common people imagine, or men of learning are willing to acknowledge: a strong intimation (since the great Creator doeth nothing in vain) that there will be some future state of being wherein that now insatiable desire will be satisfied, and there will be no longer so immense a distance between the appetite and the object of it.

The present knowledge of man is exactly adapted to his present wants. It is sufficient to warn us of, and to preserve us from, most of the evils to which we are now exposed; and to procure us whatever is necessary for us in this our infant state of existence. We know enough of the nature and sensible qualities of the things that are round about us, so far as they are subservient to the health and strength of our bodies; we know how to procure and prepare our food; we know what raiment is fit to cover us; we know how to build our houses, and to furnish them with all necessaries and conveniences; we know just as much as is conducive to our living comfortably in this world: but of innumerable things above, below, and around about us, we know little more than that they exist. And in this our deep ignorance is seen the goodness, as well as the wisdom of God, in cutting short his knowledge on every side, on purpose to "hide pride from man."

Therefore it is that by the very constitution of their nature the wisest of men "know [but] in part." And how amazingly small a part do they know, either of the Creator, or of his works! This is a very needful, but a very unpleasing theme; for "vain man would be wise." Let us reflect upon it for a while. And may the God of wisdom and love open our eyes to discern our own ignorance. Sermons, vol. ii, pp. 116, 117.

SECTION IX.

Is ignorant of the Particulars of a future State.

I AM now an immortal spirit, strangely connected with a little portion of earth: but this is only for a while.

In

a short time I am to quit this tenement of clay, and to remove into another state,

"Which the living know not,

And the dead cannot-or they may not tell!"

What kind of existence shall I then enter upon, when my spirit has launched out of the body? How shall I feel myself, perceive my own being? How shall I discern the things that are around about me, either material or spiritual objects? When my eyes no longer transmit the rays of light, how will the naked spirit see? When the organs of hearing are mouldered into dust, in what manner shall I hear? When the brain is of no farther use, what means of thinking shall I have? When my whole body is dissolved into senseless earth, what means shall I have of gaining knowledge?

How strange, how incomprehensible are the means whereby I shall then take knowledge even of the material world! Will things appear then as they do now? Of the same size, shape, and colour? Or will they be altered in any, or all these respects? How will the sun, moon, and stars, appear? The sublunary heavens? heavens ? The region of the fixed stars?

The planetary
How the fields

of ether, which we may conceive to be millions of miles beyond them? Of all this we know nothing yet; and indeed we need to know nothing.

What then can we know of those innumerable objects which properly belong to the invisible world; which mortal "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it

entered into our hearts to conceive?" What a scene will then be opened, when the regions of hades are then displayed without a covering! Our English translators seem to have been much at a loss for a word to render this. Indeed two hundred years ago it was tolerably expressed by the word hell, which then signified much the same with the word hades, namely, the invisible world. Accordingly, by Christ descending into hell they meant, his body remained in the grave, his soul remained in hades, (which is the receptacle of separate spirits,) from death to the resurrection. Here we cannot doubt but the spirits of the righteous are inexpressibly happy. They are, as St. Paul expresses it," with the Lord:" favoured with so intimate a communion with him as "is far better" than whatever the chief of the apostles experienced while in this world. On the other hand, we learn from our Lord's own account of Dives and Lazarus, that the rich man, from the moment he left the world, entered into a state of torment. And "there is a great gulf fixed" in hades, between the place of the holy, and that of unholy spirits, which it is impossible for either the one or the other to pass over. Indeed, a gentleman of great learning, the honourable Mr. Campbell, in his account of the Middle State, published not many years ago, seems to suppose that wicked souls may amend in hades, and then remove to a happier mansion. He has great hopes that "the rich man" mentioned by our Lord, in particular, might be purified by that penal fire, till, in process of time, he might be qualified for a better abode. But who can reconcile this with Abraham's assertion, that none can pass over the "great gulf?"

I cannot therefore but think, that all those who are with the rich man in the unhappy division of hades, will remain there, howling and blaspheming, cursing and looking upward, till they are cast into "the everlasting fire prepared

for the devil and his angels." And, on the other hand, can we reasonably doubt but that those who are now in paradise, in Abraham's bosom, all those holy souls who have been discharged from the body, from the beginning of the world unto this day, will be continually ripening for heaven; will be perpetually holier and happier, till they are received into the "kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world?"

But who can inform us in what part of the universe hades is situated-this abode of both happy and unhappy spirits till they are reunited to their bodies? It has not pleased God to reveal any thing concerning it in the Holy Scripture; and, consequently, it is not possible for us to form any judgment or even conjecture about it. Neither are we informed how either one or the other are employed during the time of their abode there. Yet may we, not improbably, suppose, that the Governor of the world may sometimes permit wicked souls "to do his gloomy errands in the deep?" Or, perhaps, in conjunction with evil angels, to inflict vengeance on wicked men? Or will many of them be shut up in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day? In the mean time may we not probably suppose, that the spirits of the just, though generally lodged in paradise, yet may sometimes, in conjunction with the holy angels, minister to the heirs of salvation? May they not

"Sometimes, on errands of love,

Revisit their brethren below?"

It is a pleasing thought, that some of these human spirits, attending us with, or in the room of, angels, are of the number of those that were dear to us while they were in the body. So that there is no absurdity in the question,

"Have ye your own flesh forgot,

By a common ransom bought?

Can death's interposing tide

Spirits one in Christ divide ?"

But be this as it may, it is certain, human spirits swiftly increase in knowledge, in holiness, and in happiness: conversing with all the wise and holy souls that lived in all ages and nations from the beginning of the world; with angels and archangels, to whom the children of men are no more than infants; and, above all, with the eternal Son of God, "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." And let it bé especially considered, whatever they learn they will retain for ever. For they forget nothing. To forget is only incident to spirits that are clothed with flesh and blood.

But how will this material universe appear to a disimbodied spirit? Who can tell whether any of these objects that surround us will appear the same as they do now? And if we know so little of these, what can we know concerning objects of a quite different nature? Concerning the spiritual world? It seems it will not be possible for us to discern them at all till we are furnished with senses of a different nature, which are not yet opened in our souls. These may enable us both to penetrate the inmost substance of things, whereof we now discern only the surface, and to discern innumerable things, of the very existence whereof we have not now the least perception. What astonishing scenes will then discover to our newly opening senses! Probably fields of ether, not only ten fold, but ten thousand fold "the length of this terrene." And with what variety of furniture, animate or inanimate ! How many orders of beings, not discovered by organs of flesh and blood! Perhaps thrones, dominions, virtues, princedoms, powers! Whether of those that have retained their first habitations and primeval strength, or those that, rebelling against their Creator, have been cast out of heaven? And shall we not then, as far as angels ken,