THE HAPPINESS OP SEPARAT!.. SPIRITS. [DISC. It: that longs after him : he hides. his face, and then who can beheld it ? We are stifitten with a sense of sin, and the conscience is rest:ess. We wander from thing to thing in much confusion of spirit ; we go from provi- dences to ordinances, from one word in the bible to anó- .ther, from self-examination and inward guilt to the blood of Christ; and the mercy of the father -; add it may be outward sorrows fall on us at the same time, guilt ,and' judgment attend usat once : The deep of affliction calls to the deep of sin at the noise of the floods of divine an- ger ; Psal. xlii. 7. We are kept in the dark for a sea- son, and we see not the light of his countenance, nor know our own interest in his love. We go forward, as Job did, but he is not there; and backward, but we can- i-lot perceive him, &c. All the comfort that a good man 'bath atsuch -a season, is to appeal to God, that he know- eth the way that I take ; when he bath tried me, I hum- bly hope -I shall come forth as gold;" Job xxiii. 8, 9, 10. But the spirits of the just made perfect, are in peaceful. andjoyous circumstances. They knowGod, for they see his face ; they know that they love him, for they feel and enjoy it as- the warmest and sweetest affection of their hearts : and they are sure God loves them too ; for every moment they taste his love, and live Upon it in all the rick varieties of its manifestation. _O what unknown and endless satisfactions of mind arise from the full assurance of the love of God ! What tongue can express, or what heart can conceive the sa- creel pleasure that fills every soul in heaven, under the immediate impressions. of divine -love ! When the poor trembling doubting believer, that knew himself to be in& nicely. unworthy of the favour of God, ,or- of the meanest place in his house, shall be acknowledged as a son. in the midst ofhis Father's court`on high, and amongst millions ofcongratulating angels ! No cloud shall ever interpose, no Melancholy gloom, no shadow of darkness shall ever arise in those regions': for the countenance of God, like the sun in its highest strength, shall shine and smile upon them for ever. And through the length ofall their immortality, there shall not be the.least interruption of the sweet intercourse of love, . on God's side, or on theirs. Iu that world there is no sorrow, for there is no sin,;
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