SEAM. V.1 THE 501VL DRAWING NEAR TO GOO. 81 I. There will be an inward sense of the several glories of God, and suitable exercises of grace in the soul. For when we get near to God, we see him, we are in his presence; he is then, as it were, before the eyes of the soul, even as the soul is at all times before the eyes of God. There will be something of such a spiritual sense of the presence of God, as we shall have when our souls are dismissed from the prison of this flesh, and see him face to face, though in a far less degree : It is something that resembles the future vision of God in the blessed world of spirits; and those souls who have had much intimacy with God in prayer, will tell you that they know, in some measure, what heaven is. The soul, when it gets near to God, even to his seat, beholds se- veral of his glories displayed there ; for it is a seat of majesty, a seat ofjudgment, and a seat of mercy. Under these three characters is the seat ofGod distinguished in scripture ; and because this word is part of my text, I shall therefore a little enlarge upon these heads. When the soul gets near to God, it sees him, 1. As upon aseat of majesty. There he appears to the soul in the first notion of his divinity or godhead, as self-sufficient, and the first of beings : He appears there as the-infinite ocean, the unmeasurable mountain of be- ing, and perfection, and blessedness, and the soul, in a due exercise of grace, shrinks, as it were, into nothing before him, as a drop, or a dust, a mere atom of being. The soul is in its own eyes at that time, what it is always in the eyes of God, as nothing, and less than no- thing and vanity. He appears then in the glory of his all-sufficiente, as an Almighty Creator, giving birth, and life, and being to all things ; and the soul, in a due exercise of grace, stands before him as a dependent creature, receiving all its powers and being from him, supported every moment by him, and ready to sink into utter nothing, if God withdraw that support. Such is God, and such is thé soul, when the soul draws near to God in worship. He appears again upon his seat of majesty as a sove- reign, in the glory of his infinite supremacy, and the soul sees him as the supreme of beings, owns his just sovereignty, and subjects itself afresh, and for ever to his high dominion. O with what- deep humility an¡l VOL. r.
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