230 / 514
222
THE SbALE
OF BLESSEDNESS.
[SEEM.
Zit
-
supreme
felicity consists,
so
far
as
we
are capable
of
being acquainted
with
it.
The
only reflection with which
I
'shall
conclude the
subject,
is
this,
that
communion
with
God,,
which'
has
been impiously ridiculed
by
the
profane wits
of
the
last
and the present
age,
is
no
such visionary
and fantastic
notion
as they imagine
;
but
as
it
is
founded
in
the
words
of
scripture,
so
it
may be
explained
with
great
ease
and
evidence to the satisfaction
of
human reason.
That
it
is
founded
in
scripture,
appears
sufficiently in
several
verses
of
the
xvii.
chapter of
St.
John's
gospel,
where the divine union and blessedness
of
the
Father
and
the
Son,
are
made
a
pattern of
ou'r
union
to
God,
And
our
blessedness;
John
xvii.
21, 22, 23, 26.
That
they
-all
may
be one,
as-thou,
lather,
art
in
me,
and
I
in
thee;
that
they
may
be
one
in
us:
And in this
sense,
but
in
a
lower degree,
even
here
on
earth, our
communion,
or
fellowship,
is
with
the Father, and
with his Son
Jesus
Christ,
1
John
i. 3.
Though our communion
with
Christ
includes
also
some
particular
varieties
in
it,
which
is
not
my
present
business
to
explain.
That
this
doctrine
is
exactly
agreeable
to
reason, may
be
thus
demonstrated
:
We
use the
word communion, when two or more per-
sons
partake of
the same
thing.
So
friends
have
commu-
nion
in
one
table
when they
dine together
:
Christians
have communion
in one sermon,
in
one prayer,
or
one
sacrament,
when they
join
together
in
those
parts of
worship; and the saints
have communion
with
God
in
blessedness, when they rejoice in the same object
of
contemplation and
love.
God
surveys
himself, he
is
pleased
with
his own
glories, delights in
himself
as
the
highest and the
noblest
object;
he
trusts
in his
own
right-hand
bf
power, he
leans
upon
his own
understand-
ing,
he rests
in his own
counsels
and
purposes,
he feels,
and
he
acknowledges all
his own
infinite
perfections, and
thus
he
enjoys them
all.
Thus
also
is
our
blessedness
frequently
set
forth
in
scripture.
It
is
our
happiness to
know
God,
to
contemplate
his glories,
so.far
as
they
are
revealed;
to love him
and
his
goodness;
to
trust
in
his
wisdom, and
lean
securely
on his
strength
;
to feel
the
workings
of
divine powers
and
graces
in.
and upon
us,
and
to
make acknowledgment
of
them
all
to
God.
Thus