14. God Is Omnipresent

Fourteenthly, Conſider, that⁴⁰ God is omnipreſent. We cannot get into any blind hole, or dark corner, or ſecret place, but the Lord hath an eye there, the Lord will keep us company there, Math. 6. 6. And thy father which ſeeth in ſecret ſhall reward the openly. So v. 18. there is not the darkeſt durtieſt hole in the world into which a ſaint creeps, but God hath a favourable eye there. God never wants an eye to ſee our ſecret tears; nor an eare to heare our ſecret cryes and groans, nor a heart to grant our ſecret requeſts; and therefore we ought to pour out our ſouls to him in ſecret. Pſal. 38. 9. Lord, all my deſire is before thee; and my groaning is not hide from thee. Though our private deſires are never ſo confuſed, though our private requeſts are never p. 97 ſo broken, and though our private groanings are never ſo much hidden from men, yet God eyes them all, God records them all, and God puts them all upon the file of heaven, and will one day crown them with glorious anſwers and returns. We cannot ſigh out a prayer in ſecret, but he ſees us; we cannot lift up our eyes to him at midnight, but he obſerves us. The eye that God hath upon his people when they are in ſecret, is ſuch a ſpecial tender eye of love, as opens his ear, his heart, and his hand, for their good, 1 Pet. 3. 12. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears▪ are open unto their prayers; or, as the Greek hath it, his ears are unto their prayers. If their prayers are ſo faint, that they cannot reach up as high as Heaven, then God will bow the heavens⁴¹ and come down to their prayers.

1. 40. Jer. 16. 17. Job 34. 21. Prov. 5. 21. Jer. 32. 19. Rev. 2. 23. Lam. 3 56. [dropped from the edition]
2. 41. God is, totus oculus, all eye. [dropped from the edition]

Gods eye is upon every ſecret ſigh, & every ſecret groan, & every ſecret tear, and every ſecret deſire, and every ſecret pant of love, and every p. 98 ſecret breathing of ſoul, and every ſecret melting and working of heart; all which ſhould encourage us to be much in ſecret duties, in cloſet-ſervices. As a Chriſtian is never out of the reach of Gods hand, ſo he is never out of the view of Gods eye. If a Chriſtian cannot hide himſelf from the Sun, which is Gods Miniſter of light; how impoſſible will it be to hide himſelf from him, whoſe eyes are ten thouſand times brighter than the Sun? In every private duty a chriſtian is ſtil under the eye of Gods omniſciency. When we are in the darkeſt hole, God hath windows into our breaſts, and obſerves all the ſecret actings of our inward man. The⁴² eye of God is not confined to this place, or that, to this company, or that; God hath an eye upon his people as well when they are alone, as when they are among a multitude; as well when they are in a corner, as well as when they are in a croud. Diana’s Temple was burnt down; when ſhe was buſie at p. 99 Alexanders birth, and could not be at two places together. But God is preſent both in Paradiſe and in the wilderneſs, both in the family and in the cloſet, both in publick and in private, at the ſame time: God is an omnipreſent God, he is⁴³ every where: as he is included in no place, ſo he is excluded from no place, Jer. 23. 24. Can any man hide himſelf in ſecret places that I ſhall not ſee him, ſaith the Lord? Pro. 15. 3. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good, or, contemplating the evil and the good, as the Hebrew may be read. Now to contemplate is more than ſimply to behold, for contemplation addeth to a ſimple apprehenſion, a deeper degree of knowledge, entring into the very inſide of a matter; and ſo indeed doth God diſcern the very inward intentions of the heart, and the moſt ſecret motions of the ſpirit. God is an infinite, and immenſe being, whoſe center is every where, and whoſe circumference is no where. Now if our God be omnipreſent, p. 100 then whereſoever we are, our God is preſent with us; if we are in priſon alone, with Joſeph, our God is preſent with us there; or if we are in exile alone, with David, our God is preſent with us there; or if we are alone in our cloſets, our God is preſent with us there: God ſeeth us in ſecret, and therefore let us ſeek his face in ſecret. Though Heaven be Gods Pallace, yet it is not his priſon. But,

1. 42. 1 Tim. 2. 8. [dropped from the edition]
2. 43. Non eſt ubi; ubi non eſt Deus? [dropped from the edition]