aints!"

Here, too, they will fully realize the wisdom of the Christian home and
life; they will now see how wise it was for them as a family, to serve the
Lord. In their earthly home, they "knew whom they believed, and were
persuaded that he was able to keep that which they committed unto Him
against that day." They did this in the midst of fiery trials. They were
unknown. The world, hated and despised them as she did their divine Master.
But they persevered unto the end; and now they "shine forth as the sun in
the kingdom of their Father." We shall not there, as we do here, eat the
bread of care and drink the waters of bitterness. Here thunders spend their
echoes and lightnings gleam in fierce wrath around our homes. There such
sounds and storms never come.

"No sickness there,
No weary wasting of the frame away;
No fearful shrinking from the midnight air;
No dread of summer's bright and fervid ray.

"No hidden grief,
No wild and cheerless vision of despair;
No vain petition for a swift relief,
No tearful eye, no broken hearts are there

"Care has no home
Within that realm of ceaseless praise and song;
Its tossing billows break and melt in foam,
Far from the mansions of the spirit-throng.

"The storm's black wing
Is never spread athwart celestial skies;
Its wailings blend not with the voice of spring,
As some too tender floweret fades and dies."

Christ is the great center of heaven's glory and attraction. "Whom have I
in heaven but thee?" It would not be heaven if He were absent. Its harps
would become unstrung, and its voices would lose their tune. When eternity
dawns upon our disembodied spirits, and the heavenly home appears in view,
with its golden streets, and living temples, and crowns, and thrones, and
joys, bursting on our sight; while seraphim and cherubim, and angels, and
the sainted spirits of departed friends--our parents and children, and
kindred, bend over its threshold to hail our entrance with songs and shouts
of everlasting joy,--oh, what a glorious heritage will this be! But all
this will fade into insignificance before the Lamb on the throne. He will
absorb all interest; and will be all and in all to its unfading treasures.
Oh, there is much in that celestial home to allure us there. Its "fields
arrayed in living green, and rivers of delight." Its blood-washed throng,
its crowns and peace, the angelic choir, our friends and
relations,--perh