43,1 ïIAPPÏNESS OF SEPARATE SPIRITS. plaints are found there to imbetter our converse,,to diminish the pleasure of society, or to draw the heart away from God. If we would know what the society of heaven is, let us renew the memory of the wisest and holiest, the kindest and the best companions that we were ever acquainted with here on earth ; let us recollect the most pleasing hours that we ever en- joyed in their society ; let us divest them of all their mistakes and weaknesses, of all their sins and imperfections ; and then by faith and hope let us divest ourselves of all our own guilt and follies too ; let us fancy ourselves engaged with them indelightful discourse on the most divine and most affecting subjects, and our hearts mutually raising each other near to God, and communi- cating mutual joys: This is the state of the blessed, this the con- versation of heaven, this and more than this shall be our enter- tainment when we arrive atthose happy regions. This thought would very naturally lead me to the mention of our honoured and departed friend, but 'I withhold myself a little, and must detain your expectation till I havemade a remark or two more. III. Are the spirits of the just, who are departed from earth, made perfect in heaven ; then they are not theproper sub- jects for nur perpetual sorrows and endless complaints. Let us moderate our grief therefore, for that very providence that has fixed them in perfect holiness and joy. We lament their absence, and our loss indeed is great; but the spirit of christian friendship should teach us to rejoice in their exaltation. Is it no pleasure to think of them as released from all the bonds of infirm nature, from pains of mortality, and the disquietudes of a sinful world ? Is it not better to lift our eyes upward, and view a parent or a beloved friend adorned with perfect grace and complete in glory, exulting in the fulness of joy near the throne of God, than to behold him labouring under the tiresome disorders of old age, groaning under the anguish and torment of acute distempers, and striving with the trouble- 'some attendants of this sinful and painful state? Do we profess fondness and affection'for those that are gone, and shall we not pleaseourselves a little in their happiness, or at least abate our mourning ? Doth not St. Paul tell the Corinthians, this is what we wish, even your perfection? 2 Cor. xiii. 9. and should not saints, in the lowerworld, take some satisfaction, when a fellow, saint is arrived at the sumof his own wishes, even perfect holi- ness and joy on high ? But I correct myself here; nature must have its way and be indulged .a little ; let it express its sensible pain at the loss of such endearments. A long separation from those who are so near a-kin to us in flesh andblood, will touch the heart in a pain- fu1- .place, and awaken the tenderest springs of sorrow. The
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