trRM. * .j TIIF. SCALE OF BLESST t NESS. 213 the blessedness of the man Christ Jesus in his approach to God. . 1. His veryunion to God is habitual blessedness. He is constituted near to God by an unspeakable union. Whatjoys, what unknown delights above our language, and about our thoughts, possessthe holy soul of the roan Jesus, for he is the nearest creature to the blessed God for he is one with godhead, 'Johan x. 30. Theson of Da- vid, according to the flesh, is joined in a personal union to the eternal God, and thus he is over all, God blessed for evermore, Dorn. ix. 5. There was a time indeed, when the divine nature so far withheld its influences, as to let him 'feel sorrows and sharp agonies, when he carne to make himself a sacrifice for our sins,. and exposed his holy nature to pain and shame: He consented for a season to have God absent, but cried out terribly under the present anguish of it, and shall have no more trials of this kind. Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more, Rom. vi. 9. The man who was born of the virgin, shall now have theeter- nal Son of God for ever manifesting himself in him, and to him, according to this divine union. This is that glorious piece of human nature, that one man, whomGod has chosen, from all the rest of man- kind, to bring so near to himself. This is that flesh, and that soul, which were chosen by God the hather's decree, from among all possible, and all future flesh and souls; to be made for ever míe with God : and they ate for ever one. This wonderous union has, and must have "ever lasting pleasure in it, vastly beyond our nearest unions and approaches to God, even in our most exalted state in grace or, glory. This is an approach toGod indeed, and blessed is the man whom.thomi hast thus chosen, 0 Lord, and thus caused to approach unto thee, that he may dwell, not only in thycourts, but in thy'bosom, in thyself for ever and ever: Blessed is this man, and may he be for ever blessed I* *1 know the wordblessed, when it is applied to God or Christ, gene- rally signifies, that they are the object; of our blessingor praise, and it is thus translated' from the originals, `frin or r horynros:Butin our tongue this word signifies also happy, and the original words +1u1Fi and Moosaptoc, are frequently rendered blessed, to oignifv happiness, as in my text. 'Though, if our translators had always observed the distinction, the pre- cise sense of the original had better apj,eared. P il
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=