The carnal professor Discovering the woeful slavery of a man guidedThe carnall professor Discovering the wofull slavery of a man guided

By the Presence of God in this place I do not understand a bare local residence with God:¹ so Satan may stand before God; neither can any thing created go from his presence, he being in heaven, ²in hell, and in all places: but by his Presence I understand as the holy Ghost teacheth me, the comfort, the joy and bliss which betideth the Creature through his presence. Now what the loss hereof may be, I leave to thy ⟨p. 139⟩own heart: and yet it being fleshly, may happily err, or not esteem so highly as the thing requireth. To help thee in a word; Adam after his offence fled from Gods presence, and the Lord ratified it, for indeed he cast him out of the garden where he had communion and fellowship with God, yet so, that he left him certain signs and tokens of his former dignity both spiritual and temporal in soul and body: from whence it cometh that we his children do yet retain some resemblance of our former happiness, though our holiness is quite lost: ⟨p. 140⟩We have Lordship over all the creatures, we are fed with the fruits of the earth, we have some comeliness of person, and impression of majesty, beyond the beasts, yea we have a smack of God: And in political matters, yet preserve some slender and slight footings of his wisdom and providence: the King ruleth, the people obey: the heaven, the earth, and the stars yield themselves according to the will of the Creator, propitious unto man, he enjoyeth their light, their influences, their fruits, & sundry commodities: And all this because man (albeit out of the garden of Eden ⟨p. 141⟩the place of delight, yet) is still as long as he liveth in the Cooks garden: being thrust (as it were) out of a most pleasant parlour, where God appeared in glory, into a more obscure place of less communion with him.

By the Presence of God in this place I doe not understand a bare locall residence with God:¹