Between rulers and the ruled, there is not a little of jarring. International interests are perpetually in conflict. Many a soul sighs, "O that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest." Well, such wings are presently furnished, and the saint flies away, and is at rest. He alights where is no "battle of the warrior, with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood;" "but there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby."

The

Friendships do not cool in heaven. If misunderstandings are possible, none are too proud to make explanations. There is no parting there. redeemed forget how to sigh. And never are they annoyed by slanderous tongues. "Woe is me," sighed the psalmist, and with him many an other, "woe is me that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar! What shall be given unto thee, or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?" From its actual occupation, one would think that this member was speaking and idle talking. time runs thus to waste! thus plunged deep!

apace

given man only for evil

O, how much precious How many daggers are How do blood and tears flow

danger of feeling too much, as well as too little; when he finds a perfect balance introduced among the powers and affections of the soul, all of them working harmoniously and vigorously, former jarring and obliquities completely at an end. What bliss, to have all the unholy passions, pride, anger, envy, those vultures of the mind, forever banished from the breast!

But most of all, there will be no sin there. This consideration underlies all these points, and gives to them all their charm, for without this they would not be worth considering. Without holiness heaven would not be heaven. Sin is the evil of evils. To be freed from its power is the Christian's strongest wish. Well, it is to the spirits of just men made perfect that departed saints are come, to the spirits of just men made perfect, even as our Father which is in heaven is perfect. They are washed in innocency, pure and perfect, when the wedding garment is put on. Of allurements to sin there are none. No one prays there, "Lead us not into temptation;" safely do they follow the Lamb whithersoever he leadeth them, and it is never into temptation. Into that paradise the serpent cannot intrude. In the river of life there are no swellings, as of Jordan, at which the roaring lion cometh up.

Satan's fiery darts cannot surmount the walls of the New Jerusalem. The decalogue is not needed there. The groves and high places of that fair country are never abused to idolatrous purposes. There is no Canaanite in the land. In that abode there are no lusts, no relics of sin, no ebullitions of passions; hence, no upbraiding of conscience, and no confession to be made. Paul never exclaims, "O, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

"No hidden grief,

No wild and cheerless vision of despair,
No vain petition for a swift relief,

No tearful eyes, no broken hearts are there.

The storm's black wing

Is never spread athwart celestial skies;
Its wailings blend not with the voice of spring
As some too tender flow'ret fades and dies.

Let us depart,

If home like this await the weary soul.

Look up, thou stricken one! Thy wounded heart

Shall bleed no more at sorrow's stern control."

CHAPTER XIII.

HOLINESS OF HEAVEN.

O, mother dear, Jerusalem,
When shall I come to thee?
When shall my sorrows have an end.
Thy joys when shall I see?
O, happy harbor of God's saints!
O, sweet and pleasant soil!

In thee no sorrows can be found,
No grief, no care, no toil.

WILLIAM BURKITT.

Now just as the gates were opened to let in the men, I looked in after them, and behold, the city shone like the sun; the streets, also, were paved with gold; and in them walked many men, with crowns on their heads, palms in their hands, and golden harps to sing praises withal. There were also of them that had wings, and they answered one another without intermission, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord!" And after that they shut up the gates; which when I had seen, I wished myself among them.

evil.

BUNYAN.

It has been remarked that a great city is a great Aristotle insisted that governments ought to prevent the accumulation of inhabitants in large towns. In modern times more than one sovereign has attempted to do it. It is undeniable that, while commerce, the arts, and other branches of civiliza

and startling abominations,

tion, are greatly indebted to cities, at the same time it has been at a fearful expense of life, comfort and morals. It is in these populous centres that the pestilence dwells permanently, or most frequently pays its terrific visits. An excess of burials over births is no unusual circumstance. The poverty and manifold wretchedness, commonly concealed from public view, are truly appalling. But it is in the ingenious and stupendous frauds, in the covert and shameless vices, in the records of police and other courts, those vast folios of loathsome that we find most convincing proof that a great city is a great evil. Whatever exceptions there may have been, whatever of splendor and refinement may generally be found in them, it has still been true that ever since Nimrod laid the foundations of Babel and other cities in the land of Shinar, within these crowded precincts have been the most productive hot-beds of corruption. It is there that juvenile depravity has ripened with precocious vigor. It is there alone that wickedness becomes permanently and compactly organized, presenting a consolidated front to wholesome laws and virtuous sentiments. There only are found the theatre, and other public spiracles of the bottomless pit.