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.21.8
THE
SCALE OF BLESSEDNESS.
[SEEM.
XIi,
May
we
not therefore
suppose the
blessedness
of
the
sacred Three
to consist
also in
mutual
love? May
I
call
it
a
perpetual
delightful tendency, and active pro-
pensity toward
each other?
An
eternal approach
to
each
other
with infinite
complacency
?
An
eternal
em-
brace
of
each
other
with
arms
of
inimitable
love,
and
with sensations
of unmeasurable joy
?
Thus
saith the
Son
of
God under
the
character
divine
wisdotn,
Prov.
viii. 23, 30.
I
was
set
up
from
everlasting,
from
the
beginning,
or
ever the
earth
was.
Then
was
I
by
him
as
one
brought
up
with
him,
and
I
was
daily
his
delight,
rejoicing always before
him.
As
the
Father
loveth
the
Son, so
the
Son
loveth
the-
Father.
As
the
Father' de-
lights infinitely
in
his
perfect
image,
so
may
we
not ven-
ture
to
say,
the
Son
takes infinite delight
in
the glorious
archetype, and thus imitates the
Father
?
Will .lot
the
expressions
of
the
apostle Paul
;
Heb.
i.
3.
and
the words
of
Christ himself;
John
v.
19,
20.
encourage and sup-
port
this
manner
of
speaking?
Ile
is
the brightness
of
his
Father's
glory,
and
the express image
of
his
person:
The
Father
loveth the
Son,
and sheweth
him all
things
that
himself
doeth;
and what things soever
he
seeth the
Father
do,
these also doth the
Son likewise.
And this
seems.
to
be
the
first
foundation
of
those
glorious
offices
of
raising the
dead, and
judging
the world, which in
the following verses
are committed
to
the
Son,
that
all
men
may
honour
the
Son as
they
honour
the
Father,
ver.
2
3.
As
the
blessed
Three
have an unknown communion
in
the godhead, or
divine
nature,
so
they
must
have
an un-
speakable nearness to one another's persons, an incon-
ceivable
in
-being and in-
dwelling
in
each other.
John
xiv.
10.
I
in
the
Father,
and the
Father
in me.
Each
is
,near
to the
two
other
divine subsistences, and this
mutual nearness must
be
attended
with
delight and
feli-
city
unknown to
all
but
the blessed
Three
who enjoy
Q
glorious
and.
divine communion
!
The Father
for
ever
pear
to
his
own image
the
Son,
and
herein
blessed!
The
Son
never divided
from the embraces
of
the
Father, and
therefore happy
!
The Spirit
everlastingly near
therr;
both,
and therefore
he
is
the ever-
blessed
Spirit!
And
all these united in one godhead,
and therefore
infinitely
and
for ever
blessed
!
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