ppear to us. We can, nevertheless,
see great wisdom and use in this silence, and in our perfect ignorance
respecting their state.

_It is the arrangement of divine Providence that faith, and not sight,
shall influence our characters and conduct._--It would be inconsistent
with this great law if we should see or hear from the dead.

The object of God, in his dealings with us, is to exalt the Bible as our
instructor. If men were left to visions and voices, in which there is so
much room for mistake and delusion, the confusion of human affairs would
be indescribably dreadful. Every man would have his vision, or his
message, the proof, or the correctness, of which would necessarily be
concealed from others, who might have contrary directions, or
impressions; and human affairs would then be like a sea, in which many
rivers ran across each other.

It would not be safe for departed spirits to be intrusted with the power
of communicating with the living. Though they know far more than we, yet
their information is limited; and, especially, if they should undertake
to counsel us about the future, as they would do in their earnestness to
help us, we can easily see that, being finite as they are, and unable to
look into the future, they might involve us in serious mistakes, either
by their ignorance, or by the contrariety of their information. Far
better is it for man to look only to God, who sees the end from the
beginning, with whom is no variableness, and who is able, as our anxious
friends would not be, to conceal from us the future, or any information
respecting it, which it would be an injury for us to know. Should we be
informed of certain things which will happen to us years hence, either
the expectation of them would engross our attention, and hinder our
usefulness, or the fear of them would paralyze effort, and destroy
health, if not life. Borrowed trouble, even now, constitutes a large
part of our unhappiness; but the certain knowledge of a sorrow
approaching us with unrelenting steps, would spread a pall over every
thing; while prosperity, far in the prospect, would tempt us to forget
our dependence upon God, and would weaken the motives to patient
continuance in well doing for its own sake.

Then, with regard to any assurance which the dead would give us about
truth and duty, we need not their help. For the dead can tell us
substantially no more than we find recorded in the Bible. They would
describe heaven to us,