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SECT.
V.]
THE HAPPINESS
OF
SEPARATE
SPIRITS.
435
seated in
the very
composition
of depraved
animal
na-
ture
!
And
how is
the
poor labouring spirit of
a
saint
dreadfully betrayed thereby into
frequent
actual
guilt,
even
notwithstanding
all
its
care and watchfulness
!
O wretched
men,
that
we
are
!
who
shall deliver
us
!
Blessed be
God, there
is
a
time
of
,release.
,And, as
our
knowledge
and our holiness
are rendered
very
imperfect,
by
reason
of
these sensible and
corrupt
engines
of
flesh
and
blood,
so
are
the
joys and satisfac-
tions
of
the soul
perpetually impaired and diminished
hereby.
The
heart of
the
saint
is
in pain to
feel sin
working
in
it,
and the conscience complains
under
the
anguish
of
guilt. Blessed
be
God
for the balm
that
is
found in the
blood
of Christ
to ease
the anguish
of
con-
science
!
Besides,
what
spirit
can
enjoyperfect
peace,
while
it
is
tied
to
so
many
thousand
nerves,
each
of
which may
be-
come an
instrument of
intense pain and
torture
?
And
the
body
itself
has
sharp
humours enough in
it
to
corrode
those
nerves,
and
fill
the indwelling
spirit
with agonies.
What
millions
of
seeds
of
painful
disease
lurk
in
animal
nature, that render
this body
a
most
uncomfortable
dwelling
!
And
how
many
thousand strokes
and
acci-
dents are
we
liable to from
abroad, whence
new
pains
and
sorrows
are
derived
to
the
soul
!
The
wind
and
the wea-
ther, the rain
and
the
hail,
and the
,scorching sun,
the
air,
the water, and
fire,
and
every element, may afflict
'the
animal, and
pain the unhappy spirit.
But
O
happy
souls,
that
are
free from all
the cumber
-
some and mischievous influences
of
flesh
and
blood
!
from these
instruments of
iniquity, and springs
of
deadly
gùilt
and
torment
!
Happy
souls,
that
are released from
sick and
languishing
bodies, from feeble
and burdensome
'limbs,
and
all the tiresome
and
painful
disorders
of
dying
-
nature
!
that
are
raised beyond the
reach and injury
of
all these lower elements,
these mediums
of
disease
and
pain
!
Rejoice
and triumph,
ye
prisoners
newly
dis-
charged
;
ye feel
the
pleasurable truths
that
we
guess
at,
but
ye feel
and enjoy
them with a relish
of sublime plea-
sure
beyond all
our
conjectures. Rejoice
and
exult
in
your
new
liberty, like
a bird released
from the
imprison-
ing
cage, and sing with
sweetest
notes
to
the
praise
of
your Redeemer. O
worship and serve him in the full
,2iF