men have a comfort in this presence in their nasty prisons, oppressing
tribunals; in the overflowing waters or scorching flames he is still
with them (Isa. xliii. 2); and many times by his presence keeps
the bush from consuming, when it seems to be all in a flame. In
afflictions God shows himself most present, when friends are most
absent: “When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord shall
take me up” (Ps. xxvii. 10), then God will stoop and gather me into
his protection; or, (Heb.) “shall gather me,” alluding to those tribes
that were to bring up the rear in the Israelites’ march, to take
care that {a400} none were left behind, and exposed to famine or wild
beasts, by reason of some disease that disenabled them to keep pace
with their brethren. He that is the sanctuary of his people in all
calamities, is more present with them to support them, than their
adversaries can be present with them to afflict them (Psal. xlvi. 2),
a present help in the time of trouble; He is present with all things
for this end; though his presence be a necessary presence in regard of
the immensity of his nature, yet the end of this presence in regard
that it is for the good of his people, is a voluntary presence. It is
for the good of man he is present in the lower world, and principally
for the good of his people, for whose sake he keeps up the world (2
Chron. xvi. 9). “His eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth,
to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect
towards him.” If he doth not deliver good men from afflictions, he
will be so present as to manage them in them, as that his glory shall
issue from them, and their grace be brightened by them.[675] What a
man was Paul when he was lodged in a prison, or dragged to the courts
of judicature, when he was torn with rods, or laden with chains! then
did he show the greatest miracles, made the judge tremble upon the
bench, and brake the heart, though not the prison, of the jailor;
so powerful is the presence of God in the pressures of his people.
This presence outweighs all other comforts, and is more valuable
to a Christian than barns of corn, or cellars of wine can be to a
covetous man (Ps. iv. 7): it was this presence was David’s cordial
in the mutinying of his soldiers (1 Sam. xxx. 6). What a comfort is
this in exile, or a forced desertion of our habitations! Good men may
be banished from their country, but never from the presence of their
Protector; ye cannot say of any corner of the earth, or of any dungeon
in a prison, God is not here; if you were cast out of your country
a thousand miles off, you are not out of God’s precinct; his arm is
there to cherish the good, as well as to drag out the wicked; it is
the same God, the same presence in every country, as well as the same
sun, moon, and stars; and were not God everywhere, yet he could not be
meaner than his creature the sun in the firmament, which visits every
part of the habitable world in twenty‑four hours.
3. The omnipresence of God is a comfort in all duties of worship. He
is present to observe, and present to accept our petitions, and answer
our suits. Good men have not only the essential presence, which is
common to all, but his gracious presence; not only the presence that
flows from his nature, but that which flows from his promise; his
essential presence makes no difference between this and that man in
regard of spirituals, without this in conjunction with it; his nature
is the cause of the presence of his essence; his will engaged by his
truth is the cause of the presence of his grace. He promised to meet
the Israelites in the place where he should set his name, and in all
places where he doth record it (Exod. xx. 4). “In all places where
I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee;” in
every place where I shall manifest the special presence of my divinity.
In all places, hands may be lifted up, without doubting of his ability
to hear; he dwells in the contrite hearts, wherever {a401} it is
most in the exercise of contrition; which is usually in times of
special worship (Isa. lvii. 15), and that to revive and refresh them.
Habitation notes a special presence, though he dwell in the highest
heavens in the sparklings of his glory, he dwells also in the lowest
hearts in the beams of his grace; as none can expel him from his
dwelling in heaven, so none can reject him from his residence in the
heart. The tabernacle had his peculiar presence fixed to it (Levit.
xxvi. 11); his soul should not abhor them, as they are washed by
Christ, though they are loathsome by sin: in a greater dispensation
there cannot be a less presence, since the church under the New
Testament is called the temple of the Lord, wherein he will both dwell
and walk (2 Cor. vi. 6); or, I will indwell in them; as if he should
say, I will dwell in and in them; I will dwell in them by grace, and
walk in them by exciting their graces; he will be more intimate with
them than their own souls, and converse with them as the living God,
_i. e._ as a God that hath life in himself, and life to convey to them
in their converse with him; and show his spiritual glory among them
in a greater measure than in the temple, since that was but a heap
of stones, and the figure of the Christian church the mystical body
of his Son. His presence is not less in the substance than it was in
the shadow; this presence of God in his ordinances, is the glory of a
church, as the presence of a king is the glory of a court, the defence
of it, too, as a wall of fire (Zech. ii. 5); alluding to the fire
travellers in a wilderness made to fright away wild beasts. It is
not the meanness of the place of worship can exclude him; the second
temple was not so magnificent as the first of Solomon’s erecting, and
the Jews seemed to despond of so glorious a presence of God in the
second, as they had in the first, because they thought it not so good
for the entertainment of Him that inhabits eternity; but God comforts
them against this conceit again and again (Hag. ii. 3, 4): “be strong,
be strong, be strong, I am with you;” the meanness of the place shall
not hinder the grandeur of my presence, no matter what the room is,
so it be the presence‑chamber of the king, wherein he will favor
our suits; he can everywhere slide into our souls with a perpetual
sweetness, since he is everywhere, and so, intimate with every one
that fears him. If we should see God on earth in his amiableness, as
Moses did, should we not be encouraged by his presence, to present our
requests to him, to echo out our praises of him? and have we not as
great a ground now to do it, since he is as really present with us, as
if he were visible to us? he is in the same room with us, as near to
us as our souls to our bodies, not a word but he hears, not a motion
but he sees, not a breath but he perceives; he is through all, he is
in all.
4. The omnipresence of God is a comfort in all special services. God
never puts any upon a hard task, but he makes promises to encourage
them and assist them, and the matter of the promise is that of his
presence; so he did assure the prophets of old when he set them
difficult tasks, and strengthened Moses against the face of Pharaoh,
by assuring him “he would be with his mouth” (Exod. iv. 12); and
when Christ put his apostles upon a contest with the whole world, to
preach a gospel that would be foolishness to the Greeks, {a402} and
a stumbling block to the Jews, he gives them a cordial only composed
of his presence (Matt. xxviii. 20), I will be with you; it is this
presence scatters by its light the darkness of our spirits; it is
this that is the cause of what is done for his glory in the world; it
is this that mingles itself with all that is done for his honor; it is
this from whence springs all the assistance of his creatures, marked
out for special purposes.
5. This presence is not without the special presence of all his
attributes. Where his essence is, his perfections are, because they
are one with his essence; yea, they are his essence, though they
have their several degrees of manifestation. As in the covenant, he
makes over himself, not a part of himself, but his whole deity; so in
promising of his presence, he means not a part of it, but the whole,
the presence of all the excellencies of his nature to be manifested
for our good. It is not a piece of God is here and another parcel
there, but God in his whole essence and perfections; in his wisdom to
guide us, his power to protect and support us, his mercy to pity us,
his fulness to refresh us, and his goodness to relieve us: he is ready
to sparkle out in this or that perfection, as the necessities of his
people require, and his own wisdom directs for his own honor; so that
being not far from us in an excellency of his nature, we can quickly
have recourse to him upon any emergency; so that if we are miserable,
we have the presence of his goodness; if we want direction, we have
the presence of his wisdom; if we are weak, we have the presence of
his power; and should we not rejoice in it, as a man doth in the
presence of a powerful, wealthy, and compassionate friend?
Third, _Use._ Of Exhortation.
1. Let us be much in the actual thoughts of this truth. How should
we enrich our understandings with the knowledge of the excellency of
God, whereof this is none of the least; nor hath less of honey in its
bowels, though it be more terrible to the wicked than the presence
of a lion; it is this that makes all other excellencies of the divine
nature sweet. What would grace, wisdom, power, signify at a distance
from us? Let us frame in our minds a strong idea of it; it is this
makes so great a difference between the actions of one man and another;
one maintains actual thoughts of it, another doth not: though all
believe it as a perfection pertaining to the infiniteness of his
essence. David, or rather a greater than David, had God always before
him; there was no time, no occasion, wherein he did not stir up some
lively thoughts of him (Ps. xvi. 8). Let us have right notions of it;
imagine not God as a great King, sitting only in his majesty in heaven;
acting all by his servants and ministers. This, saith one,[676] is
a childish and unworthy conceit of God, and may in time bring such
a conceiver by degrees to deny his providence; the denial of this
perfection is an axe at the root of religion; if it be not deeply
imprinted in the mind, personal religion grows faint and feeble.
Who would fear that God that is not imagined to be a witness of his
actions? Who would worship a God at a distance both from the worship
and the worshipper?[677] Let us believe this truth, {a403} but not
with an idle faith, as if we did not believe it. Let us know, that as
wheresoever the fish moves, it is in the water; wheresoever the bird
moves, it is in the air; so wheresoever we move, we are in God. As
there is not a moment but we are under his mercy, so there is not a
moment that we are out of his presence. Let us therefore look upon
nothing, without thinking who stands by, without reflecting upon him
in whom it lives, moves and hath its being. When you view a man, you
fix your eyes upon his body, but your mind upon that invisible part
that acts every member by life and motion, and makes them fit for your
converse. Let us not bound our thoughts to the creatures we see, but
pierce through the creature to that boundless God we do not see: we
have continual remembrances of his presence; the light, whereby we see,
and the air, whereby we live, give us perpetual notices of it, and
some weak resemblance; why should we forget it? yea, what a shame is
our unmindfulness of it, when every cast of our eye, every motion of
our lungs, jogs us to remember it? Light is in every part of the air,
in every part of the world, yet not mixed with any, both remain entire
in their own substance. Let us not be worse than some of the heathens,
who pressed this notion upon themselves for the spiriting their
actions with virtue, that all places were full of God. This was the
means Basil used to prescribe, upon a question asked him, How shall we
do to be serious? mind God’s presence. How shall we avoid distractions
in service? think of God’s presence. How shall we resist temptation?
oppose to them the presence of God.[678]
(1.) This will be a shield against all temptations. God is present,
is enough to blunt the weapons of hell; this will secure us from a
ready compliance with any base and vile attractives, and curb that
headstrong principle in our nature, that would join hands with them;
the thoughts of this would, like the powerful presence of God with
the Israelites, take off the wheels from the chariots of our sensitive
appetites, and make them perhaps move slower, at least, towards a
temptation. How did Peter fling off the temptation which had worsted
him, upon a look from Christ! The actuated faith of this would
stifle the darts of Satan, and fire us with an anger against his
solicitations, as strong as the fire that inflames the darts. Moses’
sight of Him that was invisible, strengthened him against the costly
pleasures and luxuries of a prince’s court (Heb. xi. 27). We are
utterly senseless of a Deity, if we are not moved with this item
from our consciences, God is present. Had our first parents actually
considered the nearness of God to them, when they were tempted to eat
of the forbidden fruit, they had not probably been so easily overcome
by the temptation. What soldier would be so base as to revolt under
the eye of a tender and obliging general? or what man so negligent of
himself, as to rob a house in the sight of a judge? Let us consider
that God is as near to observe us, as the devil to solicit us, yea,
nearer; the devil stands by us, but God is in us; we may have a
thought the devil knows not, but not a thought but God is actually
present with, as our souls are with the thoughts they think; nor
can any creature attract our heart, if our minds were fixed on that
invisible presence {a404} that contributes to that excellency, and
sustains it, and considered that no creature could be so present with
us as the Creator is.
(2.) It will be a spur to holy actions. What man would do an unworthy
action, or speak an unhandsome word, in the presence of his prince?
The eye of the general inflames the spirit of a soldier. Why did David
keep God’s testimonies (Ps. cxix. 168)? because he considered that
all his ways were before him; because he was persuaded his ways were
present with God; God’s precepts should be present with him. The same
was the cause of Job’s integrity (Job xxxi. 4): “Doth he not see my
ways?” To have God in our eye is the way to be sincere (Gen. xvii. 1);
“walk before me” as in my sight, “and be thou perfect.” Communion with
God consists chiefly in an ordering our ways as in the presence of him
that is invisible. This would make us spiritual, raised and watchful
in all our passions, if we considered that God is present with us
in our shops, in our chambers, in our walks, and in our meetings, as
present with us as with the angels in heaven; who, though they have
a presence of glory above us, yet have not a greater measure of his
essential presence than we have. What an awe had Jacob upon him when
he considered God was present in Bethel (Gen. xxviii. 16, 17)! If
God should appear visibly to us when we were alone, should we not be
reverend and serious before him? God is everywhere about us, he doth
encompass us with his presence. Should not God’s seeing us have the
same influence upon us as our seeing God? He is not more essentially
present if he should so manifest himself to us, than when he doth
not. Who would appear besmeared in the presence of a great person? or
not be ashamed to be found in his chamber in a nasty posture by some
visitant? Would not a man blush to be catched about some mean action,
though it were not an immoral crime? If this truth were impressed upon
our spirits, we should more blush to have our souls daubed with some
loathsome lust; swarms of sin, like Egyptian lice and frogs, creeping
about our heart in his sight. If the most sensual man be ashamed to
do a dishonest action in the sight of a grave and holy man, one of
great reputation for wisdom and integrity, how much more should we
lift up ourselves in the ways of God, who is infinite and immense, is
everywhere, and infinitely superior to man, and more to be regarded!
We could not seriously think of his presence but there would pass some
intercourse between us; we should be putting up some petition upon
the sense of our indigence, or sending up our praises to him upon the
sense of his bounty. The actual thoughts of the presence of God is the
life and spirit of all religion; we could not have sluggish spirits
and a careless watch if we considered that his eye is upon us all the
day.
(3.) It will quell distractions in worship. The actual thoughts of
this would establish our thoughts, and pull them back when they begin
to rove: the mind could not boldly give God the slip if it had lively
thoughts of it; the consideration of this would blow off all the
froth that lies on the top of our spirits. An eye, taken up with the
presence of one object, is not at leisure to be filled with another:
he that looks intently upon the sun, shall have nothing for a while
but the sun in his eye. Oppose to every intruding thought {a405} the
idea of the Divine omnipresence, and put it to silence by the awe of
his Majesty. When the master is present, scholars mind their books,
keep their places, and run not over the forms to play with one another;
the master’s eye keeps an idle servant to his work, that otherwise
would be gazing at every straw, and prating to every passenger. How
soon would the remembrance of this dash all extravagant fancies out of
countenance, just as the news of the approach of a prince would make
the courtiers bustle up themselves, huddle up their vain sports, and
prepare themselves for a reverent behavior in his sight! We should not
dare to give God a piece of our heart when we apprehended him present
with the whole: we should not dare to mock one that we knew were more
inwards with us than we are with ourselves, and that beheld every
motion of our mind, as well as action of our body.
2. Let us endeavor for the more special and influential presence
of God. Let the essential presence of God be the ground of our awe,
and his gracious influential presence the object of our desire. The
heathen thought themselves secure if they had their little petty
household gods with them in their journeys: such seem to be the images
Rachel stole from her father (Gen. xxxi. 19) to company her travel
with their blessings: she might not at that time have cast off all
respect to those idols, in the acknowledgment of which she had been
educated from her infancy; and they seem to be kept by her till God
called Jacob to Bethel, after the rape of Dinah (Gen. xxxv. 4), when
Jacob called for the strange gods, and hid them under the oak. The
gracious presence of God we should look after, in our actions, as
travellers, that have a charge of money or jewels, desire to keep
themselves in company that may protect them from highwaymen that would
rifle them. Since we have the concerns of the eternal happiness of our
souls upon our hands, we should endeavor to have God’s merciful and
powerful presence with us in all our ways (Ps. xiv. 5); “In all thy
ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths:” acknowledge him
before any action, by imploring; acknowledge him after, by rendering
him the glory; acknowledge his presence before worship, in worship,
after worship: it is this presence makes a kind of heaven upon earth;
causeth affliction to put off the nature of misery. How much will the
presence of the sun outshine the stars of lesser comforts, and fully
answer the want of them! The ark of God going before us, can only make
all things successful. It was this led the Israelites over Jordan,
and settled them in Canaan. Without this we signify nothing: though
we live without this, we cannot be distinguished forever from devils;
his essential presence they have; and if we have no more, we shall be
no better. It is the enlivening fructifying presence of the sun that
revives the languishing earth; and this only can repair our ruined
soul. Let it be, therefore, our desire, that as he fills heaven and
earth by his essence, he may fill our understandings and wills by his
grace, that we may have another kind of presence with us than animals
have in their brutish state, or devils in their chains: his essential
presence maintains our beings, but his gracious presence confers and
continues a happiness.
{a406} DISCOURSE VIII.
ON GOD’S KNOWLEDGE.
Psalm cxlvii. 5.――Great is our Lord, and of great power; his
understanding is infinite.
It is uncertain who was the author of this psalm, and when it was
penned; some think after the return from the Babylonish captivity.
It is a psalm of praise, and is made up of matter of praise from the
beginning to the end: God’s benefits to the church, his providence
over his creatures, and the essential excellency of his nature.
The psalmist doubles his exhortation to praise God (ver. 1), “Praise
ye the Lord, sing praise to our God;” to praise him from his dominion
as “Lord,” from his grace and mercy as “our God;” from the excellency
of the duty itself, “it is good, it is comely:” some read it comely,
some lovely, or desirable, from the various derivations of the word.
Nothing doth so much delight a gracious soul, as an opportunity
of celebrating the perfections and goodness of the Creator. The
highest duties a creature can render to the Creator are pleasant
and delightful in themselves; “it is comely.” Praise is a duty that
affects the whole soul. The praise of God is a decent thing; the
excellency of God’s nature deserves it, and the benefits of God’s
grace requires it. It is comely when done as it ought to be, with the
heart as well as with the voice; a sinner sings ill, though his voice
be good; the soul in it is to be elevated above earthly things. The
first matter of praise is God’s erecting and preserving his church
(ver. 2): “The Lord doth build up Jerusalem, he gathers together
the outcasts of Israel.” The walls of demolished Jerusalem are now
re‑edified; God hath brought back the captivity of Jacob, and reduced
his people from their Babylonish exile, and those that were dispersed
into strange regions, he hath restored to their habitations. Or, it
may be prophetic of the calling of the Gentiles, and the gathering
the outcasts of the spiritual Israel, that were before as without God
in the world, and strangers to the covenant of promise. Let God be
praised, but especially for building up his church, and gathering the
Gentiles, before counted as outcasts (Isa. xi. 12); he gathers them
in this world to the faith, and hereafter to glory.