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THE
FIRST FRUITS
OF
THE
S11RtT¡
d$
[DISC.LF.
pleasure,
and
begin in
it
the
first
fruits and
earnest of
hear
vem
When
we
survey the inexhaustible ocean
of
good
-
ness which
is in
God,
which
fills
and supplies
all
the
crea
tares
with every
thing
they
stand
in
need
of;
when
we
behold
all
the tribes'
of the
sons
of
men
supported
by his
boundless
sufficiency, his
bounty and
'kind
providence, and
refreshed
with a
thousand comforts
beyond what the
mere
necessities
of nature
require.
In
such an
hour
if
wo
feel
the least
flowings
of
goodness
in
ourselves towards
others,
we shall
humble ourselves to
the
dust, and
cry ,out in
holy
amazement,
Lord,
what
is
an atom to a mountain
?
What
is
a
drop
to
a
river,
a
sea
of
beneficence
?
What
is
a
shadow to the
eternal substance
?
What
good
thing
is
there
in
time
or eternity,
which
I
can
possibly want
which
is
not abundantly
supplied
out
of
thy overflowing
fulness
?
Hence
arises the
eternal satisfaction
of
all the
holy
and happy creation
in
being
so
near
to
thee, and
under
the
everlasting,
assurances
of
thy
love.
I
can do
nothing
but
fall
down
before thee
in
deepest
humility,
and admire,
adore,
and
everlastingly
love.
thee,
who
last
assumed
to
thyself the name
of
love."
1
John
iv.
8.
"God
is
love"
SECTION
1V.
Thus
farour
joys
may rise
into
ttn
imitation
of
the
joys
above in 'the
devout contemplation of
divine perfections.
And
not
only the
perfections
of God
considered
and
surveyed
singly
in
themselves,
but
the union
and
blessed
harmony
of
many
of
them in the
divine
works
and transactions
of
providence and
of
grace,
especially in
the
gospel
of
-Christ,
administer
further matter
for
con
-
templation and pleasure
among the happy spirits
in hea-
ven
:
And
so
far
as
this
enjoyment
may
be
communicated
to the saints
here
on
earth,
they may be
also said to
have
a
foretaste
of
the business
and
pleasure.
of
heaven. Let
us
take notice
of
this harmony in several instances.
1:
In
the
sacred có,nstitution
of
the person of
our
Lord Jesus
Christ,
as
God
and man
united
in
one per
-
sonal agent
:
Here
majesty
and
mercy
give
a glorious
instance
of.
their union, here
all
the
grandeur
and
dignity
of
godhead condescends to
jein
itself, in union
with
a
creature,
such
as
man
is,
a spirit
dwelling
in
flesh
and
blood,
1
Thu.
ii.
.5.
"
There, is one God, and
one.
Me-
diator
between
'God
and man
even the man
Christ