A VISION HEY must be much taken up with the satisfaction of what they are already, that never spare their thoughts upon the subject of what they shall be. T The place, the company, the employment which we expect to know so much of hereafter, must certainly be well worth our while to inquire after here. up, I believe the main interruptions which have been given to these inquiries, and perhaps the reason why those that have entered into them have given them and those who have not entered into them have satisfied themselves in the utter neglect, have been the wild chimeric notions, enthusiastic dreams, and unsatisfying ideas, which most of the conceptions of men have led them into about these things. As I endeavour to conceive justly of these things, I shall likewise endeavour to reason upon them clearly, and, if possible, convey some such ideas of the invisible world to the thoughts of men as may not be confused and indigested, and so leave them darker than I find them. The locality of heaven or hell is no part of my search; there is doubtless a place reserved for the reception of our souls after death; as there is a state of being for material substances, so there must be a place; if we are to be, we must have a where ; the Scripture supports reason in it—Judas is gone to his place; Dives in hell lifted up his eyes, and saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom: the locality of bliss and misery seems to be positively asserted in both cases. But there is not so clear a view of the company as of the place; it is not so easy to inquire into the world of spirits, as it is evident that there are such spirits and such a world. We find the locality of it is natural, but who the inhabitants are is a search of still a sublimer nature, liable to more exception, encumbered with more difficulties, and exposed to much more uncertainty. I shall endeavour to clear up as much of it as I can, and intimate most willingly how much I rejoice in the expectation that some other inquirers may go farther, till at last all that Providence has thought fit to discover of that part may be perfectly known. The discoveries in the Scripture which lead to this are innumerable, but the positive declaration of it seems to be declined. When our Saviour walking on the sea frighted His disciples, and they cried out, what do we find terrified them? Truly they thought they had seen a spirit. One would have thought such men as they, who had the vision of God manifest in the flesh, should not have been so much surprised if they had seen a spirit, that is to say, seen an apparition, for to see a spirit seems to be an allusion, not an expression to be used literally, a spirit being not visible by the organ of human sight. If it had been But what if it had been a spirit? a good spirit, what had they to fear? And if a bad spirit, what would crying out have assisted them? When people cry out in such cases, it is either for help, and then they cry to others; or for mercy, and then they cry to the subject of their terror to spare them. Either way it was either the foolishest or |