WORK OF REDEMPTION. 



85 



frequently declaied, that &quot;they could feel no 

 pleasure in being suspended for ever in an ethe 

 real region, and perpetually singing psalms and 

 hymns to the Eternal &quot; an idea of heaven which 

 is too frequently conveyed, by the vague and 

 distorted descriptions which have been given of 

 the exercises and entertainments of the future 

 world. 



There is an intimate connection between the 

 word and the works of God : they reflect a mutual 

 lustre on each other ; and the discoveries made 

 in the latter, are calculated to expand our con 

 ceptions and to direct our views, of the revela 

 tions contained in the former. Without taking 

 into account the sublime manifestations of the 

 Deity, exhibited in his visible creation, our ideas 

 of celestial bliss must be very vague and confu 

 sed, and our hopes of full and perpetual enjoyment 

 in the future state, extremely feeble and languid. 

 From the very constitution of the human mind, 

 it appears, that in order to enjoy uninterrupted 

 happiness,- without satiety or disgust, it is requi 

 site that new objects and new trains of thought 

 be continually opening to view. A perpetual re 

 currence of the same objects and perceptions, 

 however sublime in themselves, and however in 

 teresting and delightful they may have been felt 

 at one period, cannot afford uninterrupted grati 

 fication to minds endowed with capacious powers, 

 and capable of ranging through the depths of 

 immensity. But all the objects in this sublunary 

 world and its environs, and all the events record 

 ed in sacred and profane history, are not suffi 

 cient to occupy the expansive minds of renovated 

 intelligences for a million of ages, much less 

 throughout an endless duration of existence. A 

 series of objects and of moral dispensations, 

 more extensive than those immediately connect 

 ed with the globe we inhabit, must, therefore, 

 be supposed to engage the attention of &quot;the 

 spirits of just men made perfect,&quot; during the re 

 volutions of eternal ages ; in order that their fa 

 culties may be gratified and expanded that new 

 views of the divine character may bo unfolded 

 and that in the contemplation of his perfections, 

 they may enjoy a perpetuity of bliss. 



It has been, indeed, asserted by some, that 

 &quot; the mysteries of redemption will be sufficient 

 to afford scope for the delightful investigation of 

 the saints to all eternity.&quot; It is readily admitted, 

 that contemplations of the divine perfections, as 

 displayed in human redemption, and of the stu 

 pendous facts which relate to that economy, will 

 blend themselves with all the other exercises of 

 redeemed intelligences. While their intellectual 

 faculties are taking the most extensive range 

 through the dominions of Him who sits upon the 

 throne of universal nature, they will never forget 

 that love &quot; which brought them from darkness to 

 light,&quot; and from the depths of misery to the 

 uplendours of eternal day. Their grateful and 

 Tiumphant praises will ascend to the Father of 



glory, and to the Lamb who was slain, for ever 

 and ever. But, at the same time, the range o 

 objects comprised within the scheme of redemp 

 tion, in its reference to human beings, cannot be 

 supposed, without the aid of other objects of con 

 templation, to afford full and uninterrupted scopa 

 to (he faculties of the saints in heaven, through 

 out an unlimited duration. This will appear, if 

 we endeavour to analyze some of the objects 

 presented to our view in the economy of re 

 demption. 



In the first place, it may be noticed, that a 

 veil of mystery surrounds several parts of the 

 plan of redemption. &quot; God manifested in the 

 flesh,&quot; the intimate union of the eternal self- 

 existent Deity with the man Christ Jesus,&quot; 

 is a mystery impenetrable to finite minds. But 

 the eternity, the omnipresence, and the om 

 niscience of the Deity, are equally mysterious ; 

 for they are equally incomprehensible, and must 

 for ever remain incomprehensible to all limited 

 intelligences. It is equally incomprehensible, 

 that a sensitive being should exist, furnished with 

 all the organs and functions requisite for animal 

 life, and yet of a size ten thousand times less 

 than a mite. These are facts which must be 

 admitted on the evidence of sense and of reason, 

 but they lie altogether beyond the sphere of our 

 comprehension. Now, an object which involves 

 a mystery cannot be supposed to exercise and 

 entertain the mind through eternity, considered 

 simply as incomprehensible, without being asso 

 ciated with other objects which lie within the 

 range of finite comprehension ; otherwise, re 

 flections on the eternity and omnipresence of 

 God, considered purely as abstractions of the 

 mind, might gratify the intellectual faculties, in 

 the future world, in as high a degree as anj 

 thing that is mysterious in the scheme of re 

 demption. But it is quite evident, that perpe 

 tual reflection on infinite space and eternal dura 

 tion, abstractly considered, cannot produce a 

 very high degree of mental enjoyment, unless 

 when considered in their relation to objects more 

 definite and comprehensible. Such contempla 

 tions, however, will, doubtless, be mingled with 

 all the other views and investigations of the saints 

 in the heavenly world. In proportion as they 

 advance through myriads of ages in the course v* 

 unlimited duration, and in proportion to the en 

 larged views they will acquire, of the distances 

 and magnitudes of the numerous bodies which 

 diversify the regions of the universe, their ideas 

 of infinite space, and of eternal duration, will be 

 greatly expanded. For we can acquire ideas of 

 the extent of space, only by comparing the dis 

 tances and bulks of material objects with one 

 another, and of duration by the trains of thoug u, 

 derived 1 from sensible objects, which pass through 

 our minds, and, from the periodical revolution* 

 of material objects around us. The same things 

 may be affirmed in relation to all that is mysto- 



