457 / 652
THE HAPPINESS
OF
SEPARATE. SPIRITS.
441
Let
me
propose a
brief
answer to these curious ques-
tions
in
a
few
propositions.
1.
The chief properties of
spirits are
knowledge
and
activity
;
and
they are
said
to
be
present there, where
they have an
immediate perception of
any
thing, and
where
they
lay
out their immediate
activity
or
influence.
So
our
souls are
said to
be present
with
our bodies,
be-
cause
they
have
immediate
consciousness
or
knowledge
of
what
relates
to
the body,
and
they move
it, and
act
upon
it,
or
influence
it,
in an
immediate manner.
'2.
God,
the
infinite
Spirit,
has an
immediate and uni-
versal
presence; that
is,
he
is
immediately conscious
of,
and
acquainted
with every
thing
that
passes
in all
the
known
and unknown parts of the creation, and by
his
preserving and governing
power manages
all
things.
Wheresoever
he
displays
his
glory to
separate
spirits,
that
is
heaven
;
and where
he
exerts
his
vengeance,
that
is
hell.
3.
Finite
spirits have not such
an
immediate and uni-
versal
presence.
There knowledge
and their activity
are
confined
to
certain parts of the creation
:
And where-
soever they are, if they are
under the immediate
influences
of
divine
glory,
they are
in
heaven;
if of
his
vengeance,
they
are in hell.
4.
They
are usually
represented
as
having
some
rela-
tion
to
a
particular
place or
places;
because
while
we
dwell
in flesh
and blood,
we
know
not how
to
conceive
of
their presence
so
well
any
other way
;
and
therefore,
they
may
be
described
in
scripture
or
in
common dis-
course,
as
being
in
heaven,,
and above
the heavens,
anal
in
the third
heaven, and
as
coming down
to
earth,
&c.
according
as
they
are
supposed
to
put
forth any
actions
there,
or to have
an
immediate cognizance
of things
that
are doné
in
those places
:
for
the
chief
notion we have
of
the presence of
spirits
is
their immediate consciousness,
and their immediate
agency.
5.
But if they
are
provided with
any
subtile etherial
bodies, which are called
vehicles,
in
and
by
which
they
act
as
soon as
they leave
flesh
and blood,
then
they
may
properly
be said to
reside
in those
places where
their
ve-
hicles
are, even
as
our
souls
at present
are said
to
be in
a
room, er
a
closet, or
a field,
because
our
bodies
are
there,
in
and
by
which they act.
6.'
There
must be
some
place
where
the
glorified
body
of
Christ
is,
and
the
souls
of departed
saints are,
in
some