176 THE SCALE or BLESSEDNESS. metaphorically ; Rev. vii: 15. though in truth there is no night there; for they who dwell with God, dwell in light everlasting: They approach to their Maker in most pleasurable acts of worship, without any interposing cloud to hide his face from them, without clogs and fetters to hold them at adistance, without wan- derings, without sins, and without temptations. O blessed state! O glorious felicity ! They behold the beauty of the Lord, transported in divine contemplation, infi- nitely various and immortal. They feed upon his goodness with allthe raptures of refined love, and are held in long ecstacy under the permanentsensations of the love of God. Yet in this state of perfect glory, there are doubtless some different degrees of nearness to God, and consequently there are different ranks and orders of blessed spirits. This is evi- dent amongst the angels beyond all contradiction : for though all of them beholdthe face of God continually ; Mat. xviii. 10. yet Gabriel seems to be a favourite angel, standing in the presence of God, and employedin thenoblest errands to men ; Lt;ke i. 19. And we read of seraphs and cherubs, angels and archangels, thrones, dominions, and principalities ; which plainly exhibits to us a celestial hierarchy, or superior and subordinate ranks of glory and power. And why may it not be so amongst the saints on high, those sonsof Adamwho are made like to angels ! They are so many stars that shine with various degrees of splendour, as they are placed nearer to the Sun of Righteousness, and receive and re- flect more of his beams. I might multiply arguments on this head, but I shall at presentask only these two or three convincing questions. Can we ever imagine that Moses the meek, the friend of God, who was, as it were, hisconfidant on earth, his faithful pro- phet to institute a new religión, andestablish a new church in the world ; who, forGod's sake, endured forty years of banishment, and had forty years fatigue in a wilderness ; who sawGodonearth face to face, and the shine was left upon his countenance ? Can we suppose that this man has taken his seat no nearer to God in paradise, than Samson and Jepthah, those rash champions, those rude andbloodyministers* of providence ? Or can we think that St. Paul, the greatest of the apostles, who laboured more than than they all, and was in .sufferings more abundant than the * These expressions may be sufficiently justified, if we consider Jepthah's rash vow of sacrifice, which fell upon his only child.; and Samson's rude or un-, becoming condom in his amours with the Philistine woman at Timnah, the harlot . at. Gaza, and his Delilah at Sank, bis bloody quarrels, and his manner of life. The learned and pious Dr. Owen, as I have often been informed by his intimate friend Sir John Hartopp, called him a rude. believer. He might have a strong faith of miracles; ¡deb, xi. £2. but a small share of that faith which purifies the beast.
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