would feel a desire to depart out of life, to a state of non-existence? Nay, morein such a state he could not "be with Christ," whom he knew to have arisen from the dead, and to be possessed of "all power, both in heaven and in earth;" and therefore fully "able to keep what should be committed unto him, till the great and final day." When Christ told the dying penitent that he should, on the day of his departure, be with him in paradise, he evidently meant that his soul or spirit should be there, not his body; which, no doubt, like that of the Redeemer, remained a mangled spectacle upon earth, till interment hid it from the sight of men. The imperishable part of the sufferer, therefore, on its quitting the lifeless frame, went to paradise. It must not be forgotten, that St. Paul was the only person ever permitted to form, from actual vision, a true idea of what paradise is; having been caught up caught up" to witness its unspeakable blessedness. For a state of blessedness it must be, or he would not have felt a "a desire to depart," that he

"

might share the fruition of it: and it must be of a nature indescribably awful and glorious, or the apostle would not have declared that he there saw things, which it is not lawful' (i. e. possible) for man to utter; things, which no mortal eye, save his own, hath seen; no other human ear hath heard, neither can it enter into the heart of man to conceive.

The same apostle, encouraging the persecuted followers of his blessed Master to constancy in the faith, by the hope of the Gospel, reminds them of "the Spirits of just men made perfect," to whose society they were, in glorious anticipation, united. But, if there be no such spirits existing, the apostle was not thus authorised to name them; which no humble christian will believe.

Yet, happy as this intermediate state undoubtedly is, that a full fruition of happiness will not take place, till the soul and body shall be reunited, at the general judgment, we may reasonably infer, from the great importance of the doctrine of the resurrection, The counsels of Divine

of

Providence, with respect to the great family of the human race, will then, and not till then, be complete. The longseparated constituent parts of man-his soul and his body-then re-fashioned into a perfect being, like the sinless person the glorified Redeemer, to die no more, must be susceptible of a degree of felicity, far surpassing any thing that could be enjoyed by the spirit alone, in its separate state-I mean alone as divided from its kindred body.

A conviction that the departed spirits of the just are now in the fruition of exquisite felicity, is the most assuasive balm which can be applied to heal the wounds of the human heart, when lacerated by the bereavement of one whom it fondly loved. What does such a kindred heart, in its eloquent mournings, at such a time, speak? Recalling to tender recollection other similar beloved objects, whose spirits had returned to the God who gave them, it says, "this lamented portion of my nature is gone to bless and be blessed with their society; to partake with them of felicity

unspeakable, in that happy region, where there is no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying; where their re-united spirits will never more be divided, and where, when is ended mine own mortal pilgrimage, I may, through the mercy of my gracious

Redeemer, be re-united to them for ever.'

Who would not gladly cherish a belief, that, after a re-union of the body with the soul, that happiness will be augmented by the mysterious renewal of those ties, which, in this stage of existence, endear us to each other? And though, like our glorified bodies, such ties will be differently modified; though in that better world," they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God;" yet, that christian kindred shall derive pleasure inexpressible from their meeting together hereafter, may be presumed, on the authorities of Scripture, already produced. However the form and features may be changed-and that a marvellous transformation will be effected, we must imagine however the resuscitated bodies of our friends and of ourselves may be fa

shioned, it is more than probable that a gracious God will endue both them and us with perceptions, which will lead to an intuitive knowledge of each other; a knowledge, fraught with indescribable rapture.

But this consolatory reflection is susceptible of still further proof, from the scriptural encouragement that is afforded us, "not to be ignorant" concerning the immortality of our deceased friends; nor to sorrow for their departure, as if we had no hope. No hope of what?-surely, of seeing them again; when we shall live together," in each other's society, "with Christ" that Christ, in whose faith our departed friends died, and whom the Scripture, therefore, pronounces "blessed :" "Blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord from henceforth;" that is, instantly, as the original word, 'arapri, should be translated. "A voice from heaven" was not necessary to give an assurance that, at some future time, their bodies would be blessed such assurances had been frequently given before, and especially by