song, as they gaze backwards on the horrible kingdom of darkness, from
whose chains and dungeons they have been delivered; and trace all the
mysterious steps by which their merciful and wise Saviour led them
safely through danger, temptation, and trial, and through the valley
of death, until He bid them welcome with exceeding joy! What their
feelings, what their song, as they look around and contemplate the new
scene and the exalted society into which He has brought them, and meet
the responsive gaze of radiant saints and of old familiar friends!
What their feelings, and what their song, as they gaze forward, and
with "far-stretching views into eternity" see no limit to their
"fulness of joy;" knowing that nothing can lessen it, but that
everything must increase it through eternal ages;--that the body can
never more suffer pain, or be weakened by decay;--that the intellect
can never more be dimmed by age, nor marred by ignorance;--that the
spirit can never more be darkened by even a passing shadow from the
body of sin;--that the will can never for a moment be mastered, nor
even biased by temptation;--that the heart can never be chilled by
unreturned kindness;--that the blessed society can never be diminished
by death, nor divided in spirit, but that, along with saints and
angels, all God's works shall be seen, all His ways known, all His
plans and purposes fulfilled, all His commands perfectly obeyed, and
Himself perfectly enjoyed for ever and ever! And then, at what might
seem to be the very climax of their joy, to behold Jesus! And, seeing
Him, to remember the lowly home in Bethlehem; the once humble artisan
of Nazareth; and the sufferer, "who was despised and rejected of men,"
"the man of sorrows, who was acquainted with grief;" and the tempted
one, who for forty days was with the devil in the wilderness;--seeing
Him, to remember Gethsemane with its trembling hand and cup of
agony; the judgment-hall and Calvary with their horrors of blood, of
blasphemy, and mystery of woe;--seeing Him, to see all this history of