SERMON CXIX.

ON FAITH.

"Now faith is the evidence of things not seen."—HEB. xi. 1.

1. MANY times have I thought, many times have I spoke, many times have I wrote, upon these words; and yet there appears to be a depth in them which I am in nowise able to fathom. Faith is, in one sense of the word, a divine conviction of God and of the things of God; in another, (nearly related to, yet not altogether the same,) it is a divine conviction of the invisible and eternal world. In this sense I would now consider,—

2. I am now an immortal spirit, strangely connected with a little portion of earth; but this is only for a while: in a short time I am to quit this tenement of clay, and to remove into another state,

"Which the living know not,

And the dead cannot, or they may not, tell!" What kind of existence shall I then enter upon, when my spirit has launched out of the body? How shall I feel myself,-perceive my own being? How shall I discern the things that are round about me, either material or spiritual objects? When my eyes no longer transmit the rays of light, how will the naked spirit see? When the organs of hearing are mouldered into dust, in what manner shall I hear? When the brain is of no further use, what means of thinking shall I have? When my whole body is dissolved into senseless earth, what means shall I have of gaining knowledge?

3. How strange, how incomprehensible, are the means whereby I shall then take knowledge even of the material world! Will things appear then as they do now,-of the same size, shape, and colour? Or will they be

altered in any, or all these respects? How will the sun, moon, and stars appear? the sublunary heavens? the planetary heavens? the region of the fixed stars ?-how the fields of ether, which we may conceive to be millions of miles beyond them? Of all this we know nothing yet: and, indeed, we need to know nothing.

4. What then can we know of those innumerable objects which properly belong to the invisible world; which mortal "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into our hearts to conceive!" What a scene will then be opened, when the regions of hades are displayed without a covering! Our English translators seem to have been much at a loss for a word to render this. Indeed, two hundred years ago, it was tolerably expressed by the word hell, which then signified much the same with the word hades, namely, the invisible world. Accordingly, by Christ descending into hell, they meant, his body remained in the grave, his soul remained in hades, (which is the receptacle of separate spirits,) from death to the resurrection. Here we cannot doubt but the spirits of the righteous are inexpressibly happy. They are, as St. Paul expresses it, "with the Lord;" favoured with so intimate a communion with him, as "is far better" than whatever the chief of the apostles experienced while in this world. On the other hand, we learn from our Lord's own account of Dives and Lazarus, that the rich man, from the moment he left the world, entered into a state of torment. "there is a great gulf fixed" in hades, between the place of the holy and that of unholy spirits, which it is impossible for either the one or the other to pass over. Indeed, a gentleman of great learning, the Honourable Mr. Campbell, in his account of the Middle State, published not many years ago, seems to suppose that wicked souls may amend in hades, and then remove to a happier mansion. He has great hopes that "the rich man," mentioned by our Lord, in particular, might be purified by that penal fire, till, in process of time, he might be qualified for a better abode. But who can reconcile this with Abraham's assertion, that none can pass over the "great gulf ?"

And

5. I cannot therefore but think, that all those who are with the rich man in the unhappy division of hades, will remain there, howling and blaspheming, cursing and looking upwards, till they are cast into "the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." And, on the other hand, can we reasonably doubt but that those who are now in paradise, in Abraham's bosom, all those holy souls who have been discharged from the body, from the beginning of the world unto this day,—will be continually ripening for heaven; will be perpetually holier and happier, till they are received into the "kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world?”

6. But who can inform us, in what part of the universe hades is situated,-this abode of both happy and unhappy spirits, till they are re-united to their bodies? It has not pleased God to reveal any thing concerning it in the holy Scripture; and, consequently, it is not possible for us to form any judgment, or even conjecture, about it. Neither are we informed, how either one or the other are employed, during the time of their abode there. Yet may we not improbably suppose, that the Governor of the world may sometimes permit wicked souls "to do his gloomy errands in the deep;" or, perhaps, in conjunction with evil angels, to inflict vengeance on wicked men? Or will many of them be shut up in chains of darkness, unto the judgment of the great day? In the mean time, may we not probably suppose, that the spirits of the just, though generally lodged in paradise, yet may sometimes, in conjunction with the holy angels, minister to the heirs of salvation? May they not

"Sometimes, on errands of love,

Revisit their brethren below?"

It is a pleasing thought, that some of these human spirits, attending us with, or in the room of, angels, are of the number of those that were dear to us while they were in the body. So that there is no absurdity in the question,—

"Have ye your own flesh forgot,
By a common ransom bought?

Can death's interposing tide

Spirits one in Christ divide?"

But be this as it may, it is certain, human spirits. swiftly increase in knowledge, in holiness, and in happiness; conversing with all the wise and holy souls that lived in all ages and nations from the beginning of the world; with angels and archangels, to whom the children of men are no more than infants; and, above all, with the eternal Son of God, "in whom are hid all the trea sures of wisdom and knowledge." And let it be especially considered, whatever they learn they will retain for ever. For they forget nothing. To forget is only incident to spirits that are clothed with flesh and blood.

7. But how will this material universe appear to a disembodied spirit? Who can tell whether any of these objects that surround us will appear the same as they do now? And if we know so little of these, what can we now know concerning objects of a quite different nature? concerning the spiritual world? It seems it will not be possible for us to discern them at all, till we are furnished with senses of a different nature, which are not yet opened in our souls. These may enable us both to penetrate the inmost substance of things, whereof we now discern only the surface; and to discern innumerable things, of the very existence whereof we have not now the least perception. What astonishing scenes will then discover themselves to our newly-opening senses! Probably fields of ether, not only tenfold, but ten thousand fold, "the length of this terrene.' And with what variety of furniture, animate and inanimate! How many orders of beings, not discovered by organs of flesh and blood! perhaps thrones, dominions, princedoms, virtues, powers!whether of those that retain their first habitations and primeval strength, or of those that, rebelling against their Creator, have been cast out of heaven! And shall not we then, as far as angels ken, survey the bounds of creation, and see every place where the Almighty

"Stopp'd his rapid wheels, and said,

This be thy just circumference, O world?"

Yea, shall we not be able to move, quick as thought, through the wide realms of uncreated night? Above all, the moment we step into eternity, shall we not feel ourselves swallowed up of Him who is in this and every place, who filleth heaven and earth? It is only the veil of flesh and blood which now hinders us from perceiving, that the great Creator cannot but fill the whole immensity of space. He is every moment above us, beneath us, and on every side. Indeed, in this dark abode, this land of shadows, this region of sin and death, the thick cloud which is interposed between conceals him from our sight. But the veil will disappear; and he will appear in unclouded majesty, "God over all, blessed for ever!"

We

8. How variously are the children of men employed in this world! in treading over "the paths they trod six thousand years before!" But who knows how we shall be employed after we enter that invisible world? A little of it we may conceive, and that without any doubt, provided we keep to what God himself has revealed in his word, and what he works in the hearts of his children. Let us consider, first, what may be the employment of unholy spirits from death to the resurrection. cannot doubt but the moment they leave the body, they find themselves surrounded by spirits of their own kind, probably human as well as diabolical. What power God may permit these to exercise over them, we do not distinctly know. But it is not improbable, he may suffer Satan to employ them, as he does his own angels, in inflicting death, or evils of various kinds, on the men that know not God: for this end they may raise storms by sea or by land; they may shoot meteors through the air; they may occasion earthquakes; and, in numberless ways, afflict those whom they are not suffered to destroy. Where they are not permitted to take away life, they may inflict various diseases; and many of these, which we judge to be natural, are undoubtedly diabolical. I believe this is frequently the case with lunatics. It is observable, that many of those mentioned in Scripture, who are called "lunatics" by one of the evangelists,