112 



ON THE GENERAL DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE. 



twoen the ignorant arid vicious, and the en 

 lightened and virtuous inhabitants of the celes 

 tial world. In the next place, a knowledge of 

 the character of God, of his moral dispensa 

 tions, and of his works of creation, must form a 

 preparation for the exercises of the heavenly 

 state ; since these are some of the subjects 

 which occupy the attention of &quot;the innumer- 

 ible company of angels and the spirits of just 

 men made perfect.&quot; But how could we be sup 

 posed to engage in such studies, and to relish 

 such employments, if we remain altogether un 

 acquainted with them till our spirits take their 

 flight from these tabernacles of clay? How 

 could a man whose mind is continually grovelling 

 among the meanest and the most trivial objects, 

 whose soul never rises above the level of his 

 daily labours, which necessity compels him to 

 perform, whose highest gratification is to carouse 

 with his fellows, to rattle a set of dice, or to 

 shuffle a pack of cards, and who is incapable of 

 /prosecuting a train of rational thought how 

 could such a one be supposed qualified for enter 

 ing, with intelligence and delight, into the sub 

 lime investigations, and the lofty contemplations 

 which arrest the attention, and form the chief 

 exercises &quot; of the saints in light?&quot; There is 

 an utter incongruity in the idea, that a rude and 

 ignorant mind could relish the enjoyments of the 

 heavenly world, unless it be enlightened and 

 transformed into the image of its Creator; and 

 we have no warrant from revelation to conclude 

 that such a transformation will be effected, after 

 the spirit has taken its flight to the invisible 

 state. 



Bat it is easy to conceive what transporting 

 pleasures will be felt by an enlightened and 

 virtuous individual when he is ushered into a 

 scene where his prospects will be enlarged, his 

 faculties expanded, and the causes which now 

 obstruct their energies for ever removed. He 

 will feel himself in his native element, will re 

 sume his former investigations on a more en 

 larged scale, and with more vigour and activity, 

 and enjoy the prospect of perpetually advancing 

 from one degree of kn^viedge and felicity to 

 another throughout an interminable succession 

 of existence. Having studied the moral charac 

 ter of God as displayed in his word, and in the 

 dispensations of his providence; having ac 

 quired, after all his researches, only a faint and 

 imperfect glimpse of his moral attributes ; hav 

 ing met with &amp;gt;many difficulties and labyrinths in 

 (ne movements of the divine government which 

 he was altogether unable to unravel, which pro 

 duced an ardent longing after a more enlarged 

 sphere of vision how gratifying to such a mind 

 must it be, to contemplate the divine character 

 in the fulness of its glory, to behold the apparent 

 uiconsistencies of the divine government recon 

 ciled, its intricate mazes unravelled, its wisdom 

 Mid rectitude displayed, and the veil which con 



cealed from mortals the reasons of its procedure 

 for ever withdrawn ! Having taken a cursory 

 survey of the displays of divine wisdom and 

 goodness, in the arrangei-^rit of our sublunary 

 system, and in the construction &amp;lt;if the animal 

 and vegetable tribes with which it is furnished ; 

 having directed his views, by the light of sci 

 ence, to the celestial regions ; having caught a 

 glimpse of the astonishing operations of almighty 

 power in the distant spaces of the firmament; 

 having been overwhelmed with wonder and 

 amazement at the extent and grandeur of the 

 divine empire ; having cast many a longing look 

 towards distant worlds, mingled with many anx 

 ious inquiries into their nature arid destination 

 which lie was unable to resolve, and having felt 

 an ardent desire to learn the history of their 

 population, and to behold the scene of the uni 

 verse a little more unfolded what transporting 

 joys must be felt by such an individual, when 

 he shall enter into a world where &quot; he shall 

 know even as also he is known ;&quot; where the veil 

 which intercepted his view of the wonders of 

 creating power shall be removed ; where the 

 cherubim and the seraphim, who have winged 

 their flight through regions of immensity im 

 passable by mortals, shall rehearse the history 

 of other worlds ; where the sphere of vision will 

 be enlarged, the faculties invigorated, and the 

 glories of divine goodness, wisdom and omnipo 

 tence displayed in all their effulgence ! Having 

 familiarized such objects to his mind, during 

 this first stage of his existence, he will enter on 

 the prosecution of new discoveries of divine 

 perfection, with a renovated holy ardour, of 

 which rude and grovelling minds are incapable, 

 which will fill his soul with extatic rapture 

 even &quot;with joy unspeakable and full of glory.&quot; 

 Let us suppose, for the sake of illustration, 

 two individuals of opposite characters entering 

 the future world at the same time the one rude, 

 ignorant, and vicious, and the other &quot; renewed 

 in the spirit of his mind,&quot; and enlightened with 

 all the knowledge which science and revelation 

 can furnish it is evident, that, although they 

 were both ushered into the same locality, .their 

 state and enjoyments would be altogether diffe 

 rent. The one would sink, as it were, to his 

 natural level, following the principles, propensi 

 ties and passions which he previously indulged ; 

 and, although he were admitted into the society 

 of pure and enlightened spirits, he would remain 

 as a cheerless, insulated wretch, without intel 

 lectual activity, and destitute of enjoyment. 

 Finding no pleasures suited to his benighted 

 mind and his grovelling affections, he would be 

 fain to flee to other regions and to more conge 

 nial associates, as the owl flies from the vocal 

 grove and the society of the feathered choir, and 

 prefers the shades of night to the beams of day. 

 Like this gloomy bird, which delignts in obscure 

 retreats and rugged ruins, and has no relish foi 



