80 THE THRONE OF GOD. splendor. He thus teaches us that we need not fear forming too vivid conceptions of those glories that will burst upon the vision of the righteous when they tread the new earth, and the canopy of the new heavens is arched over them. As we look then upon the literal rainbow and admire its beauties, let us apply to it the conception of the seer of Patmos, and change it into an emerald arch in the heavens. Then let imagination, with that rainbow in her hand, mount up to the New Jerusalem, and with it encircle the throne of God; and then remember that even this splendid image is only a faint shadow of the glory that will meet the disembodied spirit as it enters the celestial city, and that higher and higher glories shall open upon the soul as it rises in capacity and bliss, through everlasting ages. Oh, what preparation,-Oh, what purity does such a world demand! |