of the pious and sagacious BAXTER-"I must confess as the experience of my own soul, that the expectation of loving my friends in HEAVEN principally kindles my love to them on earth! If I thought I should never know them, and consequently never love them after this life is ended, I should in reason number them with temporal things, and love them as such, at the same time allowing for the excellent nature of Grace; but I now delightfully converse with my pious friends in a firm persuasion that I shall converse with them for ever; and I take comfort in those of them that are DEAD or absent, as believing I shall shortly meet them in HEAVEN, and love them with a heavenly love that shall there be . perfected!"

Dr. Richard Price has a masterly dissertation on the junction of the wise and good in HEAVEN. His concluding words are these

"The dark and dreary grave has now nothing in it that should make it appear terrible. To virtuous characters it is no more than a bed of rest till the morning of a JOYFUL RESURRECTION! We have, as CHRISTIANS, Something better to support us under the anguish produced by the death of friends than the cold alternative of the ancient philosophers, that either they are happy, or returned to the state they were in before they were born. We may exult in the expectation of finding them again, and of renewing our friendship with them in a better country! The worst that DEATH can do is to cause a short interruption in our intercourse with them, or to re

move them from our sight for a moment. We shall soon follow them, be raised with them to new life, and take possession with them of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. Such are the hopes which the blessed gospel gives; and well may they elevate our minds above these scenes of mortality, dry up our tears in every season of sorrow, and inspire us always with a joy unspeakable and full of glory!"

Reader-hast thou ever seen the REPRESENTATION of the resurrection of a pious family from the grave at the last day? Never was the pencil of the artist more happily employed. The group is sublimely impressive. Every countenance is filled with surprise-every feature is burnished by joy. The Father, the Mother, the Children at different ages, and even the hoary Grandsire, are seen bursting the cerements of THE TOMB, and rising to the transcendant honours of immortality

Whilst on thy glowing canvass lost we gaze,
The raptur'd soul with sacred ardour fir'd,
Dwells on the happy hopes of future bliss,

When freed from earthly sin and earthly care,

Restor'd to all the most endearing ties

Which Parents, Children, Lovers, Friends, can share!
The just made perfect shall with holy joy

Meet and receive rewards which TIME can ne'er destroy*!

* A discourse entitled, The final Congregation of good Characters in Heaven, concludes the second volume of Sermons for the Use of Families, by the Rev. Edmund Butcher, of Sidmouth. A THIRD VOLUME is just pub

To this delightful recognition of relatives and friends in a future state of being, it is to be added, as a circumstance ineffably interesting, that individuals being there exempted from their infirmities, both of body and of mind, no interruption of bliss occurs, and the exclusion of death (here our inevitable foe), renders the bliss of eternal duration. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure.

3. One employment more of the heavenly world is-Meditation upon our own progressive improvement in every thing that is essential to the dignity and happiness of Heaven.

That we are capable of improvement, is a wellknown truth, and that this capability deserts us in a future state, is no where asserted. Improvement is the characteristic of our nature. It accompanies us from the cradle to the tomb. It is essential to the existence and advancement of our felicity. It may be questioned whether any creature ever is, or ever will be so perfect that he is not capable of growth in any excellence or enjoyment. It is the distinguished attribute of humanity.

In this life the richest materials are afforded for

lished. The whole forms a body of theological instruction, which, expressed in simple and animated language, will be found eminently conducive to moral improvement.

Meditation, when we trace the steps by which we have advanced, and are advancing in knowledge, in virtue, and in piety. With satisfaction we survey the several periods of our pilgrimage, when each successive stage bears us onward to the attainment of eternal happiness. This circumstance holds good in its utmost extent with respect to a future state, where means will be afforded for the perfection of our nature, and where these means will receive every possible attention. When the heavenly inhabitant regards the past, it may include the present life, especially those scenes which were connected with our and salvation. When the prepeace sent and future occupy the glorified spirit, the enjoyments of the celestial state will rush upon the soul with an inconceivable rapidity. The honours at which the individual is arrived, the sources of bliss laid open before him, and the prospect of still greater pleasure throughout eternity-these are gratifications worthy of the name, and forms the most substantial felicity. Possessed of an incorruptible body, and having the soul sublimated by the beatific vision, this constitutes AN HAPPINESS which the eye, however delicate as an organ of vision, hath not seen, nor the ear, however susceptible of delicious sounds, hath heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man, however capacious in its comprehension, fully to conceive! Neither participating of sloth, nor subjected to satiety, it is the perfection of Heaven itself. Suited to our rational nature in the highest state of cultivation, it must administer to

our enjoyment. Meditation, then, on the elevated condition in which we shall be placed, will form a noble, an animated, and honourable employment. With the apostle we exclaim, O! the height and the depth, the length and the breadth of the love of God, which passeth knowledge.

DR. WATTS thus illustrates the subject-" Can we suppose that innocent ADAM at his formation in Paradise knew all the wonders of divine wisdom and goodness that ever he was designed to attain, had he lived sinless and immortal, and then can we believe, since his knowledge of his Maker's goodness and wisdom was to receive continual advances, that he should admire him no more, and love him no better after a thousand years' converse with him, than he did at his first creation? Now much the same is the case of the saints in Heaven. The rule and measure of their duty is their knowledge, and the rule and measure of their knowledge is their own capacity and the means of discovery; they never fall short of their duty, and therefore they have no sin; and thus their holiness may be every moment. perfect, and yet perhaps every moment increasing as their capacities are enlarged, and so receive new discoveries through all the ages of their immortality!"

In a word, to adopt the apostrophe of the great and good DR. WATTS—“ Hail, BLESSED SPIRITS above, who have passed your state of trial well! You have run the laborious race under many burdens, and you have received the prize. You have fought with