Edwards - BX7230 .E4 1746

PART T. in holy "lid-lions. i 9 affe&}ed with their Grief, and wept with them ; tho' he knew their Sorrow Ihould fo foon be turned into Joy, by their Brother's being railed from the Dead ; fee ;fohn i I. And how ineffably affe&innate was that laff and dying Dileourf, which Jefus had with his eleven Difciples theEvening before he was crucified ? when he told them he was going away, and foretold them the great Difficulties and Suffer- ings they fhould meet with in the World, when he was gone ; and comforted and counfcled'em, as his dear little Children, and bequeath- ed to them his holy Spirit, and therein his Peace, and his Comfor and Joy, as it were in his laff Will and Teffament, in the 13th, r4th, i 5th, and 16th Chapters of fohn ; and concluded the Whole with that affe&ionate interceffory Prayer for them, and his whole Church, in Chap. 17. Of all the Difcourfes ever. penn'd, or utter'd by the Mouth of any Man, this feems to be the moff affe&ionate, and affe&ing. 8. The Religion of Heaven confiffs very much in Affe &ion; There is doubtlefs true Religion in Heaven, and true Religion in it's utmoff Purity and Perfe &ion. But according to the Scripture Reprefentation of the heavenly State, the Religion of Heaven confifis chiefly in holy and mighty Love and ;foy, and the Expreffion of thefe in molt fervent and exalted Praifes. So that the Religion of the Saints in Heaven, confifis in the fame Things with that Religion of the Saints on Earth, which is fpoken of in our Text, viz. Love, and ;fay unfpeakable, andfull of Glory. Now it would be very foolifh to pretend, that becaufe the Saints in Heaven ben't united to Flefh and Blood, and have no animal Fluids to be moved, ( through the Laws of Union of Soul and Body) with thofe great Emotions of their Souls, that therefore their exceeding Love and Joy are no Affections. - ---We are not fpeaking of the Affè&ions of the Body, but of the Affe&ions of the Soul, the chief' of which are Love and :fay. When thefe are in the Soul, whether that be in the Body or out of it, the Soul is affe&ed and moved. And when they are in the Soul, in that Strength in which they are in the Saints in Heaven, the Soul is migh- tily affe&ed and moved, or, which is the fame Thing, has great Affe &ions. 'Tis true, we don't experimentally know what Love and Joy are in a Soul out of a Body, or in a glorified Body ; i. e. we han't had Experience of Love and Joy in a Soul in thefe Cir- cumffances ; but the Saints on Earth do know what divine Love and Joy in theSoul are, & they know whatLove &Joy are of the fameKind, with the Love and Joy which are in Heaven, in fèparate Souls there. The Love and Joy of the Saints on Earth, is the Beginning and Dawning of the Light, Life, and Bleffednefs of Heaven, and is like their Love and Joy there ; or rather, the fame inNature, tho' not the fame with it, or like to it, in Degree and Circumftances. This is C 2 evident

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