to be fulfilled, the family on earth will be united to that in Heaven. The separation will be over. There will be a blessed meeting between the sealed on earth and the living ones in Heaven. Their new song will be quickened by the joys of reunion, for, according to verse 3, “they sang the new song not merely before the throne, but before the four living ones and the elders.” Ye, therefore, that mourn your separation from those you dearly love, picture to yourself that joyful gathering. Look on from the parting day to the meeting day: when your wilderness journey will be over, when you shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, when those that are gone will have the joy of welcoming those that remain, and when those that remain are taken up to enjoy their welcome, that so both they and we may rejoice together before the throne of the Lamb. But my object to-day is not so much to dwell on the meeting, as to study the character of the sealed servants of our God. We all desire, I trust, to be amongst them on the meeting day, and I see not, for my own part, how any wise man can rest till he has a well grounded hope given him by God, that he is one of the number now. It is most important then that we study well their character, and may God grant that the seal may be on our foreheads during our struggle upon earth, and the Father’s name clearly seen there when the Lord comes to take the kingdom! The character is given in the four descriptions of these two verses, and I have been led to them now, because they seem to give so faithful and true a portrait of our beloved and honoured friend—may I not say of the three dear brothers, for in Christian character they were one?