there; if I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me."* To which accords that of Seneca, " Turn thyself what way thou wilt, thou shalt there see him meeting thee. There is not any thing void of him, He filleth whatsoever he hath made +" 2. This truth having been so fully acknowledged by a wise heathen, it will argue but too much weakness in any Christian to stumble (as some notwithstanding have done) at this sorry cavil against it. It seems unworthy of God, say they, to afford his presence with all things, even the least and filthiest. Neither do we see how he can possibly do it without receiving some defilement from them. For if God were not lessened by creating the meanest thing, then surely he is not by affording his presence to them after they were made. As for defilement, there can be no fear of that. Can the sun shine upon dung-hills, and worse places, without being thereby defiled? and shall not God's essence, which is infinitely purer than the light, preserve itself from contracting filth from any thing it cometh near unto! The soul of man united to a sickly and leprous body, doth notwithstand + Quocunque te Nihil ab illo vacat. fc. lib. 4. cap. 8. * Psalm cxxxix. 8, 9. flexeris, ibi illum videbis occurrentem tibi. Opus suum ipse implet. Senec. de Bene CC ing retain its purity. Much more God in the forementioned case. Be we therefore careful, in spite of all heretical cavils firmly to believe the truth of divine omnipresence and immensity, for the clearing up whereof to our understandings, divines have invented, sundry comparisons; two whereof I shall mention. One out of Austin, "The whole world," saith he, " is so in God, as a little sponge in a vast ocean. The sea besides its encompassing the sponge on every side, doth also thoroughly penetrate, moisten, and sustain the whole substance within, and every part of it."* Another out of Lessius. He compareth the world to a crystal ball hanging in the light of the sun. In which case the light would intimately pierce the whole ball, and also extend itself far and near, round about it. Such and so intimate is God's presence with every creature in every place. § 3. The contemplation whereof should be effectual for the preventing of all sins, especially such as are usually committed in secret, upon this grand presumption, which the prophet denounceth a curse against the subjects of, saying, "Wo unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, who seeth us? and who knoweth us?" A presumption that there is none by to take notice of them. Suppose it were so; * Augustin, Confess. lib. 7. cap. 5. + Lessius de Prefectionibus divinis lib. 1. cap. 3. § 20. yet men are bound to reverence themselves: that advice of Ausonius is excellent, "when thou art about to act any thing unseemly, be afraid of thyself, although there be no other witness."* But so it is not; for conscience is by; concerning which Lactantius produceth an admirable speech out of Seneca, "O thou mad man! what will it profit thee to have none conscious of thy crime, so long as thou hast a conscience that is?"+ But that thou wilt say is part of thyself. True: wherefore I add, God is by; of whom the apostle emphatically saith, "If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things." Conscience we are wont to say, is a thousand witnesses; and let it be withal considered, that God is as a thousand consciences; both for intimacy of presence, and perspicacity in discerning. It is worth observing how the mention of God's immensity is brought in by the prophet in that forecited place of Jeremy, where the whole verse runs thus; "can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?" Our most secret sins are, in reference to God, no more secret, in regard of his omnipresence, than if committed in the most open light. Witness that in Moses's prayer, "Thou * Turpe quid ausurus te sine teste time. + Demens, quid prodest non habere conscium habenti consci entiam ? hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance."* Jacob once said of Bethel," Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not; how fearful is it?" Let every place be a Bethel to thee, O watchful Christian, a place of fear, and in some ense a house of God, be it market, or shop, or field; be sure the Lord is in that place, not present only, but looking on; nor only looking, but weighing and pondering, whatsoever thou doest there in all the circumstances and aggravations thereof, as Solomon testifies, "The ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings."+ § 4. Having already made improvement of the several branches, let me now for a conclusion draw certain corollaries from the greatness of God in general; in number five 66 First, "Let him be greatly praised for this by all mankind." It is the Psalmist's inference, great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,"§ The world is wont to commend greatness both in persons and things. Great princes have had panegyrical orations made in their praise, as Trajan by Pliny; great cities, as grand Cairo; great monuments, (as the Colossus) are greatly extolled by writers and travellers, How much more should the great God? whom the prophet accordingly magnifies, saying, " Behold, the nations Psal. xc. 8. + Genes. xxviii. 16. + Prov. 5. 21. are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; behold he taketh up the isles, as a very little thing, And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity."* The drop of a bucket is nothing to the whole ocean, nor the dust of the balance to the whole earth; no more is the whole earth with all the inhabitants of it to God. In so much as if he were to be sacrificed to, proportionably to his greatness, all the beasts in Lebanon would not suffice for a burntoffering, nor all the wood thereof for a fire, nor all men in the world for a priest to offer it. 66 $5. Secondly, Let him be greatly confided in by all his people. That of St John, “ Ye are of God, little children; and greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world," should be made use of by the saints as a precious receipt against the most deadly poison that can at any time be administered to them. The church indeed is very often put upon renewing Jehosaphat's complaint, and crying out, "We have no might against this great company" (perhaps both of wicked men, and wicked spirits) "that comes against us; neither know we what to do." so long as she can add, as he there doth, “Our But eyes Isai. xl. 14, 15, 16. 17. 1 John iv. 4. + 2 Chro. xx. 12, |