358 CONQUEST OVER bEATn. voice ; no tongue to converse with its Saviour. And thoughwe are sure there is a holy correspondence between Christ Jesus and separate souls, for we are said to be present with the Lord, when we are absent from the body ; 2 Cor. v. 8. yet this correspon- dence cannot be so complete and glorious, as it shall be, when with our eyes we shall see God in the-form of a man. It is granted, that the separateheaven of souls is abundant pleasure beyond what we can now conceive or express ; and our friends, departed in the faith, enjoy the delightful presence of their Lord, and the heavenly converse of their fellow-spirits. 'that honoured and deceased saint, whom we this day mourn, dwells with that Jesus with whomshe had long been acquainted : She converses with him in heaven, whom she loved much upon earth : She finds herself safe for ever in his hands, to whose care she committed her immortal concerns; and she rejoices in the sight of him above, with whom she held many hours of sweet correspondenceby faith here below. Doubtless also, she holds sweet conversation with the holy souls that went to heaven be- fore hcr. A soul so' greatly desirous of spiritual discourse as she was, so constantly prepared for pious conferenceand mutual com- munications of sacred `knowledge, must needs enjoy that privi- lege, and that pleasure, in that upper world, where there is nothing all "round her, but what is holy and divide.. But it iscer- tain she cannot enjoy thatperfection 'of humble societywith Christ in his glorified human nature, nor with fellow - saints, while she is deprived of' one part of herself, her body lying silent and move- less in the prison 'of the grave : and she yet waits for the rnoro complete satisfaction òf all herhopes, when death her last enemy shall be destroyed, and her body redeemed from the dust, toge- ther with the bodies 'f all the saints: This leads me to the next particular : 4. Death is an enemy to believers, because it divides theta for a season from the company of -their known and valuable friends, and parts the dearest relatives asunder. Though dying saints be transmitted into better company, even to the spirits of thejust madeperfect, yet it is a mournful thought to be separated so long from thosewhom they loved with sostrong and just an affection. Itadds a sharpness even to the last agonies, when we think we must leave parents, children, or friendsbehind us, whom we Ibve so tenderly ;'thatwe must leave them amidst the sorrows and the temptations of a vain world and a 'corrupt age ; that' we must leave them struggling with all the difficulties, the hardships, 'andthe dangers that attend achris- tian in his travels through this wilderness, and not see their faces again in the flesh, nor converse with them id the manner we were wont to do, till the heavens be no more. Upon this account also death is a worse enemy tò those that
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