196 NEARNESS TO GOD [SEAM. X1. cannot make me completely happy, unless I. am beloved of him also, and unless. I feel that he loves me. Happi- ness requires mutual love. III. The third ingredient therefore of ourfelicity, and that which perfects the blessedness of a creature, is, the delightful sense of the love of an almighty friend. To know, to love, and to be beloved by such a being, must complete our bliss ; one who hath all beauty, and all goodness in himself; one who can free us from every pain, secure us, against every peril,, and confer upon us every pleasure. This is the perfection of our heaven, when all these are enjoyed in a perfect degree, without any alloy. Now such is the state of those who are chosen and caused to approach unto God, so as to know him, and love him; that they have the chiefest advantages to obtain the assurance and taste of his love. The man whom the Psalmist pronounces blessed in my text, hopes for this pleasure in the house of God, that he shall be sa- tisfied with thedivine goodness there. The loving- kindness of .God is life, or something bet- ter than life; Ps. lxiii. 3. and to have a sensation of this loving-kindness, is to feel that I live. To think, to know, and to be assured that I am beloved, by an all - sufficient power, who can do more for me than I can ask or think, in life, and death, and in eternity, and. to have pleasing and spiritual sensations of this shed abroad in the heart ; this raises the christian near to the upper heaven, while he dwells on earth, and he rejoices with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. Some may object here and say, Is it no part of our blessedness then to love the saints, to rejoice in their love, to contemplate the works of God, and his wonders in creation and providence ? Answer, Yes surely; and we have allowed it before ; But when we take true satis- faction in any of these; it is as they proceed fromGod, 'as they relate to God, and lead our souls to centre in him; for God, who is the first cause, must be the last end of all, and no creatures, as divided from him,' can make us either holy or happy. I ' proceed to make some improvement of the few thoughts I have delivered on this subject. I. My first reflection should be upon the scale of blessedness, or the several degrees of felicity that crea-
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