It was a place to which hope may lead, and where charity might dwell. I could not help exclaiming, as I walked along, 'These are the habitations of righteousness and truth!' All was beauty, bright and perfect. I could not tell what was wanting to make me wish for an eternity in such a place; and yet its very purity oppressed me. I saw nothing congenial; though looks of kindness met me in every face of that happy throng, I felt nothing responsive; I returned in silence their friendly greetings, and walked on alone, oppressed and sad. I saw that all went one way, and I followed, wondering the reason.

"At length I saw them approaching a building, much larger and finer than the rest. I saw them ascend its massive steps, and enter beneath its ample porch, but I felt no desire to go with them further than to the foot of the steps. I approached from curiosity. I saw persons enter who were dressed in every varied costume of the nations, but they disappeared within the porch, and then crossed the hall, in white. Oh, that I could describe that hall to you. It was not marble; it was not crystal; it was not gold; but light, pure light, consolidated into form. It was the moon without the coldness; it was the sun without the dazzling ray. And within was a staircase mounting upwards, all of light; and I saw it touched by the snowy feet and spotless garments of those who ascended. It was indeed passing fair; but it made me shudder, and I turned away.

"As I turned, I saw on the lower step one looking so hard at me, with an interest so intense, and a manner so anxious, that I stopped to hear what he had to say. He asked, in a voice like liquid music, 'Why do you turn away? Is there peace elsewhere? Is there pleasure in the works of darkness?' I stood in silence. He pressed me to enter; but I neither answered nor moved. Suddenly he disappeared; and another took

I wished to

'Art thou

his place, with the same look and manner. avoid him, but I seemed riveted to the spot. come so far,' he said, 'and wilt thou lose thy labour? Put off thy own garments, and take the white livery here.' He continued to press me, until I got weary and angry; and I said, 'I will not enter, I do not like your livery, and I am oppressed by your whiteness.'

Here I was

"He sighed, and was gone. Many passed by me, with looks of mingled kindness and pity, and pressed me to follow on with them, and offered me a hand up the stairs which led to their mysterious change; but I rejected them, and stood melancholy and distressed. At length, one bright young messenger came up to me, and entreated me to enter, with a voice and manner I could not resist. 'Do not turn away,' he said; ' where canst thou go? Do not linger, for why should'st thou weary thyself for nought? Enter, and taste of happiness. Do not all go in, and are any rejected? Do not all tribes and colours press into that hall? Are they not clothed, and washed, and comforted?' He gave me his hand, and I entered the hall with him. sprinkled with pure water, and a garment of pure white was put upon me; and I know not how, but I mounted the white staircase with my happy guide. Oh, what a light burst upon me when I reached its summit! Mortal words cannot describe it, nor mortal fancy conceive it. Where are the living sapphires? where are the glittering stars that are like the bright radiance on which I stood? Where are the forms of ether, or the looks of love that breathed in the innumerable company that moved around me? I sank down, overpowered and wretched; I crept into a corner and tried to hide myself, for I felt I had nothing in unison with the blessed creatures of such a place. They were moving in a dance, to the music and the harmony of songs that never fell upon mortal ear. My guide joined in rapture, and I was left alone. I saw the tall forms,

all fair and brilliant, in their ineffable felicity; their songs and looks of gratitude, varied according to the circumstances and differences of each. At length I saw One taller than the rest, every way more fair, more awful, surpassing thought; and to Him every eye was turned; in His face every face was brightened. The songs and dance were to His honour; and all seemed to drink from Him their life and joy. As I gazed in speechless and trembling amazement, one who saw me, left the company and came where I stood. 'Why,' he asked, 'art thou silent? Come quickly and unite in the dance, and join in the song.' I felt a sudden anger in my heart, and answered with sharpness, 'I will not join in your song, for I know not the strain; I will not unite in your dance, for I know not the measure.' He sighed, and with a look of surprise and most humiliating pity, returned to his place. About a minute after, another came and addressed me as he had done; and with the same temper, I answered him in the same words. He seemed as if he could have resigned his own dazzling glory to have changed me. If heaven can know anguish, he seemed to feel it; but he left me and returned. What could it be that put such tempers into my heart?

He

"At length, the Lord of the glorious company of those living forms of light and beauty, saw me, and came where I stood. I thrilled in every pulse with awe; I felt my blood curdle, and the flesh upon me trembled ; my heart grew hardened, and my voice was bold. spoke, and deep-toned music seemed to issue from His lips: Why sittest thou so still, when all around thee are glad? Come, join in the dance, for I have triumphed. Come, join the song, for now My people reign.' Love ineffable, unutterable, beamed upon me, as though it would have melted a heart of stone, but I melted not. I gazed an instant, and then said, 'I will not join in the song, for I know not the strain; I will not join in the dance, for I know not the measure.'

Creation would have fled at the change in His countenance! His glance was lightning; and in a voice louder than ten thousand thunders, He said, 'Then what doest thou here?' The floor beneath me opened -the earth quaked-the whirlwind encompassed me— and I sank in tormenting flame. With the fright I awoke."

There was silence for a time; for the sisters were struck with awe. They considered not the dream and the deep impression it had made as the effect of a natural cause. "Anne," said they, "we cannot wish you to forget this dream; we surely believe it is from God. Your description of the holy city is much the same as we find in the Bible: 'The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.'* All who enter there must put off their old garments—that is, their own righteousness,—and must be clothed with linen, clean and white, even in the righteousness of saints; and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord.' Those who walk in the heavenly temple are those which have come 'out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'§ Wisdom waits daily on the steps, to call the sons of men into that temple ; || and the people of God try to persuade their fellows to tread in their steps. Oh, dear sister, you know something of the way. Do hearken to the faithful warning,-join us, and walk in the path that leads to heaven." Anne's brow again darkened, and she answered, "I will do as I please; I do not intend you to preach to me."

She continued in this melancholy state until the end of the week, and was found in her own room, a corpse. No one knows the cause of her death; she died without disease, and apparently without change.

'Hear, and your soul shall live.”—Isaiah lv. 3.

* Rev. xxi. 23. † Rev. xix. 8. Isaiah liv. 17. § Rev. vii. 14, 15. || Prov. viii. 1-6

LIFE, LIGHT, LOVE.-GOD ALL IN ALL.

The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."-JOHN iv. 23, 24. (Compare MATT. v. 5—8; 1 PETER ii. 4. 5.)

ABOUT a twelvemonth ago I remember experiencing a wondrous calm, rest, resignation, and peacefulness in myself I think I then knew what is meant by those words in Scripture: "The Lord is in His holy temple ; let all flesh keep silence before Him." (Hab. ii. 20; I Cor. iii. 16.) A feeling strange to many, difficult of attainment, but which I am convinced every saint should seek after it till it was bestowed by the Father of all mercies, the God of all grace, the God of peace, (2 Cor. i. 3; 1 Pet. v. 10; Rom. xv. 5, 6, 13; Phil. iv. 9). For many months past His glorious divine power (2 Pet. i. 3) has supported me, and sustained me in His rest (Heb. iv. 10, 11), when as clay under His hand I waited for the operations of the Comforter, who shall guide me into all truth, and reveal within me Jesus the Son of the Father (2 John 3). In this stillness and cessation of my own activity, the Spirit joins His help to my infirmities, and making intercession for me with groanings which cannot be uttered (Rom. viii. 26, 27), directs what I should ask in prayer, how continue in prayer with thanksgiving, watching thereunto with all perseverance (Eph. vi. 18). How praise, how adore the Almighty God. Under these leadings, walking in the light as He is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing us from all sin (1 John i. 8); we enter into the fellowship of the Father, and of the Son, and keep silence before the Father of spirits.

Oh how long have I ardently desired to realise what worship and communion in spirit and in truth was, and those spiritual sacrifices which a purified heart alone