136 THE HIDDEN LIFE OF A CHEIFTIAN. with any thing corporeal, till their dust be recalled to life. We are unacquainted withthe laws by which they'are governed, and the methods of their converse : we know little of the businesses theyare employed in, these glorious services for their God and their Saviour, in which they are favoured with assistant angels; and little are we acquainted with their joys, which arennspeak- ;able and full of glory. The very language of that world, is neither to be spoken nor understood by us ; St. Paul heard some of the words of it, and had á faintglimpse of the sense of them ; but hecould not repeat them again to mortal ears ; nor had he power, nor leave to tell us the meaning of them ; 2 Cor, xii. 4. For, whether he was in the body, at that time, or out of the body, he himself was not able to determine, And as for the heaven of the resurrection; what sort of bodies shall be raised from the dúst, for perfect spirits to dwell in, is as great a secret. A spiritual body is a mystery to the wisest divines and philosophers where our habitation shall be, and what our special employment through the endless ages of immortality, are among the hidden unsearchables. The most that we know, is, that we shall be made like to Christ, and we shall be where he is, to behold his glory; i John iii. 2. and John xvii. 24. If the eternal life of the saintsbe so much a secret at present, we may draw thesetwo or three inferences from it. I. Inference. How necessary is it for a christian to keep faith awake and lively, that he may maintain his acqúaintance with the spiritual and unseen world ! It is faith that converses with invisibles : faith is the .substance of things hopedfor, and the evidence ofthings not seen ; lleb. xi. 1. It is faith that deals in hidden traffic, and grows rich in treasures that are out Of sight. It isby faith in the Son Of God, welive this spiritual life, by faith in an absent Saviour; Gal. ii. 20. Whom hazing not seenwe love; and though'we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice ; 1 Pet. i. 8. Let the christian, therefore, maintain a holy jeaousy, lest too much converse with the things of sense., dull the eye of his faith, or weaken the hand of it. Let him put his faith into perpetua' exercise, that lie may live within the view of those glories that are hidden fröm sense; that he maykeep his hold of eternal life; that he may support his hopes, and se- cure his joys. Until we can live by sight; let us walk byfaith; 2 Cor. v. 7. Though the life of heaven be hidden, yet so much of it is revealed as to give faith leave to lay held of it; and yet not so Much, as to make the hand of faith needless. It is brought down by 'our Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel, within the view of faith, that we might live inexpectation of it, and be animated to the
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