S:I 3,1 184 TFIE SCALE OF BLESSEDNESS. There is another sense also of this phrase, communionor feI- lowship with God, which has been used by many pious writers, when they make it to signify the same thing as converse with God ; and this also depends upon our nearness, or approach to him : As when a christian, in secret, pours out his whole heart before God, and is made sensible of his gracious presence, by the sweet influences of instruction, sanctification, or comfort. When man speaks, and God answers, there is a sacred com- munion, between God and man ; Is. lviii. 9. Thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer. This holyDavid often enjoyed; and always sought after it. When the soul, in secret, complainsof perplexity and darkness, and God is pleased to give some secret hints of direction and advice ; when the soul mourns before God, confessing guilt, and the weakness of grace, and some divine pro- Inise is impressed upon the mind by the Holy Spirit, whence the christian derives peace of conscience, and strength to fulfil duty, and to resist mighty temptations : These certainly are seasons of converse or communion with God. So when, in public worship, we address God withour souls in fervent prayer, andwhile we hear the word of God spoken to us,by his ministers, we receive an answerto those prayers in the convincing -and sanctifying impressions which the word makes upon the heart ; this is also anhour of secret commùnion. So at the supper of the Lord, when with hope and joy we receive the bread and the wine, as divine seals of the faithfulness of God's convenant, and when we transact those solemn affairs also as seals of our faith and love, and our engagements to be the Lord's ; we may properly be said to hold fellowship, or com- munion pith him. What swift advances of holiness Both the saint feel in his heart, and practise in his life, after such seasons of devotion ! What glory cloth he give to religion in a dark and sinful world ! What unknown pleasureBoth be find in such approaches to God ! And he moves swiftly onward in his way toheaven, by such dailÿ 'receipts of mercy, and returns of praise. These are powerful motives that will make him persist in his holy practice andjoy, in scorn of all the mockery and ridiculeof a profane age of infidels. So the moon holds bright communion with the sun, the sovereign planet; so she receives and reflects bis beams ; she shines gloriously in a dark hemisphere, and moves onward sub- lime 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 doubtless the pleasure 'and the - privilege of the spirits of thejust made perfect, and of angels near the throne, but in a muchhigher degree : When they
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