By holy angels. The angels were ministering spirits to them in the days of their flesh, and will be their guard and their convoy when they relinquish the earthly tabernacle. When Lazarus died, he was carried by angels. What a comfortable privilege is this! not to be left solitary and desolate, like a shipwrecked mariner on some unknown coast; but to be. under the guidance and protection of those benevolent beings! 2dly, In what place are they lodged? This is described, not from our ideas of locality, or any properties of space, but from the society and enjoy ments. It is not very material whether they are above or below, in the heaven of heavens (which, I think, is most probable) or in some separate mansion. A disembodied spirit, if under the wrath of God, must every-where be extremely miserable; if surrounded with his favour, will every-where be exceedingly happy. To such a spirit, that has no longer any connexion with sensible things, God's smile must be heaven, God's frown must be hell. Wherever this region lies, we are sure it lies under the beams of the Sun of Righteousness; Christ is there, and where he is present, happiness cannot be absent. "Thou shalt be with me," is his promise to the penitent thief. Abraham is there, the friend of God, and father of the faithful. Lazarus, we are told, was carried into Abraham's bosom ; and where he resides, where all the children of God and heirs of glory dwell, there must be pleasures; such pleasures, that the place is called paradise; "Thou shalt be with me in paradise." The delightful garden of Eden, which the Lord himself planted, and which innocent man inhabited, was incomparably the finest, noblest spot in this sublunary world; and this is used to give us some faint representation of those blessed abodes, where the souls and spirits of the righteous remain till the shout of the archangel and the trump of God summon them. 3dly, How soon are they lodged in this desirable situation? Without delay. I find no mention of any intermediate purgation, or of any period for inactivity and forgetfulness: "To-day shalt thou be with me," is our Lord's expression; and it is observable, that the Jewish day was very near closing, when our Saviour gave up the ghost; nearer still when that converted malefactor expired. "I have a desire to be dissolved," says St Paul, "and to be with Christ;" he speaks of his release from clay, and his introduction into the Redeemer's presence, as instantaneous. No sooner does the former commence, but the latter takes place. What an encouragement is this to fight the good fight of faith, and finish our course with alacrity and diligence, since we are not to wait in wishful but disappointed expectation! No, the very moment our warfare is accomplished, our reward begins! Which reminds me of another inquiry. 4thly, What is the condition of holy souls, in this separate state? 1. They rest from their labours; from all the disorders that afflicted their bodies, from all the tempta tions that disquieted their souls. They are no longer ridiculed and persecuted by ungodly men. They have no more conflict with the powers of darkness and their own corruptions; sin and sorrow cease eternally. They are freed, entirely freed, from every evil. 2. They enter into peace. They have then peace with God, peace in their own thoughts, peace with fellow-saints, which passeth all understanding. Peace implies a positive happiness. Peace, in the scriptural language, denotes all manner of blessing, and such is its import in the preceding passage. In this large extent will it be made good to the righteous. When they relinquish the earthly tabernacle, the scales of ignorance fall from their understandings; their will is wonderfully conformed to Christ's; every weight drops off from their affections; and their holiness is exceedingly confirmed. They are honoured with nearer approaches to God, they are favoured with clearer manifestations of his glory, they feel richer emanations of his love, and are more and more transformed into his image; every doubt vanishes, and they rejoice in the prospect, the assured and refreshing prospect of receiving all the fulness of their everlasting felicity. I said fulness; for though the felicity of the soul upon its dismission from mortality is great, is high, is to us inconceivable; yet it will not be complete till the body is reunited to it, reanimated by it. Then that will not only be rescued from corruption, but made like unto Christ's glorious body, will be dignified with divine approbation, and that before the largest assembly of men and angels: they will receive a crown of righteousness; they will sit on thrones, and judge the apostate angels; they will then possess the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. What is said of the righteous may lead us to some proper conceptions with regard to the wicked and their state the one is the reverse of the other; as they were quite dissimilar in their life, in their death they are equally different. If the righteous are committed to the care of benevolent angels, the wicked, it is very probable, are abandoned to the insults and rage of malevolent spirits. If the righteous are admitted into mansions of bliss, the wicked are consigned over to the places of horror and torment, where is all the misery which is expressed by weeping and wailing; all that self-condemnation and anguish, which is expressed by gnashing of teeth. If the righteous enjoy the calm of uninterrupted tranquillity, and the light of perpetual sunshine, the wicked are reserved in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day; wearied by their own ungovernable passions, stung by eager but unsatisfied desires, haunted by a stern upbraiding conscience. In a word, while the righteous are looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and their Saviour Jesus Christ; they are trembling under the dismal apprehensions of that dreadful day, when Jesus Christ shall be revealed in flaming fire. I add only a remark on that text of St John, to which we are so much obliged in this inquiry, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord," &c. The Lord must certainly signify the Lord Jesus Christ. To die in him, must, I think, imply dying in his faith, so as to be one with him; interested in his mercy, renewed by his Spirit, and conformed in some prevailing degree to his image. May this be the state of our souls, while we live here, and when we depart hence. Then that will be fulfilled, to our unspeakable and eternal comfort, which is spoken by another apostle, "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." I am, dear sir, yours sincerely. LETTER CXLV. Weston, Saturday morning. MY DEAR FRIEND, I THOUGHT of you in a particular manner on Thursday, being the sad anniversary on which your late excellent lady resigned this life; and at the same time I thought on those tender lines, Jamque dies, ni fallor, adest; quem semper acerbum, VIRG. EN. lib. v. I cannot but take notice of the wisdom and piety of my favourite poet; he teaches his hero to resolve all afflictive and dark dispensations into the gracious will of God, and to derive his consolation from this belief. Sic Dii voluistis, is a sort of imitation of the good old priest Eli, "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good." It is not much unlike the exemplary acknowledgment of the patriarch Job, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed bę the name of the Lord !" I am thankful for your present of Vanierii prædium Rusticum. It is a very beautiful piece: uni Virgilio secundus; the most elegant and correct Latin * The English of which is, "Now the day, if I mistake not, is at hand, which (such has been the will of Heaven) I shall always account a day of sorrow, a day to be honoured." composition that I have met with among the moderns. I have no fault to find, and no alteration to offer, with regard to the little tract that you submit to my correction. But what shall I say to my dear friend himself? Oh! what opportunities of doing good, substantial and immortal good, do you lose, do you squander away! Opportunities, that are flying from you upon the swiftest wings of time; and when once gone, are never to be recovered. I do not so much as think of your neglecting business; but do let the world see, that business may be managed, great business managed, and yet Christ and eternal ages not forgot. Let men see, that the comforts of Christianity, the privileges of the gospel, are so truly delightful, as to be the most effectual sovereign refreshment under the fatigues of a burdensome employ. Thus doing, you would be a credit and high recommendation to religion; and blessed would you be, if your Master, when he cometh, should find you so doing. You will excuse my freedom; and, in return, I will not cease to pray, that the "love of Christ may constrain you," 2 Cor. v. 14. I am, &c. LETTER CXLVI. Tuesday morning. MY DEAR FRIEND,-WELL might Dr Doddridge say, "that in Saurin's sermons, the excellencies of Demosthenes and Cicero were united." Never did I meet with any thing equal to the passages which the Doctor was so obliging as to translate, purposely to give me some ideas of this celebrated writer. He seems to have understood the gospel well, and all the powers of oratory were combined in him. I dare say he preached from his heart, and the grace of God accompanied his words. If I have been so much affected, merely by this desultory translation, how much more should I be transported, was I (like you) sufficiently skilled in the French language to |