1. For, First, He that formed all cannot but know all : the work- man cannot be supposed to be ignorant of any part of his o\\ti work. Now God is the former of all things ; every place and every person he hath made : where then shall the workers of iniquity hide them- selves? You have the folly of sinners, in thinking to conceal them- selves from the eye of God, convinced and reproved by this very ar- gument, Isa. xxxix. 15, 16. " Woe unto them that seek deep to hide " their counsels from the Lord, and their works are in the dark: and " they say, who seeth us ? And who knoweth us ? Surely, your " turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's " clay : for, shall the work say to him that made it, he made me not ? " Or, shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, he hath no " understanding ?" q. d. Think ye by deep-laid designs, by the ad- vantage of darkness, by the moulding and new-moulding your crafty designs in your heads, as the clay is moulded now unto this, then into the shape by the potter's hand, to hide it from me ? O brutish crea- tures, and without understanding ! am not I the God that formed you ? And can it be supposed I should not know the most secret thoughts, plots, and designs of mine own creatures, who cannot contrive a desimi, nor conceive a thou fi^ht with me? How absurd is this ? Find out a place which God made not, or a creature which he formed not ; and then your pretences to that creature's conceal- ment from God in such a place, may have some colour : and this ar- gument is again urged to convince the brutish atheist, Psal. xciv. 8, 9, 10. " Understand, ye brutish among the people, and ye fools, when " will you be wise ? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear ? " He that formed the eye, shall he not see ? He that chasteneth " the heathen, shall not he correct ? He that teacheth man know- " ledge, shall not he know ? The Lord knoweth the thoughts of " man, that they are vanity ;" so that it is the vainest of all vanity in the world, to think of hiding your sins from the Lord.
2. He that sustains all cannot but know and discern all. You that seek to hide counsel from the Lord, know ye not, " That in him " you live, move, and have your being? Acts xvii. 28. Do not you derive that very power from him, which you abuse by sinning against him ; And do you depend necessarily and continually upon God for all? Must he give you the power to move, and by that power can you move beyond him, and get out of his reach ? You cannot think a tliought without him, and yet can exclude him from those very
376 THE seaman'^s presekvative.
thoughts which you had no power to conceive, but from him ? E>:- ercise but common reason in the case, and it will hiss at your absurd designs.
3. He that governs all can be ignorant of nothing. There is a perpetual influence of providence, swaying and governing all the creatures, and all their actions ; else the very ligaments of nature would crack, and the world break up and disband. This pro- vidence extends itself to the least and lowest of creatures and their actions, Luke xii. 6. a sparrow falls " not to the ground with- out it. " The great God hath something to do about the most *' mmute * and inconsiderable things ;" yea, the most contmgent and uncertain things, as is the disposal of a lot, Prov. xvi. 33. And indeed this omniscience of God is that which is necessary to this uni- versal government. How shall he rule that person, or in that place which he knows not ? Indeed earthly governors may do so ; it is not necessary they have a personal immediate cognizance of each place and person in their dominions : it is enough that they be virtually and mediately governed by them ; but it is not so with God : it is ne- cessary his eye should immediately see all the parts of his dominion. He could not rule the world, if he were not an omniscient God. Psal. Ixvi. 7. '* He ruleth by his power for ever ; his eyes behold '' the nations ; let not the rebellious exalt themselves."
4. He that hath set a spy to observe and note what every man
doth, cannot but know his actions, how secret soever they be. Now,
so it is here ; God sends a spy with you, to observe and record your
most secret actions and thoughts, in every place, I mean your own
consciences, from whose observation none of your ways can possibly
be exempt. The sense of this made the heathen say, Twpe quid
ans'urus te sine teste time. When thou art attempting a sinful act, fear
thyself without any other witness ; conscience is privy to your most
secret designs and thoughts ; 1 Kings ii. 44. " Thou knowest all the
*' wickedness which thine heart (i. e. thy conscience) is privy to :"
and if conscience knov/ all, God must needs see and know it. So the
apostle reasons, from the lesser to the greater, 1 John iii. 20. " If
*' our heart condemn us, (which is there put for conscience) God is
*' greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things." If the spirit of
a man knows the things of a man, much more he that formed that
spirit, and endowed man with it.
5. He that knows things more secret and unsearchable than our most secret actions can be, must needs know them how secret soever they be. Now there are many things more close and secret than any action of ours can possibly be, and yet God knows them. The thoughts of the heart are more secret than any external action ; so secret, that no creature can search them ; the devil himself hath but a conjectural guess at them : "But the Lord telleth unto man what is his thought;" as in Amosiv. 13. So Jer. xvii. 10. " I the Lord search the heart, I
* Deus maximus in minimus,.
IN FOREIGN COUXTRIES. 37
" try the reins;" i. e. The most obscure, inward and deep secrets lodged in the heart ; nay, which is more, he not only knows our thoughts when they are formed and conceived in the heart, but long before their conception ; Psal. cxxxix. 2. " Thou knowest ray " thoughts afar off." Divines generally interpret it from eternity ; even so long before they were actually thought, he foreknew every thought we should think ; and what can be imagined more secret and undiscernible, than a future thought.
Now if this be known to him, how much more are our thoughts formed into projects and designs, and these executed by external actions.'' O deceive not yourselves with hopes of secresy ! Nothino- can be a secret to him that knows the counsels of all hearts.