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Particularly, in Verf. 18, and fo for Four Verses together, he fets forth the Astonishing Manner wherein the Law was delivered: From a Mount that indeed might be Touch'd or Felt, (nagwuive) In its own Nature, it was, as any other Bodies, an Object of Feeling; but yet it Burned with Fire, and was declared at that time fo Holy, that it might not be Touched for If so much as a Beaft touch it (Olyn, by actual Contact preffed it ) Exod. XIX. the Beaft fhould be ftoned, or thrust through with 12, 13. a Dart. And, to inhance the Dreadfulness of all, while the Law was about to be delivered, and in the very Delivery of it, Blacknefs and Darkness, fays our Author, Thundering and Lightning, and a thick Cloud, fays Mofes, were upon the Mount. And from thence the Sound of a Trumpet, and the Voice Verse 16, of Words, which they that heard, intreated that the Word should not be spoken to them any more, for they could not indure that which was Commanded. So terrifying a Scene was the Promulgation of the Law on Mount Sinai.

.. Then, on the other hand, in Three Verfes (viz. 22, 23, 24.) he represents the Nature of our Calling under the Gospel. Te are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the City of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerufalem; to an innumerable Company of Angels; to the General Affembly and Church of the Firft-born, which are written in Heaven; and to the God the Judge of All; and to the Spirits of Fuft Men made perfect; and to Jefus the Mediator of the New Covenant; and to the Blood of Sprinkling, that

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Speakers

Luke XVI. 26.

Speaketh better things than that of Abel. All thefe Glorious Eminencies of the Evangelical State, above the Law, are verified to Christian People, even in the prefent Mortal Life; for herein are we initiated and incorporated into the City of the Living God, which is his Church, the Spiritual Mount Sion. Herein we have the Knowledge of an unfeen World, wherein, we are taught, are an Innumerable Company of Angels: And both They have more Communion with Us, and confequently We with Them, than we are aware of. Herein are we affured, That the Souls of Saints departed, are in a Paradifical State above; That the Spirits of Fuft Men made perfect, are one Part of the Heavenly Inhabitants.

But much more will all these things be ve rified to us, and in us, when we our felves fhall have thot the great Gulf, and be tranfported into that World of Bleffed Spirits. And with regard to this latter Condition, which we hope for, fhall I take these Words, and conclude thence this Propofition,

It will be one Branch and Advantage of our Felicity in Heaven, that we shall there enjoy the Society of the Spirits of Juft Men made perfect.

For opening and making Good hereof, there are Two Points neceffary to be stated, or Two Difficulties to be refolved.

1. What Perfection the Spirits of Fust Men, while feparated from their Bodies, may be conceived to attain to.

II. What

II. What Happiness their Society can be there to us, their Chriftian Brethren, when gathered to them.

As to the First of these, What Perfection the Spirits of Just Men, while feparated from the Body, may be conceived to attain to. This may be refolved in Three Particulars.

I. It is one Step to Perfection, that in that Separate Eftate, the Spirits are ftript of all the Impediments and Disturbances of their Perfection. Diverse of these, our Souls are here encompaffed with, as long as they inhabit these Houfes of Clay, which we call our Bodies. Such are,

I. All finful Infirmities. The Hearts of none of the Saints, in the prefent Eftate, are fo purged, but fome Remains of Corrupti on fecretly lurk in them, or cleave to them. Poffibly, fome unhappy Propenfities to certain Sins; fome Eafinefs or Aptnefs to yield to fundry Temptations, fome Vanity or Levity of Mind: If none of thefe, yet at least fomething of Affection to the Things that are feen; fome Averfation and Loathness to be turned Naked into an unknown World, and Entertained with none but Invisible and Intellectual Objects. Nothing is there, in the Separate Eftate, expected, or to come from Senfe, from which notwithstanding, here we have been accustomed to take in most of our Comforts. This kind of abstract and stript Condition, Flesh and Blood is fomewhat fearful to enter into. But from this, a

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mongst other Infirmities, the firft Step into the unfeen World, delivers us. As foon as we are there, and during the Separate Eftate, farewel all Infirmities, of or from Sense; for farewel Senfe it felf, all its Organs being laid afide for that Prefent Eftate.

A fecond fort of Hinderances to Perfection, are Penal Infirmities; all fuch bodily Infelicities, which befal us as the Punishment of our Sins; Faintnefs, Feeblenefs, Decay of Spirits, Pains, Difeafes, and other Indifpofitions, by which the Body becomes unfit and unable to hold pace with the Soul, or to ferve and concur in its Actions. Oftentimes a Man cannot eat a Meal, but he is unfit for the Duties of his common or Chriftian Calling.

The supplying the Neceffities of Nature, (Animam quoque prægravat

Atque affigit humi Divine particulam aura.) Loads the Soul, and fastens to Earth that part of the Divine Nature. Not to mention here the Perplexities of Mens particular Affairs; our almoft incredible Croffing and Thwarting one another, and diverfe otherways preying mutually upon Time and Life, and wafting one anothers good Hours. Verily the Impediments of Perfection, which arife from our outward Circumftances, Conditions, and both lawful and neceffary Employments of Life, are almost innumerable But of thefe, the separate State rids us also Yea, and of a more troublesom fort of Evils which (however Spiritual) we may justly, reckon

reckon amongst the Penal Infirmities of our Mortal State; namely, Doubts and Fears, both as to our present and future Condition. We fee not in our felves perhaps, that Sanctity we defire; we feel not always that Strength of Faith, that Warmth of Love, that Affurance of Hope, with which we remember God fometimes to have favoured us. On the contrary, we find a great Dulness on our Spirits, which we are apt to account Hardness of Heart; and we cannot mourn with fuch Tenderness over our Sins, as we have done. Hereupon we doubt of the Sincerity or Sufficiency of our Repentance: We fear our felves to be of the Number of those Temporary Profelytes, whom our Lord defigned by the Stony Ground (Matth. 13.) fuch who believe and rejoyce in Hope, only for a time. Again, revolving in our Minds our former Falls, and the Strength of our Corruptions ftill, we arei apt to entertain fuch Melancholly and Defponding Thoughts in Spirituals, as were thofe of David's in another Cafe, I fhall one day perish by the Hand of Saul. These are Grounds of great Sadnefs and Sore lets to Christian Perfection. But when once Christ fhall have deliver'd us from the Burden of Corruption, we fhall immediately find our felves at Eafe and Reft, in a State of Safety and Security from all Dangers, and past not only finning, but the Fear of it. All these, and any other like molesting Anxieties, the separate Eftate fets us above.

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