December 28

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall he no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there he any more pain: for the former things are passed away. - Revelation 21:4.

THIS sublime but mysterious book may be regarded in two ways. The first is, by studying the whole series of prophecies which it contains concerning the church to the end of the world; and the other is, to attend to particular passages. Some wise men and some men certainly not very wise have employed much time and attention upon it, and, we have reason to fear, to very little purpose. Some of them have survived their empty schemes, and have been ashamed of their confidence.

But there are particular passages which, like the heavenly Jerusalem, shine the more brightly from the surrounding darkness. This is the case in the addresses to the seven churches, with the representations of the person and glory of the Redeemer, and the descriptions of the heavenly world. To some countries we feel comparatively indifferent, because we have little connection with them; but if there was a country in which we had large possessions, many endearing relations, and where after a while we were to reside, not for a season but for life, we should be glad of a map, and be thankful for any particular instructions respecting it.

Such is heaven to all the heirs of glory. It is here represented as glorious, and John, after surveying the gates and the wall, and the foundation and the extent, that is, having surveyed it externally, he looks within; but what he there remarks is rather of a negative kind, for according to our present state and experience, we know what heaven is much more by what it is not, than by what it is.

Two things-two kinds of things, rather, he found wanting there, First, evil things. There was no night, no death, no sorrow, no pain, no tears. Here we have enough of these, and of the causes which produce them. All tears were wiped from their eyes, and all these former things are passed away.

But, secondly, there were also good things wanting there, and things which now seem very desirable and necessary. “Light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun;” but “the city had no need of the sun neither of the moon to shine upon it.”

Where is the believer who does not now say, “I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth?” But “I saw no temple therein,” says John. What a world must that be where, as to nature, the sun can be dispensed with-where, as to grace, the temple can be dispensed with! How little of such a state are we capable of understanding now! How little can we know while we are here of a state where sabbaths will, instead of being observed, be abolished, and where temples will be no more!