SECT. III. THE HAPPINESS OF SEPARATE SPIRITS. 409_ that the intervals, of these seasons are spent in other em- ployments : And when they present themselves before God, it does not sufficiently appear that.mere adoration and praise is their only business at the throne. In the very place which I Kaye cited, it seems more natural to suppose that these angelic spirits came thither rather to render an account of their several employments, and the success of their messages to' ether worlds. And why may we not suppose such a blessed variety of employ- ment among the spirits of men too This supposition has some countenance in the holy scripture. The angel or messenger who appeared to St. John, and shewed him various visions, by the order of Christ, forbids the apostle to worship him, for I am thy fellow-servant, said he, andofthy brethren the prophets, and of them which' keep the sayings of this book; Rev. xxii. 8, 9. These words naturally lead one to think, that though he appeared as a messenger from Christ, and in the form of an angel, yet he was really a departed saint, a brother, a fellow-prophet, perhaps the soul of David, or Isaiah, or Moses, who Would count it an honour evert in their state of glory to be thus employed by their exalted Lord ; and they also keep or observe and wait for the accomplishment "'of the sayings of that book Of the Reve- lations, as well as the churches of their brethren, the saints on earth. I freely allow immediate divine worship to take up á good part of their everlasting day, their' sabbath ; and therefore I suppose them to be often engaged, Millions at once, in social worship ; and sometimes acting apart; and raised in sublime meditation of God, or in a fixed vision of his blissful face, with an act of secret adóra- tion, while their intellectual powers are almost lost in sweet amazement : Sometimes theyare entertaining them- selves and their fellow-spirits with the graces and glories of the man Christ Jesus, the Lamb that was slain in the midst of the throne : But at other times they may be making a report to him of their faithful execution ofsome divine commission they received from him, to be fulfilled either in heaven or on earth, or in unknown and distant worlds. There may be other seasons also when they are net immediately addressing the throne, tint arOmost delight-
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