2. And as in heaven our bodies will be thus renewed, so also shall our knowledge be increased, our understanding be inconceivably strengthened, and be perpetually employed upon the noblest objects. "Now," says St. Paul, "now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known." The cultivation of the understanding affords us even here one of the highest gratifications which we can enjoy. There are few pleasures superior to those which are felt in strengthening the mind by study and meditation; in pursuing and apprehending truth; in passing from one discovery to another, and making each step of our advancement the foundation of further improvement. But, alas! these pleasures have that imperfection which belongs to all earthly objects, and are mingled with many cares and difficulties. The weakness of our powers makes it necessary for us to proceed in our investigation after truth, by slow and laborious advances; to trace the mutual connexion and dependence of things by perplexing and painful deductions, and to stand in constant guard against prejudice, against the senses, against the imagination, against the passions, against the natural defects of our mind, which might lead us into error. And after such constant vigilance, after the sacrifice of health, of riches, of social enjoyments, of a thousand pleasures, what is gained? We know a few things superficially and indistinctly: we perceive many things, concerning which we must hesitate and doubt: we behold innumerable things which we will not be able to comprehend by all our labours and researches. "Our attainments in science resemble those stars that appear in a dark night; they are a few luminous points

scattered at a distance from each other in a sky which is otherwise gloomy and obscure." Oh! how painful is it, my brethren, thus to desire truth, to pursue it, and yet almost always to fail to apprehend it; to find ourselves almost always baffled, disappointed, doubtful, or ignorant. It will not be so in the future world: there our understandings will be so strengthened, and the depths of nature, of providence, and grace be so unveiled to us, that the decisions of reason will be equally easy, quick, and certain: there no prejudice will mislead us, no passion will delude us, no trifling objects will distract us, no cumbersome body will weigh us down to earth; but the mind, privileged from error, shall travel on from truth to truth, from attainment to attainment, with increasing delight through interminable ages. O Christians! how pure and serene, yet how rapturous will be our pleasure, when God shall give us in heaven that reality, of which the delights "of science on earth were but the shadow. Contemplating God, the eternal source of truth, we shall behold truth itself unveiled and unclouded. "Our attainments will no longer be a few luminous points scattered here and there amidst an otherwise general obscurity, but a day without shadow, an ocean of light." Then the order, the harmony, the universal beauty of nature shall be developed to us: then we shall see and adore in the whole conduct of Providence, which is now so impenetrable to our feeble capacities, displays of infinite wisdom, of power, and mercy, which will fill us with admiration and love. Then those mysteries of grace, which angels desire to look into, shall be more fully unfolded to us than they could be by the united wisdom of all the inhabitants of earth. Then we shall study in themselves

those perfections of God which we now see only through the medium of his works, which we now adore, though we so inadequately comprehend them. And how delightful will it be, to be perpetually occupied with this exhaustless study! how joyous, to have the mind ever unwearied by the intensity of its application, prying deeper and deeper into the perfections of God; how ravishing, thus to be occupied by infinity, to be lost and swallowed up by the greatness and immensity of the attributes of Jehovah!

3. As the bodies and the minds of the blessed shall be thus improved, so also shall their holiness be perfected, and their wills be brought into a complete subjection to the will of God. There," nothing that defiles shall enter;" there the "spirits of the just" are "made perfect." Believers, how delightful a prospect is this! You daily mourn over the remains of corruption within you; you daily lament that your will is so perverse, that your affections are so disor dered, that temptations still have so much strength over you: wait but a short time, and glory shall entirely abolish in your souls the existence of that sin, the dominion of which has already been destroyed by grace. You will no longer complain of " a law in your members warring against the law of your mind," nor" of the lustings of the flesh against the Spirit:" you will no longer be obliged to exclaim with the apostle, "O miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death!" for it shall be thoroughly removed by the Saviour when you are put in possession of eternal life. There you will not sin; for all those causes which here lead into guilt shall be unknown. There, is no evil society to entice you by their licentious principles or their

irreligious conduct; you will be surrounded by none but the holy there, is no carnal body to tempt you to fulfil its lusts; your body will be so spiritualized as to be entirely under the direction of a purified and pious soul: there, is no mistake as to your duty, for " in God's light you shall see light:" there, is no forgetfulness of the presence and inspection of God, for you will be ever encircled by his brightness and glory there, is no evil world to ensnare your affections by its false lustre; its riches, its pleasures, its honours, will be more contemptible than the playthings of a child, when compared with the beauties of the New Jerusalem: there, is no Satan to deceive you; he gained admittance into Paradise, but from heaven he is eternally excluded: there, there is no intermission of the divine influences; here they fall upon you drop by drop: there they shall pour upon your souls in a rich and unfailing torrent. In short, nothing will there remain which can in the most remote manner incite us to sin. No David will there have to lament his falls, no Peter to weep for his denial of his Lord, no Christian to pray, "Lord, lead us not into temptation." Every sincere believer shall then stand up in humble triumph; and whilst he ascribes his victory to the unmerited grace of God, shall rejoice that he has at length arrived at that state of complete purity for which he has so long wished, and prayed, and laboured; that every inclination contrary to his duty is now completely taken away; that he shall no longer have to complain of the blemishes and sins that attend his best performances; that he shall never more have to lament the coldness and hardness of his heart; but that his soul shall burn unceasingly with the warmest love towards God, and the purest benevolence towards all

his fellow-creatures. Saints of our God who have already arrived to this happy state, blessed indeed are ye! whilst ye have entered into the port of rest, we are still exposed to the fury of the tempest; whilst ye have received the crown of victory, we are left to conflict with enemies and dangers.

4. Sin being thus completely abolished, all that misery and sorrow which entered into the world by sin, shall be abolished with it. This is another constituent of the heavenly felicity. Christians, no pains or infirmities of body shall there afflict you; after your convulsive struggle with death, they shall be felt no more: no anguish or grief of mind; for your fullest desires will be satisfied. There will be no wicked men to vex you by their unholy deeds; no revilers to mock at you for your attachment to vital godliness; no slanderers to wound your good name, or to charge you with hypocrisy; no malicious enemy to oppress you; no unfaithful friend to grieve you. You will no longer have to watch by the sick bed of an expiring relative, and receive his last breath, or to weep in anguish over his grave. There will be no widow or orphan to be consoled; no hardened sinner to warn ; no brother afflicted by want, by sickness, or oppression, to be lamented; no blemishes or falls of the pious to be bemoaned. You shall partake of a joy that shall be unmingled with sorrow; of a joy worthy to be the gift of a God; worthy to be the purchase of the blood of his Son. Then, as the voice from heaven declared to the beloved disciple, "God shall wipe away all tears from your 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," (Rev. xxi. 4.) and in their stead will be