fall from a rich man's table, and so destitute of friends that the very dogs surround him to lick his sores', they will perform the same office for him as freely as for the greatest monarch upon earth.
Beyond this life too will they afford us their kind services : for, when our bodies, after having moul- dered into dust, shall again be raised in the last day, these benevolent agents will employ themselves in gathering together the dispersed saints from every quarter of the globe, and in bearing them into the presence of their Lord and Saviour™. The separa- tion of the tares from the wheat will be effected by them : and, whilst the tares are bound up by them in bundles, and cast into the fire that never shall be quenched, the wheat shall be gathered by them, and carried into the granary of heaven". O fearful thought to the ungodly, to find those benevolent spirits the instruments of their destruction, when they might, but for their own fault, have secured them as agents for their welfare ! But to the saints how joyful the contemplation, that those elder brethren who never fell, will so exult in, and contribute to, the recovery of our apostate race !
Their services will now be ended, because we shall then no longer have any occasion for their aid. But the expressions of their love will never end : for, having seen with joy our fruition of redeeming love, they will unite with us in songs of praise to our redeeming God for ever and ever".
Improvement —
1. How desirable is it to be found amongst ** the heirs of salvation ! "
[To be heirs of great estates we all account desirable; but to be " heirs of salvation," how few of us regard as an object worthy of any serious attention ! The very character of an heir of salvation, so far from being estimable in the eyes of the generality, is despised ; and the names by which such a person is designated in Scripture, are made terms of reproach. " The elect," " the saints," " the godly," are names in the
1 Luke xvi. 21, 22. '" Matt. xxiv. 30, 31.
» Matt. xiii. 30. "^ Rev. v. 9—13.