we can more delightfully expatiate, in our conversê with them, about the same providences and the same methods of grace, and agreeably entertain and improve each other with notices of the affairs of the upper and lower worlds. Nor must we suppose such sort of historical converse among the blessed spirits is merely designed to fill the mind with new and strange ideas This pleasure, considered by itself, is not sacred enough for the spirits of the just made perfect. There is not a narrative in the world, but shall disclose some wondrous instances of divine wisdom or mercy, power or faithfulness, patience and forgiveness, or wrath and justice: the speaker shall feel the workings with all proper reverence, zeal and love; and every hearer shall be impressed with correspondent affections, and join in adoration and holy wonder. And while we speak of the means and advantages that glorified spirits enjoy for their improvement in all the parts of their felicity, surely we may expect the greatest and the best assistances, even those of the Holy Spirit, to render all these means more effectual. Is he not promised " to abide with us, to be in us, and dwell with us for ever? John xiv. 16, 17. Is he not represented as dwelling in the spirits of the just made perfect, when it is said, "the Spirit that dwelleth in them shall raise their mortal bodies from the dead?" Rom. viii. 11. May we not then reasonably infer, that that glorious Spirit, who hath been our enlightener, our comforter, and our sanctifier on earth, will be our perpetual enlightener, our eternal sanctifier, and our everlasting comforter? He that hath so wonderfully begun the divine work in us, and laid foundations of joy in knowledge and holiness, will he not finish and perfect his own work, and add the top-stone to crown the heavenly building? O blessed state of spirits discharged from the prison of flesh and this world! This wicked world, where satan the evil spirit has so wide a range, and so poisonous an influence, and where sinful men swarm on eyery side, and bear the largest sway! What divine advantages are you possessed of, for the improvement of all your sacred excellencies and joys! When we can raise our thoughts a little, and survey your privileges, we feel somewhat of an inward wish to dwell among you, and send a breathing meditation, or a glance of warm desire towards your world and your society. We, poor prisoner-spirits, when we hear such tidings from the country at which you are arrived, we stretch our wings a little, and are ready to wish for the flight. But God our sove. reign must appoint the hour; he sees that we are not yet refined enough. Keep our souls, O Father, in this erect posture, looking, reaching, and long ing for the celestial world, till thou hast completely prepared us for the promised glory, and then give us the joyful word of dismission. Thus I have endeavoured to make it appear on what accounts a dismission from the body is both the season when, and the means whereby the spirits of the just arrive at this perfection. Their state of trial is ended at death, and therefore all inconveniences and imperfections must cease by divine appointment: by death the soul is released from all the troublesome and tempting influences of flesh and blood. It is de livered from this sinful world, it is got beyond the reach of satan the tempter and the tormentor; and it is surrounded with a thousand advantages for im provement in knowledge, holiness, and joy. SECT. VI. REMARKS ON THE FOREGOING DISCOURSE. Remark I. ARE the spirits of the just made perfect at the death of the body? Then we may be as sured that they neither die nor sleep; for sleep and death are both inconsistent with this state of perfection which I have described. They The dead saints are not lost nor extinct. are not perished out of God's world, though they are gone from ours. They are no more in the world that is enlightened by the sun and moon, and the glimmering stars: but they themselves shine gloriously, like stars of different magnitude, in the world where "there is no sun, nor is there any need of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God enlightens it, and the Lamb is the everlasting light thereof." Rev. xxi. 23. They are lost from earth, but they are found in heaven. They are dead to us at present, but they are alive to God their Father, and to Jesus their Saviour; they are alive to the holy angels, and to all their fellow saints in that upper world. If there had been any such thing as a soul sleeping or dying, our Saviour would never have argued thus with the sadducees, Luke xx. 37, 38. nor have proved the doctrine of the resurrection from the doctrine of the separate state of souls: it is as if he had said, "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are dead long ago: but God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob still:" now God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living; therefore the souls of those patriarchs are yet alive, for they all live to God in the separate state, and they shall appear in their complete human nature, soul and body, at the resurrection. This is the language and the force of our Saviour's argument, and therefore I must believe the soul of Abraham is alive now. When Jesus promises the penitent thief upon the cross, Luke xxiii. 43. "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise;" can we persuade ourselves that he intended no more than that the thief should be with him in the grave, or in a state of indolence and insensibility? Does he not assure him in these words, that there is a state of happiness for spirits. dismissed from the body, whither the soul of our Lord Jesus was going, and where the dying penitent should find him? So when the infidel Jews stoned Stephen, the first martyr, Acts vii. 59, while he expressed his faith and hope in these words, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit;" was this spirit of his to be laid asleep till the resurrection? Can we suppose the dying saint would have made such a request upon so lethargic a principle, and in the view of such a stupid state? No, surely; for he expected, and desired, and prayed to be received to dwell where Christ is, and to behold that glory which he had a glimpse of in the agonies of death, Would the apostle Paul have been so willing to be absent from the body, where he did much service for his Saviour, if he had not a joyful view of being" present with the Lord?" as he expresses it, 2 Cor. v. 8. What doth he mean by this blessed language of presence with the Lord, if his soul was to lie asleep in a senseless and inactive state till the second coming of Jesus? Or would he have told the Philippians, chap.. i. ver. 23. that he had "a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better," if he had hoped no advantage for his spirit by it, but a mere stupid indolence and rest in the silent grave? Besides, we are told of "rebellious spirits that are in prison," 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20. and of "Sodom and Gomorrah suffering the vengeance of eternal fire," Jude ver. 7. Whether this be material fire, or merely a metaphor to express torment, is not necessary to inquire here; but surely we can never imagine that the justice of God has provided the prison of hell and fiery torments for the souls of the wicked, separate from bodies, and yet that the mercy and goodness of God has provided no heaven of happiness for the spirits of those that have loved, honored, and obey him all the days they dwelt in the flesh. There is then, there is certainly a state of happiness prepared for holy souls immediately after death. When we think of our pious friends departed, our foolish imagination is too ready to indulge and improve our sorrow. We sit solitary in the parlour or the chamber, we miss them there, and we cry, They are lost.' We retire melancholy to the closet, and bewail a lost father, or lost mother, or perhaps a nearer and dearer relative. We miss them in our daily conversation, we miss them in all their friendly offices, and their endearing sensible characters, and we are ready to say again, "Alas! they are lost,' This is the language of flesh and blood, of sense and fancy. Come let our faith teach us to think and speak of them under a more cheerful and a juster representation: they are not utterly lost, for they are present with Christ and with God. They are de parted our world, where all things are imperfect, to those upper regions where light and perfection dwell. They have left their offices and stations here among us, but they are employed in a far divimer manner, and have new stations and nobler offices on high. Their places on earth indeed know them no more, but their places in heaven know them well, even those glorious mansions that were prepared for them from the foundation of the world. Their place is empty in the earthly sanctuary, and on the days of solemn assembly; but they appear above in the heavenly Jerusalem as fair pillars and ornaments in the temple of God on high, and shall for ever dwell with him there It is a very natural inquiry now, "But where are these places of blessed spirits? What part of the creation is it in which they have their residence ?” Is it above or below the sun? Is their habitation in any of the planetary or starry worlds? Or are they fled beyond them all? Where is the proper place of their presence? Let me propose a brief answer to these curious questions, in a few propositions. 1. The chief properties of spirits are knowledge and activity; and they are said to be present there, where they have an immediate perception of any thing, and where they lay out their immediate activity or influence. So our souls are said to be pre |