414 / 652
404
THE HAPPINESS
OP
SEPARATE SPIRITS.
[DISC.
Tr.
to do
great
service for
thy
God
and
thy
Saviour on
earth,
that
thy reward
in
heaven may
not
be
small
?
Wilt
thou
not
run
with
zeal
and patience
the race
that
is
set
before thee,
looking
to the brightest cloud
of
wit-
nesses,
and reaching
at
some
of the richer
prizes
?
Re-
member that Jesus
thy
judge
is
coming
apace
:
He
has
rewards
with
him
of
every
size,
and
the
lustre and weight
of
thy
crown shall most exactly
correspond
to thy
sweat
and
labour.
But
I
must
not
dwell always
on this head
:
I
proceed
therefore
to
the next.
III.,
The
spirits
of
the
just
in heaven enjoy
such
a
perfection
as
is
consistent
with
perpetual
changes
of
bu-
siness
and
delights, even in the
same
person or spirit.
They
may be
always perfect,
but
in
a rich and endless
variety.
It
is
only
God
who possesses
all
possible excellencies,
and
powers,
and happinesses
at
once, and
therefore
he
alone
is
incapable
of
change But
creatures
must pos-
sess
and enjoy
their
delights
in a
succession, because they
cannot
possess
and enjoy
all
that
they
are capable
of
at
once.
And according,
to this
consideration
the heavenly
state
is
represented
in
scripture
in
various
forms both
of
business and
blessedness.
Sometimes it
is
described
by seeing
God
Mat.
v.
8.
by
"
beholding
him
face to face
;"
-1
Cor.
xiii.
12.
by
being
"
present
with
the Lord
;"
2
Cor.
v.
8.
by
being
where
Christ
".is
to behold
his
glory
;"
John
xvii. 24.
Sometimes the saints above are
said to
"
serve
hire" as his
servants
;
Rev.
xxii.
3.
Sometimes they
are represented
as
worshipping before the throne,
as
being
fed with
the
fruits
of
the tree of
life,
and drinking
the living
fountains
of water;
Rev.
vii. 15, 17.
and
xxii.
1,
2.
and let
it
be
noted
that
twelve
manner of fruits grew
on
this
tree, and
they
were
new'
every
month
also. Sometimes they
are
held
forth
to
us
"
as
singing
0.
new song to
God, and to
the Lamb
;"
Rev.
xiv. M.
And
at
another
time
they
are
described
as
wearing
"
a crown
of
righteousness and
glory.
of
sitting on
the'
throne
of
Christ,
of
reigning
fer
ever and ever, and ruling the nations
with
a rod
of
iron ;"
2 Tim. iv.
8.
1
Pet.
v. 4.
Rev.
xxii.
5.
Rev.
ii.
26, 27.
And
in another
place
Our
happiness
is
represented
as
sitting down
with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob
in
,
the
5