419 / 652
SECT.
III.
THE HAPPINESS
OF
SEPARATE
SPIRITS.
409_
that
the
intervals,
of
these seasons
are spent
in
other em-
ployments
:
And
when they
present
themselves
before
God,
it does
not
sufficiently
appear that.mere adoration
and praise
is
their
only business
at
the
throne.
In
the
very place
which
I
Kaye
cited,
it
seems more
natural
to
suppose
that
these angelic spirits came
thither
rather
to
render
an
account
of
their
several employments,
and the
success
of
their
messages
to'
ether
worlds.
And why
may
we
not
suppose such
a blessed
variety
of
employ-
ment
among the spirits
of
men too
This supposition
has some
countenance
in
the holy
scripture. The
angel or messenger
who
appeared
to St.
John,
and
shewed him
various
visions,
by
the
order
of
Christ, forbids the apostle
to
worship
him,
for
I
am
thy
fellow
-
servant,
said
he,
and
of
thy brethren
the prophets,
and
of
them which'
keep
the sayings
of
this
book;
Rev.
xxii.
8,
9.
These
words
naturally
lead one
to
think,
that
though
he
appeared
as
a
messenger from Christ,
and
in
the
form
of
an
angel,
yet
he was
really
a
departed
saint,
a
brother,
a
fellow-
prophet, perhaps the soul
of
David,
or
Isaiah, or
Moses, who
Would
count
it
an
honour
evert
in
their state of glory
to
be
thus employed
by
their exalted
Lord
;
and
they also keep
or
observe
and wait for
the
accomplishment
"'of
the
sayings
of
that
book
Of
the
Reve-
lations,
as
well
as
the churches
of
their brethren, the
saints
on
earth.
I
freely allow
immediate divine
worship
to
take
up
á
good
part
of their
everlasting
day,
their'
sabbath
;
and
therefore
I
suppose them
to
be
often engaged,
Millions
at
once, in social worship
;
and
sometimes
acting
apart;
and
raised
in
sublime
meditation
of
God, or
in
a
fixed
vision
of
his
blissful face,
with an
act
of
secret
adóra-
tion,
while
their
intellectual
powers
are almost lost in
sweet amazement
:
Sometimes they
are entertaining them-
selves
and their
fellow-
spirits
with
the graces
and glories
of
the man
Christ Jesus,
the Lamb
that
was
slain
in
the
midst of
the throne
:
But at other
times
they
may be
making
a
report
to him
of
their
faithful execution
of
some
divine commission
they received
from
him, to be
fulfilled
either
in
heaven or
on
earth, or
in
unknown
and
distant
worlds.
There
may
be
other
seasons also when
they are
net
immediately addressing the
throne, tint arOmost delight-