The Divine Life, Treatise 1 · Chapter 2
CHAP. II. Of the Knowledge of Gods Being.
1. HE that cometh to God, must believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, Heb. 11. 6. The first thing to be imprinted on the soul is, that there is a God: that he is a real most Trascendent Being. As sure as the Sun that shineth hath a Being, and the Earth that beareth us hath a being, so sure hath God that made them a Being infinitely more excellent then theirs. As sure as the streams come from the fountain, and as sure as Earth and Stones, and Beasts, and Men did never make themselves, nor do uphold themselves, or continue the course of nature in themselves and others, nor govern the world, so sure is there an Infinite eternal Being that doth this. Every Atheist that is not mad must confess that there is an Eternal Being, that had no beginning or cause; The question is only, which this is ▪ which ever it is, it is this that is the true God. What now would the Atheist have it to be? Certainly it is that Being that hath being it self from none that is the first cause of all other Beings: And if it caused them, it must necessarily be every way more excellent then they, and contain all the good that it hath caused; For none can give that which it hath not to give; nor make that which is better then it self; that Being that hath made so glorious a creature as the Sun, must needs it self be much more glorious. It could not have put strength and power into the Creatures, if it had not it self more strength and power. It could not have put Wisdom and Goodness into the Creature, if it had not more Wisdom and Goodness then all they. Whatever it is therefore that hath more Power, Wisdom and Goodness then all the world besides, that is it which we call God. That cause that hath communicated to all things else, the Being, Power, and all perfections which they have, is the God whom we acknowledge and adore; If Democritists will ascribe all this to Atomes, and think that the Motes did make the Sun; or if others will think that the Sun is God because it participateth of so much of his excellency, let them be mad a while till judgement shall convince them. So clear beyond all question to my soul is the Being of the Godhead, that the Devil hath much lost the rest of his more subtil temptations, when he hath foolishly and maliciously adjoyned this, to draw me to question the Being of my God; which is more then to question Whether there be a Sun in the Firmament.
But what is the Impress that the Being of God must make upon the Soul?
I answer From hence the holy soul discerneth that the Beginning and the End of his Religion, the substance of his Hope is the Being of Beings, and not a shaddow; and that his faith is not a fansie. The Object is as it were the matter of the act. If our faith and hope and Love and Fear be exercised about the most Real Being, it shews that there is a Reality in our faith, and that we be not exercised in a delusory work; God is to the Atheist but an empty name; He feels no life or Being in him; And accordingly he offereth him a shaddow of devotion, and a nominal service. But to the holy soul there is nothing that hath life and Being but God, and that which doth receive a Being from him, and leadeth to him. This Real object putteth a Reality into all the devotions of a holy soul. They look upon the vanities of the world as Nothing; and therefore they look on worldly men as on idle dreamers that are doing nothing. This puts a seriousness and Life into the faith and holy affections of the believer. He knows whom he trusteth, 2 Tim. 1. 12. he knows whom he Loveth, and in whom he Hopeth. Atheists and all ungodly men, do practically judge of God, as the true Believer judgeth of the world. The Atheist takes the pleasures of the world to be the only substance; and God to be but as a shaddow, a notion, or a dream. The godly take the world to be as nothing, and know it is but a fancy and dream, and shadow of pleasures, and honour, and profit, and felicity, that men talk of and seek so eargerly below; but that God is the substantial object and portion of the soul. If you put into the mouth of a hungry man, a little froth, or breath, or aire, and bid him eat it, and feed upon it, he will tell you, he finds no substance in it; so judgeth the graceless soul of God, and so judgeth the gracious soul of the creature as separate from God.
Let this be the Impression on thy soul, from the consideration of Gods transcendent Being! O look upon thy self and all things as nothing without him! and as Nothing in comparison of him! And therefore let thy Love to them be as nothing, and thy desires after them and care for them as nothing! But let the Being of thy Love, desire, and endeavours, be let out upon the transcendent Being. The creature hath its kind of being; but if it would be to us instead of God, it will be as nothing. The Aire hath its Being, but we cannot dwell in it, nor rest upon it to support us as the earth doth. The water hath its Being, but it will not bear us, if we would walk upon it. The name of the great Jehovah is [I am] Exod. 3. 14. Try any Creature in thy need, and it will say, as Jacob to Rachel, Gen. 30. 2. Am I in Gods stead that hath withheld thy desire from thee? send to it, and it will say as John Baptist▪ that confessed [I am not the Christ] Joh. 1. 20. Let none of all the affections of thy soul, have so much Life and Being in them, as those that are exercised upon God. Worms and motes are not regarded in comparison of mountains: a drop is not regarded in comparison of the Ocean. Let the Being of God take up thy soul and draw off thy observation from deluding vanities, as if there were no such things before thee. When thou remembrest that there is a God, Kings and Nobles, Riches and Honours, and all the world should be forgotten in comparison of him; And thou shouldst live as if there were no such things, if God appear not to thee in them. See them as if thou didst not see them, as thou seest a candle before the sun; or a pile of grass or single dust in comparison with the Earth. Hear them as if thou didst not hear them; as thou hearest the leaves of the shaken tree, at the same time with a clap of thunder. As greatest things obscure the least, so let the Being of the Infinite God so take take up all the powers of thy soul, as if there were nothing else but he, when any thing would draw thee from him. O if the Being of this God were seen by thee, thy seducing friend would scarce be seen, thy tempting baits would scarce be seen, thy riches and honours would be forgotten; all things would be as nothing to thee in comparison of him.