Slave unto God And such Slaves are all convinced Sinners that have not yet arrived to the free and filial Spirit of Adoption but are kept under Bondage under the Wrath of God and manacled in the Fetters of their own Fears So saith the Apostle Heb. 2.15 To deliver them who through fear of Death and of Hell that follows after it were all their Life-time subject unto Bondage Thirdly 3. Slavish Fear is wrought in the Soul by the Spirit This slavish Fear is wrought in the Soul by the Spirit of God though it be slavish for it is his Office to convince as well as to comfort and to cast down by the Terrors of the Law as well as to raise up by the Promises of the Gospel In John 16.8 He shall convince the World of Sin and therefore it is said in this place Rom. 8.15 We have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to fear Rom. 8.15 implying that those Terrors that seize upon the Conscience are the Work of the Holy Ghost We bring our selves into Bondage under Sin and he brings us into Bondage under Fear If therefore at any time thou who art a secure Sinner art suddenly surprized with fearful and trembling Thoughts concerning thy present state of Sin and thy future state of Wrath beware thou listen not to any that would persuade thee it is nothing but a Fit of Melancholy or a Temptation of Satan to drive thee to Despair but know assuredly thy Conscience is now under the Hand of the Holy Ghost himself he raiseth those Tempests of Fear in thee and as usually it is fatal to divert and hush them so is it no less than ignorant Blasphemy to impute his Works to Melancholy or to the Temptations of Satan Fourthly When the Soul is prepared for the Work of Grace by the Work of Conviction 4. When the Spirit hath been a Spirit of Bondage it becomes a Spirit of Adoption when it is prepared for Comfort by the Work of Humiliation the same Spirit that was before a Spirit of Bondage becomes now a Spirit of Adoption that is the Holy Ghost persuades and assures us of the love and favour of God and enables us through divine Light beaming in upon our Consciences to behold him as a gracious and a reconciled Father whom before we trembled at as a stern and terrible Judge The same Wind that in a raging Storm tosseth the Sea too and fro in restless Heaps in a Calm doth only gently move and fan it with pleasing Purles So is it here that Spirit of God that in Conviction raiseth a Tempest in the Conscience afterwards the same Spirit breaths forth a sweet Calm of Peace and Comfort upon it The same Spirit that before was a Spirit of Bondage when the Soul is sufficiently thereby prepared for Grace becomes a Spirit of Adoption This is that Spirit of Adoption that is here spoken of and is called so because it witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God by Adoption God hath but one Son by eternal Generation and that is Jesus Christ called therefore The only begotten of the Father John 1.14 He hath many Sons by Creation even all Mankind so Adam is called The Son of God Luke 3.38 He hath many Sons also by Adoption even all that are effectually called according to the purpose of his Grace all that are sanctified who are of Strangers made Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Jesus Christ himself who is the natural Son of God as it is Rom. 8.17 Now because it is the Work of the Holy Ghost to testifie to us this our great Privilege that we are enrolled in the Family of Heaven and become the Children of God therefore he is called the Spirit of Adoption that is the Spirit that witnesseth to us our Adoption Fifthly To whom the Spirit hath once been a Spirit of Adoption 5. Where the Spirit hath once been a Spirit of Adoption it never more becomes a Spirit of Bondage it never more becomes to them a Spirit of Bondage and Fear That is it never again proclaims War after it hath spoken Peace it never represents God as an inraged Enemy after it hath represented him as a reconciled Father It is true the Spirit of God always keeps up his convincing Office in the Soul of the most assured Saint it convinceth them of Sin and of Wrath due to them for Sin A twofold Conviction of Sin But now there is a twofold Conviction there is a Conviction of the Evil of particular Actions and there is a Conviction of the Evil of our State and Condition Why now though upon particular Miscarriages of Gods Children the Holy Ghost secretly smited their Consciences shewing them the Guilt and Evil of their Sins thereby bringing them to Repentance and a godly Sorrow yet the Holy Ghost never again testified to them that they are in a graceless unregenerate and sinful Estate and Condition and in a State of Wrath and Condemnation it brings them to a deep Humiliation by convincing them of the Evil of their Actions but it never brings them into legal Terrors by convincing them of a sinful State neither indeed can it be so for the Spirit of God is a Spirit of Truth and to witness that we are yet Children of Wrath who are indeed the adopted Children of God this were a false Testimony and therefore utterly abhorred by the Spirit of God who is a Spirit of Truth Doth the same Fountain send forth sweet Water and bitter Doth there proceed from one and the same Mouth Blessings and Curses Certainly the same Spirit that hath once pronounced us to be in the Love and Favour of God never after pronounceth us to be Cursed and under the Wrath of God Object But you will say Have not the best of God's Children sometimes concluded themselves to be reprobated and cast away Have they not lain under sad and fearful apprehensions of God's Wrath Have not some of them who formerly walked in the Light of God's Countenance and flourished in their Assurance yet afterwards have been so dejected that they would not entertain any comfort or hopes of Mercy and Salvation Answ To this I Answer It is true it may indeed so happen that those Saints whose Joys and Comforts are at one time fresh and verdent at another time wither and drop off so that they look upon themselves as rotten Trees destinated to make Fuel for Hell Whence proceeds this It is not from the Spirit of God but as carnal Men are apt to mistake the first Work of Conviction for Melancholy or for Temptation so this really proceeds from one of these two Causes When the Children of God after full assurance come again not only to entertain Doubts of their Condition but also to despair of themselves looking on themselves as Persons that God hath singled out to Destruction this proceeds not from the Holy Ghost but from Melancholy or Temptation Sometimes natural Melancholy obstructs
that require not much time to perform their Errands in for there is a holy Mystery in pointing our earthly Employments with these heavenly Ejaculations as Men point their Writings sometimes with Stops ever now and then shooting up a short mental Prayer unto Heaven such Pauses as these are you will find to be no Impediments to your worldly Affairs This is the way for a Christian to be retired and private in the midst of a Multitude to turn his Shop or his Field into a Closet to trade for Earth and yet to get Heaven also into the Bargain So we read of Nehemiah 2.4 Nehem. 2.4 That whilst the King was discoursing to him of the State of Judea it is said that Nehemiah prayed unto God that is he sent up secret Prayers to God which tho' they escaped the King's notice and observation yet were they so prevalent as to bow and encline his Heart 4. It is always to keep our Hearts in a praying Frame Fourthly and Lastly There is yet something more in this Praying without ceasing and that is this We may then be said to pray without ceasing when we keep our Hearts in such a frame as that we are fit at all times to vent our selves before God in Prayer When we keep alive and cherish a praying Spirit and can upon all Opportunities draw near to God with full Souls and with quick and vigorous Affections This is to pray without ceasing and this I take to be the most genuine natural Sense of the Words and the true Scope of the Apostle here to have the Habit of Prayer enclining them always freely and sweetly to breath out their Requests unto God They that would maintain a praying Temper must be careful of Two Things and to take all Occasions to prostrate themselves before his Throne of Grace Now those that would maintain this praying Temper must be especially careful of Two Things 1. That they immerse not themselves in the World First That they do not too much ingulf themselves in the Businesses and Pleasures of this Life for this will exceedingly damp and deaden the Heart to this holy Duty as Earth cast upon the Fire puts it out so the World when it is spread over the Affections must needs stifle and extinguish that holy Flame that should ascend up to Heaven How hard is it for a Man that oppresseth himself with a heap of Businesses to raise his Heart unto God under all that Load How hard is it for those that let out their Hearts thus too and fro a thousand ways to summon them in the next moment to attend upon God with that awful and serious Frame that becomes all those that appear before him When we come to Prayer reaking hot out of the Affairs of this World we find our Hearts subject to manifold Distractions and Discomposures and our Thoughts scattered like Bees still flying from one Flower to another still bringing some Intelligence from worldly Objects even then when we are about divine Employments Secondly 2. That they fall into no known and presumptous Sin If you would maintain a praying Temper of Soul be careful not to fall into the commission of any known presumptuous Sin The Guilt of Sin lying upon the Conscience will exceedingly deaden the Heart to Prayer Alas how can we go to God with any freedom of Spirit How can we call him Father with any Boldness and Confidence while we are conscious to our selves that we have daringly provoked him by some wilful Offence I may appeal to your own Experience in this Do not your Consciences fly in your Faces Do they not take you by the Throat and even choak your Speech while you are praying with some such Suggestions as these What can I pray for the Pardon of Sin that frequently commit that which I know to be Sin Shall I dare to lift up unclean Hands before his pure and holy Eyes or to speak to him in Prayer when as those Sins that rancor and fester in my Conscience must needs make my Breath unsavory and noisome to him Will the Lord hear such Prayers Or if he doth hear them will he not account them an Abomination You now whose Consciences thus accuse you do you not find such Reflections as these to be great Deadnings to your Hearts such Damps to Duty such Clippings of the Wings of the Spirit of God and takings off of the Wheels of the Soul so that it drives on but slowly and heavily in the performance of that Duty Certainly Guilt is the greatest Impediment to Duty in the World for it takes off from the Freeness and Filialness of our Spirits and fills us with Distrust Diffidence and a slavish Fear of coming before God rather as our Judge than as our Father And therefore we find that as soon as Adam had sinned against his Maker he hides himself from him Yea and we may observe it in our selves what a slavish dejectedness and deadness seizeth upon us when we come to God in Duty after we have wronged him by any known Sin how doth this make us come with such misgiving Fears as if we would not have God to take notice that we were in his Presence making us to be continually in Pain until the Duty be done And thus you see what it is to Pray without ceasing It is to pray constantly at set Times and Seasons it is to pray importunately and vehemently it is upon all Occasions to be sending up holy Ejaculations unto God and especially to keep alive and cherish a praying Frame of Heart Which whosoever would do he must beware of emerging himself in the World and of committing any known and presumptuous Sin And so much for the doctrinal part An Exhortation unto Prayer The Application shall be to stir us up and excite us to the performance of this Holy Duty wherein indeed the Vitals of Religion and Holiness do consist And to press this upon you consider with me these following Particulars 1. Prayer is a Sign of the new Birth First Prayer is one of the greatest Signs of a Man's new Birth As in the natural Birth we know the Child is living by its Crying when it comes into the World so also in this spiritual Birth it is an evidence that we are born living Souls to God when we cry mightily unto God in Prayer And therefore in Acts 9.11 Acts 9.11 when God sent Ananias unto Paul that he might take off that Fear from him that might otherwise seize upon him in going to such an enraged Persecutor as he was he tells him St. Paul was changed for behold he prays This is an infallible Sign that we are Children of God when we can with a Holy Reverence and Boldness cry Abba Father 2. Prayer is an inestimable Priviledge Secondly Consider it is a great and inestimable Priviledge that God will permit us to approach so near to himself that he will permit such vile Dust and Ashes
find me God stops his Ears against their Prayers who stop their Ears against his Law So you find it Prov. 28.9 Prov. 28.9 He that turneth away his Ears from hearing the Law even his Prayer shall be an Abomination And this is but Equity with God to refuse to hear them that refuse to hear him Wherefore should God give attention to us when we Pray more than we to him when he Speaks Secondly 2. Prayer must be with Affection If you would have God hear you you must be greatly affected with what you speak your selves Qui frigide rog at docet negare He that asks coldly begs only a Denial Certainly we cannot in reason expect that God should regard when we Pray when we do not regard our selves what we Pray How do you think a lazy Prayer that scarce drops out of your Lips should have Strength and Vigour enough to reach Heaven and to pierce through the Ears of God If you expect to shoot up a Prayer to Heaven you must draw it from a Soul full bent Thirdly 3. We must Pray with Patience We must come to God with Resolutions to wait for an Answer We must not give over Prayer because God doth not presently bestow a Mercy upon us that we desire this is not only to lose the Mercy it self but to lose our Prayers also God is a great God and King above all Gods and it is but his due State to be waited long upon in this Sense it is true He that believeth maketh not haste Certainly if we believe God to be infinitely wise to know the best Season to give us what we crave both for his Advantage and for ours also we shall not be in haste in our Suits or peevish because we are not strait answered but patiently wait God's leisure as knowing that God hath read our Petitions and will grant them when he seeth the fittest time 4. We must not make Requests for our Lusts Fourthly If you would pray so as to be heard be sure you put up no Requests in the behalf of your Lusts The Apostle gives the reason why of so many Prayers that are put up to God so few prove successful Jam. 4.2 James 4.2 You ask and you receive not because you ask amiss to consume it upon your Lusts Now to ask Blessings from God for our Lusts is when we beg any outward Mercy be it Wealth or Health or the like with reference to the gratifying of our own carnal and corrupt Desires therefore in James 4.4 the Apostle calls them Adulterers and Adulteresses Such Men are indeed like Adulteresses in this as they ask their Husbands those Things many times that they bestow upon them that they love better so wicked Men do many times ask those Mercies and Blessings of God that they intend to spend upon their Lusts that they love better than God and therefore it is no wonder that God who knows their secret Thoughts and Intents denies them Fifthly 5. We must put some stress upon our Prayers You must put some stress upon your Prayers if you would have them heard and accepted you must believe that it is to some purpose that you pray If we think it is of no great concernment to pray God will think it is of no great concernment to give what we pray for Sixthly 6. We must not put too much stress upon our Prayers You must take heed also that you do not put too much stress upon your Prayers that you do not set them up in the stead of Christ that you do not expect to merit by your Prayers the Things that you pray for but only look upon them as a Means and Ordinance that God hath appointed to obtain those good Things that you stand in need of 7. We must plead the merit of Christ in our Prayers Lastly You must be sure to make Jesus Christ your Friend when you come unto God or else all your Prayers are no better than scattered in the Air or spilt in the Carringe Benjamin was a Type of Christ in this respect Joseph chargeth his Brethren that they should not dare to see his Face again unless they brought their Brother Benjamin with them So truly they shall find no Welcome with God that do not bring their elder Brother Jesus Christ in the Arms of their Faith and plead his Merit and his Righteousness for the obtaining of their Desires So much for this Time and Text. A DISCOURSE UPON THE Omnipresence OF GOD WITH THE Improvements thereof FROM PSAL. cxxxix 7 8 9 10. By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-derry LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. 1696. A DISCOURSE UPON THE Omnipresence OF GOD. Psal cxxxix 7 8 9 10. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Or whither shall I flee from thy Presence If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there shall thy Hand lead me and thy right Hand shall hold me THESE Words declare to us the glorious Attribute of God's Immensity or Omnipresence set forth in most elegant and lofty Terms as if the Prophet would mitigate that Dread that might well seize upon us from the consideration of the terrible Majesty of God being so near us by the sweetness and flourishing of the Expression Whither shall I go from thy Spirit This Question doth not imply that David was indeed contriving how to make an Escape from God nor pondering with himself in what forlorn Corner of the World he might lie obscure where the Presence of God should never apprehend him but this Interrogation serveth for a vehement Assertion Whither shall I go That is there is no Place where I can go or where I can imagine to go but thy Spirit and thy Presence will be with me Whither shall I go from thy Spirit That is either from thee who art a Spirit and so canst pierce and penetrate me be as truly and essentially in the very Bowels and Marrow of my Soul as my Soul is intimately and essentially in my Body From thy Spirit that is from thy Knowledge and thy Power thy Knowledge to detect and observe me thy Power to uphold or to crush me In what dark Corner or Cavern soever I should muffle my self yet thy presence is so universal that it would find me out for it stretcheth it self from Heaven to Hell If I make my Bed in Hell By Hell here may be meant either the Grave which is often so called in Scripture as Acts 2.27 Psal 16.10 Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see Cortion A Prophecy concerning Christ that is Thou wilt not leave my Person in the Grave so it is interpreted Verse 31. when it is said that his Soul was not left in Hell
neither did his Flesh see Corruption it is spoken so in Gen. 37.35 Jacob speaking concerning the supposed Death of his Son Joseph says I will go down into the Grave to my Son mourning Concerning the Resurrection of Christ from the Grave Gen. 37.35 Job 17.13 that word which we translate the Grave we translate also Hell Now saith the Prophet Though I should go down to the Grave and be covered from the sight and forgotten out of the mind and thoughts of Men yet thou art there and observest every Dust how it molders and crumbles away My Body cannot be more in the Grave than thou art there If we take Hell for the place of the damned God's presence is there likewise One would think if from any place God would exclude himself it should be from Hell since his presence is sufficient to make an Heaven any where but so infinite is his unlimited Being that when the Body is in the Grave and the Soul in Hell yet then is God present both with the Soul and with the Body If I make my Bed in Hell that is If I cover my self never so close and draw the Curtains of the thickest Darkness round about me If my Body should lye in the deepest Intrails of the Earth and my Soul be wrapt about with a Winding-sheet of Smoak and Flames yet thou art there and thy presence would soon find me out Job 26.6 Hell is naked before him and Destruction hath no covering Yea the Apostle tells us 2 Thess 1.9 That the Wicked in Hell shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his Power That is not only that their punishment shall be to be separated from the presence of the Lord but look how they are said to be punished from the glory of his Power so likewise are they to be punished from his Presence their Destruction shall be from the Glory of his Power that is his Power in inflicting most dreadful Punishments upon them and his Power in sustaining them under those Punishments when with one Hand the Lord shall hold them up in Hell and lift up the other as high as Heaven to give them redoubled Strokes of everlasting Vengeance So likewise they shall be punished from the presence of the Lord that is God himself will be present in Hell to torment and punish them that at the very same time that he shall be a cherishing God in Heaven he will be a tormenting God in Hell because in them he hath established his two great Thrones the one of his Mercy the other of his Justice But yet possibly there may be found some neglected place here below where God hath no such concernment to be present in it as he hath to be present in Heaven and in Hell Now saith the Psalmist Verse 9. If I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost Parts of the Sea even there shall thine Hand lead me and thy Right-hand shall hold me Wings of the Morning is an elegant Metaphor and by them we may conjecture is meant the Sun-beams called Wings because of their swift and speedy motion making their passage so sudden and so instantaneous as that they do prevent the observation of the Eye called the Wings of the Morning because the Dawn of the Morning comes flying in upon these Wings of the Sun and brings Light along with it and by beating and fanning of these Wings scatters the Darkness before it Now saith the Psalmist If I could pluck these Wings of the Morning the Sun-beams if I could imp my own Shoulders with them if I should fly as far and as swift as Light even in an instant to the uttermost parts of the Sea yea if in my flight I could spy out some Solitary Rock so formidable and dismal as if we might almost call in question whether ever a Providence had been there if I could pitch there on the top of it where never any thing had made its abode but Coldness Thunders and Tempests yet there shall thy Hand lead me and thy Right-hand shall hold me Thus you see the Text declares this Ubiquity and Omnipresence of God both in Heaven and Earth and Hell and in all Places and in all Things I shall first handle this Point Doctrinally and then Practically observing this Method I shall 1. Lay down some Positions 2. Demonstrate the Truth of them by some cogent and convincing Arguments 3. Answer some Objections which may be made against the Omnipresence of God 4. Make some Improvement of this Point The first Position I shall lay down is this Position 1. That God is intimately and essentially in all parts and places of the World yea this Presence being essential is also necessary so that it is simply impossible that God should not be wheresoever the Creature is By the World I mean whatsoever was at the beginning created by the Power of God the Heavens the Air the Earth and Sea and all things visible and invisible God is with them and in them all There are three things briefly to be touched upon here First That God is intimately present with the Creatures He passeth through their very Beings and Inward Parts he is in the very Center of their Essence and this flows from the Spirituality of his Essence From hence it is that it is impossible that he should be excluded out of the most close compacted Being Bodies cannot thus enter one another because of their gross and material Substances they can only stand without and knock for admission they cannot enter into the substance one of another Water when sucked up by a Spunge doth not pass into the substantial part of it but only fills up those Caverns and hollow Pores that were before filled with Air. The Air we breath in cannot enter into the Substance of our Bodies but only into those Pores and hollow Recesses that are by Nature fitted to receive it so of all other Corporeal Beings But Spirits are not tied up to this Law The Soul of Man because it is a Spirit resides not only in the empty void Spaces of the Body but also in the midst of the most solid and substantial part of it Angels who are a degree of Spiritual Beings above the Soul they cannot be excluded from being present in the most condensed Bodies and we know not how often they are in us we know not how often they pass through us nor how many of them are now present with us We read of no less than a Legion which is Six Thousand that quartered themselves together in one possessed person Mark 5.9 Then certainly God between whom and the Angels there is infinitely more distance than between Angels and Bodies cannot possibly be shut out of any Being but diffuseth himself to every part of his Creatures Secondly God is not only intimately present with his Creatures because as he is a Spirit he passeth through the most inmost part of them
received it was for us and what he did was done by us and what he lost we lost in him Now if we have lost this Power of Obeying must God also lose his Priviledge and Sovereignty of Commanding Must he lessen his Authority as we lessen our Ability Truly had Adam once thought of this slight he might have sinn'd himself quite from under the command and dominion of his Creator and might soon have become thus free Do not you your selves think you may if a Debtor of yours through his own default becomes a Bankrupt require your Debt of him So stands the Case here between God and us we are all disabled to pay the Debt of Obedience that we owe to God but yet it is through our own default and the Power that we had is not so much lost as wilfully thrown away and may not God justly come upon us for our Debt Our want of Power takes not off our obligation to Obedience because it is through a wilful defect that we are deprived of that Power If a Servant throw away his Tools with which he should work may not his Master justly expect his Work from him though he knows he cannot work without them God's Commands respect not the Impotency that we have contracted nor do they therefore abate any thing of their Severity but they respect that Power and Ability that was once conferred and bestowed upon us Yea were it so that God could with Justice require no more from us than what at present we have Power and Ability to perform this would make the Grace of God First vain and fruitless and Secondly dangerous and destructive First This would make void the pardoning Grace of God For according to this Doctrin nothing could be required of us if we could do nothing but without Grace we can do nothing and therefore if Grace be not bestowed on us nothing can justly be required from us and if nothing be required nothing is due from us and then we do not sin in not performing any thing and where there is no sin certainly there can be no place for pardoning Grace and Mercy And so these wise Men who think they do so much befriend the Grace and Mercy of God in all haste in affirming that God requires nothing from us but what at present we have Power to perform are injurious to the Mercy of God in making of it void as to Pardon and Remission Secondly this Doctrin makes the sanctifying Grace of God destructive and pernicious If God can require justly no more of us than we can perform wherefore is it that Men are justly damned Is it not because they will not do what they are able to do And whence is it that they have this Ability Is it not from the Grace of God's Spirit And therefore if they have not Grace to make them able to do more than their own corrupt Wills are willing to do God could not justly condemn them and consequently that of the Apostle should stand no longer true Eph. 2.5 Through Grace ye are saved but through Grace ye perish These two Consequences will follow if God could justly require no more from us than what we have Power now to do So that tho' we have not Power and Ability to work out our own Salvation yet we are not thereby excused from our Obligation to do it But Answ 2 Secondly Though we cannot of our selves work out our own Salvation Yet God doth not mock us as some do thence infer neither doth he only upbraid us with our own Weakness but hath serious and weighty ends why he Commands us to Obey Those that are so ready to cast this Odium upon the Doctrin of Special Grace making God a derider of Human Frailty and Miseries when he Commands Obedience from them to whom say they himself denies that Power and Grace that should inable them to obey I would only ask these Persons this Question Whether do they grant or whether or no can they deny that God antecedently before he Commands knows who will obey and who will not obey If they say God knows who will not obey will they say God mocks them when he Commands them to obey though he knows they will not What they Answer to this the same may we Answer to their Objection But now there are two Ends why God Commands us thus to work though we are not able according to which God is very serious in commanding us thus to work And God doth this First That he may hereby convince us of our own Weakness and that wretched Estate into which our Sins have brought us that he might humble and abase us when we reflect how far we are fallen from our first Perfection and Excellency When we consider on the one Hand that God requires nothing from us now but what we once had a Power to perform and then on the other Hand consider how little yea how much of that nothing it is that now we have Power to perform this convinces us how miserably great our Fall is that makes those things impossible to us that once were both easie and delightful Secondly God loves to deal with Men as with rational Creatures that have free Faculties capable of moral Influences fit Subjects to be wrought upon by Precepts Counsels Commands and Exhortations as well as by Internal and Efficacious Grace that Arguments and Motives may persuade without as Grace sways within that so by both he might render them a willing People in the Day of his Power And therefore they are not in vain neither to those that shall be saved nor to those that Perish First To those that shall be saved these are the Instruments which the Spirit of God makes use of to incline their Wills and conquer their Affections into the Obedience of Christ and therefore they are not in vain In conversion ordinarily if not always the Moral work goes before the Physical That is there is first the rational Persuasion before there is the efficacious and determining Motion For God when he works on Man he accommodates himself suitable to the Nature of Man that as he is a Creature so he may be and is the Subject of Gods efficacious Motions and as he is Rational so he may be guided by Counsels lead by Persuasions over-awed by Convictions and therefore when God Converts any he takes both these ways inwardly he works by effectual Grace powerfully subduing the Will as a Creature subject unto it and outwardly he works by moral Suasions and Authoritative Commands whereby he inclines the will sweetly and freely to consent to the Power of that inward Grace which indeed he shall never nay indeed he cannot resist and both these together do concur as I said before to make a willing People in the Day of Gods Power And Secondly For those that Perish these Commands have a double end and use First They are Instruments in the Hand of the common work of the Spirit of God to
to think that God should make you the first Example of a Soul that did endeavour strive and work for Salvation and yet came short of it when you never heard or read of any that put forth themselves to the utmost for the obtaining of Grace and yet fell short of Grace or Glory Thus in these six Particulars put together you have a full and an abundant Answer and Satisfaction to this Objection concerning our Impotency to work out our own Salvation Object 2 Secondly Another Objection against this Doctrin is this Thus to press Men to Obedience and Working is prejudicial and derogatory unto Christ's Merits by which alone we are saved and not by our own Works Hath not Christ already done all for us Hath not he finished and wrought out our Salvation himself And is not this to render his Work as insufficient to go and piece it out by our Obedience Is not this to set up our Works as Antichrist in flat opposition and defiance to the gracious Vndertaking and perfect Accomplishment of Jesus Christ when all that we have now to do is to believe in him and to get a Right and Title to him and saving Interest in him Answ To this I Answer the Merit of Jesus Christ and our Working are not inconsistent but there is a sweet Harmony and Agreement betwixt them in carrying on the Work of our Salvation And to make this evident I shall lay down the due Bounds and Limits of each of them that so it may appear what Christ hath done for us and what he expects we should do for our selves Christ therefore hath done Two Things in order to the carrying on of our Salvation First He hath purchased and procured eternal Happiness to be conferred upon us hereafter Secondly he hath merited Grace to be conferred upon us here to prepare us for that Happiness First He hath purchased Happiness and eternal Life for all that do believe in him I give unto them eternal Life says he himself to John John 10.28 Heb. 5.9 And says the Apostle He is the Author of eternal Salvation to them that Obey him Now as there are two things that must be done for us before we could be brought unto a state of Salvation namely a freeing us from our liableness unto Death and a bestowing upon us a right unto Life eternal so Jesus Christ that he might bring us into this State hath performed both these things for us First He hath satisfied Divine Justice for us snatching us from under the vengeance of God substituting himself in our room and stead bearing the Load of all that Wrath and Punishment that must otherwise have fallen insupportably heavy upon us His Soul Isa 53.10 says the Prophet was made an Offering for Sin And He was made Sin for us 2 Cor. 5.23 says the Apostle that is he was punished as a Sinner for us Who knew no Sin And Secondly He hath perfectly fulfilled the Commands of the Law by his active Obedience that the Life promised by God in the Law to the doers of it doth now undoubtedly belong to all those for whom Christ did obey the Law that is for all those that believe in him And by both these bearing the penalty of the Law and fulfilling the Duties of the Law God is attoned Justice is satisfied Vengeance is pacified and we are reconciled Adopted and made Heirs of Glory according to the Promise But what shall Glory and Happiness be presently bestowed upon us shall we be installed into it without any more Circumstance must nothing intervene betwixt Christs purchase and our actual possession Yes that there must For Secondly Christ hath purchased Grace to be bestowed upon them upon whom he bestows Salvation Eph. 4 8. When he Ascended up on high he led Captivity Captive and gave Gifts unto Men and among others especially the Gifts of Grace For of his fulness John 1.16 says the Apostle have we all received and Grace for Grace And why did Christ make this purchase Why did he merit Grace for us Was it not that we might act it in Obedience And if Christ merited Grace that we might Obey is it sense to Object that our Obedience is derogatory to Christ's Merit If one end of Christ's doing all that he did for us was to inable us to do for our selves will any Man say now I am bound to do nothing because Christ hath done all How lost are such Men both to Reason and Religion who undertake so to argue No Salvation was purchased and Grace was procured that by the acting and exercise of that Grace we might attain to that Salvation and both these are to be preserved entirely as things most Sacred ascribing them solely to the Merits of our Saviour So far are we from Exhorting Men to work out their Salvation by way of Merit and Purchase as that we conclude them guilty of the highest Sacriledg and practical Blasphemy against the Priestly Office of Jesus Christ who think by their own works to Merit the one or the other And therefore though Jesus Christ hath done thus much for us yet that he might leave us also some work to do I shall now shew what he expects from us in order to the working out of our own Salvation And as he hath done two things for us so he requires two things from us As. First He requires we should put forth all the Strength and Power of Nature in labouring after Grace And Secondly He requires that we should put forth the power of Grace in labouring for Salvation purchased for us First He requires that all those who are void of Grace should labour for it with that Power and Strength that they have Those that are void of Grace must labour for it and in so doing they do not at all intrench upon the Work of Christ neither is it at all derogatory to his Merits See how the Prophet expresseth this Ezekiel 18. Ezek. 18.31 Make you a new heart and a new spirit He speaks to those that were in a state of Nature and he bids them make them a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die Noting that if they did not labour after a new Heart and a new Spirit they would certainly die the Death Let every Sinner know that this is it that he is called upon for this is that God expects from him it is his Work to repent and return that he may live It is his Work to labour to change his own Heart and to renew his own Spirit It is true it is God's Work also Ezek. 11.19 for he hath promised to give a new Heart and a new Spirit and it is Christ's Work also as he is God but yet it is not Christ's Work as Mediator And therefore to endeavour the working of a new Heart in us is not at all to intrench upon the Mediatory Office of Jesus Christ for so his Office is not to work Grace but
Self-love truly regular when Men love their own Souls as God loves them Now Gods love to the Souls of Men is such that though He wills all Men to be saved yet he wills that none shall be saved but through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth And whilst we love our selves if we observe the same method and order this Self-love is always commendable and necessary Desires after eternal Happiness and Salvation are natural to that Soul that is truly conscious of its own Immortality and eternal unalterable State and Condition and when these Desires are directed to future Happiness through present Holiness then are they regular and become gracious We are not so straitly limited by Gods Sovereignty over us but while we fix one Eye upon our Work we may fix the other on our Reward God is not so strict in his Prerogative over us as to require Service from us from what we have already received from him He is not as a cruel Lord and Master to say Obey me though afterwards you perish see to it that you love and glorifie me though I eternally punish you though considering that infinite distance we stand at from God we could object nothing against the Equity of his Proceedings No but God hath so graciously twisted his Glory and our Duty together that while we promote the one we do also promote the other and while we work for God we do but work for our selves Now are there any that need to be persuaded to love themselves Is it not the great and general Sin that all Men love and seek themselves And do not Men by becoming Self-lovers become Self-destroyers Yes they do so but it is because they seek themselves out of Gods way that therefore they lose themselves for ever Religion and Holiness are not such severe things as to exclude Self-love nay right Self-love is that which is no where to be found separate from true Grace Ministers call upon Men to exercise Self-denial and Self-abhorrence and this the foolish World mistakes as if so be they exhorted them to divorce themselves from themselves to lay aside all respect and consideration of Self and to offer violence to the most common Principles of Self-preservation No would to God we all sought our selves more earnestly and constantly than we do and that we all knew wherein our greatest Interest and Concernment did lie then should we not leave our great Work undone nor gratifie the Sloth of our corrupt Humors and the sinful propensions of our carnal part nor should we think what we do for Sin and Satan we do for our selves no all this is to hate our selves And wicked Men at the last Day shall know they have been their own most bitter and most implacable Enemies that they would not be content with any thing less than their own eternal Ruin A true Christian is the only selfish Man in the World all others they are not Self-lovers but Self-destroyers What shall I say more than this The Apostle asks Did ever any Man hate his own Flesh Did ever any Man delight to gash and burn to wrack and torture himself Truly I may ask the quite contrary Do almost any love their own Spirits their spiritual part their Souls This they wound and gash by many a bloody Sin this they burn and fear by hardness and impenitency this they go about to torture and torment in Hell for ever Oh therefore be persuaded at length to take pity on your selves considering you are but destroying while you think you are embracing of your selves and that will be found but Self-murder at last which you now call Self-love Thirdly A complacential Love to 3. Love to our Work makes it easie and Delight in your Work is a great furtherance of it A wicked Man serves God grudgingly he murmurs at Duties and looks upon them only as Tasks and Burthens thinking every thing he doth for God too much too heavy and weighty The Commands of God are all of them hard Sayings and grievous Impositions that he cannot bear he could believe Christ sooner in any thing than when he tells him Mat. 11.28 My Yoke is easy and my Burthen is light Here he cannot believe Christ Thus much time saith the slothful Sinner must I spend in Prayer and there must I humble my self to God whom I hate and confess before him those Sins that I love and beg that Grace that I have slighted so much time must I spend in reading the Law that I never mean to observe perusing over only the Sentence of my Condemnation and so often must I fix and dwell upon holy and spiritual Thoughts which never at any time darted into or passed intransiently but they did discompose me and leave me a damp and sadness upon my Spirit behind them and therefore because there is not a holy complacency and delight in the Service of God all such Mens Endeavours are both faint inconstant and languish while they are about them and seldom do they re-assume them again But a true Christian works with abundance of Delight and Chearfulness in the Service of God in every Duty his Soul is filled full of holy Affections by which it soars up to Heaven Duties are Meat and Drink to him spiritual Manna in which he takes more satisfaction and contentment than wicked Men do in their Sins and therefore he performs these Duties so earnestly because he doth it with complacency All that he repines at is that natural Necessity sinful Weakness and Infirmities and worldly Employments that do purloin so much of his time from this great Work Now when once the Heart is brought to such a frame and temper as this thus to delight in Obedience and in the Work and Service of God then will this working for Salvation go on with Power Thirdly 3. Working for Salvation must be with Fear and Trembling Another Direction is that in the Text Work for Salvation with Fear and Trembling A trembling Hand best performs a Christians Work Now this Fear is not a Fear of distrust or dispondency for that is so contrary to this Duty of working for Salvation as that it stupifies and benums all Endeavours and is a great Enemy to the performance of this Duty But First It is a Fear of Solicitude and Carefulness as it stands opposed to carnal security and that presumption that is the common and ordinary Destruction of most Men. This holy Fear is the best preservative of true Grace The Apostle therefore tells us Thou standest by Faith Rom. 11.20 be not high-minded but fear implying they would not stand long though they stood by Faith unless they were upheld with godly Fear And the Reason is because it is the property of Fear to foresee and forecast Dangers and to put the Soul in a posture of defence and security before they approach For as the wise Man tells us The prudent Man foreseeth the Evil and hideth himself Prov. 20.3
the sense of divine Comfort As it is in clear Water when it is still and transparent the Sun shines to the very bottom but if you stir the Mud presently it grows so thick that no Light can pierce into it So is it with the Children of God though their apprehensions of God's Love be as clear and transparent sometimes as the very Air that the Angels and glorified Saints breath in in Heaven yet if once the muddy Humor of Melancholy stirs they become dark so that no Light or Ray of Comfort can break in to the deserted Soul And then sometimes the Devil causeth these Tragedies by his Temptations that so if it were possible he might drive them to Dispair he hated their Graces he envies their Comforts and therefore he would persuade them that all their former Joys were but Delusions proud Dreams and presumptuous Fansies and that they are still in the Gall of Bitterness and in the Bond of Iniquity and by such Suggestions as these are when he cannot hinder the Work of Grace he strives what he can to hinder the Sense of Comfort When therefore those that have once rejoyced under the comfortable Persuasions of God's Love to them the Holy Ghost witnessing himself to them to be a Spirit of Adoption by being in them a Spirit of Sanctification if they now find themselves under the Bondage of legal Fears and Terrors and slavish Dejections looking upon themselves as under the revenging Wrath of God and as Persons devoted to Destruction let them know such Fears proceed not from the Convictions of the Spirit of God who hath been a Spirit of Adoption but it proceeds from the Delusions of Satan for those that once receive the Spirit of Adoption never receive the Spirit of Bondage again to fear that is to fear with a slavish tormenting Fear Sixthly 6. We ought to fear God tho' we know him to be our God A reverential filial Fear of God may and ought to possess our Souls while the Spirit of God who is a Spirit of Adoption is by the clearest Evidences actually witnessing our Son-ship to us Let Men boast what they will of their high Gospel-attainments yet certainly they have not the genuine Disposition of God's Children whose Love to him is not mingled with Fear and whose Fear of him is not encreased by their Love Love it is the Gage and Measure of all our Affections and according to the proportion of our Love to God such will be our Fear that is the more we love God the more we shall fear his Displeasure and the Loss of his Favour It is in vain for us to pretend love to God as our Father unless we fear him also as our Lord and Master Christ who was his only begotten Son and certainly had much more clear assurance of the love and favour of God than any adopted Sons can possibly have yet the Scripture ascribes an holy awful reverential Fear of God even unto him Heb. 5.7 When he offered up Prayers with strong Cries and Tears and was heard in that he feared it may be render'd he was heard because of his godly Fear So in Isa 11.2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the Spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of the Lord speaking of Christ If therefore he feared God who was himself to be feared as God equal to him and his eternal Son how much more ought we to fear the great God who are as it were but Up-starts in the Family of Heaven we wretched and forlorn Out-casts that were but lately raked out of the Dunghil and by meer Pity taken up into the Bosom of God and nurtured as his Children And thus you see the Fear of God is not in the least contrary to the free Spirit of Adoption Fourthly 4. A Fear of God is no Impediment to a holy Rejoycing in God An awful Fear of God is no Impediment to a holy Rejoycing Indeed slavish Fear damps all true Joy Those that Fear and expect the Revengings of God cannot have any true Joy they may have a kind of mad Jollity that spends it self in Noise and Tumults that may roar out Songs of Mirth only to drown the loud Roarings of their own Consciences Such as these are like your new Liquor that works over into Foam and Froth when the bottom is thick and troubl'd So in this false Joy the Countenance runs over with Laughter when yet the Heart is brim full of the Wrath of God of such the wise Man speaks Prov. 14.13 Prov. 14.13 Even in Laughter the Heart is sorrowful But now a filial fear of God puts no check at all upon our holy Rejoycing in him spiritual Joy is not of that flashy Nature but it is a sober and a severe Grace it is Joy mixed with Fear and because of the mixture of these two together the fear of God with joy in the Lord therefore we find these two are promiscuously ascribed each to other so in Isa 60.5 Their Hearts shall fear and be enlarged You know it is the property of Joy to extend and enlarge the Heart Fear contracts and draws it together but here Fear is said to dilate the Heart to denote to us that a Christians Fear is always conjoyned and mingled together with his Joy And so on the other Hand it is said Psal 2.11 Psal 2.11 Serve the Lord with Fear and rejoyce with Trembling Fear with Trembling is more proper and natural but because of the mixture of these two Graces in the Heart of a Christian therefore the Holy Ghost thus expresseth it Rejoyce with Trembling for great Joys as well as great Fears cause a kind of trembling and fluttering in the Heart As it was with the two Women whom the Angels assured of Christ's Resurrection Mat. 28.8 Mat. 28.8 They departed from the Sepulchre with Fear and great Joy So is it with those Christians who by the Eye of Faith looking upon the Death and into the Sepulchre of Jesus Christ are assured that he is risen for their Justification cannot but have their Hearts filled with a quaking and a fearful Joy Even a Christians strong Praises are breathed out with a shaking and a trembling Voice so that godly Fear is no Impediment to a holy and a severe Rejoycing in God as our Saviour Fifthly 5. Godly fear lays no check on our freedom and boldness with God Godly Fear lays no check upon our holy freedom and boldness with God God hath established a Throne of Grace whereon he sets and unto which he invites his People to approach with a becoming Confidence Heb. 4.16 Let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace As that Emperor counted his Clemency disparaged when any delivered a Petition to him with a shaking Hand as though he doubted of his Favour so God loves when we make our Addresses to him that we should do it with full assurance of Faith nothing doubting of acceptance with him and of an Answer
raise them up to all those moral good things that they attain to short of true and saving Grace It is Wonderful truly to see how the raging Wickedness of the World is dared by a Command charged with a Threatning Herod heard John Baptist who doubtless laid the Law home to him so that he did many things Abimelech and Laban were warned in a Dream whereby God over-ruled and prevented that Wickedness that was intended by them Were they compelled to what they did No God loves to rule the World in a rational way so that though he acts and moves wicked Men to that good that they do yet he doth it by moral Considerations and such Inducements as do most comport and suit with the Liberty of their own Will Promises incourage Threatnings deter Counsels direct Commands inforce and all these concur instrumentally to awe the Consciences and to incline the Wills even of wicked Men themselves Whose Conscience can gainsay this Let the vilest Sinner freely speak when he hath been most mad and wild upon his Lusts hath not oftentimes some Command or Threatning suddenly shot it self in betwixt his Conscience and Sin Hath not two or three weak Words silently whispered to him whence or from whom he knows not stopt his way and given a Check to his Lust when it was swelling ready to break forth into Act And whence have they this Power It is not from themselves for why then doth it not always so work But it is from God's Inward and Physical tho' but common Work that when the Affections are most furious and Corruption most raging will effectually persuade to restrain and asswage Secondly Another End is hereby God leaves them without Excuse If they perish they shall have nothing to pretend against God Hath he not often warned and counselled and threatned them Hath he not told them with as much earnestness and vehemency as the words of his Ministers could deliver it That the wages of sin is death and the end of those ways wherein they walk will be Shame and eternal Destruction Have they not with all Seriousness and Entreaties been called upon again and again to repent and turn from the unfruitful Works of Darkness and to work the Works of God Can the Mouth of God or Man speak plainer when they have been calling and crying after any Turn ye turn ye why will you die This is that which from our Souls we do beseech and intreat at the Hands of Sinners even for the Blood and Bowels of Jesus Christ nay for the Blood and Bowels of their own precious Souls which they are wilfully spilling upon the Ground that they would turn and live Now there is not one that hears this serious Obtestation and is not obedient to it but his Blood even the Blood of his Soul will lie upon him for ever What is it that Men expect Must God drive Men to Heaven by force and violence whether they will or no He hath laid Promises and Threatnings before them he Exhorts and Commands And if these things will not prevail with Men whose Faculties are intire whose Reason is sound and whose Wills are free Think not foolishly to charge God for he is free from the Blood of all Men and Sinners will be found to be Self-murderers and Self-destroyers If I had not come and spoken unto them says our Saviour they had then had no sin but now they have no cloak for their sin So if God had not come and spoken unto Sinners they had neither had Sin nor Condemnation but now that he hath spoken to them so often and exhorted them so frequently and earnestly therefore now they have no cloak for their sin God hath spoken and his speaking will strike every impenitent Wretch dumb and silent at the great Day whatever they pretend to now And this is a second Particular in Answer to this Objection God doth not mock Mens Weakness when he commands them to work but hath great wise and weighty Ends why he doth it Answ 3 Thirdly To come somewhat nearer There is indeed no such Impotency and Weakness in Man but if he will he may work out his own Salvation I speak not this to assert the power of Man to work out Salvation without the Aid of special Grace to encline the Will but if the Will be once enclined and made willing there is nothing more required to make a Man able I say where there is special Grace given to make the Will willing to convert to believe and to repent there is nothing more required to make a Man able because Conversion Faith and Repentance chiefly consist in the Act of the Will it self now if the Will wills Repentance it doth repent if it wills Faith it doth believe and so of the rest And therefore there is nothing more required to make a Man able than what he hath in a state of un-regeneracy only to make him willing is required special Grace which they that favour the undue liberty of the Will do deny And therefore God expostulates with the stubborness of the Will Why will you perish Ezek. why will you die And Christ accuseth the Will You will not come unto me that you may have John 5.40 Life It is true there is an impotency in the Will but this is only its stubborness and obstinacy it will not hearken to God's Call it will not obey his Commands it will not strive against Sin nor perform Duties and therefore it cannot Our Cannot is not indeed an impotency that we lie under so much as stubborness of our Wills There is not the greatest Sinner who hath wrought Iniquity with both Hands greedily but may work out his own Salvation if he will if he be but once willing he hath that already that may make him able God puts no new Powers into the Soul when he converts it It is true the Will cannot incline it self to Obedience without Grace but yet it can intend it if it will it is its stubborness that makes it impotent It is in the things of Grace as in other free Actions of a Man's Life with a proportionable abatement A Man can Speak and Walk if he will but if he be resolutely set not to do these things he cannot do them so long as that Resolution remains though simply and absolutely he can do them doth this argue any impotency So is it here you may obey and work if you will but if you are resolutely bent against these if you are resolved not to do them while that Resolution continues you cannot do them but this argues not any natural impotency but a moral impotency only this is an impotency of Stubborness and Perversness Never therefore plead the inability of your Will no it is through your own stubborn Resolution if you perish you are resolved for Hell and Destruction and if you are plunged into them it is through your own Wilfulness and not through Weakness Answ 4 Fourthly To come yet a
but he is intimately present with all his Creatures at once And therein is his presence distinguished from the presence of Angels they indeed pass from one to another and be one in another they may possibly stretch and dilate themselves to a great compass but they cannot stretch themselves to an Vbiquitariness to be in all Beings at once If an Angel suddenly dart himself from one Point of the Heavens through the Center of the Earth to an opposite Point of the Heavens and by a motion of insinuation without impelling or driving the Air before him yet he is not in Heaven and Earth at once but when he is in one place he ceaseth to be in another but it is not so with God for he is every-where and in all things at once for ever therefore God tells us Do not I fill Heaven and Earth Jer. 23.24 He is so in them as that he doth not leave any one place void or empty of himself for were there any places where God were not then it could not be properly said to be filled with him Thirdly This Omnipresence of God is simply necessary not only for the preserving and upholding of his Creatures in their Beings and Operations but necessary to our very Beings for his own Essence is simple and he cannot withdraw from nor forsake any place or any thing with which his presence now is God cannot contract and lessen himself nor gather up his Essence into a narrow room and compass but as he is here in this very place which we now take up so he must and will be here to all Eternity Nor is this any imperfection as if God were not an Infinite Perfection and Excellence for this flows from the immutability of his Nature and Essence for should God remove himself he were not altogether unchangeable but with him there is neither change nor shadow of turning Jam. 1. What the Heathens thought of this Immensity and Omnipresence of God it is somewhat obscure some of them confined him to Heaven and were so far from affirming him present in all things that they thought he took no care of any thing below as being too mean and too unworthy for God to regard This was the Opinion of the Epicureans Acts 17.18 Others thought indeed that the Care and Providence of God reached to these ordinary things but not his Essence and the ground of their Errour was because they thought it most befitting the Majesty of God to sit only in Heaven a glorious and a becoming place and not to make himself so cheap and so common as to be present with Men and the Vile Things of the World But this is a weak Reason as I shall shew anon Some others among the Heathens had righter Apprehensions of this Divine Attribute one of them being to give a Description what God was tells us most admirably God was a Sphere whose Center was every-where and whose Circumference was no where A raised apprehension of the Divine Nature in an Heathen And another being demanded what God was made answer That God is an Infinite Point than which nothing can be said more almost or truer to declare this Omnipresence of God It is reported of Heraclitus the Philosopher when his Friend came to visit him being in an old rotten Hovel Come in come in saith he for God is here God is in the meanest Cottage as well as in the stateliest Palace the poorest Beggar cohabits with God as well as the greatest Princes for God is every-where present and sees all things Position 2. God is not only present in the World but he is infinitely existent also without the World and beyond all things but himself He is in all that Vast Tract of Nothing which we can imagine and beyond the Highest Heavens What Reason can say for this I shall anon shew In the mean time see that one positive place of Scripture 1 Kings 8.27 Behold the Heavens and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him And if God be not contained in them certainly he then must be infinitely beyond and above them He surmounts the Heaven of Heavens that is the very highest and uppermost Heavens which St. Paul calls the Third Heaven 2 Cor. 12. That glorious Place in which God doth most specially manifest himself and will do to all Eternity The Scripture tells us that though the Heaven of the glorified Angels and Saints be the place in which God will especially manifest his presence yet it is not that place unto which God will or doth confine his presence Isai 66.1 2. Thus saith the Lord The Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my Footstool Where is the House that ye build unto me and where is the Place of my Rest For all those things hath mine Hand made As if God should have said Do not think to cloister me up within the Walls of the Temple no I am set upon the highest Heavens as upon my Throne and they are all under me and I am exalted far above them Many such glorious Expressions there are of God's Infiniteness and Immensity scattered up and down the Scripture which I shall not now spend time to recollect The Scripture you see owns it for a truth That God is Infinite in his Essence beyond the whole World which is one of those Divine Properties which poseth Reason to conceive how it is possible that since beyond the World there is nothing that God should exist there but though Reason cannot apprehend it yet from Reason as well as from Scripture it appears it must be so Position 3. As God exists every-where so all and whole God exists every-where So that all God is here and all God is there and all God is in every place and in every thing This is indeed a great and most unconceivable Mystery but yet it must needs be so because God is indivisible and simple and not compounded of Parts and therefore where-ever there is any of God's Essence there is all his Essence otherwise part of his Essence would be here and part there and part of it elsewhere which would be utterly repugnant to the simple and uncompounded Nature of God God's Attributes are his Essence Now there is no where where God is but there are all his Attributes and therefore where God is there is all his Essence He is a Spirit most Wise most Powerful most Just and the like here and there as well as in Heaven above yea and what is more to the astonishment of Reason than all this God is every-where Omnipresent and in every place And though it be common to all Spiritual Beings because they have no parts to have a totality in the whole and a totality in every part Indeed it is expressed in the Schools that Spirits are all in the whole and all in every part yet herein God hath a peculiar way of subsisting from other Spirits that not only his Essence alone is in every part of the World but also his Presence
is in all and every part of the World So that God is every where present which is beyond the reach of our apprehensions yet it is undoubtedly true for God's Omnipresence being that Attribute which belongs to him he is present every-where and in all things Now for the Rational Demonstrations whereby it may be evinced that God is Omnipresent That God is present every-where in this World that I shall make good by these Arguments Argument 1. First from his Unchangeableness thus If there be any place where God is not then God may be there because he is Omnipotent but if God may be there where he is not actually also then it must be by motion to that place but it is impossible that God should be able to move from one place to another because he is immutable Therefore hence it clearly follows that there is no place where God is not and where he was not from all Eternity Arg. 2. It may be demonstrated That God is Omnipresent from his preservation of all things in their beings Thus God is present with whatsoever he preserves but he preserves every thing in its being therefore he is present every-where There is required as great a Power to preserve Creatures from falling back into their first nothing as there was to make them at first out of nothing for Preservation as the Philosopher speaks is nothing else but a continued and a prolonged Creation Now he cannot create any thing at a distance from it because no Creature is fit to convey a Creative Action and because also what ever Vertue or Power is in God it is his Essence therefore if he create or preserve by his Power he creates and preserves immediately by his Essence and so his Essence must be whatsoever his Operations are But God exists not only in the World but infinitely beyond the World also that may be demonstrated thus 1. First From the Infiniteness of his Nature and Essence 2. Secondly From the Infiniteness of his Perfections Arg. 1. First From the Infiniteness of God's Nature or Essence That Nature which is infinite cannot be bounded or limited but God's Nature is infinite therefore it cannot be bounded but if God were only present in the World and did not exist infinitely beyond it then his Being and Nature could not be infinite as a Spirit is infinite therefore if God should be included in the World he would also be but infinite as the World Arg. 2. Secondly From the Infiniteness of his Perfections we may argue thus That which is infinitely perfect must be infinitely great but God is infinitely perfect so that there is no Perfection which we can imagine but is eminently in God therefore he must be infinitely great so as there can be no space which we can imagine but he must be present in it But we can imagine an infinite space beyond this World therefore God is there because there is no Perfection imaginable which God hath not Whatever is infinitely perfect must be infinitely great as appears from this because the greater a thing is the more perfect it is of that same kind as a great piece of Gold is more excellent than a less and therefore from this Perfection of God it appears that he is every-where he being all Perfection Arg. 2. As it is demonstrated from God's Infiniteness and Perfection so likewise from his Almighty Power God can create another World greater than this even in that imaginary space which we can conceive beyond this World therefore certainly God is now existent there Arg. 3. God's Omnipresence may be argued from the Eternity of God God was infinitely existent before the Creation of the World since he is Eternal and the World but Temporal the World hath stood only but some few Thousands of Years and before the Creation of the World there was nothing but God and God existed eternally in himself therefore though beyond this World there be nothing yet God will be there actually existing in that same imaginary space beyond this World as he did exist in an imaginary space before this World was created Thus I have done with the Propositions and the Confirmation of them by the rational Arguments those things that relate to the Philosophical Part of the Text for informing of the Judgment in the Notion of that stupendious Attribute of God's Omnipresence I shall now come to answer some Objections The first is taken from those Scriptures where it seems to be implied that God moves from place to place as in Gen. 18.21 where the Lord saith concerning Sodom and Gomorrah I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me And in Hab. 3.3 it is there said God came from Teman and the Holy One from Mount Paran c. Object 1 Now these places which speak of going to and departing from places seem to oppose God's Ubiquity because Motion is inconsistent with God's Omnipresence Answ I answer These and the like Scriptures are not to be taken properly and literally but as accommodate to our capacity and conception even as Parents when they speak to their little Children will sometimes lisp and babble in their Language so God oftentimes condescends to us in speaking our Language for the declaring of those things which are far above our reach But you will say how are such Places to to be understood I answer When God is said to come unto or to depart from any Place or Person nothing else must be understood thereby but a declaring or not declaring himself to be present as Men when they manifest themselves present they do it by moving hither or thither so God to accommodate himself thereunto when he manifests his presence any where he tells us that he goes thither and when that Manifestation ceaseth he tells us he departs thence though he was always there present both before and after that Manifestation So that these Expressions used in the Scripture concerning God though spoken after the manner of Men yet they must be understood after the manner of God that is with a suitableness and conformity to his infinite Essence Object 2 The Scripture tells us that hereafter in Heaven we shall see God as he is But is not that impossible If God be an omnipresent God we shall not be able to comprehend him because we shall not our selves be infinite in Heaven and if Man be stiled finite how then can he comprehend what is infinite since infinite is comprehended of nothing but that which is infinite Answ I answer Such Scriptures are not to be understood as if the Capacities of Angels much less of Men are or ever shall be wide and capacious enough to contain the infinite greatness of God no his Omnipresence is not comprehended by Angels themselves nor shall be by Man for ever but it must be understood comparatively Our Vision and Sight of God here is but through a Glass darkly but in Heaven