CHAPTER XLI.

lutu.

"Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God!

He whose word cannot be broken,
Formed thee for his own abode.

On the Rock of Ages founded,

What can shake thy sure repose? With Salvation's walls surrounded, Thou may'st smile at all thy foes."

NEWTON.

Glory.

The bellever's progress-Heaven begins here-Sensuous accounts of Heaven --Our heavenly state incomprehensible--1 John iii. 2-Likeness to Christ the Heaven of the ransomed-Restoration not merely to the favour but the image of God-Perfect, absolute, everlasting holiness-Secondary joys of the blessed-Christ all in all.

"THE kingdom of God is within you," was the saying of Him who spoke as never man did. There is erected in the soul of a believer that empire of God which gradually reduces every thing there to a state of holy subordination. The gifts which were received for them that rebelled have won the heart of the rebel; his weapons are thrown away, and he now rejoices to live under the sceptre of the King of Righteousness, who is found to be also the King of Peace.

Under his subjection, there is a progressive advance made by the believer while on earth in all that constitutes likeness to God. His Spirit "abideth in the soul," and as the result of his presence, the beauties of holiness become more and more abundant there. Such sanctification is not merely a preparative for heaven— it is heaven begun; and he who is well advanced in that attainment grows familiar with the fact that death will be only a change of place, not of condition-it is but transferring the renovated soul to another home. The acorn is planted at conversion, which is to germinate and spread out in majesty and beauty for ever and ever-the spring is welling up which will spread life and beauty world without end. The principle may still

494

SPIRITUAL GRAVITATION.

be only in embryo; but it is the same in kind with that which is to flourish in eternal vigour-so that the joys, the hopes, the holiness of a Christian here are all identical in spirit and essence with his joys, his fruitions, and his holiness in heaven. And just as the joy of the returning exile waxes higher and higher as he approaches his home, or that of the seaman, as he draws nearer tc his haven, the soul waxes stronger and happier as it draws nearer to its goal. Knowledge of the Holy One increases. The power of spiritual discernment becomes more acute and vivid. Love grows deeper. Prayer more easily passes into praise. Changes in our lot, and the countless vicissitudes of life, more readily suggest reflections regarding eternity, its stability, and repose. Like gravitating bodies, whose velocity increases as they approach their centre, the soul's tendency Godward becomes both more rapid and more steady. The deeper parts of Scripture become more easily fathomed, and yield a richer joy. The believer, in short, becomes more spiritually-minded, and that is life and peace. His conversation is much in heaven. His life is hid with Christ in God. He walks with God, and, reversing the case of Moses, his face sometimes shines even before he ascends the Mount.

"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." Such is the decision pronounced near the close of the Word of God, as if it were designed to anticipate the final sentence upon all, and it embodies a deep principle in it. We carry with us into eternity, and we continue for ever, what we were at the close of our earthly career. The impure continue impure, and to all eternity their impurity will constitute their wo. The holy will continue holy, and for ever and ever that holiness will be the medium in which their God is enjoyed, and their soul rendered perfectly blessed. Now, this enables us in some degree to comprehend the felicities of the state of glory. On few