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THE
SCALE'0F
ÉLESSEDNESS.
[SERT.
X!T.
earth, and
to
bring
them down
to
our
ideas
by
material
similitudes
our Lord
Jesus,
who
is-authorized
to
confer
life
and,
joy
on
the
saints,
and through
whom all grace;
glory, and blessedness, are conveyed
to
them,
feels,
and
tastes, and
relishes,
eminently and
in
a
superior
man
-
ner, all the
joy
and the blessedness
that
he
conveys
to
our
souls
;
and
all
better
than
we
can
do,
for
he
is
nearer
the fountain
;
he
takes
a divine and
unknown satisfaction
hi every
blessing which he
communicates
to
us.
Besides
all this,
there are
some
richer
streams
that
terminate and
end
in
hiinsèlf;
the
peculiar
privileges and pleasures
of
the
good man, while
others
flow
through
him, as
the.
head,
down to all
his
members,
and
give him
the first
relish of their
sweetness.
When
Christ,
at
:the
head
of
all the elect saints, shall
at
the great
day draw
near
to
the
Father, and
say,
"
Here
am
I,
and the children thou hast
given
me; those
blessed
ones
whom
thou hast
chosen,
that
they may
approach
unto
thee
-by
me; I
have'
often
approached
to
thee for
them, and
'behold
I
now
approach
with them to
the
courts of
thy
upper
house."
What
.manner
of
joy
and
glory shall this
be
!
Ilow
unspeakably
blessed
is
our Lord
Jesus;
and
we
rejoice with
wonder!
[This sermon
may be divided
here.]
Fifth, or
supreme degree
of
BLESSEDNESS.
V.
Our admiration
may
be
raised yet higher,
if
we
make
one excursion beyond
created nature, and
lift
our
thoughts upward
to
the
blessedness'
of
the
three
glorious
persons
in
the
trinity.*
All
their
infinite and unknown
pleasures are derived
from
their
ineffable
union and
communion
in
one godhead,
their inconceivable
near-
ness
to
each
other
is
the
very
centre
and spring
of
all fe-
licity.
They are inseparably and intimately
one
with
God
;
they
are eternally
one
God, and therefore eter-
nally
blessed
;
3
John
v.
7.
For
there'
are
three
that
bare
record
in
heaven,
the
Father,
the Word,
and
the
Holy
Ghost,
and
these
three
are
one; which
text I
be-
lieve to
be
authentic
and
divine,
and
that
upon
just
rea-
sons,
notwithstanding
all
the
cavils
and criticisms,
that
have_
endeavoured
to
blot it
out
of
the
bible.
Nor
is
their
blessedness,
or their nearness, a dull un-
See
the marginal note toward
the
end ofthis
part
of
the
sermon, p.
221.
4