work as did the perfect Son; the glory of work will transfigure every action of our lives, and when the time comes to enter on a new and yet nobler sphere of activity, each one will be able to say "O righteous Father, I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do."

THE GOSPEL OF THE HEREAFTER.

THE joys of the life to come have ever been a favourite theme of theologians and poets. A contemplation of them, a holding them up for the encouragement of a sorrowing and suffering humanity, marks not merely Christianity, but Brahminism, Mahomedanism and the later phase of Judaism. Milton's great dramas, stereotyped popular views in England, and that they are as fascinating as ever, is seen by the eagerness with which such a book as "The Gates Ajar" is received, and the well nigh universal entrance into modern hymnology of verses, such as the sweet rhythm of St Bernard and the like, which conceive of the blessedness of heaven on this wise;

There is the throne of David,

And there, from toil released,
The shout of them that triumph,

The song of them that feast.

and of the meaning of the resurrection, thus;
O how glorious and resplendent,
Fragile body, shalt thou be,

When endued with so much beauty,
Full of health and strong and free,
Full of vigour, full of pleasure,

Thou shalt last eternally!

As far as Christendom is concerned, the ideas thus set forth have a common origin. The Apocalypse of S. John, after many a struggle for canonicity, even in late times, suspected by Erasmus and repudiated by Luther, has taken its place among Christians as the revealed word of God, with some of them, indeed, as a literally inspired writing, and has become the source of the eschatology of the Christian church. It has been a court of appeal to sorrowful souls, against the wrongs perpetrated on them, telling of a deathless victory, a golden crown, a spotless robe for the faithful soldier of the cross. And it has answered the exact purpose for which it was written. The last of the Claudian emperors had been, and was not, but many a one had barely escaped his brutality, and was now cowering as he looked for the reappearance of this veritable antichrist, who was to destroy the saints of the most high. The Son of Thunder, the one who had sought to sit on the hand of his master, who had begged to call down fire from heaven, even as Elias did, and consume the enemies who crossed his path, was well fitted to raise the drooping hope of the church, with the promise of the avenging sword of him whose eyes were as a flame of fire, and who should smite the nations and rule them with a rod of iron, and tread the winepress of the passion of the wrath of Almighty God. The conception was not a new one; the Anonymous Prophet had given a like vision to the nation, as this Jewish Christian Apostle now displayed before the

suffering church. To the former had been shewn, one coming from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah; treading down the people in his anger, and trampling them in his fury, till their blood was sprinkled on his garments, for the day of vengeance was in his heart, and the year of his redeemed had come. And then, as in the one case, there should follow in Jerusalem the voice of joy, and the sound of crying should be heard no more; new heavens and a new earth should be created, and all nations coming together to see the glory of God should look upon the carcases of the men who had transgressed, and whose worm should not die, neither their fire be quenched so, in the latter case, the glory and honour of the nations was pictured as pouring into the new Jerusalem, when the first heaven and the first earth had passed away; when there should be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, nor any more pain, and when the enemies of the church should have been cast into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

One cannot fail to identify the thought of the old prophet with the vision of the new apostle; the voice of both teachers was addressed to men, downtrodden and faint-hearted, and the same scene rose before the eyes of the twain-a day of righteous retribution on their persecutors and a time of enjoyment and rest for the faithful. It is natural enough that this thought should have proved an inspiring one for the Church in all time, and that the vision of John should

have foretold to Christians, just whatever their special circumstances seemed to them to require. To one, "The beast" has been Mahomed-to another, Napoleon-to a third, Martin Luther, and to a fourth, the Bishop of Rome; while in the heart of many an obscure disciple, the hundred and forty and four thousand and the voice of harpers harping with their harps, the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures falling down before the throne, have sustained hope and faith through long years of waiting. Popular theology cherishes the same ideas; our children are taught,—

There is beyond the sky,

A heaven of joy and love;

And holy children, when they die,

Go to that world above.

There is a dreadful hell,

And everlasting pains,

Where sinners must with devils dwell,

In darkness, fire and chains.

We accustom ourselves to think of those who have

gone from us,-as,

Happy spirits, ye are fled

Where no grief can entrance find;

Lulled to sleep, the aching head,
Soothed the anguish of the mind.

All is tranquil and serene,

Calm and undisturbed repose;
There no cloud can intervene,

There no angry tempest blows.