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SERM.
xI.]
THE
FELICITY
OF
CREATVRES.
193
attend
at
that
solemn worship,
is
not
very
necessary to
determine.
Either of
these may
`be
called dwelling
in
the courts of God. But it
is
most
probable,
that
the
sacred
writer
designs
the second
sense
of
the
word,
and
that
he
includes himself
in
the
desire or possession
of
this
blessedness,
though
he was
neither a priest nor
a
levite;
for
he
uses
the same phrase in several places,
and ap-
plies
it
to
himself;
Ps. xxvii.
4.
One
thing
have
I
de-
sired
of
the Lord,
that
will
I
seek
after;
that
I
may
dwell in
the
house
of
the
Lord
all
the
days
of
my
l
/é.
Ps. xxiii.
6.
I
will
dwell
in
the
house
of
the "Lord
for
ever.
By
which
he
intimates,
that
he would seek
the
most
frequent opportunities of approaching God
in
pub-
lic
worship.
It
is
sufficient to
my
present purpose, that
the holy
Psalmist makes the
'blessedness
of
man
to
depend
upon
his
near
approaches
to
God.
Here
we
should remember,
that
God
is
necessarily
near
to
all
his
creatures,
by his
infinite knowledge, by
his
preserving and governing
power: He
is
not
far from
every one
of
us
:
for
in him
we live,
and
move,
and
have
our
being,
Acts
xvii. 27,
28.
But the
privilege which
David
speaks
of
in my
text,
is
a peculiar
approach
of
a
creature
to
God,
which
is
a
fruit
of
divine choice
and
favour.
The
souls
who
enjoy this blessing
are
chosen
to
it,
and
by
divine
providence and mercy are caused to
approach
him.
What further
explication
of
this phrase
is
necessary,
will be
sufficiently given
in
the following
parts of
the discourse.
Let
this
then
be
the
doctrine
which
I
shall
attempt
to
confirm and improve,
viz.
Doctrine. Nearness to
God
is
the foundation
of a
creature's
happiness.
This
may
be
proved
with ease,
if
we
consider, what
it
is
that
makes an
intelligent
being
happy
;
and
how well
such
an
approach
to
God
furnishes
us with all
the means
of
attaining
it.
The
ingredients
of
happiness
are
these three
:
The
contemplation
of
the most
excellent object: The
love
of
the
chiefest good
:
And
a delightful
sense
of
being
be-
loved
by
an
all-
sufficient power,
or
an almighty friend.
I.,
The contemplation
of
the most
excellent
object.
And
he who
is
nearest
to
God,
bas the
fairest advan-
VOL.
Z.
O