is most unreasonable of all O Sirs when you read and hear of the wonderful weighty matters of the Scripture of an Endless Life and the way thereto bethink you if these things be True what manner of persons you should be in all Holy Conversation and Godliness 2 Pet. 3. 11. If the Word be True that telleth us of Death and Judgement and Heaven and Hell is it time for us to sin to trifle and live unready 2. The Truth of God is the Terror of his Enemies O happymen if their Unbelief could make void the Threatnings of God and doubting of them would make them false and if their misery were as easily remedied as denied and ended as easily as now forgotten or forgotten hereafter as easily as now But true and righteous is the Lord and from the beginning his Word is true Psal. 119. 16. Not a word shall fall to the ground nor a jot or tittle pass unfufilled 3. The Truth of God is the Ground of Faith and the stay of our souls and the Rock of all our confidence and comfort A Christian did not differ from another man unless in being somewhat more deluded if God were not True But this is the foundation of all our hopes and the life of our Religion and all that we are as Christians proceeds from this Faith is animated by Gods Veracity and from thence all other Graces flow or are excited in us O Christians what a treasure is before your eyes when you open the Blessed Book of God! what life should it put into your confidence and comforts to think that all these words are true All those descriptions of the Everlasting Kingdome and all those exceeding precious Promises of this life and that which is to come and all the expressions of that exceeding Love of God unto his servants all these are the True sayings of God A faithful witness will not Lye Prov. 14. 5. much less will the faithful God Eternal Life is promised by God that cannot Lye Tit. 1. 2. Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of Promise the immutability of his Counsels confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to Lye we might have a strong Consolation who have fled for Refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us Heb. 6. 17 18. Let Faith therefore live upon the Truth of God and let us be strengthned and rejoyce therein 4. Abhor all doctrines which deny the Truth and Faithfulness of God For they destroy the ground of Christian Faith of all Divine Faith and all Religion The Veracity of God is the formal Object of all Divine Faith We believe God because he cannot Lye If he can Lye and do Lye he is not credible But you will say Is there any that hold such odious doctrines Answ. I like not the charging of Persons with the consequences of their opinions which they discern not but disclaim God will not charge them with such consequences who do their best to know the truth and why should we All men have some errours whose consequences contradict some Articles of Faith It is not the persons that I perswade you to dislike but the Doctrine And the Doctrine is never the less to be abhorred because a wise or good man may hold that which doth infer it I shall now instance only in the Dominicans predetermination They that hold that it is necessary to the being of every circumstantiated act natural and free that God be the principal immediate Physical efficient predetermining cause of it do hold that he so causeth all the false speeches and writings as well as other sins that ever were spoken or written in the world not only as they are acts in genere but as these words in particular as that he so predetermined the tongues of Ananias and Saphira to say those very words which they said rather than others Now seeing it is apparent 1. That God hath not a voice but speaketh to us by a Created Voice even by Prophets and Apostles and that the Scripture was written by men 2. And that Gods Veracity which is the formal object of our Faith consisteth in his not using lying instruments nor sending a lying messenger to us it is Veracitas revelantis per alium 3. And that no way of Inspiration can make God to be any more the cause of the words or writings of an Apostle than his Immediate Physical efficient specifying predetermination doth for it can do no more than irresistibly as the first cause Physically to premove the agent to this Thought Will Word or Deed considered with all its circumstances It followeth that we have no certainty when God premoveth an Apostle or Prophet to speak true and when to speak falsly and that no words or writings are o certain truth upon any account of Gods inspiration or premotion because God not only can but doth cause all the untruths that are spoken or written in the world Therefore no Faith in Gods Revelations hath any sure foundation nor any formal object at all And so all Religion is dasht out at a stroke To say that God causeth not the falsity of the word nor the word as false but the word which is false might well be the justification of them that affirm God to be but the Universal Cause of the Word oâ— Act in genere as a Word or Act and that the specification is only from the sinner But in them that say he is the particular Cause of this word comparatively rather than another it is but a contradiction 1. For there is no other cause of the falsity which is a meer Relation but that which causeth the Rule and the Word or Writing which is false and so layeth the foundation 2. It overthroweth all certainty of Faith if God speak to us by his Instruments those words that are false The Quod falsum as well as the Qua falsum leaveth us no ground of certainty The Dominicans therefore have but one task in which their hope is placed to excuse their opinion from plain obliterating all Divine Belief and Religion and that is to prove that there is so great a difference between Inspiration and their Physical Predetermination that God cannot by Inspiration premove to an untruth though by Physical Predetermination he may This is their task which I see not the least possibility that ever they should perform If God premove and predeterminate every Will and Tongue and Pen to every lye that is spoken or written more potently and irresistibly than I move my Pen in writing it is past my power to understand what more he can do by inspiration to interest him in the Creatures Act or at least how the difference can be so great as that one of the waies he can predetermine all men to their falsities and none the other way But of this I have written a large Disputation yet think it not needless even in a practical Treatise to
Ignorant of God nor to know so little as I know nor to be short of the measure that I am capable of but it satisfieth me to be uncapable of comprehending him or else I must be unsatisfied because I am not God O the presumptuous arrogancy of those men if I may call them men that dare prate about the Infinite God such things as never were revealed to them in his works or word and dare pretend to measure him by their shallow understandings and question if not deny and censure that of God which they cannot reach and sooner suspect the word that doth reveal him then their muddy brains that should better conceive of him Saith Elihu Job 36. 26. Behold God is Great and we know him not neither can the number of his years be searched out Though the Knowledge of him be our Life Eternal yet we know him not by any full and adequate conception We know an Infinite God and therefore with an Excellent Knowledge objectively considered but with a poor degree and kind of Knowledge next to none as to the act and it is a thousand thousand fold more that we know not of him then that we know For ineeed there is no comparison to be here made 3. The immensity of God as it proveth him incomprehensible so it containeth his Omnipresence And therefore should continually affect us as men that believe that God stands by them As we would compose our thoughts and minds and passions if we saw were it possible the Lord stand over us so should we now labour to compose them As we would restrain and use our tongues and order our behaviour if we saw his Majesty so should we do now when we know that he is with us An eye servant will work hard in his masters presence what ever he doth behind his back Bestir thee then Christian for God stands by In him we live and move and have our Being Act. 17. 28. Loyter not till thou canst truly say that God is gone or absent from thee sin not by wilfulness or negligence till thou canst say thou art behind his back Alass that we should have no more awakened serious souls and no more fervent lively prayers and no more serious holy speech and no more careful heavenly lives when we stand before the living God and do all in his sight and speak all in his hearing O why should sense so much affect us and faith and Knowledge work no more we can be awed with the presence of a man and would not do before a Prince what most men do before the Lord. Yea other things affect us when we see them not and shall not God But of this more anon 4. The Immensity of God assureth us much of his Alsufficiency He that is everywhere is easily able to hear all prayers to help us in all straits to supply all wants to punish all sins A Blasphemous conceit of God as Finite and as absent from us is one of the causes of our distrust He that doth distrust an absent friend as thinking he may forget him or neglect him will trust him when he is with him cannot he hear thee and pitty thee and help thee that is still with thee O what an awe is this to the careless what a support to faith what a quickener to duty what a comfort to the afflicted troubled soul God is in thy poor cottage Christian and well acquainted with thy wants God is at thy bedside when thou are sick and nearer thee then the nearest of thy friends What wouldst thou do in want or pain if God stood by wouldst thou not Pray and Trust him if thou sawest him so do though thou see him not for he is surely there 5. The Immensity and Infinite Greatness of God assureth us of his Particular Providence Some blasphemous Infidels imagine that he hath only a General Providence and hath left all to some inferiour powers and medleth not with particular things himself They think that as he hath left it to the Sun to illuminate the world so hath he left all other inferiour things and events to nature or inferior causes and that he doth not himself regard observe reward or punish the thoughts and words and wayes of men And all this is because they consider not the Immensity or Infinite Greatness of the Lord. It s true that God hath framed the Nature of all things and delighteth to maintain and use the frame of second causes which he hath made and will not easily and ordinarily work against or without this order of causes But it is as true and certain both that sometimes he maketh use of Miracles and that in the very course of natural causes he is able to exercise a particular Providence as well as without them by himself alone The Creature doth nothing but by him All things move as he first moveth them in their natural agency His wisdom guideth his will intendeth and commandeth his Power moveth and disposeth all The Sun would not shine if he were not the light of it and he is no less himself the Light of the world then if he did illuminate it without a Sun God is never the further off because the Creatures are near us nor never the less in the effect because he useth a second cause then if there were no second cause at all What influence second causes have upon the souls of men he hath for the most part kept unknown to us But that himself disposeth of us and all things after the counsel of his own will is beyond all question Can he that is most neerly present with thy thoughts be regardless of them can he be regardless of thy words and wayes that is with thee and seeth and heareth all If thou believe not that he is as verily with thee as thou art there thy self thou art then an Atheist If thou believe him not to be Infinite thou believest him not to be God It is not God that can be absent limited or finite And if thou be not such a senseless Atheist but knowest that God is everywhere how is it possible thou shouldst doubt of his care or observance or particular providence about every thing No child is scarce so foolish that will think his Father cares not what he saith or doth when he stands before him Wouldst thou doubt of Gods particular providence whether he regard thy heart and talke and practice if thou didst see him with thee sure it is scarce possible Why then dost thou question it when thou knowest that he is with thee If thou be an Atheist and knowest not look about thee on the world and bethink thee whether stones and trees and earth whether beasts or birds or men do make themselves If they do thou were best uphold thy self and be not sick and do not die If thou madest thy self thou canst sure preserve thy self But if any thing else made thee and all these lower things either it was somewhat greater or
and the flesh leadeth no man to his Salvation Gods motions are all for our Eternal good though they seem to be for our temporal hurt The motions of the flesh are for our Eternal hurt though at present they seem to be for our Corporal benefit If at any time you be at a loss and your carnal friends or your commodity or pleasure adviseth you one way and the Word of God and his faithful Ministers advise you another way use but your Reason well and consider whether God or those that contradict him be the wiser and accordingly suit your practice Alas man thy friend is ignorant and knows not what is good for himself Thy flesh is ignorant and knows not what is good for thy soul But God knoweth all things Your flesh and friends do feel what pleaseth them at present and judge accordingly but what will be hereafter they understand not or consider not But God knoweth as well what will be as what is He counselleth you as one that knoweth how your actions will appear at last and what it is that will save you or undo you to all eternity If you be but sick it s too to one but the Counsel of your Physition and of your Appetite will differ And if you will obey your Physition before your Appetite for your health or life should you not obey God before it for your Salvation Do you think in your Consciences that any that perswade you to a careless worldly fleshly life are as Wise as God that perswadeth you to the contrary you dare not say so with your tongues and yet the most dare say so with their lives O how justly do the ungodly perish that deliberately choose a brutish appetite a malignant world and a malicious Devil as a wiser or fitter conducter then the Lord But blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly but his delight is in the Law of the Lord Psal. 1. 1 2. And wo to the ungodly that reject and set at nought the counsel of the Lord Prov. 1. 25 30. Luke 7. 30. and will have none of it that wait not for his counsel Psal. 106. 13. that rehell against the words of God and contemn the counsel of the most High Psal. 107. 11. And wo to them that take counsel against the Lord and his Christ that they may break asunder his bondt and cast away his obligations Psal. 2. 1 2 3. And wo to them that are given up to the lusts of their own hearts and to walk in their own counsels Psal. 81. 12. For by their own counsels shall they fall Psal. 5. 10. But had they harkened to the Lord and walked in his way with the fulness of his blessings would he have satisfied them Psal. 81. 13 16. Resolve therefore what ever the flesh or the world say that the Testimonies of God shall be your Counsellors Psal. 119. â—4 and bless the Lord that giveth thee counsel Psal. 16. 7. For his counsel is infallible having guided thee by his counsel be will bring thee to his glory Psal 73. 24. 3. The Infinite Wisdome of God must resolve the soul to Rest in his determinations We are most certain that God is not deceived Though all men seem Lyers to you let God be true for it is impossible for him to lye Heb. 6. 18. If our Reason be to seek so is not God When we are saying with Nicodemus How can these things be God knoweth how and it is enough for us to know that they are so If Infinite wisdome say the word Believe it though all the world contradict it Though proud unbelievers say that the words of God are improbable let them know that God is not at a loss when ever mens dark understandings are at a loss The Sun is not taken out of the firmament when ever a man closeth or loseth his eyes What will those cavillers puzzle the Almighty will they pose Omniscience Doth it follow that the course of the Planets and the Heavens and all the Creatures are out of order if these silly Moles understand not the order of them No more will it follow that any word of God is false or any Rule of God is crooked because they see not its truth and rectitude Shall dust and ashes judge the Lord who hath been his Counseller and with whom hath he advised for the making redeeming or governing of the world There is no Rest to an inquisitive soul but in the Infinite wisdome of the Lord. Find once that it is his word and enquire no further It s madness to demand a further proof As all Goodness is comprized in his Will and Love so all Truth is comprized in his Wisdom and Revelations There are no Arguments but what are lower and subordinate to this And therefore if thy Reason be at a loss as to the cause or manner yet hast thou the greatest Reason to believe that all is just and true that proceedeth from the Wisdom of the Lord. Iâ— flesh and blood and all the world gain say it yet Rest in the Word of God 4. And that 's the next effect that Gods Omniscience should have upon our minds Take all the sayings of men as folly that are against the Lord. Let them be high or low learned or unlearned if they contradict the God of Infinite wisdome take it but as the words of a distracted man Did you ever meet with any man of them that durst say he was wiser than God himself Herod that was eaten to death with vermine was applauded by the flattering crowd but with this acclamation It is the voice of a God and not of a man Act. 12. 22. And will you say of any man that he is wiser than God If you dare not say so how dare you hear them and believe them against the Word of God How dare you be drawn from a holy life or from a selfdenying duty or from the truth of God by the words of a man yea perhaps of a very sot that speaks against the Word of God! To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to these it is because there is no Light in them Isa. 8. 20. 5. The Infinite wisdom of God should establish our confidence concerning the fulfilling of all his Word He will not fail for want of Knowledge when he spoke that Prophesie that Promise or that Threatning he perfectly knew all things that would come to pass to all eternity He knew therefore what he said when he gave out his Word and therefore will fulfill it Heaven and earth may pass away but one Iota or tittle of his word shall not pass away till all be accomplished Mat. 5. 18 6. And from the Infinite wisdom of God the Church must be encouraged in its greatest straits and against all the cunning subtilty of their enemies Are we ever in such straits that God knows not how to bring us out when we see no way for our deliverance doth
to be here and the covetous man among his gains and the sensual man among his recreations and merâ—y companions It is good to be here the Christian that can get nigh to God or have any prospect of his Love in his ordinances concludeth that of all places upon earth It is good to be here and that a day in his Courts is better then a thousand Psal. 84. 10. But O to depart and be with Christ is far better Phil. 1. 23. With Infinite goodness we shall find no evil no emptiness or defect when we perfectly enjoy the perfect Good what more can be added but for ever to enjoy it O therefore think on this Christians when death is dreadful to you and you would fain stay here as being afraid to come before the Lord or loth to leave the things which you here posfess shall Goodness it self be distrusted by you or seem no more desirable to you Are you afraid of Goodness even of your Father of your Happiness it self Are you better here then you shall be with God Are your houses or lands or friends or pleasures or any thing better then Infinite Goodness meditate on this blessed Attribute of God till you distast the world till you are angry with your withdrawing murmuring flesh till you are ashamed of your unwillingness to be with God and till you can calmly look in the face of death and contentedly hear the message that is posting towards you that you must presently come away to God Your Natural birth day brought you into a Better place then the womb and your gracious Birth day brought you into a far Better state then your former sinful miserable captivity And will not your Glorious birth day put you into a better habitation then this world O know and choose and seek and live to the Infinite Good and then it may be your greatest joy when you are called to him CHAP. X. 9. HAving spoken of these three great Attributes of God I must needs speak of those three great Relations of God to man and of these three works in which they are founded which have flowed from these Attributes This one God in three Persons hath Created man and all things which before were not hath Redeemed man when he was lost by sin and sanctifieth those that shall be saved by Redemption Though the external works of the Trinity are undivided yet not indistinct as to the order of working and a special interest that each person hath in each of these works The Father Son and Holy Ghost did create the world and they also did Redeem us and do Sanctifie us But so as that Creation is in a special sort ascribed to the Father Redemption to the Son and Sanctification to the Holy Spirit Not only because of the order of operation agreeable to the order of subsisting for then the Father would be as properly said to be incarnate or to die for us or mediate as the Son to create us which is not to be said For he created the world by his Word or Son and Spirit Joh. 1. 3. Psal. 33. 6. and he Redeemed it by his Son and Sanctifieth it by his Spirit But Scripture assureth us that the Son alone was incarnate for us and dyed and Rose again and not the Father or the Spirit and so that the humane nature is peculiarly united to the second person in glory and so that each person hath a peculiar interest in these several works the Reason of which is much above our reach The first of these Relations of God to man which we are to consider of is that he is our Creator It is he that giveth Being to us and all things and that giveth us all our faculties or Powers Under this for brevity we shall speak of him also as he is our Preserver because preservation is but a kind of continued Creation or a continuance of the Beings which God hath caused God then is the first efficient cause of all the creatures from the greatest to the least Gen. 1. And easily did he make them for he spake but the word and they were created They are the Products of his Power Wisdome and Goodness Psal. 33. 6. Joh. 1. 3. Psal. 148. 5. He commanded and they were created He still produceth all things that in the course of nature are brought forth Psal. 104. 30. Thou sendest forth thy spirit they are created thou renewest the face of the earth And from hence these following impressions must be made upon the considering soul. 1. If All things be from God as the Creater and Preserver then we must be deeply possessed with this truth that All things are for God as their ultimate end For he that is the Beginning and first cause of all things must needs be the End of all His Will produced them and the Pleasure of his Will is the End for which he did produce them Isa. 43. 7. I have created him for my glory Prov. 16. 4. The Lord hath made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of evil I think the Chaldee Paraphrase the Syriack and Arabick give us the true meaning of this who concordantly translate it The wicked is kept for the day of evil as Job hath it 21. 30. The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath And 2 Pet. 2. 9. To reserve the unjust to the day of judgement to be punished God made not the wicked as wicked or to be wicked but he that gave them their Being and continueth it will not be a loser by his Creation or preservation but will have the glory of his Justice by them in the day of wrath or evil for which he keeps them and till which he beareth with them because they would not obediently give him the glory of his Holiness and mercy So it is said of Christ Col. 16 17. For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible all things were created By him and For him If they are By him they must needs be For him So Rev. 4. 11. Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created This Pleasure of Gods will is the End of all things and therefore it is certain that he will see that all things shall accomplish that end and his will shall be pleased Rom. 11. 36. we have all in few words For of him and through him and to him are all things and to whom be glory for ever Amen Of him as the first efficient that giveth them their Beings and Through him as the Preserver disposer and conducter of them to their end and To him as the Ultimate end If you say But how is the pleasure of Gods will attained from the wicked that break his Laws and displease his will I answer Understand but how his will is
Tertullian in the Churches Creed speaks misit vicariam vim spiritus sancti qui credentes agat O that men knew how much of their well-fare dependeth on a faithful obeying of the Holy Ghost CHAP. XIII 12. THe next part of our Knowledge of God is to know him in those great consequent Relations to which he is entitled by Creation and Redemption viz. as he is Our Absolute Lord or Owner our most Righteous Governour and ou most Bountiful or Gracious Father or Benefactor 1. God both as our Creator and Redeemer hath Jus Dominii an Absolute Dominion of the world that is He is our Owner or Proprietary and we are his Own For we take not the term Lordship or Dominion here in the looser sense as it signifieth a Ruler but in the stricter sense as it signifieth an Owner Of this Relation I have already spoken in a Sermon of Christs Dominion and therefore shall say the less in this place The Knowledge of Gods Dominion or Propriety must comprehend 1. The certain truth of this his right 2. The fulness of it 3. The effects that it must have on us I. And the Truth of it is beyond dispute even among Infidels that know there is a God He that made us of his own materials or of nothing must needs be the Owner of us And so must he that Bought us from destruction Ezek. 18. 4. Behold all souls are Mine Rom. 14. 9. To this end Christ both dyed rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living Joh. 16. 14 15. All things that the Father hath are Mine The Father then hath this Propriety by Creation and the son by Redemption and the Father also by communication with the Son in Redemption and the Son by communication with the Father in Creation II. And it must be the most Absolute Plenary Dominion because the very Being of all the Creatures is from God and therefore no one can be co-ordinate with him or his corrival nor any thing limit his Interest in us III. And the effects that this must have upon us are these following 1. Hence we must conclude and reverently and willingly consess that further then he voluntarily doth oblige himself to us it is impossible that God should be our Debtor and consequently that upon terms of commutative Justice we should Merit any thing of God For what can we render to him but his Own And how should he properly and Antecedently be indebted to and for his Own 2. And we must conclude that antecedently to his Laws and promise it is impossible that God can do us any wrong or any thing that he can do can be guilty of injustice For Justice giveth to all their Own and therefore it giveth Nothing to us from God but what he voluntarily giveth us himself which therefore is first a gift of Bounty and but secondarily a Due in Justice 3. And therefore we must hence learn that God may do with his own as he list And therefore we must take heed that we repine not at any of his Decrees or Providences or any passages concerning them in his word Much may be above us because our blindness cannot reach the reasons of his wayes but nothing is unreasonable or evil For all proceedeth from Infinite Wisdom and Goodness as well as from Omnipotency As no man must feign any thing of God and say This is his Decree or Word or Providence and therefore it is good when there is no such thing revealed to us so when we find that it is indeed Revealed our Reason must presently submit and undoubtedly conclude it reasonable and good Yet is there no cause from hence to fear lest God should condemn the innocent or break his promises and deny us the reward nor is there any hope to wicked men that he should violate his peremptory threatnings or as they call it in their selfish language be better then his word Because though God have an Absolute Propriety and therefore in regard of his interest or Power may do what he Will yet he is essentially also most Wise and Good and accordingly hath fitted all things to their use and taken upon him the Relation of our Governour and as it were obliged himself by his Laws and Covenants and declared himself to be most Just and shewed us hereby that he Will do nothing contrary to these As there is no contradiction but most perfect Unity in Gods Omnipotency Wisdom and Goodness his Dominion or Propriety his Kingdom and Paternity so shall there be no contradiction but a perfect Concord of all these in the exercise He therefore that as our King or Governour hath undertaken to advance the Godly and destroy the wicked will not by the exercise of his Absolute Dominion deny himself nor be unfaithful to his people or to his rules of Government If you ask me in what cases then this Dominion is exercised I answer 1. In laying the Foundations of laws and Right 2. In the Disposal of the unreasonable Creatures 3. In abundance of things about his Rational Creatures wherein as Rector he is not engaged nor hath in his Laws declared his will As about the various constitutions and complexions of men their ranks and dignities in the world their riches or poverty their health or sickness their gifts and parts both natural and acquired the first giving of the Gospel and of special Grace to such as had forfeited them and had no promise of them the degrees of outward means and mercies the degrees of inward grace more then what is promised c. From hence also we must learn not to repine at the providences of God about his Church which are strange to us and past our reach and seem to make against it wellfare Remember that as he may do with his own as he list so we have no reason to think that he will be lavish or disregardful of his own The Church is not ours but Gods and therefore he is fitter then we to be trusted with it And so in our own distresses by affliction when flesh repineth let us remember that we are his Own and he may do with us as he please If we be poor despised sick and miserable in the world let us remember that as it is no injury to the beasts that they are not men or to the worms that they are not beasts or to the plants that they have not sense or to the stars that they are not suns so it is no wrong to the subjects that they are not Princes or to the poor that they are not rich or to the sick that they are not healthful May not God do with his own as he list shall a Beggar grudge that you give not all that he desireth when you are not bound to give him any thing 4. Yea hence we must learn to be the more Thankful for all our mercies because they proceed from the Absolute Lord that was not obliged to us He might have made
them pleasing them and shewing them respect while they take no notice of God at all as if they believed not that he is there Hence it is that the men of God were wont to speak though reverently yet familiarly of God as children of their Father with whom they dwell as being indeed fellow-citizens with the Saints who are his houshold Abraham calleth him Gen. 24. 40. The Lord before whom I walk And Jacob Gen. 48. 15. God before whom my Fathers Abraham and Isaac walked And David resolveth Psal. 116. 9. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living Yea God himself is pleased to use the terms of gracious condescending familiarity with them Christ dwelleth in them by faith Eph. 3. 17. His spirit dwelleth in them as his house and temple Rom. 8. 9. Yea the Father himself is said to dwell in them and they in him 1 Joh. 3. 24. He that keepeth his Commandements dwelleth in Him and He in him and 3. 12. If we love one another God dwelleth in us 13. Hereby we know that we dwell in him and He in us because he hath given us of His spirit 15. Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God 16. God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him Yea God is said to walk in them as they are said to walk with Him 2 Cor. 6. 16. For ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people Our walking with God then is not only a sense of that common presence which he must needs afford to all but it is also a believing apprehension of his Gracious presence as our God and reconciled Father with whom we dwell being brought near unto Him by Christ and who dwelleth in us by his spirit 9. To walk with God as here we are in flesh includeth not only our believing his presence but also that we see him as the chief cause in the effects in his creatures and his daily providence that we look not on creatures as independent or separated from God but see them as the Glass and God as the represented face and see them as the letters and words and God as the sense of all the creatures that are the first Book which he appointed man to read We must behold his glory declared by the Heavens Psal. 19. 1. and see Him shining in the Sun and see his Power in the Fabrick of the world and his wisdom in the admirable order of the whole we must tast the sweetness of his Love in the sweetness of our food and in the comforts of our friends and all our accommodations we must see and Love his Image in his Holy ones and we must hear his Voice in the Ministry of his Messengers Thus every creature must become a Preacher to us and we must see the Name of God upon it and thus all things will be sanctified to us while Holiness to the Lord is written upon all Though we must not therefore make Idols of the creatures because God appeareth to us in them yet must we hear the message which they bring us and reverence in them the Name of the Creatour which they â—ear By this way of conversing with them they will not ensnare us or deceive or poyson us as they do the carnal unbelieving world but as the Fish brought money to Peter to pay his tribute so every creature would bring us a greater even a spiritual gain When we behold it we should say with pleasant admiration This is the work of God and it is wonderful in our eyes This is the true Divine Philosophy which seeketh and findeth and contemplateth and admireth the Great Creatour in his works When that which sticketh in the creature it self whatever discovery it seem to make is but a childish unprofitable trifling like learning to shape all the letters aright without learning to know their signification and sense It is God appearing in the creatures that is the life and beauty and use and excellency of all the creatures wthout him they are but carkasses deformed useless vain insignificant and very nothings 10. Our walking with God doth contain our willing and sincere attendance on him in the use of those holy duties in which he hath appointed us to expect his grace He is everywhere in his essential presence but he is not everywhere alike to be found in the communications of his grace The assemblies of his Saints that worship him in holy communion are places where he is likelyer to be found then in an Ale-house or a Play-house You are likelier to have holy converse with him among the holy that will speak of holy things to your edification then among the senseless ignorant sensualists and the scornful enemies of Holiness that are the servants of the Devil whom he useth in his daily work for the deceiving and perdition of the world Therefore the conversation of the wicked doth grieve and vex a righteous soul as it s said the Sodomites did by Lot 2 Pet. 2. 7 8. because all their conversation is ungodly far from God not savouring of any true knowledge of him or love to him but is against him by enmity and provocation If God himself do dwell and walk in all his holy ones then they that dwell and walk with them have the best opportunity to dwell and walk with God To converse with those in whom God dwelleth is to converse with him in his Image and to attend him at his dwelling And willfully to run among the wicked is to run far away from God In his Temple doth every man speak of his Glory Psal. 29. 9. when among his brutish enemies every man speaketh to the dishonour of him in his word and wayes He is otherwise present with those that are congregated in his Name and for his worship then he is with those that are assembled for wickedness or vanity or live as brutes without God in the world And we must draw as near him as we can if we would be such as walk with God We must not be strange to him in our Thoughts but make him the object of our most serious meditations It s said of the wicked that they are far from God and that God is not in all their thoughts Ps. 73. 27. Ps. 10. 4. The thoughts are the minds employment It dwells on that which it frequently thinks of It is a walk of the Mind and not of the Body which we are treating of To mind the world and fleshly things is contrary to this walk with God we are far from him when our thoughts are ordinarily far from him I know that it is lawful and meet to think of the business of our callings so far as is necessary to the prudent successful management of them and that it is not requisite that our thoughts