September 16 — On the Exercise of the Presence of God

Consider, first, that a lirdiy sense of the presence d Goil is a sovereign means to banish sin from the world; to bring the worst of sinners back to God;. to spur on the lukewarm, and make them fervent; and to advance the just in all virtue, till it bring them to perfection; according to that which God spoke to his servant Abraham, (Gen. xvii. 1.;) Walk before me, and he perfect: as if he should have said — In all thy conversation, and in every step thou shalt take in thy mortal pilgrimage, keep thyself in my presence by the remembrance of me, and thou shalt be perfect hi all virtue. This holy patriarch, and all the ancient fathers, observed this lesson, of whom it is written, that they walked with Godj or that they walked in the sight of God, Gen. xlvii. 15. The Psalmist practised the same, Ps. xv. 5; I set the Lord, saith he, always in my sight: and he calls upon all others to do the like, Ps. civ. 4; 8eek ye the Lord, attd be strengthened: seek his face (that is, his presence) always. This same has ever. been the practice of all the saints; yea, it is this has made them saints.

Consider, secondly, that this exercise of the presence of God is to be performed partly by the understanding, and partly by the will; for as the blessed in heaven are eternally employed about God, partly by the contemplation and vision of him, which belongs to the understanding; and partly by love and fruition, which belongs to the will; and by this means they are eternally happy in the enjoyment of this sovereign and infinite €k>od, and eternally united, teth by will and understanding, to the Source of all happiness; so the souls of God’s servants here upon earth ought, in both these ways, to apply themselves to God, and to be employed about him; and this is done by the exercise of his divine presence, which employs the understanding in the thought and remembrance of him, by means of a lively faith and sense of his being always with us and within us; and entertains the will, at is, the heart and the affection, with him, by continually turning it towards him by aspirations of love, by oblations of our whole being to him, and by longing desires after the embraces of him, and an eternal union with him. O, how happy is this exerci% of the presence of God, which, by a perpetual application of all the powers of the soul to God, in some measure anticipates che immortal joys of heaven.

Consider, thirdly, that, in order to learn and to practise this heavenly exercise of the presence of God, we must ridour soub o t ree mortal enemies to this devotion; which are, a dissipation o mm, an anxious solicitude for the things of this world, and a disorderly affection to creatures. Where these three, or any cme of the three, reigns in the sool, God is usually forgot A dissipa tion of thought carries the soul from home to run after a multi tude of vain amusements, where she loses the remembrance both of herself, and of her God. WorkUp soUcitmde chohesall bet ler thoughts, and suffers them not to take root in the sool; and the disorderly affections of the heart, to any things out of God, turn away the heart from God. In order, then, to practise this necessary attention to the presence of God, we must banish dissipa tion by recollection of thought; we must overcome worldly solic tude, by faith and confidence in God, and by a conformity in all things with his blessed will; and we most correct the irregularity of our affections by turning them from the creature to God.

Conclude to guard against these enemies, by setting a watch both upon thy roving imagination, which is ever fond of running after butterflies, and thy unwary heart, that is so easily taken in the nets of wanton love, or other idle, vain, and worldly affections; and to accustom all the powers of thy soul to be employed about their God, who is to make them happy for eternity.