never perceives the delight of charity except in its exercise, or in use; the life of charity, therefore, is a life of uses. Such is the life of the whole heaven; for the Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of uses, because a kingdom of mutual love. Therefore every pleasure derived from charity, has its delight from use; and the more exalted the use, so much the greater its delight. Hence the angels have happiness from the Lord according to the nature and quality of the uses they perform."—Ibid. 997.
Such is the nature of angelic life—the life which we are all made capable of attaining, and which the Lord is forever seeking to develop or build up within us. Such is the character of that heavenly kingdom whereof the Bible so often speaks—a kingdom of righteousness, joy and peace—a kingdom of pure and loving hearts—the very kingdom for which we pray when we breathe that inspired petition, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven."
And people are continually passing into that kingdom—passing from earth to heaven. What class of people? The Bible tells us. All those righteous ones who walked, while here below, in the law of the Lord;—those lowly ones who, through repentance and regeneration, have become as little children;—the meek, the merciful, the poor in spirit, the pure in heart, those who have practiced self-denial, and earnestly sought to do the will of the Father which is in the heavens.
