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For there shall be no night there. In our observations on the preceding verses we pointed to the spiritual commonwealth of the good and the negative glory of heaven. Of the latter point the text at the head is not the least suggestive. The commonwealth of the good in its perfect state will be nightless, and the vision suggests

(1) constant luminosity;

(2) unclouded beauty; and

(3) uninterrupted favours.

I. CONSTANT LUMINOSITY. Night draws her veil over nature, and hides from mortals the world in which they live, and it is therefore the symbol of ignorance. Never, of course, shall we see all things in heaven. There will always be universes lying beyond the ken of the most penetrating eye. The elevation that lies today at the utmost boundary of an angel's horizon he may perhaps reach in the course of time, and one day stand upon its lofty brow. But even from this towering apex he may find other elevations concealing the infinite beyond. The finite intellect will never grasp the Infinite. Nor do I believe that different minds will ever have exactly the same view of things, see things exactly in the same light. This seems to me impossible, from the fact that no two spirits are exactly alike, nor can any two occupy exactly the same points of observation. Our views will necessarily be relative. They will be true to us, but not necessarily true to others. God alone can see the whole of a thing. We only see sections and sides. Not only does it appear impossible, but also undesirable. Diversity of view gives a freshness and charm to society. A city where all the citizens had precisely the same views on the same subjects would be characterized by a drowsy monotony. A loving comparison of views, a generous debate, a magnanimous controversy, are amongst the blessings and charms of social life. Still, our range of vision, though relative, and our views though relative, will be clear and accurate. Here, in a world of nights, our most correct conceptions of things are clouded more or less with error. We see now through a "glass, darkly," says Paul. The glass he refers to was not like our window-glass, offering no obstruction to light, but a semi-transparent horn. How different the landscape looked through such a thick medium, as looked at directly with a clear, strong eye! Notwithstanding this, all will be light enough to make the path of duty clear. The depravities of our nature, the Carnal and selfish inclinations of our hearts, often throw the darkness of night upon that course of life which is true and just. But in that world without a night, eternal sunshine will settle on the path of duty; it will lie straight before us, and we shall move on with the steps of certitude. God's will will radiate on everything without, and will express itself in every impulse within. In that nightless sphere all will be morally pure. Moral impurity reigns in the night. It is the season in which great sins are generally committed. The thief and the assassin go forth with stealthy tread on their mission of wickedness in the night. The gambler, the debauchee, and the serfs of carnal appetites meet and hold their revelries in the night. "They that be drunken are drunken in the night." The prince of darkness and all his ghostly legions win their most terrible victories in the gloom and the silence of nocturnal hours. The day is the emblem and the minister of purity. How pure is the light! In heaven all is pure. There are the holy angels whose natures, through the ages of their being, have never been clouded by one impure thought or touched by the thrill of one unholy passion. The redeemed of all ages are there.

II. UNCLOUDED BEAUTY. The negation implies that it is a realm ever beautiful in aspect. Darkness hides the beauty of the world, but light is the creator and minister of beauty. All the variegated colours of the summer's landscape we owe to the sun; and all the exquisite forms of life owe their existence to his renewing power. The sun is nature's great painter. All the pictures of loveliness that charm us as we walk the galleries of life have been photographed by his smiles and tinged by his hues. What, then, will be the beauty of a world where there is "no night" - a world of perpetual sunshine? All the beauties of nature will be clear. The very distant shores and the seas, the meads and the mountains, the rivers and the ravines - all, in fact, beneath, around, above - will be one grand universe of beauty. All the beauties of artists will be clear. The very instinct of genius is to invent, imitate, and create, and there genius will flourish in perfection. May it not be that numbers will there be employed in copying the forms of loveliness around them with pencils more delicate, lines more life like, hands more skilful, than our Raphaels and Rubenses, our Da Vincis and Correggios? May it not be that we shall see numbers there employed in weaving the sounds of nature into melodies more soul stirring and Divine than ever struck the lyre of our Handels and Mozarts? May it not be that numbers will he there hymning their praises in strains of seraphic poetry, compared with which the epics of Milton and the lyrics of Cowper are but the vapid fancies of childhood? Genius there will undoubtedly be active, and all her productions will be distinguished by the highest perfection of beauty. All the moral beauties will be clear. The beauty of holiness, the beauty of the Lord, will adorn every spirit. All will be endowed with those attributes of moral loveliness that will command the admiration of each and all. Thus all will rejoice in each other, and all rejoice in the Lord, whence all their beauty came.

III. UNINTERRUPTED FAVOURS. Night checks the progress of life. The processes of life, it is true, go on in the night, but they are slow and feeble. Life cannot bear the darkness long; pulse grows feeble under its ebon reign. Its tide ebbs under its cold breath. Take a vigorous, blooming plant, and shut it up in the dark. How soon will it lose its vitality, become delicate, colourless, and die! Were our sun to shine on without setting from year to year on this earth, who could tell how high the tide of life would rise in every living thing? Where there is "no night," there will be no check to the advance of life. The vital energies will always be increasing. Sinew and soul, character and conscience, will be ever growing in force. "From strength to strength" all these proceed. No blight to wither, no shadow to chill, there. But all the influences that play around existence there inspire, invigorate, and uplift. Night checks the progress of labour. We "go forth unto our labour until the evening;" then night shuts us in. We retire to unconsciousness and inaction. "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him." "The night cometh, when no man can work." But in a world where there is "no night," there is no checking of labour. Our range of action would be unrestrained. We shall be always abounding in the work of the Lord. Night checks the progress of happiness. Darkness is depressing. Hence it is often used as the emblem of misery; the scene where the wicked one,is is spoken of as "outer darkness." Even the irrational creatures around us feel the depressing influence of a gloomy day. Under the dark clouds and murky sky, the cattle cease to gambol on the hills, and the fowls of heaven cease their music in the groves. All feel the pressure of darkness. Light is the condition and emblem of joy. A bright day sets the world to music. What happiness, then, must there be in a world where there is no night! In what does its happiness consist? The context answers the question - the absence of all evil. No pain, no sorrow, no death, no hunger, no thirst, no temple, no night. The presence of all the good: the river of life, the tree of life, companionship with the holy, fellow ship with God, oneness with Christ. This is heaven. Such are the ideas suggested by this nightless condition. It is a scene where the vision is ever clear, where the character is ever pure, the aspect is ever beautiful, life is ever advancing, joy is ever rising. The sun never sinks beneath the hills, nor does a cloud ever intercept his rays. - D.T.

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KJV: And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

WEB: Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there),