earth in a measure." "By the word of the Lord "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the Spirit of his mouth.” "He spake, and it was done ;-He commanded, and it stood fast.' "He stretched forth the heavens alone, and bringeth forth their hosts by number." "Lo these are parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him; and the thunder of his power who can understand? Behold the heaven, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him!" "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth forth his handy-work." Thine, O Lord! is the greatness, and the glory, and the majesty, for all in heaven and earth is thine, and thou art exalted above all." "Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's. "" "Jehovah hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all." "I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.” "Blessed be thy glorious name who art exalted above all blessing and praise." "Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, thou preservest them all, and the host of heaven worshippeth thee." "Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? who can show forth all his praise?" "Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out. "He is excellent in power, and his glory is above the earth and heavens."

Such sublime descriptions of the Divine Being, which are interspersed throughout various parts of Revelation, lead us to form the most august conceptions of his creative energy, and plainly indicate, that it is impossible for the highest created intellect to form a more magnificent idea of his designs and operations than what in reality exists.

In short, though some of the preceding views may not precisely correspond to the facts which shall ultimately be found to exist in the universe, -they ought, nevertheless, to be entertained and rendered familiar to the mind, since they open a sublime and interesting train of thinking; and since they cannot go beyond the magnificence of Jehovah's kingdom, nor be very different from what actually exists in the universe. They form a kind of sensible substratum of thought for the mind to fix upon, when it attempts to frame the loftiest conceptions of the object of our adoration. It may be laid down as a principle which ought never to be overlooked in Theology,-that, our conceptions of the grandeur of God are precisely, or, at least, nearly commensurate with our conceptions of the grandeur and extent of his operations throughout the universe. We all admit, that the Deity is infinite, both in respect of space and of duration. But, an infinity of empty space, and an infinity of duration, abstractly considered, convey no precise or tangible ideas to the mind, to guide it in forming distinct conceptions of the Deity or of any other beings. It is only

when the immensity of space is considered as diversified with an immense variety and multiplicity of objects, and when eternal duration is contemplated as connected with a constant succession of glorious scenes and transactions, that the soul of man can expand its views and elevate its conceptions of the incomprehensible Jehovah.

If these sentiments be admitted, it will follow, that the man whose ideas are confined within limits of a few hundred miles, or even within the range of the globe we inhabit, must have his views of Deity confined within nearly the same sphere. For we have no sensible measures of the attributes of God, but those which are derived from the number and extent of his actual operations. When we attempt to think of Him, without the assistance of his visible works, our thoughts instantly run into confusion, and sink into inanity. And, since we find, that the material works of God are so great above all measure," so widely extended, and so magnificent in the scale of their operation, it is of the utmost importance, in a religious point of view, that the mind accustom itself to range at large through the wide extent of creation-to trace, by analogy, from what is known, the probable magnitude, arrangement, and grandeur of what is removed beyond the limits of our vision-to add magnitude to magnitude, system to system, and motion to motion, till our thoughts are overwhelmed with the mighty idea. though we may occasionally frame some erroneous or inadequate notions, when forming our conceptions of certain subordinate particulars, yet, we need not fear, that in point of number, magnitude, and variety, our conceptions can ever go beyond the realities which exist within the range of universal nature, unless we suppose, that "man can conceive beyond what God can do." Such trains of thought will tend to expand and elevate the mind, and give it a sublime turn of thinking; and will naturally produce an ardent desire of beholding a brighter display of the magnificence of the Creator in the eternal world.

And,

From what has been now detailed respecting the numerous and august objects that may be presented to the contemplation of celestial intelligences, we may conclude, that the chief subjects of study in the heavenly world will be History and Philosophy. Under the department of history, may be comprehended all the details which will be exhibited to them respecting the origin, progress, and consummation of the redemption of man, and the information they may receive respecting the natural and moral scenery, and the prominent providential occurrences and arrangements of other worlds.

As it is evident, that matter exists chiefly for the sake of sensitive and intelligent beings, so,

it is highly probable, if not demonstratively certain, that the peopling of worlds with rational creatures is intended chiefly to display the moral character of the Creator in his providential dispensations, and in the whole series of his moral administration towards the numerous worlds and orders of creatures which exist throughout his dominions. All his other perfections, particularly his power and intelligence, appear to be exerted in subserviency to this grand object, and to the distribution of happiness throughout the universe. In so far, then, as the facts respecting his moral government, in other worlds, are made known to the redeemed in heaven, in so far will their views of his moral attributes, and of the principles of his administration in the universe, be enlarged and expanded. In the disclosures which, in the course of ages, may be made on this subject, displays of the eternal righteousness of Jehovah, of his retributive justice, of his " tender mercy," and of his boundless benevolence, may be exhibited, which will astonish and enrapture the mind more highly than even the magnificence and grandeur of his physical operations, and fill it with admiration of the amiable and adorable excellencies of the Sovereign Ruler of the universe. If we account it a pleasant study to investigate the habits and economy of some of the insect tribes ;—if we should reckon it highly gratifying to learn the history of all the events which have befallen every nation and tribe of mankind since the world began, particularly those which relate to our first parents in paradise, and after their expulsion from it,-to the antediluvians, to the ten tribes of Israel, to the Christians in the first centuries, to the Waldenses, to the Assyrians, Babylonians and American Indians,-how delightful and gratifying must it be, to learn the history of angels, principalities and powers, and to become acquainted with the leading transactions which have occurred among beings of a higher order and of different species, dispersed among ten thousands of worlds! Great and marvellous as the history of our world, and of human redemption appears, it may be far surpassed by the events which eternity will unfold. "The day is coming," (to use the words of a celebrated modern writer *) when the whole of this wondrous history shall be looked back upon by the eye of remembrance, and be regarded as one incident in the extended annals of creation, and with all the illustration, and all the glory it has thrown on the character of the Deity, will it be seen as a single step in the evolution of his designs; and as long as the time may appear, from the first act of our redemption to its final accomplishment, and close and exclusive as we may think the attentions of God upon it, it will be ound that it has left him him room enough for

Dr. Chalmers.

all his concerns, and that on the high scale of eternity, it is but one of those passing and ephemeral transactions, which crowd the history of a never-ending administration."

Under the department of Philosophy may be included all those magnificent displays whicn wu} be exhibited of the extent, the magnitude, the motions, the mechanism, the scenery, the inhabitants, and the general constitution of other systems, and the general arrangement and order o: the universal system comprehended under the government of the Almighty. On these topics, with all their subordinate and infinitely diversified ramifications, the minds of redeemed intelligences from this world will find ample scope for the exercise of all their powers, and will derive from their investigations of them perpetual and uninterrupted enjoyment, throughout an endless existence.

That the subjects of contemplation now stated, will, in reality, form the chief employments of renovated men and other intellectual beings, in a future state, may also be proved from the representations given in the word of God of the present exercises of these intelligences. In the book of Revelation, the angels, under the figure of "living creatures full of eyes," and the "el ders," or representatives of the church of the redeemed, are represented as falling down before the throne of the Eternal, saying, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honour, ana power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Here, the material works of God are represented as the foundation or reason of the thanksgiving and adorations of the heavenly host; and the language evidently implies, that these works are the subject of their contemplation-that they have beheld a bright display of divine perfection in their structure and arrangement-that they are enraptured with the enlarged views of the divine glory which these works exhibit-and that their hearts, full of gratitude and admiration, are ever ready to burst forth in ascriptions of" glory, honour, and power to him" who called the vast assemblage of created beings into existence.-In another scene, exhibited in the same book, the saints who had come out of great tribulation, and had gotten the victory over all enemies, are represented with the harps of God in their hands, celebrating the divine praises in this triumphant song, "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty-just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints."-The first part of this song may be considered as the result of their contemplations of the magnificent fabric of the universe, and the omninotent energies which its movements display; and the last part of it as the result of their study and investigation of the moral government of God in his providential arrangements towards men and angels, and towards all the worlds who зe moral economy may be opened

to their view. For the words of the song plainly imply, that they have acquired such an expansive view of the works of God as constrains them to declare, that they are "great and marvellous;" and that they have attained such an intimate knowledge of the divine dispensations towards the intelligent universe, a senables them to perceive that all the ways of the King of heaven are "righteous and true."

From the preecding details we may also learn, what will form one constituent part of the misery of the wicked in the future world. As one part of the happiness of the righteous will consist in seeing God as he is," that is, in beholding the divine glory as displayed in the physical and moral economy of the universe, so, it will, in all probability, form one bitter ingredient in the future lot of the unrighteous, that they shall be deprived of the transporting view of the Creator's glory, as displayed in the magnificent arrangements he has made in the system of nature. Confined to one dreary corner of the universe, surrounded by a dense atmosphere, or a congeries of sable clouds, they will be cut off from all intercourse with the regions of moral perfection, and prevented from contemplating the sublime scenery of the Creator's empire. This idea is corroborated by the declarations of Scripture, where they are represented "as banished from the new Jerusalem," "thrust out into outer darkness," and reserved for "the blackness of darkness for ages of ages." And, nothing can be more tormenting to minds endowed with capacious powers, than the thought of being for ever deprived of the opportunity of exercising them on the glorious objects which they know to exist, but which they can never contemplate, and about which they never expect to hear any transporting information.

If it be one end of future punishment to make wicked men sensible of their folly and ingratitude, and of the mercy and favours they have abused, it is probable, that, in that future world or region to which they shall be confined, every thing will be so arranged, as to bring to their recollec tion, the comforts they had abused, and the divine goodness they had despised, and to make them feel sensations opposite to those which were produced by the benevolent arrangements which exist in the present state. For example, in the present economy of nature, every one of our senses, every part of our bodily structure, every movement of which our animal frame is susceptible, and the influence which the sun, the atmosphere, and other parts of nature, produce on our structure and feelings, have a direct tendency to communicate pleasing sensations. But, in that world, every agency of this kind may be reversed, as to the effect it may produce upon percipient beings. Our sense of touch is at present accompanied with a thousand modifications of

With regard to their moral state, similar effects will be produced. Here, they hated the society of the righteous, and loved to mingle with evil doers in their follies and their crimes; there they will be for ever banished from the company of the wise and the benevolent, and will feel the bitter effects of being perpetually chained to the society of those malignant associates who will be their everlasting tormentors. Here they delighted to give full scope to their depraved appetites and passions, there, they will feel the bitter and horrible effects of the full operation of such lusts and passions, when unrestrained by the dictates of reason, and the authority of the divine law. If, to these sources of sorrow and bitter deprivations, be added the consideration, that, in such minds, the principles of malice, envy, hatred, revenge, and every other element of evil, which pervaded their souls while in this life, will rage without control, we may form such a conception of future misery as will warrant all the metaphorical descriptions of it which are given in Divine Revelation, without supposing any farther interposition of the Deity, in the direct infliction of punishment. While he leaves them simply to "eat of the fruit of their own ways, and to be filled with their own devices," their punishment must be dreadful, and far surpassing every species of misery connected with the present state of the moral world.

On the other hand, a consideration of the infinitely diversified sources of bliss to which our attention has been directed, has a powerful tendency to impress the minds of the saints with a lively perception of the unbounded nature of divine benignity, and of "the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." It is chiefly in connection with such expansive views of the attributes and the government of the Deity, that the love of God towards the redeemed appears "boundless," and "passing comprehension;" for it introduces them into a scene which is not only commensurate with infinite duration, but is boundless in its prospects of knowledge, of feli

The substance of what has been detailed in this department of my subject may be now briefly stated in the following summary:

The redeemed in heaven will enjoy perpetual and uninterrupted felicity—the foundation of this felicity will be laid in their complete freedom from sin, and their attainment of moral perfection-their renovated faculties will be employ ed in contemplating the divine glory-the divine glory consists in the manifestation of the divine perfections-the sensible display of these perfections will be given, (and can only be given) in the works of creation, in the intelligences which people the material world, their orders, gradations, history, and present state-in the variety of scenery which the abodes of intelligence exhibit—in the economy and moral order which prevail among them,—and in the various dispensations of Divine Providence in reference to all worlds and orders of beings.

With regard to the happiness of heaven, the Scriptures convey to us, in general propositions, certain intimations of its nature, qualities, and objects, and of the qualifications which are requisite in order to its enjoyment. The discoveries which science has made in the visible creation form so many illustrations of the scriptural declarations on this subject; and it is undoubtedly our duty to direct our trains of thought, and to expand our conceptions of the felicities of the future world, by every illustrative circumstance which can be traced in the scene of nature which the Almighty has presented to our view. For the word and the works of God must always harmonize, and reflect a mutual lustre on each other. What we find to be actually existing within the visible scene of the universe, can never contradict any of the statements of Revelation; but, on the contrary, must tend to elucidate some one or other of its interesting communications. And since we find, in our survey of the system of nature, an assemblage of astonishing objects which tend to raise our conceptions of the Supreme Being, and of the sublime and diversified nature of future felicity,-it becomes us to prosecute those trains of thought which the analogies of Nature and of Revelation suggest, in order to enlarge the capacities of our minds, to exalt our ideas of celestial bliss, and to prepare us for more expansive and sublime contemplations, in that world where the physical and mo-al obstructions which now impede our progress,

and obscure our intellectual views, shall be com pletely and for ever removed.

From the whole of what we have stated on this department of our subject, we may learn the value of the human soul, and the importance which ought to be attached to our immorta. destination. What a shadow does human life appear when contrasted with the scenes of futurity! What a small point in duration do the revolutions of time present when compared with a boundless eternity! What a limited scene does this world, with all its glories, exhibit, when set in competition with the extent, and the splendours of that empire which stretches out into immensity, and shall endure for ever! And is man to be transported to other regions of the universe, to mingle with the inhabitants of other worlds, and to exist throughout an endless duration? What a noble principle does the human mind appear, when we consider it as qualified to prosecute so many diversified trains of thought, to engage in so sublime investigations, to attain the summit of moral perfection, and to expatiate at large, through the unlimited dominions of the Almighty, while eternal ages are rolling on! How important, then, ought every thing to be considered which is connected with the scene of our eternal destination! If these truths be admitted, reason and common sense declare, that a more interesting and momentous subject cannot possibly occupy the mind of man. It is so profoundly interesting, and connected with so many awful and glorious consequences, that we must be utterly dead to every noble and refined feeling, if we be altogether indifferent about it.

If there were only a bare probability for the opinion, that man is immortal, and that the scenes to which I have alluded might possibly be realized, it ought to stimulate the most anxious inquiries, and awaken all the powers and energies of our souls. For it is both our duty and our highest interest to obtain light and satisfaction, on a point on which our present comfort and our ultimate happiness must depend. But, if the light of nature, and the dictates of revelation both conspire to demonstrate the eternal destiny of mankind, nothing can exceed the folly and the infatuation of those who trifle with their everlasting interests, and even try every scheme, and prosecute every trivial object, that may have a tendency to turn aside their thoughts from this important subject. Yet, how often do we find, in the conduct of the various classes of mankind, the merest trifles set in competition. with the scenes of happiness or of misery that lie beyond the grave. The grovelling pleasures derived from hounding and horse-racing, balls, masquerades, and theatrical amusements; the acquisition of a few paltry pounds or shillings, the rattling of dice, or the shuffling of a pack of

mrds, will absorb the minds of thousands who profess to be rational beings, while they refuse to spend one serious hour in reflecting on the fate of their immortal spirits, when their bodies shall have dropped into the tomb. Nay, such is the indifference, and even antipathy with which this subject is treated by certain classes of society, that it is considered as unfashionable, and in certain cases, would be regarded as a species of insult, to introduce, in conversation, a sentiment or a reflection on the eternal destiny of man. "The carelessness which they betray in a matter which involves their existence, their eternity, their all, (says an energetic French writer) awakes my indignation, rather than my pity. It is astonishing. It is horrifying. It is monstrous. I speak not this from the pious zeal of a blind devotion. On the contrary, I affirm, that self-love, that self-interest, that the simplest light of reason, should inspire these sentiments; and, in fact, for this we need but the perceptions of ordinary men.-It requires but little elevation of soul to discover, that here there is no substantial delight; that our pleasures are but vanity, that the ills of life are innumerable; and that, after all, death, which threatens us every moment, must, in a few years, perhaps in a few days, place us in the eternal condition of happiness, or misery, or nothingness.'

It is, therefore, the imperative duty of every man who makes any pretensions to prudence and rationality, to endeavour to have his mind impressed with a conviction of the reality of a future and invisible world, to consider its importance, and to contemplate, in the light of reason and of revelation, the grand and solemn scenes which it displays. While the least doubt

hovers upon his mind in relation to this subject, he should give himself no rest till it be dispelled. He should explore every avenue where light and information information may be obtained; he should prosecute his researches with the same earnestness and avidity as the miser digs for hidden treasures; and above all things, he should study, with deep attention and humility, the revelation contained in the Holy Scriptures, with earnest prayer to God for light and direction. And if such inquiries be conducted with reverence, with a devotional and contrite spirit, and with perseverance, every doubt and difficulty that may have formerly brooded over his mind will gradually evanish, as the shades of night before the orient "If thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures-then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom, out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall rect thy paths. Then shall thy light break forth in obscurity, and thy darkness shall be as the noon-day."

sun.

In fine, if we are thoroughly convinced of our relation to an eternal world, it will be our constant endeavour to cultivate those heavenly dispositions and virtues, and to prosecute that course of action which will prepare us for the enjoyments of the heavenly state. "For without holiness no man can see the Lord: and we are assured that "no unclean thing can enter the gates of the New Jerusalem," and that neither "thieves, nor extortioners, nor the covetous, nor the effeminate, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor idolaters shall inherit the Kingdom of God.”

THERE is scarcely an individual who admits the doctrine of the immortality of man, who does not indulge a certain degree of hope, that he shall be admitted into a happier world, when his spirit wings its way from this earthly scene. Even the man of the world, the profligate and the debauchee, notwithstanding their consciousness of guilt, and of the opposition of their affections to the Divine Law, and the duties of the Christian life, are frequently found buoying themselves up, in the midst of their unhallowed courses, with the vain expectation, that an All Merciful Creator will not suffer them ultimately to sink into perditior, but will pity their weakness and follies, and receive them, when they die, into the joys of heaven. Such hopes arise from ¡gnorance of the divine character, and of that in

which true happiness consists, and from fallacious views of the exercises of a future state and the nature of its enjoyments. For, in order to enjoy happiness in any state, or in any region of the uni❤ verse, the mind must be imbued with a relish for the society, the contemplations, and the employments peculiar to that region or state, and feel an ardent desire to participate in its enjoyments.

What pleasure would a miser whose mind is wholly absorbed in the acquisition of riches, feel in a world where neither gold nor silver, nor any other object of avarice is to be found? What entertainment would a man whose chief enjoyment consists in hounding, horse-racing, routes, and masquerades, derive in a scene where such amusements are for ever abolished? Could it be supposed that those who now find