CHAPTER XVIII.

THE EMPYREAN-THE ETERNAL THRONE-THE CELESTIAL

HIERARCHY-THE VISION.

"WHO is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskilful words? Dost thou know the order of heaven, and canst thou set down the reason thereof on the earth? Dost not thou think, that God is higher than heaven, and is elevated above the stars?" (Job, xxxviii. 23.) "The Lord made the heavens; (Ps.) and his magnificence is above the clouds." (Ps.) "The heavens shall confess Thy wonders, O Lord, in the congregation of the saints." (Ps. lxxxviii.) "Thine are the heavens, O Lord God of Host! Who is like to Thee?" (Id.) "Thus saith the Lord: heaven is my throne, and the earth my footstool." (Is. 6.4.)

"The bright stars do tempt man's mind

To scan the Empyrean, where they sit,
(Placed infinite beyond terrestrial reach),
And scan their uses and their essences,-
High arguments of His affinity.

To Him, that made them, and the immortal light,
That shall outlast this filmy, shadowy sphere,
Whereon they look, and smile."

."I launch into the tractless depths of

Where burning round ten thousand suns appear,

space,

Yet, vainly does man strive: he dares not tell you,

All the sacred mysteries of the skies :

Vainly, he may strive: the deepest beauty
Cannot be unveiled to mortal eyes."

Eternal Spirit! Universal Good!

Power inaccessible to human sight,

Save by degrees and steps, which, Thou hast deigned
To furnish! For this affluence of Thyself,

To the infirmity of mortal sense

Vouchsafed-the local transitory type

Of Thy paternal splendours, and the pomp

Of those, who fill Thy courts, in highest Heaven,
Accept the thanks

Of us, Thy humble creatures.

Even in view of celestial glory that was vouchsafed to him, the privileged Doctor of the Gentiles could not penetrate beyond the curtains of inaccessible light, which veil the pavilion of the Lord of Hosts. Nevertheless, he witnessed sufficient to declare that, "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love Him." (Cor.) Hence, mortals may leave, in desire, at least, the path of sinful men, to soar beyond the grovelling flight of earthly love.

"We, though from Heav'n remote, to Heav'n may move,
With strength of mind, and tread the abyss above,

And penetrate with an interior light,

Those upper depths, which Nature veils from sight."

In fact human thoughts, and aspirations should ever tend towards "the High, the Eminent, and the Almighty Ancient of days, who inhabiteth eternity, and dwelleth in uncreated light." This bright supernal abode, in poetic language, is called:

"The Empyrean, or, the holiest heaven,

Which to purest spirits of the blest is given:
No human eye its splendid rays may bear-
No sinful bosom feel the raptures there."

In his Confessions, addressing the Most High, St. Augustine says, "What art Thou, then, but the Lord,-the highest, best, omnipotent,―most merciful, yet most just; most hidden, yet most strong; steadfast, yet incomprehensible; all-changing, yet unchangable;-never new, never old, ever working, yet ever at rest; still gathering, yet nothing wanting; ever seeking, yet having all things." Although no adequate idea can be formed of the inner magnificence of the "Holy of Holies," one may, in imagination, contemplate the sanctuary's outer court,

"Where, as in olden, patriarch's vision,
Voices are heard,- -a choir of golden strings,

Low winds, whose breath is laden with the rose ;
Then chariot wheels, the nearer rush of wings,
Pale lightning round the dark pavilion glows ;
It thunders, the resplendent gates unclose,

Far as the eye can glance, on height o'er height,
Rise fiery-waving wings, and star-crown'd brows!

Myriads, and myriads, brighter, and more bright;
Till all is lost in one supreme unmingled light."

Graphic is the picture of the Eternal's throne sketched by the exile of Patmos, in his apocalyptic vision:

"I looked," says the Evangelist, and behold a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard, as it were, of a trumpet speaking with me, said: come up hither, and I will shew the things, that must be done hereafter. And immediately, I was in the spirit, and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne one sitting; and he that sat was to the sight like the jasper and the sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight, like unto an emerald; and from the throne proceeded lightnings, and voices, and

thunders: and there were seven lamps burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God." (Apoc.)

Omitting, for brevity's sake, more particular details of the throne's accessories, such as the crystal-like ocean, the strange restless living creatures, and the twenty-four gold-crowned Elders, let us, in spirit, adoringly join the latter in saying to Him, who sitteth on the throne: "Thou art worthy, O Lord, our God, to receive glory and honour, and power, because Thou hast created all things, and for Thy will, they were, and have been created." (Apoc. iv.) If, like the poet,

"Into the heaven of heavens, I have presumed,
An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air."

It may not be out of place, here, to observe that, as star differeth from star, in brightness, so there is a varied scale of ascension, in the celestial hierarchy, and degrees of rank, near the throne of the "King of kings, and the Lord of lords."

In subordinate offices around the Holy of Holies are angels and archangels, virtues, principalities, and powers, cherubim, and seraphim, thrones, and dominations. The glorious effect of their bright array may be better imagined than described:

"Then glory to the Father, and the Son,
And to the Holy Ghost, rang aloud

Throughout all paradise; that with the song
My spirit reeled, so passing sweet the strain,
And, what I saw was equal ecstasy.

One universal smile, it seem'd, of all things:
Joy past compare, gladness unutterable,
Imperishable life, and peace, and love,
Exhaustless riches, and immeasurable bliss."

"Nine, are the choirs of angels with diversities of ministries; yet, in these different operations, the same spirit of God worketh in all." (Cor.) With regard to the number of angelic intelligencies, a prophet writes, that "thousands of thousands minister (to God), and that ten hundred times a hundred thousand stand before Him." (Dan. 7.) At all times "they are ready to execute his word, hearkening to the voice of his orders." (Ps. cii.)

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And, oh! the exceeding grace

Of Mercy's God, who loves his creatures so, And all his works with kindness doth embrace, That blessed angels he sends to and fro! How oft do they their happy bowers leave,

To come to succour us, that succour want

They, for us, fight, they watch, and duly ward,

And their bright squadrons round about us place—

And all for love, and nothing for reward,

Oh! why should the Most High God, for men have such regard?”

Divines conjecture, by millions, the spirits who fell away, with Lucifer their chief, in pride. But, however numerous, their legions formed, it is supposed, not more than a third of the angelic armies. But, since man's redemption, who can count the blessed souls that have been admitted to the beatific vision in lieu of the rebel host?

"There are millions of saints in their rank and degree,
And each with a beauty and a crown of his own;
And there, far outnumbering the sands of the sea,
The nine rings of angels encircle God's throne."

"With great delight," says a devout contemplative, "I consider that, all the angels and saints shall for ever