to heaven, so it will be longing towards heaven. That which is of a divine original must needs have a divine tendency; that which is of divine extraction, will have in it a divine attraction, and pursue a divine perfection. That divine life and spirit that runs through godly souls, doth awaken and exalt, in some measure, all the powers of them into an active and cheerful sympathy with that absolute Good that renders them completely blessed. Holiness and purity of heart will be attracting God more and more to itself; and the more pure our souls are, and the more separate from earthly things, the more earnestly will they endeavour the nearest union that may be with God; and so, by consequence, methinks they must needs, in some sense, desire the removal of that animal life, and dark body that stands in their way; for they know, that that which now letteth will let, (such is the unchangeable nature of it,) till it be laid in the dust, till it be taken out of the way. The thirsty king did but cry for water of the well of Bethlehem, and his champions broke through the host of the Philistines, and fetched it; and will ye not allow the thirsty soul, if not to break through to fetch it, yet at least to break out into an "Oh that one would give me to drink" of the living water, of the fountain of grace, and peace, and love? Will ye allow hunger to break down stone walls? and will ye neither allow the hungry soul to break down these mud walls, nor to wish within itself that they were broken down? In a word, then, give me leave earnestly to exhort you to an earnest pressing after perfect fruition of, and eternal converse with

God; and, to change the apostle's words, Seeing we are compassed about with so great a divine light, and glory, and brightness, let us be willing and desirous to lay aside this weight of flesh, and this body, that so easily resists us with sins and snares, and run with eagerness to the object that is set before us. me, we will run after thee. Amen, Amen,

Draw

THE

ANGELICAL LIFE.

Are as the angels of God in heaven. -MATTH. xxii. 30.

THE doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the great things of the Christian religion, as they were accounted strange things by all the world when they were first published and preached, so indeed by none less entertained, or rather more opposed, than by the wisest of men living in that age, namely, Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, who were the " disputers of this world," as the apostle's phrase is: a thing of wonderful observation, not only to us in our day, but even to our blessed Lord himself in the days of his flesh, who fetches the cause of it from heaven, and adores the infinite wisdom of God in it-" I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." Amongst other set disputations that the Sadducees held with our Saviour, the one in this chapter is very famous; where they dispute against the resurrection of the

dead, by an absurd argument, grounded upon an instance of a woman that had been married to seven husbands successively. Now, say they, if there be a resurrection, whose wife shall she be then? Our Saviour answers, by destroying the ground of their argument, and showing that they disputed upon a false supposition; for, saith he, "In the resurrection there shall be no marrying; but men shall be as the angels of God." In which words this doctrine is plainly laid down, (for I shall not meddle with the controversy,)

That the glorified saints shall be as the angels of God in heaven. The other evangelists lay down the same truth, see Mark xii. 25. Luke xx. 36. In the explication of which point I will show, I. Negatively, wherein the saints shall not be like the angels. II. Affirmatively, wherein they shall be like unto them, or, as St. Luke hath it, equal to them.

I. Negatively.

1. The glorified saints shall not be like the angels in essence. The angelical essence, and the rational soul are, and shall be different. Souls shall remain souls still, keep their own essence; the essence shall not be changed; souls shall not be changed into angelical essences.

2. They shall not be wholly spirits without bodies, as the angels. The spirits of just men now made perfect, are more like to the angels in this sense than they shall be after the resurrection; for now they are spirits without bodies: but the saints shall have bodies, not such as now, corruptible, not