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37S
THE
HAPPINESS
OP
SEPARATE
SPIRITS.
[DISC.
I1,
various nations, and
from all
ages,
and
joined
together
in
the heavenly
Jerusalem,
the
family
of God
above.
I
shall
proceed
now to
the
second thing
I proposed.
SECTION
II.
Of
their
perfection
in knowledge, holiness,
andjoy.
The
second enquiry
is
this,
wherein consists the
per-
fection
at
which these
spirits
are
arrived
?
The
word
perfect
cannot
be
taken
here
in its
most ex-
tensive, absolute, and sublime
sense,
for in
that
sense
it
can belong
only to
God
;
he
is
and
must
be
the
sum
and centre
of
all
perfection
for ever
:
all
excellency and
all
blessedness in
a supreme degree meet
in
him; none
besides
him
can
pretend
to
absolute perfection.
Nor
is
the, word used
here
in its
most sublime
sense,
in
which
it
may be
applied to
a
creature
;
for when
the
spirits of
just
men
are made ever
so
perfect,
the blessed
soul
of
our Lord Jesus Christ
will be
more
perfect than
they;
for
in
all
things
he
must have
the
pre
eminence;
Col.
i.
18.
Perfection
is
therefore taken
in
a comparative
sense
here,
as
in many
other
['laces
of
scripture.
So,
St.
Paul
calls
those' christians
on
earth
perfect,
who
are advanced
in
knowledge
and
christianity.
far above
their fellows;
as
in
i
Cor:
ii.
)6.
I
speak wisdom
among
them
that
are per-
fect.
Phil.
iii. 15.
Let
.as many as
are
perfect
be
thus
minded.
So
that
blessed souls
above are only
perfect
in
a
comparative
sense.;
They are advanced
in
every
ex-
cellency
of
nature, and
every
divine privilege,
far above
all their
fellow-
saints
here
.on
earth.
I
desire.it
also to
be
observed here,
that
The
word perfection doth
not
generally imply
another
sort of
character than
what
a
man
possessed
before;
but
a
far more exalted degree
of
the same
character
which
he
was
before
possessed
of.
The
perfection
then
of
the spirits
of
the
just
in
hea-
ven,
is
a glorious
and
transcendant
degree
of
those spi-
ritual
and heavenly qualifications
and
blessings which
they
enjoyed.
here
on
earth
in
a lower
measure;
implying
also,
a freedom
from all the
defects and disorders to
which
they were here exposed;
and
which
are
inconsis-
..tent.with their
present
felicity.