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ARM. XLIII.
DtATH
A
BLESSING TO
THE SAINTS.
231
illustrious
scene
oflight
and
joy
shall
arise
all
around
thee
as thou
enterest into
that
unknown state
!
What
strange
new ideas
of
things,
what
new worlds
of
knowledge shall
throng
in
upon
thee;
and
thy
enlarged understanding
shall receive them all with infinite satisfaction,
and with
ever-growing
pleasure
!
Art
thou
not
already
on the
wing, my
soul,
at
such a divine
prospect
as
this
?
O
stu-
pid
creatures
that
we
are
!
we
seek
after
the light
of truth
here
below, and
croud about
a
little glimmering
spark
of
knowledge
we
wrangle
all
around it
with endless
conten-
tion, and yet
when
death
would open
the
gate
of
glory,
and admit
us
into
regions
of
light,
we
start
'back,
aid
re-
tire,
contented
to
abide
among twilight
and shadows.
But, O
my
soul,
if
truth
and knowledge are
net
suffi-
cient
to
allure
thee,
has
holiness
no
constraining power?
blast
thou
not
sinned enough and broken
the
laws
of
God
often enough already
?
.Hastthou not brought guilt
enough, and
grief
enough, upon thyself,
that
thou
art
afraid
of a state
of
perfect
holiness?
What
is
it
that
has
given thee such inward pain
as
the
perpetual
workings
of
thy native iniquity
?
What
is
it
that
has made thee
cry
out,
"
O
wretched creature
that
I
am
!
Who
shall deli
-
verme
from the body
of
this
death
?"
Rom. vii. 24.
From
the
temptations
and
the
sins
which
are
mingled with
flesh
and
blood
?
And
art
thou
afraid to have
thy
groans ended,
thy complaints
removed,
and thy, deliverance
appear?
Art
thou unwilling
to
accept
of
the
release
?
Dost
thou
shrink
back from the sight
of
the
deliverer?
Has
not
thy
faith
often seen
the
spirits
of
the
just
made
perfect stand-
ing
before
the throne, rejoicing before
God, worshipping
in
the
complete beauty
of
holiness? And has
not
this
thy
faith awakened thy desires
and
'thy sacred
wishes
!
O
that
I
were
in
the midst
of
them
!
Why then
art
thou
so
unwilling to leave this body
of
sin
and darkness, and
to
go
out
of
this
troublesome and impure prison
into
that
glorious world,
that
blessed assembly,
and
to
worship
amongst
them
without imperfection,
and
without
weari-
ness? Consider, O
my soul,
are thy complaints
of
in-
dwelling
corruption
sincere
?
Are thy
groans for deliver-
ance
honest and hearty?
Why then
art
thou afraid
'to
let
this
tabernacle
be dissolved,
and
to
gain a
blessed
release
from
these
inbred and restless enemies?
,Ilan
not the
lustre
of
perfect.holiness
attraction and
force
enough
in
it