WHO LOSE THE SAINT'S REST. 81 changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the ;Joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.(w) What trembling then should seize on thee, who hast the hand of God himself against thee, not in a sentence or two, but in the very scope of the scriptures, threatening the loss of an everlasting kingdom ! Because I would fain have thee lay it to heart, I will show thee the nature of thy loss of heaven together with its aggravations. § 2. (I). In their loss of heaven the ungodly lose the saint's personal perfection, God himself, all delightful affections towards God, and the blessed society of angels and saints. § 3. (1) The glorious personal perfection which the saints enjoy in heaven, is the great loss of the un- godly. They lose that shining lustre of the body, sur- passing the brightness of the sun at noon -day. Though the bodies of the wicked will be raised more spiritual than they were upon earth, yet that will only make them capable of the more exquisite torments. They would be glad then, if every member were a dead member, that it might nót feel the punishment in- flicted on it; and if the whole body were a rotten carcase, or might lie down again in dust. Much more do they want that moral perfection which the blessed partake if those holy dispositions of mind ; that cheerful readiness to do the will of God ; that perfect rectitude of all their actions. Instead of these, they have that perverseness of will, that loathing of good, that love to evil, that violence of passion, which they had on earth. 'Tis true, their understandings will be much cleared by the ceasing of former tempta- tion, and experiencing the falsehood of former delu- sions. But they have the same dispositions still ; and fain would they commit the same sins, if they could: they want but opportunity. There will be a greater difference between these wretches, and the glorified Christians, than there is betwixt a toad and the sun (w) Daniel v. 5, 6. L
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