[3.] We are not only to remember God's eye in the duties of piety which we perform directly to God, but also in the duties of righteous- ness which we owe to men : Luke i. 75, ' In holiness and righteous- ness before him all the days of our lives.' Holiness hath relation to God, and righteousness to men ; in both we must act as before him, as in his eye and presence ; not only in praying and hearing ; then we are before him, immediately speaking to him ; but before him as to men ; all our respects there must be done as in and to the Lord, per- forming duties we owe to men as in the sight and presence of the Lord, as it is often said, so as to approve ourselves to God, who seeth the heart ; do it unto the Lord heartily : Ps. xxv. 15, ' Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord.'
[4.] God doth not only behold our actions, but our principles and aims, and the secret motions of our hearts. He is neither ignorant of man, nor anything in man. Men may judge of actions, but not of principles, no further than they are discovered ; but God judges of principles when the action is fair: 1 Chron. xxviii. 9, 'And thou Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy fathers, and serve him with a perfect heart and willing mind ; for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imagination of the thoughts;' words that imply an accurate search. God looketh to the bottom and spring of actions, not only the matter, but the principle. A man that standeth by a river in a low place can only see that part of the stream that passeth by, but he that is aloof in the air in a higher place may see the whole course, where it riseth and how it runneth ; so God at one view seeth the beginning, rise, and ending of actions ; whatever we think, speak, or do, he seeth it altogether. He knoweth our thoughts
VER. 168.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 239
before we can think them : Ps. cxxxix. 2, ' Thou knowest my down- sitting and my uprising, thou understandest my thoughts afar off; before we can conclude anything. A gardener knoweth what roots are in the ground long before they appear, and what fruits they will produce.
2. This is a good means to make us keep his precepts.
[1.] It maketh for the restraint of evil ; the sight of God is a bridle to us : Gen. xxxix. 9, ' How shall I do this great wickedness, and sin against God ? ' Shall we break God's laws before his face ? We take heed what we say and do before informers, and should we not much more before the judge himself ? If we be not thus affected, it is a sign we never had a sight and sense of God's eye : 3 John 11, ' He that doth evil hath not seen God.' God taught his people this by the type of covering their excrements : Deut. xxiii. 13, 14, ' For the Lord walketh in the midst of the camp, therefore let thy camp be holy, that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.' The flesh will soon seduce us were it not for the awe of God's eye. Inferiors, when they are in the sight and presence of their superiors, are very careful of their behaviour. He were an unhappy son or a lewd servant that would misdemean himself in the sight and presence of his father or master. Children at school, all is whisht when the master cometh. She were a lewd and impudent wife that in the sight and presence of her husband would prostitute herself to another man. This is our case ; God is father and lord, and we are always in his sight ; if we believe it, and can remember it, would we be so shameless as to sin, he looking upon us ? The wise heathens were sensible that such a thought would be a curb to us, therefore admonished their disciples that they should always set before them some Cato or Cselius, some grave and reverend person, that they might behave themselves as in their presence ; for saith Seneca, Magna pars 'peccatorum tollitur, si p>eccatoris testis ad- fuit — a great part of sin would be prevented if, when we are about to sin, some witness were present with us. They thought this fiction would be a restraint, and the fiction of grave men. But we speak now of the eyes of God, and that not as a fiction and supposition, but as a certain and undoubted truth ; no less certain than that there is a God, which, of all truths, is most certain. Therefore, should not the eye of God restrain, who is with us always and in all places ?
[2.] For the encouragement to every good work, and so it is a spur to us. God looketh on ; he that is thy judge and rewarder, he knoweth how faithfully we keep his law. All the labours, miseries, slanders which thou endurest for his sake are known to him : Kev. ii. 3, ' I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience.' He taketh notice of thy faithfulness. Do not think only that God doth spy out our failings : Prov. xv. 3, ' The eyes of the Lord are in every place, be- holding the evil and the good.' He taketh notice of both, both as rewarder and avenger. Now cowards will adventure much in the presence of their general, and idle servants will work while their master looketh on ; and shall not we do the Lord's work, since he taketh notice ? He knoweth our work and our discouragements, and will help accordingly : Eev. ii. 13, ' I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is : and thou holdest fast my name.' See Basil, Regulis Brevioribus, qua?st. 34.