Reasons for being Holy. MAN who has been redeemed by the blood of the Son of God should be pure. He who is an heir of life should be holy. He who is attended by celestial beings, and who is soon, he knows not how soon, to be translated to heaven, should be holy. Are angels my attendants? then I should walk worthy of my companionship. Am I soon to go and dwell with angels? then I should be pure. Are these feet soon to tread the courts of heaven? Is this tongue. soon to unite with heavenly beings in praising God? Are these eyes of mine soon to look on the throne of eternal glory, and on the ascended Redeemer? Then these feet, and eyes, and lips, should be pure and holy; and I should be dead to the world, and live for heaven. ALBERT BARNES. Thoughts of Heaven. O sickness there, No weary wasting of the frame away, No fearful shrinking from the midnight air, No dread of summer's bright and fervid ray! No hidden grief, No wild and cheerless vision of despair; No vain petition for a swift relief, No tearful eye, no broken hearts are there. Care has no home Within that realm of ceaseless prayer and song Its tossing billows break and melt in foam, The storm's black wing Is never spread athwart celestial skies! Its wailing blends not with the voice of spring, As some too tender floweret fades and dies. No night distills Its chilling dews upon the tender frame; No moon is needed there! the light which fills That land of glory, from its Maker came. No parted friends O'er mournful recollections have to weep; Or withered bud, celestial gardens know! No battle word Startles the sacred host with fear and dread; 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. With faith our guide, White-robed and innocent, to trace the way, The New Jerusalem. T is not for nothing that St. John, representing the Jerusalem that is on high, saith that it is full of the glory of God, and that its light is more sparkling than that of precious stones; that the wall thereof is jasper, the buildings of pure gold, like unto transparent glass; the foundations thereof so many quarries of precious stones; that its twelve gates are twelve pearls, its streets paved with gold; and that the Almighty, and the Lamb that accomplished our salvation, are the temple of it; that it hath no need of the sun, or of the moon, for God enlightens it on all sides; and the Lamb is that which makes it sparkle with eternal light. Although these terms be prophetic and mysterious, their sense is nevertheless a representation of a magnificence which cannot be expressed. And although it have a particular regard to the light of knowledge, and the perfect holiness of the church of God; nevertheless, it includes the quality of its perfect happiness, and the beauty of its habitation. AMYRALDUS. Heaven. H, talk to me of heaven! I love Oh, tell me how they shine and sing, And every glad and tearless eye, Tell me of that celestial calm Oh, happy, happy country! where There entereth not a sin : And death, who keeps its portals fair, May never once come in. No grief can change their day to night-- |