to us, passeth knowledge, much more his
sacrifices do, which he voluntarily made to bring us




CHRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.          99
salvation.  Before I can adequately set these forth, I
must be able to look in upon heaven, and describe
what Jesus was there for all time, what he left when
he came forth upon the mighty mission of our salvation, and all that he did and suffered whilst he
remained in bodily presence upon earth.
Jesus had glory with the Father before this world
was. All the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him
bodily: " The Lord possessed me in the beginning of
his way, before his works of old. I was set up from
everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
When there were no depths, I was brought forth;
when there were no fountains abounding with water.
Before the mountains were settled, before the hills,
was I brought forth; while as yet he had not made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the
dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I
was there; when he set a compass upon the face of
the depth; when he established the clouds above;
when he strengthened the fountains of the deep; when
he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should
not pass his commandment; when he appointed the
foundations of the earth, -then I was by him, as one
brought up with him; and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing always before him, - rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with
the sons of men." The fair heavens were Christ's
eternal home.  No cloud of sorrow in his experience ever dimmed the brightness of his sky. The




100          A STATIE OF GRACE:
Father's bosom was his pavilion of love; and the
roll of heaven's praises was the tribute due to his
Godhead. All was joy within, all was ecstasy without.
But wonder, O heavens! and be astonished, O earth!
the Lord of glory sacrificed all these for our salvation.
IIe bowed the heavens; he came down; he entered
upon a scene of sorrow upon earth, such as no other
ever endured. These passages of Scripture but faintly
describe what he suffered for us here: "Is it nothing
to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there
be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done
unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the
day of his fierce anger. From above hath he sent fire
into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he
hath spread a net for my feet; he hath turned me back;
he hath made me desolate and faint all the day. The
yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they
are wreathed, and come up upon my neck. He hath
made my strength to fall: the Lord hath delivered
me into their hands, from whom I am not able to
rise up." " Why do the heathen rage, and the people
imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set
themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,
Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away
their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision."
"Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into
the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole




CHRIST'S LIFT ITS PATTERN.         101
band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put
on him a scarlet robe. And, when they had platted
a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a
reed in his right hand; and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, king of the
Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed,
and smote him on the head; and, after that they had
mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and
put his own raiment on him, and led him away to
crucify him."
The Lord Jesus thus leaves heaven, with its joys
and its praises, for earth, with its sorrows, its blasphemies and derisions. He leaves the throne for the
cross, the diadem of glory for the crown of thorns,
the light which covered him as with a garment for the
purple robe, the bosom of the Father for the cold and
silent grave, the smile of heaven for the gloom of the
sepulchre.
Do you possess these features in your moral image,
you who believe that you are in a state of grace? do
you make sacrifices willingly and cheerfully for the
salvation of those around you? do you resemble Jesus
in this respect? You are not called upon, as Jesus
was, to leave heaven, to veil the gleamings of divine
attributes, to endure sorrow upon earth, suffering and
rejection at the hands of those you wish to save, to
bear crucifixion, and to die for man. Neither are you
called upon, like the apostles of our Lord, to leave
your country, and your families, and your homes; to




102          A STATE OF GRACE:
give up the pursuit of trade and industry, and the
means of accumulating worldly wealth.  But there
are sacrifices which you will make, and which you are
called to make, for the salvation of others, if you are
in a state of grace. You will devote a portion of your
time for the religious instruction of those who are in
your home, and who are dear to you. Jesus devoted
his whole time, whilst upon earth, in one continuous
and earnest effort to bring men to God. You cannot
make an atonement for their sins; but you can do
much to bring them to trust in the atonement which
Christ has offered, once for all, upon the cross of
Calvary, by convincing them of its freeness, and of its
sufficiency to save all. You cannot save them; but
you can do much, by your holy life, by your heavenly
conversation, by your prayers to God for them, by
your counsels of affection addressed to them, to 1brin7g
them to the Saviour, that he may infold them in the
embraces of his ev-,1 ting love.. You are not called
upon, it may be, to preach the gospel yourselves; but,
if in a state of grace, you will cheerfully devote a portion of your worldly gains, and throw these into the
treasury of the Church, that missionaries may be sent
forth to carry the glad tidings of salvation to the ends
of the earth, animated by the gladdening hope that
your offerings in such a cause will not be in vain.
For the knowledge of the Lord is yet to cover the
earth as the waters cover the sea.  Great voices are
one day to be heard in heaven, rejoicing over a world




CHRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.        103
evangelized in every corner of it, and loudly proclaiming, "The kingdoms of this world are become
the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he
shall reign for ever and ever."
Is it a joy to Jesus to meet so many of the human
family in heaven, and to spend an eternity with those
he made, down in the world, so many sacrifices to
save? This joy, to some extent, is awaiting you who
are leading others to flee from coming wrath to him
who is able to save. You will meet in heaven, it may
be, many whom you never saw upon earth, but who
have been converted through your agency, and the
means you used for their salvation. How  much
dearer will heaven be to you as you share it with
those you have helped to save!




CHAPTER VIII.
A STATE OF GRACE (continued).
wflUMILITY is a feature in Christ's life, and't
yours also who are in a state of grace.
What humility is exhibited in the life of
Jesus! He leaves the throne of heaven, not to mingle upon an equality with angels and with redeemed
saints; not to unite his divine nature with that of
angels, but to unite it with humanity; and not only
so, but he becomes a homeless wanderer in this very
world which he himself created. Among all Zion's
palaces, there is no gorgeously furnished apartment
fitted up and prepared to be the birthplace of the King
of glory.  The Son of the Highest, the King of
kings, and the Lord of lords, is born in a stable, and
cradled in a manger. He who had for all time associated with the Father and the Eternal Spirit, having
all the riches of the universe at his bestowal, and
whom angels and the glorified worshipped, becomes
the companion of publicans and sinners, and associ[104]




A STATE OF GRA CE.            105
ates chiefly, not with the rich, but with the poor and
the lowly in this world. So poor is the portion which
Jesus voluntarily assumes here, that he depends for
subsistence upon the alms of the women, who, to
their eternal honor, ministered to him. He hath not
a home upon earth which he could call his own. His
words are: "The foxes have holes, the birds of the
air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where
to lay his head."
Have you, who profess to be Christ's followers,
and who call yourselves Christians, this spirit of humility? Do you feel, not lifted up by the view of what
you have already spiritually attained, but humbled,
because you are still so far short of what you would
like to be?  Do you feel that Christ is all in your
salvation, and that you are nothing? Do you feel
that all your righteousnesses are but as filthy rags
before God; that you are.nothing, and that you can
do nothing meritorious to procure salvation from God?
for whatever you do, and whatever you give, are already God's property.  The power of doing came
previously to you from him; the gifts bestowed
were before showered down upon you by him: so
that you are still led to look up to God, as David
did, when he thus disclaims the possibility of creature merit: "All things come of thee, and of thine
own have we given thee." IHumility is one of the
most prominent features in the Christian's moral
image.




106          A STATE OF GRACEE:
The believer, who has frequent admissions into the
covenant presence of God and into the unfolded pavilion of his glory, will not have a high opinion of
himself.  The room, in a state of dim twilight, may
appear comparatively clean, and free of dust. Let
the light, however, of the noonday sun pour its
beams into the same room, and what a cloud of floating motes you will then see around you in it, where
all before seemed purity itself!  It is when Isaiah
sees the King of heaven in his glory, and the unveiled light of God's presence with him, that he is
led to exclaim, " Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the
midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have
seen the King, the Lord of hosts."  The Christian
who sees aright the holiness of God, and the purity
of all who are in the heavens, will not have a high
opinion of his own pureness. "I never," says one
of the most eminent and successful ministers of
Christ, "felt so struck at the exhibition of humility,
as a prominent feature of the true Christian, as I did
one day, when entering the dwelling of one of the
poorest of my flock.  She lived up a stair in a little
garret.  Whilst just about to ascend, I heard the
aged disciple of Christ engaged in prayer. I paused
for a moment, and listened to these humble but earnest petitions to God:'O Lord! deliver me from the
love, of life, the fear of death, and the, terrors of the
judgment.' What attractions, I asked myself, has




CIIRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.        107
life to that poor and aged Christian? She can look
up to heaven as her eternal home; but what is her
portion upon earth to lead her to love life?  It is
poor indeed. Even in that scene of poverty, she
fears that spiritual pride may get the mastery over
her heart, and that her affectionfs may cling too much
to the world; and, in a spirit of humility, she prays
that God would deliver her, and carry her desires
upwards."  Have you this humility?  It is a feature
in the life of all who are in a state of grace.
Piety is another feature in Christ's life; and it is also
one in yours who are in a state of grace.
By piety, I mean a devotional tone and frame of
mind, — the thoughts on heaven, the affections on
God, the desires of the heart going out after spiritual
and divine things.  Christ's life is the highest example of ardent, unquenchable piety the world ever
saw. Christ's whole life upon earth is spent in near,
sweet, and unbroken communion with his Father and
our Father, with his God and our God.  The Lord
Jesus upon earth lives as if in heaven. Hence he
says to Nicodemus, "And no man hath ascended up
to heaven but he that came down from heaven; even
the Son of man, which is in heaven." The Spirit of
the Lord God is upon him, and he finds it to be his
meat and his drink to do the will of his Father in
heaven.  Christ's piety finds vent in the breathings
of unceasing prayer. He prays in the midst of the
crowd who are assembled in sympathy and in sorrow




108          A STATE OF GRACE:
at the tomb where Lazarus is lying asleep among the
dead. He prays whole nights alone upon the bleak
and unsheltered mountain-side, whilst the pale moon,
sailing calmly through the clear blue sky, looks down
in sadness upon her Creator, as if an outcast from
the dwellings of earth. He prays with his disciples,
when going out to enter upon the awful solemnities
of the garden of Gethsemane.  The Lord Jesus
walks the earth; but still he is of heaven: his
thoughts, his affections, his desires, are there.
Have you, who are Christ's followers, this evidence
that you are in a state of grace?  When the Lord
Jesus looks down upon you from  the throne of
heaven, does he see his life, which he once spent upon
earth, shadowed forth in yours? Does this language
express the breathings of your ardent devotion?"As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, 0 God. My soul thirsteth for
God, for the living God. When shall I come and
appear before God?"  "0 God, thou art my God;
early will I seek thee': my soul thirsteth for thee, my
flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where
no water is, to see thy power and thy glory so as I
have seen thee in the sanctuary." Does your piety
resemble that of Jesus, - in a holy thirsting after
communion with God? Are you in the world, but
not of it? Are your affections on God? Does your
piety flow out, from the fountain of a renewed heart,
in a stream of holy, affectionate, and persevering




CHBIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.         109
prayer? It is thus you will have thle evidence that
you are in a state of grace. You mlay as well expect
to meet a living man who does not breathe, as a living Christian who does not pray.
Holiness is another feature in Christ's life; and it is
a distinguishing trait in your moral image who are in
a state of grace.
Jesus is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from
sinners, and made higher than the heavens; and he
ever exhibits, in the midst of the sinful children of
men, a life of the most perfect purity and unspotted
holiness.  "Which of you," is his language to the
Jews, " convinceth me of sin?"  How holy and pure
was Jesus! The sun that shines in our sky is bright
and radiant; but he is not without spots. The sky that
encircles our earth is sometimes nearly quite clear; but
it is, perhaps, never without some little floating, fleecy
clouds dimming and marring the perfect serenity of
its calm. The angels who have kept their first estate,
and who walk before a holy God in heaven, arrayed
in their robes of white, are holy, - they are called in
Scripture the holy angels; but they are not holiness
itself. For the Lord looketh upon the sun, and it
shineth not; he sealeth up the stars; the heavens
are not clean in his sight; and he chargeth even his
angels with folly. The glorified who are in heaven
are holy, - they have washed their robes, and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb; but their
purity is a mere faint reflection of Christ's unspotted




110          A STATIE OF GRACE:
holiness: just as I believe that all the works of God's
hands are but the dim and the distant shadows of Him
who is over all; that all worlds are compassed about
with light, as with a garment, by the descending
reflection of His manifested glory who is above all,
and more resplendent far than any of the works of
his hands.
Do you, who believe that you are in a state of
grace, exhibit, to some extent, Christ's holiness of life
in yours?  Is your life, if not itself pure, at least a
reflection of Christ's?  Is your Christian path thus
becoming as a light which shines more and more unto
the perfect day?
Every consideration should influence you to live a
life of holiness. God, your Father, into whose image
grace is restoring you, is holy. Jesus, your elder
Brother, whose very image you are to bear in heaven,
is holy; and resemblance to him in this respect is
your chief preparation for the upper sanctuary. The
IHoly Spirit is holy; and, in his work of grace upon
your soul, he is engaged in the progressive work of
imprinting upon it this feature of his own glorious
image.  Heaven is holy, which is to be your eternal
home. Angels are holy, who are to be your companions. The glorified are holy, with whom you are
to associate in your Father's home for ever.  0
believers! follow after holiness: it is the chief part
of the court-dress that prepares you for the palace of
the King of kings.




CGIRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.        111
Again: there is, in Christ's life, very varying emotions (andfeelings; and you who are in a state of grace
must expect this to be your portion.
At one time, Jesus rejoices in spirit, and says, "I
thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that
thou hast hid these things fiom the wise and prudent,
and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father;
for so it seemed good in thy sight.  All things are
delivered to me of my Father; and no man knoweth
who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father
is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal
him. And he turned him unto his disciples, and
said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the
things that ye see; for I tell you, that many prophets
and kings have desired to see those things which ye
see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things
which ye hear, and have not heard them."  At
another time, the Lord Jesus is dissolved into tears.
This is a description of the scene of bereavement that
occurred at the tomb of Lazarus: "When Jesus,
therefore, saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and
was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him?
They say unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus
wept." "Then saith he unto them, My soul is
exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here,
and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and
fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless,




112          A STATE OF GRACE:
not as I will, but as thou wilt." At one time, Christ's
soul is all light and comfort beneath the smile of his
Father and our Father, of his God and our God:
" These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy
might remain in you, and that your joy might be
full." At another time, Jesus is left in the gloom
and the darkness of a terrible desertion.  He thus
exclaims, under a feeling of utter abandonment:
" My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me?"
Believers in Jesus, you who are in " a state of grace"
are to expect a similar variation in your spiritual
experience. You are not to look for continuous and
unchanging seasons of religious joy: if you possess
these unchangeably, your spiritual life is not the exact
portraiture of Christ's.  But I know you feel that
your religious experience is not invariably the same.
At one time, you realize God as near in his covenant
presence with you; for you have the gladness and the
jubilant exultation of his manifested presence vouchsafed to your souls: at another time, God hides the
smile of his fatherly countenance from you behind
the veil of the dark, lowering cloud, appearing as if
he had retired from you, and become a stranger to
you, leaving you as if deserted in a strange land.
At one time, you feel the ardor of an unquenchable
longing after God; so much so, that you are involuntarily led to breathe forth many of the aspirations in
Holy Writ. I would dread this religious state, - the
possession of a uniformity of peace and joy: for such




CHRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.            113
was not the experience of my blessed Saviour in his
life upon earth; and such, I believe, is not that of any
sincere and humble Christian.
Again: the holy development of the social affections
is another feature of Christ's life upon earth; and this
also is consequently, a trait in your moral image who are
in a state of grace.
I have elsewhere endeavored to depict a social
heaven, as the destined home, through eternity, of the
children of God. Christianity, in its origin, in its
being, in its effects, is the most wonderful social edifice the world ever saw; and, as a social system, it is
given us by God to prepare us for a social heaven. I
believe that genuine, personal Christianity consists not
so much in the strengthening, through God's grace,
of the intellectual faculties, as in the development,
through the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit in
the soul, of our moral emotions and religious affections. Personal Christianity is not a creed, nor a
form of sound words, so much as a life, and, moreover, a social life. In subordination to Christianity,
the family institution is one of the highest and most
important means for the cultivation of the social
affections existing upon earth.
The discovery, by Sir Isaac Newton, of the principle of gravitation pervading all space, and operating
upon all the material orbs that float in the great
immensity, showed the material universe to be one
-whole, its orbs the members of one great family,




114          A STATE OF GRACE:
influenced and operated upon by the all-pervadling
law, as if, in sympathy, they felt a natural tendency
to draw towards each other, and to feel for each
other.
"Law" is a term used by intelligent philosophers,
not as meaning a cause, self-evolving, and operating
independently of a lawgiver, but as the general way,
the usual course of procedure, through which He who
appoints the law or the cause usually operates. If,
then, gravitation be a law or a principle or a cause
pervading the whole universe, its existence is a
proof of the unity of the Godhead, in opposition
to Polytheism, and also of the absolute sovereignty
of God over all, operating thus, with a discriminating intelligence, upon all matter, and through all
space.
The social affections implanted by God in the
bosom of every created intelligence, and, moreover,
existing in God himself, is, in the world of mind,
what gravitation is in the universe of matter. God,
glowing with all the social affections of the divine
nature, is the centre, the all-attractively operating
source of sympathetic attraction to the human.  The
most deplorable effect of sin is thus the detaching of
the social affections from their Author, who alone is
supremely worthy to have them clustering around
him. To restore the social affections to a healthy
state, and bring them back to God, is, if not tlhe
only, one of the very highest objects for the accom



CHRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.        115
plishment of which Christianity is bestowed upon us.
"Now, then," says the apostle to believers, "ye are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens
with the saints, and of the household of faith."  The
whole of God's children in heaven and upon earth
constitute but one family, with the social affections
pervading all the members thereof: "For this cause
I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth
is named."
Accordingly, when the Lord Jesus came down
to earth, and took our nature, he assumed it with all
the sinless sympathies and social affections connected
with it; and so the religion which he came down
from heaven to establish in the world does not call
upon the Christian to flee from society, and from the
face of man, that he may hide himself in the lonely
cave or in the solitary wilderness.  Christianity is
manifested by Christ to build up the social edifice of
angels and of men into one great family, whose
hearts are to be set, not alone, but supremely, upon
God. The rose spreads around it its fragrance upon
the air: the Christian spreads around him the savor
of holy fervor towards God, and love towards man.
We have many evidences of love on the part of
the Lord Jesus in his intercourse with the human
family: "Now, Jesus loved Martha and Mary and
Lazarus." John is known by the endearing epithet,
"the disciple whom Jesus loved."




116          A STATE OF GRACE:
This is the true personal Christianity, where, the
soul turning to God as the needle of the compass to
the pole, the social affections well forth from the
warm fountain of the renewed heart in a stream of
love, - first, to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and,
second, to all the members of God's great family,
both in heaven and upon earth.
Is your Christianity, who believe you are in "a
state of grace," thus developing all your social affections, and especially love to God and man; pity
towards the perishing; sympathy to those who are
about you; desire to be'like Jesus, and to be conformed in all things to his glorious image?
I pass over, without illustration, the three following prominent features in Christ's life upon earth, -
zeal for God's glory and cause in the world, regular
attendance upon divine ordinances, longing to be home
with God the Father in heaven, - by simply observing,
that you who are in a state of grace will and must
possess, in a lower or higher extent, these features
also as traits in your moral image. If you' have
no zeal for God's glory, and for the advanceinent of his work upon the earth; if you do not
attend the public ordinances of God's house regularly, according as you have opportunity; if you
have no aspiration to be home with God in heaven,
such as Paul had when he said, "I have a desire to
depart, and to be with Christ," — you are, as yet,
destitute of a portion of the proof evidencing that




CIBIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.          117
you are accepted of God in the Beloved: for a state
of grace, in its outward manifestation, is just the
possession, in your moral iumage, of those features
by which Christ's life was distinguished whilst he
was upon earth.
/\k~'-~




CHAPTER IX.
A STATE OF GRACE (continued).
GAIN: submission to God's will in the season
of trial is another feature of Christ's life, and
also of your moral image who are in a state
of grace.
The Lord Jesus was the greatest sufferer who ever
bore affliction in this vale of sorrow. His whole life
was nearly one continued scene of suffering.  "He
was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief."
I never read of Jesus smiling whilst down in the
world; but I read of him sorrowful, grieved, weeping. He suffers poverty, the opposition of enemies
who hated him without a cause, the desertion of
friends, the agony of Gethsemane, the painful and
shameful death of the cross.  In the garden, the
cup of divine wrath, full to the brim, is put into his
hand. Before drinking it, he looks up in prayer to
his Father, with the exclamation (a cry that must
have penetrated to the inmost core of every inha[118]




A STATE OF GRACE.            119
bitant of heaven with a thrill of pity and dismay),
"Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from
me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done."
I address you who are in affliction. Has God taken
you by the hand, and led you aside from a world
of health and of business into a chamber of seclusion
and pain? Has the Lord shut the door upon you of
your sick-room, as he did the door of the ark upon
Noah, whilst the great deluge of trouble and the billows of affliction are rolling in their tumblings and
lashings around you? Are you looking up to God
with the feelings of wonder, why he, who is the Father
of mercies and the God of all comfort, should thus
visit you? Do you lift the eyes of an anxious and
wondering reflection to the heavens, and contrast,
with emotions of sadness, the different portion which
your heavenly Father is meting out to every son and
daughter of his great family yonder, where the inhabitant never says, "I am sick," and to you, visited by
the burning fever, the throbbing inflammation, the
gradual draining of your strength by consumption or
the frailties of old age? Do you hear the joyous laugh
of the young and the healthy reaching you, as if with
a grating sound upon your ear? Do you look out at
your sick-chamber window, and see the whole panorama of nature around you, as if all were in the
enjoyment of health, - the sun bright and joyous at
the good old age of six thousand years, as he travels
through the sky by day; the moon and stars still ap



120         A STATE OF GBRACE:
parently young and jubilant, after outliving the lapse
of many centuries, shining in their respective chambers
in the sky? Do you look around you in contemplation upon your neighbors in their respective homes,
and view how differently God is dealing with them in
his providence and with you? for they are in health,
and numbers of them sympathizingly call to make
inquiry about you every returning day. Do you feel
inclined to wonder why God should thus visit and try
you, and cause the dark cloud of affliction to hang so
heavily and densely and gloomily around your dwelling, whilst the cloudless sun of health and of comfort
is shining upon others around you?  Do not fret, do
not grumble, that your heavenly Father should thus
visit and try you. Oh! in your chamber of sickness,
and upon your pillow of pain, remember that He
who is a God of love did not exempt Jesus, his onlybegotten and well-beloved Son, from affliction here.
His whole sojourn upon earth was a life of suffering.
Neither does he exempt you from trouble who are
his. But, oh! the thought surely is comforting, -
God is visiting you, not in anger, but in love. " Whom
the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth."  "Now, no chastening for
the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of
righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."
Bow, I beseech you, in submission to the will of
your Father in heaven, when under his afflicting hand,




CHRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.        121
as Jesus did. He is with you in trouble. These are
his promises: "I will make my grace sufficient for
thee; I will perfect my strength in thy weakness."
"When thou passest through the waters, I will be
with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." The morning of returning health, it may
be, is about to dawn upon your present night of
trouble. Even if your present affliction is to be unto
death, you can look up in hope. The morning of a
joyful eternity is about to dawn upon you. The
angels of the Lord are hovering over you: they are
about, at Christ's command, to bear you upwards, and
to usher you into heaven, with the joy of a kindly
reception by Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and by
the outburst of a joyful welcome, given you by all the
inhabitants of heaven.
Again: in Christ's death, you see how you, who are
his followers, should resign your immortal spirits into
the hands of your God.
The most wonderful event that ever occurred in
heaven or upon earth, in eternity or in time, is the
death of the Lord Jesus, the Prince of life, with whom
remains the fountain of salvation, bowing his head,
and yielding up the ghost. Call up in your imagination the dreadful occurrences that took place in and
around the hill of Calvary, and try to realize who
suffers there. He who gives essence and solidity to
the material universe by the word of his power; he
who called angels into existence, and arrayed them
6




122          A STATE OF GRACE:
with their splendor and dignity; he who called the
members of the human family into being, - himself
died. Is it possible that the great Creator of all
things should thus stoop to sufferings; nay, to death?
Draw near in realization to the foot of the cross,
and contemplate the scene which there presents itself
to your view. See the hill of Calvary, with its surrounding eminences, covered everywhere with the
densely congregated masses of onlooking spectators,
who have assembled to behold the Son of God bow
the head and give up the ghost. See the cross laid
upon the ground by those who are about to crucify the
Holy One and the Just. The hands of the meek
and silent sufferer are pulled asunder, and forcibly
stretched apart from the attitude of prayer, and cruelly
pressed against the transverse beams; the nails are
pointed against the palms; the hammers are uplifted;
the blows upon the nails are almost simultaneously
struck.  Oh! cruel to relate, there follows the crash
of the inexorable iron as it pierces the quivering flesh,
and passes through the bones and sinews of the tender
hands! Similar cruel nails pierce the Redeemer's feet.
The cross is uplifted, and sinks down, with a jerk, into
the pit dug for it upon the summit of the hill. That
sudden' shake of the fatal tree sends a thrill of pain
through the contorted and twitching frame of the still
silent, holy sufferer.  Now the cross is upright with
the Saviour hanging upon it.  There it stands, the
centre of salvation to a perishing world. Oh, Jesus




CHZRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.      123
is dying! but it is not in the quiet, secluded, and
peaceful chamber of death; his head is not resting
upon the sof and downy pillow; no cordial is administered by the hand of friendship. Look again
upon the still silent and unmurmuring sufferer! See
these hands: they were ever stretched forth before,
either to relieve those who were suffering, or in prayer
to God in behalf of a fallen world, and of those who
had none to help; now they are pierced with the nails,
and are bleeding; they are fastened to the beams.
These feet, that traversed the length and breadth of
Palestine upon a mission of love, the most wonderful
this world ever beheld, - they are also nailed to the
tree, and the warm blood is bubbling out from the ragged wounds torn by the nails! That brow, which was
through all time diademed in heaven with a tiara of
glory, is now arrayed with the bloody crown of thorns,
and the warm drops of blood are trickling from the
sharp prickles! — that countenance, which through
eternity shone more resplendently than the sun, nay,
than ten thousand suns converging into one orb, now
overhung with the clouds of grief, and covered with
sweat and blood! -these lips, that were ever opened,
in the overflowings of a heavenly grace, to make
known the love of God to man, preaching deliverance
to the captives, and the opening of the prison-doors
to them who were bound, now quivering with pain,
and pale through the loss of blood! -these eyes, whose
every look upon man was the gleaming forth unutter



124          A STATE OF GRACE:
ablle love, now dim with grief, red with weeping!ah! sad thought, they are slowly closing in death.
Look up! the heavens are becoming dark! The sun
is already apparently away from the benighted sky,
and has seemingly retired to his chamber of sorrow,
to weep there in silence and seclusion over that painful and shameful death his great Creator is enduring,
and over the infatuation of his bitter enemies.  The
sky is as black as if it had suddenly become a firmament of congealed ink.  The earth is shaking, as if
trembling with fear. The rocks are rending, -the
earthquake of anguished terror is tearing them in
pieces. The graves are opening: the very dead, disturbed by these great commotions, cannot remain any
longer in their places of rest: they have come up from
their dark graves to look around them upon a scene
darker and sadder still.'The veil of the temple is
torn, as if by an invisible hand, from the top to the
bottom.  The assembled multitudes who are around
feel the descending overawings of a terrible apprehension; for they see in that dense darkness above
them the frown of the usually smiling heavens upon
those who are acting the fearful tragedy that is now
taking place upon the hill of Calvary.  How does
Jesus die?  It is in circumstances of great pain and
desertion; but it is in a spirit of holy reliance upon
his Father, and with the words of prayer upon his
lips.  "And, when Jesus had cried with a loud
voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend




CHRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTE.RN.       125
my spirit; and, having said thus, he gave up the
ghost."
I address you who are dying. Oh! solemn is your
position, great is the change which you are about to
pass through, thrilling the scenes which you will soon
look upon. You are in pain and in much weakness;
and you feel that exhaustion, and sinking of the heart,
which is almost as ill to bear as the- pain you are enduiring. Be of good cheer:. Jesus your Redeemer
died before you. Listen: he speaks to you, in sympathy and in love, from the throne of heaven: " Fear
not.... I am he that liveth and was dead; and,
behold, I am alive for evermore, amen; and have the
keys of hell and of death." Death is your Redeemer's
messenger to. you who are in a state of grace, come to
call you home. The tickings of the little watch of
time are becoming fainter and fainter in your hearing;
whilst the clangings of the great clock of eternity are
beginning even already, like the rollings of distant
thunder, to reach your ear where you now lie faint
and weary. You are about to leave time, with its
vicissitudes and changes, and to enter upon the great
unchanging realities of a glorious destiny. You are
about to leave earth; but, oh, delightful thought! it
is to rise into the home of yon opening heaven of love,
where, entering triumphantly its gates of glory, you
will be put in possession, for all time, of glories a.nd
joys inconceivable. You are about to leave these
loving friends of yours in your changed home, dear to




126          A STATE OF GRACE:
you and kind, -a mother, a father beloved; a son,
a daughter, dear to you; a husband, a wife, whom
you love as you do your own soul; a sister, a brother,
fondly dear to you; a niece, a cousin, an uncle, an
aunt, bathed in tears, anxious and trembling at the
thought that you are so soon to bid them adieu. But,
oh! as you lay your head upon your pillow, and look
up in faith from your bed of pain, how gladdening is
the thought, that you are leaving these your dear
friends in your home of sorrow, to rise, and join for
ever yonder the great family of God in heaven, and
the dear friends who are there already, who entered
it at their death, before you! They are thinking
about you, and they are speaking about you, and they
have come to the very shore - for they know you are
coming home -of the ocean of space: they are now
looking forth, with warm and beating hearts, to see
the outspread sails of that vessel of love, in which you
are to rise to heaven, heave in sight. These dear friends
associated with you upon earth; with them you took
sweet counsel, and went up to the house of God in
company; and, oh! how glad and joyous will t~hey be
to meet you at home! and you, when you meet them,,will share their joy. As the swan dies singing, so
prayer is the song with which the Christian should
expire. Use your remaining but gradually sinking
strength in pouring out your soul to your God and
Father. Oh! pray for your friends, - these dear
ones whom you are about to leave behind in your




CHRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.         127
home, all in tears. The prayer of a dying saint has
a power which nothing else possesses: it moves Him
who moves the universe; it penetrates the very
heavens, and enters into the ears of the God of
sabaoth. If you cannot now frame petitions yourself through increasing weakness of mind and wavering of thought, let these be your petitions: "Come,
Lord Jesus; come quickly." " Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit."  "Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit."
Christ's life upon earth, in its various features, is
the outward manifestation of what " a state of grace"
is, or rather what it ought to be. It is Jesus thus
constantly looked to, for an example how we should
live, how we should die, how we should act, how we
should szffer, what we should say in given circumstances, and what we should do, that constitutes the
unchanging model and pattern of what a state of grace
should be in us. Christianity, in its 1ife and power',
is a higher and higher and still higher aspiration to
be like Jesus. You who are Christians may be in
doubt about your personal acceptance with God; you
may he in darkness; you may feel as if God had
deserted you: but if you possess the unquenchable
aspiration to be like Jesus, and are seeking to be so,
you are in a state of grace, whether you know it, and
whether you believe it, or not. Yes, living, personal
Christianity is just an earnest, habitual imitation of
Jesus. Christianity, or a state of grace, in its life and




128           A STATE OF GRACE:
power, is not a cold creed merely; is not a form of
sound words merely: it is rather a holy, breathing
desire to live as Jesus lived, and to die as Jesus died.
It is only by viewing Christ's life upon earth, and by
regarding it as shadowing forth, in its lovely features,
what " a state of grace " in us ought to be, that we are,
as Christians, put in the position of keeping the Lord
Jesus always before us. It is thus, also, that the
Christian graces in our moral nature, acted upon and
developed, as the flowers that adorn the bosom of the
earth in summer, are awakened into existence, are
pencilled forth in their beauty, and are evolved into
the full blow of their loveliness, by being fully exposed to the shining of the summer sun. Thus Jesus
sees in us, in our moral image, - resembling to some
extent his life upon earth, — the travail of his soul,
and is satisfied.
Further: making Christ's life upon earth the pattern
of what " a state of grace " is, or rather should be, in
us, brings into operation the principle of imitation,
which God has planted so deeply in our moral nature.
We are so constituted, that we will imitate; and the
question becomes an important one, Whlom should we
imitate?  We are to be followers of God as dear
children, and perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect.  "Be not slothful, but followers of them, who,
through faith and patience, inherit the promises."
Making  Christ's life upon earth, which is so far
above what we can fully copy, the pattern of what our




CIJRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.         129
life with God upon earth should be, shows us that a
state of grace is not a theory merely, but a life, and,
moreover, a life of progress, spent in imitating Jesus.
Every figure employed in Scripture to represent to us
the Christian's life, or what "a state of grace" is,
gives us this view of it. Is the believer a spiritual
soldier, enlisted by Christ, the Captain of salvation?
He is so, not to be idle, and to spend life in merely
theorizing upon what it is that constitutes a state of
spiritual warfare, but to face boldly and actively his
spiritual foes, to fight unflinchingly the battles of the
Lord.  And, from the throne, Jesus thus speaks to
the combatant upon the battle-field: " Fight the good
fight of faith; lay hold on eternal life." Is the believer
a competitor for a crown of glory? Like those in the
Olympic games of old, he lays aside every weight and
entanglement, and runs with patience the race set before him, and presses toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  Is the
believer a fellow-worker with Christ in the vineyard of
the Lord? He is so, not to sit with folded hands in a
state of idleness, but to work the works of God whilst
it is called to-day.  The Apostle Paul very impressively shows us that a state of grace is a life of religious activity and progress, in these words, which
give us an account of his own religious experience:
"Not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect; but I follow after, if that I mlay
apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
6*




130          A STATE OF GBACE:
of Christ Jesus.  Brethren, I count not myself to
have apprehended; but this one thing I do: forgetting
those things which are behind, and reaching forth
unto those things which are before, I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus."
CERTAIN EFFECTS NOT NECESSARILY FLOWING FROM A STATE
OF GRACE.
There are certain effects which may flow from a state
of grace; but they may not; and consequently, if
you have reason to believe from other evidences that
you are in that condition, you are not too hastily to
conclude that you are not, merely because these effects
have not yet been produced in your religious experience.
A state of grace in the soul does not remove all doubts
about our acceptance with God.  He who never doubted,
never believed. Doubts, then, about our personal
acceptance by God, is not an evidence that we are
not in a state of grace, but a proof of how difficult a
thing it is to reach the knowledge of the great truth,
that our names are in the Book of Life.  Many believers never attain the full assurance of faith, - the
absolute knowledge of their personal acceptance by
God. If sanctification were completed the moment we
enter, by the regeneration of our soul, into " a state
of grace," in that case our perfect holiness in thought
and word and action would at once be the evidence




CHRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.         131
to us that we are in acceptance, and safe for ever.
But sanctification is a work, and therefore progressive; and so also is the knowledge that leads
to salvation.  Doubts are just the clouds in our
spiritual sky; but these merely prove that the atmosphere is not quite clear. Take the case, to which
I have already alluded, of an individual who is in
possession of a large sum of money, and is on his
way to his home. The night is dark, the road is
dangerous. Think ye he has no doubts and no
anxieties about his safety? It is the same with you
who are travelling to heaven.  The greatness of
what is at stake makes you often doubt, and sometimes tremble.
Again: the Christian is not delivered from spiritual
sorrow the moment he enters into a state of grace.
Are you feeling anxiety and despondency that you
should have lived so long in a state of spiritual estrangement from God; that he should have been so
kind to you, and that you should have been so neglectful of him?  This sorrow is the mist that generally
is seen floating upon the mountains and valleys of
earth, when the first streaks of day are breaking.
The divine life in the soul begins in sorrow, - that
godly sorrow that worketh repentance not to be repented of; and this sorrow may, faith becoming weak,
be brought back, by your relapse into sin, through
the hidings of God's countenance. But, if in the
divine life you have your sorrows, you have your




132           A STATE OF GRACE:
joys too, the consolations of the Almighty, which are
neither few nor small.
Again: absolute peifection in the moralities of life is
not effected all at once when we enter a state of grace.
A state of grace, as I have said, is a state of progress; it is a gradual advancement towards perfection; and the Christian's day of grace does not gain its
clearness and noontide splendor all at once. The
best man who ever lived has his sins, his clouds in
the sky, dark specks upon his moral disk, even as the
sun has spots upon his face; but these, if you are led
to feel a sincere sorrow over them, and to struggle
against their recurrence, are no proof that you are
not in the way of salvation.  Yet too many of them,
especially if signalizing frequent relapses into sin,
should awaken in your mind the feelings of a careful
jealousy, lest the root of the tree of life be not yet in
your heart, and you may not be in a state of grace at
all.
Again: those who are in a state of grace have not
necessarzily the assaurance of faith.
The soul in a state of grace, and the assurance of
faith as one of the fruits thereof, are as distinct and
different as the tree is from its blossom in spring, and
the ripened apple in autumn. Our entrance into the
possession of natural life does not usher us at once
into the full consciousness of it. The child is in a
state of being for a considerable time before it awakens
into the knowledge that it really is in life, - before it




CHRIST'S LIFE ITS PATTERN.          133
reaches the assurance that it really lives.  Analogy
thus leads us to expect, that, for a season,- some for
a longer, others for a shorter period,   believers will
be in a state of spiritual life before they awaken to the
perception of it, and rise to its full assurance.
Do I address one whose soul is following hard after
God; in whose heart there is the unquenchable aspiration after communion with God, and after a full conformity to the blessed image of Jesus? You may now
be in the cloud of despondency; but that very aspiration is the evidence that you are in the right way.
Follow on;. for " then shall we know if we follow on
to know the Lord."
Again: a state of grace does not deliver the soul of
the believer from the fear of death.
Thus, if you have the fear of death beclouding, and
even haunting, like a darkly-flitting spectre, the inmost
chambers of your soul, you are not too hastily to infer
from that, that you are not in a state of grace. Temporal death is one of the unrepealed penalties of sin,
from which even believers are not delivered. It is an
enemy, and a very formidable one. It is the last
enemy; and few can face a grim and formidable foe,
with the absolute certainty of being overcome and
overthrown, without feelings of anxiety, and even
sometimes emotions of a terrible trepidation stealing
through the frame.  When visited by the fear of
death, look up to Jesus who has conquered it, that
he may succor you out of his holy heaven, who has




134          A STATE OF GRA CE.
wrenched the victory from the grave, -who has, in
the hand of his love, the keys of death and of the
invisible world; and remember that temporal death is
merely the dark and sorrowful avenue that is to conduct you up into Christ's unveiled presence, and into
the realms of eternal day. Enter the valley of death
with the words of the Psalmist upon your lips, and,
like him, looking to Jesus: "Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil; for thou art with me."  In company with
Jesus, who is with you in your upward journey, look
back from the verge of these high regions upon the
dear friends you are leaving, with this adieu to them:
"Fare ye well for a season, you who are so dear to
me! In company with Jesus, my Beloved, with whom
I am safe, and hopeful even to joy, I am now going
home. The heavens above are opening their gates of
glory to receive me: but, oh, joyous thought! even
at this hour of sorrow to you, the time will soon come
when you will follow me to the skies, and will join
me yonder, and meet me and associate with me again
in our Father's home for ever."




CHAPTER X.
A STATE OF, GLORY.
E  expression, a state of glory," does not
occur in the Bible; but all the members of
the human family who are now glorified and
in heaven are in a certain state yonder, just as they
were in a particular state, though somewhat different,
whilst they were yet down in the world here. This
is the reason that has led me to use the expression,
" a state of glory," as a descriptive phrase; pointing
out in few words what the redeemed are now in heaven,
and what we are to be when we who are believers in
Jesus rise at our death, and go thither.
The Bible does not minutely and definitely describe
to us in every particular and feature what the glorified
are who are in heaven; it does not profess to do so: it
was not given for this as a primary object. The sacred
writers, however, in many incidental expressions, refer
to what those in heaven now are and enjoy; and by
gathering these into one collected form, concentrating
[1351




136          A STATE OF GLORY:
the scattered rays of light coming to us from the words
of inspiration into one focus, and looking upwards
through it upon the great and fair assembly of the
saved, even as the astronomer looks through his telescope upon the numberless stars that gleam upon his
view from the firmament, I am in the hope that I will
be able to throw some additional glimmerings, beyond
those dim views which Christians generally possess, on
this great theme.
The most graphic and by far the most lofty descriptions occurring in the Bible, about what those are
who have returned and come to the heavenly Zion,
are in the Book of the Apocalypse. That book closes
the canon of Scripture, and puts a seal upon the
fountain of truth, which for centuries had been welling in an almost continuous stream of new revelations
from God to man, to comfort and refresh the weary
and thirsty pilgrims of earth; and, before the seal is
affixed, John takes us by the hand, leads us upwards
to the heavens, and conducts us into the celestial
temple.  There, standing beside him, we look round
upon the interminable world above, and behold how
the heavens are crowded, how glorious its inhabitants
are, and what they are occupied in now doing and
feeling.
Those who are now in a state of glory are not at
present to us the objects of sight, nor will they be,
till faith with us also is swallowed up in sight, and
hope be enjoyed in eternal and blissful fruition. I




BIBLE DESCRIPTION OF IT.          137
thus attempt merely to give faith's view of the present
state of those members of the human family already
glorified, founded chiefly, but not entirely, upon
Scripture revelation.  I ask those who read what I
write to open the eye of an embodying faith, and look
up confidently with a steady gaze; or otherwise, like
a blind man looking at the heavens, bespangled with
numberless stars, through a telescope, they will see
nothing, or, at most, dim, flitting, unsubstantial shadows.
The careful readers of the Bible will readily notice
that there are, generally speaking, three senses in
which the word "glory" is used by the sacred writers,
-the personal and reflective brightness of Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost; the adoration, the thanksgiving and praise, presented to God by his intelligent
creation; the present exalted condition of the saved,
including also their future state when the last day has
dawned upon this world of sin and of death and of
graves, and when the bodies of the buried dead shall
be raised by Christ, and fashioned like unto his own
glorious body.
The word "glory," as applied to God, means
brightness, light, lustre. It points out the resplendent nature of those attributes personally residing in
him and manifested in his person, and reflectively exhibited in his works and doings throughout his great
creation. This glory belongs equally to Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost.  All that is luminous in the mate



138          A STATE OF GLORY:
rial creation thus becomes the visible manifestation
of the invisible attributes of God.  Is light the highest of the attributes of physical nature? It is the
visible manifestation of God.  On the morning of
creation, he looks forth upon the great pavilion of
space stretching dark and silent and empty beneath
his feet; and his voice for the first time awakes the
slumbering echoes of a responsive creation. Instantly
light is the answer to the high command; the universe is flooded, and the retreating darkness -hurries
away as if in terror, even as sin flees before the light
of grace.  Light is now to us by far the most visible
manifestation of what the invisible God is.  God is
light.  He covers himself with light as with a garment.  He dwells amid light that is inaccessible and
full of glory.  He is the great Father of lights.  Are
the sun and moon and stars the most resplendent
material bodies upon which our eyes rest when scanning the great panorama of space?  These great
orbs merely reflect the glory of God, who is reigning
above them.  "The heavens declare the glory of
God." " The invisible things of him are clearly seen,
being understood by the things which he hath made,
even his eternal power and Godhead."  How much
beyond all our thoughts, then, must be God's unveiled
form and appearance! And be it remembered, that
the saints who are in heaven now possess the very
image, the very likeness, of him; for man was created
in that image at first, and he only lost it by the fill:




BIBLE DESCRIPTION OF IT.          139
grace restores it to the soul, as a preparation for a
condition incompatible with the shadows of sin.
Then the soul of every saint is only a restoration of
what man lost at the beginning, -a bringingc-back,
as it were, of the divine image, which had been
changed and defaced; even that of Him who reigns
over all, God blessed for ever.
Is the sun bright?  He is brighter who created
him, and invested him with that power which calls
up to the eye the secrets of space. Is the' moon
bright, whose calm, sweet face has often given out
a look of unspeakable comfort to many a traveller
benighted on his way to his home, and to many a
mariner whilst gliding onwards upon the darkening
deep towards his desired haven? Ite is brighter,
fairer, and infinitely more cahnlm and comforting, who
placed her in the sky to rule the night.  Are the
stars bright in their quiet, silvery twinkling, so far
away in the deep concave? He is brighter who summoned them, on the morning of creation, into existence, and calls them all by their names, and places
them in their respective spheres, to adorn, like so
many glittering diamonds, the crown that is. upon the
brow of night.  Is the rainbow bright, which spans,
with its changing arch, the sky, and illumines the
world with its brilliant colors and fairy tints? He is
more beautiful who gives it to be a painted girdle to
the darkening cloud.  Are the heavens bright when
studded all over upon a clear, cloudless, frosty even



140          A STATE OF GLORY:
ing?  He is brighter who created them, and spread
them out to be a wonder to man, who can scarcely
look upon them without fear.  Are angels bright,
each in lustre exhibiting the reflected image of God?
— for they are not merely the morning-stars of
heaven, who were before man was: they are also
the sons of God, and, as such, have been created in
his image. I-e is brighter who created them, and
assigned them their high and lofty rank in the scale
of existence.  These passages of Scripture set before
us the lustre of angels: "And all that sat in the
council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as
it had been the face of an angel."  " And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed
with a cloud; and a rainbow was upon his head; and
his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars
of fire."
Those of the human family who are now in heaven
are in possession of a similar glory in their form and
appearance. They are equal unto the angels; they
form a part of the same family; and all the members
are bearing and exhibiting the likeness of Him who is
upon the throne.
You require to realize this glory of God and of
angels by viewing' them through the lofty language
of Scripture.  The chief beauty of the saved in
heaven is this possession of the image of the adorable
God. The painter, with all his artistic skill, cannot
portray their radiant forms. The poet, with the most




BIBLE DESCRIPTrON OF IT.           141
sparkling and brilliant imagination that ever threw its
fairy tints upon the objects of earth or heaven, cannot in adequate terms describe their loveliness and
beauty.  "It doth not yet appear what we shall be."
Gather into one cluster all the beauty that exists
everywhere in the great and variegated creation of
God; image, in Fancy's chamber of picturings, whatever is fair and lovely throughout the whole universe,
all concentrated into one representation, - and even
then you cannot by possibility realize adequately the
grandeur of these intelligences.
Again: the Bible fiequtlently sets before us this fact,
that those of the human family who are now in heaven
have reached the highest possible rank.  Their condition, in this respect, is one of an almost inconceivable
exaltation.  They are kings and priests unto God.
They are the children of the Most High.  God is
their Father.  Through their covenant and filial
relation, all that God is, all that God possesses, is
theirs.  "I will cause them  to walk by the rivers
of waters, in a straight way, where they shall not
stumble; for I am a father unto Israel, and Ephrain
is my first-born."
The saints in glory are more nearly related to
Jesus than even the angels. Angels are the undying
courtiers of heaven's glorious palace. No words can
express the grandeur of their appearance. The presence of only one of them, flying by night upon the
wings of love and of a willing obedience over the




142          A STATE OF GLORY:
plains of Bethlehem, threw such a splendor around
the trembling shepherds, illuminating the whole
plains, as if the absent sun, suddenly returning, had
burst upwards upon their gaze from the east, to
pour down once again the whole floods of his noonday light.
Yet, high in rank, beauteous in form, and splendid in their appearance, as angels are, still remember
they are not now the highest created inhabitants who
are in heaven. Do you ask, Who are higher, who
can be higher, than angels, except Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost? What creature is or can be more
exalted yonder?  I answer, The saints of God; for
the Bible tells us that Jesus, who is upon the throne
with God the Father, has not allied himself to angels.
He has not stooped to assume their nature, and thus
to exalt it; but Jesus has conferred this honor upon
the saints, exhibiting, in the glorious features of his
bodily presence in heaven, not the nature of angels,
but the very embodification of humanity.  He is yonder in human form.  Jesus has thus raised the saints
in heaven by taking possession of their nature, and
has exalted them even to an equality with himself.
When angels look up to the throne, they see, not their
nature upon it in the person of Jesus, but the saints
do theirs.
This is probably the reason why the glorified are
represented in Holy Scripture as standing nearer
the throne of God than even angels do.  " After this




BIBLE DESCRIPTION OF IT.          143
I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven:
and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a
trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up
hither, and I will show thee things which must be
hereafter. And immediately I was in the Spirit;
and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat
on the throne.  And he that sat was to look upon
like a jasper and a sardine stone; and there was a
rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto
an emerald.  And round about the throne were four
and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and
twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and
they had on their heads crowns of gold."  "And I
beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round
about the throne and the beasts and the elders:
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 honor and glory and blessing."
I am thus led to understand, from the revelations
of God himself in Holy Scripture, that he has
exalted the saints in heaven; at least, he will yet exalt them, not merely, as now, in their souls, but also
in their bodies, after the resurrection, to as high a
rank as it is possible for even God to confer. There
is no kingdom so glorious as that of heaven; and
they are now in possession of it. There is no throne
in the wide, wide universe, higher than the throne of




144          A STATE OF GLORY:
God and of the Lamb; and they are now exalted to
it. There is no crown so bright as Christ's; and it
is upon every brow. There is no home in the whole
universe of God, in its glory, its light, its love, at all
to be compared'to heaven; and they are now in it,
a great, united, and loving family. There is no rank
in the whole intelligent creation above the rank of
the children of God; and the saints in heaven now
possess it.
Believer in Jesus, art thou poor and friendless in
the world, forced to say with thy Redeemer whilst he
was down here, "The foxes have holes, the birds of
the air have nests," but I have not a home that I can
call my own in the whole world? Look up to heaven,
thy home, in faith and in hope. Oh, how rich is thy
portion to be yonder for ever!
Again: the Bible represents the glorified who are in
heaven as in a state of holiness.
Their holiness is a very prominent feature in their
present state of glory.  "Holiness unto the Lord"
was an inscription engraven upon the front of the
mitre of the high priest in Israel: "Holiness unto
the Lord" is an inscription written, if I may use the
expression, by the finger of the Holy Spirit upon the
brow of the glorified soul, and upon the crown that
is placed there. Heaven is a world of perfect holiness: it is God's Holy of Holies, the most awfully
sacred and solemn place in his whole universe.
"There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that




BIBLE DESCRIPTION- OF IT.        145
defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or
maketh a lie."  The preparation for heaven is thus set
forth in the Scriptures by one emphatic sentence:
" Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."
The saints in heaven are all holy: they are holy as God
is holy; they are pure as Christ is pure. "What
are these which are arrayed in white robes? and
whence came they?  These are they which came
out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes,
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore are they before the throne of God, and
serve him day and night in his temple; and He that
sitteth upon the throne shall dwell among them."
"Unto Him that loved us," is their exulting song in
these high heavens, " and washed us from our sins in
his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests
to God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever." The Psalmist's prayer is,
" Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash
me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Yonder saints
of the Most High have had this prayer fulfilled in
their individual experience. They are now purer,
through the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit,
than the driven snow.  Therefore, child of God,
believer in Jesus, pray, oh! daily pray, for the living
waters of the Holy Spirit and of the Lamb to descend
from the upper sanctuary upon thy soul, to cleanse
thee from sin, and to prepare thee in holiness for
yon fair assembly.
7




146          A STATE OF GLORY:
Again: the Bible represents the glorified in hzecven as
in a state of love. The Holy Spirit is touching their
lips as with a live coal from off the altar of heaven:
thus the flame of love burns unceasingly upon the
altar of each of their hearts. Looking up to God,
and beholding in the light of eternity his face in love
smiling upon them, their exulting language must be
that of the Apostle Paul, "We love him because he
first loved us;" or that of the Apostle Peter in answer to the question of Jesus: "Lovest thou me?
Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I
love thee." Love to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
ascends continuously from their holy hearts, even as
a cloud of incense.  These saints love not only the
angels, who constitute a part of the family in which
they are now numbered: they love also the whole of
their fellow-saints. The very atmosphere of heaven
is love, and this they unceasingly breathe; for love
is the irradiated light of God's presence, shed down
upon them, and reflected from them. Love is the
language of heavenly emotional tenderness, with
which they speak to each other in the presence of
their heavenly Father. Love gives its touching and
moving sweetness to the tones of their heavenly voices.
Love spreads its azure and glowing hues everywhere
around them; and thus the glorified may be said to be
pavilioned in love.
Believer in Jesus, see that thou art cherishing this
heavenly emotion of Christian love to God, and to



BIBLE DESCRIPTION OF IT.           147
wards the whole family of God, and especially towards
the m6mbers of thy home-circle, and those other dear
friends in Christ who are along with thee. It is this
that brings down heaven into thy soul here, and gives
thee the preparation for a residence of love.
Again: the Bible represents the glorifed in heaven
in a state of external splendor and beauty.
I shall, in the next chapter, refer more particularly
to the form and appearance of the spirits of the just
made perfect, -the disembodied souls of the glorified,
who are in a state of separation from the body.  I
now only refer to their external, not inward, splendor
and beauty, chiefly as given in the words of Scripture.
This is an inspired description of the mystic spouse, -
a delineation which sets forth most vividly the beauty
of every glorified saint: " Thou art all fair, my love;
there is no spot in thee."  " Who is this that looketh
forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the
sun, and terrible as an army with banners? " " Thine
head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine
head like purple: the king is held in the galleries.
How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for
delights! "  This is the Apostle John's description of
the Church of Christ, as viewed collectively,- language which sets forth the splendor of saints individually, — for what is true of the whole is equally
true of each one: " And there appeared a great
wonder in heaven,- a woman clothed with the sun,
and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a




148          A STATE OF GLORY:
crown of twelve stars." Moses and Elias, upon the
3Mount of Transfiguration, exhibit to us the mystic
splendor of the heavenly state, which it is so hard
for us to conceive.  These two members of the
Church triumphant in heaven appeared in Christ's
presence, and to the view of the three chosen disciples as being " in glory."  The same word "glory"
is used by the sacred writers to describe Christ's
appearance on the same occasion, when "his face
did shine as the sun, and his raiment became white
like the light."  In  this external attribute the
whole of the saints in heaven now appear, and in
those happy regions where no night darkens over
them.
If all the countless multitudes of the saved who
are now in heaven thus possess and exhibit the very
image, the exact likeness, of Jesus, -and this is
true, - our thoughts naturally strain to realize what
must be the outward aspect of the whole assemblages
of the redeemed, and we immediately form similitudes
and comparisons.  The stars are but pale tapers;
the sun's light faints and fades; the pure diamond is
dimness itself; the lily looks cold and faded; the
rose is but a withered leaf; the snow is dinginess
itself; the loveliest female who ever graced with her
smile the social circle upon earth appears very
deformity itself, -- compared with the forms of God's
glorified children, who are standing with these robes
of white before the throne of the Most High.




BIBLE DESCRIPTION OF IT.         149
Believer in Jesus, this is your high destiny. In
the season of sickness and trouble, when your beauty
withers, remember this, and be not cast down. In
old age, when wrinkles begin to embed with their
deep furrows your once fair brow, and the snows of
declining strength are scattered around your head,
do not forget it. In the season of poverty, when a
homeless wanderer upon earth, and your face thin
and pale with want, look up in faith, and be not dispirited. There is a joyous home prepared for you,
that will more than make you amends for your present deprivations and trials. Unchanging youth and
beauty will be your portion; joy in return for your
present sorrow; riches for poverty, beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness. There is also awaiting
you the building of God, as your home for eternity,
- the house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens.




CHAPTER XI.
A STATE OF GLORY (continued).
HE Scriptures, literally interpreted, reveal to
us thefact, that the whole of the saved who
are now in heaven, with the exception of
Enoch and Elijah, are as if widowed; for their souls
are in a state of separation from the bodies in which
they once dwelt, and which they have left behind
them in the graves of earth: for, whilst we are told
that Lazarus was raised from the dead, it is more
than probable that he died a second time, and was.
buried; and whilst it is also said that the bodies of
many of the saints arose at Christ's crucifixion, and
went up to the holy city, and showed themselves to
many, the probability is that these saints fell asleep
again, and were buried.
Some divines think that there are certain hints
thrown out in a few scattered passages of Scripture,
that the body of Moses, buried by the Lord, was
miraculously preserved from putrefaction in the grave
r15so




A STATE OF GLORY.              151
for a thousand years, that his soul might, at Christ's
transfiguration, come down with Elias from heaven,
and enter it, so as to be capable of speaking to Christ,
and associating with the three chosen disciples; and
that, when the transfiguration was over, Moses then
returned in his body, which he had thus got in this
special mission of his to earth, and entered heaven.
This, however, is mere conjecture.
I believe, judging from  the announcements of
Scripture, that there are only two - the two members of the human family whom I have already
named - who have their bodies in heaven: the
others who are there are in a disembodied state, their
souls being as yet separated, and apart from the
bodies in which they once dwelt.  The question
which I have now to consider is, What is the present
state, viewed not externally, but in themselves, of
these spirits of the just made perfect? In other
words, What is the form and appearance of a soul disembodied?  To this question I reply, The Bible has
not said much about disembodied spirits. It tells us
where they are, and with what encircled: but it does
not say much about what they are; and for this reason,
- the great object of God in the Bible is neither to
describe minutely and fully a state of grace upon
earth, nor yet a state of glory in heaven; but to place
before the human family, clearly and impressively,
the way of salvation through Jesus.  Still there are
a few incidental allusions in the Bible to what the




152           A STATE OF GLORY
children of God are, both in the one state and in
the other.
The Bible tells us that the souls of the saved, who
are in heaven, are visible: they are seen not merely
by God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; not merely
by angels; not merely by each other: they have also
been seen by some of the members of the human family
whilst still the inhabitants of the world.  The Prophet
Micaiah says, "I saw also the Lord sitting upon his
throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his
right hand and on his left." The Apostle John tells
us, " When he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under
the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word
of God, and for the testimony which they held. And
they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O
Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge
our blood on them that dwell on the earth? -And
white robes were given unto every one of them; and
it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a
little season, until their fellow-servants also, and their
brethren, that should be killed as they were, should
be fulfilled."  The apostle here expressly asserts that
he saw the souls of the martyrs in heaven.  Do not say,
through the influence of a withering unbelief, or of a
hesitating assent to such an expression, that the
apostle speaks thus to us in merely figurative language, and that he (id not really see the souls of the
saved in heaven, but a mere vision, a something that
was not real. The apostle himself makes the express




SHOWN BY THE SAVED IN HEAYEN.  153
statement, that he did see the sotuls of the saved, —
souls whose bodies had been murdered upon earth;
and I trust that you, the objectors to the possibility
of disembodied souls being seen, are not'prepared to
say, that, when using such language, the Apostle
John was guilty of writing down upon the page of
inspiration what was not literally and exactly true.
Purely spiritual beings, we learn from  Scripture,
have been seen, not merely by other spiritual existences,
but also by men whilst yet upon earth; and this fact
forms a presumptive evidence that the disembodied
souls of the now glorified may be seen also.
This is a description given of God the Father by
Jesus, who is the faithful and true witness: " God is
a Spirit." - Nevertheless, God has been the object of
sight, not merely to the hosts of heaven, who now
enjoy the beat ific vision, the privilege of seeing God
unveiled, but also by some of his children whilst they
were yet here. When God appears to Job in the
whirlwind, the patriarch's language is: "I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now
imine eye seeth thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and
repent in dust and ashes."  Micaiah's language is:
"I saw also the Lord sitting upon his throne."  Isaiah's language is: "In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high
and lifted up.... Above it stood the seraphims."
The Apostle John says, "After this I looked, and,
behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first




154          A STATE OF GLORY
voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet
talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I
will show thee things which must be hereafter. And
immediately I was in the Spirit; and, behold, a
throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a
sardine stone; and there was a rainbow round about
the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.  And
round about the throne were four and twenty seats:
and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their
heads crowns of gold."
The Holy Spirit has occasionally become to the
inhabitants of earth the object of sight. When the
Lord Jesus entered upon his public ministry, his
anointing by the Holy Spirit to the office of his
priesthood upon earth is thus described: "Now, when
all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that,
Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven
was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a
bodily shape, like a dove, upon him; and a voice
came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved
Son; in thee I am well pleased." On the day of
Pentecost, the Holy Spirit again became visible:
"And, when the day of Pentecost was fully come,
they were all with one accord in one place. And
suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a
rushing mighty wind; and it filled all the house where
they were sitting. And there appeared unto them




SHOWN BY THE SA VED IN HEA VEN.  155
cloven tongues, like as of fire; and it sat upon each
of them. And they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as
the Spirit gave them utterance." When the Apostle
John sees the heavens opened in Patmos, he thus
speaks of the Holy Spirit, who had become visible to
his view: " And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of
God sent forth into all the earth."
Angels have appeared to men upon the earth, and
have been seen by them, as these passages of Scripture fully prove: "And, while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two
men stood by them in white apparel; which also
said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up
into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up
from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner
as ye have seen him go into heaven." " And the
Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre;
and he sat in the tent-door in the heat of the day:
and he lift up his eyes, and looked, and, lo, three
men stood by him; and, when he saw them, he ran
to meet them from the tent-door, and bowed himself
toward the ground."  "And there was a certain
man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose
name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and
bare not. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto
the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art
barren, and bearest not; but thou shalt conceive,




156           A SWTATE OF GLORY
and bear a son." " For there stood by me this night
the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,
saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Cesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them
that sail with thee." "And I saw another angel fly
in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting
gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth,
and to every nation and kindred and tongue and
people; saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give
glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come:
and worship Him that made heaven and earth, and
the sea, and the fountains of waters."  If angels
have thus become visible, the objects of sight to the
eyes of men (and the passages of Scripture I have
quoted fully prove that this is the case), why might
not the souls of the saved in heaven be seen as well, even
by the bodily eye of those who were as yet the inhabitants of earth?
I do not pretend to tell what constitutes the essence
of the soul, or in what the substJ'-atlim, the spiritual
substance, of the soul consists.  The soul is not
thought: it is that in which thought resides as a
quality. The soul is not the mere combination of
certain faculties, such as consciousness, sensation,
perception, conception, understanding, will, memory,
judgment, conscience: these faculties are merely
certain powers or qualities inherent in the soul. The
body of man and the soul of man were, in the case
of Adam, separate creations. " God made the body




SHOWN BY THE SAVED IN HEAVEN.  157
of Adam of the dust of the ground, and then he
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living soul." I believe we have there a
type of the creation by God of every member of the
human family. I know not, and perhaps I will never
be able fully to comprehend, even throughout eternity, amid all the light and knowledge that awaits
me in heaven, that which constitutes the essence, the
ens entis, the soul in itself. I simply know, for I am
expressly told this in my Bible, that the souls of the
already saved, in a state of separation from their
bodies, exist in heaven, and, in their disembodied
state, yonder act and move and walk and s2eak and
sing and communicate their thoughts to those around
them, in the language used by God's children who
are now home with him in glory; and the souls of
the glorified who are in this state form a multitude
which no man can number.
I know, however, just as little what that is which
constitutes the essence of the body of man, the entity
of the material frame, in which, for a season, man's
soul dwells here, and in which it will dwell for ever,
when the body has been raised by Christ upon the resurrection-morning. I have a distinct conception of
the body of my friend or neighbor. I know nothing,
however, about the essence of his body. I know no
more, even by the aid of the analytical process of
reducing matter to qualities existing in the mind, than
that these qualities cluster about a substratum  or




158          A STATE OF GLORY
essence which no man ever saw. That essence is just
as much unknown to me as the essence of the soul.
When thinking of the body of my friend, or when
looking at it, I have merely the complex idea of certain qualities residing in the body, such as size, color,
expression. I know, however, absolutely nothing at
all about the essence. May I not?  Can I not arrive
at just as definite a view of the soul, either residing
in the body or in its disembodied state, through the
realizing power of faith?  May I not succeed in
obtaining a complex view of the soul of my mother
or father or brother, who may be now in heaven, by
fixing my attention upon certain qualities inherent in
their souls, such as existence, consciousness, perception, memory, love, joy? By gathering up into one
this complex view of these faculties, I form to myself
a conception of such of my departed friends as may
be now in a state of glory, and that even whilst I
know nothing of the essence of their souls. Surely
you can, in thought, individualize, as being in heaven
and surrounded by the great assemblages of the
blessed, the soul of your departed mother.  Her
body exists still, though mouldered in the grave and
dissolved into its separate elements.  Her soul also
exists; for I believe in the immortality of the soul of
every member of the human family: and, moreover,
her soul still lives; and you have the good hope,
through grace, that her soul is up yonder, as the
happy inmate of the celestial household.




SHOWN BY THIE SAVED IN HEAVEN.  159
The drop of rain loses its individuality as a unuzm
quid, or one concrete thing, when it falls into the
Atlantic Ocean, and mingles with its mighty expanse
of waters.  The flake of snow loses its individuality
and form when it falls, and amalgamates itself with the
drifted wreath below, and when the thaw descends and
melts it, and causes it to flow down the river's bed,
and to glide onwards, with many other drops of water,
now all formed into one formless mass, towards the
ocean.  It is not so with the souls of those who,are
now in heaven.  They have not lost their individuality
and their personality and their separate existence by
ascending at their death to heaven, there to become
one formless mass in the great ocean of souls that
surrounds the throne of God. The souls of the saved
in heaven are not so many flakes of snow, dissolved,
and thus now deprived of their form, by the melting
influence of temporal death, or by the warmth and
thawing influence of divine love. They have not
become one undistinguishable, unimpersonated, and
undividualized mass of formless being, flowing in the
great ocean of life that rolls through the heavens.
The souls of the saved retain their personality and
individuality and form, or otherwise they have ceased
to be the subjects of a distinct and separate existence;
and, further, have thus ceased, by possibility, to be the
objects of a distinct and separate judgment on the great
day of the Lord: and, if so, then they cannot, in their
personality, and distinct, separate individuality, come




160          A STATE OF GLORY
down out of heaven, when the resurrection-morning
dawns, each soul to enter its separate and upraised
body.
If, then, the souls of the saved in heaven retain
their individuality and personality, and are visible,
and have been seen, they must possess form and appearance: these are qualities which objects must
possess that they may become visible. That which
has no form  and no appearance cannot be seen;
such as the wind, the air, space.  What, then, is the
form  and appearance of a disembodied soul?  The
Bible has not distinctly revealed this to us: but it has
given us certain hints; and, by a'careful consideration
of these, we may infer the probable form  and appearance of the souls of the saved who are uplifted, and
who have left their bodies behind them in the graves
of earth. But before considering some of these Bible
allusions to the form  and appearance of spiritual
beings generally, including the soul of man, I may
remark, that there is a probability that the soul, in its
disembodied state, retains much of the form and appearance of the body in which it once dwelt, -not the
body in a state of disease and decrepitude, but in the
full flush and glow of its youthful beauty. This, so
far as I can learn from numerous conversations upon
the subject with not a few learned men, is the almost
universal view which the living upon earth have formed
of the disembodied souls of their friends, and of all
who have washed their robes, and made them white in




SHOWN BY THE SAVED IN HEAVENV.  161
the blood of the Lamb.  Indeed, we cannot avoid
always realizing and viewing our friends who are in
heaven, and others who are there, as still possessing,
in their disembodied state, very much of the form and
appearance of the bodies in which they once dwelt.
I do not say, that, in all things, vox populi est vox
Dei: but may this universal, or at least almost universal belief, not be looked upon as one of those
general doctrines of natural religion to which humanity
gives an almost universal response; such as the existence of God, - in which all men seem implicitly to
believe, till. their minds become darkened, and their
consciences hardened through the deceitfulness of sin;
the immortality of the soul,- the belief of which has
existed in the minds of men in every age and in every
elime; the recognition of friends in heaven; the anticipation of a coming judgment?
So far as I can learn from the Bible, the human
form  is the type and symbol, almost unmersally, of
spiritual beings. Wherever mention is made of angels
appearing to men upon earth, they do so in human
form. I need not quote passages of Scripture to
prove this. Many will at once occur to the reader.
I am aware that some interpreters of Scripture put
this construction upon all the Bible passages in which
these visits of angels are described,- that angels, on
these occasions, merely assumed the human form for
the time, like an actor putting on a particular dress
when entering upon the stage to play his part in the




162           A STATE OF GLORY
drama, and then to lay it aside aoain, and to put on
his usual dress when the play is over. In like manner, these divines think that angels divested themselves
of the human form when their part on the occasion of
their appearance was acted, and then, in their own
proper form and appearance, rose, and entered into
heaven.  In reply to such a view as this of these
appearances of angels, I have to say, that it is merely
the supposition of these interpreters of the Bible: the
sacred writers themselves never even hint that angels,
on these occasions, were playing any such part, but
were making their visits in their own peculiar form
and appearance.
Besides, the highest Being in the universe has assumed, not for a time, but for eternity, the humant
form.  Jesus, the second person of the Trinity,
has taken to himself, and that for ever, the nature,
and, moreover, the form and appearance, of man; so
that, in heaven, Jesus now appears not only in the
form of God, but also in the form of man. Jesus has
thus, for all time, put the stamp of divinity upon the
human form; for he possesses it.
The souls of the saved in heaven have personality
and individuality of existence: this must be admitted,
or their identity is gone.  Wherever there is personality and individuality, there must be form and appearance; and, if these souls have form and appearance,
what-form can they have, and what appearance can
they exhibit, but those, to a considerable extent at




SHOWN BY THE SAVED IYN HEAVEN.  163
least, which they once exhibited in their bodies upon
earth, - I merely state this as an inference from probability, — and which Christ now exhibits in the midst
of them, in his divine person, as he appears in his
glory to all the inhabitants of heaven, on the right
hand of the Father? No: the soul disembodied is not
a wreath of smoke, curling in many a varying and
whirling form upwards into the blue expanse of the
sky; it is not mere air, something like the viewless
wind; it is not an empty vacancy, like the formless
expanse of space: it is a substantiality, a living, thinking, acting, reasoning, and feeling individual.
Christians commit a great error, and suffer a great
loss, in the views they form of their glorified friends,
by failing to realize, through the embodying power of
faith and imagination and an active fancy, this great
fact. It may be that the soul is not a something entirely different in form and appearance from the body
in which it was formed by God to dwell, but a something fitted in its form  and features to harmonize
with the body, as its temporary casement during life,
and as its eternal tenement after the resurrection. The
souls of the saved in heaven are still themselves:
merely their state of grace here has been developed
into a state of glory yonder. If they are divested
entirely of their prior forom and appearance, in that
case they are deprived of their identity: in fact, such
a supposition is tantamount to the belief in their
annihilation.




164:          A STATE OF GLORY
The human body passes, during life, through many
changes; but the embryo in the womb, in which the
first pulse of life begins to beat, possesses much of the
form and features of the individual in a state of maturity. By cherishing this view of the forms and
appearance of the souls of the saved, they are far more
definitely realized by us; and the upper sanctuary
opening upon our upward gaze appears to us peopled
with actually visible, living, acting, discoursing, loving
personages.
I believe that God is visible to the whole inhabitants of heaven. There is such a thing as the beatific
vision, - which old divines speak so much about, -
which all the saved enjoy. They see God's face, and
behold his visible glory. Angels see God: "Their
angels do always behold the face of my Father who
is in heaven."  I believe that angels are visible to each
other, and to the souls of the saved who are now in
glory. I believe the spirits of the just made perfect
are visible to each other, as well as to those around
them.  This is surely more than probable; for they
have on different occasions become visible to the inhabitants of this world.  If they are not visible to
each other,  in that case,. heaven as a social heaven is
gone, and must appear to them a dreary and desolate
place. But, if the souls of the saved in heaven are
visible to each other, they must possess form, feature,
and appearance.  Besides, we are visible to each other;
and, if God's children in heaven are not so, then we




SHOWN BY THE SAVED IN HEAVEN.  165
are privileged, in this respect, above and beyond them;
which cannot be.
I believe, however, that the souls of the glorified
appear to each other in these peopled heavens that are
above us, and exhibit in theirformh and appearance the
very image of Jesus, who is upon the throne with
God.




CHAPTER  XII.
A STATE OF GLORY (continued).
HERE are at least, beyond doubt, two of the
human family now in heaven, who exhibit in
every feature the very form and appearance
of Christ, who is upon the throne; and in these two,
who have their bodies as well as their souls now
glorified, we see what we and all the children of God
are to be after the resurrection-mornin(g, when we are
raised, and we have entered into heaven.
I cannot tell - for the Bible has not minutely revealed this  the exact circumstances in which Enoch
bade adieu to earth and to his friends in this world.
Some have supposed that he was in the act of delivering
that sermon to his impenitent contemporaries, respecting a judgment to come, which the Apostle Jude refers
to in these words: "And Enoch also, the seventh
from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold,
the Lord cometh.with ten thousand of his saints, to
execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that
[166]




-A STATE OF GLORY.            167
are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds
which they have ungodly committed, and of all their
hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken
agoainst him. These are murmurers, complainers,
walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in
admiration because of advantage." If Enoch's ascension took place when delivering these words to those
assembled around him; if, whilst in the act of speaking, the chariot of the Lord appeared visibly to bear
him away to a world where no scoffers breathe its
holy air; and if he visibly ascended, -and such an
ascension was needed to -have its proper effect upon
mankind, - God would thus give to the human family
an impressive lesson, that there is another world, and
that those who walk with him upon earth will be
rewarded by an entrance into his kingdom. However
this may be, I can figure to myself the uprising to
heaven of this man of God, and the commingled feelings and emotions that must have streamed through
his soul whilst passing upwards from a state of grace
to enter upon a state of glory. We can now look up
to heaven with the view, that the path to it is not an
untrodden one that is to conduct us upwards, that we
may be ushered into glory. Jesus has ascended as
our forerunner, as many of the human family have
also done. Thus the path to heaven ceases to be so
new, and so strange to us, in our anticipated view of
it, as it must have appeared to the patriarch.




168          A STATE OF GLORY
Enoch's departure from earth to heaven must have
been to him, if one might venture the lowly similitude, something like Columbus's first voyage across
the Atlantic.  Columbus leaves the firm earth behind
him; launches forth upon an ocean that no vessel ever
ploughed over before. With what commingled feelings must he have stood upon the deck of his ship,
and looked back upon the land receding in the distance,
and gradually vanishing from his view, and then
turned his face, and looked forward upon the shoreless expanse of the great waters over which he was
sailing! lEnoch, in his voyage from earth to heaven,
with his body, is similarly placed. At God's bidding,
he rises from the earth's firm surface; he leaves the
world in his new, upward flight; and, bidding adieu
to his friends, he rises into the great ocean of space;
he sees the earth receding beneath him as he looks
down; he beholds its oceans and seas, its rivers and
streams, its valleys and mountains, now far beneath
him, becoming dimmer and dimmer, till at last God's
fair, green earth flits entirely out of his sight. He is
upon the great and seemingly shoreless ocean of space;
and there is, as yet, nothing within the ken of his
sight but a few orbs here and there, like so many
light-houses, throwing their dim light upon the great,
dark ocean.
With what thrilling feelings of tumultuous joy did
Columbus look upon the green beach of America,
rising up, as it were, out of the sea, and emerging




SHOWN BY THE SAVED IN HEAVEN.  169.into his view! With what sensations of delight did
he gaze from the deck upon the wooded valleys, and
upon the mountains rising in the distance behind, and
when he thus beheld the evidence that his labors had
not been in vain! He lands, and finds himself surrounded by members of the human family in the great
New World. Enoch's feelings are assuredly more
rapturous and ecstatic still, as he rises upwards, and
approaches nearer, and still nearer, a new world of
another kind. He looks down upon the great pavilion
of space which he has traversed since he left the earth,
now with all created objects - sun, moon, and stars
-far away in the dim expanse below. At length he
sees a light which is now breaking forth upon his view.
No such light has he ever seen before. It is the light
of heaven, the irradiations of the Holy Spirit's presence issuing from the seven lamps of fire that are
burning before the throne of God. He hears a sound
beginning to fall upon his listening ear. No such sound
did he ever hear before. It is not the ascending
praises from the crowding worshippers in the earthly
Jerusalem, rising in sweet memorial to the God of
Israel; nor is it the rolling of earthly oceans when
heaved into billows; nor is it the sound of mighty
thunderings reverberating, and running to and fro
among the dark clouds of earth. No: it is the echo
upon his ear of heaven's high praises; the voice of a
great multitude which no man can number, who are
round about the throne of God; the rolling-down of




170          A STATE OF GLORY
heaven's hallelujahs, whilst ten thousand times ten
thousand pour forth their seraph-voices before God
and the Lamb in this enraptured acclaim: "Salvation to Him who sitteth upon the throne, and unto
the Lamb!"  He rises nearer and yet nearer to the
roll of these lofty anthems. The gates of heaven are
at last flung wide open; the everlasting doors are
lifted up for his admission. A voice from the throne
is heard, " Come up hither! " " Come and see! " Enoch
rises, and enters; and heaven in all its splendor, with
its crowded courts and light and praise, bursts upon
his view.
Have you walked beneath a cloudy sky in a moonless and starless night, reached your home after
finishing a fatiguing journey, and felt the effect of
the first burst of light upon your eyeballs from luminous globes in your lobby and through the rooms of
your house? Yet how little, by such experiences, can
you realize Enoch's advent into heaven!
It is in similar circumstances, Elijah enters heaven.
He is not appointed by God to lie down upon a sickbed; he leaves not his motionless body behind him
in the death-chamber, to be laid by surviving friends in
the dark grave: but, carrying his body with him, he
steps into the chariot of fire; and, in the curl of the
whirlwind, he rises, and enters into heaven.
The Apostle Paul tells us that "flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God;" and he speaks
in other passages of a change that is to take place




SHOWN BY THE SAVE D IN HTEAVEN.  171
upon the bodies of those who are alive upon the
earth when Christ comes the second time for the resurrection and the judgment.  The Scriptures certainly
do not describe the nature of the change; and to what
extent our body in heaven will be altered from what it
isnow, and the exact nature of that change, I cannot
tell. I believe, however, that Enoch and Elijah
entered heaven with the very same form of bodies, as
well as with the very same souls, which they had upon
earth, or otherwise they were not themselves when
they reached their Father's home. But the souls of
Enoch and Elijah were changed to some extent, as
well as their bodies, when they rose from earth and
entered heaven. Sanctification, we believe, is completed only at death; and this change took place
doubtless upon their souls.  This, however, amounts
only to a purification.
Besides, the bodies of the dead, now in the graves
of earth, are to undergo a resurrection when Christ
comes to the judgment. They are not to be new
creations. Further: Christ comes up from the tomb,
bringing the very body with him that had been embalmed by mourning disciples.  So identical in form
and appearance is Christ's body after his resurrection
to what it was before death, that the disciples and
others have no difficulty whatever in at once recognizing their risen Lord: nay, so exactly the same as
when IpTon the cross, that the very prints of the cruel
nails remain in his hands, the gash of the terrible




172           A STATE OF GLORY
spear is still in his side; and, retaining the same form
and appearance, Jesus rises from the Mount of Olives,
and enters into heaven.
In all things, Christ is- the pattern of his people;
and thus in the identity and similarity of his body, in
form and appearance dubring life, after his resurrection, and at his ascension, I think I rightly infer,
that whilst our bodies are to undergo some change
before they enter heaven, yet we will have in heaven
at last, and through eternity, the very bodies we now
possess.  Do not then, Christians, neglect and despise your earthly tabernacle, and do not debase it
with sin. It is to be a part of yourself for ever.
Do not neglect the graves where the bodies of your
once-dear friends lie buried, who have fallen asleep
in Jesus.  The very bodies you placed in these
graves are yet to be in heaven. Tread lightly upon
them, and keep with care the place where their ashes
repose.
The time is coming, when all the saints in heaven
will resemble the Lord Jesus just as much as Enoch
and Elijah now do. The resurrection-morning will
effect this. These are terribly impressive truths.
There is to be a resurrection of the dead: we are to
be judged. Time is now like a rolling river flowing
over us, onwards to the great ocean of the endless
future; but this will not always be so; The heavens
are now silent. No voice from the upper sanctuary
is heard giving intimation that the Judge is coming;




SHOWNX BY TEE SAVED IN HEATVEN.  173
that Christ has ascended the great white throne,
seated upon which he is to descend to earth, encircled
and followed by the whole hosts of heaven: not one
angel or saint will be left behind. But as a bell
rings in the palace of earth, giving intimation of the
approach of the sovereign; so in the voice of the archangel, and in the sound of the trumpet of God, intimation will be- given that the King of glory, the
IResurrection and the Life, has left heaven, and is on
his w ay to the earth. " Behold, he cometh with clouds;
and every eye shall see him."  "And I saw a great
white throne, and Him that sat on it; from whose face
t' e earth and the heaven fled away, and there was
found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small
and great, stand before God; and the books were
opened; and another book was opened, which is the
book of life: and the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in the books, according to
their works. And the sea gave up the dead which
were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them; and they were judged every
man according to their works. And death and hell
were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second
death."  Oh! friends who have long been parted
will meet on that day.. The soul of the saint that
has been living for thousands of years in heaven, and
the body of the same saint that has been sleeping as
long in the deep, cold grave, will meet in Christ's
presence, will be reunited in an eternal marriage, and




174          A STATE OF GLORY.
will part no more; for-together as one they will rise,
and enter with Christ into heaven.  "But I would
not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning
them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as
others which have no hope. For if we believe that
Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which
sleep in Jesus. will God bring with him. For this
we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we
which are alive and remain unto the comingi of the
Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.  For
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the
trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise
first: then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet
the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the
Lord.  Wherefore comfort one another with these
words."




CHAPTER  XIII.
A STATE OF GLORY (continued).
HE Lord Jesus is now unveiled to the view
of all the hosts of heaven; and in one sense
he appears also to his people upon earth, not
to their bodily eye, but to the eye of their faith: for
the apostle says, " We see Him, who was made a little
lower than the angels for the suffering of death,
crowned with glory and honor."
This is a doctrine of Scripture. Christ's present
personal glory represents to us what our future state
of glory in heaven is to be.  "We know, that, when
he shall appear, we shall be like him." Christ's present personal glory, then, represents to us what we are
to be when we rise, and enter heaven.  We are not
left to reason merely about what " a state of glory"
is, or to theorize, or to speculate; neither are we left
to look at it through its Bible descriptions, nor in
what the already saved are, but in what Jesus is now,
now that he is exalted to the right hand of the throne
of God.
[175]




176          A STATE OF GLORY:
What, then, is Christ's present personal appearance
in heaven? I have a conception in my own mind of
his form and present appearance; but I feel that I am
unable to embody it in words, and adequately convey
it to the minds of others. We are in the same position in respect to the King of glory in which the
Queen of Sheba was in reference to Solomon, King
of Israel, whilst yet in her own land. The account
which fame, with its hundred tongues, had brought
to her about Solomon, was not at all equal to what
she saw when she entered the king's palace, and beheld with her own eyes the monarch before her, his
attendants, and the gorgeous appearance of all
around her. " And, when the Queen of Sheba heard
of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the
Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions.
And- she came to Jerusalem with a very great train,
with camels that bare spices, and very much gold,
and precious stones; and, when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her
heart. And Solomon told her all her questions: there
was not any thing hid from the king which he told
her not. And when the Queen of Sheba had seen all
Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built,
and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their
apparel, and his cup-bearers, and his ascent by
which he went up into the house of the Lord, there
was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king,




CHRIST IN  EAVYEN ITS PATTERN.   177
It was a true report that I heard in mine own land
of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit, I believed
not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen
it; and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.
Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants,
which stand continually before thee, and that hear
thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God, which
delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of
Israel: because the Lord loved Israel for ever,,
therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and
justice."
We have received from inspired writers a description of the King and his beauty, and of the land that
is very far off; and, in these accounts of our blessed
Saviour, the sacred writers set before us the fact, not
merely that Jesus is at the head of creation, having
all power in heaven and upon earth, having a name
that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and
things on earth, and things under the earth; and that
every tongue should confess that he is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father; but that, in his present
2ersonal form and appearance, he is the pattern of
What we will be in heaven, and all the children
of God there. But have the sacred writers in the
Scriptures given us a fall and adequate account of
what Jesus is?  I believe not.  When the Apostle
Paul was caught up into the third heavens, he tells
8*




178          A STATE OF GLORY:
us that what he saw he could not convey adequately
to others in the language of earth; for he heard
unspeakable words which it was not lawful to utter.
The apostle again says, "It doth not yet appear
what we shall be:" in other words, it is impossible
adequately to describe the glory that awaits us at
Christ's second appearing, the splendor of form and
the beauty of aspect in which our upraised bodies
will appear in heaven. In like manner, I believe,
that, glowing and graphic as the inspired descriptions
are about Jesus, the half has not been told us.
Were you, who read these pages at the present
moment, carried upwards, and ushered into heaven,
as the Queen of Sheba was ushered into Solomon's
palace when borne to the land of Israel; were you
to leave time, with its clouds and its mists, and rise
to the realms which bliss illumines; were you to
leave your present home, and ascend, and enter the
home of your Father; were you to lift your eyes
from the pages of the book you now read, and instead of looking upon these words, setting before you
a description of what the Lord Jesus is, were you,
amid these wonders above, to gaze with ravished eyes
upon Jesus himself, now exalted in glory as he is, -
would not that vision excel, think you, the delineation
which I am about to endeavor to set before you? of
what makes the very angels, even the highest, veil
their faces with their wings, and, in accents of admiration and wonder, unceasingly proclaim a song of




CHRIST IN HEAVEN ITS PATTERN.   179
adoration: "'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory." But, whilst
unable to give a fidl and ade.quate description of
what Christ is now in heaven, this is no reason
why I should not give what Holy Writ enables me
to do.
This is the Bible description of Christ's appearance
which he now exhibits in heaven: "Who, being the
brightness of his glory, and the express image of his
person, and upholding all things by the word of
his power, when he- had by himself purged'our sins,
sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."
The mystic spouse thus describes Christ the -same
wonderful object: "What is thy beloved more than
another beloved, 0  thou fairest among women?
what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that
thou dost so charge us?  My beloved is white and
ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.  His head
is as the most fine gold; his locks are bushy, and
black as a raven; his eyes are as the eyes of doves
by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly
set; his cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet
flowers; his lips like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling
myrrh; his hands are as gold rings set with the
beryl; his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires; his legs are as pillars of marble set upon
sockets of fine gold; his countenance is as Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars; his mouth is most sweet;
yca, he is altogether lovely.  This is my beloved,




180          A STATE OF GLORY:
and this is my friend, 0 daughters of Jerusalem."
On the Mount of Transfiguration, Christ's face shone
like the sun; his raiment became white like the light.
From the words of the Apostle John, when he looked
upon Jesus appearing to.: him in Patmos, arrayed in
all the gorgeousness of his pontifical robes, as the
great High Priest of his Church, walking in the midst
of the golden candlesticks, watching the brightness
of their burning and the purity of their flame, it
seems Christ's appearance upon the Mount of Transfiguration was just a prefiguration and an illfustration
of what he is now: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
Day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a
trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first
and the last; and, What thou seest, write in a book,
and send it unto the seven churches which are in
Asia, - unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto
Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and
unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned
to see the voice that spake with me. And, being
turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and, in the
midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son
of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and
girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head
and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow;
and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like
unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and
his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had
in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth




CHRIST IN HEAVEN ITS PATTERN.   181
went a sharp, two-edged sword; and his countenance
was as the sun shineth in his strength.  And, when I
saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his
right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I
am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and
was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore,
amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."
What a lofty description of Christ's personal appearance and manifested glory! His head and his hairs
white, -the emblem of his eternity; his eyes, from
which nothing is hid, with which he surveys the
whole boundless universe, with which he searches
Jerusalem as with lighted candles, with which he
searches the heart and tries the reins of the children
of men, like a flame of fire, — emblematic of his
omniscience; his face like the sun shining in his
strength.
This, then, is a description of Christ's form and
appearance.  We thus learn that the Lord Jesus appears at the right hand of God in human form; but
that form so far transcends that which we now bear,
that no similitude with which we are acquainted can
tend to any other effect than to degrade what we
struggle to portray.  But we can say that that form,
however grand, is the portion of all the glorified who
are now in heaven. It will yet be yours, believers!
Your body may have its beauty defaced; it may
become loathsome through disease; it may become
withered and wrinkled through the gradual advance




182          A STATE OF GLORY:
of age; it may be deformed, and the thought of its
deformity may be so rankling in your breast, as to
give you pain; your friends, amid the solemnities
of your funeral-day, may lay it in the family tomb,
where it may become entirely decomposed, and mLx
quite undistinguished and undistinguishable from the
surrounding earth, and this for hundreds, or even for
thousands, of years.  But lift your eyes in faith: the
resurrection-morning is about to break. I see it
already, in anticipation, in its outbursting dawn,
beginning to spread its rays around the tops of the
mountains of hope. I hear already the distant roll-ing of Christ's chariot-wheel.  I hear its rumblings
along the sapphire pavements: it is on its way to
earth.  The heavens are opening.  Jesus is appearing. Lo! this is our God, we have waited for him;
this is the Lord, we will rejoice, and be glad in his
salvation. Lo! there Jesus is descending in his own
glory, in the glory of the Father, in the glory of all
his holy angels. In this form and radiance, you who
are believers will shine before Christ, when you come
up out of your grave at his call, and meet him seated
upon the great white throne.  Thus transformed, you
will rise with him; in company with angels, and the
redeemed members of the human family, you will
enter heaven; and there you will shine, not merely
as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars
for ever and ever, but in the full and complete image
of Christ himself.




CHR.IST IN HEAVEN ITS PATTERN.   183
What will be the form and appearance of a lost soutl,
and of the body of the wicked, when raised from tze
grave?
I answer, I cannot tell. But, assuredly, they will
be different in no small degree from the saved: yea,
we might say that they will be like so many ships on
fire, in the midst of a storm, consumed from within,
and encompassed from without with the wild waters,
compared with the same ships sailing majestically
along upon the bosom of the placid ocean, beneath a
clear and cloudless slay, with their white sails set
to catch the favoring breeze.  0 wicked man! 0
wicked woman! think of this ere it be too late!
" Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye
upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and
let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy
upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon."  Flee by faith to Jesus,- to the bleeding
mercy of Immanuel!
OBJECTION.
If all the righteous appear in Christ's very image
in heaven, how does the Bible and how do divines
tell us that there are different degrees of glory
among the saved; some shining like the sun, others
like the moon, and others, again, only like the
stars?




184          A STATE OF GLORY.
ANSWER.
There are different degrees of stature and of beauty
possessed by the members of the human family upon
earth, and yet they have all equally the human form.
Again: in the brilliancy of their appearance, the sun
and moon and stars differ considerably, and still they
are all equally orbs of light, - round, calm-looking,
shining, each one perfectly contented with its own
brightness in its own sphere. Besides, when the
saints in heaven are said to differ in glory, what does
the word " glory " mean?  It may not refer to brightness or lustre or splendor at all, but to dignity, to
nearness to the throne of God, to the brightness of the
crown1 the saints wear, to the sparkle of the throne on
which they sit, to the melody of their ha.p.  Thus the
saints in heaven may all possess the very image of
Christ, who is upon the throne with God; and, along
with this, they may be in possession, and that through
eternity, of different degrees of glory.




CHAPTER XIV.
THIE RELATION EXISTING BETWIXT A STATE OF GRACE
UPON EARTHI AND A STATE OF' GLORY IN HEAVEN.
STATE of grace upon earth is a state of glory
begun, and a state of glory in heaven is a
state of grace developed and perfected. The
distinction betwixt the two states is merely one of
degree. It is of the utmost importance that we keep
this identity, or rather this connection of continuity, betwixt a state of grace and a state of glory, clearly and
constantly in view, in our religious meditations upon
what we are now upon earth, and what in hope and
anticipation it is our aspiration and desire we should
be throughout eternity in heaven. We will thus be
led to see the absolute necessity of being in a state of
grace here, that we may, at death, enter upon a state
of glory yonder. This consideration will again become a powerful motive in leading us not to trifle
with God and with our eternal interests, but without
delay, and with all earnestness and diligence, to seek
[185]




186   RELATION OF A STATE OF GRACE
the Lord while he is to be found, and to call upon
him whilst he is near, that he who is the God of salvation would make bare his holy arm for our deliverance, and translate us out of the kingdom of darkness
into the kingdom of his own dear Son, who reigns over
all in the sovereignty of his grace.
In our views of a state of grace, in its connection
with a state of glory, we are apt to commit the same
error that many Christians do in their contemplation
of what Christ was whilst upon earth, and what he is
now in heaven. How much of encouragement and of
hope to the wicked, who are willing to turn from their
wickedness and live, and how much of comfort and of
holy joy do believers lose, by viewing Christ upon
earth as if totally, or at least greatly, different from
what Christ is now in heaven! Jesus is ever the same.
There is the connection of continuity betwixt Christ on
earth and Christ in heaven.  He is the same in both
worlds. He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever.
Do I address those who have lived long lives of sin,
of utter estrangement from  God?, Are you now
awakened from your former sleep, are you led trembling and astonished to see that you have souls to be
saved, and God to meet, and eternity to enter, and an
account to give, for which omniscient reckoning your
consciences tell you you are not prepared? Do you
feel your heart sinking within you? and do you see the
dark night of despair beginning to gather around you,




TO A STATTE OFf GLORY.         187
and to settle down in its frightfulness upon your
startled and terrified soul? Do not give way to these
feelings of doubt, distrust, and despair. Do not doubt
either your Redeemer's power or his willingness to save
you. Look at the way in which Jesus acted whilst
upon earth towards the awakened, and towards those
who felt their guilt, and trembled before him at the
thought of the wrath to come. He never refused the
supplication of one single petitioner. He receives
with open arms all who come to him, even the
guiltiest. He sends not even one away unrelieved.
Surely this fact, so clearly revealed to you in the
Gospels, should calm your tumultuous emotions, and
soothe your agitated heart, and lead you at once,
and without a moment's delay, to go to Jesus with
all your sins, scarlet-dyed in appearance, and
crimson-colored though they be, that he may wash
them away in his blood.
Do you, who are the children of God, ask me what
is the extent of the love, and what is the intenseness of
the affection, with which the Lord Jesus now regards
you? I ask you to look at his dealings with his own,
and to his love towards his disciples and followers,
and you see the love and kindness which he has
towards you. The Lord Jesus, whilst upon earth,
exhibits the utmost condescension towards those with
whom he associates, the cordiality of the most intimate
and tender friendship. With what affection does Jesus
mingle with his disciples! He weeps at the tomb of




188   RELATION OF A STATE OF GRACE
Lazarus.  This, believers, is an exhibition of the
manner in which Jesus feels for you, and especially in
the season when death enters your home, and when
you stand and weep at the grave where a dear friend
lies. In truth, the most beautiful and touching exhibition of friendship, love, and sympathy, which this
world ever beheld, was given in the person and life
of your Saviour.
Is the Lord Jesus now in heaven changed from
what he was upon earth?  No! He loves you who
are his now, as tenderly and as sympathizingly as he
did his disciples and followers. " He is ever the same."
W~hat a comfort should this view of an unchanged
Saviour give to your souls who believe in him! He
is interested in all that concerns you.  He rejoices
with your joy. Hle sympathizes with you in your
sorrow. He shares your grief in bereavement.  He
stretches the arms of his tenderest affection around
you on your bed of death. Surely this view of Jesus
should lead you to say, "0 blessed Jesus! I will
confide in thee through life, in death, in time, and
through eternity.  My soul will rest in thy love. I
will walk with thee here; and thou wilt, at last, take
me home into thine own glorious heaven." By not
realizing at all times the great truth that Jesus is the
very same, now exalted, as he was when he was by his
own consent humiliated, we lose much of that holy
and heavenly comfort in our communion with him
which we might enjoy whilst in the world.




TO A STATE OF GLORY.            189
Wre often commit a similar error by failing to realize the connection inseparably existing betwixt a state
of grace upon earth and a state of glory in heaven. The
connection of these two states is that existing betwixt
the morning, and the day that follows; the sun at his
rising in the east, and the same sun when pouring
down upon us, from his zenith in the heavens, the full,
unclouded rays of his meridian light; the spring and
the summer; the seed-time and the harvest; the rose
just budding, and the same rose when fully blown;
the river, and the ocean into which it falls; the boy
and the man; the girl and the woman; Judaism
with its types and shadows, and Christianity as the
substance; the Christian economy now existing upon
earth, and the dispensation of glory, into which it is
to be merged for ever in heaven.  Such is our present
state of grace upon earth to' the state of. glory that
awaits us. Do not then, Christians, dream  that it
matters not what you are here, and how you live here.
Why, your everlasting hereafter may, and perhaps is,
hinging upon what you are even now. You may die
the next moment!- for as the tree falls, so must it
lie; as time leaves you, eternity will receive you and
continue you. Your portion for eternity is fixed at
your death; and only tliose who are in a state of grace
here can enter, at death, into a state of glory yonder.
I make a solemn appeal to you whose souls are
not yet in the required condition.  Your own consciences within you are bearing testimony that you




190   RELA1TION OF A STATE OF GRACE
are not ready to die the death of the righteous; that
you are not meet for heaven! Why?  What is
heaven?  It is a world of life,, of love, of holiness,
of delight in God's service, and of joy in his worship. Are you meet for a world such as this?  No!
You feel in your bosoms not a spark of that flame of
love that glows in the hearts of the glorified. You
are not perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord;
seeking to resemble those in purity who are now
with a holy God in a holy heaven. You feel nothing of that joy in the work of God upon earth
which those now experience who serve him day and
night in his heavenly temple. You have no delight
in God's worship, either in public or in private, such
as that which streams through the hearts of yonder
vast assemblies, who are now with God, and who
stand arrayed in their robes of white before his
throne, and worship him day and night in the temple
not made with hands. Heaven is not the place for
sowing. You must sow here, that you may reap the
harvest yonder..
I remind you who are Christians, that your state of
grace here is your only preparation for a state of glory
]cre7fter.  The mere fact that you are living in a
Christian land; have been brought up by pious,
God-fearing, and praying parents; are living outwardly in the observance of religious ordinances;
and are even covered with the fig-leaves of an external morality, as profusely as the fig-tree was to




TO A STA TE OF GLORY.            191
which Jesus went seeking fruit, but found none, - is
not in itself, and does not constitute your preparation for heaven.:A good opinion of yourself is not
an infallible passport to heaven; neither is extreme
unction; neither is the prayer for you, nor the good
opinion about you, expressed by a pious minister;
nor is the parade of your works of charity amnong
the poor, that you may be seen of men: a state of
grace upon earth is the only preparation for a state of
glory in heaven.
Your present possession of a state of grace upon earth
is to you the only izfallible evidence that you are, at
death, to enter into heaven.  When the God of your
salvation passes the judicial act of justification in
your behalf, and adopts you as his sons and daughters into his great spiritual family, and enters into
covenant with you for eternity, and when your
names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, God
does not take you up into heaven at that moment to let
you see the Book of Life lying open, and the recording angel in the act of writing down your name in
the great family register of heaven.  Neither does
God break the silence of the sky above you by announcing with an audible voice over you and about
you, as he did at the river Jordan over Jesus;
when the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit
descended upon him, and the voice of the Father
was -heard, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased."  Neither does God now




192   RELATION OF A STATE OF GRACE.
send down his angel, as he did to Cornelius, to enter
your home, to appear in visible shape to you, to announce in an audible voice that God has accepted
you in the Beloved, that your prayers and your alms
have come up in memorial before God. Nor does
the supernatural light of Christ's manifested presence
and glory flash upon and shine around you, at
your conversion, as in the case of Saul of Tarsus,
giving you the intimation that he had appeared to
save you, that he might pluck you as a brand out
of the everlasting burnings, and make you a vessel
of mercy.  Nor does the Holy Spirit in your soul
bear witness to the fact of your adoption into God's
family, either by a voice announcing this to you in
the inner chamber of your heart, or by supernaturally suggesting to you some particular passage of
Scripture.  Is there, then, no way in which and
through which you who are the children of God may
obtain sure and convincing evidence that you are so,
and that heaven, consequently, is to be your eternal
home?  The only evidence upon which you can with
confidence and certainty rely that heaven is to be
your everlasting habitation, and that you are in a
state of meetness and preparation for it, is by your.souls being here in a state of grace.




PART II.
BETWIXT A STATE OF GRACE UPON EARTH
AND
A STATE OF GLORY IN HEAVEN
" WHO SERVE. UNTO THE EXAMPLE AND SHADOW OF
HEAVENLY THINGS."
9                [193]








CHAPTER I.
FIRST  ANALOGY.
TIEE TRANSITION INTO A STATE OF GLORY, AS WELL AS INTO
A STATE OF GRACE, GENERALLY TAKES PLACE IN CIRCUMSTANCES OF SORROW.
[.HRISTIANS generally enter into a state of
m grace along the tear-bedewed, beclouded,
darkened pathway of humbling convictions
of sin and of heart-crushing emotions of sorrow.  I
say, generally; for there are individuals mentioned in
the Scriptures, who entered a state of grace without
seemingly suffering any sorrow 6f heart at all. The
Ethiopian eunuch no sooner learns the way of salvation through faith in Jesus, than, looking to him, he
instantly obtains spiritual joy. " He went on his way
rejoicing." John the Baptist was sanctified from his
mother's womb, and thus could not experience in his
transition into a state of grace —being born spiritually befdre he was born naturally — that sorrow
and distress which many of God's children do, when
God, by his grace, translates them out of the kingdom




196        TRANSITION INVTO GLOR Y
of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son. There
are also many Christians who pass so gradually and
insensibly into a state of grace, that they never at
any one hour, or upon any one occasion, suffer those
spiritual tremblings which others endure. They have
been taught to know the Scriptures from their childhood. They have been brought up under the gradually transforming influence of their pious parents'
Christian example and counsels and prayers. They
wait upon God in the means of grace; and, through
these, the dews of the Holy Spirit's influence descend
upon them in soft and reviving efficacy; and thus,
insensibly and imperceptibly, they pass into a state
of covenant favor with God.  Generally, however, I
believe it is in trembling and sorrow at first that
God's children enter into a state of grace.
It is in circumstances of sorrow, also, that God's
children usually enter into a state of glory. The entrance of Enoch and Elijah into heaven appears to
have been in circumstances of unclouded joy. They
suffer no pain; they press not the sick-bed; their flesh
does not faint and fail; they shed no tear; but, with
hearts seemingly joyful in the prospect of their departure, they in gladness look up on the heavens above
them opening for their reception, and rise, and join
the happy throngs around the throne of God, who
welcome them in to increase their rejoicing ranks.
It is not, however, in such circumstances of cloudless joy as this that the children of God generally




IN CIRCUMSTANCES OF SORROW.   197
enter into heaven: it is through death, and in circumstances of trouble and sorrow.
The various afflictions and pains that precede death,.and act as its harbingers, are always solemn, and
often most trying' God's voice descends through
these to the ear of the sick, stretched weak, exhausted,
breathing convulsively, full of tossing to and fro until
the dawning of the day, audibly to announce to them
that the hour of dissolution is approaching, that the
Judge is at the door. The storm precedes the shipwreck.  These troubles precede dissolution.  The
gathering darkness of the night precedes the outbursting splendor of the coming morning.  The night
of death precedes, by God's appointment, the dawning
upon us of the great morning of eternity. Hence,
says the Psalmist, "I wait for the Lord: my soul
doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the
morning: I say, more than they that watch for the
morning."
Stand with me upon the sea-shore, and look towards
the expanse of waters that are rolling in their growling dignity before us. A storm has come down upon
its tumbling, foaming billows. The winds are loud
and fitful in their gusts, and the restless waters are
heaved by them mountains high. A shipwreck has
taken place. The noble vessel is already in the fatal
embrace of the angry breakers. The signal-guns are
firing: they are distinctly heard above the terrific




198        TRANSITION INTO GLORY
noise and reverberations of the waves. The blue
lights are burning: they are casting their lurid glare
where all around is darkness and noise and tumult.
Those on board that ill-fated vessel have cast forth
their last anchor; but it is all in vain. The ship is in
its sick-chamber, and it is already fast breaking up.
The waves are every now and again making a clean
breach over that noble vessel, that, but an hour ago,
sailed the ocean so proudly. It is now in sore distress; for it is creaking and straining, - these are
the groans of a perishing vessel, - giving intimation
that she cannot hold out long; that soon she may go
entirely to pieces, and leave the poor helpless passengers to drop down into the rough embrace of the
angry waves below, there to find a watery grave.
These are in a state of the most frantic emotion, and
of the intensest longing for the dawning of the day.
The hawser is already stretching betwixt the straining
vessel and the rugged shore. The chair is already
prepared to slide along it, to convey the almost frantic
passengers to a place of safety; but this, alas! is not
accomplished.  With the dawning of the day, the
unfortunate vessel breaks through the middle, and
suddenly goes down. The scream of hundreds sinking in the boiling waters is distinctly heard above the
roaring of the wind and the dash of the waves. Then,
in a few moments, no voice is heard there, -thus it
is we are visited with trouble, and die, - and the
storm  roars on in its dreary desolation.




IX CIRCUMSTANCES OF SORROW.    199
Again: come with me into the now-deserted street
of the slumbering city. The day is long gone,
and the night is far advanced. The lately wakeful and
busy citizens are sunk into the repose of a quiet
and refreshing slumber. The whole city is at rest;
an emblem of the necropolis that is not far off. The
toiled artisan, pale and exhausted, is in the enjoyment
of the luxury of a deep and refreshing sleep; repairing the tear and wear which his body has sustained by
the labors of the preceding day, that, with a recruited
frame, he may resume his toils upon the morrow.
The drunkard, who went to bed last night too far
gone to observe secret prayer, is snoring off the fumes
of the last night's over-indulgence.  The licentious
are soothing down in sleep the fever and the throbbings that shot through their veins, and knocked at
their agitated hearts, during the indulgence of their
last night's debaucheries. The ambitious man smiles
in his sleep; for his closed eye has caught a glimpse
of that glittering crown of honor which he has been
pursuing for years, and which has been still flitting
away, and eluding his grasp, like a person attempting
to catch the coy rainbow; but now he has got hold
of it, and is in the act of placing it upon his brow.
The avaricious man has, upon his hard utilitarian face,
a pleased-looking expression, that passes into a complacent grin; for he is dreaming that he has suddenly
obtained a great increase to his riches.  The young
and the virtuous are sleeping sweetly and calmly in




200        TRANSITION INTO GLORY
love's soft and silken embrace: a cloudless joy is
mantling their happy faces; for they are dreaming
that they have obtained the wished-for meeting with
their lovers at the trysting-place, in the previously
agreed-upon avenue, or at the corner of the street;
or they imagine themselves not comfortably ensconced
in their beds, but standing, with their hearts all in a
flutter, before the man of God, and in the midst of
the bridal company, who have met to witness the
consummation of the long-wished-for union.
The world, however, is not wholly a bed of fragrant and smiling roses: it is rather the wilderness,
with the thorns and the briers growing everywhere
around us in it. Turn, then, with me from the contemplation of these slumberers; and look in upon those,
through their lighted and watchful windows, who are
in the homes of affliction; who are awake, even
though the night is far spent, and the morning's
dawn will soon give intimation of the approach of
the sun by its first blush in the east. Look down
that narrow and by no means cleanly close. You
see the small candle burning in yonder garret window?
Upon a wretched pallet of straw a little girl is
stretched, and. she is lying very ill. That candle,
the lighted symbol of love's inextinguishable flame,
has been kept burning upon the window-sill during
the whole night (for there is no table in the room),
snuffed from time to time by the hand of the
sleepless and sympathizing mother. She cannot go




IN CIRCUMSTANCES'OF SORROW.    201
to rest; for her loved one is fevered and ill: she
needs a drink; she needs to be turned; she needs
those many and nameless attentions, which no one
can perform with the same soft, kind, and loving unobtrusiveness ats an affectionate mother.  The doctor
has not yet seen the sufferer: he could not visit her
last night; he has promised to come early in the
morning. Whilst the poor mother walks softly to
and fro through the room  and past the window,
through which the cold beams of the pale and silent
moon are entering, and falling upon the face of the
restless sufferer, she often looks out, as if anxious to
put the question, "Watchman, what of the night?
watchman, what of the night?"  She is looking
and waiting and longing for the dawning of the day.
Meanwhile, her daughter's face is pale, with the exception of the hectic flush upon her fevered cheek;
her breathing is quick and oppressive; the perspiration is rolling coldly from her brow; and her halfsuppressed groanings give evidence of the severity
of the trouble that is upon her. Now she makes a
convulsive turn in the bed: the eye looks up, and
stands fixed. All is over. The mother is in tears.
It is thus that child of God enters heaven.
Come with me to yon other home, around which
the dark and lowering clouds of God's afflictive dispensations have begun to gather. There is every
comfort, nay, there is every luxury, there, which
riches and doctors and nurses and friends, and ser9*




202        TRANSITION INTO GLORY
vants in obsequious attendance, can afford.  Enter
with me into one of the large and gorgeously furnished bedrooms of that home of affliction. There,
upon a bed of down, the owner of that princely
mansion is lying, and is suffering the withering glow
of the burning fever. The attendants slip softly out
and in, as if afraid to hear the sound of their own
feet falling upon the rich tapestry carpet. Silence
has come down in its heaviness upon that home:
there is no sound now heard in it, except the deep,
heavy groanings of the prostrated invalid; and, without, nothing is heard but the mournful bark of the
apparently sympathizing watch-dog, howling, as it
listens to the distant groans of its suffering master.
Doctors meet, and hold consultations over their patient; but they cannot lift the fever.  Like the
waters in the river, that fever must run its course,
in defiance of all the medical skill in Europe.
Friends with thoughtful and saddened countenances,
and with their half-suppressed breathings, meet, and
mingle their tears with his sobbing partner and distressed children; but they cannot bid the fever away.
The mariner in a storm longs for a lull in the wind,
and ardently wishes for the fury of the tempest to
begin to subside: and these sympathizing friends
long for the crisis in the fever to come, when the
trouble will begin to decrease, and the waves of affliction will lie down again, and hush themselves to
rest; but, alas! they are doomed to be disappointed.




IN CIRCUMSTANCES OF SORROW.    203
The crisis comes.  The doctors watch, with anxious
solicitude, its arrival.  They do every thing which
medical skill and Christian sympathy can suggest for
the weakened and afflicted sufferer; but it is all in
vain. Death is in the cup.  The sovereign Dispenser of life and of death is about to remove the
kind partner and the affectionate father from the midst
of that beloved family-circle. The mother is soon
to become a widow; the children are soon to be
fatherless. God does this in his providence; but in
his grace he fulfils to the weeping friends these gracious promises: " Leave thy fatherless children, I
will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust
in me."  "A father of the fatherless, and a judge of
the widows, is God in his holy habitation." "Fear
not; for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee
by thy name: thou art mine.  When thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee; and through
the rivers, they shall not overflow thee."  It is thuis
that the believer in Jesus leaves his home and his
family, and enters into glory.
Enter with me yon other home. A young man,
arrested by the hand of disease, is now in his sickchamber, and is stretched upon his bed of pain there.
He has been passing a profligate life: he was not
merely a rake, living without God and without
Christ in the world, but an infidel also, whilst health
continued, and a scoffer at religion among his young,
dissolute, godless companions.  What an amazing




204        TRANSITION INTO GLORY
effect do trouble and a feeling of nearness to eternity
produce upon a sceptical mind! When the world is
withdrawn, or rather when the window-blind of the
sick-chamber is drawn down, and shuts the world
out, eternity, in its silent awfulness and tremendous
reality, comes startlingly into view. When the soul
ceases, in a sick-chamber, to look through the avenues of the senses upon the numberless and diversified objects of physical nature that are around, and
which health is apt to clothe with a bewitching fascination, it then begins to look through the windows
of conscience and of the understanding -from which
trouble removes, if I may so speak, the shutters —
upon the great realities of the spiritual world and of
a lowering eternity.
That young man feels his present trouble producing this effect.  He looks not, as before, upon
the bloated and impenitent faces of his companions
in guilt: instead of this, he sees himself confronted
face to face with an angry God, and trembling beneath the frown of his justly incensed wrath. He
no longer listens to the voice of mirth; to the song
of revelry; to the loud laugh of his ungodly companions, caused by some jest or jeer he has, in a
sudden flash of unholy wit, uttered against religion,
or against those who make a profession of it, or more
especially against its ministers.  The only sounds
that young man now hears are the throbbings of his
poor agitated heart, knocking loudly at the door of




ILN CIRCUMSTAN6CES OF SORROW.    205
conscience to awaken him from his spiritual and fatal
slumber ere it be too late; the heavy, involuntary
groanings, which he feels himself unable to suppress;
the sobbings of his half-distracted mother, who still
feels for her son with all the glowing tenderness of a
parent's love, though he had previously, for a while,
forgotten her; the religious counsels and pathetic exhortations of his loving father, who is at his bedside;
the kind questions and gospel suggestions of the
minister, who has come to see him and to pray with
him. God's grace visits that young man upon his
bed of death, even as it did the dying malefactor;
and, in these circumstances of distress, he rises from
the midst of his family, and enters heaven.
I address the careless. Death will separate you
in circumstances of sorrow from a living world as
well as from  your body. You have often, during
life, looked.upon the face of God's fair sky, amid the
bright sunshine of a summer evening, when Nature
seemed hushed in the silence of a sweet and gladsome repose; when the earth, with the unstirred air
about it, seemed listening to catch from afar the echo
of the praises of heaven; or you have looked up by
night, and surveyed the expanse of the starry firmament above you, and beheld the twinlding stars shining in their spheres, symbolizing in your thoughts,
and becoming to you, the beautiful representatives of
those who now shine in the higher and lovelier firmament of heaven.  You are about to look upon these




206       TRANSITION INTO GLORY
sublunary scenes for the last time, and then to go
out from them, and to leave them behind you, to be
surveyed from the earth by other eyes. You have
often looked around you upon God's green earth,
and have witnessed, every returning summer of your
sojourn here, with what unexhausted profusion God
is opening wide the hand of his beneficence, and is
showering down upon this world the riches of his
goodness, and the bounties of his providence; and
you have gazed, perhaps, with intense delight upon
the youthful and lovely blush of the rose; upon the
pale purity of the lily; upon the trees covered with
their foliage, affording to you a covering and a shade
from the heat of the summer's sun; upon the fields
waving with the ripening grain, and opening their
glad bosoms to receive the light of the sun and the
showers that descend from the overhanging clouds;
upon the valleys covered with their grassy carpet; upon the streams running, and singing as they go;
upon the birds chanting among the branches; upon
the whole of Nature, seemingly in a glow of youth
and beauty and music all round about you. You
have often looked upon these yearly returning evidences of God's love and goodness to man in temporal things. You are about to view the earth for
the last time; for death is coming to separate you
from it, and to call you away. Oh! do not postpone
your turning to God. God's grace may not visit you
upon your dying bed.




IN CIRCGUMSTANCES OF SORROW.   207
Then no one dies without severing some tender
cord; for no one is so solitary in the world as to be
utterly unconnected with his kind. Have you still
alive a dear, fond mother?  Is her life hid with
Christ in God? Is she numbered with God's hidden
ones? Is her name in the Lamb's Book of Life?
Is she walking with God in the regeneration here?
Is her conversation in heaven; from whence also she
is looking for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ? Is
she, irnher piety and close walk with God, following
in the very footsteps of Jesus?  In her holy walk
with her God and Saviour here, do you see reflected,
to a great extent, the life which the glorified in
heaven are spending, who are following the Lamb
over the plains of glory, whithersoever he goeth?
From that mother you must be parted.
Have you a beloved father? Do you love him in
the Lord? Has he been the instrument, in God's
hand, of your spiritual birth? and was it in answer
to his prayers, and not in answer to your own, - for
you did not begin to pray until you had received
from God the new heart, —that you obtained the
gift of the Holy Ghost, and tasted the good word of
God, and felt upon your soul the powers of the
world to come? From him you must be parted.
Have you dear children, whom you love in the
Lord? Are they growing up and smiling and blooming around you like a blow of clustering roses? Do
you love these children because they are gifts to you




208        TRANSITION INTO GLORY
from your covenant God?  Do you love the Lord
God the more because he has bestowed them upon
you?  Are they so many candles of comfort burning,
and lighting up your gladsome home? so many stars
of happiness gleaming in the firmament of your
domestic joy? From these you must be separated.
Have you a partner who is dear to your heart and
lovely to your eye? In your view, is she before you
in the beauty of unchanging youth? Does she to your
eye never appear to become any older? Does she
still appear to smile upon you in her bridal blush?
Have you for years walked with her, as Zacharias did
with Elizabeth, in all the ordinances and in all the
commandments of the Lord blameless?  From her
you must be parted.
These are the fair and lovely spectacles of family
ties by which we are now united; but relentless death
soon steps in, and cruelly and mercilessly breaks them
up. These dear ones will be taken from you in circumstances of sorrow: the death-chamliber is the house
of sorrow. You yourselves also, through trouble and
death, will go' the way of all the earth. Your last
trouble will soon descend upon you, when you will lie
down upon that bed from which you are never to rise,
and from which you are not to be removed till your
countenance is changed, till you are numbered with
the dead. The grave will soon be the resting-place
of your body till the dawning of the resurrectionmorning. An unseen eternity will soon open its doors




INV CIRCUMISTANCES OF SORROW.    209
for your soul to enter, and dwell among the great
realities that lie on the other side of the regions of
time.
All these separations and bereavements occur merely
in solitary instances, and we cannot in our imagination sum them up into a whole; yet the totality is not
less certain; and we have examples in history of great
calamities, in which there is such an accumulation as
to fill us with dismay. Nay, we have on record one
overwhelming catastrophe, in which we find these
deaths, occurring now one by one, aggregated into
universal desolation; and we are assured, that, some
day, - who can tell when? — the great decree shall
go forth, by which a change even worse than death
shall separate relations and friends, under the conviction that their destinies shall be everlasting joy or
everlasting woe.  However terrible the fate of the
Antediluvians, it is doubtful whether, individually,
they suffered more than you and I are destined to bear
in dissolution. The picture tells an individual story
in the universal drama, and I do not hesitate to dwell
for a moment on it.
In imagination place yourselves in the position of
these victims of a universal decree. Look up, and
what do you behold?  You see many commingled and
awfully solemn proofs that their destruction is at hand.
See! the gloomy sky above is already overcast.  The
dark thunder-clouds rise in their frowning piles upon
every side in the ebony sky. A darkness like the




210       T7lANSITION INTO GLORY
shadow of death is beginning to spread itself all over
the heavens, and to cast its lowering mort-cloth upon
the earth.  The sun is becoming black as sackcloth of
hair, and is looking out, muffled and distressed, from
his pavilion, like one pale and sickly, lifting the window-blind, and taking the last look of earth from his
death-chamber window. Upon every face is observed
the trembling and the awe, and the restless, startled
gaze, that betokens a coming danger. Silence, like
the calm of a fearful expectancy, is brooding heavily
around, and is enshrouding the poor bewildered world.
Men's hearts are failing them for fear, and in looking
after those things that are coming upon the doomed
earth. Amid the gathering and deepening darkness,
and whilst the earth is in an agonizing dread, you see
the lightnings meeting each other above your heads,
as they flash from one part of heaven to the other.
You hear the rumbling and the rolling reverberations
of thunder, as if the Almighty were walking above
you in the midst of the deep darkness, and were
speaking in his anger from on high. That thunder is
becoming louder and louder, as if the sick earth were
pouring forth her last groanings in the very agonies
of her dissolution. On the uplifted face come the first
drops of that rain that is to descend continuously for
forty days and for forty nights, not in pattering drops,
but in something like a sheeted volume of water.
Looking down, you see the tumulltuous torrents
that are rising from the bowels of the earth,,and are




IN CI. RCUMSTANCES OF SORROW.    211
seemingly engaged in a battle of opposition with the
heavy rains that are falling from the clouds.  The
fountains of the great deep are broken up; and these
moving, foaming waters. are a sea, in its march to
overflow the homes of earth, in which millions of
families now dwell. Life walks active and buoyant
before these marching and troubled waters: death, in
its awful silence and dreary desolation, walks solemnly
and ghastly and pensively behind them.  The rising
waters have already filled the plains; they are swelling higher and higher; they are already at the feet
of the lofty mountains, as if eager to climb them.
These waters are going up the sides of the hills
and mountains.  Whom  are they pursuing? and
why are they in such hot haste? They are at the
heels of startled crowds and screaming multitudes of
the human family, who are ascending these hills and
mountains, vainly imagining that they can flee from
the impending danger, and reach a place of safety
upon their tops.
Yonder is a poor distracted mother: she has her
little girl clasped to her bosom with her left hand, and
in her right she grasps convulsively the hand of a
weeping boy. She is seeking for them a place of
refuge from the rising floods; but, whilst she with
difficulty climbs the mountain-side, the waters are following her.  At the heels of that distracted mother,
her eldest daughter is carrying a younger brother in
her arms, and is endeavoring, amid the war of ele



212        TRANSITION INTO GLORY
inents, to impart to him a solace, a consolation, and a
peace that are utter strangers to her own heart.. The
father is beside her, with two other weeping children
clasped in his arms, and pressed to his beating breast.
There are thousands around them; and they also
are scrambling up, with the hope, that, from the top,
they will look down in safety upon the raging floods
growling beneath them. That hope is vain. These
multitudes are looking up, are gazing distractedly
upon the densely beclouded firmament still pouring
down its torrents, as if it had been previously hiding
a whole ocean of waters, shut up for the occasion, -
an ocean that cannot be emptied.  Again they turn
their eyes downwards, and'now behold the gathered
waters spreading themselves over towns and villages
and valleys, where the husbandman was but lately
seen whistling at the plough, and the milkmaid was
but lately heard making the neighboring hills echo
back the melody of her evening-song.
These distracted. emigrants from the towns and
villages and dwellings of earth now no longer see
their former homes. They have disappeared beneath
the rising waters.  The flocks have all been submerged in the valleys beneath; and now nothing meets
their view but the tumultuous expanse of a seemingly
shoreless ocean.  Still these retreating fugitives see
the waters rising higher and higher, and following in
their footsteps, like the thief-catcher who has got upon
the thief's track; or like the Spanish bloodhound upon




IN CIRCUMSTANCES OF SOB-ROW.    213
the trail of the poor South Americans, whom  the
avaricious Spaniards, in their thirst for gold, so cruelly
hunted to the death. These rising waters are appointed by God to chase them out of the world. Some
of them are looking down, and in horror; for they see
now the enemy flowing at their very feet. Others
are looking upwards in despair to see if they can behold and descry the pitying face of a God of love
looking down upon them from the midst of his dark
pavilion of clouds.  They are lifting up their hands
to heaven; they are stretching forth their arms in
prayer to God, who is sitting, in his almightiness and
sovereignty, behind the dark canopy, and is controlling
and directing, by his great power, the whole watery
elements. These elements are his servants, and they
are doing his will.
Nor do even those who are in ships escape. On
the coral reefs the shipwrecked passengers are shivering, whose vessel has foundered, and has gone to
pieces. They find shelter for a short period on its
bare, comfortless, and desolate ridges. The tide,
however, is returning; the waters rising: they swell
upwards and upwards, till again they flow over the
refuge, and mercilessly sweep across it, and ingulf the
screaming passengers, whose voices, one after another,
are smothered, and die away in the midst of the gurgling waters.  So is it with those congregated multitudes upon the tops of these mountains, over which
the rising flood is about to sweep.  There is the united




214        TRANSITION INTO GLORY
scream of thousands and of thousands more heard
rising to heaven: that comnmingled roll of frantic
voices reaches your ear only during the lull of the
storm; but soon that scream of despair dies away,
and is lost amid the dash of the waters.  Now the
silence of desolation, so far as human voices are concerned, succeeds, and broods over a world, along the
surface of which the hum of a busy and a stirring
population rose but lately - so lately! - to the ear
of the God of sabaoth.
Another of these great visitations was the decree
which.went forth against the first-born of Egypt; also
a type of the sorrow which overtakes man in the last
hour. One of these angelic messengers, who stand in
their robes of glory before the throne, and who hymn
forth there unceasingly the praises of the eternal Jehovah, receives a commission to descend to earth upon
a message of wrath. In instant obedience, the heavenly messenger spreads his silvery wings upon the
ethereal blue, and descends. The fatal night for
Egypt's first-born has come: the solemn hour of midnight has spread silence and its darkness over the land
of Ham. The sun is away, and is thus saved the horror of looking upon the scene of desolation about to
spread throughout that devoted land. The inhabitants
have gone to bed, and are lying in their still and deep
repose; and the first-born child in every Egyptian
home is not to awake from that awful sleep, but to
pass from it into the slumber of death.




IN CIRCUMSTANCES OF SORROW.    215
Place yourself, my reader, in imagination, beneath
Egypt's dark and lowering sky, whilst these families
are spread around you on your right hand and on
your left. Yonder is a brilliant flood of light, that
suddenly bursts in upon the dark and silent scene.
It is not the moon suddenly breaking through the
veil of clouds that have been previously hiding her
silvery face, looking out, as if in sympathy and pain,
upon the families below, all as yet untroubled about
the fearful and sudden breach that is just about to
be made in every family-circle. It is not the midnight meteor that emerges like a flashing comet suddenly into sight, and pours down its vapory light, to
flare forth for a few moments whilst passing across
the firmament, to vanish and be lost in the regions
beyond, and leave darkness again. It is not a blazing
comet that has all unexpectedly burst upon your view
from the far-off recesses of space, and that is on its
path to travel through regions unknown. No! It is
the flash of that angelic messenger's presence, who,
in obedience to God's high command, has come down
from heaven, and has now nearly reached the earth.
There is in his hand the flaming sword of God's great
wrath.  He has reached the surface of the sleeping
land. He stops suddenly, and pauses, as if in deep
anxiety and intense emotion, in a strait betwixt his
pity to those whom he is about to strike, and number
with the dead, and his love and obedience to Him who
has commanded the slaughter. But soon he is again




216        TRANrSITION INTO GLORY.
in motion: he spreads his pinions of light above tile
unthinking and slumbering homes, and begins his
death - march.  Startled screams and commingled
wailings ascend from every home the moment that
messenger passes over it. It is the cry of Egypt's
mothers, bending in their agony and bereavement over
the suddenly changed and now pale countenances of
their beloved first-born.  It is the shriek of Egypt's
daughters whilst wringing their hands in their intense
distress over their elder brothers and sisters, in a
moment taken from them, and numbered with the
dead. It is the deep lamentation of Egypt's fathers
in their desolated homes; for there is not a house in
which there is not a corpse. Heaven is listening to
that cry of bereavement; but no voice descends from
above, asking the angel of destruction to stop in his
career of death.  God is looking down from his
throne in heaven, with the whole of the heavenly
hosts, upon that scene of desolation, just as he looks
upon us now. in our sick-chamber, and allows the dark
angel to change our countenance, and in circumstances of sorrow to take us away.




CHAPTER  II.
SECONT D  A N AL O GY.
OUR TRANSITION BOTH INTO A STATE OF GRACE AND ALSO
INTO A STATE OF GLORY USHERS US INTO THE POSSESSION
OF NEW LIFE; OR, RATHER, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL IS
THEN FURTHER EVOLVED AND IMPROVED.
LL life comes from God as its source.  The
fountain is with Him who has life in himself.  In all its phases, natural, spiritual,
and eternal, life is a free gift conferred upon us. And
here is a fact which we should not overlook.  When
God, in the sovereignty of his grace,'confers this
supernatural gift upon us — spiritual life - at our
entrance into grace, he does not take away from us
the life of the soul we possessed before: he simply
superadds to the life which we before possessed that
which spiritualizes our soul.
When we pass out of a state of nature, and are
ushered, under the regenerating influence of the Holy
Spirit, into a state of grace, we do not lose the life
we formerly possessed; for the life is just the soul:
we are simply put in possession of a new relish, a
10              [217]




218  TRAiSVsITIONV INTO GRACE AND GLORY
heavenward aspiration, a Godward bias, inmplanted in
us; but the soul itself remains substantially, as it
was.
When vegetation in spring begins to quicken and
refresh the previously-sickened and dead-looking
plants, that have been in their graves, as it were,
all the winter, with the snow as their winding-sheet,
and the rains, Nature's tears, and the gusty winds, her
sighings at the view of the desolation which winter
has spread around, what is then being done? There
is infused into the root of the plant a new moisture,
a spring-tide of juice, an uprising vitality, which
ascends through all its various parts, communicating
new life, and causing it to grow, as if seeking for
the things above.  Vegetation in spring does not
annihilate the old plant, and put a new one in its
place: it simply acts, with a vitalizing and invigorating efficacy, upon the vessels of the old plant, and
infuses into these a vitality which they did not possess
during the cold and dead season of the preceding
winter. Ice is water. When the melting thaw descends upon it, it does not take away the material it
acts upon, and substitute something else in its place,
but simply dissolves the ice, and reduces it into a
state of fluidity.
It is the same with our soul when entering into " a
state of grace." No: it is not a new soul which the
Holy Spirit then bestows upon us in the process of
our regeneration: it is a new life, or, more strictly




ADDITION TO PRE VIOUS LIFE.        219
speaking, a new relish, implanted in the soul for
spiritual and divine things.
Generally, the change is so gradual, that the individual undergoing it may remain long in a state of
doubt whether it be with him winter or summer,
death or life; just as, in the beginning of spring, you
have often an uncertainty upon your mind whether
winter be really away or not, and the longed-for
spring, with returning life, and changes to nature,
has actually come. The Holy Spirit, at the hour of
our regeneration, which is the spring-season of a state
of grace, does not give us a new soul. He merely
infuses into our soul a nfew spiritual vegetation, if I
may use ihe expression, under the shining-forth upon
us of the outbursting and increasing warmth of a
new spiritual summer; a new delight in the enjoying
of God, and in doing his holy will; a new relish in
the acceptance of spiritual and divine things; a Godward bias, imparting to us a longing for God and
for spiritual gifts, such as the panting hart feels for
the running, cooling stream; such as the weary,
thirsty traveller, beneath the scorching sun and in a
parched desert, feels for the well of water; such as
the hungry man feels for food;-: such as the mother,
when absent, feels for her child; such as Jonathan
felt for the company of David.
It is the same when we enter into a state of glory.
We do not at death lose our soul, or the spiritual life
which we possessed in the world below whilst we were




220  TRANSITION INTO GRACE AND GLORY
in a state of grace. We go up to heaven, at death,
in possession of that spirit which is our very self; and
thus our spiritual life here merges into eternal life
yonder. The Scriptures plainly and frequently tell
us, that God's children, at death, not merely pass into
a state of glory above, but are- ushered, still in possession of their spiritual life, into the existence which
they are to spend through eternity with their Father
in heaven. The life of God, which they possessed
in their state of grace, merges in that life with God
which is the reward of the blessed, to be spent with
God in heaven.
This, believers, is what awaits you at death. You
are living to God, and are living in Jesus, through
the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit upon your
souls here. You will do the same yonder. View the
spiritual life you now possess as both the preparation
for, and the foretaste of, what you are to be above.
You will enter heaven, at death, very much as you are
now; exactly as death finds your soul. Are you,
then, delighting in God as you will do when you rise,
and appear in his unveiled presence in yonder home
of the blessed? Are you doing his will here as you
expect to do it yonder? Has heaven already come
down upon your soul in its devotion and gladsomeness? In the life of God now in your soul, you have
heaven already commenced. The very life is yours
that will remain with you for ever above. You are
not one thing here, and to be another yonder. You




ADDITION TO PREVIOZUS LIFE.         221
will be for ever what you are now, only improved
and filly perfected.  This view affords you a powerful motive not to loiter or procrastinate in the things
that belong to your, everlasting peace, but without
delay, through prayer and supplication to God for
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit's influence upon
your soul, to get yourselves into a state of thorough
preparation for heaven, - the meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light.
It is wrong' in the sailor to idle away his time on
the shore until the very hour in which he is to sail.
His duty is, in the prospect of sailing, to get all
things ready for the voyage: and it is your duty
who are in a state of grace, and who are preparing
for heaven, to get all things ready; for you will enter
heaven, and take possession of eternity, very much
with the same views and dispositions and tastes and.
desires as you leave the earth at death, and bid adieu
to time.




CHAPTER III.
THIRD  ANALOGY.
GRACE CONFERS NO NEW FACULTIES UPON OUR SOULS, AND
TAKES NONE AWAY.- ANALOGY SUGGESTS THAT THE SAME
THING HAPPENS WHEN GOD'S CHILDREN ENTER INTO
GLORY.,
r;/HEN, under the gracious operations of the
]';/'S   Spirit of the living God, we enter into a
state of grace, we do not leave behind us
any of the faculties and powers of mind which we
possessed whilst in a state of nature, - our understanding, judgment, memory, will, conscience: these
faculties remain with us, in our new state of grace,
which we possessed whilst yet in a state of nature.
So the transition from nature to grace confers upon
us no new faculties, and takes none away. Grace, no
doubt, improves our powers, strengthens them, consecrates them to God and to heavenly things, and
leads us to employ them in his worship and in his
service.
Is the same thing not happening when God's children rise at death, and enter into a state of glory?
[222]




NO FACULTIES LOST OR ACQUIRED.   223
If God's children lose any of the faculties of their
souls at death, they in that case cease to be themselves
at their entrance into heaven (for the faculties are
to the soul what the members are to the body); and,
thus ceasing to be themselves, they cannot in equity
be judged for the actions of their past life. I believe
God's children enter heaven, at death, not only in
possession of the powers and functions of their souls,
but of their moral emotions also, and social affections,
their love to their friends, their sympathy towards
them, their longing desire for their presence and company. If analogy does not prove this, it at least
confirms the probability.
If this be so, surely the feeling that circulates
through our hearts in the death-chamber of a near
and dear friend, and is not confined to us: our
dying friend also, whose eye is fixed on heaven, shares
it. Enter with me the chamber, where, upon a bed
of sickness, a father is lying, surrounded by his family
and friends. The body of that affectionate father is
dying, and is about to be left by the soul, something
like a deserted house, whose former inmates have
flitted: these inmates, at the time of their departure, put out the fires, close up the windows, and
lock the door behind them; so that, in the home
where the voices of the living inmates were so
lately heard, with the sounds of children in their joy
gambolling, there is not heard now even the lonely
tick of the clock, nor the tread upon the floor of




224   NO FACULTIES LOST OR ACQUIRED
the foot of one living thing to break the heavy
silence.
In like manner, the body of that dying and still
affectionate father is about to be left by his immortal
spirit. His soul has received from God the message
that he is to flit to heaven; but whilst the removing
is taking place, and whilst the former tenant is in the
attitude of departing, and going out from that former
home, the soul remains itself, and continues to do so
at death, as well as after it, in possession of all its
faculties and powers. The soul of that dying father
simply leaves the body in its silence and in its rest: it
passes out of the fallen clay-tenement, and it takes -
oh, with what feelings! - the last look of the home,
the body, in which it dwelt during life. But what
will the feeling of the disembodied spirit of that stillfond father be, when, encircled by a company of glad
angels, he looks down, as he hoveringly rises, upon
the countenance of his body now left, and sees it so
changed from that which he beheld when formerly in
a state of health! - the eyes upturned in the steady
stare of death, as if taking the last fixed look of the
ascending spirit, or looking up into the heavens which
the soul is about to enter; the bosom motionless
now, and at rest; not a quiver of pain upon the lips,
the music of the tongue passed into the silence which
is never broken. But the changed body is assuredly
not the only object upon which the departing spirit
of that dear father looks, when hovering over the




WHEN PASSING INTO GLOBY.           225
sorrowful spectacle which the death-chamber presents.
A child in tears is tremulously holding the already
cold hand, as if, with that grasp of affection, she would
keep her once-fond and still-dear parent from leaving
her. A partner, lovely in her tears, is bending over
the object of her dearest earthly affection, and is convulsively kissing the brow, upon which still stand the
cold drops of perspiration left by the dying struggle.
Other friends are around, and are also in tears; for
they feel the sorrow of parting.
Are these sorrowing friends unheeded by that father's departing spirit, leaving them, in possession of
all his faculties and social affections, whilst hovering
over them, and about to rise, in the company of these
encircling angels, to heaven? It cannot be.
Look at the emigrant, as he is standing upon the
deck of the ship which is already under sail.  His
friends are on shore, and are in tears. Is he unmoved?
Has he no thoughts and no emotions? Oh, yes! He
is looking back longingly upon the dear friends he is
leaving behind him in the land of his nativity.  As
the ship moves on, he remains standing upon the
deck, and looking, not forward upon his voyage, and
towards the country he is sailing to, but backwards
upon the shore.- His eyes are upon his friends.  He
is thinking about them, whilst still moving away from
them; and the tumultuous emotions of a sad parting
are coursing through his heart, and are going out in
warm and gushing sympathies toward those he has
10*




226   NO FACULTIES LOST OR ACQUIRED
left in their tears upon the shore. They feel also for
him; for he sees the white handkerchiefs fluttering
with which they are waving him a fond adieu.  As
the vessel, with its outspread and snowy sails, glides
onwards on its voyage, he continues still to stand
upon deck, still to look towards those fond friends he
is leaving, till, upon the far-off verge of the curving
water, he sees them flit from his view; and the highest
cliff of his native land at last disappears.
So is it with that dying father.  His disembodied
spirit retains all its faculties during the process of
dying, and feels for those he is leaving, probably more
than they feel for him. Moses feels for the Israelites
when summoned by God to go up to the mount, and
die; and gives expression to his emotions in the affecting farewell address he delivered to them just before
his departure. Elijah feels for Elisha, and enters into
conversation with him just before the horses, and
chariots of fire, make their appearance, which are to
convey him up to heaven. Jesus continues to feel for
his disciples, whilst from the cloud, in the bosom of
which he goes up to heaven, he looks down upon
them standing upon the Mount of Olives in their bereavement and sorrow. And the soul of that departing father does not cease to feel for the members of
his home-circle and others, even when, in his upward
flight to heaven, they flit from his view, and when his
now-desolated home is no longer visible. It is the
same with each of our departed friends who have




WHtEN PASSING INTO GLORY.         227
fallen asleep in Jesus. They remember us in heaven,
for their memory remains; and they retain yonder a
vivid recollection of the dear ones they have left sorrowing in their former homes. The earth, their former home; the grave, where the buried body lies,are also assuredly the objects of a deeply interested
remembrance. Under these views, image to yourselves, ye who are bereaved, what will happen in your
case, when ye also rise at death, and join the dear
departed in your home of love in which they now
dwell.
I have elswhere endeavored to prove the doctrine
of the recognition of f'iends in heaven.  I believe
that a full and joyous recognition takes place when
another and another dear one arrives from earth to
join the great and happy family of God who are
around their Father. When you then leave your now
bereaved home, and enter into heaven, and nmeet and
recognize your departed friends before the throne of
God, and enter into heavenly converse with them,
about what will you talk in the realms of bliss? No
doubt you will speak about what Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit has done for you, in bestowing upon you
salvation. You will also converse with the rapturous
enthusiasm of deeply interested spectators about all
that you see in glory around you. You will also speak
to them, most assuredly, about what you felt, your
sorrows and your hopes, when parted from them in
their chamber of dissolution, and about the joy you




228  NO FACULTIES LOST OR ACQUIRED.
feel at meeting them again in your Father's house of
love, where no after-separation by death will ever
take place; for in that home, in the enjoyment of
immortality, you will, in the gladness of your heart,
dwell with them for ever.




CHAPTER IV.
FOURTH  ANALOGY.
THE CHIEF FEATURE IN THE LIFE OF THOSE WHO ARE IN A
STATE OF GRACE, AND ALSO OF THOSE WHO ARE IN
A STATE OF GLORY, IS THEIR COMMUNION WITH GOD.
AOdMMNION with God is the source and
peculiar characteristic of a state of grace.
"Enoch walked with God."  God's command to Abraham is, " Walk before me, and be thou
perfect." David's resolution is, "I will walk before
the Lord in the land of the living." David's holy,
heavenly, breathing desires after God are thus expressed: " As the hart panteth after the water-brooks,
so panteth my soul after thee, 0 God." "O God, thou
art my God: early will I seek thee."  The Apostle
John thus describes the lives of Christians in his day:
"Our communion and fellowship is with the Father,
and with his Son Jesus Christ."
Analogy, and that corroborated by the word of
God, intimates to us that the most prominent feature
in the lives of the glorified in heaven is their con[229]




230         COMM UNION WITH GOD
tinued communion with the Father.  No doubt, the
communion of the saints in glory with their God and:Father differs somewhat from ours on the earth below. God is unveiled to their view; they are now
enjoying the beatific vision; they are seeing God, and
there is not a veil remaining to shut out from their
view his personal attributes; whilst we see God as
yet only with the eye of faith. Those in heaven hear
God's voice speaking audibly to them, as he looks
upon them, and addresses them face to face, in words
that are all light, and all knowledge, and all love,
and all tenderness.  They hear God's voice speaking
to them in the language of eternity, even as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai, and the Jews at the baptism of Jesus, and the three chosen disciples on the
Mount of Transfiguration; whilst we hear the voice
of God speaking to us who are upon the earth, only
through the vocables of inspiration, to which we do
well to take heed, as to a light shining in a dark
place, until the day dawn, and the day-star of promise arise in our hearts.
The saints of God who are in heaven have communion with their Father, and are in a state of absolute pefection.  They are perfect in knowledge, in
righteousness, in peace, in love, in holiness, and in
every grace; whilst our holiness here is only like the
light shining more and more unto the perfect day;
and our love to God is only like the smoling flax,
hesitating whether to glow on, or to go out altogether;




BOTH IN GRACE AND GLORY.          231
or like the first uncertain kindlings of a fire that is to
burn and glow upon the altar of our heart; and our
desires towards God are but languid and feeble, impaired through the operation of many worldly agencies that are around us, which to some extent deaden
them, and at certain seasons nearly extinguish them
altogether.
The communion of saints' with their God and
Father, however, both in heaven and upon earth, has
many things in common, — many elements that are
quite identical. The saints in heaven are before the
throne of his glory, whilst the saints upon earth are
before the throne of his grace. But these are not two
thrones: they are but one. The top of it is in heaven,
illuminated by the light of eternal day: the bottom
is upon earth, encircled with the commingled elements of light and darkness, knowledge and ignorance, warmth and coldness. Those in a state of glory
above, and those in a state of grace below, are all
equally engaged in worshipping the same God. Their
voices commingle, and swell upwards, and rise in
one roll of symphony, and ascend in one united,
loving, ardent acclaim to Him who is upon the
throne; whilst the Hearer of prayer and the God
of grace is looking down in love upon them all,
and is listening to their voice, as they all, rejoicing
in the salvation of the Lord, proclaim " salvation to
Him that sitteth utpon the throne, and unto the
Lamb."




232        COMMi1UNION WITH GOD
Thus the life of God's children, both in a state of
grace and in a state of glory, is spent in communion
with God, joining in his worship, rendering to him
that adoration and thanksgiving and praise that are
so justly due to his great and glorious name.
What an elevation does this view give to our present communion with God here, and to those happy
seasons in which we join socially in his worship, both
in public and in private! for, when engaged in holy
worship, we are doing upon earth what the glorified
are doing up yonder in heaven, and what we are yet
to do with them, and that for ever. In the look of
faith with which we gaze up upon God, we see dimly
reflected and shadowed forth the view by sight which
the whole assemblies of heaven are at the very moment obtaining and enjoying. When we look upon
the hallowed light of the sabbath of the Lord shining upon us with its quiet, and, if I may use the
expression, becalmed radiancy, reminding us that the
Lord is risen, and awakening in our souls our sabbath's sacred associations and holy hopes, we see in
the light of the holy sabbath of the Lord the dim
reflection of the sabbath of eternity that is enjoyed
in heaven, and which awakens in the souls of God's
worshippers yonder the ecstasy of delight, and the
glow of love, and the hallowed associations that cluster around and gladden the spirits of the just made
perfect. When we leave our homes upon the morning of the Lord's Day, and go up to Zion to meet our




BOTH IN GRACE AND GLORY.          233
fellow-worshippers in God's house of prayer, and
join, as with one heart and one soul and one voice,
in God's public worship, are we alone in that exercise?  No: many congregations of God's people
around us in the world are engaging in the very
same exercise; and the whole hosts of heaven are
listening to the voice of that strong angel which the
Apostle John beheld flying in the midst of heaven,
and saying, "Fear God, and give glory to him, and
worship Him that made heaven and earth, and the
sea, and the fountains of waters."
When we pray to God publicly in the sanctuary,
or bow the knee, at the family altar or in the closet,
before the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named, what is our position?  WVe look
up to God, exalted upon the throne of his sovereignty, not as God over all merely, blessed for ever,
but our Father, reconciled to us in Christ Jesus.
We look up to God, and speak with him, as a confiding child does in a home of love with an affectionate parent. In these devotional exercises upon earth,
we see symbolized the representation, the relation,
personal and near, which exists betwixt the saints in
glory, and God. They are also looking to God; but
there is no veil now betwixt them and the great
Father of lights, concealing him from their view:
they are speaking to God face to face. And this
holy, loving, personal address is not on the part of




234         COMMiUNVION WITHf GOD
the glorified alone. God, even their God, is condescending, not merely to look down upon them with
the approving eye, and the countenance of love: he
is speaking to them; he is holding personal converse
with them, and in words that are divine, for they are
from the mouth of God; even as he did to Moses, to
Job, to Abraham, to Solomon, to the three chosen
disciples upon the Mount of Transfiguration.  These
conversations, which God held at sundry times and
in divers manners with his children upon earth, were
just the foreshadowings of the condescending and
personal converse which God the Father holds with
all his dear children who are now in heaven; whilst
the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, is
feeding them, and is leading them to living fountains of waters, and God is wiping away all tears
from their eyes.
WXhen as a congregation in the church, or as a
family in our home of love, we join together in lifting with glowing and united hearts, and as with one
voice, our song of praise to God, we hear, whilst so
engaged, an audible echo of the great song of eternity,'and of the high praises of heaven. I never listen
to the song of praise, but I hear in it, as it were, the
echo of that which is rising to God in'heaven from
the whole assemblies of the glorified, whilst ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,
even a great nmu]ltitude which no man can number,
pour forth their heavenly voices,, saying, "Worthv is




BOTH IN GRACE AND GLORY.          235
the Lamb that was slain, to receive power and riches
and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and
blessing."
When we sit down at the table of the Lord, and
feel our communion solemnities awakening in our
souls the commingled feelings of sorrow, at the
thought that the Son of God had to suffer the
death of the cross before a sufficient and acceptable
atonement could be offered to God for our sins, and
joy that the Lord is risen, has ascended on high, and
is appearing before the mercy-seat above, making
intercession for us; when we enter God's banquetinghouse, and seat ourselves at a table of love, and open
our souls, all in a glow of holy desire, for the King
of glory to come; and when we feel constrained to
give expression individually to this language of the
mystic spouse, -"I sat down under his shadow with
great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste;
he brought me to the banqueting-house, and his
banner over me was love,"- we see in our communion solemnities the living symbol of what is at the
very same moment taking place in God's banquetinghouse above. There are communicants assembled in
yonder heaven. God has spread a table for his children who are there. There are communion solemnities transacting in the heavenly sanctuary, at a table
never to be drawn: like us, they are commemorating,
not in the elements of bread and of wine, but in the
praises of eternity, the same death that we are keep



236         COMMUNION WITH GOD.
ing in remembrance.  " Unto Him," they cry, " that
loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own
blood, and made us kings and priests to God and his
Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and
ever!"
Fellow-Christians, do not merely realize this communion with God which his children have with him
both in heaven and upon earth. When engaging in
God's worship, either in public or in private, enter
heart and soul into spiritual communion with him, as
yonder assemblies are doing who are above you in the
heavens; Imitate their realizations, their fond, rapturous, holy gazings on the Fountain of all good.
If you are among the redeemed, you are lying under
the same obligation of gratitude to worship God
with all your souls that yonder heavenly assemblies
are.  Oh that we, in our worship of God, in our
seasons of special communion, could experience the
same fixedness of attention, the same gaze of admiration, the same glow of holy fervor and heavenly
desire, which the saints of God now enjoy who are
worshipping him in his holy and blessed heaven!
WTe would thus have heaven upon earth, or at least
a foretaste of what we are to enjoy throughout eternity.




CHAPTER V.
FIFT I ANALOGY.
OUR ENTTRANCE INTO A STATE OF GRACE USHERS US INTO THE
POSSESSION OF NEW AND DIVINE ENJOYMENTS. — OUR ENTRANCE INTO A STATE OF GLORY DOES THE SAME.
HIERE  can be no doubt that a prodigious
change takes place in our position, when,
under the quickening and reviving influences
of the Holy Spirit, we rise up in the strength of the
Lord God Almighty, and pass away for ever from a
state of nature, and enter into a state of grace.
What happened to the Israelites at their exodus from
Egypt, then happens spiritually to our souls. Our
previous season of bondage to sin and Satan ends.
The blood of the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world, is sprinkled upon the doorposts and lintels of our hearts. We rise up, and enter
with songs of praise upon the path that leads us to
the heavenly Canaan. The Bible becomes our pillar
of cloud by day and our pillar of fire by night, whose
guidance we follow, as the full manifestation of our
[237]




238           NEW EIVJOYMEENTS
heavenly- Father's will to us.  Our spiritual foes are
overthrown by the uplifted arm of the Most High in
our defence, and are submerged in a deeper sea than
that which overflowed Pharaoh and his army.  God
opens over us the windows of heaven, and does to
us what he did to the tribes of Israel in the wilderness.  He gives us of the corn of heaven, angels'
food, the bread of life, the living manna, in the gift
of his Son. He opens to us springs in the desert of
the world, and makes the flinty rock produce pools
of waters. Thus our spiritual life is represented by
what the Jews experienced in the wilderness: " Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud,
and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all
eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the
same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was
Christ." When we thus enter into a state of grace,
and begin the journey of spiritual life that is to usher
us into heaven, an entirely new world is opened to
our view; we enter upon a new sphere of existence
altogether. View in imagination the cold and buried
corpse in yonder lonely churchyard. It is summer;
it is day. The sun is shining in all his splendor in
thile sky; but what is the light of his shining to the
sleeping dead?  The closed eyes see it not.  The
lark is singing merrily above that lowly slumberer of




ON ENTERING IiNTO GRACE AND GLORY. 239
the tomb, and upon whirring wings is rising in its
warbling to the very gate of heaven; but the music
of its song does not fall upon the ear of the dead.
The world is as if it had no existence to the inmate
of that grave.  Friends stand, and look down in
sorrow upon the spot where the lowly slumberer
lies; but the dead sees them not: their sighs reach
not the ear of the dreamless occupant. Image, however, the resurrection-morning dawning; Christ coining in the clouds of heaven; the trump of God
sounding; the buried dead rising, and raising their
heads above the surface of the earth again! What a
change instantly takes place upon those who thus
emerge from the grave! Their eyes, as they rise,
are open, and they are looking round about them.
with wondering curiosity upon the world, but a
minute ago hid, now seen to be all in a bustle and
stir of commotion.  Their ears hear the voice of
Jesus from the throne, saying, "Arise, ye dead, and
come to judgment!" and they listen to the rush of
numberless millions gathering from the four winds
of heaven around the judgment-throne. Thus, in a
moment, the upraised dead on the resurrection-morn
ing enter upon a new world -altogether strange to
them.  Thus is it when we enter into a state of
grace. Then we are ushered into a new world: new
sights, new sounds, new scenery altogether, is seen
spreading around us, and opening to our view;  Old
things pass away; behold, all things become new.




240           NEW ENJOYMENTS
View that person asleep upon yonder bed. Living, sympathizing friends are around, and are standing, in their love, near to where he lies; but he sees
not the kindly expression of affection that is upon
their countenances, nor the look of tenderness that
falls upon his closed eye and settled face. He hears
not the sound of their kindly voices,- speaking not
to him, but about him,- near as they are to him.
How different it is when that individual awakes!
What a change in his views and feelings! He then
sees himself in the midst of his friends, speaks to
them, and listens to their voices speaking to him; he
feels himself ushered into a new scene, and into the
high enjoyment of intercourse with those he loves.
It is the same with us when we enter into a state of
grace. We then awake to see a new world -the
spiritual world - peopled with friends who were
around us in our unconsciousness; whose eyes of
love were upon us, in their deep interest in us, and
their tender sympathies towards us: but we saw not,
previously, their looks of love, and were totally unimpressed by their anxieties about us. We also begin to hear sounds, sweet and heavenly, that did not
reach our ears before. We see God coming into our
view in an aspect we never previously witnessed.
We saw him formerly in his greatness; but he appeared to us, when looking up to him, like the sun
when looked at through a smoked glass.  Upon his
face a gathering darkness seemed settled, as if it had




ON ENTERING INTO GRACE AND GLORY. 241
been mantled by the awful frowns upon us of his divine displeasure: but, oh! joyous sight, his frowns
are away; his face shines upon us with a smile.
God thus appears to us in the endearing relation of
our Father in heaven. Oh, what joys and delights
does this view of God diffuse over our souls!- his
anger turned away, and he in sympathy comforting
us with the consolations of his love. Then we gain
admission into the very pavilion of his covenanted
presence. The Lord becomes our light and our salvation, and we are led to look up to him, and to exclaim,
" O Lord I thou wast angry with me; but thine anger
is now turned away, and thou comfortest me." "My
soul doth magnify the Lord; my spirit will rejoice
in God my Saviour."  Then also the Lord Jesus
comes into our view in the loving and much-to-bedesired relation of our Saviour, our new Covenant
Head, who leads us joyfully to look up to him in
these exulting exclamations: "I know that my Redeemer liveth." " I know in whom I have believed." What heavenly joys are diffused over our
heart through this covenant-communion with Jesus!
We see him present with us in his love, and hear his
voice speaking to us in words of indescribable endearment.  We walk with him in the gladness of our
hearts, feeling often as if these our very hearts were
burning within us. We feel these words fulfilled to
us: " When thou passest through the waters, I will
be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not
11




242           NEW ENJOYMENTS
overflow thee."  "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.'  "The mountains shall depart, and the
hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart
from thee." Then, also, the Holy Spirit comes into
our view, in all the importance of his mission, and in
all the holy sympathies of a personal friend. He
becomes our Comforter; imparts to us, in the language of Scripture, "the consolations of the Almighty;" pours into our souls the love of God, with
all its delights; and conveys to us the peace which
passeth all understanding, - even peace with God,
through our Lord Jesus Christ; the rivers of God's
pleasures, the streams of heavenly gladness, to some
extent, that are flowing through the bosoms of the
already glorified.  Oh, what joys and delights do
God's children possess which the men of the world
know nothing of!
When believers enter into heaven, they are then
also ushered into the possession of new and divine
enjoyments. The souls of the glorified are not in a
state of inaction: they are alive, and enter upon the
living scene which heaven, at their death, opens
upon their view. They meet and see God, and feel
gladdened by their Father's look of love. They see
Jesus face to face, and behold with delight that
they are now in heaven, their eternal home. Angels
and glorified saints are looked upon by them as their
companions; and they see upon every countenance
around them the look of friendship, and know that in




ON ENi.TERING INTO GRACE AND GLORlY. 243
every bosom near them, and even through the whole
heavens, there glows towards them a love that will
never abate in its ardor. They enter for eternity
upon the possession of those joys that are at God's
right hand, and upon those pleasures that shall endure for evermore.




CHAPTER VI.
SIXTH ANALOGY.
TImE LIFE OF THOSE WIHO ARE IN A STATE OF GRACE UPON
EARTH IS A HOLY ACTIVITY IN THE WAYS OF GOD. —
ANALOGY COUNTENANCES THE VIEW THAT THE LIFE OF
THOSE WHO ARE IN A STATE OF GLORY IS THE SAME.
STATE of grace produces in the soul a
holy and restless activity in the ways of
God, doing his will, performing his work.
Christians under the influence of divine gracediffer
much in their talents, in their tastes, and in their pursuits. They have this family feature, however, in
common, — a predominating desire in all things to do
the will of their Father in heaven, and to finish the
work upon earth which their God has severally given
them to do. Natural life prompts to action: spiritual
life does the same.
You see an illustration of what a state of grace is
in the life of Jesus upon earth.  What is Christ's life
here?  It is not one of seclusion from the world, and
of idleness, but of ceaseless activity. It is Christ's
meat and his drink to do the will of his Father in
[244]




SAINTS LIVE A LIFE OF ACTIVITY.  245
heaven.  He went about continually doing good.
We see what a state of grace is in the lives of the
apostles. Heaven is thus described by the Apostle
John, when he looked up into it, and beheld the
throne of'God, Him who sits upon it, and the worshippers who are around: " They serve him day and night
in his temple."  "They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which
was, and is, and is to come." The disciples of our
Lord, whilst upon earth, resembled these heavenly
worshippers: they rested not in doing the work of
God.  From  the time when, upon the Mount of
Olives, their risen Lord stood in the midst of them,
looked forth with a heart glowing in love to a lost
world, and said to them, "Go into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature; " " Go, and
teach all nations," — till the day of their death, these
disciples knew not what rest was. Their souls had
been touched as with a live coal from off the altar of
heaven; were glowing with a quenchless ardor for the
glory of Christ in the salvation of their lost brethren
of mankind; and their unceasing aspiration is, "For
Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness
thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation
thereof as a lamp that burneth."  This was what a
state of grace made the lives of the apostles. How
peaceful must a heaven of rest and of love and of joy
have been to these disciples, when at their death they




246   SAINTS LIVE A LIFE OF ACTIVITY
rose from earth, and entered it! It would be to them
what the ark was to Noah's dove; what the quiet
and tranquil haven is to the mariner when he casts
anchor there, and leaves the stormy sea behind him;
what the rest of his home is to the weary pilgrim.
Believers in Jesus, do the lives of these apostles
mirror forth yours? Ever remember that this activity
and delight in doing God's will, and in executing his
work, is one of the chief features of a state of grace.
Analogy gives us its prophetic intimation, that a state
of glory is the same; and analogy, in this case, is
confirmed by the express statements of Scripture.
Heaven is not a world of listless inactivity, idleness,
and mere rest: it is, on the contrary, a world of action,
and unwearied diligence in doing God's will, and in
executing his commands; and it is a life of labor
in the ways of God here that prepares us for it.
It is true, heaven is spoken of as a rest: "There
remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people of God."
"And I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me,
Write, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from
henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest
from their labors; and their works do follow them."
In other parts of Scripture, however, the exactly opsite view of heaven is conveyed to us: " They follow
the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." " These are they
which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God,




ON EARTH AND IN fTEAVEN.            247
and serve him day and night in his temple." Those
who are in a state of glory in heaven have now a rest
firom sin, the agonies of an awakened conscience, sickness, the pains of temporal death; but are they
doing nothing up yonder, whilst God's children are
all activity here? This is not the Bible view, rightly
interpreted, of their state.  Many of these saints,
whilst in a state of grace here, undertook missionary
tours for the spiritual benefit, for the salvation, of
those who were perishing around them in the world.
Are they permitted in any way to give their agency
to the cause of Christ in the world, now that they are
in a state of glory?  It may be.  Angels, we know,
are undertaking missions of love to the children of
God upon earth: " Are they not all ministering
spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be
heirs of salvation?" The saints in glory are equal
to the angels, are like them, are their companions,
and constitute a part of the same family. IDo these
saints, then, either by themselves or in the company
of some angel-companions, revisit the home and the
scenes that were dear to them on earth, or other realms
throughout God's great universe?  Analogy announces to us the probability of this. Angels are not
imprisoned in heaven. - Are the saints?  The saints
traversed the path that stretches betwixt earth and
heaven, when, at their death, an abundant entrance
was administered to them into the everlasting kingdom
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Are they not




248   SAINTS LIVE A LIFE OF ACTIVITY
permitted to recross that path occasionally again, and
revisit the earth where they once dwelt? I know
nothing to prevent; and the Bible does not say that
they are forbidden to do so.
Oh! if we could cherish vividly this view in the
season of bereavement, the dark hour of death and the
chamber of separation would be stripped of more than
half their gloom. Image to yourselves, ye who are
mourning in Zion, the still-fond and loving spirit of
a departed parent undertaking such a mission to the
home in which you are sorrowing over his removal
from the midst of you. Do not think this is impossible. Moses and Elias travel from heaven on a visit
to earth on one occasion: so may he. Besides, there
is one remarkable passage in the Book of Revelation,
confirmatory of such visits being made by departed
saints to the earth where they once dwelt, and in which
they have still a deep and absorbing interest. "'I,
John, saw these things, and heard them; and, when
I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before
the feet of the angel which showed me these things.
Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not; for I am
thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets,
and of them which keep the sayings of this book':
worship God."
Image, then, that father, whose very heart was garnered up in his wife and children, leaving heaven,
all radiant and bright beneath the shining light
of God's countenance, and descending-either in




ON EARTH AND IN HEATVEN.          249
company with angels or with other kindred spirits,
who, like him, have a deep interest in the spot he
is about to visit -to the home he left at his death,
and around which his holiest, I would almost say
his most heavenly, associations still cluster. He
reaches that home. He enters all unseen (for the
spirit is invisible to mortal eye) into the midst of
his former family-circle. He looks upon her who
was once his partner in life, and upon his still-dear
children, in tears at the thought of his departure
from the midst of them. He hears them talking
about him, in fond remembrance of what he was
whilst yet with them in their home. He sees them,
whilst they see not him; for the same reason that
angels are hidden from our view, even when present
with us, and that God is invisible.  Oh! the most
gladdening spectacle which that now-glorified father
can look upon in that still-dear home is the members
reading together the word of God, or kneeling in
united prayer at the family-altar; or the lovely vision
bursting upon his view of a still-dear child, alone,
and praying to God, with the closet-door shut; or the
members engaging in religious conversation about
God, about heaven, which is now his usual dwellingplace; about Jesus, who is the way to it; and about
what they will feel when they rise, and meet him in
yonder heaven of love.
Such a scene as I have now pictured may be taking
place, even at this very moment, in many a bereaved
11*




250   SAINTS LIVE A LIFE OF ACTIVITY
Christian home: analogy, rightly interpreted, gives
its evidence in favor of the supposition that such
scenes really are occurring around us, and, it may be,
in our own home.
Maity not one, as an explorer, accompanied by kindred spirits or by angels as companions, be even now
sailing, not round the earth in quest of new discoveries, as once earthly navigators such as Cook did
whilst down in the world, but round the great pavilion
of the boundless universe of God, to see its greatness
and glory, to see what stars and planets are inhabited,
if sin has reached them, and if Christ's atonement is
showering down its blessings also upon them? - and
this voyage may be over seas of space immeasurable
in expanse, and amonog firmaments of stars, that gleam
and sparkle in endless succession wherever he reaches,
and which seem to have no termination, for still the
sky is in gleam before him, as far as his eye can
reach. May not a Franklin be even now exploring
new realms of space, not in trying to find out the
North-west Passage, but in trying to find whether
God's great universe is limited in its extent, and
whether space has its boundaries, whilst around him
an unvarying summer smiles, and thus the towering
icebergs no longer threaten to bear down upon him,
to shiver the vessel of glory in which he sails? May
not a Newton now be traversing, not in thought, not
with the sweep of a powerful telescope, not in the
measurements of strictly mathematical calculations,




ON EARTH AND IN HEA VEN.          251
but in actual presence, in company with others who
had, and may still have, a taste for astronomy, where
new firmaments of stars rise in endless succession
upon his view, as he passes onwards in his tour of
inspection through God's great universe, the existence
of which he never dreamed of whilst down in the
world below? As these new galaxies rise successively
upon his gazing eye, I feel quite sure, that, with all
his knowledge he has even yet got of God's great creation, he still seems to himself like a little boy on the
sea-shore picking up another and another pebble,
whilst the great ocean of Truth is still undiscovered
before him.




CHAPTER VII.
SEVENTHI ANALOGY.
THERE IS CONTINUOUS PROGRESS IN A STATE OF GRACE.ANALOGY COUNTENANCES THE VIEW THAT THE SAME IS
THE CASE LN A STATE OF GLORY.
STATE of grace upon earth is a state of
progress. From the moment that the Holy
Spirit begins the work of grace in our soul,
at the season of our regeneration, until the hour of
our death, we never remain stationary in the divine
life, no more than the sun does, emerging from the
east, and rising upwards to his noontide splendor;
no more than the river does, which flows on and still
on towards the great expanse of the ocean; no more
than the palm-tree does; that grows by the river's
brink. The path of the just is like the shining light,
shining more and more unto the perfect day.
Sanctification, which is a word almost synonymous
with the expression, " a state of grace," is a progrressive work.  "He that hath begun a good work in
you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ."
[252]




A STATE- OF GRACE -PROGRESSIVE.   253
The children of God who are in a state of grace are
thus in a progressive condition all the time they are
upon the earth.  Are they stereotyped the moment
they enter into a state of glory? That they are, is,
I believe, the almost universal impression which
Christians cherish respecting the saints of God who
are now in heaven. This idea, however, I believe
to be wrong. Analogy suggests that such a view of
the heavenly state is incorrect; and there are some
faicts, which, if admitted (and they cannot be denied),
prove that the saints in heaven are, in all probability,
still in a state of progress.  The saints in glory,
with the exception of Enoch and Elijah, are not yet
perfect in the constitution of their persons: there is
room for progress here to what they are in their
present state. Their complete identity is not to be
realized until their bodies are raised by Jesus from
the sleep and degradation of the grave, and re-united
to their souls: then there will, no doubt, be increase
to their present happiness; for their existing widowed
separation from their bodies will be terminated; they
will be, for eternity, entirely transformed into the very
image of Jesus, who is upon the throne with God;
and entire likeness to Christ is one spring of happiness to the saints.
Again: the saints in heaven are not omniscient.
Omniscience is an attribute which belongs to God
alone. All created beings are limited in their knowledge. The Being who knows all- things is God.




254  A STATE OF GRACE PROGRESSIVE:
If, then, the knowledge both of angels and of the
saints in glory be limited, this leaves room for progress in their knowledge, for new additions being made
to it by the evolving of God's providence, not merely
throughout his boundless universe, but also with
those who stand in their robes of glory before his
throne, who see his face, and who rejoice beneath
the light of his presence.
Moreover, the knowledge of the fature appears to be
withheld by God, not only from the members of the
human family who are upon earth, but also from the
angels. of heaven, and from the saints of God who
are now glorified. No doubt, God can impart, and
has imparted, both to angels and to the members of
the human family, the gift of prophecy in reference
to particular events that had not yet happened, and
were unknown; but these were direct communications from the mouth of God, not knowledge naturally possessed by those who thus prophesied.  When
the judgment-day is to happen, is concealed both from
angels and from men; and thus those divines arrogate to themselves too much who pretend to tell us, in
their interpretation of prophecy, when the history of
the world is to terminate, and the judgment is to sit.
Jesus, the faithful and the true Witness, says, "But
of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not
the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son,
but the Father." The time of the judgment-day is
not the only event in the future which is concealed by




SO MAY A STATE OF GLORY.           255
God from all created intelligences: the whole region
of futurity is so, except so far as God condescends
occasionally to lift a small part of the veil, or sets
up, through prophetic intimations, a few circumscribed lighthouses here and there in the dark and
benighted ocean of the future, to throw their glimmering light a small space around.  God has given
us memory, like an eye looking back upon the past,
and connecting us with it. Those in a state of glory
possess the same faculty.  He has, however, given
us no eye, gazing forward and onward, with which
we can pierce the veil that hangs upon the awful
future. Those in heaven are not different from us
in this respect.  It is impossible to give the precise
reason why God thus withholds from all creatures
the knowledge of the future; but the effect of this
arrangement is,- it teaches his children, both in
heaven and upon earth, to see and feel their dependence upon him; it leads them to cling to him, and
to commit their all to his keeping and care, knowing
that he, the omniscient God, will overrule all things
in infinite wisdom and in infinite love for their spiritual and eternal good. Walking along the dark and
unknown path leads the child to cling to his father's
hand with a firmer and a more confiding grasp.  Ignorance of the proper course in which the ship should
sail makes the passengers confide the more in the
pilot's knowledge.  This ignorance of the future,
from which God's children, even in heaven, are not




256   A STATE OF GRACE PROGRESSIVE.
delivered, leads them to look up to their Father the
more dependingly and confidingly for his presence
with them, and guidance.
Further: the saints in glory do not, and never will,
fully comprehend God, what he is, and what manifestation of himself and of his ways he may yet make
to them in the future. This Scripture.language is
true even of all the created intelligences who are now
before God in heaven: " Who by searching can find
out God? who can find out the Almighty unto perfection?" This impossibility of fully comprehending
God makes provision for further and still further acquisitions in this part of divine knowledge, and
leaves room for the saints in heaven to acquire new
and still additional discoveries of God, and of his
progressing and all-presiding providence over his
great universe; and which will go on, so far as I can
see, throughout an endless eternity.




CHAPTER  VIII.
E I GH TH  ANALOGY.
MEANS ARE INSTITUTED BY GOD, WHICH WE ARE TO OBSERVE,
THAT WE MAY BE ADVANCED IN A STATE OF GRACE. -
ANALOGY COUNTENANCES THE VIEW THAT GOD HAS ADOPTED A SIMILAR ARRANGEMENT WITH HIS CHILDREN WHO ARE
IN A STATE OF GLORY.
a 0 far as we yet know, God operates everywhere, not directly in producing the results
that are taking place both in nature and in
grace, and, it may be, in glory, but through the agency of means.  In fact, the material universe, in this
respect, may be viewed as holding something of the
same relation to the invisible, all-pervading Godhead,
that our body, with its several members, holds to
our soul.  It is the soul in man that acts, - that soul
which is itself all the while invisible; but the soul
does not act directly, but through the instrumentality
of the several members of the body. It is the same
in the great universe of God. God is acting everywhere, and, so far as we know, through the agency
of means,
[257]




258  MEAlTS NEEDED IN STATE OF GRACE:
This is the case in nature. Are the heavens and
the earth called into existence? It is by the word of
his power. Does God wish to enlighten his newformed earth? He might have done it by the visible
manifestation of his own presence, for " God is light;"
but, instead of this, he forms the sun, the moon, and
the stars, and places them in their several spheres to
be the agents. Does God wish to make temporal
provision for the coming generations of the human
family who are successively to come into existence,
and to spend their little day upon earth? He endows the earth with its vegetative power. He provides the seed, the sunshine, and the shower, and
continues unweariedly, season after season, to operate
through these.
And be it remembered, that God's continued operation through means is just to us the visible symbol
of what he wishes us to do. God does not operate
through means with the object of setting us free from
their observance, but to give to us the ongoing example how we also are to act; and it is only when
the divine and human observance of appointed means
combine and co-operate that the desired results are
obtained, whether in nature or in grace.
Take the case of the production of natural food
for man. For the accomplishment of this object, God
uses certain means, — the sun to give light and heat;
the clouds to bring, in their floating water-barrels, the
former and the latter rain.  He imbues the earth




SAME MAY BE IN STATE OF GLORY. 259
with its vegetative principle. He brings round, in
regular succession, the seasons of the year, and he
provides seed; and there God leaves the matter. For
the production of the same food, there are means
not opposed to God's means, but in combination with
them, which man must use. Man can plough the
fields; and accordingly God leaves him to do so, or
otherwise the field upon which his sun shines, and
his showers fall, will not be ploughed at all, and
consequently will bear no fruit. Man can sow the
seed in spring which God has prepared to his
hand; and thus he leaves him to do so, or otherwise
he will not sow it miraculously, to countenance man
in his laziness. It is the same in all the operations
of nature. A great and varied combination of means
is established to produce the results that are taking
place everywhere around us. Some of these means
are retained by God in his own hand, and he unceasingly employs them so as to bring about the desired
results for which theyhave been established: but others
of these means, which should always be viewed as
one whole, are put by God into man's hand; and he
places them there, not that we may neglect them,
but that, with unwearied diligence, we may do what
he is doing, as he looks down upon us for our cooperation, and bestows his blessing through the means
used by us.
It is the same in grace. God has established the
means of grace for the good of the world, and spe



260 MEANS  NEEDED IN STATE OF GRACE:
cially for the benefit of the Church which Christ has
purchased with his own blood. The Bible, the sabbath, the preaching of the everlasting gospel, prayer,.
baptism, the Lord's Supper, - God retains these
means, if I may use the expression, in his own hand;
and he conveys his grace through them, as he does
light and heat through the sun, and rain through the
clouds. But upon whom?  Not upon the careless
and disobedient, but upon those who regularly and
prayerfully wait upon him in these means, and look up
to him for the blessing, believing that those who thus
wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; shall
mount up with wings, as eagles; shall run, and not
be weary; shall walk, and not faint.  God used
means to bring you into a state of grace who are
now his children; and he has instituted the means
of grace in his visible Church, and is employing them
and blessing them, through your observance of them,
to advance you in your state of grace, and preparation for glory.
If God be operating thus everywhere around us in
the world, both in nature and in grace, is he acting
differently up in heaven? Are there no means existing yonder which his children are observing, and
through which he is still bestowing the blessing?
Analogy distinctly countenances the view, that there
are; and the Scriptures incidentally lend their confirmatory testimony.
I read of a sabbath in heaven, —the keeping of




SAME MAY BE IN STATE OF GLORY. 261
a sabbath that remains for the people of God. I
am told that heaven itself is a temple. I read of the
general assembly of the church of the first-born, and
thus they sing the high praises of God: " Salvation
to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the
Lamb."  "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us
to God by thy blood." I read of Jesus leading the
glorified in heaven, and feeding them by living fountains of waters, - words that imply at least intercourse and communication.
Those who are now in a state of glory have left
their Bibles behind them in the world below, so that
they can no longer learn God's will through these
lively oracles; but they are now in God's unveiled
presence, see his face, hear his voice, and thus his
children in heaven may now be learning their heavenly Father's will. Jesus conveyed instruction orally
to his people whilst upon earth. Is this not a -symbol of what he is still' doing in heaven? Jesus, I
feel assured, -judging from what he did whilst upon
earth, and remembering that he is the same, yesterday,
to-day, and for ever, —is not silent in the midst of his
followers in heaven. He is assuredly - at least this
is the announcement which analogy makes to us, and
Scripture countenances — mingling with them in all
the infinite condescension of the most loving intercourse and holy friendship. He is speaking to them
face to face. He is permitting them to speak personally to him, to put their questions respecting whatever




262  MEANS NEEDED IN STATE OF GRACE:
they wish to know more clearly. The glorified in
heaven are thus privileged to hear Christ's voice, are
still listening to the gracious words that proceed out
of his mouth. Oh, what loving, endearing, and ravishing communications may Christ thus make to all
the assemblies of heaven, as the glad cycles of eternity roll on!
I address a word to you who are Christians by profession, but who have fallen away from the observance of the means of grace. Do not look upon this
as a trivial matter.  It is not.  If the means of
grace be instituted by God, you are lying, who profess to be his, under the infinite obligation of his
divine authority to observe them.  Continue to neoglect them, and you must perish, or God, in your
case, must reverse his usual procedure; and, if you
are really to hope for this, judge ye. You have now
your season of sowing, and you sow the seed of
God's word upon the soil of your heart by the observance of the means of grace. " Be not deceived;
God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap." You will reap, in and through
eternity, the crop that will be yours from your present sowing.
Besides, analogy countenances the view, that the
glorified in heaven are still living in the observance
of means appointed by God for their progress in
glory, just as they did upon earth for their progress
in grace. If you feel no delight in approaching God




SAME MAY BE IN STATE OF GLORY. 263
through the means of grace upon earth, are you meet
to enter with delight upon the observance of similar
means in heaven? God, with his eye upon you,
waits your reply.




CHAPTER  IX.
N IN T H  ANALOGY.
DIFFERENCE OF SELECTIVE AFFINITIES AND TASTES EXIST IN
GODIS CHILDREN WHO ARE IN A STATE OF GRACE, THERE
MAY BE THE SAME IN A STATE OF GLORY.
BELIEVE many Christians have imbibed a
very erroneous view about the nature of the
(~'. vchange in the soul which the grace of God
effects. They imagine that the change produced by
the Holy Spirit in regeneration makes them altogether
different from what they were whilst in a state of
nature. I look upon such a view as confirmed neither
by Scripture nor experience. No doubt, the Scriptures say that those who have entered into a state of
grace have become the new creation of God in Christ
Jesus; and so it is true, that, as a disposition towards
evil is changed into a love for what is holy and good,
there may be said thus to be a radical change in the
moral part of our nature. But in what does the
change in the soul chiefly consist which is effected by
Divine Grace?  Not in conferring upon the soul any
[264]




DIFFERING TASTES IN STATE OF GRACE. 265
new faculties, or in tacking any way; not in working
upon the soul an entire change in its selective moral
affinities and tastes; but in giving to it a Godward
bias, a new relish for spiritual and divine things. The
change in the soul when a work of grace is commenced is generally so gradual, and the operations of
the Spirit so undistinguishable from the higher natural
operations of the mind, that the Christian may be
totally unable to distinguish the one from the other.
Grace does not destroy either the faculties of the soul,
or its peculiar good tendencies, temperament, and
taste. The man who is a poet whilst he remains in a
state of nature does not lose his poetical talent when
he enters into a state of grace; but he is led to lay it
upon the altar of God, and to consecrate it to sing
forth the praises of spiritual and divine things. The
mathematician does not lose his taste for his peculiar
studies by passing into a state of grace.  Grace
scarcely interferes at all with his peculiar constitution
of mind and taste, and aptitude for discerning relation
and quantity: it merely leads him, in addition to the
views he formerly had, to view, with all the earnestness of a pressing and personal concern, his relation
to God, and God's relation to him; the relation
which the life that now is with us has to the life that
is to come; the relation which time, so short and
fleeting, has to eternity, so fixed and unchangeable;
the relation which a state of grace upon earth has to
a state of glory in heaven.  An individual's mathes
12




266 DIFFERING TASTES IN STATE OF GRACE:
matical constitution of mind remains with him after
he enters into a state of grace, just as it was before:
he then merely obtains a new field for its exercise in
addition to what he formerly possessed. The same is
true in respect to temperament.  The Apostle Peter
is forward, impetuous, and outspoken whilst in a state
of nature: he is much the same as to this after receiving from heaven the baptism  of the Holy Ghost.
Paul has zeal and decision and undaunted intrepidity
before his conversion: he remains very much the same
after, in this respect, when he becomes a preacher of
the gospel, and an ambassador of Christ to the world.
John had doubtless a kind and naturally warm heart,
even whilst its love was estranged from God: a heart
glowing with love to God and to man is his peculiar
characteristic when he enters into a state of grace.
The man who is passionate in a state of nature has
not this peculiarity in his mental constitution entirely destroyed when he enters into a state of grace.
Grace may not extinguish his irritability of temperament: it merely enables him to control his anger, so
as to save him from being hurried into the commission
of sin through it. Somle individuals imagine that grace
invariably produces in the soul a gentleness and softness and yielding effeminacy; and, imbibing this view,
they are apt to think that Luther's stubborn firmness,
and Knox's stern impetuosity and inflexible decision,
are scarcely the manifestations of souls in a state of
grace, -of men in union with Jesus through faith,




SAME MAY BE IN STATE OF GLORY. 267
who is meekness and gentleness and love.  No:
grace does not destroy our peculiar affinities and temperaments and tastes.  The dispositions of real
Christians, and their moral tastes, are quite as various
as those which the men of the world manifest.
It is more than probable (analogy countenances
the supposition) that the saints in glory possess
diversities in their moral selections, tastes, and temperaments. Peter retains, it may be, in heaven, much
of that peculiarity of temperament which he possessed
whilst upon earth. Paul may even now be displaying
in a state of glory that zeal and unquenchable earnestness in his Lord and Master's cause that he showed
whilst down in the world. David's devotion may rise
as high in its holy breathings above that of most of
the saints in glory as it did amongst the worshippers
of God whilst yet upon earth. John may now in
Leaven be exhibiting among his fellow - saints the
same unsurpassed glow of love to Father, Son, Holy
Ghost, and to all who are around him in glory, that
he did whilst yet the inhabitant of earth.
If this be so (and analogy countenances the view),
these peculiarities of dispositions and temperaments
and tastes will be the foundation of peculiar associations and friendships in heaven, which may continue
through eternity.




CHAPTER X.
TENTH  ANALOGY.
DIFFERENCES OF RANK EXIST AMIONG GOD'S CHILDREN IN A
STATE OF GRACE. — ANALOGY COUNTENANCES THE VIEW,
WHICH SCRIPTURE CONFIRMS, THAT THE SAME IS THE CASE
AMONG THOSE Wni., ARE IN A STATE OF GLORY.'~]ERFECT equality in rank and in attainments
does not exist, and never has, amnong the in____ ~ habitants either of earth or of heaven. Perfect equality of rank never has, at any period, existed
upon earth.  Christianity was introduced into the
world, not to destroy, not to change, the institutions
of society in this respect, but to sanctify them just
as they previously existed in the providence of God,
so that judgment might flow down our streets like a
stream, and righteousness as the mighty waters.
Christianity has introduced a mighty change into
the world, as through it the wilderness and the solitary place have become glad; the desert has been
made to rejoice, and to blossom like the rose.  The
Lord's house is established upon the top of the mountains, and is exalted above the hills, so that all na[268]




SAINZTS NOT ALL EQUAL.           269
tions are seen flowing into it. Christianity, however,
came not down from heaven, and lit upon the earth,
with the object of introducing among mankind a religious republic everywhere over the world, and thus
to put an end to all distinctions in rank and in attainment; but to emancipate men from the dominion of
Satan and sin, and to introduce them into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. Differences in rank
and in attainment always existed among men, and, I
apprehend, will continue to exist as long as the world
stands. Nicodemus is a ruler; Lazarus is a beggar;
Paul is an accomplished scholar; Peter and Andrew,
James and John, are illiterate fishermen.
How different are God's children in the world, not
only in rank, but in their attainments also, both natural and spiritual! Newton is endowed with powers
that dimly shadow forth to us the attribute of omniscience on the part of God. He grasps a universe
of material orbs in one comprehensive survey; and,
wherever he traverses mentally in space, he sees the
skirts of that robe with which He is arrayed who
covers himself with light as with a garment. Bacon,
with his patience in experimenting, and with his
power of generalization, made himself, to a great
extent, master of all knowledge in all its various departments. Locke was possessed of an understanding brilliant as the noonday sun, and of logical and
analytical powers that were never surpassed.  Howe
had powers of mind of a transcendental nature, with




270        SAINTS NOT ALL EQUAL
which he not only looked into heaven, but seemed,
even whilst upon earth, actually to live in heaven;
to walk through all -its courts of bliss, and to hold
converse with the adorable Godhead, with angels and
glorified saints; and, in all the views he has given us
of the upper sanctuary, shows, that, in addition to
the possession of great intellectual powers, he had, in
an eminent degree, what is termed heavenly-mindedness. Edwards had a comprehensiveness of theological acquisition that was probably never surpassed.
He viewed theology, metaphysics, and logic, as a
person would do a valley, with the stream winding
through it, and the palm-trees growing along its
brink, whilst standing upon an eminence on a clear,
cloudless day, and looking downwards with the aid
of a powerful telescope.  Calvin viewed theology
with a cold, clear, legal comprehensiveness; saw
God in his high sovereignty, the scheme of salvation
in all its parts hanging and depending upon Him,
whom he beheld sitting with something like a legal
inflexibility upon the throne. Contrast these giants
of the faith whilst upon earth-whose understandings still blaze forth upon us through their religious
writings, like so many bright intellectual suns shining
over our heads to enlighten us in the way of salvation, in the things that belong to our everlasting
peace- with other Christians, whose mental attainments are so small and limited, that they simply
know the Bible is true; that God speaks to us in it,




IN A STATE OF GRAQCE OR GLORY.  271
and makes known to us the way of salvation through
its inspired vocables; that Jesus is an all-sufficient
Saviour, whose blood cleanseth from all sin, and is
able to save to the very uttermost; that the Holy
Spirit comes down from the Father and the Son, in
answer to their prayers, to regenerate their souls;
and that heaven is prepared, into which Christ the
forerunner has entered, to be the eternal home of all
the people of God.  But these Christians, low in
mental attainments, are living before God under the
influence of divine grace, and are spending a life of
love to God and to man here.  Thus grace does not
equalize the mental powers of Christians: it merely
sanctifies those they have.
Similar differences in rank exist among the inhabitants of heaven. Angels differ in rank. There
are angels and archangels; there are principalities
and powers; there are cherubim and seraphim.  I
cannot exactly say what the particular distinctions
are among the angels of God, which these epithets,
applied to them, point out; but assuredly they indicate that the angelic community is not a presbyterial
equality, is not a republican dead level. I cannot
tell - for on this the Scriptures are entirely silent
— what has led God to appoint these diversities in
rank and in attainment among the angels who stand
in his presence, and minister to him in the, upper
sanctuary, no more than I can tell what leads God,
when sending children to be born into the world, to




272        SAINTS NOT ALL EQUAL
assign one the position of being born of a sovereign,
in one of the palaces of earth, and another to be born
of a beggar, cold and comfortless, by the wayside;
no more than I can tell what it is that leads God
to assign such a difference in rank and attainment to
the different members of the human family; no more
than I can tell what has led God to give such differences in their degrees of brightness to the different
orbs of the- firmament.
Angels may all possess the very same form and appearance, with their complexional differences, and be
all equally shining and lovely in their countenances;
and the differences of rank existing among them may
be merely in the authority and rule which they exercise
over their compeers. Why this dignity in rank is
assigned by God to some of the angels over others, I
cannot tell. It may be as a reward, for a season,
for zeal in the work of God, in doing his will, and in
executing his commands. It may be that government is needed even in heaven; that governors are
required even among the angels; and that God appoints certain of their number for an assigned period,
irrespective of reward altogether, to fill the places of
honor he has prepared, and to exercise the authority
he commits into their hands. In this way, angels
may be changing places from a higher to a lower,
or from a lower to a higher sphere, as men upon the
earth are found doing, in executing that power which
God, in his providence, puts into their hands.




IN A STATE OF GRACE OR GLORY.   273
There are also different degrees of rank and of
attainment among the redeemed who are now glorified in heaven.  "They that be wise shall shine as
the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn
many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and
ever." The question may be put, How is this difference, in the degrees of glory which God gives to his
children in heaven, assigned?  Upon what principle
does God act when determining the position which
this saint and that saint is to occupy in a state of
glory? I believe that God is neither partial nor capricious, and that, in assigning to each glorified saint
his and her position in glory, he is guided by the two
principles of infinite rectitude and of infinite wisdom.
There are two principles, upon one or other of
which, or upon both, God may assign to us, who are
believers in Jesus, our position in glory, - the degree
of our state of grace upon earth may determine our
degree of glory in heaven, or work done for Christ
here may determine the reward that we are to receive
when we enter into heaven. If our degree in a state
of grace is to determine our degree in a state of
glory, this surely ought to be a powerful motive to
stimulate us not to rest contented with small attainments in the divine life here; or, if it be work done
for Christ upon earth that is to determine our position in glory, this should be a powerful motive to
lead us to work the works of God whilst it is called
to-day. Paul, after a long life of arduous labor in
12*




274       BANT.S NOT ALL EQUAL.
the cause of Christ upon earth, will thus be advanced
to a higher position in glory than the thief upon the
cross, who never performed even one good work in
the cause of Christ, except the example which he
gave, when, feeling himself approaching, and now on
the very verge of, an undone eternity, he looked with
a broken heart to Christ, and cried that Jesus would
remember him when he entered into his kingdom.
Men reward those who work for them, in proportion
to the time they have been engaged in their service,
and the amount of work performed by them; and it
is upon the principles of equity that the God of
heaven should do the samnle.




CHAPTER XI.
ELEVENTH ANALOGY.
OUR TRANSITION INTO A STATE OF GRACE DOES NOT LESSEN,
IT INCREASES, OUR INTEREST IN OUR FRIENDS AND FELLOWSAINTS AROUND US. - ANALOGY SUGGESTS THAT THE CASE
IS THE SAME WITH THOSE WHO ENTER INTO A STATE
OF GLORY.
k2~g1 WILL not stop to illustrate this analogy, to
any great extent, in reference to those who
are in a state of grace. Examples must be
familiar to every reader, that illustrate the increased
interest in our friends, and inmates of our homes,
which an entrance into a state of grace awakens in
the soul of a child of God. Whilst in a state of
nature, how little interest have many individuals in
those connected with them!
The drunkard on a Saturday night will sit at his
cups, and thoughtlessly spend that money which he
has won by hard labor during the week, and which
he ought to bring to his home. Come with me, in
imagination, and look in. Lo! the house is dark;
there is no candle; the fire is out; the coals are done;
and the mother is anxiously waiting for her husband's
[275]




276   GRACE INCREASES OUR INTEREST
return with his wages, to purchase a small supply of
these necessary articles.  The children are tattered,
and shivering in the cold house.  There is no food,
and the mother can get them none till her partner
comes; and she tries to soothe the hungry creatures
by asking them to go to the door, and see if their
father is approaching.  The mother sheds her tears in
secret. Is it possible, do you ask, that a man, in the
possession of reason and of common sense, can
thoughtlessly thus sit down in the tavern, and spend
his hard-won money, whilst his poor family is in such
a state as I have described?  It is.  Moreover, every
Saturday night, the Lord of heaven and of earth looks
down, from his throne of love and of pity, upon
thousands and thousands of such scenes over the surface of this fallen world.  But let that father's soul.
be brought under the influence of divine grace, and
immediately a new interest in his family's welfare
is awakened. He then sets himself to deny and
smother, in the strength of the Lord God, the
cravings of his depraved appetites, and to attend
to the comfort of his haggard wife and wretched
children. He works not now merely to win his
weekly wage: he carefully brings it home, deposits
it, every farthing, in the lap of love; for he knows
the affectionate mother and partner will, with the
utmost prudence and economy, make their little
weekly revenue do its utmost for their support and
comfort.




IN OUR FRIENDS AND OTHERBS.    277
Behold that other young man who is still in a state
of nature.  He has a mother who watched over him
affectionately in his childhood and youth: she nursed
him with the tenderest solicitude; she cheerfully undertook any amount of labor that might minister to
his comfort. Often she spent whole nights in anxious
watchfulness, that she might be ready to soothe every
cry and supply every want. As he grew up a lighthearted, romping, careless boy, she still labored for
him, counselled him, prayed for him; and, in every
way that a mother's love could suggest, she acted for
his benefit. What is the return which that young
man is now giving to his mother for the kind attentions she paid him when he was unable to care for
himself? He is leaving her, in her old age, to grieve
and mourn his unkindness in a state of the most
pinching poverty. He is abandoning her to heartless
neglect. The money - a little of which might give
great comfort to the heart of the sorrowful and greatly
disappointed mother, in procuring her the necessaries
and some of the comforts of life, and also be an evidence to the gratitude that glows in her son's bosom
towards her — is spent with other ungodly companions, in ruining his health, in hurting his reputation, in hastening himself to a premature grave;
whilst the mother, like the stricken deer, retires to
her home of poverty, there to weep in secret, and
away from  the view of the world, over her son's
infatuation.




'278   GRACE INCREASES- OUR INTEREST
Let the grace of God touch that young man's soul
as with a live coal from -off the altar of heaven, and
what a change it produces, not only upon his character, but upon the interest which he takes in his friends!
Grace has its attractive influence, and chiefly in the
family-circle. It immediately draws that young man
to seek out his neglected mother, and to minister, with
an anxious and glowing heart, to her temporal comn
forts; whilst his prayers begin to mingle and ascend
with hers, that the God of their salvation would lift
upon them the light of his countenance, and with
open hand shower down upon them his rich covenant
blessing.
Behold that other Christian professor. She is
blessed by God with great worldly possessions, that
have been in the family for generations.  God is bestowing upon her every temporal blessing,- health,
wealth, children, kind friends, Christian privileges,
and high hopes, — if she would only enter upon the life
by which she might realize them.  She is the member
of a Christian church; and in many a gospel-sermon,
rich in unction and in heavenly fervor, she hears what
the Lord Jesus has done for our salvation, — how he
who was rich became poor, that we through his poverty might.be rich. She hears the great commission
of her ascended Lord reiterated frequently from the
pulpit,- that he wishes his gospel to be preached to
the ends of the earth. She hears about the heathen
perishing, and how many millions of the human family




IN OUR FRIENDS AND OTHERS.    279
are sitting in the region and under the shadow of
spiritual death, who never heard of a Saviour, and
who are consequently going down at death into the
blackness of everlasting woe.  That individual is a
tender-hearted and sentimental professor of Christianity: she has shed many a tear as she turned over the
leaves of the novel which depicts scenes of trial and
sorrow that were never endured; and yet, strange
anomaly! that same individual scarcely ever throws
any thing into the treasury of the Church, that
missionaries, with the zeal of Brainerd, or the holy
devotedness of Martyn, or with the patient, plodding
earnestness of Williams, may be sent to carry the
glad tidings of salvation to the ends of the earth.
But let that nominal Christian's heart be touched
with the live coal, - the Holy Spirit's glowing love
to the perishing children of this world, - and what a
change then takes place! The minister no longer
pleads in vain in behalf of Christian missions; the
perishing heathen are no longer neglected in the
midst of a round of unmeaning partyings and dancing and revelry. She regularly now devotes a portion of her wealth for the benefit of others, and
chiefly for the propagation of the everlasting gospel
to those who are perishing for lack of knowledge.
Her entrance into a state of grace is her entrance
into the possession of a new interest in behalf of
Christian missions, and into the possession of a new
desire to bring her children to remember their Creator




280   GRACE INCREASES OUR INTEREST
in the days of their youth, and to lead her domestics
to attend to the things that belong to their everlasting, peace.  Her conversion leads her at the same
time to take a greater interest also in the temporal
benefit and comfort of those around her.
Does our entrance into a state of grace thus
awaken and increase in our souls a greater interest
in our friends and in our fellow-saints than we ever
felt before? Is that interest, then, lessened or destroyed by our entrance into a state of glory?  It
cannot be. I have already shown that the saints at
death enter into heaven in the full possession of all
their intellectual faculties and of all their social affections.  Some of them we saw in their chambers
of sorrow, where we parted with them, in the extreme of dissolution, melting in tenderness over us;
and heard their voice in prayer, commending us to
God, and praying that He who is the one watchful
Shepherd of Israel would watch over us in love, and
bring us at last to meet them before God in his
heavenly kingdom. They left us, even in the cold
and freezing hour of their death, with hearts all in
a glow of love to us, and of holy fervor to their
heavenly Father, into whose unveiled presence they
were about to ascend. Htave they, then, lost their
interest in us by entering into heaven?  Do not tell
me that. Tell me, if you choose, that the mother
loses her interest in her infant child, and immediately
forgets — it, by paying a visit to a neighboring house




IN OUR FR~IEVNDS AND OTHIERS.    281
or town; tell me, if you please, that the lover at
once loses his interest in her who has become the
object of his affection, and that he forgets her the
moment she is out of sight: but don't tell me —for
I do not believe it -that an entrance into a state
of glory causes those who loved us, whilst they yet
remained with us upon earth, to lose their interest in
us, and immediately forget us, the moment they enter
into heaven. ~No: this cannot be. If they be them
selves, and not another, in the midst of the heavenly
glory, they remember us still, and they feel an interest in us still, not only as the members of God's great
spiritual fanmily, but as those companions of theirs in
the past with whom they once took sweet counsel,
and went up to the house of God in company.
Take the case of a departed mother who is now
in heaven.  Her body is dead: her soul, however,
is not so. Oh! as she lives in heaven, she is bound
to us still with something more than the tie of memory. The love upon earth that yearned towards
us in her bosom is not dead. The kindliness that
showed itself in so many acts of affection and of loveattentions is not dead. The sympathy that glowed
once whilst upon earth in her heart towards us, leading her to mingle her tears with ours and to rejoice
in our joy, is not dead. The interest she once had
in us, and the fervent emotions of love, which know
nothing of change or of distance or distinction,these are glowing in her glorified bosom towards us




282   GRACE INCREASES OUR INTEREST
still; these affinities, like the affections of angels,
like the love of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, bind
our departed mother in holy leanings and in heavenly
glowings towards us still.
Here is the picture of that now-sainted mother's
experience whilst yet down in the world, and on the
threshold of that glorious eternity which she has some
time ago triumphantly entered. She is in her sickchamber.  The trouble has visited her which is to
take her away.  A daughter, who has been for years
the light of her eye and the joy of her heart, and
has been the source of much comfort, both temporally andspiritually, to her, is beside her, ministering
with the hand of love to her mother's wants on her
bed of distress. That mother's day of life is closing
fast. Her sun is going down, and the shadows of
the evening are stretching out.  At last her heart
ceases its action. She sinks into a faint, from which
she does not again rally. Her affectionate daughter
is bending in tears over a dying mother.  The
mother feels the warm tears drop upon her pale
cheek. She opens her eyes; and the last object upon
earth she sees, ere they suddenly close again, is her
daughter, in her loveliness and tears, stooping over
her. This look over, she rises from her home, - the
Christian's death-chamber is the gate of heaven, —
and enters her Father's home above.
That daughter, whom  her loving mother thus
leaves, after a lapse of time is visited by the trouble




IN OUR FRIENDS AAND OTHERS.    283
that is to terminate in death.  I have previously said
that it may be God's children who are up in heaven
are permitted by their heavenly Father, not only to
undertake occasional tours through his great universe, which is spread in its vastness and in its glory
around them, but also to make occasional visits to
the earth upon which they once dwelt, like an emnigrant leaving his home for a season, in his adopted
country, to pay a visit to the home of his youth.  If
this be so (and analogy lends to the supposition the
aid of its confirmation), how will the already glorified
mother act at the hour when a beloved daughter is
coming home, to be with her for ever in heaven?
Eriends at a distance on earth, at the receipt of
the mournfdil intelligence, hurry to the death-chamber
of a dying relative.  May this not be a visible manifestation, among those related, of what is taking
place invisibly?  That daughter's chamber may not
merely be visited by earthly friends, but by sympathizing and guardian angels, and by once-dear friends
from the world of glory. The once-fond mother
and still-loving saint may be permitted by God to
accompany these angelic messengers to her daughter's
chamber, where she lies in the agonies of death,
encircled by visible and sympathizing friends; and
the moment that dying daughter closes her eyes in
death, and no longer sees her friends, - at that moment, with the opening vision of her immortal spirit,
she may see beside her, and bending over her in love,




284   GRACE INCREASES OUR INTEREST.
the still-cherished being who was a mother to her
whilst she remained upon earth; and thus, in company not only with angels, but in company with a
once-kind mother, and with other departed friends,
whose hearts still glow towards her in love, that
dying daughter enters upon the path that conducts
her to heaven.
Such a supposition analogy countenances. It represents the chamber of separation as a chamber of
meeting, and throws the light of something like
friendship and social comfort over the path, travelling
along which believers rise from their death-beds, and
enter into heaven. If this supposition which I have
ventured to make, giving utterance to the voice of
analogy, be true, then our death-chamber and our
uprising into heaven, who are believers in Jesus, will
not be to us such a desolate and solitary scene, in
our march onwards to a glorious immortality, as too
many Christians paint it in their imaginings.




CHAPTER  XII.
TWELFTH  ANALOGY.
CHRIST'S CHURCH IN A STATE OF GRACE UPON EARTH IS STILL
INCOMPLETE; SO IS CHRIST'S CHURCH NOW IN A STATE OF
GLORY.
HRIST'S Church upon earth is still incom-,   plete, in the sense that it is not commensurate with the world, which, by the pre-ordination of God, it is one day to be. The extent to
which Jesus wishes his gospel to be spread, and, consequently, his Church to extend, is given in this
commission to his ministers: " Go ye into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature."  The
skilled physicians do not visit yet, and give the benefit
of their skill to, every patient laid down upon the
sick-beds of earth; and missionaries from the Christian churches of Europe and America have not yet
perambulated every habitable corner of the world, to
tell the inhabitants of "the balm in Gilead, and of
the Physician who is there," and to lift, upon the
dark path of men benighted in their journey to eter[285]




286  THE CHURCHT ON EARTH INCOMPLETE:
nity, the lamp of the glorious gospel, to point them
the way to their Father's home above. Darkness is
still covering many a land, and gross darkness many
a people. This will not always be. The time is
coming when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover
the earth as the waters cover the channel of the
mighty deep; when great voices shall be heard in
heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world are
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he shall reign for ever and ever."  When these
predictions are accomplished through the action and
the agency of Christ's Church upon earth, the inhabitants of heaven will look down upon it, as if their
eyes formed a canopy of light encircling the whole
world, or like a circumambient spiritual atmosphere,
becoming the medium of pouring down upon the
habitations of men the rays of the Sun of Righteousness, shining cloudlessly above in the spiritual
firmament.
Then only will the whole members of the human
family be numbered with the Church of the living
God, and thus become the members of the household
of faith, and the heirs of eternal glory. There are
also many of the human family still unborn, who,
during the lapse of coming ages, must enter upon the
possession of natural life before they pass into the
enjoyment of spiritual. Further: Christ's Church
upon earth is not only thus incomplete in itself, in
its membership: each member is also incomplete,




THE CHURCH IN GLORY THE SALME.  287
in the sense that the believer's sanctification is not
perfected till the hour of his death.
Christ's Church in glory is also incomplete.  The
general assembly and church of the first-born has not
yet reached the measure of the stature of the fulness
of Christ.  The members of Christ's Church in
glory, the saints in heaven, with the exception of
Enoch and Elijah, are at present disembodied, and
will remain so until the resurrection-morning dawn.
Their souls, it is true, are now partakers of Christ's
great salvation. They have obtained a great deliverance, emancipation from the bondage of Satan and
sin, and from the endurance of troubles and of death.
The wilderness of the world is now far beneath them,
and is left for ever.  The Jordan of death now rolls
its dark and its deep and its rapid swellings in the
distance, and is only dimly descried like a dark girdle running along the horizon far from where they
now so peacefully dwell. They have washed their
robes, and have made them pure in the blood of the
Lamb. They are before the throne of God, arrayed
with white robes, with crowns of glory upon their
heads, palms of victory in their hands, and with this
salvation-song upon their exulting and joyous lips:
Salvation to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and
unto the Lamb! "
But where are the bodies of these saints who now
shine so brightly before the throne of God, —who
exult so joyfully in their Father and Saviour's pre



288  MIHE CHURCH ON EARTH INCOMPLETE:
sence, and who sing so sweetly the high song of salvation in heaven?  Some of them are floating, coffinless and shroudless, in the bosom of the wide, wide
ocean; like weeds upon the waters, they are tossed
hither and thither with its ever-moving billows. Some
of them are lying buried in the lonely wilderness, where
the footsteps of men but seldom tread.  The lonely
tree spreads its foliaged branches over them, as if
attempting to shelter the unfenced and unprotected
grave, whose rising mound points out the spot where
their mouldering ashes repose. Some of them are
sleeping in the suburbs of our crowded cities, where
the well-fenced, tastefully-laid-out, and beautifullykept cemeteries bear evidence to the affection of the
li-ing towards the bodies of their departed friends.
Some of them are lying in our family tombs, around
which some of our holiest, warmest, and most heavenly associations which we possess respecting them
still cluster and hang.
Christ's Church will remain thus incomplete -the
souls of the glorified in heaven existing in a state of
separation from their bodies —till the Lord Jesus
come the second time, and the startled nations look
up, and give utterance to these words of surprise:
"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye
shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and
all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.
Even so, Amen." Christ is coming to raise the
bodies of the saints from the sleep of the grave.




THE CHURCH IN GLORY THE SAM'E.  289
Each saint will only be complete when the upraised
body, fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body,
shall be re-united for eternity to its own, its old soulcompanion.
But Christ's Church in glory is not only incomplete in the sense that, the saints above are yet unclothed with bodies in heaven, but also in the sense
that all the children of God who are to meet there
have not yet been carried up to their eternal home.
The whole members of the human family who are to
be saved are not yet in heaven.
There are, it is true, a great multitude who are
already saved: their now disembodied and ransomed
spirits have entered upon the possession of the glories
and of the joys of the upper sanctuary. K Eighteen
hundred years ago, the Apostle John, in Patmos, has
a view vouchsafed to him of the opened heavens.
The veil of eternity is drawn back. He looks up.
His eye, strengthened by divine aid, penetrates in
its survey to regions within and beyond the veil of
a glorious eternity; and what does he see?  Does
heaven, the better country, the heavenly, appear to
his view but thinly peopled, and few inhabitants
spread over its surface? Does the city which hath
foundations, whose builder and maker is God, appear
to him all-luminous; its walls of glory great and
high; its streets paved with pure gold, like to transparent glass?  But does he descry only a solitary
citizen here and there walking thereon? Does the
18




290  THIE  HURCH O.N EARTE INCOMPLETE:
temple of heaven appear to him great in its dimiensions, massive and lofty with its eternal pillars, rich
and brilliant in its furnishings? and within does he
see but few worshippers crowding its courts?  Does
heaven, as a home, appear almost like a deserted
dwelling, and but a small family in it?  No: the
apostle s own language is, " After this I beheld, and,
lo I a great multitude, which no man could number,
of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues,
stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes, and palms in their hands."
Since, the apostle saw the throngs of the glorified
in heaven, and thus spake of them, a great addition
has been made to their ranks. The Apostle John
has joined them, and is looking upon their number,
greatly increased now; for, since he was upon earth,
the gospel-day has been shining nearly eighteen hundred years upon our planet, and, every year, believers
have been falling asleep in their homes of sorrow, have
been flying up to Christ in heaven like a cloud, and as
the doves to their windows. God in his providence,
and in his sovereign appointments, has been looking
down upon his people on their death-beds, scattered
throughout the wide surface of the world, and has
been calling them home.
Christ's Church in heaven is already great in number. A countless multitude of the saved are worshipping above us in the courts of the heavenly
temple. They are hid. But were God to do to us




THE CHURCH IN GLORY THE SAME.  291
what he did to the Apostle John in Patmos; were
he to draw back the veil that hides the peopled
heavens from our view; were he to strengthen our
natural vision, so that, like Moses looking upon the
earthly Canaan, we could view the heavenly, with its
mountains of glory, around whose tops the clouds of
time never hung, towering upwards towards a sky,
upon whose clear and smiling expanse no cloud ever
sailed, with its plains of unfading verdure, and its
rivers of bliss meandering in their joyfulness, carrying health and freshness wherever they roll, -what
would we see more?  We would see in heaven a
multitude of the already glorified, which the arithmetic we have learned upon earth could not reckon up,
and set before the world in figures. They are in
number like the stars that twinkle above us and around
us in the firmament of heaven upon a clear frosty
night; like the flowers that bud in their freshness,
and bloom in their loveliness, beneath the shiningforth upon them of the summer's sun; like the leaves
that rustle and wave upon the trees of all the forests
of earth, throughout the sunny days of summer,
whilst the joyous birds are singing among the
branches; like the sands that lie upon all the seashores of the world, and move to the incessant
roll of the waters that never cease thus to give
out their music, as if the ocean were Nature's ballroom; like the drops of dew from the womb of the
morning.




292  THE, CIURCH ON EARTH INCOMPLETE:
Great, however, as is the number of the glorified
who are already in heaven, Christ's Church triumphant is not yet completed; and this will not be till
the last believer's name is added to the Lamb's Book
of Life, and the last child of God from earth is
admitted into heaven. The lapse of time, however,
will bring about this grand consummation.  The
rivers of earth pour their waters into the ocean.
In like manner, the River of Time is pouring its evercontinuous stream of redeemed souls into the great
ocean of glory. This will continue till these words
be fulfilled: "And I saw another mighty angel come
down from heaven, clothed with a cloud; and a rainbow was upon his head; and his face was as it were
the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: that there
should be time no longer." Then the Lord Jesus
will appear in his glory, and gather his saints together
unto him; will ascend with them, and enter a heaven
that will be to them an unchanging home of love,
where they will dwell all-glorious and all-joyous for
ever and ever.
He who is upon the throne is making all things
to combine to bring on the accomplishment of this
grand result. It is for this that Jesus is exalted to
the mediatorial throne, having all power in heaven
and upon earth; for this he is reigning in the sovereignty of his grace; for this he keeps the earth itself
in existence; for this he gives the commission from
the throne of his glory to his ministering servants




THE CHUBCH IN GL ORY THE SAME.  293
upon earth, -" Go, and teach all nations; " for this
he gives the command to his Church, — "Arise,
-shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord
is risen upon thee;" for this he sends the rod of
his strength out of Zion, so that his people become
willing in the day of his power; for this he opens
the windows of heaven, and pours forth upon his
Church and upon the world the life-giving, reviving,
and refreshing influences of the Holy Spirit; and ere
long the whole Church of the living God, not even
one member wanting, will be gathered by Christ into
heaven, and will be seen clustering like a coronet of
glory around him yonder: and, upon that Church,
Christ throughout eternity will look complacently
and approvingly; will see in it of the travail of his
soul, and be abundantly satisfied. It will then be
complete in number; and every member in holiness,
in the re-union of the body and the soul, will exhibit
for ever the very image of Jesus.




CHAPTER  XIII.
THIRTEENTH  ANALOGY.
IJNITY WITH DIVERSITY EXISTS IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
UPON EARTH. - IT IS THE SAME WITH CHRIST'S CHURCH
NOW IN A STATE OF GLORY.
HE Apostle Paul gives us this description of
Christ's glorious ascension from earth to
heaven, of the gifts which Jesus then conferred upon his Church, and of the object for which
he has bestowed them: "Wherefore he saith, When
he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and
gave gifts unto men. And he gave some, apostles;
and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the
saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ: till we all come, in the
unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of
the stature of the fulness of Christ."  The unity
of the faith to which the apostle refers in the above
quotation is a different thing from unity among
[294]




UNITY WITH DIVERSITY.           295
those who make a profession of the faith. It is a
subject of sorrow to many a child of God, that there
is so little unity among those who make a profession
of religion, and who are all equally called by the
Saviour's name.
It cannot be denied that there is, outwardly at least,
a great want of unity existing among Christ's followers upon earth. Christians are separated, not
merely by mountains and seas, not merely by language and by habits: they are also separated by names
and by creeds, by forms of worship, and, many of
them, by bitter sectarian jealousies. Christ's coat was
without seam; but Christ's Church is rent into sects
and parties.  This is the cause of the most poignant
sorrow to many a believer upon earth; and I verily
believe it is the cause of sorrow to such individuals
needlessly. Uniformity does not necessarily imply
a state of unity. On the other hand, there may be
unity where there is but little uniformity. But, even
if God had appointed an absolute and stereotyped
uniformity to pervade Christ's Church upon earth,
would this' have been a benefit?  I doubt it.
Do you say that it would have been more uniform
if God had made the surface of the earth one continuous tract of land?  So it would. But the seas have
their uses. They are the great reservoirs that supply
the clouds with rain, and the fountains and springs
of water with their refreshing treasures; and without
these very seas, that break the unity of the surface of




296        UNITY WITH DIVERSITY
the earth, there would neither be vegetable nor
animal life. Do you say that it would have been
more uniform if God had made the surface of the
earth an entirely level plain? So it would. But the
mountain, towering upwards to the sky, has its use.
It attracts the clouds as they float high up above the
surface of the earth with their watery treasures, breaks
them, and causes them to discharge their contents
upon the plains below, to water and refresh the thirsty
ground.
Do you say that it would have been more uniform
if God had made only one species of flower to bloom
in our gardens and to adorn our fields? So it would;
but I never yet heard the gardener lamenting that the
lily was not exactly like the rose, and that there are
more than one kind of flowers that throw their fragrancy upon the air. Do you say that it would have
been more uniform if God had made all the bright
and shining orbs that roll in their brilliancy through
the great pavilion of space to revolve around one
common. centre?  So it would; but this is not the
plan which the great Architect adopted when he built
the temple of the universe, and stretched forth the
heavens, like a starry curtain, on every side. God
has clustered the orbs of the sky into different firmaments, each galaxy divided from the rest of the orbs
in space, as it were, into a distinct family, and revolving around its own centre. It is the same with
Christ's Church upon earth. And, when you view




BOTH ON EIARTH AMND IN HEAVET.  297
the divisions in it, remember, there are similar divisions among the starry hosts. Besides, do not overlook this idea. Perhaps, for any thing we can tell,
the great Head of the Church permits and overrules
these divisions among his followers for the good of
his cause, and for the benefit of his Church universal.
Competition is the mainspring of trade.  Tlere is such
a thing as a spirit of rivalry and emulation needed in a
school.  It is on account of the want of this that
home-education, even when the teacher concentrates
his whole energies upon one pupil, does not succeed
so well as instruction given in our public seminaries.
Probably Christ's pure and holy eye sees that a spirit
of healthy emulation and'of holy rivalry is needed in
the Church universal as well as in the school. The
divisions in the Church keep up this spirit of emulation. It is God's prerogative to bring light out of
darkness, order out of confusion, and unity at last
among the followers of Christ out of their present
division and separation.
When viewing, it may be with an eye of sorrow,
the divisions that exist in the Christian Church, we
should never overlook the fact, that there is a substantial unity among Christ's followers, even in the
midst of their outward separations.  If Christians in
their different churches be united to Christ by faith,
they are one with each other, as the members of
Christ's mystical body, whether they perceive it and
acknowledge it or not.
183




298         UNITY WITH DIVERSITY
There is a unity in the solar system which is made
up of the sun and planets, with their attendant
moons. These orbs are far separated from each other
in space; and, to the eye of a person ignorant of
astronomy, they appear existing entirely apart, and
unconnected with each other. The astronomer has a
different view of them. He sees them, in their union,
all deriving their light from the sun, revolving around
him as their common centre, the members of the same
family. Here, then, the eye of knowledge sees unity
where the eye of ignorance sees only division. May
it' not be the same in the visible Church of Christ?
Stand with me upon the shore, and look over upon
the Atlantic Ocean. A storm has descended' upon
it: its billows are rolling on in their lashings, and
dash themselves into foam upon the rugged shore.
On the surface of the waters, all seems division and
separation.  This is only surface - division.  Not a
great many yards down, the waters are one, peaceful and unmoved, even whilst upon the surface they
are broken and divided like a mirror shivered into
fragments.
It is the same with the Church of Christ upon
earth. It is still one, united to Jesus even in the
midst of its divisions.
Notice the figures by which the Holy Ghost speaks
to us about Christ's Church upon earth.  These give
us the view that the Church is one, even in the midst
of its outward separations.




BOTH ON EARTH AND IN HEAVEN.   299
Christ is the chief Shepherd.  What, then, is
Christendom, - Christ's Church universal upon earth?
It is Christ's flock separated into different folds,
watched over and fed by their respective shepherds;
whilst the Lord Jesus is present in his covenant
presence with them all, leading them by the green
pastures, and refreshing them by the still waters.
Christ is the great Captain of salvation. What,
then, is the Christian Church universal? It is Christ's
spiritual army, enlisted beneath the banner of the
Cross, marshalled to confront their spiritual foes upon
the battle-field of the world.  What, then, are the
different churches throughout Christendom, called by
their respective names, and divided from each other
by their creeds, and forms of worship?  They are
Christ's separate regiments which compose his spiritual army. Such divisions, if conducted in a spirit
of Christian charity, instead of being the weakness,
are the strength, of the Christian Church.
When the British army was drawn up upon the
plains of Waterloo, about to engage in that mortal
conflict that was to decide the destinies of Europe,
what officer, as he passed along the serried and dauntless ranks, would have lamented that it was divided
into regiments, each one separated by a short space,
with its respective drums beating and colors flying,
with the esprit de corps animating each of them, boldly
and unflinchingly, on that terrible day, determined to
do their duty to their king and to their country?




3CO         UNITY WITH DIVERSITY
Christ is the Sun of Righteousness. What, then,
is Christ's Church, with -its divisions and separations?
It is the spiritual firmament, with its clustering orbs,
separated and divided into its numberless galaxies of
stars, revolving in their separate divisions around
their respective centres, but all revolving, at the same
time, around Christ, the centre of all,- deriving
from him their light, and thus shedding downwards
upon the world instrumentally, otherwise dark and
benighted, the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God, as it shines in the face of Jesus.
Christ's followers who are in a state of grace upon
earth are thus externally separated into sects and
parties; and the question may be properly put, Is
there a unity existing among them  through their
faith, in the midst of these outward divisions among
churches?  To this question I answer, We see the
same substantial unity existing with the same minor
differences in the faith of Christians that we see
among Christians themselves.  You cannot read the
creed of different churches, the articles in which they
give you a profession of their faith, without noticing
that there are many minor points of belief upon
which they differ from  one another; but this is a
never-failing source of comfort to the soul of God's
child,- the great things of God's law, the chief
doctrines of the gospel, are held by Christians in conmon.  Take the doctrine of the oneness of God, and
this oneness consistent with the fact that there are




BOTIH ON EARTH AND IN HEAVEN.   301
three persons in the Godhead, -the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost.  All Christians believe in this
announcement, made from  heaven to the Jewish
tribes, -" Hear, 0 Israel! the Lord thy Godl is one
Lord;" and that, at the same time, there are three persons in the Godhead.  Take the doctrine of Christ's
divinity, which is the fundamental article of the Christian faith, and the foundation of all our hopes for eternity. All Christians agree in believing that Jesus is
God (Socinians should not assume the Christian
name): they believe that Jesus is God over all, blessed
for ever; that all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in
him bodily; and that it is his divinity that gives its
infinite efficacy to his atonement.  Take the doctrine
of Christ's incarnation. All Christians agree in this
belief, that Jesus, who was throughout eternity God,
in the fulness of time became man for us men and
for our salvation; for the Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us.
Take the doctrine of Christ's atonement. It is
true, Christians differ in their views about what they
term the extent of the atonement.  Some believe that
Christ died only for those who shall finally be saved,
and enter into heaven; whilst others believe that Jesus
died for the whole world in the most extensive signification of the expression. But, in the midst of this
apparent diversity of view about the extent of Christ's
atonement, still they all agree in the belief, that, without the atonement which has been made through the




302         UNITY WITH DIVERSITY
blood of Christ, there could be no salvation for perishing man.  Further: they all believe that there is
a suziciency of merit, in the sacrifice so made by Jesus
upon the cross, to save every member of the human
family, -nay, to save ten thousand worlds such as
ours; for there is an infinite efficacy in Christ's blood:
and they, in addition, believe that God makes the
offer of salvation honestly through that atonement to
every member of the human family, by means of a
preached gospel; so that, if the Christian perish, the
fault lies at his own door.
Take the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's operations
of grace upon our souls. Christians differ in their
view of the extent of our depravity; and they consequently differ about the degree of moral and of spiritual power which we possess naturally to turn to God,
and prepare for heaven.  But Christians agree in
this: we need the Holy Spirit to begin and to carry
on the work of grace in our souls, that we may obtain
the meetness to become partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light; and, moreover, the Holy Spirit
is promised by our heavenly Father in answer to supplication, and that, consequently, we should lead lives
of habitual prayer, for the Spirit's grace to prepare
us here for the heavenly glory.
Do not allow these apparent divisions among Christians to become stumbling-blocks to your souls, who
view them in sorrow. There is one division alone
that you should watch with a godly jealousy, and




BOTH ON EARTH AND IN HEAVEN.  303
instantly seek to have removed, - the separation, the
natural estrangement, of your soul from, God.  All
other divisions are trifling, compared with this.  Do
not be perplexed, and do not feel disheartened, when
you see men, who are equally learned, equally sincere,
equally anxious to know the will of God as he has
made it known to us in the holy oracles of Scripture,
differing in the view they give of passages here and
there throughout the Bible.
Analogy should predispose you to expect this.  Do
our judges and learned lawyers throughout Britain
all agree in the interpretation which they give of every
statute that has passed the Imperial Parliament, and
of every clause and of every word that occurs in
them?  No.  Are our judges and lawyers, then, insincere, because they differ in the interpretation which
they put upon certain phrases and words?  No one,
I believe, will venture to say this: these differences
of interpretation arise from the imperfection of the
human understanding, from the imperfection of human
language, and front the utter impossibility of affixing
in all places one precise idea to each word of the
English tongue.
There is only one means by which the interpreters
of the statutes of this kingdom could entirely. agree;
that is, by being put in possession of omniscience.
The Bible contains the statutes to us of high
Heaven, the revelation of the will of Him who dwells
in its courts of glory; and thus analogy leads us to




304        UNITY WITH DIVERSITY
expect that those who are engaged in giving us the
interpretation of it will not in every thing exactly
agree.
There is only one way in which they could; that
is, in the possession of inspiration.
What use should we make of these slight diversities in the views of the ministers of Christ? This:
Let us not trust entirely to ministers, but read the
Bible for ourselves; and, when we do so, let us ever
bear in mind our natural ignorance, and the need we
have of the teaching of the Holy Ghost. We will
thus read the Bible at all times with prayerful hearts,
that the Spirit may take of the things of Christ, and
show them to our souls.
The Church of Christ, now partially divided upon
earth, will yet be one.  Christ's prayer will be fulfilled: " That they all may be one; as thou, Father,
art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one
in US."
We have certain symbols even now upon earth of
this unity that is yet to pervade Christ's Church in
heaven.
The members of a family once separated, living
for a season in different countries, now met again in
their parents' home. They meet in the joy of their
heart. They sit around the same table. The eyes
of the same fond parents beam in love upon them all.
They speak of the past, and of all the way in which
their heavenly Father led them; and they exultingly




BOTH ON EARTTH AND IN HEAVEN.  305
rejoice that they are met in the same home of love,
and are again one family.
The worshipping assembly of the people of God,
who meet statedly every sabbath within the gates of
Zion, shadow forth the unity of Christ's Church in
heaven. They assemble in the same house of prayer.
They worship the same God, through Jesus their
common Mediator, and with filial dependence upon
the same Holy Spirit's aid. They join in the same
prayer. They listen to the same sermon. They hear
about heaven, in which they are all to meet; and
learn the way that leads them to it, where they will
all be so happy for eternity in the heavenly temple,
and never part again.
In the unity that pervades communicants at their
Father's table, we see heaven mirrored. Assembled
there, these communicants are in the same banqueting-house, around the same table of love, commemorate the same death, sing the same song of praise,
feel their souls gladdened by the same lofty and glorious hope, -the hope of meeting in heaven, and
sitting down there at a table never to be drawn.
When the members of Christ's Church meet at
last in heaven, there will be unity among them yonder,
all dwelling in the same home of love, all loved
by the same Father, redeemed by the same blood,
comforted and made glad by the same Holy Spirit,
singing the same song, commemorating through eternity their common salvation.




306         UNITY WJTII DIVERSITY.
But, along with this unity, I believe that among
God's children who are to meet in heaven, and possess
a state of glory, there will be diversities among them,
and that for ever, - diversities in rank, in heavenly
tastes, predilections in the particular studies and
pursuits, that will minister to them their chief delight, subordinate to their communion with God.
Thus you, who are longing for absolute unity and
dead-level uniformity upon earth, will never meet
with it; no, not in heaven.
Boston: Printed by John Wilson and Son.
Boston: Printed by John Wilson and Son.








HEAVEN OUR HONME.
WE HAVE NO SAVIOUR BUT JESUS,
AND
NO HOME BUT HEAVEN,
BY THE AUTHOR OF "MEET FOR HEAVEN.'
BOSTON:
ROBERTS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
143, WASHINGTON STREET.
1864.




CONTENTS.
PART  I.
teabtn -our hlome.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
HEAVEN A LOCALITY............. 19
II.
TYPES OF HEAVEN. - EDEN AND CANAAN..... 38
III.
TYPES OFr HEAVEN.  A TEMPLE.......     44
IV.
TYPES OF HEAVEN. — A CITY.....            62
V.
TYPES OF IHEAVEN. -A HOME.. 77
FAMILY    HEAVEN.
THE FAMILY IN HEAVEN....... 90




CONTENTS.
VII.
PAGE
COMMUNION OF SAINTS IN HEAVEN....... 104
VIII.
COMMUNION OF SAINTS IN HEAVEN (continued)... 116
IX.
COMMUNION OF SAINTS IN HEAVEN (continued)... 132
X.
COMMUNION OF SAINTS IN HEAVEN, A SOURCE OF
INSTRUCTION AND OF JOY........ 142
PART  II.
3gecngition jof jrimtnb  in wgeaben.
CHAPTER I.
RECOGNITION OF FRIENDS IN HEAVEN.....   149
II.
RECOGNITION OF FRIENDS IN HEAVEN (continued).. 160
RECOGNITION OF FRIENDS IN HEAVEN (continued)..  169




CONTENTS.
IV.
PAGE
RECOGNITION OR FRIENDS IN HE AVEN (continued).. 175
V.
RECOGNITION OF lFRIENDS Un HEAVEN (continued).. 188
VI.
RECOGNITiON t r FRIENDs IN HEAVEN (continued).. 191
VII.
OBJECTIO1   AWERED...........  201
PART  III.
Cte Interet those  in 3beaen fee in eCartb.
CHAPTER I.
THE INTEREST THOSE IN HEAVEN FEEL IN EARTH.  219
II.
PHILOSOPHICAL EVIDENCES FOR THIS INTEREST..    226
III.
SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCE OF THIS INTEREST. e.. 233
IV.
SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCE OF THIS INTEREST (continued). 243




CONTENTS.
V.
PAGE
EVENTS SHOWING HEAVEN'S LNTEREST IN US....   253
VI.
EVENTS SHOWING HEAVEN'S INTEREST IN US (continued).........                  268
VII.
EVENTS SHOWING HEAVEN'S INTEREST IN US (continued..2..2...  282
EVENTS SHOWING  HEAVEN'S INTEREST IN US (continued)............... 295




No. 143 WASHINGTON STREET, }
Boston, October, 1863.
MEssRs. ROBERTS BROTHERS
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS.
X   p  iEMS.  By JEAN  INGELOW.  In one volume.
16mo.  Cloth, extra, $1.00.
" The new name undoubtedly belongs to a new poet, and this new
volume will make the eyes of all lovers of poetry dance with a gladder
light than if they had come upon a treasure-trove of gold..... Here
is the unmistakable touch and breath of freshness; the clear early
carol and dewy light. Here is the presence of Genius which cannot
easily be defined, but which makes itself surely felt in a glow of delight such as makes the old world young again. Here is the power to
fill common earthly facts with heavenly fire; a power to gladden wisely
and to sadden nobly; to shake the heart, and bring moist tears into
the eyes, through which the spirit may catch its loftiest light." - Londclon Athencreum.
" It would be a great injustice to confound this volume with the
mass of so-called poetry..... It contains something more than common-place thoughts clothed in tolerably pretty words.  Nor is her
volume, like too many of those of even the more tolerable verse-writers
of the day, made up of a mass of comparative rubbish, relieved here
and there bay an isolated piece, to which it is not impossible conscientiously to award praise. One of the most striking characteristics of
AMiss Ingelow's poems is the remarkable evenness of their quality; and
there is nothing in her volume which may not fairly claim to be regarded good... Miss Ingelow's volume can scarcely fail to win for
itself a warm welcome from all lovers of true poetry, and warrants us
in anticipating that she will at some future time take a permanent
place among English poets." - Londcon Spectator.




2   JIMESSRS. ROBERTS BROTHERS LIST.
K<THE POETRY OF THE EAST. By WILLIAM  ROUNSEVILLE ALGER.  In one volume.
12mo.  Cloth, extra.  Price 75 cents.
This is a complete Introduction to Oriental Poetry in all
its families and departments; from the great epics of India,
Persia, and Arabia, to their innumerable varieties of lyrical,
descriptive, and aphoristic verse. It gives a critical account
of the chief Eastern authors and their works, and illustrates
them by hundreds of specimens. It is the only work of the
kind in our language; and as such, no less than from its intrinsic merits, it possesses a unique value and charm.
"Its characterizations of the different branches of Eastern poetry
are remarkably happy and accurate." - H. H. Wilson, late President of the Royal Asiatic Society.
"It is full of wisdom and beauty." - John G. Whittier.
"Extraordinary sentences for extraordinary readers." -- Rlph
Waldo Emerson.
" The modesty, enthusiasm, and interest of this book will keep it
fresh and valuable." - George William Curtis.
"A golden volume, replete with sage thoughts and memorable sayings -a costly anthology, in which every specimen is either rich or
strange." - Frederick H. Hedge.
" It will richly repay study to all who can find benefit in change of
mental aliment, and who are willing to be led by a scholarly hand
through the gorgeous and crowded Athenaeum of Eastern literature."
- T. Starr King.
" A masterpiece of Oriental scholarship."
" It reveals to our reading world a new reabn of incomparable fascination."
f POEMS. By CHARLES SWAIN. In one volume,
1  Ad~   with a fine portrait from  a recent photograph,,    engraved  by  Smith.  Blue  and  gold.  Price
$1.00.
This edition of Charles Swain's Poems embraces, in addition to the best poems in the different volumes published in
England, several pieces which are now printed for the first




MiESSRS. ROBERTS BROTHERS LIST.   3
time. There are upwards of three hundred songs, many of
them  so well known as to be almost "household words"
throughout the land.
" Many of his songs have been wafted by their own serial sweetness
across the sea; and his felicitous description of Scott's funeral, (Dryburgh Abbey,) attended by a procession of the romancer's immortal
characters, is too graphic a tribute to genius not to be recalled with
delight." —H. T. Tuckerman.
UULWER LYTTON'S DRAMAS AND POEMS.
In one volume, with a fine portrait on steel, by
Schoff. Blue and gold. Price $1.00. Containing the Dramas of THE LADY OF LYONS, RICHELIEU, and MONEY, and Minor Poems.
"No living English writer is more read on the continent of Europe
than Bulwer. His works have been translated into nearly all the living languages of Europe." — New American 6Cyclopedia.
EAVEN OUR HOME. WE HAVE NO SAVIOUR BUT JESUS, AND NO HOME BUT HEAVEN.  Crown 8vo.  Cloth, extra.  Price $1.00.
OPINIONS OF THE.ENGLISIH PRESS.
"The author of the volume before us endeavors to describe what
heaven is, as shown by the light of reason and Scripture; and we
promise the reader many charming pictures of heavenly.bliss, founded
upon undeniable authority, and described with the pen of a dramatist,
which cannot fail to elevate the soul as well as to delight the imagination..... Part Second proves, in a manner as beautiful as it is
convincing, the doctrine of the recognition of friends in heaven —a
subject of which the author makes much, introducing many touching
scenes of Scripture celebrities meeting in heaven and discoursing of
their experience on earth. Part Third demonstrates the interest which
those in heaven feel in earth, and proves with remarkable clearness
that such an interest exists not only with the Almighty and among
the angels, but also among the spirits of departed friends. Wre unhesitatingly give our opinion, that this volume is one of the most de



4   iMESSRS. ROBERTS BROTHERS LIST.
lightful productions of a religious character which has appeared for
some time; and we would desire to see it pass into extensive circulation." - Glasgow Herald.
" This; work gives positive and social views of heaven, as a counteraction to the negative and unsocial aspects in which the subject is so
commonly presented." - English Czhc7hu eman.
"Amlid the works proceeding from an overteemraing press, our attention has been arrested by the perusal of the above-named production, which, it seems, is wending its way daily among persons of all
denominations. Certainly'Heaven our Home,' whoever may be the
author, is no common production." - Airdrie Advertiser.
" In boldness of conception, startling minuteness of delineation, and
originality of illustration, this work, by an anonymous author, exceeds
any of the kind we have ever read." - John O' Groat Josrnanl.
"We are not in the least surprised at so many thousands of copies
of this anonymous writer's being bought up. We seem to be listening
to a voice and language which we never heard before. Matter comes at
command; words flow with unstudied ease; the pages are full of life,
light, and force; and the result is a stirring volume, which, while the
Christian critic pronounces it free from affectation, even the man of
taste, averse to evangelical religion, would admit it to be exempt from'cant.' "- London Patriot.
" The name of the author of this work is strangely enough withheld.           A social heaven, in which there will be the most
perfect recognition, intercourse, fellowship, and bliss, is the leading
idea of the book, and it is discussed in a fine genial spirit."- Caledonian Afercury.
IN PRESS.
EET FOR HEAVEN. A STATE OF GRACE
UPON EARTHf THE ONLY PREPARATION FOR
A  STATE  OF  GLORY  IN  HEAVEN.  By the
Author of "Heaven our Home."   Crown 8vo.  Cloth,
extra.  Price $1.00.
OPINIONS OF T.HE ENGLISH PRESS.
"This forms a fitting companion to' Heaven our Home,' - a volume
which has been circulated by thousands, and which has found its way
into almost every Christian family." - Scottish Press.
" What we shall be hereafter- whether our glorified souls will be




MESSRS. ROBERTS BROTHERS LIST.   5
like unto our souls here, or whether an entire change in their spiritual
and moral condition will be effected after death -these are questions
which occupy our thoughts, and to these the author has principally
addressed himself." - Cambridge University Chronicle.
" The author, in his or her former work,' Heaven our Home,' portrayed a Social Heaven, where scattered families meet at last in loving
intercourse and in possession of perfect recognition, to spend a neverending eternity of peace and love. In the present work the individual
state of the children of God is attempted to be unfolded, and, more especially, the state of probation which is set apart for them on earth to
fit and prepare erring mortals for the society of the saints.
"The work, as a whole, displays an originality of conception, a flow
of language, and a closeness of reasoning rarely found in religious
publications.
" The author combats the pleasing and generally-accepted belief
that death. will effect an entire change on the spiritual condition of our
souls, and that all who enter into bliss will be placed on a common
level." - Glasgozo Herald.
"' A careful perusal of this book will make it a less easy thing for a
man to cheat himself into the notion that death will effect, not a mere
transition and improvement, but an entire change in his moral and
spiritial state. The dangerous nature of this delusion is exhibited with
great power by the author of' Meet for Heaven.' "I- Stirling Observer.
"This, like the former volume,' Heaven our Home,' by the same
anonymlous author, is a very remarkable book. Often as the subject
has been handled, both by ancient and modern divines, it has never
been touched with a bolder or a more masterly hand." - Johns O' Groat
Journal.
IN PRESS.,1'.IFE IN HEAVEN. TIHERE, FAITH IS CHANGED
INTO SIGHT, AND HOPE IS PASSED INTO BLISSFUL FRUITION.  A New Work by the Author
of "Heaven  our Home,"  and  "Meet  for Heaven."
Crown 8vo. Cloth, extra. Price $1.00.
This new  work is a companion volume to "Heaven our
Home,"' and "Meet for Heaven," and embraces a subject of
very great interest, which has not been included in these
volumes.
The two works above mentioned have already attained in
England the large sale of 100,000 copies.




6   IMESSRS. ROBERTS BROTHERS LIST.
REV. J. HI INGRAHAM'S POPUILAR WORKS.
HE PRINCE OF THFE HOUSE OF DAVID;
or, THREE YEARS IN THE HOLY CITY. Being
a series of Letters of Adina, a Jewess of Alexandria, supposed to be sojourning in Jerusalem in the
days of Herod, addressed to her father, a wealthy Jew
in Egypt, and relating, as if by an eye-witness, all the
scenes and wonderful incidents in the Life of Jesus of
Nazareth, from his baptism in Jordan to his crucifixion
on Calvary. By Rev. J. H. INRAIHAM. One volume.
12mo. Cloth, gilt. Price $1.50.
THE  PILLAR OF FIRE; or, ISRAEL IN IRONDAGE.
Being an account of the wonderful scenes in the life
of the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter, (Moses,) together with
picturesque sketches of the Hebrews under their Taskmasters.  By Rev. J. H. INGRAHAM.  One volume.
12mo. Cloth, gilt. Price $1.50.
THE THRONE OF DAVID, FROM THE CONSECRATION OF THE SHIEPHERD OF BETHLEHEM TO
THE REBELLION  OF PRINCE ABSALOM.  Being an
illustration of the splendor, power, and dominion of the
reign of the Shepherd- Poet- Warrior- King and
Prophet- Ancestor and Type of Jesus; in a series of
letters addressed by an Assyrian Ambassador, to his
lord and king on the throne of Nineveh.  By Rev.
J. II. INGRAHAM.  One volume.  12mo.  Cloth, gilt.
Price $1.50.




MESSRS. ROBERTS BROTHERS LIST.    7
JUVENILES.,5HE HISTORY OF SANDFORD AND MERTON. By THOMAS DAY, Esq. A new edition;
revised throughout, and embellished with very
numerous engravings.  One volume.  Square 1 6mo.
Fancy cloth, gilt. Price $1.25.
POPULAR   FAIRY   TALES;  containing  the
choicest and best known Fairy Stories. Illustrated
by5 engravings from designs by the most celebrated French
artists. First and second series. Square 16mo. Fancy
cloth, gilt. Price of each series, (sold separately,) $1.00.
pAUL  PRESTON'S VOYAGES, TRAVELS, AND
REMARKABLE ADVENTURES, as related by himself.
With numerous illustrations.  Square 16mo.  Fancy
cloth, gilt. Price $1.00.
THE  FAIRY LIBRARY, containing —
Popular Fairy Tales- First Series;
4   "    "  -- Second Series;
Paul Preston's Adventures.
Illustrated. Three volumes, in a neat box. Fancy cloth,
gilt. Pric6 $3.00.
FABLES  AND NURSERY  READINGS, containing Eighteen approved Nursery Fables, interspersed
with readings for the nursery. Fully illustrated. Square
16mo. Fancy cloth, gilt. Price 63 cents.
SIMPLE LESSONS FOR LITTLE LEARNERS,
on a popular plan. Part First, words of one and
two syllables. Part Second, words of more than two
syllables.  To which is added, COBWEBS TO CATCH
FLIES; or, Dialogues in short sentences, adapted to children from the age of three to eight years. With charac



8    MESSRS. ROBERTS BROTtIERS LIST.
teristic illustrations. One volume, Square 16mo. Fancy
cloth, gilt. Price 63 cents.
FAREWELL TALES. By Mrs. HoFLAND, author
of the " Merchant's Widow," &c. With engravings.
One volume. Square 16mo.  Fancy cloth, gilt. Price
63 cents.
THE  LITTLE LEARNER'S LIBRARY, containing - Simple Lessons for Little Learners;
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Mrs. Hofland's Farewell Tales.
Illustrated. Three volumes, in a neat box. Fancy cloth,
gilt. Price $1.88.
FIRESIDE  TALES, IN PROSE AND VERSE. By
MARY HOWITT. With illustrations. One volume.
16mo. Fancy cloth, gilt. Price 75 cents.
T HE  SCOTTISH   ORPHANS; a Moral Tale,
founded on an historical fact; to which is added,
ARTHUR MONTEITH, a continuation of the Scottish
Orphans. By Mrs. BLACKFORD. One volume. 16mo.
Fancy cloth, gilt. Price 63 cents.
TIHE FIRESIDE LIBRARY, containing -
Fireside Tales. By Mary Howitt;
The Turtle Dove; and other Stories. By Mary
Howitt;
The Christmas Tree, and other Stories. PBy Mary
Howitt;
The Scottish Orphans; a Moral Tale. By Mrs.
Blackford;.
Arthur MVlonteith; a sequel to the Scottish Orphans.
By Mrs. Blackford;
Helen and her Cousins; or, Two Months at Ashfield Rectory.
Illustrated.  Six -volumes, with a neat box.  16mo.
Fancy cloth, gilt. Price $2.25.