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VERM.
v.1
THE
SOUL
DRAWING NEAR
TÓ GOD.
83
seat,
I
would
order
my
causebefore
him,
I
would
plead
with
him."
The
soul
that
gets
near
to
God,
sees
him
sitting
upon
a
seat
of judgment,
as an
omniscient
God
:
he looks like
the
judge of
all
the earth, and
his eyes
are
like a
flame
of
fire
to
search
our
souls to the
centre,
and
to
know
our
most
hidden thoughts
:
the soul
then
at-
tempts
no
more
to
conceal
itself, no
more
to
hide
its
guilt or
its
wretchedness
;
for it
beholds those
eyes
of
God
that
see
through
all things,
that
search into the
deepest
hypocrisy,
and it
is
impossible
that
any
thing
should
be
concealed
from
him.
"
Behold
I
am
before
that
God,
says
the soul,
before
whom
nothing
can
he
hid;
before
whom all things
are naked and
open; and
it
is
with
him
that
I
have
to
do;
therefore
I
open
my
heart
before.him, and
I spread
open
all
my
inward pow-
ers,
for
he.
sees
and
knows
them
all,
should
I
attempt
to
conceal them."
I
behold him in
his
infinite
and
inflexible
justice,
as well as
in
his
all.
seeing
knowledge; and I
cry out,.
If
thou, O
Lord, shouldest
mark
iniquity,
O
Lord
who
should stand
?"
Ps.
cxxx.
3.
This
is
the language
of
the holiest
saint
getting
near
to
God
here
on
earth,
as
seated upon a seat
of judgment."
The
soul beholds
him also as
girt
with resistless'
power
to
execute
his own
laws; and
the
thunder of
his power,
says
Job,
who can
understand
?
xxvi.
14.
He
has
ar-
mies
of
angels,
ministers
of
fire,
attendants
on
his
tri-
bunal, and
swift
to
execute
the sentence
of
his
mouth.
The saint
sees him
thus
invested, thus
surrounded, and
adores
and fears before
him.
The
soul beholds
him
with rewards
in
one
hand, and
.
punishments
in
the
other;
infinite rewards,
and
in
-,
finite
punishments
;
,distributing to the unseen world
perpetual
blessedness,
and
perpetual
pains.
"
I
behold
him
arrayed
in this glory,
saith
the saint,
I
expect
my
sentence
from
his lips,
from whence
eternal
blessings,
and
eternal
curses,
are dispensed
to all the regions
of
heaven and
hell; but
he
will
not
plead against
me
with
his
great power;
the sentence
that
comes
forth
from his
mouth,
I trust,* shall be on my side.
3.
He appears
as
sitting upon
a
throne
of
grace. The
majesty
and
judgment that
belong to
his
seat, do
not
for-
bid mercy to
attend
him
;
he sits
upon
a seat
of
mercy,
d