TMSCOURSE I]'. 401 tifffrom this divine pleasure ? Is Jesus for ever silent ? Does he converse with his glorified saints no more ? And surely if he speak, the saints will hear and attend: Or it may be that our blessed Lord, even as he is man, has Some noble and unknown way of communicating a longdiscourse, br a long train of ideas and discoveries to millions of blessed Spirits at once,. without the formalities of voice and language ; and at some peculiar seasons he may thus instruct and delight his saints in heaven. Thus it appears there may be something among the spirits Of thejust above that is analogous to prayer and preaching; as well as praise: O how gustful are the pleasuresof celestial worship ! What unknown varieties of performance, what sublime ministrations there are, and glorious services, none can tell: And in all thir variety, which may be per:`ormed in sweet succession, there is no wandering thought, no cold affection, no divided heart, no listless or indifferent worshipper. What we call rapture and extasy here on earth, is perhaps the constant and uninterrupted pleasure of the church on-high in all their adorations. But letthe worship of the glorified spiritshe never so vari- bus, yet I cannot persuade myself that mere direct acts or exer- vises of what we properly call worship, are their only and ever= lasting work. The scripture tells us, there are certain seasons when the angels, those sons of God, come to presentthemselves before the Lord ; Job i. 8, and ii. 1. It is evident then, that the intervals of these seasons are spent in other employments : And when they present themselvesbefore God, it does not sufficiently appear that mere- adoration and praise is their only business at the throne. In the very placewhich I have cited, it seems more natural to suppose that these angelic spirits came thither rather to render an account of their several employments, and the suc- cess of their messages to other worlds. And why may we not suppose such a blessed variety of employment among the spirits of men too ? This supposition has some countenance in the holy scripture. The angel or messenger who appeared to St. John, and showed him various visions bythe order of Christ, forbids the apostle to worship him, for./- am thy fellow-servant, said he, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of themwhich keep the sayings ofthis book ; Rev. xxii. 8, 9. These words naturally leadone to think, that though he appeared as a messenger-from Christ, and in the form of an angel, yet he was really a departed saint, a brother, a fellow-prophet, perhaps the soul of David, or Isaiah, orMoses, who would count it an honour even in their state of glory to be thus employed by their exalted Lord ; and they also keep or ob- serve and wait for the accomplishment of the sayings ofthat book VOL. Ii, C C.
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