joy whence our earth-wormes whilest they climbe them not slip onely but tumble Absolute content dwels not here below what we here traffique for is but Alchymie and dawbing were we Monarchs of the world and retinu'd with all the Equipage of greatnesse all were but bracteata faelicitas copper leav'd with gold a bugel at best or glassy carkanet which if we finger we breake it An apple of Sodome which wee may eye not tast unlesse our bread should be Ashes for such a touch makes them A false light such as betraies our Sea-men to rockes and shelves and as it leades shipwracks them A fresh brooke of water which may dance and sport a while in her christall channell but fals into a mare mortuum a sea of gall and wormewood for knowest thou not that it will be bitternesse at the latter end GOD is that Ocean into which all the rivers of a full delight do run He the fruit of that Eden whose alone smell is all pleasure whose tast is life He that Spring and Source of true felicity which all soules pant after and of which who drinkes shall never thirst He that cleare Sun where all the light of grace and glory is center'd and which no Eclipse can darken O give us of the fruits of that Orchard O leade us to those waters of comfort O be thou our starre to the Heaven of happinesse Thou O LORD who madst the Light without a Sun and than madest the Sun to be the chariot of that Light O bee thou our Sun that all our Light may bee gathered unto thee be thy presence our Light that we may shine like the Sun in beauty whilst thou art our Light we can never want beauty whilst thou art our Sun we can never want Light for thou art Light And thus much of the second property betwixt GOD and Light the delightsomenesse and comfort of them both The third property in which GOD and Light agree is their unblemisht purity and fairenesse Light is a quality most cleare most pure most unblemisht that especially whose emanation being from a body most simple and free from mixture the Philosophers entitle celestiall hence perhaps it is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 affies somewhat with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Macrobius in the first of his Saturnals taketh for the Sun the Prince of the Planets of Heaven the fountaine and alone mine of Light GOD is in this respect Light that perfection of purity which shines in Him no clouds of error no mists of impieties can obscure or shadow a lustre of holinesse shewes it selfe in the glorious Dietie such whereto the fairest beauty of Angels is a ball of darknesse So those glorious Hierarchies themselves in their mutuall cry Holy Holy Holy is the LORD of Hoasts the holinesse of Saints though a faire body of brightnesse is but a beame of this and influenced from it GOD onely is by nature pure in the abstract purity and His is the praise and glory of it in the sweet singer of Israel Exalt the LORD our GOD and worship at His holy hill for the LORD our GOD is holy and therefore as He is Light here in my Text so in Saint Iames He is the Father of Lights the rayes of which did He not dispence unto us wee were in darknesse more palpable than those groping Aegyptians more hellish than hell it selfe what ever mid-night is below with man there is all noone-day with GOD above what ever darknesse is under His feet there is all brightnesse before His face and such as dampes all other it is no Hyperbole in Iob Behold the Moone and it shineth not yea the Starres are not pure in His sight there is beauty in the Starres more in the Sun from whose Magazen of Light they borrow theirs O how incomprehensibly glorious is that Light which is in thee O LORD who couldst create Lights to give such glory to thy work-manship these even the brute creatures may behold those not the very Angels GOD is Holy Three in one all three but one GOD and all holy in that Antheme of the foure beasts Holy Holy Holy LORD GOD Almighty which was and is and is to come whom these beasts embleme whether the foure Evangelists as Haymo Ribera and others or foure Angels who for their more noble emploiments are set 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in regard of the rest is a question may giddy not better me Saint Augustines glosse hath more of pith and juice in it Vnum JEHOVAM celebrant repetendo unum idem Sanctus trinum agnoscunt ter repetendo quod uni tribuerunt they acknowledge one GOD whom they esteeme onely holy and a Trinity they acknowledge in that blessed Unity of the God-head whilst they repeate thrice Holy Holy Holy GOD the Father is Holy with this inscription the Bethshemites could blazon Him Who is able to stand before this Holy LORD GOD GOD the Sonne is Holy Gabriell as both His Priest and Herauld at once christens Him and proclaimes it that Holy thing which shall be borne of thee shall be called the Sonne of GOD So is the HOLY GHOST witnesse that royall title in Daniels vision in which the Ancients interest Him as by whom is the unction of holinesse the most Holy Some things are holy by Creation as Angels blesse the LORD yee His holy Angels that excell in strength Some things by communication as the Elect who are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Paul phraseth it called to be Saints Some things by dedication as His Temple O worship the LORD in the beauty of Holinesse Something 's are holy for use as the creatures Moses branded with uncleannesse some of them but Adam caus'd it by his sinne filth was powred on all CHRIST hath wip't out this legall impurity and lodg'd under one roofe whole hoofes and cloven if the Jewes were than a holy people the Gentiles are now a holy Nation it is true of men beasts things all creatures through the foure corners of the earth are cleane and holy and this was taught us by Saint Peters great sheete let downe by foure corners from Heaven but made good by CHRIST who pulling downe that Screene or wall of partition betweene them hath taught us not to call any thing uncleane which GOD hath cleansed when Iulian poysoned the wells the shambles the fields with his heathenish lustrations the Christians saies my Antiquary dranke freely of them and by vertue of Saint Pauls Quicquid in macello 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing uncleane is S. Peters rule at least with Saint Pauls paraphrase munda mundis if my selfe be cleane I reade this posie on what ever I use Holy if otherwise my cloathes saith Iob shall make me filthy All things are in themselves in some degree Holy GOD alone is holinesse it selfe So those Heavenly Musitians chant it Who shall not feare thee O LORD and glorifie thy
presence of the Light lux simplissima est omnia occupat Light shines every where GOD is in this respect Light Immense is a peculiar Attribute wherewith He is clothed Hee comprehends all places none include Him wee doe acknowledge Him with Augustine sine situ ubique praesentem sine loco ubique totum sine extensione omnia implentem without site every where present every where whole without place and without extension of parts filling all things all bodies have their proper place and there we say they are circumscriptively nor would Aristotle exempt the highest Heaven could wee finde out a bodie or superficies to encircle it how excellent are the Angels who behold the face of GOD in glory how dignified by CHRIST himselfe who though He tooke not their nature yet weares their name the Angell of the Covenant how ever they are limited in their natures they are of finite vertue nor is Gabriell than with the Hierarchy in Heaven when he stoopes to the Mother of GOD with an Ave on earth Haile Mary these are in their places definitively it is GODS prerogative royall of which to rifle Him it were a meere treason and robbery to be in all places repletively it weares indeed the image and stampe of Apocrypha yet search it to the quick and kernell and a mysterious weight is shrind in it the Spirit of the LORD filleth the world How filleth vertually alone as the Sunne though fixt in his owne Orbe yet enlightens all things with his beames doth cherish them with his heate enliven them with his influence or as a King who sits on his throne and stretches out the rod of his power over all his Dominions rules all the people of his Realmes with the Scepter of his Authority if we coast here we devest GOD of His power and bring Him downe to His creatures nay under them for the very Aire is every where nature not being patient of a vacuity if I digg downe to the center of the earth it is at the point of my spade if I shoote up as high as Heaven it is at the top of my Arrow how than filleth what per partes as the Aire whose parts though Homogeneall take yet up all places severally where no bodily substance is or as CHRIST the ubiquitary may storme at this truth he shall stifle it is if we reflect on His Deitie every where if on His Man-hood in those courts of blisse above which shall hold Him till at the last day Hee shall breake the cloudes and come with flames of fire to judge all flesh is GOD so Can the Heavens or the Heaven of Heavens containe Him No adest ubique ubique totus est non per partes usquam est sed in omnibus omnis est it is Saint Hilaries descant on that streine of the sweete singer of Israel Thou art neere O LORD and all thy Commandements are true How than filleth so as that He is mixt with things sublunary which was the foule Blasphemy of the Manichees or as their substantiall forme makes one compound with them which was the stale and engine to all heathenish Idolatry if wee beleeve Averroes a Patriarke of their owne No GOD is above all things saies the Apostle Rom. 6. and in Isaiahs vision He is high and lifted up and how ever the Poet fills his cheekes with a Iovis omnia plena or we heare it from a tongue divinely toucht and with a true Cherubim In Him we live and moove and have our being yet it is so not that GOD is part of our substance but Author of it being the onely source and fountaine of our life motion being the Platonists who stil'd GOD the soule of the world did fancy yet and coine a god to themselves who was supreme to this and him they bedect and crown'd with this rich Epithite the parent of the worlds soule a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alwaies existent in himselfe simple omnipresent How is GOD Omnipresent Soft Critick thou art running on shelves which will shipwrack and split thee that GOD is every where I beleeve it and my faith shall Anchor here how He is so what Alexander hath a sword to cut a sunder this Gordian knot what Library of the world a key to unlock this mistery for quomodo ubiquè sit intellectu non capimus so Lumbard out of the golden-mouth'd Homilist doth schoole us and bids hush such malapart enquiries as may entitle us to insolence not improove our knowledge When we speake of GOD we are to beleeve an ubiquity though what this ubiquity is is a bottome we cannot unravell Heaven is His throne and the earth His footstoole in Isaiah in Ieremy Hee fills Heaven and Earth omnia implet sine inclusione I am taught by Saint Augustine here and I am told by Saint Hilarie there that a miracle is spher'd in it Deum ubiquè esse nusquam abesse in omnibus esse totum esse that GOD is present every where and in His whole Essence so to sift this Sacrament were to bee quaintly mad but what puzzles my reason my faith shall not startle at I beleeve though I boult my dores I locke not GOD in though I close my casements I shut not GOD out If I take a fee to blinde my eyes He sees it for He is in my closet He is my cloister when I make it a stewes and under a religious coole live as in a brothell-house when I unhallow it by irreverence as if I came to a Mart to bargaine with not an Oratory to beseech Him GOD is in His Temple His residence is especially here though His presence be every where indeed tangit omnia but non aequaliter tangit omnia GOD fills all places with His presence His Church with His gratious presence no place excludes Him this is sure of Him it is His Highnesse Court of Requests where our petitions are best put up it is that ladder of Iacob where the Angels ascend with our suites and descend againe besprinkling us with graces it is that Navy Royall which transports our holy Merchandize to Heaven it was the cheate with which Ieroboam guld the Israelites in Iosephus my good people and friends you cannot but know that no place is without GOD and that no place doth containe GOD wheresoever we pray He can heare us wheresoever we worship He can see us therefore the Temple is superfluous a journey needlesse to Hierusalem GOD is better able to come to you than you are to goe to Him GODS Essence 't is true is diffusive through Heaven and Earth as my soule through every fraction of my body yet as this hath its chiefe seate in my heart so the beauty of the LORD is peculiar to His owne house One thing have J desired of the LORD and that will I seeke after that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all
the daies of my life to behold the beauty of the LORD no place lifts up pure hands no one darts up faithfull prayers in vaine for they pierce the cloudes and enter the eares of GOD wheresoever they are made yet His eares are more open to one miserere from the Priests mouth than the whole service from the peoples to one Collect of the Church than whole piles of chamber devotions for there His honour dwelleth that is the place of His rest and the LORD that made Heaven and Earth doth blesse out of Sion I shall therefore be prostrate and uncovered spight of the sawcinesse of too many in this place principally though in no place I can be without my GOD whom I cannot winde into a Meander nor entangle in a Labyrinth nor hide from Him in a thicket nor loose Him in a cloud Whither shall I goe from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up to Heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell thou art there also if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me How than if GOD be in all things escapes hee pollution thinke we on the Aire how it is in our lightlesse chambers nor though we draw our curtaines can we keepe it out of our beds nor out of our hearts when we breath which would soone be stifled in us were it not for the coole fannings of the Aire we say vulgarly it infects but those vapours onely doe so which breath'd from putrid things are carried by the stirring winde and flie about in it the Aire clarifies of it selfe and mixeth not with that drosse and fogs it doth purge out much lesse can things below mingle themselves with GODS purity though He be in them nor His unblemisht Essence be tainted by their touch the glasse wee know presents deformities not deform'd it selfe the Sun we see not being defil'd therewith darts his beames of light on carrion and mud no more can our impurities bespatter GOD though He be as Essentially in that place where they are don as we who Act them for He is not farre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from every one of us may this imprint on our soules a double instruction To meditate thus where ever we are GOD is there in our houses our beds our hearts that ere our sins are quickned to the birth or our thoughts have given them conception He hath a Register of them in whose booke are all our members written when as yet there are none how should it be abridle in our jawes when we rush into sinne as the horse into battaile and in paths strewed with pleasures run like Dromedaries No man can roofe or vault himselfe from GOD the Aegyptians Hieroglyphick of Him was an eye seven eyes He hath in the Prophet which run to and fro thorough the earth divinely Hesiod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the eye of GOD beholds all things every worke of our hands every step of our feete every word of our lips every motion of our soules Thy eyes O LORD are upon all the waies of the Sonnes of men how then can he be eluded He that planted the eare shall not He heare He that formed the eye shall He not see shall not he know that teacheth man knowledge What wee doe in the darkest cels are to GOD as done on the tops of Mountaines So was Gehazies secret bribery the close plots of Achitophell Pilats washing himselfe into hypocrisie the lustfull rape of the Elders when they tempted that Emblem of chastity with the gates of the Orchard are shut and no body sees us Tam facile pronum est superos contemnere testes Si mortalis idemnemo sciat We draw a vale of secrecy ore our foule deedes and say the cloudes and darkenesse shall be a covering for them but what cloudes of day what darknesse of night can shadow us from Him to whom the Light and darknesse are both alike whom no thicknesse of wals no closenesse of windowes nor bars of iron can shut out from us J admire Thales who askt whether a man dooing ill might be obscur'd from the eye of GOD he replies ne cogitans quidem his very thoughts are unbosom'd before Him into what ever actions wee embarke our selves take we with us the advise of that prince and Patriarke of Philosophers So doe all things as if a Cato a Scipio or Laelius did looke on GOD overveiwes all our enterprises let us shame to act that before Him we would blush should be whisperd to men GOD sees all when lust is lodg'd in the eyes when violence doth bruize in the hands when blasphemy croakes in the tongue when drunkennesse reeles in the streets if the treasures of wickednesse be in your houses if fraud and coozenage in your contracts if in your shops false ballances and bags full of deceit think not with those Atheists in the Psalmist that GOD hideth His face that He will never see it would we but consult the sacred raptures of the Sybels this they give out of Him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the dens of the earth not the holes of the rocks not the depth of Seas or bottome of hils but GOD is there who is every whit every where quocunque vides quocunque moveris Secondly Is GOD every where what other witnesse need we of our best Actions as Socrates said of Plato Plato instar omnium no croudes or throngs of Auditors to one Plato no such Record or Chronicle of our good deeds as GODS inspection of them when I fast though I strive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 GOD sees me though no sowernesse diffigures my looke when I pray and doe so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 GOD heares us though no thunder or noise be in our tongve when I do my almes though I blow no trumpet nor cackle streight so soone as my egg is laid yet I have those who see me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not Angels onely or Archangels but GOD the parent of the universe who being mundi oculus saith Pierius hath His eyes upon us where ever we are And sure not a teare drops from our eyes in penitence but GOD is ready with His bottles to take it up not a word falls from our lips in praise but it is Musicke in His eares not an Almes is scattered abroad by our hands but is a sweet incense in His nostrils the bread you cast upon the waters is truly trajectitia pecunia monie for which you take a bill of exchange from GOD and it meetes you in a farre countrey no robbers by land no pyracies of Sea no unfaithfullnesse of Factors no violence of tempests shall take it from you dispersit dedit pauperibus saith the Psalmist he hath given to the poore and his righteousnesse remaines for ever in one