Of EleClion. mid!l and full carrier of hisPrayer,make a !land,and puts a llrange check or cor- ~ red:ion to himfelf, and a !lop to his Petitioning any funhor,V"f·'-7' Em wilt Chap. ;. , God indud dwell on the earth 1 Behold the heavm, and heaveu ofheavens ~ cmi11ot coNtaillthre; how much lefs thu houjt that I ht~ve buitded ? Whereas God"s Promife to dwell therein, was the very corner !lone ofhis Prayer, laid at the entrance ot it, Ver(.12. The Lord[aid, that he wot<td dwell in the thick darkneji, which he builds all his Petitions upon. This fo abrupt a claufe and parenthefis to a Prayer that had run on fo fmoothly, for fo long a Series offuch Petitions for God's Prcfeoce, feems at firfl blulh to have been a recallmg,or calling into que!lion that his foundation. But it was either.a Divine Rapture, an Euafte, [wallowing up his Soul into an Adoration of God's infinite Graciouf. nefs fo to defcend : Or, that his Faith took breath a little, by a briefQ!iorry made unto dad, leeking to draw and fuck in from Htm, a confirmation and firengthning ofhis Faith therein; That fo immenfe a God, lhould thus dwell, ~c. was a thing became too big for his narrow Faith to retain, without fame new impre!Tion from Godto inlarge and widen it. And truly_, by fuch"free Qyreres made in Prayer, the Saints often draw from God manifellations and impre!Tions of his love, as to fay 1 . But wilt thou,i11deed pardo,, mtdyet love me! (or the like ) For, that th1s fhould have been vox d11bitantis, the voice ofunbelief, or ofdoubting, I cannot well fuppofe, (although the thing was ( but that God had faid it) in it felfutterly incredible) ; becaufe that ere he began his Prayer, htJaw with his eyes the prtfmce ofGod/i!lmg this Tempt, , Vtr[. 11. And having hi• Faith fully confirmed there, he at the beginning of his Prayer, rehearfed the Promife God had long before made ofdwelling in it, Verf 12. which tht dark Cloudwas thr trflimo11y of I underlland it therefore to have bin vox admirantis, the voice ofadmiration and allonilhment, proceeding from a llrong Faith of 1t : Hts Spmt was ftounded at the thoughts of it, ( whil!lhe was carrying it all along in his Prayer) and was indeed the main Petitionm, and oflus Prayer; and therefore when he had recovered him· felf or came as it were to himfelfagain, having uttered this, he goes on in the ne;t Verf 28. as he had done bdore, Yrt have thou refPeC! u/llo the pr~yer ofthy &rvant, and to hu Supplication, ObLord m;· God, and fo on; fo as this 6ut wilt God mderd dwrtl on earth andm aTemple made by me? This was buta ftounding parentheGs; that fo immenfc a God, whom the Heaven and Heaven of H~avens cannot contain, lhould vouchfafe to dwell , &c. and it is as ifhe hadfaid with wondermeilt; but is thir tr11e, and true i11deed? Oh infinitely !lraoge, and beyond all imagination! A condefcenfion that would never have entred into the heart ofman:And never enough to be admired at!Thus this p~oceeded not ddt of Doubting of the thiog,though thus great, but from an Adoration ofGod, that he lhould vouchfafe it, coofideriog his Inl-initenefs and tmmenfity, thus to Lower Bimrdf, to dwell under fo unworthy a Roof, as'that Centurion alfo fpake of Chri!t, whom this Temple of Sotomons did Typify. However it was, whether One or t'other, or both, either ferves as agreat fiep to my 1>urpofe, which is tc> greaten the Grace ofGod in dwelling on Earth; and withal, take this along with you, that the Prophet E{au his grand wondering, and this of So/omo11s, Was, that ht that inha6ittth Eternity, before Heavm, or the Hravm ofHeavens w.re built, or ajlone thereoflatd, fhoutdthus do. ' But will you have me unfold the Myfiery of all this admiration ofSolomons, arid bring it down more home to my Scope in hand ? F'?r God to have dwelt thus in that outward pile of Building, the Stone, Gold, and Furniture ofSolo· mons Temple, as under!lood in the outward letter, was not the great Object: that Solomo"s Faith, or Wonclermeot, was exercifed about: Yea, that fimply or abllrad:ly, or alone confidered, if no myfiery had been in it, was not at all to have been believed: For if fo,then it had been contradid:ory to th:it we heard from the Apollle, Alls 17. '4· God that madttht World--· -d";etleth >Jot in Temples made with ha,.ds. SolomoiiS Temple, indeed was God's Ordinance, ha\·iog the Promife of his Prefence; but there was this further deep and great My!lery intended by ir which Solomons Faith and the believing ."'~w, had in their Eye, and that w~ Q z. mull
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