If we solemnly desire to improve and consecrate the remnant of these fugitive years and days, whither shall we resort for the spirit of fortitude, and wisdom, and fidelity, but to Him that worketh in us "to will and to do of his good pleasure;" even according to the energy of his mighty power?"

66

XXVII.

ON THE CAPACITIES FOR WORSHIP IN HEAVEN.

THE frail constitution of our mortal nature sets narrow limits to spiritual knowledge and delight. The organization by which the soul now acts, may be compared to that little modern instrument of music which has its vibrations produced on glass. Touches, one degree too forcible, would break the material, and annihilate the melody. If the benignant influence of the natural sunbeams could be made so destructive by the mirrors of Archimedes, how much more might a concentration of spiritual glory, though conveying the most sublime and joyful impressions, disarrange and subvert our present mode of being !*

*See Daniel viii. 27, and x. 8, 15—17.

In the sublimest revelations made to prophets, -as to Moses, when he beheld from the cleft of the rock the retiring glory of Jehovah; to Ezekiel, when he looked on the mystic wheels, the flashing cherubim, the sapphire throne, and the likeness of the glory of the Lord; and to the apostles Paul and John, in their heavenly visions; we must suppose, either, (as is sometimes intimated,) that the body was miraculously sustained,* or, as St. Paul seems to conjecture, the connexion of the body and mind miraculously suspended.

The eminently pious and learned John Howe, a man of sound, calm, and capacious mind, left these words written in Latin on a blank page of his Bible:

"December 26, 1689. This very morning I awoke, for the first time, from the following most delightful dream. An amazing emanation of celestial rays from the supreme seat of the DivineMajesty, seemed infused into my open and expanded breast.—Often since that memorable day, I have recalled, with a grateful mind, that signal pledge of the divine favour, and with reiterated pleasure have tasted of its sweetness.—But what I experienced of the same kind, by the admirable

*Daniel x. 18, 19. Revelations i. 17.

bounty of my God, and the transporting influence of the Sacred Spirit, on October 22, 1704, entirely exceeds all my resources of expression."*

It is not distinctly stated in this very interesting memorial, whether, on the second occasion, as on the first, these beatific communications were received during sleep, but it seems implied; and we may well believe that this partial suspension of the animal functions was necessary to life, or at least to health, under such emotions, except a counteracting miracle were wrought.-But when, from the dissoluble elements of our present frame, there shall be educed, by divine power, " a spiritual body," we can conceive that it will be completely adapted to receive the full intenseness of those impressions which are needful to perfect felicity.

A poet who has attempted to describe that

*"Hoc ipso mane ex hujus modi somnio dulcissimo, primo evigilavi. Mirum scilicet a superno Divinæ Majestatis solio cœlestium radiorum profluvium in apertum meum hiansque pectus, infusum esse videbatur.--Sæpius ab illo insigni die, memorabile illud pignus divini favoris, grato animo recolui, atque dulcedinem ejusdem iterum atque iterum degustavi.-Quæ autem Octob. 22, 1704, id genus miranda Dei mei benignitate, et suavissima Spiritus Sancti operatione percepi, omnium verborum quæ mihi suppetit copiam, plane superant."-Howe's Life, by Calamy (prefixed to the folio edition of his works), page 75.

awful period, when "many bodies of the saints, which slept, arose," ""* represents their separate spirits, in the luminous vehicle of the intermediate state, descending, by divine command, to contemplate their own sepulchres. Rachel, the mother of patriarchs, attended by her guardian angel, approaches her lonely grave :—

"And, as she spake, there stream'd from forth the tomb,
A soft-ascending vapour, like the dew

That moistens roses, or the silvery mist
Around a vernal bower. Her spirit's gleam
Brighten'd the vapour, as a setting sun
Tinges the dewy west. She marks it wave,
And soar, and sink, and fluctuate gently still
Near her, and yet more near; and venerates
Creation's changeful mysteries, profound
In grandeur, in minuteness as profound;
Nor knows the fond affinity, nor deems
How soon with that soft-floating ambient veil
Thy voice, Almighty Saviour, shall involve
Her own enraptured being. Yet she bends
To watch its beauty with a strange delight,
While the companion seraph eyes the scene
Elate.

Then spake the all-transforming voice:-
She sank;-she seem'd to melt in tears away;

Delicious tears; as if her being stole

Through some cool glade, and thence emerged in light,

Amidst the fragrance of a flowery shore.

-She wakes; she sees; she feels herself enshrined

* Matthew xxvii. 52.