f the young man full of zeal and ardour,
apparently fully equipped for God's service, suddenly cut down; or the
self-sacrificing missionary, who seems to have spent his strength in
vain, perish with no one in the wilderness to give him burial. Oh,
think not that the work of the old saint who loved it so well, till
the last hour of his existence, is ended for ever; or that the labours
of younger brethren so unfinished here, shall never be resumed
hereafter, and that all this preparation of years has been a
mere abortion, a mockery and delusion! Believe it not! No day of
conscientious study for Christ's sake has been spent in vain; no
habit of industry or self-denial acquired for Christ's sake has been
acquired in vain; nor will the burning zeal to do something for Him
who died for them be ever lost in darkness or put to shame. Soul,
spirit, and body, will yet do their work for which they have been
so exquisitely adapted, and so carefully trained. He who has been
"faithful over a few things will be made ruler over many things;" and
"he who has been faithful in _a very little_, shall have authority
over ten cities!"

Finally, this future life in heaven will be expressed in _praise_.
What are the ordinary ideas entertained by many excellent Christians
of this heavenly work, or the manner in which it is to be performed,
would be painful to describe. But perhaps it is not too much to say
that the heaven of many is little more than a grand, eternal act of
worship by singing psalms of praise. No doubt the chief work of
heaven is praise; for praise is but the necessary expression of love,
admiration, joy. In what way this praise is to be expressed I know
not: whether in the spontaneous exercise of individual souls, "singing
as they shine" with hymned voice, and fashioned instrument of golden
harp or angelic trump; or only by the rapt gaze of a spirit absorbed
in "still communion;"--and whether in heaven as on earth there may be
great days of the Lord on which the sons of God, gathered from afar,
will come specially before the exalted Redeemer, when their joy,
uttered by outbursts of harmony, shall wake the amphitheatre of the
skies with impassioned hallelujahs,--who can as yet tell! But it
_must_ be that each soul in heaven being for ever full of love, will
for ever be full of praise. Every new sight of grandeur or of beauty,
and every new contrivance of the Creator's wisdom or power, will but
prompt the beholder to praise the