535 THE FIRST- FRUITS Or THE SPIRIT ; OR CDISC. Y, the sight of God, as an atom in comparison of the whole earth ; and even. the supposed future ages of thy existence in the eternal state are inconceivably short, when compared with the glory of that being that never began his life or his duration. Many things here on earth concur towards my satis- faction and peace ; but, if I have God my friend, I have all in him that I can possibly want or desire. Let me, then, live no longer upon creatures when God is all. Let sun, moon, and stars vanish, and all this visi- ble creation disappear, and be for ever annihilated if God please, he himself is still my eternal hope and never-failing spring of all my blessedness : my expecta- tions are continually safe in his hands, and shall never fail while I am so near him, This " isjoy unspeakable, and a-kin to glory." 6. Let us meditate also on the immensity of God, which I think is much better expressed by his omnipre- sence. God is wheresoever any creature is, or can be ; knowing immediately by his own presence, all that be- longs to them, all that they are or can be, all that they do or can do, all that concerns them, whether their sins or their virtues, their pains or their pleasures, their hopes or their fears. It implies, also, that he loth by his immediate power and influence, support and go- vern all the creatures. In short, this immensity is no- thing else but the infinite extent of his knowledge and his power, and it reaches to and beyond all places, as eternity reaches for and beyond all time. This the blessed above know and rejoice in, and take infinite sa- tisfaction therein : having God, as it were, surrounding them on all sides, so that they cannot be where he is not, he is ever present with his all-sufficiency ready to bestow on them all they wish or desire while he continues their God, that is, for ever and ever. They are under the blessing of his eye, and the care of his hand, to guard them from every evil, and to secure their peace. Let thy flesh or spirit be surrounded with never so many thousand dangers or enemies, they cannot do thee the least damage without his leave, ' by force or by ant- prise, while such an almighty being is all around thee nor hast thou reason to indulge any fear while the spring and ocean of life, activity, and blessedness thus
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