Tal; GOFSaUEST ovER DEATH. [DIK. I. so .complete arid; glorious, as it shall be, when with. our eyes we,shall.see God in the form of a man: It is granted, that the separate heaven of souls is abun- dant pleasure beyond what we can now conceive or ex- press ; and. our, friends, departed in the faith, enjoy the delightful presence of their ..Lord, and the .heavenly con- verse of their fellim-spirits. That honoured and de- ceased saint, whom_ we this day mourn, dwells with that Jesus with whom she had long been acquainted : She converses. with him in . heaven,. whom she loved much upon earth:, She tinds herself safe for, ever in his bands, to whose: -care she committed her immortal concerns; and she rejoices in the, sight of him above, with whom s.be held many hours of sweet correspondence by faith here below. 'Doubtless also, she holds sweet conversa- tion with the holy souls that went to heaven before her. A soul so greatly: desirous of spiritual intercourse .as she was,, so constaì tly prepared for pious conference and mutual communications ofsacred knowledge, must needs enjoy that privilege, and that pleasure, in that upper iyorld, where there is nothing all round her, but what is.holy and divine. But it is certain she cannot enjoy that perfection of humble society with Christ in his glo- rifled human nature, nor with fellow-saints, while she is deprived of one part of herself, her body lying silent and moveless in the prison of the grave :. and she yet, waits for the more complete satisfaction of all her hopes,. when .death her last: enemy shall be destroyed, and her body redeemed from the dust, together with the bodies of -all the saints. This leads me to the next particular .4. Death is an enemy to believers, because it divides them for: a season from the company of their known and valuable friends, and parts the dearest relatives astin- 'der. Though dying saints be transmitted into better coin- pany, -even to the spirits of the just made perfect, yet it is a mournful thought to be separated so long from those whom they loved with so strong andjust an affec- tion. It adds a sharpness even to the last agonies,. when we think we must leave parents, children, or friends be- hind us, whom we love so tenderly; that we must leave them amidst the sorrows and the temptations of a vain; world and a corrupt -age; that we must leave them
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