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,
THE HAPPINESS
OF
SEPARATE SPIRITS.
[DISC,
II.
Whether
this be
material
fire, or
merely
a
metaphor
to
express torment,
is
not
necessary to
enquire here
:
But
surely we can
never imagine
that
the
justice of God
has
provided the
prison,
of
hell
and
fiery
torments
for
the
souls of
the
wicked,
separate
from
bodies, and
yet
that
the
mercy and
goodness of
God
has
provided
no
heaven
of
happiness
for
the
spirits
of
those
that
have loved,
ho-
noured, and
obeyed
him
all
the days they
dwelt
in
the
flesh.
There
is
then, there
is
certainly
a
state.of happi-
ness prepared-
for
holy souls
immediately after death.
IVhen we
think of our
pious friends
departed,
our
foolish
imagination
is
too
ready
to
indulge and
improve
our
sorrow. We
sit
solitary
in
the
parlour and
the cham-
ber, we
miss
them there, and
we cry,
"
They
are
lost."
We
retire melancholy
to
the closet, and
bewail
a lost
father
or lost
mother,
or
perhaps
a
nearer and dearer
relative. We
miss
them
in
our
daily
conversation, we
miss them
in
all
their
friendly
offices,
and
their endearing
sensible characters, and we
are ready to
say
again,
"Alas,
they
are
lost." This
is
the
language
of
flesh
and
blood, of
sense and fancy. Corne let
our
faith
teach
us
to
think
and
speak of them under
a
more chearful and a
juster
representation
:
They
are
not utterly
lost,
for
they
are present with Christ and with God.
They
are
de-
parted
our world, where
all
things
are
imperfect,
to
those
upper
regions where light and perfection dwell.
They
have
left
their
offices
and stations
here among
t,
but
they
are
employed
in a
far
diviner manner, and have
new
stations
and
nobler
offices on
high.
Their
places
on
earth indeed know
them
no
more,
but their
places
in
heaven knew
them well, even those glorious mansions
that
were
prepared
for
them
from
the
foundation
of
the
world.
Their
place
is
empty
in
the earthly sanctuary,
and
in
the
days
of
solemn
assembly,
but
they
appear
above
in
the
heavenly
Jerusalem
as
fair
pillars
and orna-
ments
in
the temple of God
on
high,
and
shall
for
ever
dwell with him
there.
Is
is
a
very
natural enquiry now,
but
where are these
places of
blessed spirits
?
What part of
the creation
is
it,
in
which
they
have
their residence
?
is
it
above
or
below
the
sun
?
Is
their habitation
in
any
of the planetary
or
starry worlds?
Or
are
they
fled
beyond them
all?
_Where
is
the proper
place
of
their presence
?