"Heaven is the habitation of the Divinity whom they worship.

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As in Solomon's temple there was the • Sanctum Sanctorum, in which a visible glory appeared among the figures of the cherubim, and into which none but the high-prieft himfelf was permitted to enter, after having made an atonement for the fins of the people; so if we confider the whole creation as one great temple, there is in it this Holy of Holies, into which the High-priest of our falvation entered, and took his place among angels and archangels, after having made a propitiation for the fins of mankind.

• With how much fkill muft the throne of GOD be erected! with what glorious defigns is that habitation beautified, which is con⚫trived and built by him who infpired Hiram ⚫ with wifdom! how great must be the majefty of that place, where the whole art of creation has been employed, and where GoD has chofen to fhew himfelf in the most magnificent manner! What must be the archi'tecture of infinite power under the direction of infinite wifdom? A fpirit cannot but be tranfported after an ineffable manner with the fight of thofe objects, which were made to affect him by that Being who knows the in⚫ward frame of a foul, and how to please and • ravish it in all its moft fecret powers and faculties. It is to this majestic prefence of GoD we may apply thofe beautiful expreffions in holy

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holy writ: Behold even to the moon, and "it fhineth not; yea the ftars are not pure in "his fight.' The light of the fun, and all the glories of the world in which we live, are 'but as weak and fickly glimmerings, or rather darkness itself, in comparison of thofe fplen'dours which encompass the throne of God.

As the glory of this place is tranfcendent beyond imagination, fo probably is the extent of it. There is light behind light, and glory within glory. How far that fpace may. reach, in which God thus appears in perfect • majesty, we cannot poffibly conceive. Though it is not infinite, it may be indefinite: and, though not immeasureable in itself, it may be • fo with regard to any created eye or imagination. If he has made thefe lower regions ⚫ of matter fo inconceivably wide and magnifi'cent for the habitation of mortal and perishable beings, how great may we fuppofe the courts of his houfe to be, where he makes • his refidence in a more especial manner, and displays himself in the fulness of his glory, among an innumerable company of angels and fpirits of just men made perfect?

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This is certain, that our imaginations can⚫ not be raised too high when we think on a ❝ place where omnipotence and omniscience have fo fignally exerted themselves, because that they are able to produce a scene infinitely more great and glorious than what we are able to imagine. It is not impoffible but at the confummation of K 4

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all things thefe outward apartments of nature, which are now fuited to thofe beings who inhabit them, may be taken in and added to that glorious place of which I am here speaking, and by that means made a proper habitation for beings who are exempt from mortality, and ⚫ cleared of their imperfections: for fo the Scripture feems to intimate when it speaks of "new "heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth "righteouinefs."

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I have only confidered this glorious place with regard to the fight and imagination, though it is highly probable that our other fenfes may here likewife enjoy their highest gratifications. There is nothing which more ravishes and tranfports the foul than harmony; and we have great reafon to believe, from the defcriptions of this place in holy Scripture, that this is one of the entertainments of it. And • if the foul of man can be fo wonderfully affected with thofe ftrains of mufic which human art is capable of producing, how much more will it be raised and elevated by those in which is exerted the whole power of harmony! The fenfes are faculties of the human foul, though they cannot be employed, during this our vital union, without proper inftruments in the body. Why therefore fhould we exclude the fatiffaction of theie faculties, which we find by experience are inlets of great pleasure to the foul, • from among thofe entertainments which are to make up our happiness hereafter? Why 'fhould we fuppofe that our hearing and feeing • will

' will not be gratified with those objects which ' are most agreeable to them, and which they 'cannot meet with in thefe lower regions of nature; objects, "which neither eye hath

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feen, nor ear heard, nor can it enter into the "heart of man to conceive? I knew a man in "Chrift" (fays St. Paul, fpeaking of himself) "above fourteen years ago (whether in the "body, I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth) fuch an

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one caught up to the third heaven. And I "knew fuch a man (whether in the body or out "of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth) "how that he was caught up into Paradife, and "heard unfpeakable words, which it is not pof"fible for a man to 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 impoffible to exprefs it in 'fuch words as might convey a notion of it to his hearers.

It is very natural for us to take delight in inquiries concerning any foreign country, where we are fome 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 ufeful curiofity, to get what informations we can of it, whilft we make ufe of revelation for our guide. When these everlasting doors fhall be open to us, we may be fure that the pleafures and beauties of this place will infinitely ⚫ tranfcend our prefent hopes and expectations, and that the glorious appearance of the throne

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• of God will rise infinitely beyond whatever we ⚫ are able to conceive of it. We might here ⚫ entertain ourselves with many other fpeculations on this fubject, from those feveral hints which we find of it in the holy Scriptures; as, • whether there may not be different manfions • and apartments of glory to beings of different natures; whether, as they excel one another • in perfection, they are not admitted nearer to the throne of the Almighty, and enjoy greater • manifeftations of his prefence; whether there 6 are not folemn times and occafions, when all ⚫ the multitude of Heaven celebrate the prefence ⚫ of their Maker in more extraordinary forms of praise and adoration; as Adam, though he • had continued in a ftate of innocence, would, in the opinion of our divines, have kept holy the Sabbath-day in a more particular manner than any other of the feven. These, and the like fpeculations, we may very innocently indulge, fo long as we make use of them to infpire us with a defire of becoming inhabitants • of this delightful place.

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I have in this, and in two foregoing letters, • treated on the most serious subject that can employ the mind of man, the Omnipresence of the DEITY; a fubject which, if poflible, 'fhould never depart from our meditations. We have confidered the Divine BEING, as HE inhabits infinitude, as He dwells among his works, as He is prefent to the mind of man, and as He difcovers himself in a more