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deductions of reason, guided by the certain principles embodied in the charter of our privileges. Admitting that the righteous will meet in a future world, and that their consciousness will be unimpaired, we are justified in receiving them as representations which have their foundation in the nature of things. And if the perpetuation of christian friendship must of necessity be attended with such an augmentation of joy and virtue, we are warranted to infer that its perpetuity will be secured by Jehovah, who has engaged to "give grace and glory, and to withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly." But to place the matter beyond all reasonable doubt, it will suffice to observe, that these views of the ultimate union of the righteous harmonize with the more direct evidence supplied by the written testimony. The joy into which the good and faithful servant is to be introduced on the day of retribution, will, we are assured on unquestionable authority, be similar in its nature, though inconceivably inferior, as it respects degree, to the felicity which the Saviour will experience when he sees of the travail of his soul, and is abundantly satisfied." And the great apostle of the Gentiles expresses himself on this subject in terms which cannot be misunderstood. To the language which he employs, in reference to the presentation of his converts before the throne on the day of judgment, we have already adverted,

as affording evidence of the special interest which he expected to take in them as his spiritua children and companions on earth. But what, according to his own statement, did he suppose would be the nature or source of the peculiar feelings to be produced by the anticipated interview? He evidently conceived that these feelings would spring from the satisfaction of witnessing, in their condition, the fall and accumulated fruit of his holy zeal in the service of Christ. He looked forward to the realization of this pure and exalted pleasure in the knowledge of their eternal happiness, as that which would constitute no small part of his reward, while he felt, at the same time, the force of his own declaration;-" Neither is he that planteth any thing, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase." And the expectation served not a little to kindle and maintain in his own bosom, somewhat of the burning zeal which consumed his divine Master; "who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Nay, in the prospective view of eternity, every consideration appeared sometimes to vanish from his mind, but the salvation of those to whom he published the word of life; and of this he speaks, as though it would constitute the substance of all his honour, and of all his felicity on the day of the Lord. "For what,"

exclaims he to the Thessalonians, "is our hope or Are not even ye in

joy, or crown of rejoicing?

the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy."

Thus, then, the expectation of reunion amongst christian friends, harmonizes, in a beautiful manner, with the tendency of religion, to unite and inspire them with the desire of continued intercourse-with its general character-as a restorative system, which is pledged to raise them to the possession of whatever is really valuable to us— and with the nature and source of that felicity, which consists in the sublime satisfactions of christian charity, and which, as the scriptures hold it out as a constituent and important part of the final reward of the faithful steward, demands the future knowledge of existing relations, and the perpetuity of the sacred pleasures which may now accompany them.

On the whole, we conceive, it appears that the hope of reunion, which revelation thus encourages, contributes much to the harmony of the christian religion, and constitutes not one of the least interesting of those many links which connect its discoveries together, and combine them into one beautiful and perfect system of truth.

CHAPTER VI.

THE FINAL MEETING AND FUTURE FRIENDSHIP OF THE

RIGHTEOUS.

If we regard man merely as an inhabitant of the present world, almost every thing that enters into his condition wears an aspect of insignificance, and presents much to our notice that renders him truly an object of commiseration. His chief importance and happiness, both in a personal and relative view, are prospective, and can only be understood and realized by those who have acquired the habit-so indispensable to the comfort, integrity, and elevation of the mind-of looking supremely at the things which are unseen and eternal. All that now belongs to the christian is to be considered as existing only in the germ.

"This is the bud of being, the dim dawn,

Life's theatre, as yet, is shut; and death,
Strong death alone, can heave the massy bar,
This gross impediment of clay remove,

And make us embryos of existence free.

From real life but little more remote
Is he, not yet a candidate for light,
The future embryo slumbering in his sire.
Embryos we must be, till we burst the shell,
Yon ambient, azure shell, and spring to life-
The life of gods—oh transport! and of man."

In order, therefore, to appreciate the surpassing value and grandeur of all human alliances formed under the sanction, and resting upon the stable foundation of piety, we must contemplate, in the light of revelation, their destined character and final consequences. And since it is only by so doing that we can be prepared to obviate the alleged difficulties of the present subject, or to form any consistent idea of the unutterable joy which must of necessity accompany the future recollections of christian friends, it will not be thought improper to notice here-more distinctly than the occasion would allow in the preceding chapterthe circumstances under which they are destined to meet each other on the great day of redemption. It is not, be it remembered, the recovery of friendship, with its existing imperfections and sorrows, that christianity is pledged to effect in their behalf. Such an object falls inconceivably short of its design. But the purpose it contemplates is the perpetuation of friendship, improved transcendently in its character, and maintained under the happiest circumstances. And if in an administration

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