[1.] For the necessity of it; it is not a curious business, as those requests, Exod. xxxiii. 18, ' Lord, show me thy glory ;' and John xiv. 8, ' Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us ; ' but it is necessary, for with- out it our services are profane, customary, irreligious. John iv. 22, ' Ye worship ye know not what ; we know what we worship.' Our cogitations do fleet and vanish without some determinate and com- prehensible object, whereon to fix and fasten them. As a ball struck in the open air never comes to hand again, so are our thoughts lost and scattered, except we determine and settle them on some notions of God that may be expressive of his being.
[2.] Because it is difficult to determine it for two reasons: —
(1.) Because of the infiniteness and iucomprehensibleness of God's essence. God is said sometimes to dwell in light, and sometimes to dwell in darkness. He is said to dwell in light, to show the greatness of his majesty: 1 Tim. vi. 16, ' Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see.' And he is said to dwell in darkness, to show our weakness and incapacity to apprehend him : Ps. xviii. 11, ' He made darkness his secret place, his pavilion round about him were dark waters, and thick clouds of the sky.' When we come to discourse of God, we are as a man that is born blind, who knows there is light in the world, though he cannot conceive what a kind of thing it is. So reason and conscience will tell us that there is a God ; but what God is, and how to form proper thoughts of him, that we cannot tell.
(2.) Because of the danger of erring, lest while we go about to esta- blish a right notion of God, we make way for atheism. Prying too far into his majesty may prove a temptation. We cannot search out the Almighty to perfection : Judges xiii. 18, 'Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret ? ' It is impossible for man to comprehend God.
Now I shall answer the case in some propositions : —
First, That you may conceive aright of the nature of God, above all things, you must renew and revive the act of your faith in God's essence and presence ; that he is, and that he is present with us, when we pray to him.
1. That he is. So it is in the text — ' He that cometh to God must believe that he is.' Though we cannot conceive what he is, yet we must be sure to fix our hearts in this, that he is. This is the great principle and ground-work of all, and it must be laid as a foundation of our Avorship and approaches to God. The work of faith is to give us a sight of him that is invisible. When Moses asked God's name, God answereth him—' I am,' Exod. iii. 14, ' I am hath sent me unto you.' God would give him no other name than this — ' I am,' which deciphereth his essence. Certainly acts of worship would be managed with more awe and reverence, if this principle were firmly laid up in the heart, that God is. Pieason shows that he is, though we know not what he is ; faith can only show what he is to us. Vision will show us what
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he is in himself ; that is, our happiness and glory in heaven : 1 John ill. 2, ' When he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is/ Now we must actually revive this faith, that God is ; we must see him that is invisible : Heb. xi. 27, * By faith Moses for- sook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king ; for he endured, as seeing him that is invisible.' It is a great work of faith to believe that God is — that there is an invisible God, that so you may adore a spiritual majesty, which you know to be, though you cannot comprehend him, how he is, and what he is, nor search out the almighty to perfection.
2. That God is present with you in the worship that you are about to perform, that he is an all-seeing Spirit, and that he is intimately acquainted with all the workings of your hearts : John iv. 24, ' God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.' He sees how your spirits and hearts work in all your approaches to his majesty, and you should so regard him as if you did see him with your bodily eyes. All duties are expressed in scripture by drawing nigh to God, for they bring the soul into God's presence. Prayer is but our conference with God : Gen. xviii. 27, ' I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes.' Now all speech is to them that are present, and hearken to us : if we speak to God, we must conceive him to be really present, hearkening to us. And hearing is God's conference with us : Acts x. 33, ' We are all here pre- sent before the Lord to hear all things that are commanded thee of God ; ' and therefore when you come to pray, say, I have not to do with men, but with God ; when you come to hear, say, I have not to do with the preacher only, but with God : Heb. iv. 12, ' All things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to deal.' Certainly, God is, whom I worship this day. I am going to confer with the true God, and to hear him speaking to me ; he is present with me, and there- fore to be thought of, as if I could see him with my bodily eyes : Acts xvii. 27, ' God is not far from every one of us.' When we come to worship God, he is not only near us, but within us, more intimately present with us than we are with ourselves. You could not keep your breath in your bodies, nor speak a word, if he were not there ; as, if the sun should withdraw his light, all would be darkness. This is the first thing, if you would rightly conceive of God ; when you come to him you must fix your heart in the apprehension of his essence and presence.