THE HAPprHEss Ois SEPARATE SPIRITS. [DISC. It. tised there, those bitter and fatal springs 'of revenge and blood. Universal benevolence runs through the whole kingdom ; each spirit wishes well to his neighbour as to himself; and- till we arrive there, we shall never be made perfect in love, nor shall we see the blessed characters of it described in the scriptures fully copied out in livingex- amples. In that holy world dwells God himself, who isoriginal love; there resides our Lord Jesus Christ, who is -love incarnate ; and from that sacred head flows an eternal stream of love through every' member, and blesseth all the inhabitants of that land with its divine refreshments. holiness is perfect among the spirits of the just, because love is perfect there. Object. But are there'not several graces and virtues that belong to the saints on earth that are finished at death, and canhave no room in heaven ? Hew then can perfection óf holiness in heaven consist in an increase of the same graces we practised on earth ? Answer. Yes, there are several' such virtues and such graces; as faith and repentance, and godly sorrow, pati- ence And forbearance, love 'tö c>lëmies, and forgiveness of injuries, &c. But all these :liise from the very imper- fection of our present state, from the sins or follies of ourselves or our fellow-creatures. Faith arises from the want of sight ; repentance from the returns -of guilt; godly-sorrow from the workings of sin in us : Patience owes its very nature and exercise to the afflictions we sustain from the hand of God ; and forbearance and for- giveness respects the injuries that we receive from our fellow-creatures. But in heaven, faith, so far as it re- gards the absence of God and Christ, is lost in sight and enjoyment, as the light of a glimmering taper is lost in the blaze of sun -beams. Repentance of old sins, so far as it is attended with any painful or shameful passions, ceases for ever in heaven : and th^re is no new guilt for us to repent of: there shall he no evil working in us to give pain to the spirit ; no affliction from God to demand a patient submission ; no injuries from men to be bórne or forgiven. But there is the same pious temper still continues in the spirits of the just made perfect, which was the spring of those graces on earth ; and could the objects or occa-
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