his shining courtiers, to the envy and terror of your adversaries.

So shall your Lord with his own hand crown you, and set you on thrones; and you shall judge men and angels, and you shall have power over the nations, and you shall set your feet upon the necks of your enemies. Lo, I have set the very day for your instalment, I have provided your crowns, I have prepared the kingdom. Wherefore do you doubt, O ye of little faith? these are the true sayings of God. Are you sure that you are now on earth? so surely shall you be shortly with me in heaven. Are you sure that you shall die? so surely shall you rise again in glory. Lo, I have said it, and who shall reverse it? You shall see me face to face, and be with me where I am, and behold my glory. For I will be glorified in my saints, and admired in all them that believe; and all flesh shall know that I have loved you. For I will make you the trophies of my grace, in whom the whole world shall see how unutterably the Almighty God can advance the poor worm's meat and dust of the ground. And the despisers shall behold and wonder and perish; for they shall be witnesses to the riches of my magnificence and the exceeding greatness of my power. They shall go away into everlasting punishment, but you into life eternal; for no sooner shall their sentence be passed, but the court shall rise, and the Judge shall return with all his glorious train; with sound of trumpet and shouts incredible shall he ascend, and shall lead you to your Father's house. Then shall the triumphal arches lift up their heads, and the everlasting

gates stand open, and the heavens shall receive you all, and so shall you be ever with the Lord.

And now will I rejoice over you with singing, and rest in my love; and heaven shall ring with joys and acclamations, because I have received you safe and sound. And in that day you shall know that I am a rewarder of them that diligently seek me; and that I did record your words, and bottle your tears, and tell your wanderings, and keep an account, even to a cup of cold water, of whatever you said or did for my name. You shall surely find that nothing is lost; but you shall have full measure, pressed down and running over, thousands of years in paradise, for the least good thought, and thousand thousands for the least good word; and then the reckoning shall begin again, till all arithmetic be nonplussed. For you shall be swallowed up in a blessed eternity, and the doors of heaven shall be shut upon you, and there shall be no more going out.

The glorious choir of my holy angels, the goodly fellowship of my blessed prophets, the happy society of triumphant apostles, the royal hosts of victorious martyrs, these shall be your companions for ever. And you shall come in white robes, with palms in your hands, every one having the harps of God, and golden vials full of odors, and shall cast your crowns before me, and strike in with the multitude of the heavenly hosts, glorifying God, and saying, Hallelujah! the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Blessing, honor, glory, power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. In

short, I will make you equal to the angels of God, and you shall be the everlasting trumpets of my praise. You shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of my house, and I will make you drink of the rivers of my pleasures. You shall be an eternal excellency; and if God can die, and eternity run out, then, and not else, shall your joys expire. For you shall see me as I am, and know me as you are known; and shall behold my face in righteousness, and be satisfied with my likeness. And you shall be the vessels of my glory, whose blessed use shall be to receive the overflowings of my goodness, and to have mine infinite love and glory poured out into you brimful, and running over for evermore. Blessed is he that hath believed, for there shall be a performance of the things that have been told him. I the Lord have spoken it; you shall see my face, and my name shall be written in your foreheads; and you shall no more need the sun, nor the moon, for the Lord God shall give you light, and you shall reign for ever and ever.

And as I give myself to you for your God, and all things with myself, so I take you for my covenant people, and you shall be mine in the day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare you as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people, Surely they are my children. I do not only require you to be mine, if you would have me to be for you, but I do promise to make you mine, and to work in you the conditions which I require of you. I will circumcise your hearts to love me. I will take out the heart of stone. My

laws will I write within you. Yet you must know that I will be sought unto for these things; and as ever you expect to partake of the mercies, I charge you to lie at the pool, and wait for my Spirit, and be diligent in the use of the means.

I am content to abate the rigor of the old terms; I shall not stand upon satisfaction. I have received a ransom, and do only expect your acceptance. I shall not insist upon perfection. Walk before me, and be upright, and sincerity shall carry the crown. Yea, both the faith and obedience that I require of you are my own gifts. I require you to accept my Son by believing; but I will give you a hand to take him, and to submit to, and obey him; and I must and will guide your hand to write after him, and cause you to walk in my statutes. I will take you by the arms, and teach you to go; I will order your steps. Yea, those things will I accept of you as the conditions of life, which, viewed in the strictness of my justice, would deserve eternal death. Grace! Grace!

THE VOICE OF THE REDEEMED.

Amen, hallelujah. Be it to thy servants according to thy word. But who are we, and what is our Father's house, that thou hast brought us hitherto ? And now, O Lord God, what shall thy servants say unto thee? for we are silenced with wonder, and must sit down in astonishment, for we cannot utter the least tittle of thy praises. What meaneth the height of this strange love? And whence is this unto us,

that the Lord of heaven and earth should condescend to enter into covenant with his dust, and take into his bosom the viperous brood that have so often spit their venom in his face? We are not worthy to be as the handmaids, to wash the feet of the servants of our Lord; how much less to be thy sons and heirs, and to be made partakers of all these blessed liberties and privileges which thou hast settled upon us! But for thy goodness' sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things. Even so, Father, because so it seemed good in thy sight.

Wherefore thou art great, O God, for there is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee. And what nation on earth is like thy people, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for them great things and terrible? For thou hast confirmed them to thyself, to be a people unto thee for ever, and thou, Lord, art become their God, even unto the end.

Wonder, O heavens, and be moved, O earth, at this great thing! For behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. Be astonished and ravished with wonder, for the infinite breach is made up; the offender is received, God and man reconciled, and a covenant of peace entered, and heaven and earth are all agreed upon the terms, and have struck their hands and sealed the indentures. O happy conclusion! O blessed conjunction! Shall the stars dwell with the dust, or the wide distant poles be brought to mutual