DISCOURSE. II. .A37 when he dropt mortality. ,Now he is out of the body, and caught irp to dwell in Paradise where Saint Paul, made heretofore a short visit, 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4, he hears and he speaks those un- speakable words, it is not possible fòr a mortal tongue to utter. This things of heaven are not to be expressed in any foreign lan- guage. Among the various themes of christian contemplation, he took peculiar pleasure in the doctrines of grace, in the display of the glories of the person of Christ, God, in our nature, and the wondrous work of, redemption by his crss. He adored him as his Lord and his God : And while he trusted in his righteousness .as the great Mediator, and beheldhim as his crucified Saviour, he was ever zealous to maintain the honours due tohis divine na- ture and majesty. And we rimy be sure this is a study in which he is still engaged, and he spends the clays of his eternity in the pleasurable contemplations of his glorified Redeemer, and the sacred mysteries of his cross, and his throne, which things the angels desire to pry into. His practice in life was agreeable to his christianprinciples, for he knew that' the grace of God, that brings salvation to men, teaches them to deny all ungodliness, and to live sober, righteous and religious lives, that in all things they may adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour. Now that this part of his character is continued and exalted in the region of the blessed spirits, is too evident to need any amplification or proof ; for holinessin every part ofit is made perfect there, and all under the sweet constraint of love. His conversation was pious and learned, ingenious and instructive : He was inquisitive into the affairs of the learned world, the progress of, arts and sciences, the concerns Of the na- tion.and the interest of the church of Christ : And upon all .occasions was as ready to communicate as he was to enquire. What he knew of the things. of God or man, he resolved not to know them only for himself, but for the benefit of all that had the üouopr of his acquaintance. There are manyof his friends that will join with me to confess, how often we have departed from his company refreshed and advanced in some useful knowledge. AndÌ cannot but reckon it among the blessings of heaven, when ,I review those five years of pleasure and improvement, which I spent in his family in my younger part pf life ; and I found much instruction myself, where I was called to be an instructor. Nor can I think such enquiries and such communications as are suitable to the affairs of the upper .world, are unpractised among the spirits of the just men made perfect there; for man is a sociable creature, and enjoys communion with his fellow-saints there ; as well as with his Maker and his Saviour. Nor can the spirit of our honoured and departed friend, be a stranger to the & e 3
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