shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name."

This hymn, too, a paraphrase of the magnificent Scripture which we could not resist the inclination to quote, is conceived, like several others which we have noticed, quite in the spirit of the Apocalypse; as if the poet had seen the door opened in heaven, and heard the voice which rapt him into ecstasy, as one who had "freedom to enter the holiest."

"Saviour, on me the grace bestow,

To trample on my mortal foe;
Conqueror of death with Thee to rise,
And claim my station in the skies,
Fix'd as the throne which ne'er can move,
A pillar in Thy Church above.

"As beautiful as useful there,
May I that weight of glory bear,
With all who finally o'ercome,
Supporters of the heavenly dome," etc.

The metaphor by which the glorified are made pillars in the temple above is familiar, and is employed in the text on which this hymn is founded. But the idea of a pillared dome supported by the blessed, seems original. We know not where to look for it elsewhere; but we have a parallel passage in Charles Wesley's own poetry :

"Let us with Thy lustre shine,
Pillars in the dome divine," etc.*

("Hymns and Sacred Poems," vol. ii., 99, p. 139.)

• The firmament is often called a " dome," and the mountains are poetically called "the pillars of heaven." (Job xxvi. 11.)

"How beautiful this dome of sky,

And the vast hills, in fluctuation fix'd!"

(Wordsworth.)

He who first conceived and executed the design of raising and suspending high in air a dome or cupola of solid materials, to remain fixed for ages, displayed extraordinary genius, and achieved a marvellous exploit. Domes are a Roman invention. One of the most magnificent of those at present existing has weathered the storms of nearly nineteen centuries, - that of the Pantheon, a circular temple, built by M. Agrippa in his third consulship, в.с. 27. Its diameter is one hundred and forty-two feet, and its height from the ground-line one hundred and forty-three fect. The first employment of the dome in ecclesiastical architecture was in the church built by the Emperor Justinian, at Constantinople, and dedicated by him to The Divine Wisdom, -" Santa Sophia." It is one hundred and fifteen feet in diameter, and two hundred feet in height; and, after the lapse of thirteen centuries, remains a monument of the founder's fame. The principal domes of later ages are those of St. Peter's, at Rome, St. Paul's, London, the Pantheon, Paris, and the Chapel of the Invalides.

Verse 3,

"His image visibly exprest."

"That holiness of conversation which is the image of God visibly

expressed."*

Verse 4,

"A citizen of heaven below."

"For our conversation"-ἡμῶν γὰρ τὸ πολίτευμα-" is in heaven." (Phil. iii. 20.) Tertullian renders the phrase "municipatus noster," and Beza and others translate it, "Our citizenship is in heaven." Plato, of whom Eusebius says, that he only of all the Greeks, "reached the vestibule of heaven and stood on its threshold," having, in his "Politeia" described his perfeet community of commonwealth, adds, "The state which we have now established exists only in our imagination and argument, but, I think, has no existence on earth. Yet in heaven, probably, there is a model of it, for any one who inclines to contemplate it, and to regulate himself accordingly; and to him it matters not whether it exist anywhere, or will ever exist here, for he would perform the duties of this city alone." + Hymn 73,

"Away with our sorrow and fear," etc.

In reading or singing this hymn, we seem to stand beside the apostle and the celestial guide who said to him, "Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." (Rev. xxi. 9.) We seem to realize,

"The city so holy and clean,

No sorrow can breathe in the air;

No gloom of affliction or sin,

No shadow of evil is there!"

(Verse 2.)

The concluding couplet of the hymn requires, however, a little poetic license to absolve it entirely from the charge of incorrectness:

"And all the enjoyment above

Consists in the rapturous gaze."

For, although the supreme delight of heaven will consist in the contemplation of the Divine, will there be no blissful society with created beings, human and angelic, no enlarged view of the created universe, no unravelling of the mysteries of Providence? The "children of the resurrection" sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Prophets, in the kingdom of our Father; and they who stand, with their harps of gold,

"On the clear hyaline, the glassy sea,"

are described as singing, "Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of Saints!" Hymn 74,

"We know, by faith we know," etc.

• John Wesley's "Earnest Appeal," written in 1744, Works, vol. viii., p. 11. † Plato Translated, Bohn, p. 283.

This is from Charles Wesley's "Funeral Hymns," 1744, the second stanza omitted. This hymn is a fine paraphrase of 2 Cor. v. 1-9. In the third verse we have the phrase,

"Full of immortal hope,

We urge the restless strife," etc.;

and in a corresponding passage, (Hymn 405, verse 4,)

"My hope is full (O glorious hope!)
Of immortality."

Both expressions are taken from the Apocrypha, (Wisdom iii. 4,) "Yet is their hope full of immortality."

Hymns 75, 76, are from Charles Wesley's "Hymns on the Lord's Supper." Together they form as fine a paraphrase as can be conceived of Rev. vii. 9-12; a passage of Holy Writ in which, amidst the predictions of terrible calamities which like rolling thunderclouds precede and follow, we obtain, through a rift in the cloudy canopy above us, a transient glimpse of the pure azure beyond it, the region of perpetual serenity and eternal day.

Hymns 77, 78, and 79, are from Charles Wesley's "Short Hymns on Select Passages of Scripture." They paraphrase Rev. xxii. 17; three hymns developed from a single verse of the Divine Word! But that verse how prolific, how wonderful! "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

In the first stanza of Hymn 79 we have the words,

"Jehovah Himself doth invite

To drink of His pleasures unknown;
The streams of immortal delight,
That flow from His heavenly throne."

And St. Augustine says,

"When shall I rest at the fountain-head,

And drink the streams which flow for ever from Thy throne?"*

If we fail to particularize all that is worthy of notice in this department of the Hymn-Book "describing Heaven," it is because those excellencies are too numerous to be recounted in detail. They form a constellation of beauty and sublimity, bright as the stars of heaven, powerful to charm, and elevate, and inspire.

But besides those hymns directly bearing on the celestial state, it is frequently introduced where heaven is not the immediate subject of the hymn; and many single verses, often two or three in succession, are met with, which bear away our thoughts to the realms of bliss :

"O happy, happy place,

Where saints and angels meet!" etc.

(Hymn 535, verse 4.)

* " Hymns and Meditations," translated by H. Coles; Meditat. vii., 1791, new edition.

It is worthy of remark, that while there are so many hymns in our Collection descriptive of heavenly happiness, there is but one "Describing Hell: " (Hymn 80:) nor is this properly a description at all. It is the reflection of one who, having approached near the brink, starts back, alarmed at the danger; and, awakened to seriousness at the "terrible thought" of what is possible in the future, is resolved to forsake sin, and "flee from the wrath to come." The reticence of our poet on the subject of future misery did not arise from any doubt of the doctrine, or any defect in his estimate of its importance. His poem entitled "The Cry of a Reprobate"* proves this. But John Wesley did not consider the subject adapted to that part of public worship which employs lyrical poetry as its medium. A description of hell, if it were possible, would certainly not be suitable for congregational singing.

A verse which, within our own recollection, was found in our HymnBook as the fourth of this hymn, has very properly been omitted. It reads thus:

"While they enjoy His heavenly love,

Must I in torments dwell?

And howl (while they sing hymns above)
And blow the flames of hell?"

Although, while yet in our childhood, we felt this hymn to be terribly impressive, the verse just quoted always interfered with the solemnity of the impression, and diminished its effect. But with the exception of this

* Life, by T. Jackson, vol. i., p. 263,

verse, the hymn is perfectly suitable to be sung by a mixed congregation, and the Hymn-Book would have been incomplete without it. How many a good resolution has been formed under its influence! How many have gone from the house of prayer sincerely exclaiming,

" I will accept His offers now,
From every sin depart,
Perform my oft-repeated vow,
And render Him my heart."

Although in the sacred Scriptures the threat of future misery is much more brief and infrequent than the promises and descriptions of heavenly happiness, yet it is remarkable that the teacher who directs attention most frequently to the doom of the impenitent is the Lord Jesus Himself. It is He whose heart was most tender, whose life was most beneficent, that says, "Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell;" "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched;" with other denunciations equally terrible. Some would dispute the obvious meaning of these passages, though they are not agreed what interpretation to substitute for it. Some have supposed, with Archbishop Tillotson, that although God has threatened to punish the wicked eternally, He does not intend, and is not bound, to carry this threat into execution. His Grace believed that this penalty is merely set forth to deter men from evil, and thus promote the good order and welfare of the world. And that when this purpose has been answered, God will remit a portion of the penalty, and restore all sinning creatures to purity and bliss. To this it has been sarcastically replied, that if the Almighty really undertook to deceive the world for its benefit, it is a great pity that He did not succeed in deceiving the Archbishop, and prevent him from detecting the cheat! What an oversight, that He allowed His secret to get into the possession of so indiscreet a privycouncillor, one who has made it known to the world, so as to frustrate the very end and purpose for which it was designed! Many great and good men have contended, that since the endless punishment of the incorrigible is so strongly asserted in sacred Scripture, it cannot but be just and reasonable, and is probably necessary for the general and continued well-being of the universe. And, if so, it may be one form of that goodness which regards the welfare of the whole. If earthly governments, which are finite and temporary, find it necessary for the repression of crime and the protection of society at large, to inflict temporary, and often life-long, or even capital punishments, may not a government that is universal and eternal find it equally necessary in dealing with free. agents to inflict punishments that are unlimited in their duration? This is what no one can possibly disprove. J. W. T.

[Our readers will regret to learn that this valuable series of papers has been arrested by the hand of death. Their author, the late Rev. John Wesley Thomas, has for some time past been engaged in collecting materials for a work to which the portion already published forms scarcely more than a commencement. The carrying out of his entire plan would have proved a long and arduous task; but he gave himself enthusiastically to it, "thinking of it all day, and dreaming of