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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
"
is
joy
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