SECT. V.] THE HAPPINESS OF SEPARATE SPIRITS. 435 seated in the very composition of depraved animal na- ture ! And how is the poor labouring spirit of a saint dreadfully betrayed thereby into frequent actual guilt, even notwithstanding all its care and watchfulness ! O wretched men, that we are ! who shall deliver us ! Blessed be God, there is a time of,release. ,And, as our knowledge and our holiness are rendered very imperfect, by reason of these sensible and corrupt engines of flesh and blood, so are the joys and satisfac- tions of the soul perpetually impaired and diminished hereby. The heart of the saint is in pain to feel sin working in it, and the conscience complains under the anguish of guilt. Blessed be God for the balm that is found in the blood of Christ to ease the anguish of con- science ! Besides, what spirit can enjoyperfect peace, while it is tied to so many thousand nerves, each of which may be- come an instrument of intense pain and torture ? And the body itself has sharphumours enough in it to corrode those nerves, and fill the indwelling spirit with agonies. What millions of seeds of painful disease lurk in animal nature, that render this body a most uncomfortable dwelling ! And how many thousand strokes and acci- dents are we liable to from abroad, whencenew pains and sorrows are derived to the soul ! The wind and the wea- ther, the rain and the hail, and the ,scorching sun, the air, the water, and fire, and every element, may afflict 'the animal, and pain the unhappy spirit. But Ohappy souls, that are free from all the cumber- some and mischievous influences of flesh and blood ! from these instruments ofiniquity, and springs of deadly gùilt and torment ! Happy souls, that are released from sick and languishing bodies, from feeble and burdensome 'limbs, and all the tiresome and painful disorders ofdying - nature ! that are raised beyond the reach and injury of all these lower elements, these mediums of disease and pain ! Rejoice and triumph, ye prisoners newly dis- charged ; ye feel the pleasurable truths that we guess at, but ye feel and enjoy them with a relish of sublime plea- sure beyond all our conjectures. Rejoice and exult in your new liberty, like a bird released from the imprison- ing cage, and sing with sweetest notes to the praise of your Redeemer. Oworship and serve him in the full ,2iF
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