stir up in us shame and sorrow for Sin The Judgments of God may break us but the consideration of God's Mercy should rather melt and dissolve us into Tears Luke 7.47 The Woman that washed Christ's Feet with her Tears and wiped them with her Hair the account that our Saviour gives of the great Affection that she expressed to him was she Loved much because much was forgiven her and she grieved much because much was forgiven her Especially we should sorrow for those Sins which have been committed by us after God's Mercies received Mercies after Sins should touch our Hearts and make us relent It should grieve us that we should offend and provoke a God so Gracious and Merciful so slow to anger and so ready to forgive But Sin against Mercies and after we have received them is attended with one of the greatest Aggravations of Sin And as Mercy raises the guilt of our Sins so it should raise our sorrow for them No Consideration is more apt to work upon human Nature than that of kindness and the greater Mercy has been shewed to us the greater our sins and the greater cause of sorrow for them contraries do illustrate and set off one another in the great Goodness and Mercy of God to us we see the great Evil of our Sins against him Every Sin has the Nature of Rebellion and Disobedience but sins against Mercy have Ingratitude in them When ever we break the Laws of God we rebel against our Soveraign but as we sin against the Mercies of God we injure our Benefactor This makes our sin to be horrid and astonishing Isa 1.2 Hear O heavens and give ear O earth I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me All the Mercies of God are aggravations of our sins 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. And Nathan said to David thus saith the Lord God of Israel I anointed thee king over Israel and delivered thee out of the hands of Saul and I gave thee thy masters house and thy masters wives into thy bosom and gave thee the house of Isreal and of Judah and if that had been too little I would moreover have given thee such and such things Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight God reckons up all his Mercies and from them aggravates David's sin 1 Kings 11.9 He takes notice of all the unkind returns that we make to his Mercy and 't is the worst temper in the World not to be wrought upon by kindness not to be melted by Mercy no greater evidence of a wicked Heart than that the Mercies of God have no effect upon it Esay 26.10 Let favour be shewn to the wicked yet will he not learn righteousness Vse 3. Let us imitate the merciful Nature of God This branch of God's goodness is very proper for our imitation The general Exhortation of our Saviour Matt. 5.48 Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect is more particularly expressed by St. Luke Luke 6.30 Be ye therefore merciful as your Father which is in heaven is merciful Men affect to make Images and impossible Representations of God but as Seneca saith Crede Deòs cùm propitii essent fictiles fuisse We may draw this Image and likeness of God we may be gracious and merciful as he is Christ who was the express image of his Father his whole life and undertaking was a continued work of mercy he went about doing good to the Souls of Men by Preaching the Gospel to them and to the Bodies of Men in healing all manner of Diseases There is nothing that he recommends more to us in his Gospel than this Spirit and Temper Mat. 5.7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy How many Parables doth he use to set forth the mercy of God to us with a design to draw us to the imitation of it The Parable of the Prodigal of the good Samaritan of the Servant to whom he forgave 10000 Talents We should imitate God in this in being tender and compassionate to those that are in misery This is a piece of natural indispensable Religion to which positive and instituted Religion must give way Amos 6.6 I desired mercy and not sacrifice which is twice cited and used by our Saviour Micah 6.8 He hath shewed thee O Man what it is that the Lord thy God requires of thee to do justice and love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God This is always one part of the description of a good Man that he is apt to pity the miseries and necessities of others Psal 37.26 He is ever merciful and lendeth He is far from cruelty not only to Men but even to the brute Creatures Prov. 12.10 A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast There is nothing more contrary to the nature of God than a cruel and savage disposition not to be affected with the miseries and sufferings of others how unlike is this to the father of mercies and the God of consolation When we can see Cruelty exercised and our Bowels not be stirred within us nor our hearts be pricked how unlike is this to God who is very pitiful and of tender mercies But to rejoyce at the miseries of others this is inhumane and barbarous Hear how God threatens Edom for rejoycing at the miseries of his Brother Jacob Obadiah 10 11 12 13 14. But to delight to make others miserable and to aggravate their sufferings this is devilish this is the temper of Hell and the very spirit of the Destroyer It becomes Man above all other Creatures to be merciful who hath had such ample and happy experience of God's mercy to him and doth still continually stand in need of mercy from God God hath been very merciful to us Had it not been for the tender Mercies of God to us we had all of us long since been miserable Now as we have receiv'd mercy from God we should shew it to others The Apostle useth this as an Argument why we should relieve those that are in misery and want because we have had such experience of the mercy and love of God to us 1 John 3.16 17. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us But whoso hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother have need c. how dwelleth the love of God in him That Man hath no sense of the mercy of God abiding upon his Heart that is not merciful to his Brother And 't is an Argument why we should forgive one another Eph. 4.32 Be ye kind one to another tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Chap. 5.1 Be ye therefore followers of God as dear Children Col. 3.12 13. Put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against
this visible World man is the chief and what is said of Behemoth or the Elephant Job 42. in respect of his great strength and the vast bigness of his Body is only true absolutely of man that he is divini opificii caput the chief of the ways of God and upon earth there is none like him The Psalmist takes particular notice of the goodness of God to man in this respect of the excellency and dignity of his being Psal 8.5 Thou hast made him little lower than the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour And this advantage of our nature above other Creatures we ought thankfully to acknowledge tho' most men are so stupid as to overlook it as Elihu complains Job 35.10 11. None saith where is God my maker Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven 2. The goodness of God to man appears in that he hath made and ordained so many things chiefly for our use The beauty and usefulness of the Creatures below us their plain subserviency to our necessity and benefit and delight are so many clear Evidences of the Divine Goodness to us not only discernable to our Reason but even palpable to our Senses so that we may see and taste that the Lord is gracious This David particularly insists upon as a special ground of praise and thanksgiving to God that he hath subjected so great a part of the Creation to our dominion and use Psal 8.6 7 8. speaking of man Thou hast made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen yea and the beasts of the field the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas What an ininnumerable variety of Creatures are there in this inferiour World which were either solely or principally made for the use and service pleasure and delight of man How many things are there which serve for the necessity and support for the contentment and comfort of our lives How many things for the refreshment and delight of our Senses and the excercise and employment of our Understandings That God hath not made man for the service of other Creatures but other Creatures for the service of man Epictetus doth very ingeniously argue from this observation that the Creatures below man the brute beasts have all things in a readiness nature having provided for them meat and drink and lodging so that they have no absolute need that any should build Houses or make Cloaths or store up Provisions or prepare and dress meat for them for says he being made for the service of another they ought to be furnisht with these things that they may be always in a readiness to serve their Lord and master a plain evidence that they were made to serve man and not man to serve them And to raise our thoughts of God's goodness to us the Sons of men yet higher as he hath given us the Creatures below us for our use and convenience so hath he appointed the Creatures above us for our Guard and Protection not to say for our service Psal 34.7 The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and he delivereth them and then it follows O taste and see that the Lord is good And Psal 91.11 12. He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways They shall bear thee up in their hands Nay the Apostle speaks as if their whole business and imployment were to attend upon and be serviceable to good men Heb. 1.14 Are they not all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation 3. The goodness of God to men appears in his tender Love and peculiar Care of us above the rest of the Creatures being ready to impart and dispense to us the good that is suitable to our capacity and condition and concerned to exempt us from those manifold Evils of Want and Pain to which we are obnoxious I do not mean an absolute exemption from all sorts and all degrees of Evil and a perpetual tenor of temporal happiness and enjoyment of all good things this is not suitable to our present state and the rank and order which we are in among the Creatures nor would it be best for us all things considered But the Goodness of God to us above other Creatures is proportionable to the dignity and excellency of our Natures above them for as the Apostle reasons in another case doth God take care for Oxen and shall he not much more extend his care to Man To this purpose our Saviour reasons Mat. 6. Behold the Fowls of the Air they sow not neither do they reap and yet your heavenly Father takes care of them are not ye much better than they And v. 30. Wherefore if God so cloath the grass of the field shall he not much more cloath you And Chap. 10.29 Are not two Sparrows sold for a Farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father But the very hairs of your head are all numbred Fear ye not therefore ye are of more value than many Sparrows 'T is true God hath a special care of his People and Servants above the rest of Mankind but our Saviour useth these Arguments to his Disciples to convince them of the Providence of God towards them as Men and of a more excellent Nature than other Creatures And indeed we are born into the World more destitute and helpless than other Creatures as if it were on purpose to shew that God had reserved us for his more peculiar Care and Providence which is so great that the Scripture by way of condescention expresseth it to us by the name of Love so that what effects of Care the greatest and tenderest Affection in Men is apt to produce towards one another that and much more is the effect of God's Goodness to us and this Affection of God is common to all Men tho' of all Creatures we have least deserved it and is ready to diffuse and shed abroad it self where-ever Men are qualified for it by Duty and Obedience and do not obstruct and stop the emanations of it by their Sins and Provocations And tho' the greatest part of Mankind be evil yet this doth not wholly put a stop to his goodness tho' it cause many abatements of it and hinder many good things from us but such is the Goodness of God notwithstanding the evil and undutifulness of Men that he is pleased still to concern himself in the Government of the World and to preserve the Societies of Men from running into utter confusion and disorder notwithstanding the violence and irregularities of Mens Wills and Passions the Communities of Men subsist upon tolerable terms and notwithstanding the rage and craft of evil Men poor and unarmed Innocence and Virtue is usually protected and
sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities Nor so much as he can he doth not let loose the fierceness of his anger nor pour forth all his wrath Psal 78.38 Being full of compassion he forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not yea many a time turned he his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath 6. After he hath begun to punish and is ingaged in the work he is not hard to be taken off There is a famous instance of this 2. Sam. 24. when God had sent three days Pestilence upon Israel for David's sin in numbring the People and at the end of the third day the Angel of the Lord had stretched forth his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it upon the Prayer of David it is said that the Lord repented of the evil and said to the Angel that destroyed It is enough stay now thine hand Nay so ready is God to be taken off from this work that he sets a high value upon those who stand in the gap to turn away his wrath Numb 25.11 12 13. Phinehas the son of Eleazar hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel that I consumed them not in my jealousie wherefore behold I give unto him my covenant of peace and to his seed after him because he was zealous for his God and made an atonement for the children of Israel That which God values in this action of Phinehas next to his zeal for him is that he turned away his wrath and made an atonement for the Children of Israel 5. and Lastly The patience of God will yet appear with further advantage if we consider some eminent and remarkable Instances of it which are so much the more considerable because they are instances not only of God's patience extended to a long time but to a great many persons The long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah upon the whole World as is probably conjectured for the space of an hundred and twenty years God bore with the People of Israel in the Wilderness after they had tempted him ten times for the space of forty Years Acts 13.18 And about the space of forty years suffered he their manners in the Wilderness And this instance of God's patience will be the more remarkable if we compare it with the great impatience of that People if they did but want Flesh or Water they were out of patience with God when Moses was in the Mount with God but forty days they presently fall to make new Gods they had not the patience of forty days and yet God bore their manners forty years God had spared Niniveh for some Ages and when his patience was even expired and he seems to have past a final Sentence upon it yet he grants a Reprieve for forty days that they might sue out their Pardon in that time and they did so they turned from their evil ways and God turned from the evil he said he would do to them and he did it not But the most remarkable instance of God's long-suffering is to the Jews if we consider it with all the circumstances of it after they had rejected the Son of God notwithstanding the purity of his Doctrine and the power of his Miracles after they had unjustly condemned and cruelly murdered the Lord of life yet the patience of God respited the ruin of that People forty Years Besides all these there are many instances of God's patience to particular Persons but it were endless to enumerate these every one of us may be an instance to our selves of God's long-suffering I shall only add as a further advantage to set off the patience of God to Sinners that his forbearance is so great that he hath been complained of for it by his own Servants Job who was so patient a Man himself thought much at it Job 21.7 8. Wherefore doth the wicked live yea become old Their seed is establisht in their sight and their posterity before their eyes Jonah challengeth God for it Ch. 4.2 Was not this that which I said when I was yet in my own country and therefore I fled before unto Tarshish because I knew thou art a gracious God and merciful slow to anger c. Jonah had observed God to be so prone to this that he was loth to be sent upon his Message least God should discredit his Prophet in not being so good shall I say so severe as his word I have done with the first thing I proposed to speak to viz. The great patience and long-suffering of God to Mankind SERMON VII Vol. VII The Patience of God 2 PET. III. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise as some Men count slackness but is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance I Have made entrance into these words in the handling of which I propos'd to do these three things First To consider the patience and long-suffering of God as it is an Attribute and Perfection of the Divine Nature God is long suffering to us-ward Secondly To shew that the Patience of God and the delay of his Judgment is no just ground why Sinners should hope for impunity God is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness Thirdly To consider the true reason of God's patience and long-suffering towards Mankind He is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance I have already spoken to the First of these namely The patience and long-suffering of God as it is an Attribute and Perfection of the Divine Nature I proceed now to the Second thing I proposed namely To shew that the Patience of God and the delay of Judgment is no just ground why Sinners should hope for impunity God is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness that is as the Scoffers here mentioned by the Apostle did ignorantly and maliciously reason that because our Lord delayed his coming to Judgment so long therefore he would never come There was indeed some pretence for this Objection because the Christians did generally apprehend that the day of Judgment was very near and that it would immediately follow the destruction of Jerusalem and it seems the Disciples themselves were of that perswasion before our Saviour's death when our Saviour discoursing to them of the destruction of the Temple they put these two questions to him Mat. 24.3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives the disciples came unto him privately saying When shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world When shall these things be That is the things he had been speaking of immediately before viz. the destruction of Jerusalem and the dissolution of the Temple that is plainly the meaning of the first question to which they subjoined another And what shall be the sign of thy coming that is to Judgment and of the end of the
and have been preserved by him and cannot subsist one moment without the continued influence of the Power and Goodness which first called us out of nothing He is the Author of all the good and the Fountain of all those Blessing which for the present we enjoy and for the future hope for When he made us at first he designed us for Happiness and when we by our sin and wilful mascarriage fell short of the Happiness which he design'd us for he sent his Son into the World for our recovery and gave his life for the Ransom of our Souls He hath not only admitted us into a new Covenant wherein he hath promised pardon and eternal life to us but he hath also purchased these Blessings for us by the most endearing price the blood of his own Son and hath saved us in such a manner as may justly astonish us Upon these Considerations we should awaken our selves to the praise of God and with the holy Psalmist call up our Spirits and summon all the Powers and Faculties of our Souls to assist us in this Work Psal 103.1 2 3 4. c. Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thy iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies 't is he that satisfies our Souls with good things and crowneth us with tender mercies and loving hindness that hath promised Eternal Life and Happiness to us and must confer and bestow this upon us Therefore our Souls and all that is within us should bless his holy name 2. If God be the first Cause that is orders all things that befall us and by his Providence disposeth of all our concernments this should teach us with patience and quietness to submit to all Events to all evils and afflictions that come upon us as being disposed by his wise Providence and coming from him We are apt to attribute all things to the next and immediate Agent and to look no higher than Second Causes not considering that all the motions of Natural Causes are directly subordinate to the first Cause and all the actions of free Creatures are under the Government of God's wise Providence so that nothing happens to us besides the design and intention of God And methinks this is one particular Excellency of the style of the Scripture above all other Books that the constant Phrase of the Sacred Dialect is to attribute all Events excepting sins only to God so that every one that reads it cannot but take notice that it is wrote with a more attentive consideration of God than any other Book as appears by those frequent and express acknowledgments of God as the Cause of all Events so that what in other Writers would be said to be done by this or that Person is ascribed to God Therefore it is so often said that the Lord did this and that stirr'd up such an Enemy brought such a Judgment And we shall find that holy men in Scripture make excellent use of this consideration to argue themselves into patience and contentedness in every condition So Eli 1 Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good So Job he did not so consider the Sabeans and Chaldeans who had carried away his Oxen and his Camels and slain his Servants nor the Wind which had thrown down his House and kill'd his Sons and his Daughters but he looks up to God the great Governour and Disposer of all these Events The Lord giveth and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. So David Psal 39.9 I was dumb and spake not a word because thou Lord didst it So our Blessed Saviour when he was ready to suffer he did not consider the malice of the Jews which was the cause of his death but looks to a higher hand the cup which my father gives me to drink shall not I drink it He that looks upon all things as coming from second Causes and does not eye the first Cause the good and wise Governour will be apt to take offence at every cross and unwelcome accident Men are apt to be angry when one flings Water upon them as they pass in the Streets but no man is offended if he is wet by Rain from Heaven When we look upon Evils as coming only from men we are apt to be impatient and know not how to bear them but we should look upon all things as under the Government and disposal of the first Cause and the Circumstances of every condition as allotted to us by the wise Providence of God this Consideration that it is the hand of God and that he hath done it would still all the murmurings of our Spirits As when a Seditious Multitude is in an uproar the presence of a grave and venerable person will hush the noise and quell the tumult so if we would but represent God as present to all actions and governing and disposing all Events this would still and appease our Spirits when they are ready to riot and mutiny against any of his Dispensations Vse the Second If God be the last End of all let us make him our last End and refer all our Actions to his glory This is that which is due to him as he is the first Cause and therefore he does most reasonably require it of us And herein likewise the Scripture doth excel all other Books that is doth more frequently and expresly mind us of this End and calls upon us to propose it to our selves as our ultimate aim and design We should love him as our chief End Mat. 22.37 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind Thus to love God is that which in the language of the Schools is loving God as our Chief End So likewise the Apostle requires that we should refer all the Actions of our lives to this End 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink do all to the glory of God that we should glorifie him in our souls and in our bodies which are his He is the Author of all the powers that we have and therefore we should use them for him we do all by him and therefore we should do all to him And that we may the better understand our selves as to this duty I shall endeavour to give satisfaction to a Question or two which may arise about it First Whether an actual intention of God's Glory be necessary to make every Action that we do good and acceptable to God Answ 1. It is necessary that the glory of God either Formally or Virtually should be the ultimate end and scope of our lives and all our Actions otherwise they will be defective in that which in moral Actions is most considerable and that is the End If a man should keep all
come to answer Objections against this Doctrine There are two Objections against this 1. From Reason 2. From Scripture 1. Obj. Reason will be ready to suggest that this is a disparagement to the Divine Nature to tye his Presence to this vile Dunghil of the Earth and fordid Sink of Hell This is a gross Apprehension of God and a measuring of him by our selves Indeed if we look upon God as capable of Injury and Suffering and Offence from the Contagion of any thing here below as we are then indeed there were some strength in this Objection but he is a blessed and pure Being Mens segregata ab omni concretione mortali A Mind free from all mortal Composition or Mixture Tully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disentangled from every thing passible as Plut. Those things that are nauseous to our Senses do not affect him Darkness is uncomfortable to us but the Darkness and the Light are all one to him Wickedness may hurt a man or the son of man but if we multiply our transgressions we do nothing to God as Elihu speaks Job 35.6 Nothing can disquiet or discompose his happy and blessed Nature but he converseth here in this dark and troubled World with less danger of Disturbance or any impure Contagion than the Sun-beams 2. Obj. Does not the Scripture tell us that God sits in the Heavens and dwells on high that Heaven is his throne and that it is the City of the great God Doth not the Lord's Prayer teach us to say Our Father which art in heaven Is he not said to look down from heaven and to hear in heaven his dwelling-place Is it not said that he doth not dwell in temples made with hands And does not Solomon 1 Kings 8.27 put it as a strange question will God indeed dwell on the earth Is he not said to come down and draw near to us and to be afar off from us Now how does this agree with his Immensity and Omnipresence For answer to this I must distinguish the Presence of God There is 1 st his glorious Presence that is such a Presence of God as is accompanied with an extraordinary manifestation of his Glory and that is especially and chiefly confined to Heaven in respect of which it is called his Seat and Throne and the Habitation of his Glory Some degree of this was in the Temple which is the reason of Solomon's Admiration will God indeed dwell on Earth 2 dly There is his gracious Presence which discovers it self by miraculous effects of his Favour and Goodness and Assistance and thereby he is said to dwell in the hearts of good Men and with them that are of an humble and contrite Spirit Isa 57.15 and in respect of this he is said to draw near to us to look down upon us and in respect of the absence of this to be far from us 3 dly There is his essential Presence which is equally and alike in all Places and this is not excluded by those former Expressions which the Scripture useth to denote to us the glorious and gracious Presence of God Fourthly To make some Inferences I will mention only such as the Scripture here takes notice of speaking of God's Immensity I. Inf. That God is a Spirit This necessarily flows from his Immensity for if the Essence of God be every where diffused the Divine Nature must be spiritual otherwise it could not be in the same place were Body and Matter is but must be shut out of the World But this I spoke more largely to in my Discourse of God's being a Spirit This the Psalmist observes here Where shall I go from thy Spirit If he were not a Spirit we might go from him and hide our selves from his Presence II. Inf. That God is Incomprehensible That which is infinite cannot be measured and comprehended by that which is finite and this also the Psalmist takes notice of in the Verse before my Text Such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain it III. Inf. That God is Omniscient If God be every where then he knows all things yea even the hidden things of Darkness the Secrets of our Hearts nothing can be hid from an infinite Eye he is present to our Thoughts intimate to our Hearts and Reins this the Psalmist takes notice of 1 2 3 4 and 12 Verses IV. Inf. That God is Omnipotent He can do all things Distance limits the Power of Creatures and makes their hands short but God is every where nothing is out of his reach and this also the Psalmist intimates in the Text v. 10. Even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand hold me Fifthly The Use and Improvement I shall make of this shall be 1. To awaken our Fear of him 2. To encourage our Faith and Confidence in him 1. To awaken our Fear of him The Consideration of God's Presence should awaken in us a Fear of Reverence The Presence of an earthly Majesty will awe our Spirits and compose us to Reverence yea the Presence of a wise and good Man how much more should the Presence of the great and glorious the wise and the holy and the just God strike an awe upon our Spirits Wherever we are God is with us we always converse with him and live continually in his Presence now a Heathen could say cum Diis verecunaè agendum We must behave our selves modestly because we are in the presence of God And it should awaken in us a Fear to offend God and a Fear of the divine displeasure for having offended him Fear is the most wakeful Passion in the Soul of man and is the first Principle that is wrought upon in us from the Apprehensions of a Deity it flows immediately from the principle of Self-preservation which God hath planted in every Man's Nature we have a natural Dread and Horror for every thing that can hurt us and endanger our Being or Happiness now the greatest Danger is from the greatest Power for where we are clearly over-match'd we cannot hope to make Opposition nor Resistance with security and success to râ—bel with Safety now he that apprehends God to be near him and present to him believes such a Being to stand by him as is possest of an infinite and irresistible Power and will vindicate all Contempt of the Divine Majesty and Violation of his Laws If we believe God to be always present with us Fear will continually take hold of us and we shall say of every place as Jacob did of Bethel surely God is in this place how dreadful is this place When we have at any time provoked God if we believe the just God is at hand to revenge himself and if we believe the power of his anger we shall say with David Psa 76.7 Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand before thee when thou art angry Psa 119.120 My flesh trembleth because of thee and I am afraid of thy Judgments Sinners consider
this It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and every time you sin you are within his reach Let then the consideration of God's Presence deter us from Sin and quicken us to our Duty The Eye and Presence of a Superior will lay a great restraint upon Men the Eye of our Prince or our Master or our Father will make us afraid or asham'd to do any thing that is foolish or unseemly And will we do that under the Eye of God which we should blush to do before a grave or wise Person yea before a Child or a Fool Did but Men live under this apprehension that God is present to them that an holy and all-seeing Eye beholds them they would be afraid to do any thing that is vile and wicked to profane and pollute God's glorious name by a trifling use of it in customary swearing and cursing Whenever you sin you affront God to his Face and provoke the omnipotent justice which is at the door and ready to break in upon you And the consideration of this should especially deter us from secret Sins This is the use the Psalmist here makes of it If we believe that God searcheth us and knows us that he knows our down-sitting and our up-rising and understands our thoughts afar off that he compasseth our path and our lying down and is acquainted with all our ways that there is not a word in our tongue but he knows it altogether that he hath beset us behind and before that the darkness hideth not from him but the night shineth as the day and the darkness and light are both alike I say if we believe this how should we live in an awful sense of the Majesty which is always above us and before us and about us and within us and is as inseparable from us as we are from our selves whose Eye is upon us from the beginning of our Lives to the end of our Days Did Men believe that God is always with them that his Eye pierceth the Darkness and sees through all those Clouds with which they hide and muffle themselves and pries into the most secret Recesses of their Hearts how would this check and restrain them from devising mischief in their hearts or in their Bed chamber The holy Presence and the pure Eye of God would be to us a thousand times more than to have our Father or our Master or our Prince or him whom we most revere to stand by us Did but Men representare sibi Deum make God present to them by living under a continual sense of his Presence they would as the Expression of the wise Man is be in the fear of the Lord all day Magna spes peccatorum tollitur si peccaturis testis adsistat aliquem habeat animus quem vereatur cujus authoritate etiam secretum suum sanctius facit The main hope of Sinners is to remain undiscover'd let but some body be privy to their designs and they are utterly disappointed 'T is fit for the Mind of a Man to have an awe of some Being whose Authority may render even its privacy more solemn This is the Character of wicked Men Psa 86.14 that they have not God before their Eyes One great cause of all the Wickedness and Violence and Looseness that is upon the Earth is they do not believe that God is near them and stands by them And as the consideration of God's Presence should deter us from Sin so it should quicken and animate us to our Duty It is ordinarily a great Encouragement to Men to acquit themselves handsomely to have the Eyes of Men upon them especially of those whose Applause and Approbation they value God alone is amplum Theatrum he 's a greater Theater than the World and it should be more to us that he stands by us than if the Eyes of all the World were fix'd upon us Sen. adviseth it as an excellent means to promote Virtue to propound to our selves and set before our Eyes some eminently virtuous Person as Cato or Laelius ut sic tanquam illo spectante vivamus omnia tanquam illo vidente faciamus That we may live just as if he were locking upon us and do all things just as if he beheld us How much greater incitement will it be to us to think that God looks upon us and sees us and really stands by us than faintly to imagine the Presence of Laelius or Cato This should have an Influence upon all the Duties we perform and the manner of performing them that we do it to him who stands by us and is familiarly acquainted with us and is more intimate to us than we are to our selves This Cic. in l. 2. de leg looks upon as a great principle of Religion sit igitur hoc persuasum civibus qualis quisque sit quid agat quid in se admittat quâ mente quâ pietate religiones colat deos intueri piorum impiorumque rationem habere Let Men be throughly perswaded of this that the Gods observe both the disposition and the actions of every particular Man what he consents to what he allows himself in particularly with what meaning with what degree of inward Devotion he performs his religious worship and that they distinguish between the pious and the impious 2. To encourage our Faith and Confidence in him When we are in Straits and Difficulties and Dangers God is with us when Trouble is near to us God is not far from us where ever we are how remote soever from Friends and Companions we cannot be banisht from God's Presence if we dwell beyond the utmost parts of the Sea there his hand leads us and his right hand holds us Psa 16.8 I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved The consideration of God's Presence is the great stay and support of our Faith Psa 46.1 2. God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea In the greatest Commotions and the most imminent and threatning Dangers this should charm and allay our Fears that God is a present help This was the support of Moses his Faith in his Sufferings as the Apostle tells us Heb. 11.27 he endured as seeing him who is invisible To conclude all when ever we are under any Pressure or Trouble we should rebuke our own Fears and challenge our anxious Thoughts with David Psa 42.11 Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou so disquieted within me trust still in God believe that God is with thee and that Omnipotent Goodness stands by thee who can and will support thee and relieve thee and deliver thee when it seems best to his Wisdom SERMON XIII Vol. VII The Eternity of God PSALM XC 2 Before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou had'st