THE PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE. 



rious in the economy of human redemption ; and, 

 if what has been now said be admitted, it will 

 follow that such mysteries, considered merely as 

 incomprehensible realities, could not afford a 

 rapturous train of thought to entertain the mind 

 throughout the ages of eternity. It is definite 

 and tangible objects, and not abstract mysteries, 

 that constitute the proper subject of contempla 

 tion to a rational mind. Fur although we were 

 to ponder on what is incomprehensible, such as 

 the eternity of God, for millions of years, we 

 should be as far from comprehending it, or acqui 

 ring any new ideas respecting it, at the end of 

 such a period, as at the present moment. 



In the next place, redemption may be consi 

 dered in reference to the important/acte connect 

 ed with it, in which point of view, chiefly, it be 

 comes a tangible object for the exercise of the 

 moral and intellectual powers of man .These 

 facts relate either to the &quot; man Christ Jesus, the 

 Mediator between God and man,&quot; or to the 

 saints whose redemption he procured. The 

 general facts which relate to Christ, while he 

 sojourned in our world, are recorded in ihe New 

 Testament by the Evangelists. These compre 

 hend his miraculous conception, and the circum 

 stances which attended his birlh ; his private 

 residence in Nazareth; his journies as a public 

 teacher through the land of Judea ; his miracles, 

 sufferings, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension 

 to heaven. There is doubtless a variety of inter 

 esting facts, besides those recorded in the Gos 

 pels, with which it would be highly gratifying to 

 become acquainted : such as, the manner in which 

 he spent his life, from the period of the first dawn- 

 ings of reason, to the time of his commencing his 

 public administrations the various trains of 

 thought that passed through his mind the men 

 tal and corporeal exercises in which he engaged 

 the social intercourses in which he mingled 

 the topics of conversation he suggested the 

 amusements (if any) in which he indulged the 

 pious exercises and sublime contemplations in 

 which he engaged, when retired from the haunts 

 and the society of men ; and particularly those 

 grand and important transactions in which he 

 has been employed, since that moment when 

 a cloud interposed between his glo -jfied body, 

 and the eyes of his disciples, aftei his ascent 

 from Mount Olivet What regions of the mate 

 rial universe he passed through in his triumphant 

 ascent what intelligence of his achievements he 

 conveyed to other worlds what portion of the 

 immensity of space, or what globe or material 

 fabric is the scene of his more immediate resi- 

 dence-^-what are the external splendours and pe 

 culiarities of that glorious world what inter 

 course he has with the spirits of just men made 

 perfect; with Enoch and Elijah, who are already 

 furnished with bodies, and with other orders of 

 celestial intelligences what scenes and move 

 ments will take place in that world, when ho is 



about to return to our terrestrial sphere, to sum 

 mon all the tribes of men to the general judg 

 ment? The facts in relation to these, and simi 

 lar circumstances, still remain to be disclosed, 

 and the future details which may be given oi 

 such interesting particulars, cannot fail to be 

 highly gratifying to every one of the &quot; redeemed 

 from among men.&quot; But still, it must be admit 

 ted, that although the details respecting each of 

 the facts to which I allude, were to occupy the 

 period of a thousand years, the subject would 

 soon be exhausted, if other events and circum 

 stances, and another train of divine dispensations 

 were not at the same time presented to view; 

 and the future periods of eternal duration would 

 be destitute of that variety and novelty of pros 

 pect which are requisite to secure perpetual en 

 joyment. 



The other class of facts relates to the redeem 

 ed themselves, and comprehends those diversified 

 circumstances in the course of providence, by 

 means of which they were brought to the know 

 ledge of salvation, and conducted through the 

 scenes of mortality to the enjoyment of endless 

 felicity. These will, no doubt, afford topics of 

 interesting discourse, to diversify and enliven 

 the exercises of the saints in heaven. But the 

 remark now made in reference to the other facts 

 alluded to above, is equally applicable here. 

 The series of divine dispensations towards every 

 individual, though different in a few subordin 

 ate particulars, partakes of the same character, 

 and wears the same general aspect. But although 

 the dispensations of Providence towards every 

 one of the redeemed were as different from ano 

 ther as it is possible to conceive, ar.d although a 

 hundred years were devoted to the details fur 

 nished by every saint, eternity would not be ex 

 hausted by such themes alone. 



Again, it, has been frequently asserted, that 

 the saints in heaven will enjoy perpetual rapture 

 in continually ga/ing on the glorified humanity 

 of Christ Jesus. The descriptions sometimes 

 given of this circumstance, convey the idea of a 

 vast concourse of spectators gazing upon a re 

 splendent figure placed upon an eminence in the 

 midst of them, which, surely, must convey a very 

 imperfect and distorted idea of the sublime employ 

 ments of the saints in light. The august splen 

 dours of the &quot; man Christ Jesus,&quot; the exalted 

 station he holds in the upper world, the occasion 

 al intercourse which all his saints will hold with 

 him, the lectures on the plans and operations ot 

 Deity with which he may entertain them the 

 splendid scenes to which he may guide them 

 and many other circumstances will excite 

 the most rapturous admiration of Him who is 

 &quot; the brightness of the Father s glory.&quot; But, 

 since the glorified body of Christ is a material 

 substance, and, consequently, limited to a certain 

 portion of space, it cannot be supposed to be a.. 

 all times within the view of every inhabitant et 



