itself, the home of the blessed, the beauty of which is indescribable. of rest for which we sighed so eagerly when on earth. There is our eternal fatherland at which we, formerly poor pilgrims in the vale of tears, have arrived. This is the heaven that God has made as the dwelling-place of His elect; this is the residence of the sovereign Monarch, the court of the King of kings, the palace of the Eternal Father, the temple of His infinite majesty, the heavenly paradise, the place of joys! O heaven! who will give us words and thoughts to describe thy vastness and immensity, thy beauty and glory! When St. Fulgentius saw the city of Rome for the first time, and remarked the number of beautiful buildings that adorn it, he cried out in astonishment: Oh, how magnificent must not be the heavenly Jerusalem, that God Himself has built as a dwelling of joy for Himself and His elect! Ah, palaces and buildings of the kings of this earth! why should I speak of you? You are only miserable huts compared to heaven! But here our words and ideas are at fault, for as the Apostle says, no eye has seen, nor can heart conceive what delights God has prepared in His kingdom for those who love Him truly.
It is inadequately described by St. John. St. John in the Apocalypse gives some sort of an idea of the glory of the kingdom of heaven. I was, he says, taken up in spirit by an angel, and “he showed me the holy city Jerusalem. And the building of the wall thereof was of jasper-stone; but the city itself pure gold, like to clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious stones. And the twelve gates are twelve pearls,…and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And the city hath no need of the sun, nor of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God hath enlightened it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof.”[1] But, my dear brethren, let St. John say what he pleases about this city and its gold, and crystal, and precious stones, and pearls; he has only given us a poor idea, a most inadequate sketch of it taken from what we look on as most precious on earth; but he is still a long way from the exact truth. We cannot form any picture of it in our minds until we have accomplished the long journey and seen it ourselves in its beau-
- ↑ Et ostendit mihi civitatem sanctam Jerusalem. Erat structura muri ejus ex lapide jaspide, ipsa vero civitas aurum mundum simile vitro mundo. Fundamenta muri civitatis omni lapide pretioso ornata. Et duodecim portæ duodecim margaritæ sunt;…et platea civitatis aurum mundum tanquam vitrum perlucidum. Et civitas non eget sole, neque luna ut luceant in ea; nam claritas Dei illuminavit eam, et lucerna ejus est Agnus.—Apoc. xxi. 10, 18, 19, 21, 23.
