aps a father and a mother, perhaps a husband or wife,
perhaps a brother or a sister, or a child,--a lovely babe;--all these make
heaven dear, and draw us there. They beckon us to themselves; they are
waiting for us now, and on the glowing pinions of love they come thronging
as ministering spirits, to our hearts.

But what are all these attractions of that spirit-home, compared with Jesus
there as the crowning glory of them all! other things are stars and
streamlets. He is the central sun,--the source of all. Take Him away, and
all the brightness and the glory of that heavenly world would become
shrouded in darkness and desolation.

There is a living union between the Christian's home on earth, and his home
in heaven. Christ represents our nature and advocates our cause there. The
saints on earth and the inhabitants of heaven "but one communion make." The
latter minister to the former. "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent
to minister unto them who shall be the heirs of salvation?"

"Oh! a mother's spirit hung
O'er her last pledge of earthly love,
And, while attending angel's sung,
Welcom'd her dear one home above.

"Gentle babe, I come for thee:
I did come to bear thee home,
Far from mortal agony;
Come, then, gentle infant, come.

"Yes; while o'er thy mouldering dust
Falls the tear of earthly love,
Thou shalt live amidst the just,
Brighter life in heaven above."

Every thing good in our earthly home has its echo in heaven, and sweeps
like the breath of God over the harps of the blessed. When the pious mother
kneels with her child in prayer to God, it sends a thrill of new ecstasy
into the bosom of the redeemed around His throne. When the child gives its
heart to Christ, each harp bursts forth with a new anthem of joy at the
prospect of that accession to their happy band. And oh, what unspeakable
joy must thrill the bosom of a sainted mother when the news of her child's
conversion reaches her there!--

... "A new harp is strung, and a new song is given
To the breezes that float o'er the gardens of heaven."

And there, too, sainted relations continually warn the impenitent members
of the tent-home. "Though dead they yet speak." "Turn ye, turn ye; for why
will ye die?" "The spirit and the bride say, come!" Oh, regard those solemn
admonitions which come to you from the spirit-world! With unearthly
eloquence they urge you to "lay aside every weight and the sin that do