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SE$M.
XÌI.7
THE SCALE
OF
BLESSEDRE$S.
111
Lord,
as
it
is
expressed metaphorically,
Rev.
vii. 15.
though
in
trùth
there is
no
night there
;
for they who
dwell with
God,
dwell in
light
everlasting: They
ap-
proach
to
their
Maker
in most
pleasurable
acts
of wor-
ship,
without any
interposing
cloud
to
hide
his
face
from
them,
without
clogs
and fetters
to
hold them
at a
distance,
without
wanderings,
without
sins,
and
without
temptations.
O blessed
state
!
.O
glorious
felicity
!
They behold the
beauty
of
the
Lord, transported
in
divine
contemplation,
infinitely
various and. immortal. They
feed
upon
his
goodness
with
all
the
raptures of
refined
love,
and
are'
held
in
long ecstasy
under
the
permanent
sensations
of
the
love
of
God.
Yet
in this
state
of
perfect
glory,
there are doubtless
some
different degrees
of
nearness to
God,
and conse-
quently there are
different
ranks
and
orders
of
blessed
spirits.
This
is
evident amongst
the
angels beyond all
contradiction:
for
though
all
of
them behold the face
of
God
continually,
Mat.
xviii.
10.
yet Gabriel
seems
to
be
a
favourite
angel,
standing
in
the presence
of
God,;
and employed
in
the noblest
errands
to men,
Luke
i.
lg,
And
we
read of
seraphs and cherubs, angels
and arch-
angels,
thrones, dominions, and
principálities;
.
which
plainly exhibits
to
us
a
celestial hierarchy, or
superior
and subordinate ranks
of
glory and power.
And
why may
it
not
be
so
amongst
the
saints
on high,
those
sons
of
Adam who
are made
like to angels
?
They
are
so
many
stars
that
shine
with
various
degrees
of
splendor,
as
they are placed nearer
to
the
Sun
of Right-
eousness,
and receive and
reflect more
of
his beams.
I.
might multiply arguments
on this head,
but
I
shall
at
present
ask only these
two
or
three convincing ques-
tions.
Can
we
ever
imagine
-
that
Moses
the
meek,
the friend
of
God,
who
was,
as
it were,
his
confidant
on
earth,
his
faithful
prophet
to
institute
a new
religion, and establish
a new
church
in the world
;
who,
for
God's
sake,
en-
dured
forty years
of
banishment,
and had
forty years
fatigue
in
a wilderness;
who
saw
God
on
earth'
face to
face,,
and
the shine
was
left upon
his
countenance
:
Can
we
suppose
that
this man has
taken
his
seat
no
nearer
to
God
in
paradise, than
Sampson
and Jepthah,
those
P