HEAVEN. And nought there can enter to mar its repose, peace. Thrice happy are they who that region may win, Watts. Thrice happy world! where gilded toys 239 No more disturb our thoughts, no more pollute our joys. And truth forever shines, and love forever burns. Montgomery. If God hath made this world so fair, How beautiful, beyond compare, Will Paradise be found! Quarles. All that we know of heaven above, Ed. They think and grow, as well as love, When will be the signal given, Which shall set my cares at rest? Near a Saviour's pitying breast. Nothing sinful or unholy Can that beauteous place infest; Satan there no longer grieveth, 240 HEAVEN. There the wicked cease from troubling, And the weary be at rest. Em. As soon as saints arrive in heaven, all their internal as well as external causes of sorrow forever cease. Their fellowship with God and his friends is then perfected, which will banish all doubts, and fears, and sorrow of heart. To complete their triumph, all their former sources of sorrow will then be turned into sources of everlasting joy and gratitude. All things shall work together for their good.' Said an apostle, "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Christians will then see that God took the wisest and best methods to prepare them for heaven. Besides, he will reward them in proportion to their sufferings for righteousness' sake. And their exceeding and eternal weight of glory' must forever wipe away all tears from their eyes.' 6 Ed. Heaven is the place where God intends perpetually to unfold his own beauty; forever to exercise and glorify his grace; to honor and bless his well-beloved Son; to reward his true and faithful friends; and to raise the natural and moral perfection and blessedness of the heirs of glory to an incomprehensible height. Its light will be clear, pleasant, and more and more brilliant. Its changes will be only its progression. Its natural and moral variety will feast every imagination. Its uniformity will gratify every desire for permanence. Its order will excite perpetual admiration. Its circumstances and objects will banish all languor, and exercise every faculty of the mind, in the best proportion. Its rest will be vigorous and untiring thought and emotion, without pain, without lassitude, without obstruction. Perplexity will all have passed away; painful fears and forebodings will be unknown. Progression will be perpetually onward, and ever accelerating. History will satisfy reflection; and revelation, the fondest anticipation. Intellectual and cordial pleasures will spoil sensual delights. We cannot now anticipate the amazing glory, nor comprehend the pure, permanent, ever-increasing, and astonishing blessedness of heaven. Saints know not what they shall be. [See 415.] HEAVENLY FELLOWSHIP, HEAVENLY SATISFACTION. 241 423. HEAVENLY FELLOWSHIP, PERMANENT. Em. The mutual affections which subsist between perfectly holy beings can never be dissolved. Their union is founded upon moral excellence, which no circumstances can change or destroy. And the mutual affection which will eventually subsist between God and all holy beings, will be the source of the purest and highest happiness of heaven forever. To this perfect and perpetually increasing felicity all real Christians are approaching, as they are growing in grace, and perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. They are mutually praying for this mutual affection; and Christ is also interceding with the Father to make them completely united. "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us." Can there be a brighter prospect than this, exhibited before the minds of all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity? 424. HEAVENLY SATISFACTION. David. I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Ed. The satisfaction of heaven will not only be great and delectable in the aggregate, but complete in all its particulars. We cannot conceive more heartfelt satisfaction than every believer will feel towards the God of heaven, the Teacher of heaven, and the Sanctifier of heaven. The spirit of heaven will give universal satisfaction. The decisions of the great day will bring forth the most hearty, intelligent, and devout "Amen, Alleluia!" from all the righteous, impartial, and disinterested creatures in the whole universe. The number and variety of the heavenly hosts will give entire satisfaction to each one of them. The employments, order, and objects of heaven will fill every one with rapture. Nothing, material or spiritual, will be wanting, that could increase the satisfaction of any individual. And the heavenly inheritance will be incorruptible, undefiled, and one that fadeth not away. It will satisfy the God of love, the Son of his delight, and the Holy Spirit; for it will be the consummation of the united counsels and labors of the Three in 242 HEEDLESSNESS, HEROISM. One, who inhabit eternity. And if these are satisfied, all holy creatures will and must be completely satisfied, and filled with delight. [See 165.] 425. HEEDLESSNESS. Secker. You will quickly lose your standing, if you are fearless of falling. Em. Many sins of ignorance are undoubtedly committed by mere inadvertence, which is itself sinful. Ed. Some persons were never more than half made, as they require the habitual aid of others to think, remember, and attend to needful objects for them. 1b. There is heedlessness of heart; heedlessness of hearing, observing and remembering; heedlessness of manners, appearance, and personal affairs; heedlessness of our own property and health, and of the property and feelings of others; heedlessness in acquiring knowledge, wisdom, and holiness; heedlessness towards tempters and temptations to evil; heedlessness in learning and correcting our faults and bad habits; heedlessness in devising plans and measures to get and to do good; heedlessness in the training of children; heedlessness in preparing to leave this world, and in providing for the next; heedlessness towards the heart, and hand, and word of God, which is the worst of all. Could we obtain a just view of our manifold and astonishing heedlessness and negligence, we should better understand such scriptures as these: "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." "They are.sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge." [See 99.] 426. HEROISM. Fear nothing so much as to sin, and your moral heroism is complete. Ed. Those who most perfectly and permanently fear God, and keep his commandments, in the face of a frowning and persecuting world, are the greatest heroes. Nothing short of heroism, is equal to these duties. HISTORY, HISTORICAL. 427. HISTORY. 248 The main object, in the study of history, should be to learn the Providence of God. Literature is the fragment of a fragment. Of all that ever happened, or has been said, but a fraction has been written, and of this, but little is extant. Dryden. We find but few historians of all ages, who have been diligent enough in their search for truth. It is their common method to take on trust what they distribute to the public; by which means, a falsehood, once received from a famed writer, becomes traditional to posterity. Johnson. The present state of things, is the consequence of the past; and it is natural to inquire as to the sources of the good we enjoy, or the evils we suffer. If we act only for ourselves, to neglect the study of history is not prudent; if entrusted with the care of others, it is not just. Ignorance, when voluntary, is criminal, and a man may be properly charged with that evil which he neglected, or refused to learn how to prevent. Kossuth. History is the revelation of Providence. Ed. Sacred History is the pole-star, the land-marks of profane, which would be mere illusion and farce, without the light of Divine revelation. Ib. If persons neglect the study of history in this life, they cannot avoid this knowledge at the day of judgment, when both sacred and profane history will be completely rehearsed, and indellibly recorded. 428. HISTORICAL ITEMS. According to Hales, Noah's ark was forty-two thousand, four hundred and thirteen tons. Colton. A private countryman, in Cheshire, England, by the name of Augustine Washington, about 1730, was overturned in his carriage, and thrown into the company of a lady, who afterwards became his wife, and emigrated with him to America, and in the year 1732, at Virginia, became the envied mother of Geo. Washington the great. Em. Origin of the U. S. A. The fathers of our nation |