judges men for secret sin; therefore it is also certain that he knows them. In Eccles. xi. 9, Solomon says of the voluptuous man, that for the ways of his heart, which are his secret and his hidden ways, God will bring him to judgment; and in Eccles. xii. 14. it is said, that God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil; and no wonder, since there is not so much as the least rising of the heart to sin but he views it; no circumstance so inconsiderable to our apprehensions, but he ponders it: he does, as it were, severely winnow every action, and discerns that which is good in it, from that which is vile and sinful. Now there are two seasons wherein God will judge men for their secret sins. First, in this life, wherein he often gives sinners a foretaste of what he intends to do in the future: and though he does reserve the whole weight of his judgment till after death, yet he frequently dispenses some strokes of it by way of earnest before. Because not only men's desires, but also their belief, is chiefly satisfied by things present; wherefore God sometimes follows secret sins with present judgment. When Moses declared the law of God to Israel, and withal denounced punishments to the disobedient, he applies himself especially to those that were guilty of secret disobedience; and lest they should rid themselves of the fear of those punishments, by looking upon them as future and remote, he shews how dreadfully God intends to deal with such sinners even in this life: Deut. xxix. 18-21. Here we see sin was very secret, shut up in the private reasonings and debates of the mind; but God fetches the sinner out, and purges him, with present temporal judgment; for, as it appears from the foregoing chapter, the curses here mentioned were chiefly such as touched men in their life, their estate, and outward relations. Such is the irrational atheism of most men, that although they have no thought, and consequently no fears, of hell, yet they accordingly dread temporal affliction. Like a child, that does not so much fear the loss of his life, as the loss of his apple. Let such men know, that it is very probable that by their secret sins they may bring down the curse of God upon themselves in this world; and although their hell be completed hereafter, they may begin it here. Whence is it that some men are so strangely blasted in their parts and preferment, but from some hidden sin, that rots and destroys all: whence is it that many large estates do undiscernedly shrivel away and come to nothing, but perhaps from the guilt of some secret extortion, perjury, or the like, that lies fretting and eating out the very bowels of them. I do not speak this universally, nor affirm that this is always the cause of these miseries, but it is to be feared that it is very often so. : 2. The second season wherein God judges the secret passages of our sins is at the day of judgment. In respect of which our Saviour says, that there is nothing hid but shall be made manifest, Luke xii. 2. A thief or a murderer may carry on his villainy undisclosed for many years, but the day of his trial will discover all in Daniel vii. 10, it is said, the judgment was set, and the books were opened. By the books is meant the knowledge of God, in which all things are kept as durably and distinctly as if they were registered in a book. Then God will open this book of his knowledge, and read all those hidden passages that are writ in it in the audience of all the world. And this is one reason why he permits so many heinous impieties to be concealed here on earth, because he intends to dignify that day with the revealment of them. And thus much concerning the first sort of reasons, which prove that it is so, that God knows and observes the secret passages of our lives. I proceed now to the second sort of reasons, that prove whence it is that God thus knows them. Now these proofs are very different: for the first proves, that God knows these things by way of connection, that is, by those acts of God which are always enjoined with knowledge, as his governing, giving laws, and judging: but now these latter reasons prove, that he observes all hidden things from that which is the cause of such observations. 1. And the first reason shall be drawn from God's omniscience, or his power of knowing all things: from whence it follows, that nothing can be hid from him; and this is that light which no man can keep off, any more than he can in the opening hinder the day from shining upon him; it is a light shining in every dark place: as it has no obscurity itself, so it permits nothing else to lie obscure: and that it is universal and infinite, appears from this, because otherwise it would not bear a full proportion to the rest of God's perfections. Now in respect of this, it is said in Prov. xv. 3, The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good and in 2 Chron. xvi. 9, The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth and in Job xxviii. 24, it is said of God, that he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heavens. How vain therefore is the thought of these men that attempt sin upon confidence of privacy, that do, as it were, dig deep to hide their counsel from the Lord. O that such would but read and consider that text in Heb. iv. 13, All things are naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Now to behold a thing as naked, implies the greatest evidence and discovery. It is also said, that secret things belong unto the Lord, Deut. xxix. 29; which, as also the forementioned places, are only so many expressions of God's infinitely comprehensive knowledge: from hence therefore we may clearly deduce what we do intend. If the perfection of God's nature engages him to know all things, he must also actually know all things; and if he actually discerns all things, he must also discern all secret things; and if he is acquainted with all secrets, he must also behold and observe the secret passages of our lives, which of all other secret things are the most considerable. 2. The second reason may be drawn from God's intimate presence to the nature and being of all things, from whence is also inferred his knowledge of them: for since there is no real distinction between the being and knowledge of God, but only in the manner of our conceptions, it follows, that where he is present in respect of his being, he must be also present in respect of his knowledge. But now the being of God is diffused through the whole and every part of the universe, as the soul insinuates itself into all the members of the body: not that God is thus present to all the world by way of identity with it, (as some profane philosophers have affirmed, who, in a literal sense, may be said to have known no God but the world ;) but he is present with it by way of nearness and inward proximity to it. Without which, the creature could not derive continual influence from him for the upholding of its being, but must of necessity fall back into its first nothing. From this universal presence of God the scripture often proves the universality of his knowledge: in the twenty-third of Jeremiah, ver. 24, God thus argues himself, Can any hide himself in secret places that I should not see him? saith the Lord. Why? whence is it so impossible to avoid God's sight? That which follows proves it; Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord. God's filling heaven and earth, that is, his being present eyerywhere, proves also, that there can be no place hidden from him, but that he likewise sees everywhere. David also, in this hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm, where the text is, proves God's infinite discernment of all things by the same argument. He had said, that God compassed his paths, and knows all his ways: but what was the reason that convinced him of this? He sets it down in the seventh and eighth verses, Whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. He that always stands by us must needs see and observe what we do: wherefore, if the sinner would act his sin out of God's knowledge, let him first endeavour to go out of his presence; which he is no more able to do, than to go out of his own being. And thus much concerning the reasons proving the point; I now proceed to application. If it is thus certain that God takes strict notice of the most secret passages of our lives, both because he overrules them, and prescribes laws to them, and judges them; and also because that his omniscience and omnipotence, then, in the first place, it may afford, [Sic in ed. 1744.] 1. A use of conviction, to convince all presumptuous sinners of the atheism of their hearts. I know the proof of this point, that God sees in secret, may seem to have been superfluous; since the general vogue of the world is ready, not only to meet, but even to prevent us in their acknowledgment of God's all-seeing eye: but if we look through men's professions, and trace their lives, we shall find that they do not really believe any such thing. such thing. For were we fully convinced that the just God, that declares himself a most certain pu nisher of sin, did also most certainly know sin, we should not dare to commit it presumptuously before him. Experience, the strongest argument, shews us the contrary in the ordinary passages of our lives. A very child will forbear to offend not only before his father, but before such an one from whom his father may come to know it. The reason is, because all persuasions, if real, do naturally engage a man to actions suitable to those persuasions. As for example, had you a thorough persuasion upon your heart that God saw you when you were attempting any vile sin, the very thought of this would beget such a reverence and a dread upon your spirits, as you could not venture to commit, if to gain a world: for we see such thoughts cast an awe upon us, even in our deportment before men. Hence the fool, that is, the wicked man, is said to say in his heart, that there is no God, because he does act in his life as if he thought there was none. In like manner the presuming sinner may be said to deny that God sees and observes all his actions, because he behaves himself so, as if he were really persuaded that God did not observe them: therefore, whosoever thou art that art a presumptuous offender, setting aside all thy spurious words, when thou dost resolve upon any sin, thou dost either believe that God sees thee, or that he does not. To believe he does not, is to deny him to be God to believe he sees thee, and yet to commit the sin, is to affront him to his face, to bid open defiance to him, and to cast that unwisely contempt upon him, that the most audacious and impudent offender dares not offer to his earthly magistrate wherefore, if from thy heart thou dost acknowledge God's all-seeing eye, cease from sin; otherwise, to any reasonable judgment thou dost really deny it, and in spite of all thy fair speeches art truly an atheist. For deeds always overbalance words, and downright practice speaks the mind more plainly than the fairest profession. Second use. It speaks terror to all secret sinners: God sees and observes them in all their secrecies; he spies out all their private haunts and their sly recourses to their beloved sin. Let such men consider how unwilling they would be that men should know of their concealed villainies, of what they act by themselves: surely they would rather forfeit their |