416 itAt'PI*ESS OF SEPARATE SPIRITS. HesS. Is it not the happiness of the saints in heaven to see thei glorified Saviour ? But even this sight is and must be incom- plete, till they are endued with bodilyorgans again. What con - verse soever the spirits of the just have with the glorified man Jesus, while they are absent from the body, yet I am persuaded it is not, nor can it be so full and perfect in all respects, as it shall be at the general resurrection. They cannot now see him face to' face in the literal sense; and they wait for this exalted pleasure, this immediate beatific sight. Job himself yet waits, though the' worms have destroyed his body, till that glorious hour, when in his flesh, he shall see God ; Job xixa 26. even God, his Redeemer, who shallstand at the last dayon the earth, ver. 25. Not only all the saints on earth, who have received thefirst fruits ofthe spirit, waitfor the adoption, that is, the redemption of the body, Rom. viii. 23. but the saints in heaven also live there, Waiting till the body be redeemed from the grave, and their adoption shall appear with illustrious evidence : Then they shall alllook like the sons of God, like Jesus, the first beloved and the first-born. The spiritsabove, how perfect soever they are in the joysof the separate state, yet wait for those endlessscenes of un- known delight that shall succeed theresurrection. And there is abundant reason for it, to be drawn from the word of God ; for the scripture speaks but very little concerning the blessedness of separate souls, in comparison of the frequent and large accounts ofthe glory and triumph that shall attend the soundófthe last trumpet, and the great rising-day. It is to this blessed hour that the apostlesin their writings are always direct- ing the hope ofthe saints. They are ever pointing to this glori- ousmorning, as the season when they shall receive their reward . and their prize, their promised joy and their crown ; as though all that they had receivedbefore, in their state of separation, were hardly to be named in comparison of that more exceeding and eter- nal weight of additional glory. What new kinds of sensations shall entertain us in that day, what a rich variety of senses we shall enjoy, what well appointed and immortal organs we shall be furnished with, instead of our present feeble eyes and ears, and what glorious and transporting objects shall surround us in those unknown worlds, and fill the enlargedpowers of thesoul with sensible as well as intellectual delights : These are wonders too sublime even for our present conjecture, and are all reserved in the counsels of God, to complete the final felicity of the saints. Thus we have made it appear, that the knowledge and joy that belongs to the spirits of thejust made perfect, may admit of large increase:* W There is a little treatise, called, The Future State, Displaying the Progressive Knowledge- of the Blessed inHeaven, written by a country gentleman, published a 1685, wherein are many ingenious tbouôhts on this subject.
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