And besides all these, we are attached and tied down, to many. other uneasinesses, while we dwell on earth.

This world is a fair theatre of the wisdom and power of God, but it is hung round and replenished with temptations to fallen man, proper for a state of trial; soft and flattering temptations, that by the senses are ever drawing away the soul from God and heaven, and breaking in upon its divine repose and joy; and while we are surrounded with a thousand dangers, we cannot be said to dwell in perfect peace. The follies and crimes of others afflict the soul of a good man, and put him to pain, as the righteous soul of Lot was vexed in Sodom from day to day with their unlaws ful deeds; 2 Pet. ii. 8. The greater vexations, and the little teazing accidents of life that attend us, disturb the sacred rest of the saint, and ruffle or wound his spirit. And the best of men on this account are sometimes ready to cry out with David; Psal. exx. 5, 6. Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshech, and dwell in the tents of Kedar: My soul hath long dwelt with them that hate peaces O that I had wings like a dove, for then would I fly away, and be at rest; Psal. Iv. 6.

And sometimes God himself is absent from the soul that longs after him; he hides his face, and then who can behold it? We are smitten with a sense of sin, and the conscience is restless. We wander from thing to thing in much confusion of spirit; we go from providences to ordinances, from one word in the bible to another, from self-examination and inward guilt to the blood of Christ, and the mercy of the Father; and it may be outward sorrows fall ou us at the same time, guilt and judgment attend us at once: The deep of affliction calls to the deep of sin at the noise of the floods of divine anger; Psal. xlii, 7. We are kept in the dark for a season, and we see not the light of his countenance, nog know our own interest in his love. We go forward, as Job did, but he is not there; and backward, but we cannot perceive him, &c. All the comfort that a good man hath at such a season, is to appeal to God, that he knoweth the way that I take; when he hath tried me, I humbly hope I shall come forth as gold; Job xxiii. 8, 9, 10.

But the spirits of the just made perfect, are in peaceful and joyous circumstances. They know God, for they see his face; they know that they love him, for they feel and enjoy it as the warmest and sweetest affection of their hearts and they are sure God loves them too; for every moment they taste his love, and live upon it in all the rich varieties of its manifestation. O what unknown and endless satisfactions of mind arise from the full assurance of the love of God! What tongue can express, or what heart can conceive the sacred pleasure that fills every soul in heaven, under the immediate impressions of divine love? When the poor trembling doubting believer, that knew himself to be infinitely

unworthy of the favour of God or of the meanest place in his house, shall be acknowledged as a son in the midst of his Father's court on high, and amongst millions of congratulating angels!

No cloud shall ever interpose, no melancholy gloom, no shadow of darkness shall ever arise in those regions: for the countenance of God, like the sun in its highest strength, shall shine and smile upon them for ever. And through the length of all their immortality, there shall not be the least interruption of the sweet intercourse of love, on God's side, or on theirs. In that world there is no sorrow, for there is no sin; the inhabitants of that city, of the heavenly Jerusalem, shall never say I am sick; for the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity; Is. xxxiii. 24. When the righteous are dismissed from the flesh, they enter into peace, their bodies rest in their beds of earth, and their spirits walk in heaven, each one in his own uprightness; Is. Ivii. 2. And as there is no sin within them to render them uneasy, so there is no troublesome guest, no evil attendant without them, that can give them fear or pain; no sinners to vex them, no tempter to deceive them, no spirit of hell to devour or destroy; Is. xxxv. 9, 10. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous, beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and Borrow and sighing shall flee away.

God himself shall never be absent, and then they cannot he unhappy. They behold his face in righteousness, and they are satisfied when they awake with his likeness; Ps. xvii. 15. Whep they leave this world of dreams and shadows, and awake into that bright world of spirits, they behold the face of God, and are made like him, as well as when their bodies shall awake out of the dust of death in the morning of the resurrection, formed in the image of the blessed Jesus. That glorious scripture, in Rev. xxi. 3, 4. be the sense of it what it will, can never be fulfilled in more glory on earth than belongs to the state of heaven. The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

The saints above see their blessed Lord and Saviour in all his exalted glories, and they are with him where he is, according to his own prayer and his own promise; John xvii. 24. and xiv. 3. They are absent from the body, and present with the Lord. They have esteemed him on earth above all things, and longed after the sight of his face, whom having not seen they loved; 1 Pet i. 8.

but now they behold him, the dear Redeemer that gave his life for them, they rejoice with joy much more unspeakable and full of superior glory.

Thus have I shewn wherein this perfection of spirits in heaven consists. It is a high and glorious degree of all those excellencies and privileges they were blessed with on earth, without any mixture of the contrary evil. It is a perfection of knowledge, holiness and joy.

And canst thou hear of all this glory, O my soul, and meditate of all this joy, and yet cleave to earth and the dust still? Hast thou not often mourned over thy ignorance, and felt a sensible pain in the narrowness, the darkness, and the confusion of thy ideas, after the utmost stretch and labour of thought? How little dost thou know of the essence of God, even thy God, and how little of the two united natures of Jesus thy beloved Saviour? How small and scanty is thy knowledge of thyself, and of all thy fellow-spirits, while thou art imprisoned in a cottage of clay? And art thou willing to abide in this dark prison still, with all thy follies and mistakes about thee? Does not the land of light above invite thy longing and awaken thy desires; those bright regions where knowledge is made perfect, and where thy God and thy Redcemer are seen without a veil. And is not the perfect holiness of heaven another allurement to thee, O my soul? Dost thou not stretch thy wings for flight at the very mention of a world without temptation and without sin? How often hast thou groaned here under the burden of thy guilt, and the body of death? How hard hast thou wrestled with thy inbred iniquities? An hourly war, and a long toilsome conflict! How hast thou mourned in secret, and complained to thy God of these restless inward enemies of thy peace? And art thou so backward still to enter into those peaceful regions where these enemies can never come, and where battle and war are known no more, but perfect and everlasting holiness adorns the inhabitants, and crowns of victory and triumph.

O the shattered and inperfect devotion of the best saints on earth! O the feeble fluttering efforts of praise! What poor hallelujahs we send up to heaven on notes of discord, and as it were, on broken strings? Art thou not willing, O my soul, to honour thy God and thy Saviour with sweeter harmony? And yet what a reluctance dost thou shew to enter into that world of joy and praise, because the dark shadow of death hangs over the passage? Come, awake, arise, shake off thy fears; and let the sense and notice of what the spirits of the just above enjoy, raise thy courage, and excite thee to meet the first summons with sacred delight and rapture.

But I fear I have dwelt too long upon these three last particulars, because they are matters of more obvious notice, and more

frequent discourse; yet they are so entertaining, that I knew not how to leave them. But I would not spend all my time on common topies, while I am paying honour to the memory of an uncommon christian. I proceed therefore to the next general

head.

Sect. III. Of the various kinds and degrees of the employments and pleasures of heaven.-Having shewn that by the spirits of just men in my text we are to understand the souls of all the pious and the good that have left the body; and having described their perfection as a state of complete knowledge, holiness and joy; the third thing I am to consider, is, what sort of perfection this is, or what are some of the special characters of it. And here I beg your attention to some pleasing speculations which are agreeable to the word of God, and to the nature and reason of things, and which have often given my thoughts a sacred entertainment.

I. It is such a perfection as admits of great variety of employments and pleasures, according to the various turn and genius of each particular spirit. For the word perfection does not necessarily imply a state of universal and constant uniformity.

That the mind of every man here on earth has a different turn of genius, and peculiar manner of thought, is evident to every wise observer. And why should not every pious mind or spirit carry to heaven with it so much of that turn and manner, as is natural and innocent? I grant it is a possible thing, that many different geniuses of men on earth may perhaps be accounted for by the different constitution of the body, the frame of the brain, and the various texture of the nerves, or may be ascribed to the coarser or finer blood, and corporeal spirits; as well as to different forms of education and custom, &c. These may be able to produce a wondrous variety in the tempers and turns of inclination, even though all souls were originally the same: But I dare not assert that there is no difference betwixt the souls themselves, at their first creation and union with the body. There are some considerations would lead one to believe, that there are real diversities of genius among the spirits themselves in their own nature.

God, the great Creator, hath seemed to delight himself in a rich variety of productions in all his worlds which we are acquainted with. Let us make a pause here, and stand still and survey the overflowing riches of his wisdom, which are laid out on this little spot of his vast dominions, this earthly globe on which we tread; and we may imagine the same variety and riches overspreading all those upper worlds which we call planets

or stars.

What an amazing multiplicity of kinds of creatures dwell on this earth? If we search the animated world and survey it, we shall find there are some that fly, some that creep or slide, and

some walk on feet, or run And every sort of animals cloathed with a proper covering; some of them more gay and magnificent in their attire than Solomon in all his glory; and each of them furnished with limbs, powers, and properties fitted for their own support, convenience and safety. How various are the kinds of birds and beasts that pass daily before our eyes! The fields and the woods, the forests and the deserts, have their different inhabitants. The savage and the domestic animals how numerous they are and the fowl both wild and tame! What riches of dress and drapery are provided to clothe them in all their proper habits of nature? What a number of painted insects fill the air, and overspread the ground? What bright spangles adorn their little bodies and their wings when they appear in their summer livery? What interwoven streaks of scarlet beauty, mingled with green and gold? We behold a strange profusion of divine wisdom yearly in our climate, in these little animated crumbs of clay, as well as in the animals of larger size. And yet there are multitudes of new strange creatures that we read of in the narratives of foreign counties: And what a vast profusion of entertainments for them all? How are the mountains and meadows adorned with a surprising plenty of grass and herbs, fruits and flowers almost infinite, for the use of man and meaner animals?

In the world of waters a thousand unknown creatures swim and sport themselves, and leap with excess of life even in the freezing seas: Millions of inhabitants range through that liquid wilderness with swiftest motion, and the wonders of their frame and nature proclaim the skill of an Almighty Maker. Others of the watery kind are but half alive, and are tossed from place to place by the heaving ocean. Think of the leviathan, the eel, and the oyster, and tell me if God has not shewn a rich variety of contrivance in them: And as various as their nature is, so various is the means of their life; proper beds of lodging are provided for them, and a variety of food suited to uphold every nature.

Mankind is a world of itself, made up of the mingled or united natures of flesh and spirit. What an infinite difference of faces and features among the sons and danghters of men? And how much more various are the turns of their appetites, tempers, and inclinations, their humours and passions? And what glorious employment hath divine wisdom ordained for itself, in framing these millions of creatures with understandings and wills of so inconceivable a variety, so vast a difference of genius and inclination, to be the subjects of its providential government? And what a surprising harmony is there in the immense and incomprehensive scheme of divine counsels, arising from the various stations and businesses of men so infinitely diversified and distinct from one another, and centring in one great end the divine glory? An amazing contrivance, and a design worthy of God.