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224

SHE

SCALE OF BLESSEDNESS.

SEAM.

xrr.

to

be

the

Lord's;

we

may

properly

be

said

to

hold fel-

lowship,

or communion

wvitli

him.

What

swift

advances

of

Holiness

loth

the

saint

feel

in

his

heart, and

practise

in his

life,

after such seasons

of

devotion

!

What

glory

do,th

he give

to religion

in

a.

dark

and

sinful world

!

What

unknown pleasure

loth

he find

in

such

approaches

to

God

!

And

he

moves

swiftly

on-

ward

in his way to

heaven,

by

such

daily

receipts

of

mercy, and

returns

of

praise.

These are

powerful motives

that

will

make

him

persist

in his

holy

practice and joy,

in scorn

of

ali

the mockery and

ridicule of

a

profane age

of

infidels.

So

the moon holds

bright

communion

with

the

sun, the sovereign planet.;

so

she

receives

and re-

flects

his

beams

;

she

shines gloriously

in a

dark hemis-

phere,

and

moves

onward sublime

in

her

heavenly course,

regardless of

all

the

barking animals that

betray

their

senseless.malice.

This

blessed privilege

and pleasure

of

converse

with

God,

which

is

enjoyed

by

the saints

on

earth,

is

doubt-

less the

pleasure and

the.

of

the

spirits

of

the

Est

made perfect,

and of

angels

near

the

throne,

'but

n

a

Much

higher degree

:

When

they

address

the

Majes-

ty of

Heaven

in

the

forms

of

celestial worship, and

re-

ceive

immediate and

sensible

tokens of

divine

accept-

ance

;

or

when they

take their orders and

commissions

from the

throne

for

some

particular errand,

or high em-

ployment,

.

and

return

again

to

make

their

humble

report

there:

These are glorious

seasons

of

converse with

their

Maker.

Much

more glorious communion

of

this

kind does

the

man

Christ Jesus

enjoy

with

God,

in

transacting

all the

vast and illustrious

affairs

of

his commission

;

a com-

mission

large as the

extent of

his

Father's

kingdom. full

of

majesty

and justice,

terror

and grace

e

a

divine com-

mission

tagovern,

to

redeem, and

to save,

or

to

punish

and destroy

millions

of mankind,

as well as to

rule

all'

his.

unknown dominions

in

the

upper

and

nether

worlds.

But

in

what manner

this communion between the

Fa-

ther

and Christ

is

maintained,

we

know

not;

nor

can

`ve,guess in

what manner, or

in

what degree such

sott

of

converse

or communion

as

this

is

practised, or

is

possi-

ble,

between the

three glorious persons

of

the ever

-

blessed

Trinity. These are

mysteries

wrapt up

in

sacretl