“God is His own blessedness; it is wholly within Himself and of Himself: He receives none from without himself, or from His creatures; nothing that can add to His happiness; and He himself is the blessedness of His creatures, who are made happy by Him; whose blessedness lies in likeness to Him; which is begun in this life, in regeneration; when new-born souls are made partakers of the divine nature, is increased by sights of the glory of God in Christ, and will be perfected in the future state, when they shall awake in His likeness, and bear His image in a more perfect manner; and also it lies in communion with God; it is the happiness of saints now, and what they exult in, when they enjoy it, that their fellowship is with the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ; and it will be the blessedness of the New Jerusalem state, that the tabernacle of God will be with men, and He will dwell with them; and of the ultimate glory the saints shall then have, everlasting and uninterrupted communion with Father, Son, and Spirit, and partake of endless pleasures in the divine presence: and it will, moreover, lie in the vision of God: which, because of the happiness of it, is usually called the beatific vision; when they shall ‘see God for themselves, and not another;’ see Him as He is in Christ, and behold the glory of Christ; see no more darkly through a glass, but face to face, and know as they are known.”
–John Gill, A Complete Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity: Or A System of Evangelical Truths, Deduced from the Sacred Scriptures (vol. 1, New Edition.; Tegg & Company, 1839), 1: 179.
