-385 TIAPPINESS Or SEPARATE SPIRITS.. Now is the pure intellectual world alone destitute alone of this delightful variety ? Is the nature of spirits utterly incapa- ble ofthis diversity and beauty, without the aids of flesh and blood ? Hath the wisdom of God displayed no riches of contri- vance there ? And must there be such adull uniformity no where but in the countrywhere spirits dwell, spirits the noblest parts of God's creationand dominion ? Has lie pouredout all the various glories ofdivineartand workmanship in the inanimateandbrutal or animal world, and left the higher sort of creatures all ofone geni- us and one turn and mould, to replenishall the intellectual regi- ons ? Surely it ishard to believe it.. In the world ofangels we find various kinds and orders. St. Paul tells us of thrones and dominions, andprincipalities ; Col, i. 16. and St. Peter speaks of angels and authorities, and powers; 1 Pet. iii. 22, and in other parts of theword of God we read the names of an archangel, a seraph, and a cherub. And-no doubt, as their degress andstations in theheavenly world differ from eachother, so their talents and genius to sustain those different stations are very various, and ex- actly suited to their charge and business. And it is no improbable thought, that the souls of mendiffer from each other as much as angels. But ifthere were no difference at first betwixt the turn and genius of different spirits in their original formation, yet this we are sure òf, that God designed their habitation in flesh and blood, and their passage through this world as the means toform and fit them for various stations in the unknown world of spirits. The souls of men having dwelt many years in particular bodies, havebeen influencedandhabituated toparticular turns of thought, both accordingto the various constitutions of those bodies, and the 'more various studies and businesses, and occurrences of life. Surely then we may with. reason suppose the spirits departing from flesh to carry with them some bent and inclination towards various pleasures and employments. So we may reasonably imagine each sinful spirit that leaves the body, to be more abun- dantly inflamed with these particular vices which it indulged here, whether ambition, or pride, or covetousness, or malice, or envy, or aversion to God, and to all goodness, and their various sorts of punishments may arise from their own variety of lusts,. giving each of them a peculiar inward torment. Andwhy may not the spirits ofthejustmadeperfect have the same variety of taste and pleasure in that happy world above, according as they are fitted for various kinds of sacred entertainments in their state of pre- paration, and during their residencein fleshand blood ? He that that bath wrought.us for the selfsame thing is God ; 2 Cor. v. 5. In the world ofhuman spirits made perfedt, David and Mo- ses dwell : Both of them were trained up in feeding the flocks of their fathers in the wilderness, to feed and to rule the nation
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