AFter that the Law has provided against Ungodliness and Wrong never so wise­ly, and the Magistrate attended on its Execution never so Diligently; yet still Human Justice will find great Obstruction from the bare want of Evidence: Facts will be Obscure; and Circumstances Doubtful, and Allegations Presumptive, and Testimonies Inconsistent; so that the probably Guilty must often go un­punish'd, lest the possibly Innocent should suf­fer; which would be the greater Evil of the Two.

But my Text points at a Tribunal set above the reach of this Obstruction: a Tribunal where [Page 8] all the Matters of Cognisance are throughly Known, and the Proofs all ready for Convicti­on, and the Evidence as unexceptionable as the Justice.

And this is the very Scope of the Words: Wherein we have (1.) God set forth as the Judge, [...], with whom we have to do, so runs our Translation; but it is somewhat short of expressing the Original; which signifies more fully, To whom we are to give an Account: For [...] when it is applyed to Matters in Charge, signifies an Account: As when it is said to the Unjust Steward (Luke xvi. 2.) [...]; we render it Give an Account of thy Stewardship. So then We are to give an Account unto God: This is the First In­timation of the Text.

And then (2.) to intimate that This Account shall be Clearly taken, and the Judgment upon it lyable to no Exceptions for want of Evidence; It tells us, that To the Eyes of our Judge all things are Naked and Opened, [...] signifies that which has no Outward Co­vering, and [...] signifies that whose Inside may be look'd into: For it signifies prima­rily a Beast opened down the Chine; as it was the Manner of the Priests to Chine the Sacri­fice, [Page 9] and open it so that the state and found­ness of every Entrail might appear. And thus All things we do are so Manifest unto God, that they are not capable of any Covering; either from without by Secrecy or Collusion, or from within by Palliation or Denial.

The Words therefore are an Argument for a Circumspect and Upright Conversation, drawn both from the Omniscience, and the Justice of God; Because God Knows all things, and be­cause He will Judge all things. But I shall not now meddle with the Second Part of the Argu­ment, Gods Justice; I shall confine my self to the Consideration of his Omniscience: And in Treating of this, I shall not take in the whole Extent or the Attribute, (as whereby God knows the Nature, State, Qualities, Defects, Powers, and Possibilities of All Things, that either Are, or Can be) but I shall speak only to Those Things for which we stand Accountable; As the Scope of my Text prescribes me.

Now the things for which we stand Ac­countable are of three Kinds, (viz.) Actions, Words and Thoughts; For Each of These are capable of Moral Good and Evil, and as so they make up the matter of our Account. My Business therefore shall be,

• [Page 10]I. To shew that God does Know Each of these Things: and then
• II. To make some Reflections upon the Doctrine, that may farther conduce to Practice.

That God knows all our Actions, Words and Thoughts, the Scripture is every where Ex­press. And,

I. As to our Actions. Thou art about my path, and about my bed, and spiest out all my ways, says the Psalmist, Psal. cxxxix. 3. And lest we should interpret that this Inspection of God was Peculiar upon the Actions of that particular Man; Solomon tells us that the same Inspection is of Universal extent; Prov. xv. 3. For the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good: whence it is Evident that God not only can Know, if he will, but likewise that he actually wills to Know all that we do. It is Profane to imagine that the Divine Nature is Incurious or Regardless: And accordingly it is observable that as Holy David calls it Brutishness to think in any Case that God does not Know what we do; Understand, O ye brutish among the people, he that formed the eye, shall not he see? So he calls it Blasphemy to think that God does not Regard what we do; How long shall the wicked blaspheme God, saying, thou God carest not for it?

[Page 11]II. As to our Words. — There is not a word, in my tongue, but that thou knowest it altogether; says the Psalmist, Psal. cxxxix. 4. And to bring this Home to every ones case, The Author of the Book of Wisdom, Ch. i. 10. tell us, that Gods ear is the ear of jealousie; that is, an Ear not only Quick of hearing, but likewise always Intent to hear; so that when we sometimes speak that which either Shame or Fear will not suffer us to speak aloud, yet the Caution of Whispering will not conceal it from God: For (as that Au­thor goes on) The ear of jealousie heareth all things; and the noise of whisperings is not hid; and there is no word so secret, that it shall pass for nought.

III. As to our Thoughts, that is Inclusively, our Deliberations, Judgments, Choices, Wishes and Desires, the Searcher of hearts is acquainted with them All. So says Holy Job, Ch. xlii. 2. I know that no thought can be witholden from thee. But the Psalmist speaks yet Higher to the Point, and cries Psal. cxxxix. 1. Thou knowest my thoughts long before: Thou Knowest my Thoughts long Before; even Before they are Conceived. Nor does this Expression give any ground to Argue, that because God foreknows our Thoughts (as likewise he does our Actions) that therefore he does Predetermine and Ordain them; This would [Page 12] be clearly to acquit our selves, and to charge God with the Fault of our Miscarriages: And I doubt not but many would fain have the Charge run so, and therefore are Fond of this Opinion: But on the contrary, as God tempts no man (in the Words of S. James) so much less does he force or predetermine any one to Sin: No, He leaves us to our Liberty to Think either Better or Worse, and yet this notwithstanding he foreknows our Thoughts; Because, Having an Intimate Knowledge of the State of our Souls, of all the Affections, Passions, Springs, and Weights wherewith they are moved, he knows Infallibly how every possible Object, that presents it self will determine our Judgments and Choices, tho He himself does not Determine them at all. As the Man that sees the Setting of the Chimes, can tell several hours before what Tune they will Play, without any Positive Influ­ence either upon their Setting, or their Playing.

Thus the Scriptures represent the Omniscience of God. And farther, they offer us Two Espe­cial Considerations, whereby this Notion may be better cleared, and the Conviction of it made to set Firmer upon our Minds.

The First Consideration is that of Gods Pre­sence: the Second is that of his Power.

[Page 13]I. Gods Presence is that which we call an Omnipresence, that is an Universal Presence, In all places, and with all persons: And this the Au­thor of the Book of Wisdom makes his Argument for Gods Omniscience, Ch. i. 7. God (says he) is witness of the reins, and a true beholder of the heart, and a hearer of the tongue; For (this is the Proof of it, because) the spirit of the Lord filleth the world: that is, God Knows Every Thing, be­cause he Is Every Where. And the Psalmist as­serting the Omniscience of God at large, Psal. cxxxix. confirms his Argument, and in­culcates the Belief of the Doctrine with This Reflection, ver. 6. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy Presence? If I climb up to heaven, thou art there; and if I go down to hell, thou art there also, &c.

Now this Consideration of the Omnipresence of God is useful and proper to prevent those Mistakes in our Opinion of Him, which we are wont to take up by Thinking of him Weakly, i. e. with Resemblance to our selves. For so, In Our First Thoughts, we are apt to Confine God to a Place, and to Limit him to a Distance in the Perception of Things; Because we our selves are so Limited and Confined. And so we are apt to imagine that a Constant Inspection and Ob­servation [Page 14] of all Men, and all their Actions would beget either Trouble or Weariness, or Distraction in God; because any Great Applica­tion does so in us. Most of the Great Men a­mong the Heathens were overtaken with these Prejudices. Whereas, on the Contrary, the Notion of Gods Being Every where Leads our Understanding to apprehend that it is as Easie for Him to observe Every Man, as One Man; and Every Action, as One Single Action of our Lives. Remember therefore that God is as near to our Mouth, when we Speak, as that Man is, that Leans his Ear to our Whispers: He is as near to our Actions, when we act in Secret, as they are whom we admit into our Confede­racy: He is as near to our Thoughts, when we Purpose, Wish, or Design any thing, as is Our own Soul that conceives them; and in Conse­quence he is as Familiarly acquainted with them.

The Second Consideration which the Scripture offers to inculcate the belief of God's Omnisci­ence, is that of his Power, viz. that Plastick Ope­rative Power, whereby he is the Fountain and Author of all our Beings: From which Topick the Psalmist thus argues: Psal. xciv. 9, 10. He that planted the ear, shall not he hear? He that formed the eye, shall not he see? He that teacheth [Page 15] man knowledge, shall not he know? The Argu­ment (You see) reaches each Particular of my Matter, Words, Deeds and Thoughts; and to shew the Strength of it, I shall consider it some­what more exactly. If we resolve it into a ge­neral Form of Reasoning, it may run thus; All our Faculties of Knowing, all our Organs and Instruments of Information we have from God, and can we think then that God wants any for his Own Use? All of us are his Creatures, and can we think he has made any Creature of such a Capacity as to act any thing beside his Pri­vity, or beyond his Comprehension? This would be a Weak, and (as the Psalmist calls it) a Brutish Imagination. But to come to the par­ticular Instances.

God hath planted the Ear, and Formed the Eye: And yet when all is done, 'Tis neither our Ear that hears, nor our Eye that sees; but 'tis our Spirit that hears and sees through these, as its proper Instruments. 'Tis our Spirit therefore only that has the Power of Hearing and Seeing: And tho Our Spirits are limited to the Use and Assistance of such Instruments, we must not therefore imagine but that Spirits of a Su­perior Order can perform all Their Perceptions without Them. To think otherwise would be [Page 16] as Absurd, as if a Man of Weak Eyes should argue that it is Impossible for Any Eye to see without a Glass. When therefore God or An­gels are said to have Ears or Eyes, 'tis only in Accommodation to our Mode of Thinking; For when we come to Reason upon the Subject we must acknowledge that it is Part of their Per­fection to need no such Helps.

Whereas therefore, First, We account that the Sense of Hearing is Limited to a Respective Distance; And this Thought makes us Bold to whisper that, which we dare not Speak aloud; However we account of our Own Hearing, we ought not to esteem That of Others to be so Limited. Nay when we find by Experience that the Softest Whisper, when conveyed by a Smooth or Hollow Surface, will reach our Ear distinctly, though at a great distance from the Speaker; We have so little reason to doubt whether God hears our Whispers, that we may be sure (on the other hand) he can command a small Ring of Air to carry our Whispers to the End of the Earth, and make them heard by whoever else he pleases. And by This very Means the Prophet Elisha might hear what was spoken in the King of Assyria's Bed-Chamber, 2 Kings vi. 12. as well as by the Intercourse or Mini­stry of an Angel.

[Page 17]II. Though Our act of Seeing be confin'd to the Assistance of Outward Light; we must not conclude That of Others is so: If I say, per adven­ture darkness shall cover me, then shall my night be turned into day: the darkness is no darkness with thee; the light and darkness to thee are both alike: says the Psalmist. Nay, we may learn from the most Contemptible Creatures, that Outward Light is not Necessary to Seeing; For the Batt and the Owl can See without it: And perhaps Providence designed these Contemptible Creatures to teach us the Lesson, that Darkness is no Covering; and to provoke unto Jealousie and Apprehension that Thousands may see our Retired Actions, whom we see not, and therefore foolishly are not Aware of them: Good Spirits can see us and lament, and Evil Spirits can see us and re­joyce at the Issues of our sin and folly.

III. It is God that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? We allow that God gives us the whole Faculty and Power of Knowing; And, if so, to think that we can know any thing in our selves, which God does not Know, is a Con­tradiction; for it implies that we have power to Know something without God.

The most awful Faculty that God has given us, and that which lies most under our present [Page 18] Consideration is that of Knowing or Remem­bring what we have done, together with the Con­sciousness of that Good or Evil that is in it: Now let us consider how this Faculty performs its Office: How come we to Know at any time what we have Spoken, Done, or Thought, af­ter once those Acts of Speaking, Doing, or Thinking are past? Is it not by seeing the Images or Impressions which those several Acts do pro­duce within us? Do we not by seeking find such Images of things, which we have Spoken, Done, or Thought of several years before? Nay do not those Images frequently present themselves without our seeking, and make us see them whether we will or no? Which is a Proof that they have a Real Being and Lasting Subsistence within us, and are wholly Indepen­dent on our Will; for we cannot extinguish or erase any of them at our Pleasure; we cannot do it, would we never so fain. We may con­clude therefore, that whatsoever we either Speak or Do, Purpose, Wish, or Design, so far as these Acts are of a Moral Concern, and bear Relation to Virtue or Vice, they leave the No­tices of themselves upon our Consciences, im­printed there in Characters Fair and Intelligible, nay I may add, Indelible too: For though it must [Page 19] be allowed that we Forget many things which we have been Conscious of; yet in that Case, the Notices of such things are not Erased or Ex­tinguished, they are only Covered over. There is no Forgetfulness in a Spirit; Its Forgetfulness is only Accidental, and occasioned by the Im­pediments of the Flesh: As we may observe that sometimes a Man of a Faithful Memory, will by the Disorder of a Sickness grow Deli­rous, and forget all that ever he Knew; and yet upon the Removal of his Disease, all his former Notices will appear Fresh again. And how Reasonable is it to believe that our Souls, whether in the State of Separation from the Body, or of Re-union to the Body when Defecated and made free from Ob­structions (so far as All Bodies even of the Un­just shall be at the Resurrection) I say, how Reasonable is it to believe, that our Souls shall Then have a Clear View and perfect Remem­brance of all that we have done; Though Now most of those Notices lie in us like the Inscripti­ons of a Marble covered over with Dust and Rubbish.

Now if Conscience be thus like a Written Book, and Faithful Register of our Behaviour, there is no room to doubt but God can read that Book, [Page 20] as well as we: Nay, He can Read through all those Impediments that Shade it, which we can­not: Nay he can, when he pleases, make this Book Legible to all Others, as much as it is to our selves. For He can so far Elevate the Understand­ings of all Men, or Open their Eyes (in that Sense that he is said to have opened the eyes of Elisha's servant, that he might see the host of An­gels: 2 Kings vi. 14.) I say, God can open the Eyes of all Men to such a Spiritual Intuition, as that All shall be able, at a short glance, to Read each others History (imprinted on their Consci­ences in Intelligible Signatures) as familiarly as if it were graven on their foreheads, or printed in a Book. And thus we may probably Conceive that those Books mentioned by the Prophet Da­niel, Ch. vii. 10. and by S. John in his Revela­tion, Ch. xx. 12. Books that are to be opened in order to the Universal Judgment, are no other than that Volume of things Recorded in every Mans Conscience; which being opened and ex­posed to View, shall make (as it were) a Tally or Counterpart to that Memorial which God himself Keeps of all we do.

Having said thus much for the Stating or Ex­plication of Gods Omniscience, I shall now pro­ceed to make some Reflections upon the Do­ctrine, [Page 21] that may farther conduce to Practice.

God Almighty has planted Two Passions in our Souls; whose most proper Use is to deter us from sin; and they are Shame and Fear: The Object of Fear is Punishment, and the Object of Shame is Discovery: and his Omniscience does import both these Consequences to sin ( viz.) that it shall be discovered, and that it shall be punish'd: For Gods Omniscience does not termi­nate in bare Knowing; he Sees and Knows in order to farther Acts of Justice; so he tells, Jer. xvii. 19. I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doing. I shall not now extend my Reflections so far as the Punishment of sin (though that be of the most moving Importance) I shall insist only up­on the Discovery of it; and shew what Shame is threatned to it from Gods Omniscience. In or­der hereto, my first Inference from the Doctrine shall be This (viz.) That no sin can be Secret; (absolutely speaking, no sin can be so.)

Now did this Notion sit so close upon our minds as it ought to do, it would necessarily be of great advantage to the Cause of Virtue; be­cause nothing gives more occasion to sin in the world, than the contrary Expectation, and hopes [Page 22] of Secrecy. For even after a Man has devested his Soul of Probity, he cannot so easily devest it of Shame; and therefore when he has never so strong an Inclination to sin, yet still he will start at the apprehension of being discovered; and be still willing to retain that Reputation, which is the Shadow of Virtue, though he has been so hardy as to shake hands with the substance. How many Calumnies, Dissimulations, Frauds and Falshoods; how many of all Kinds of sinful acts (wherein there is any acknowledged Baseness and Turpitude) would be absolutely prevented; if so be the Actors, when they began to medi­tate the doing of these things, were throughly persuaded that they would come to light, and be made known, and so expose them to pub­lick Reproach? Now, is not that sin sufficiently known, of which we acknowledge that God does know it? And is not the knowledge of God sufficiently Awful, since He is most of all affront­ed by our Guilt? And how comes it to pass then that our Shame is so Jealous and Quick in regard of Men, but so remiss and languishing in regard of God? How come we to be able to blush at the ap­prehension of a Man seeing us; When yet the Con­sideration that God sees us, that the most Just sees our Iniquities, that the most Holy sees our Filthi­ness, [Page 23] that the most Loving sees our Unthankfulness, when this Consideration is not able to move the Passion or provoke a blush? For we must ac­knowledge that this is the common State of that Passion in us; so partial and unreasonable is our Shame; It acts as if Men alone had the Custo­dy of our Credit, and Gods Estimation were of no Importance to it.

The best Reason that can be given for such an Unreasonable behaviour, can be no other than a Bad one; but I take the Best to be this, (viz.)

We presume all Men to be subject in some measure to such Passions, as would tempt them (should they be acquainted with our sins) to be severe upon us, to insult over us, and to pub­lish our Reproach; and therefore we dare not trust our Secret, and consequently our Reputa­tion with Men: But, on the other hand, we look upon God as purely Merciful; and at the same time we look upon it as an Office of Mer­cy to Cover sins: So that although God knows our sins, yet we imagine he alone shall know them; For, by some method of Repentance which we propose to our selves, we hope to attone Gods displeasure; and so to have our sins both forgiven and covered, and our selves secured both from punishment and scandal too. But for [Page 24] Correction of this Mistake (for so it is) I shall draw my Inference one Step farther, and argue from the Omniscience of God:

II. That All sin shall be brought to an Univer­sal and publick Discovery: so that it is but despe­rate hope for any Man to think he shall escape the Shame that is due unto his Guilt.

That Gods Omniscience carries in it the Power of such a Discovery is no Dispute; the Questi­on is, Whether he actually will make such a Dis­covery? And let us fairly consult Scripture and Reason, what we ought to believe concerning this.

The Apostle tells us ( Rom. ii. 16.) that, In that day God shall judge the secrets of all men: and to signifie that the Judging of Secrets implies the Revealing of Secrets, he tells us again (1 Cor. iv. 5.) that in order to Judgment, He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make mani­fest the Counsels of the heart. Again he tells us (1 Tim. iii. ult.) that of the actions of Men (both Good and Evil) Some are manifest in this life; and what are Otherwise cannot be hid. And what can be more Express than that of our Saviour (S. Luke viii. 17.) Nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known, and come abroad: Which words (as they are not capable of any adequate Com­pletion [Page 25] till the day of Judgment, so) the Anti­ents interpret them purely to respect the Process of That Day. Now the Importance of all these Texts is clearly this; That God will make a Discovery of all human Actions in order to his Judicial Sentence, whether of Absolution, or Con­demnation.

All that Reason can have to alledge against This, must (as I have intimated already) be founded on this supposition, That it is an Office of Mercy to Cover sins: as indeed the Scripture frequently expresses it to be. And so undoubtedly it is, During this Life; Where, if all sins were Discovered, many Men would be impeded in their Repentance, and many cut off from the opportunity of Repenting: And, besides, the World would only be so much the worse for the Example; For sin would only grow more In­solent and Shameless, by reason of the more ap­parent number of its Party. But hereafter the Case will be quite otherwise: There Repentance will have no Opportunity to lose; nor Ill Ex­ample be able to do harm any longer: And when God passes Sentence upon the Lives of Men, his Mercy will be as much exalted by the Discovery of those sins he shall pardon; as his Justice will be Cleared by the Discovery of those he shall punish.

[Page 26]I know the main strength of the mentioned Objection must be borrowed from those places of Scripture, where the Terms of Blotting out; and Covering sins, are applied to God as a pro­per act of his Mercy. It is holy David's Prayer; Lord, Blot out all mine Iniquities: and so he pro­nounces them Blest, whose sins are Covered: And God himself says in the Prophet ( Is. xliii. 25.) I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. But now, to know the proper Meaning of these Expressions, let us begin with the Last of them, wherein God says, I will not Remember thy sins: Now it is certain that this Phrase of Gods not Remembring cannot be taken literally; because it is impossible for God to Forget; But the Meaning is, that He will not Remember so, as to punish: And so, in like manner, by Blotting out and Covering is not meant literally the Concealing of sins, but only the Abolishing of their Condemning power. And this we may evidently confirm from the Instance of David himself, in that ve­ry place where he uses these Expressions: 'Tis Psalm li. 9. where he cries, Hide thy face from my sins, O Lord, and Blot out all my misdeeds: But here his Petition is so far from meaning the Con­cealment of his sins from the Knowledge of the [Page 27] World, that he was then actually proclaiming them, and registring them in a Form of Con­fession, which he intended not only for the Ex­ercise of his Own Repentance, but likewise for the Conduct of all Others: so that we cannot in­terpret him to have deprecated the Notoriety of his sins, but merely the Wrath of God, where­by he might justly have been Condemned for them.

We may therefore look upon it as one Cer­tain Consequence from the Omniscience of God, that all human Actions shall be exposed to pub­lick View and Censure; That a Light shall be struck into all the Works of Darkness, through all the Recesses of Subtlety, through all the Dis­guises of Hypocrisie: That then the Masque shall be pull'd off from all dissembled Virtues, and every Vice shall appear in its proper Colour, and every Secret Injury shall proclaim its Author: That there shall be no summary Absolutions, no Pardons in Gross without Enquiry into the Retail, as the slight Repentances of Men do seem to require; but that Repentances shall be weighed as well as Sins; and Mercy dispensed upon Rational Terms, and the Pardon of Sin­ners justified by the Measures of their Contrition.

[Page 28]If this Reflection can work in us any more a­bundant Shame for what we have done amiss, it has its proper and wholesome Effect upon us. It is the hope of being Undiscovered that makes the Sinner walk haughtily; and (on the contra­ry) the Belief of a Certain Discovery ought in all Reason to render us more Abject and Vile in our own Eyes; which is the first step to True Re­pentance. Shame thus Taken upon our selves is the only Expedient the Sinner has to prevent the Future: Penitential shame will avoid the Judi­cial, and break that Blow that will otherwise strike us with Unknown Confusion. For be assured That Shame for Sin is a Natural Debt; and it must be paid at one time or other; and we can escape it no more than we can escape Death.

Indeed there are some Men who seem to be Proof against the Influence of this Reflection; I mean such as are arriv'd to sin boldly and open­ly; who as they seek no Covering, so they seem to fear no Discovery, but bid Defiance to Shame. In respect of such I shall add One Reflection more, ( viz.) That

Although the Knowledge of Men may not have the power of working Shame in a hardy Sinner; yet the Omniscience of God, when it [Page 29] comes to manifest it self, shall bring even the Shameless to Shame; and make it appear that, As Shame for sin can be escaped no more than Death, so it can be defy'd no more than Hell.

To open the Truth of this Assertion; Let us but consider, How it comes to pass that since sin is naturally Shameful (as being a Baffle to Man's Reason, as well as a Blow to his Consci­ence) I say, since sin is naturally Shameful, how comes it to pass that Men can sin and yet not be ashamed.

Now this Effect may follow from Three Causes, (1.) From Corrupt Notions. (2.) From Common Guilt: and (3.) From Impudence of Temper.

I. Shamelesness in sin may proceed from Cor­rupt Notions. For so it is, The World has past its Verdict, and Christians to their Scandal are led by the Anticipation, That there are some sins that have nothing shameful in them. 'Tis al­lowed perhaps that Fraud and Lying, and Ingra­titude, and Perfidiousness (and the like) are of a Nature marked with Infamy; But then to be a Witty Scoffer, to be a brisk Revenger, to be stout in Intemperance, and the like, are no other then fa­shionable Commendations; and why then should any be ashamed for these? Now this is a Dream that [Page 30] may hold till the World be better awakened; but when all Actions shall be brought to their true Standard, as it will then appear, that to serve God is Mans greatest Honour; so it will appear, that there is Shame in every thing whereby we do offend him: And that those sins which Men boast of in the doing, are as Unworthy and Inglo­rious, as those which they acknowledge are not fit to bear the Light.

II. Common Guilt may make Men sin without Shame. For even in those sins, which the World owns for Shameful, Partnership will be able to carry off the Shame: Thus a Thief will not be ashamed to be surpriz'd by a Thief, nor an Adulterer by an Adulterer; though a Man of an Awful Character would produce a Blush from such a one at the surprize: And therefore we may Observe, that they who give themselves up to any Vice, do generally withal give them­selves up to Calumniating, i. e. they take pleasure to represent, or to suppose all others as bad as themselves: And all is for this very purpose, That they may beat down the Reverence that is due to any Good Example, and so contemn the Censures of all Men alike. But this is a Me­thod that cannot take place when God comes to make the Discovery; For as his Holiness is be­yond [Page 31] the Reach of Calumny; as none shall be able to say of God, that He is either Unrighteous, or Friend to those that are so; so his Awful Cen­sure will not fail to reduce every Guilty mind to its proper Acknowledgments.

But, III. That which consummates the Evil is Impudence of Temper: such as the Prophet Je­remy laments in the people of Israel, after that Affluence and Luxury had brought them to a great height of wickedness (Ch. vi. 15.) Were they Ashamed, when they had committed Abomina­tion? Nay they were not ashamed at all, neither could they blush.

Now this Impudence is a Temper contracted by Industrious Iniquity, and raised upon the Ruins of Reason: It can be no otherwise; be­cause Shame for sin is so Connatural to Reason, that it cannot be extinguish'd but with Reason it self. Which we may contemplate in the In­stance of Fools and Madmen; the only Cause­why they are not ashamed, being this, that they want Reason to reflect upon the Turpitude of what they do. And 'tis certain that whoso­ever grows Impudent, he so far keeps Reason a Prisoner, suffers it not to act, holds it in servi­tude to his Lusts, and so sets his Soul in the nearest approach unto Brutality.

[Page 32]But this is a State that will not always last: For when God comes to do Right to his Crea­tures, Reason shall be asserted to its Liberty of acting; and then Shame shall be let loose to de­mand all its Arrears: It shall be let loose like an Armed Man; and undoubtedly it shall act then with the same Force upon all Bold Transgres­sours, that it does now sometimes upon those Un­happy Souls that makes themselves away to avoid its Lashes: For as these flee from Life (though the greatest Blessing they have) so they then shall flee from God with the same Confusion; And being not able to bear the Terrour of his Maje­sty, shall voluntarily betake themselves to any place that is abandoned by Him, and that is sim­ply Hell. So that the Impudent Sinner seems not to need any Compulsion to settle him in the place of Torment, but that of his Own Shame: That will be his [...] his proper, his natural place; To Which (we know) all things move of their own accord. And no less is intimated concerning Judas, according to our Common Version of that passage ( Acts i. 25.) where 'tis said that Judas by transgression fell from his part in the Apostleship, that he might go to his Own place; [...] his Own, his Proper place: Imply­ing that Judas's shame sunk him down to Hell, [Page 33] as naturally as weight sinks a Stone down towards the Center.

These Reflections upon Gods Omniscience are such as seem proper to make the Consideration of it Useful to us. And as for the Conduct of our particular Practice, the best of all Rules may be borrowed from Holy David's Example, Psal. xvi. 9. where he says I have set God always be­fore me: So let us: God is always By us, let us set him always before us; His Eyes are always upon Us, let Ours be likewise proportionably upon Him: Let us keep our minds in a Lively Sense of the Venerableness of his Presence, and the Awfulness of his Inspection; And this is the best Method to guard us from treating that Inspection irreverently, and to keep us ten­der of doing any thing unsuitable to such a Presence.

Come see the man that told me all that ever I did, cries the Woman of Samaria, after her Conver­sation with our Saviour at Jacob's Well: Think a little upon that Conversation, or upon such a possible one with thy self: Think what Com­motions, what Strugling of several Passions started up in that Womans Breast, so soon as she found One, whom she look'd upon as a pure Stranger to her, to break in upon all her Secrets: [Page 34] The same shall one day be every ones Case; The same Jesus (though in more awful Circumstan­ces) shall tell every one of us all that ever we did: And say then where lies our Wisdom but in a Constant Endeavour to do that that will bear the Telling? Happy are they that pursue this En­deavour! Almighty God assist us all to do so by his Merciful Grace!

To whom be Glory and Thanksgiving for ever and ever.

Amen.