Heaven upon earth, or, The best friend in the worst of times. Delivered in…

which speaks him every where, and consequently ready at hand to help his Friends at a dead lift. Wherefore (saith the same Author, Idem. l. 3. c. 22.) think not that thou art alone when thou art in thy Chamber, in thy bed, when thy Curtains are drawn, when thou art locked up in a prison never so dark under ground; if thou art good, thou shalt have two companions in spite of the malice of all thy enemies, a good Conscience, and thy God. This made that brave Moralist to dare his enemies to do their worst to exclude his Friends from him. Can (saith he) any man be banished out of the world? wheresoever you send me, there will be the Sun, Moon, and Stars; but if not, God is there, I am sure, with whom I may talk, to whom I may pray; he will bare me company, though all the rest of my Friends be kept from me. And as long as you can't banish me from God, nor keep him from me, I shall reckon my self at liberty; and should I be sent out of this world into another, even there I should find my ⟨p. 146⟩Friend; and he will scarce complain that is removed from a place where almost all are his enemies, to a place where quite all are his Friends. One would have thought these poor Heathens had been reading, Psal. 139. Do you hear O Christians, what language those forementioned persons speak? and shall these that never had the thousandth part of that advantage for the knowing of God, speak and act thus, & shall Christians have such low thoughts of God? because we do not see God, shall we therefore not believe that he is present every where? he that denies Gods own presence, had upon the matter as good deny his being; for were it not so, how could he Judge the world with Justice? How could all things be sustained by his power? God takes this as a very high indignity, that any should in the least question this glorious attribute, Jer. 23.23, 24. Am I a God at hand, and not a God a far off? Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill Heaven and Earth, saith the Lord. And is not this a Friend worth the having, who will be sure not to be absent when you have need of him? the wicked indeed say, how doth God know, and can he see through the thick Clouds, and therefore they sin with confidence, and oppress the Friends of God without any fear; they hope God doth not behold, they think omniscience knows not.