of the lowest, they all, nevertheless, compose one
great family of brothers and sisters, of whom God is the Father,
Jesus Christ the Elder Brother as well as the King, and Mary the
Mother as well as the Queen. They all mingle together, converse, and
otherwise enjoy each other's society; for they are all united by the
bond of the purest charity. They all exclaim, with the royal Prophet:
"to Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell
together in unity. . . . For there, the Lord hath commanded blessing,
and life for evermore."* They all are happy, because they all see,
love, and enjoy God, as well as the additional pleasures with which
He perfects and completes the happiness of His beloved children. They
are all filled to overflowing with the happiness of which the royal
Prophet speaks, when he says: "They shall be inebriated with the
plenty of Thy house: and thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of
Thy pleasure. For with Thee is the fountain of life."+ By their union
with the Fountain of Life, which is God himself, the blessed see all
their desires fulfilled, and, knowing not what more to crave, they
rest in God as their last end, and enjoy him forever.

* Ps. cxxxli. + Ps. xxiv.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE ETERNITY OF HEAVEN'S HAPPINESS.

Having endeavored, in the foregoing pages, to form to ourselves some
idea of the glorious happiness reserved for us in heaven, there still
remains to say something of its crowning glory--the eternity of its
duration. This is not only its crowning glory, but it is, moreover,
an essential constituent of that unspeakable joy which now inebriates
the souls of the blessed. A moment's reflection will make this
evident.

Let us suppose, for the sake of illustration, that on the last day,
God should thus speak to the blessed: "Dearly beloved children, you
are now happy, and you shall continue so for a very long time, but
not forever. When I promised you eternal life, I did not really mean
a life without end, I alone can live forever. I have created a little
bird whose office it is, every thousand years, to take away from the
earth one grain of sand, or a drop of water, and carry it to the
place I have appointed. And when it will have thus removed the whole
earth, all the oceans, rivers, and lakes, you shall all die a second
death, and be no more forever."

How many ages do you think it would take, at that rate, to remove
this whole world to another place? Of course,