• are able to produce a Scené infinitely

more great and glorious than what we « are able to imagine. It is not impof'sible but at the confummation of all

things, thefe outward apartments of na-
ture, which are now suited to those

Beings who inhabit them, may be ta• ken in and added to that glorious place • of which I am here fpeaking, and by

that means made a proper habitation • for Beings who are exempt from mor

tality, and cleared of their imperfectións: For so the fcripture feems to intimate when it speaks of new heavens and of a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

I have only considered this glorious place, with regard to the sight and ima

gination, though it is highly probable " that our other senses may here likewise:

enjoy their highest gratifications. There ' is nothing which more ravishes and trans

ports the foul, than harmony; and we - have great reason to believe, from the

descriptions of this place in Holy Scripture, that this is one of the entertain

ments of it. And if the foul of man " can be so wonderfully affected with ¿ those strains of music, which human. 6. ait is capable of producing, how much

& more will it be raised and elevated by • chofe, in which is exerted the whole

power of harmony! The senses are faculties of the human soul, though they

cannot be employed, during this our • vital union, without proper instruments in the body. Why therefore should we exclude the satisfaction of these faculties, which we find by experience

are inlets of great pleasure to the soul, · from among those entertainments which

are to make up our happiness hereafter? Why fhould we suppose that our

hearing and seeing will not be gratified ' with those objects which are most as

greeable to them, and which they can

not meet with in these lower regions ' of nature ; objects, which neither

• utter. By this is meant, that what he • heard was fo infinitely different from any

thing which he had heard in this world,

that it was impossible to express it in « such words as might convey a notion of

it to his hearers. . It is very natural for us to take delight in enquiries concerning any foreign Country, where we are some time or other to make our abode ; and as we all hope to be admitted into this glorious place, it is both a laudable

and useful curiosity, to get what infor• mations we can of it, whilst we make • use of revelation for our guide. When o these everlasting doors shall be open to ' us, we may be sure that the pleasures

and beauties of this place will infinitely * tranfcend our present hopes and expec• tations, and that the glorious appearsance of the throne of God will rise

infinitely beyond whatever we are able • to conceive of it. We might here « entertain ourselves with many other

speculations on this subject, from those • several hints which we find of it in

the holy scriptures; as whether there • may not be different mansions, and a

partments of glory, to Beings of different natures ; whether as they excel one

ano

<

• another in perfection, they are not ad(mitted nearer to the throne of the Al

mighty, and enjoy greater manifestations of his presence, whether there are not

folemn times and occasions, when all • the multitude of heaven celebrate the

presence of their Maker in more extraordinary forms of praise and adoration;

as Adam, though he had continued in a • state of innocence, would, in the opinion • of our Divines, have kept holy the

Sabbath-day, in a more particular man• ner than any other of the seven. These, « and the like speculations, we may very ' innocently indulge, so long as we make « use of them to inspire us with a de· fire of becoming inhabitants of this de• lightful place.

• I have in this, and in two foregoing « letters treated on the most serious sub

ject that can employ the mind of man, the Omnipresence of the Deity ;

subject which, if possible, should ne( ver depart from our meditations. We « have considered the divine Being, as • he inhabits infinitude, as he dwells a' mong his works, as he is present to the ( mind of man, and as he discover's him• self in a more glorious manner among • the regions of the Bleft. Such a con

«fideration

a

* fideration should be kept awake in us

at all times, and in all places, and pöf« fess our minds with a perpetual awe 6 and reverence, it should be interwo« ven with all our thoughts and percep• tions, and become one with the con<sciousness of our own Being. It is not

to be reflected on in the coldness of philosophy, but ought to sink us into

the lowest proftration before him, who ' is so astonishingly great, wonderful and

holy.'

Aliduo labuntur tempora motu Non secus ac flumen. Neque enim confiftere flumen, Nec levis hora potefi : fed ut unda impellitur unda, Urgeturque prior venienti, urget que priorem., Tempora fic fugiunt pariter, pariterque fequuntur ; Et növa sunt semper. Nam quod fuit ante, reli&tam

eft; Fitque quod haud fuerat : momentaque cunéta novontur.

Ovid. Mec. E consider infinite space as an ex

pansion without a circumference : We consider eternity, or infinite duration, as a line that has neither a beginning nor end. In our speculations of infinite' space, we consider that particular place in which we exist, as a kind of center to the whole expansion. In our

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