light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it."-Rev. xxi. 22-26.

"And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him: and they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there and they need no candle, neither light of the sun for the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign for ever and ever."-Rev. xxii. 1-5.

In the last chapter we thought of how God's will should be done in earth.

We felt how hard a lesson it was to learn, that of constantly submitting our will to God's will. The submission to others, the painful discipline of daily life, the dark hours of sorrow and suffering, when we learnt with difficulty to say, "Father, not my will but Thine be done."

But now we will look onwards. We will leave for a while the daily cross, the heavy burdens, the constant cares and trials of this life, and look forward to the rest that remaineth for the people of God, in the many mansions of our Father's house. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven."

I think it is often very helpful to lift up our eyes from this world, and look as it were into the unseen, and try to fancy the life that is going on there. We try to picture to ourselves how the holy angels, and all the blessed saints, and those we love, who have died in faith, are now doing the will of our Father in Heaven. And we too, when this short life is ended, and our crown is won, we too may hope to join with them in doing God's will, no longer beset with the trials

and dangers of this life, but where His servants shall serve Him, where they shall see His face, and where the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces.

It is well worth while striving earnestly to enter that bright land. If we fight manfully, and bear patiently here below whatever God sends, we shall not lose our reward hereafter.

O sweet and blessed country,
Shall I ever see thy face?
O sweet and blessed country,
Shall I ever win thy grace?
I have the hope within me
To comfort and to bless,
Shall I ever win the prize itself?
O tell me, tell me yes!

Exult, O dust and ashes,

The Lord shall be thy part,

His only, his for ever,

Thou shalt be, and thou art.

Let us therefore look onwards and upwards to the joy set before us. The traveller is cheered with the thought of home when

he is in a far distant land; the sailor tossing on the stormy ocean thinks of the time when he will reach the shore in safety; the soldier in the midst of the battle is strengthened by thoughts of victory and peace, and we too may look forward to the time when we may hope to hear these words of welcome, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." If we have tried to do our Lord's will faithfully on earth, He will take us in His own good time to do His will in Heaven. Very little is told us in the Bible about the life of the world to come. Of what is going on in that heavenly country we know but little. But there is a passage in Isaiah which tells us enough for our future happiness."Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty, they shall behold the land that is very far off."

"The King in His beauty." Yes, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is ready to welcome there the souls He died on the cross to save. Only think what it will be to see Him, who is "fairer than the children of men," Who is "chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely." To see Him, no

longer "despised and rejected of men," but as "the King in His beauty."

This will be the great joy of Heaven, to be with Him, to be near Him, to dwell with Him, in Whose presence is the fulness of joy. We know the delight and happiness of being with those we love on earth. How we long to have them always with us, how we miss them when they go away. "The house does not seem like the same place without them" we say. When trouble comes we long to have them near us, knowing how they would share it, and in times of joy we want them to rejoice with us. We are always thinking of those we love dearly.

And yet no earthly friend can love us as Jesus loves us, "Who for us men, and for our salvation came down from Heaven," that we through Him might have everlasting life.

Thou, blessed Jesus, Thou didst me
Upon the cross embrace,

For me didst bear the nails, the spear,

And manifold disgrace.

Then why, O blessed Jesu Christ,

Should I not love Thee well?