THOUGHTS UPON FUTURE LIFE.


It is obviously impossible to treat a subject so vast and so
profoundly interesting as this within the limits of a _Parish Paper_,
except in the most cursory and superficial manner. Yet I am induced to
make the attempt, in order, if possible, to impress my readers with
such ideas of our life in heaven as are more in accordance with the
nature of man and the Word of God, than, I am inclined to think,
obtain among many sincere Christians, who accordingly are deprived of
encouragements in duty, comforts in sorrow, and bright hopes to cheer
them amid the world's darkness, which they might otherwise possess.

Let us inquire, then, in what shall consist the believer's happiness
in God's presence.

Now, it will greatly aid us in answering this question regarding our
true life in eternity, if we first consider what constitutes our true
life in time, or what would constitute our perfect happiness now, if
in the full enjoyment of all our mental and bodily powers, and if, in
the best possible circumstances, we perfectly fulfilled upon earth
God's purpose in our creation.

In endeavouring to solve this question, I remark that our perfection
consists in the gratification of every part of our many-sided nature.
Thus, for instance, enjoyment might be derived through our senses,
though the intellect was comparatively weak, and our moral being
depraved; or from the exercise of our intellectual or spiritual
nature, while the body suffered from pain: or delight might be poured