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THE
PRIVILEGE
OF
THE
[SERM.
XL.
his Saviour in
that great
and important hour. The
saints, who
are
arrived
at
heaven,
dwell in
the tem-
ple
of
God,
and shall
go no
more
out
;"
Rev,
iii.
12.
They are for ever
possessed
of
life
and immortality.
There
are
no
more deaths or dangers
for
them to
encounter,
no
more terrors
to engage
their
conflict.
Death
is
the last
enemy
of
the saints
;
and when the christian meets
it
with sacred courage,
he gives
that honour
to
the
Cap-
tain of
his
Salvation,
which
the
saints
in glory can
never
give,
and
which he himself,
can never
repeat. Dying
with faith and fortitude
is
a
noble conclusion
of
a life
of
zeal
and
service.
It
is
the very
last duty
on
earth;
when
that
is
done,
then
heaven
begins.
Thus
I
have made
it
evident,
in
many instances,
that
there
is
a
rich variety
of
virtues and graces
to be
exer-
cised in
this
life,
which have
no place
after
death,,
and
upon this account
the
living
christian
may
be
said to have
some
advantage
beyond
the dead.
Here
an objection or
two
will.
arise
that
may
require
an
ànswer.
Objection I. But
is
not
heaven
always
represented
as
a state
of
perfection
?
Is not grace
and holiness
more
complete there than
,ever
they have
been,
or can
be in
the
time
of
our mortal
life
?
And yet,
how
can
it
be
a;
state
of
greater perfection,
if
so many,
graces
are
wanting.
there
?
Answer.
These"
graces
which
belong to the living
saint,
and have no place among the
happy
dead,
are but
the various
exercises
of
a
sanctified mind,
arising
from
some
imperfections
in
our present
state.
Faith
is
owing
to our want
of
sight
:
Hope
is
owing
to
'our want
of
en-
joyment
Patience, courage,
compassion, forbearance,
forgiveness,
repentance, and
such like
graces,
are
owing
to the
sins,
the
sorrows, or
the
temptations that
are found
in this world only
The
follies,
the
mistakes,
the
infir-
mities
of
ourselves, or
our
fellow
-
christians, or the
wick-
edness
of
the world wherein
we live,
are
the only things
that
give occasion for
the exercise
of such
graces
as
I
have
now
mentioned; therefore in
a
perfect state there
is
no
room for them.
Yet
every
saint
in
heaven
has a
sanctified
nature,
which
is
the
root
and spring
of
all these graces,
and
they would
appear
in glorious exercise again,
if
there
were any
ob'