1. Did not the prodigious Opinions of some, give occasion to insist upon this Particular, yet were it necessary to understand somewhat here∣in; for it must needs be a great stay to the Soul, to know where to find his God. God therefore, by his Holy Child Jesus, hath fully set forth the verity of our Proposition, when he teacheth us to pray after this man∣ner: Our Father which art in Heaven, &c. And by his own Example, who in Prayer, did frequently lift up his Eyes to Heaven, John 17. 1. And by his Ascension declared the same, when a Cloud received him out of the sight of his Disciples, Acts 1. 9. whereby he fulfilled the Word which he spake, saying, I ascend to your God, and my God, to your Father, and my Father. By Heaven, in the words of our Saviour, we must necessa∣rily understand the Created Heaven, that which he made in the Begin∣ning of the World, Gen. 1. 1. sith the Circumstance of the Place, and the equity of the Words, will not bear a Figurative Interpretation; in which sense sometimes the word Heaven is used. For had our Saviour intended the Church, or the Heavenly Vertues in himself, he needed not have lift up his Eyes. But I am not now to dispute Opinions, but to prove the Proposition: And thus saith the Lord by the Prophet, Isa. 66. 1. The Heaven is my Throne, and the Earth is my Footstool. So Acts 7. 49. Our Blessed Saviour informs us, that there is joy in Heaven over one Sinner which repenteth, Luke 25. 7. which he interprets himself, to be in the presence of the Angels of God, ver. 10. And when Stephen, lifting up his eyes stedfastly into Heaven, and saw Jesus Christ sitting on the Right-Hand of God; doubtless the Apparition was according to the common acceptation of such Expressions, God Almighty by these Passages giving us to understand, where his Glorious Presence is more especially resident. According to that in David, Psal. 123. 1. Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the Heavens. And when Solomon had built an House for the Name of the Lord, he makes his prayer of Dedication to God in the Heavens, as his proper Dwelling-Place, 1 Kings 8. 39. — Then hear thou in Heaven, thy Dwelling-Place, and forgive, &c.
2. God is not Confin'd to place. Although the most High God hath chosen Heaven for the Place of his Glorious Presence and Residence, yet doth not that holy Habitation so contain him, but that according to his Pleasure, he is present in every Place, as David witnesseth, Psal. 139. 8, 9, 10. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? And whither shall I flee from thy Presence? If I ascend to Heaven, thou art there; if I take the Wings of the Morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea, even there shall thy Hand lead me, and thy Right-Hand hold me. And truly, when we consider the Sun in the Firmament of Heaven, which is but a