w
stated. We must admit that the perfection of our being is fellowship
with God the Father in the possession of that spirit of son-ship which
was revealed in Jesus Christ the Son of God and the Son of man. This,
and this alone, must insure fellowship with Him in His character and
joy. We shall consequently rejoice in all that He rejoices in--_as far
as this is possible for creatures_. Thus, if He rejoices in the glory
of His own Being, as Father, Son, and Spirit, so shall we; if He
rejoices in all His works, so shall we; if He rejoices in what He
does, in what He knows, in what He purposes, so shall we; if He
rejoices in the communion of holy and happy men and angels, so shall
we. In one word, if "our chief end is to glorify God," when that
end is fulfilled, we shall "enjoy Him for ever." And this was our
Saviour's prayer when He said, "The glory Thou hast given me I have
given them, that we may be one!"

But as those two lines of thought would lead practically to the same
conclusion, it seems to me that the nature of our future life will be
best understood by most of my readers if I endeavour to shew "what we
shall be," according to the arrangement already proposed.

Let us, then, meditate on the glorious supply which God has provided
for filling up every part of this our complex nature in heaven.

I.

OUR PHYSICAL LIFE IN HEAVEN.

Speaking of the materialism of heaven, Dr Chalmers truly says:--"The
common imagination that many have of paradise on the other side of
death, is that of a lofty, aerial region where the inmates float on
ether, or are mysteriously suspended upon nothing; where all the warm
and felt accompaniments which give such an expression of strength, and
life, and colour to our present habitation, are attenuated into a sort
of spiritual element, that is meagre, and imperceptible, and wholly
uninviting to the eye of mortals here below; where every vestige of
materialism is done away with, and nothing left but certain unearthly
scenes that have no power of allurement, and certain unearthly
ecstasies with which it is impossible to sympathise," The
sensitiveness with which many thus shrink from almost alluding to the
physical element of enjoyment in heaven, because it is unworthy to be
compared with the spiritual glory that is to be revealed, arises, no
doubt, from the half suspicion that there is some necessary connexion
between materialism and sin; thus forgetting that the body, and the
outward