it shall be with so much more brightness and clearness that in comparison of the obscure and glimmering way whereby we know God here it may be called a seeing of him Face to Face and knowing him as we are known by him though to speak in absolute Propriety of Speech these things are not possible to any Creature Object 3 It may seem no small disparagement to God to be every-where present What! for the Glorious Majesty of God to be present in such vile and filthy Places as are here upon Earth Answ 1 To this I answer God doth not think it any disparagement to him nor think it unworthy of him to know and make all these which we call vile and filthy places why then should we think it unworthy of him to be present there God is a Spirit and is not capable of any pollution or defilement from any vile or filthy things The Sun-beams are no more tainted by shining on a Dunghil than they are by shining on a Bed of Spices no more can God be sullied by being present in filthy Sinks to speak with Reverence than to be in the glorious Heavens because he is a Spirit and his Essence is not subject to any taints from the Creature The vilest things that are have still a being that is good in their own kind and as well-pleasing to God as those things which we put a greater value and esteem upon Lastly It reflects no more dishonour upon God to be present with the vilest Creatures than to be present with the noblest and highest because the Angels are at an infinite distance from God There is a greater disproportion between God and the Angels than there is between the vilest Worm and an Angel all are at an infinite distance to his Glory and Majesty Thus much for the Objections APPLICATION Vse 1 First Is God thus infinitely present every-where and thus in and with all his Creatures then what an Encouragement is here unto Prayer Thou canst not say Alas I now pray but how shall God hear He is in Heaven above and I am on Earth below many Thousands of Miles distant from his presence How then shall my weak Whisperings that can scarce reach the Walls of mine own Closet ever be able to reach his Ear No God's Essential Presence is with thee wheresoever thou art as he is in Heaven it self and God is all Ear he can understand the silent Motions of thy Lips every-where yea he can understand the secret Motions of thy Heart When Hannah prayed for her Son Samuel Eli the Priest of God thought her Gesture did proceed from a distempered Head and not from an holy Heart but God was present with her Lips and that Prayer which was thought by the Priest of God to be but a dumb shew yet to God himself it was powerful Rhetorick and as loud as Thunder in his Ears The Scripture generally intimates that all our Prayers shall be directed to God in Heaven So Solomon prayed 1 Kings 8.32 Then hear thou in Heaven c. And it is again expressed in the 30th Verse So that most excellent Composure which Christ taught his Disciples in the beginning of it Our Father which art in Heaven it gives our thoughts a Lift to Heaven Now this doth not imply that God doth no where hear our Prayers but only in Heaven But how then Why is this Phrase used For these two Reasons First Because Heaven is the most glorious place there God especially hath established his Throne of Grace and sits upon it Now because it is most Glorious and Majestick and since God is there to hear Suits and receive Petitions that are tendred up by all his Servants here on Earth therefore the Scripture directeth us to that most glorious and celestial place Hear thou in Heaven Hence we have that Expression Acts 10.4 Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a Memorial before God Certainly if our Prayers should not be heard till they come to Heaven they are so weak and faint that they would be out of breath by the way and not be able then to speak for themselves But yet God speaks in us by his Spirit and keeps alive the Sense of his Majesty upon our Hearts that he would not have us think it to be a mean and trivial thing to have our Prayers heard therefore he represents himself to us Arrayed in all his Glory Secondly Our Prayers are directed to God in Heaven because though he hears them where-ever they be uttered yet he no where hears them with acceptation but in Heaven only Our Prayers are accepted by God because they are heard in Heaven Thy Prayers are not accepted by God because God hears them upon Earth as they are heard in thy Closet or as they are heard in thy Heart but only as they are heard in Heaven and the reason is because that Prayers are acceptable only as they are presented before God in the Mediation and Intercession of Jesus Christ He must mingle them with the Incense of his Merits before they can ascend up before God as a sweet Savour Now Christ performs his Mediatory Office no where but in Heaven for though as God he be every-where present as the Father is and therefore hears your Prayers wheresoever they be put up yet as Mediator they are only heard in Heaven by him and he hears no Prayers but the Prayers of his People as he is Mediator and therefore it is no comfort to you that Christ hears your Prayers as he is God only for so he doth and cannot but do it unless he hears your Prayers likewise as he is Mediator Now Christ as he is Mediator he is God-man for as he wrought out our Salvation in both Natures so he still continues to mediate for us in both Natures And since the Human Nature is only in Heaven therefore it follows he performs the Mediatory Office only in Heaven Now it is the Mediatorship of Christ alone that makes all our Prayers and Duties acceptable to God himself therefore it concerns us still to pray Lord hear us in Heaven It is in vain that thou hearest me on Earth unless thou hearest in Heaven too My Prayers cannot be heard acceptably unless thou hearest them twice thou hearest my Prayers on Earth not a Word of my Tongue but thou hearest but what will it avail thy Servant unless thou hearest my Prayers a second time repeated over to thee in the Intercession and Mediation of Jesus Christ in Heaven And therefore saith Solomon 1 Kings 8.34 Hear thou in Heaven and forgive When God shall only hear on Earth he will be so far from forgiving that he will be avenged but when he hears our Prayers in Heaven through the Mediation of Christ then he is inclined to forgive and pardon us Hence we find that the Jews prayed towards the Temple which was a Type of Heaven and the Altar and Incense and Mercy-seat in this Temple were Types of Christ who is now
in Heaven And therefore Daniel when in Babilon he prayed his Window being open towards Jerusalem towards the Temple as if no Prayer were acceptable to God but what was heard in Heaven So Jonah when he was in the Belly of the Whale Jonah 2.7 My Prayer came in unto thee into thine Holy Temple Jonah was a strong Orator when he was in the slimy Paunch of the Whale yea but God was there and God heard him there but yet his Prayer would have been as filthy as his Person if God had not heard him elsewhere than in the Belly of the Whale My Prayer came in unto thee into thine Holy Temple That is God heard him in Heaven And therefore though the Breath of Jonah could have no sweetness yet the Prayer that he breathed forth came up as Incense and a sweet Perfume before God as it came into the Holy Temple Thus God hears the Prayers of his in Heaven but the Prayers of the wicked he hears only upon Earth he hears them when they speak them but God never hears their Prayers in the Mediation of Christ but the Prayers of his own People he hears on Earth as he is an omnipresent and omnipotent God and he hears them in Heaven as he is a gracious and reconciled Father If thou dost but Whisper thy Prayer God will hear it that which is but whispered on Earth it rings and eccho's in the Court of Heaven and if Christ speaks your Prayers over to God they become so loud that God cannot stop his Ears against them The Voice of Prayer is not like other Voices the further they reach the weaker they grow no that Voice which is so weak that it cannot be heard beyond the compass of thy Closet yet when it is put forth in Prayer it fills all Heaven with its sound But where is the encouragement unto Prayer in all this If thou dost belong to God thou may'st have great encouragement to Prayer from the Consideration of his Omnipresence for because of this there is no Prayer of a Child of God but shall be heard in Heaven tho' it be uttered in secret For consider that tho' Christ as Man is only in Heaven yet Christ as God is every-where present and hears the Prayers of all Men in the World Those that are wicked he regards no further but gives them the hearing but for his own he regards their Prayers and presents what he hears from them to God in Heaven Christ makes his Omniscience and Omnipresence to be subservient to the Work of his Mediatorship One of his Offices is to be a faithful High-Priest and an Advocate to God for us and Christ being such an Advocate that hears all the Suits and all the Causes of his Clients we may be assured that there is not one Prayer that God hears on Earth from us but he hears it also in Heaven through Christ It was a notable Scoff of Elijah to Baal's Priests 1 Kings 18.27 Cry aloud for he is a God c. peradventure he sleepeth and must be waked As if he should say You serve an unworthy God that cannot hear those that pray unto him And indeed how should he do so that is not Omnipresent He is talking or he is pursuing or travelling Cry Cry aloud and peradventure if he sleepeth that will awaken him But though you should cry never so loud though your Cry should reach from Earth to Heaven he would be silent such a God as yours could never hear And therefore when Elijah himself came to pray Verse 36. the Text doth not tell us he cried aloud but that he came neer But when Baal's Priests roared and howled like distracted Men and cut themselves in an idolatrous manner Baal is not prevailed with to hear them Now Elijah came near that is he came in a calm and sedate manner and poured out his fervent composure to God as knowing that that God whom he prayed to is present every-where The Voice in Prayer is necessary upon a threefold Account First As it is that which God requires should be imployed in his Service for this is the great end why our Tongues were given to us that by them we might bless and serve God James 3.9 Secondly When in private it may be a Help and Means to raise up our own Affections and Devotions then the Voice is requisite keeping it still within the bounds of decency or privacy Thirdly In our joyning also with others it is a help likewise to raise and quicken their Affections otherwise were it not for these three Reasons the Voice is no more necessary to make known our Wants to God than it is to make them known to our own Hearts for God is always in us and with us and knows what we have need of before we ask it Secondly As the Consideration of Vse 2 of God's Omnipresence should encourage us in Prayer as knowing that God certainly hears us so it should affect us with a Holy Awe and Reverence of God in all our Prayers and Duties and in the whole Course of our Lives and Conversations Certainly it is an excellent Meditation to prepare our Hearts to Duty and to compose them in Duty to be much pondering the Omnipresence of God to think that I am with God he is present in the Room with me even in the Congregation with me and likewise in my Closet and in all my Converse and Dealings in the World How can it be possible for that Man to be frothy and vain that keeps this Thought alive in his Heart If the Presence of some Earthly Person strike an Awe in our Hearts when we come before them how much more should the Consideration of God's Presence affect us with an Holy Fear Suppose an Angel should fly in the midst of us that are here present with a rushing and dazling Glory how would it make all our Hearts beat and throb within us It would make us soon abandon all those vain Thoughts that now we feed upon those Thoughts that eat out the Heart and Life of Duty how much more should it affect us and fill us with Holy Fear that God is now and always in the midst of us whose Glory stains and sullies the Beauty and extinguishes the Light of Angels Oh! that God that is always present with us should be worshipped and served with a Holy Fear and remembred with the greatest Veneration Now to imprint this the more deeply I shall suggest two or three Particulars First Because God is in all things therefore he sees and knows all things The Omniscience of God is grounded upon his Omnipresence Jer. 23.24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord Nothing in Heaven or Earth can be hid or concealed from God's Eye Heb. 4.13 All things are naked and opened before the Lord. There is no Corner so retired so shady so dark no Gulph so deep that can hide
for assure your selves this troublesome Inmate shall not long disquiet you I might also add Fourthly 4. Saints in Heaven are free from Satans Temptations You shall then rest from your Labour in working against Satan's Temptations who is now buffeting of you while you are here upon Earth but in Heaven the evil One shall not approach near to touch you There you shall no more trouble your selves to know how to distinguish between the Injections of Satan and the Ebolitions of your own Corruptions for you shall know neither there you shall then stand no more upon your own Guard and keep Centinel to your own Soul nor conflict with any of Satan's Temptations but shall forever triumph in Victories and Conquests over them This is that blessed Rest that you shall shortly possess if you will but now Work And what is it that comforts the painful Labourer but this that tho' his Work be hard and difficult yet the Evening will soon shut in and he shall then betake himself to quiet Rest and Repose What is it that comforts the wearisome Traveller but this Every Step of his long Way brings him nearer to his Home where he shall enjoy a longer Rest And shall not the same incourage and support you in your Way and Work What though the Work be painful and laborious yet it will not be long before you shall lie down in the Bed of the Grave and sweetly sleep away a short Night of Oblivion that is between this and the Resurrection and your tired weary Souls shall then repose and nestle themselves in the warm Bosom of God himself What though the Way be long and tedious to the Flesh yet you are Travelling to your Father's House where you are sure to be welcome and where you shall enjoy an Eternity of Rest and Repose and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the whole Ring of glorious Saints discoursing to them of the Dangers and Difficulties that you have passed through in getting to them Doth it not sweeten the Toil and Pains that you take in your Youth to think that thereby you are laying up that whereupon you may live at Ease hereafter and spare the weakness of old Age And is it not much more Rational that while you are in this World which may be called the Youth of Eternity you should lay up a good Foundation and treasure up a large rich Stock upon which you might live at Ease for ever Why should you not be as wise and politick for Heaven as for a little of the perishing Things of this World Will you Labour that you may Rest here where your Rest shall certainly be disquieted and you shook out of it and will you not labour that you may Rest in Heaven where alone you can enjoy an everlasting Rest I know it is that inveterate prejudice that Men have taken up against the Ways of God that they are painful and laborious and this invalidates all Reasons and Arguments that we bring them to persuade them to work Rest that is it they would have and though God tells them they shall have an Eternal Rest if they will but work a while and tells them on the other Hand that they shall never enter into Rest if they do not work that they shall never enjoy more Ease than what they can find in Hell it self where their Groans and Bellowings together with the Smoak of that bottomless Pit shall ascend up for ever yet such is the madness of Mens Folly that neither the Rest of Heaven nor the Restlessness of Hell can stir or move them but they roll themselves up in their own Sloth and will hear nothing nor lay any thing to Heart that may rouze or awaken them Hath not God often called upon them by his Ministers Sinners Sinners awake bestir your selves Hell-fire is kindling about you God is ready to open his Mouth to pronounce Sentence against you Satan is ready to lay hold of you and to drag you to be tormented One would think such Execrations as these are should awaken the Carkasses that you set over were they not in their final state and yet with you whose Souls are yet in their Bodies but know not how soon they may be in Hell who among you are moved with all that hath or can be said of this Matter nay are you not like sleepy Men when jogged ready to grow pettish and to quarrel with us Why do you molest us Why do you envy us our Rest Why do you disturb our Peace and will not let us alone Shall I say to you now as once our Saviour said to his Disciples Luke 21.40 Sleep on and take your Rest sleep on and nod your selves into Destruction sleep on and never wake more till the Flames of Hell awaken you Truly we come not to disturb your Rest but we come to inform and guide you to a better Rest than what you can find here even an eternal Rest a Rest with him that is immortal a Rest with him who alone is unchangeable and is not this Rest worth a little Pains and Strugling to obtain Do you think you are always to believe and to repent always to obey and mortifie your Corruptions You cannot think so unless you think you are always to live in this World No there is a Rest remains for the People of God after a few short Days be gone It is not therefore your Ease that you seek when you will not work no it is rather your Pain and eternal Torment which shall certainly then be given unto all slothful Persons when the industrious and painful Christian that labours and works for Salvation shall be admitted into the Eternal Rest that he is aspiring after and hath already embraced in his Hope and Faith 4. In Heaven there is an eternal Work Fourthly Consider As in Heaven there is an eternal Rest so also in Heaven there is an eternal Work to be done And therefore you should inure your selves to that Work while you are here upon Earth If Happiness according to the Philosophers Notion consists in Operation then in Heaven where there is the most perfect Happiness there must needs be the most perfect Operation And therefore whatever hath been spoken of Rest that remains yet you are not so to conceive of it as possibly some gross enough are apt to wish and fancy to themselves as if in Heaven the blessed were unactive and enjoyed there only a long Vacation and only stretched themselves on that Flowery Bank and so void of Cares and Fears lull'd away an Eternity No these are too low and bruitish Apprehensions for the Glory of that Place That Rest that is there to be expected and enjoyed is operative working Rest it is both Rest and Exercise at once and therefore it is a true Paradox though the Saints in Heaven rest from their Labours yet they never rest from their Working continually are they blessing and praising of God Ascribing Glory
Conscience when it is under searching Convictions O the Smart and Anguish of a wounded Spirit when God instead of Balm shall only chafe it with Brimstone And yet this is the common method that God useth to prepare Souls for himself he seems to arm himself in all his Terrors against them singling them out to the Conflict and when they give up themselves for lost lying gasping for Hope scarcely at length is administred some few reviving Comforts It is with these as it was with the Children of Israel upon Sinai first they were astonished with a confused noise of Thunder the Air full of Lightning the Mountains all on a Flame and the Earth trembling under them before they heard that comfortable Voice in Exod. 20.2 I am the Lord thy God So is it with convinced Sinners God dischargeth his Threatnings against them that speak more dreadfully to them than a Voice of Thunder he speaks to them out of the midst of Flames and every Word scorcheth up their Hearts and when they stand trembling and despairing once at length they hear those reviving Words I am the Lord thy God What Hearts are there now that such a dreadful Mercy as this is would not over-aw Those Discoveries of Gods Love that break in upon the Soul in the midst of a doleful and gloomy Night of Despair and Despondency work naturally a sweet kind of Terror and a shivering Joy and that 's the first Consideration The dreadful method that God takes to procure Mercy for us even by the death of his Son and to apply Mercy to us even by the Terrors of a convinced Conscience is a sufficient Ground to affect our Hearts with Fear Reas 2. We ought to fear God tho' he be our God because it is possible to lose his Love and the Sense of it though we stand fully possess'd of his Favour Secondly Though God be our God yet to consider that it is possible to lose his Favour and the Sense of it this is enough to affect the Heart with a holy fear even of a reconciled God It is true God's Original and Fountain Love can never be dried up Whom he loves he loves unto the End Psal 89.33 John 1.13 And my loving Kindness will I never utterly take away from him Psal 89.33 But yet the Streams of this Fountain Love may be very much obstructed from flowing freely down upon us though we shall never again be Children of Wrath yet we may be Children under Wrath every presumptuous Sin we commit raiseth God's displeasure against us he is angry with us upon every more notorious and known Sin we commit and since then we are in danger every Day of falling into gross and foul Sins and are kept only by his almighty and free Grace from the worst what cause have we to fear lest we forfeit his Favor and turn his Displeasure against us Yea again though we should be preserved from Sin and continue in his Love yet we cannot assure our selves that we shall continue in the Sense and comfortable Apprehension of it Comfort is most arbitrary and at God's free Dispose neither hath he ingaged himself to bestow it upon any by any absolute Promise though now his Lamp shined clearly upon thy Tabernacle and thou rejoycest in his Smiles yet how quickly may he wrap thee up in a dark Night of Desertion and turn all thy Songs into Mourning Thou therefore that art now assured that God is thy God fear lest ere long thou mayest not think him to be so certain thou art he is so now yet before it be long possibly through thy Miscarriage thou mayest not think him to be so and it is all one as to Comfort or Discomfort whether God be thy God or not if thou dost not apprehend him to be so and therefore fear him Thirdly Reas 3. Why we should fear God because every Frown of our God touches to the quick Consider every Frown and Stroke toucheth to the Quick that cometh from a reconciled God and a loving Father and therefore the rather fear because he is thy God Every little Blow from a Father strikes deeper and causeth more Smart than greater Blows from other Persons others strike the Body but when a loving Father strikes he wounds the Heart So is it here the nearness of the Relation betwixt God and us puts an Anguish and Sting into every Correction As the Psalmist speaks in his own Case Psal 55.12 It was not an Enemy that reproached me neither was it he that hated me then I could have born it but it was thou a Friend mine Equal my Guide and mine Acquaintance These are sad Accents and so is it here The Blood of a Sin-revenging God may indeed break the Back but the Blows of a gracious and reconciled Father break the Heart Fear therefore lest through some Miscarriage of thine and such Miscarriages thou art every Day guilty of thou shouldest provoke thy God to lay some heavy Stroke upon thee which will be the more smart from the aggravation that provoked Love puts upon it And thus you see now in these three Particulars what ground there is from the consideration of God as our God to enforce a holy Fear of his divine Majesty upon our Hearts He is our God therefore fear him because the way that he became ours is most dreadful he is our God as yet fear lest we may not apprehend him so long he is our God therefore fear him because every Stroke and Frown from a God in Covenant comes with an aggravated smart and sting Why now this holy Fear as it is no Enemy to full assurance as I have shewed you so neither Secondly 2. Holy Fear is not contrary to the Love of God Is it any way prejudicial to a most ardent love of God Filial Love and Filial Fear are two Twins but not such as Jacob and Esau that strive to supplant one another The pure Flame of divine and heavenly Love is like other Flames the higher it mounts the more it vibrates and trembles Indeed St. John tells us 1 Joh. 4.18 opened 1 John 4.18 That perfect Love casteth out Fear It should seem then that all Fear of God is swallowed up in those Hearts that are once brought into an holy Love But the Apostle doth very well explain himself in the reason that he gives of this Assertion in the next Words Perfect Love casteth out Fear because Fear hath Torment in it Hence therefore we may distinguish of a twofold fear of God The one is tormenting causing unquiet rollings and estuations in the Heart in a sad suspense of what our future and eternal State may prove and this is slavish Now this Fear perfect Love casteth out and expells for where divine Love is perfected in the Soul there are no more such Suspences Hesitations and Doubtings what will become of it to Eternity Now by perfect Love may be meant either that state of Perfection to which we shall