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embracing the whole of this range of objects at one comprehensive grasp, their mental energy would soon be destroyed, and their felicity terminate; for they could look forward to no farther expansion of their views, nor to a succession of a new range of objects and operations through all the future ages of eternity.

PART III.

ON THE AIDS WHICH THE DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE AFFORD,

For enabling us to form a conception of the PFRPETUAL IMPROVEMENT of the celestial inhabitants in knowledge and felicity.

On the subject of a future world, and the exercises and enjoyments of its inhabitants, many foolish and inaccurate conceptions have prevailed, even in the Christian world. We are assured, that the foundation of the felicity to be enjoyed in that world, rests on the absence of every evil, and the attainment of moral perfection-that the principle of depravity must be destroyed, and the affections purified and refined, before we can enjoy "the inheritance of the saints in light." These are principles which are clearly exhibited in the Scriptures, which are accordant to the dictates of sound reason, and which are generally recognised by the various sections of the religious world. But the greater part of Christians rest contented with the most vague and incorrect ideas of the felicity of heaven, and talk and write about it in so loose and figurative a manner, as can convey no rational nor definite conception of the sublime contemplations and employments of celestial intelligences. Instead of eliciting, from the metaphorical language of Scripture, the ideas intended to be conveyed, they endeavour to expand and ramify the figures employed by the sacred writers still farther, heaping metaphor upon metaphor, and epithet upon epithet, and blending a number of discordant ideas, till the image or picture presented to the mind assumes the semblance of a splendid chaotic mass, or of a dazzling but undefined meteor. The term Glory, and its kindred epithets, have been reiterated a thousand times in descriptions of the heavenly state;—the redeemed have been represented as assembled in one vast crowd above the visible concave of the sky, adorned with "starry crowns," drinking at "crystal fountains," and making the vault of heaven ring" with their loud acclamations. The Redeemer himself has been exhibited as suspended 'ike a statue in the heavens, above this immense crowd,

crowned with diadems, and encircled with a refulgent splendour, while the assembly of the heavenly inhabitants were incessantly gazing on this object, like a crowd of spectators gazing at the motion of an air balloon, or of a splendid meteor. Such representations are repugnant to the ideas intended to be conveyed by the metaphorical larguage of Inspiration, when stripped of its drapery. They can convey nothing but a meagre and distorted conception of the employments of the celestial state, and tend only to bewilder the imagination, and to "darken counsel by words without knowledge."

Hence it has happened, that certain infidel scoffers have been led to conclude, that the Christian Heaven is not an object to be desired; and have frequently declared, that "they could feel no pleasure in being suspended for ever in an ethereal region, and perpetually singing psalms and hymns to the Eternal"-an idea of heaven which is too frequently conveyed, by the vague and destorted descriptions which have been given of the exercises and entertainments of the future world.

There is an intimate connexion between the word and the works of God: they reflect a mutual lustre on each other; and the discoveries made in the latter, are calculated to expand our conceptions and to direct our views, of the revelations contained in the former. Without taking into account the sublime manifestations of the Deity, exhibited in his visible creation, our ideas of celestial bliss must be very vague and confused, and our hopes of full and perpetual enjoyment in the future state, extremely feeble and languid. -From the very constitution of the human mind, it appears, that in order to enjoy uninterrupted happiness, without satiety or disgust, it is requisite that new objects and new trains of thought be continually opening to view. perpetual recurrence of the same objects and perceptions, however sublime in themselves, and however interesting and delightful they may have been felt at one period, cannot afford uninterrupted gratification to minds endowed with capacious powers, and capable of ranging through the depths of immensity. But all the objects in this sublunary world and its environs, and all the events recorded in sacred and profane history, are not sufficient to occupy the expansive minds of renovated intelligences for a million of ages, much less throughout an endless duration of existence. A series of objects and of moral dispensations, more exten

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sive than those immediately connected with the globe we inhabit, must, therefore, be supposed to engage the attention of "the spirits of just men made perfect," during the revolutions of eternal ages; in order that their faculties may be gratified and expanded-that new views of the Divine character may be unfolded-and that, in the contemplation of his perfections, they may enjoy a perpetuity

of bliss.

It has been, indeed, asserted by some, that "the mysteries of redemption will be sufficient to afford scope for the delightful investigation of the saints to all eternity." It is readily admitted, that contemplations of the Divine perfections, as displayed in human redemption, and of the stupendous facts which relate to that economy, will blend themselves with all the other excercises of redeemed intelligences. While their intellectual faculties are taking the most extensive range through the dominions of Him who sits upon the throne of universal nature, they will never forget that love "which brought them from darkness to light," and from the depths of misery to the splendours of eternal day. Their grateful and triumphant praises will ascend to the Father of glory, and to the Lamb who was slain, for ever and ever.-But, at the same time, the range of objects comprised within the scheme of redemption, in its reference to human beings, cannot be supposed, without the aid of other objects of contemplation, to afford full and uninterrupted scope to the faculties of the saints in heaven, throughout an unlimited duration.-This will appear, if we endeavour to analyze some of the objects presented to our view in the economy of redemption.

In the first place, it may be noticed, that a veil of mystery surrounds several parts of the plan of redemption. "God manifested in the flesh," the intimate union of the eternal self-existent Deity with "the man Christ Jesus,"—is a mystery impenetrable to finite minds. But the eternity, the omnipresence, and the omniscience of the Deity, are equally mysterious; for they are equally incomprehensible, and must for ever remain incomprehensible to all limited intelligences. It is equally incomprehensible, that a sensitive being should exist, furnished with all the organs and functions requisite for animal life, and yet of a size ten thousand times less than a mite. These are facts which must be admitted on the evidence of sense and of reason, but they lie altogether beyond the sphere of our comprehension.-Now

an object which involves a mystery cannot be supposed to exercise and entertain the mind through eternity, considered simply as incomprehensible, without being associated with other objects which lie within the range of finite comprehension; otherwise, reflections on the eternity and omnipresence of God, considered purely as abstractions of the mind might gratify the intellectual faculties, in the future world, in as high a degree as any thing that is mysterious in the scheme of redemption. But it is quite evident, that perpetual reflections on infinite space and eternal duration, abstractly considered, cannot produce a very high degree of mental enjoyment, unless when considered in their relation to objects more definite and comprehensible. Such contemplations, however, will, doubtless, be mingled with all the other views and investigations of the saints in the heavenly world. In proportion as they advance through myriads of ages in the course of unlimited duration, and in proportion to the enlarged views they will acquire, of the distances and magnitudes of the numerous bodies which diversify the regions of the universe, their ideas of infinite space, and of eternal duration, will be greatly expanded. For we can acquire ideas of the extent of space, only by comparing the distances and bulks of material objects with one another,and of duration, by the trains of thought, derived from sensible objects, which pass through our minds, and from the periodical revolutions of material objects around us.-The same things may be affirmed, in relation to all that is mysterious in the economy of human redemption; and, if what has been now said be admitted, it will follow, that such mysteries, considered merely as incomprehensible realities, could not afford a rapturous train of thought to entertain the mind throughout the ages of eternity. It is definite and tangible objects, and not abstract mysteries, that constitute the proper subject of contemplation to a rational mind. For although we were to ponder on what is incomprehensible, such as the eternity of God, for millions of years, we should be as far from comprehending it, or acquiring any new ideas respecting it, at the end of such a period, as at the present moment.

In the next place, redemption may be considered in reference to the important facts connected with it, in which point of view, chiefly, it becomes a tangible object for the exercise of the moral and intellectual powers of man.These facts relate either to the "man Christ Jesus. the

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