Blessed be the name of the Lord, from this time forth for evermore. Amen.
One thing have I asked of the Lord, this will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may see the delight of the Lord, and may visit his temple.
§ 7. Exercise of the presence of God,
Christ. Thus too wilt thou accomplish what will be no less useful to thy progress in piety, namely, the bearing constantly in thy heart the recollection of my presence, and the doing every thing like one whose occupation is ever in my sight.
Walk, therefore, before me and be perfect. But wouldst thou do ill? Seek for thyself a spot where I should not see thee, and there in security do what thou wilt. Dost thou not know that I fill heaven and earth, and that all things are naked and open to my sight? For my eyes are brighter than the sun, in every place they behold the good and the evil. How is it that many like horse and mule without bridle, rush headlong into every wickedness, and why do the children of men commit evils without any fear? Why else, but because they believe that I am not present with them, and set not God before their eyes?
But think thou of the Lord, myself I mean, in all thy ways, and I will direct thy steps. Consider how efficacious to duty and modesty is the restraint of a good and grave man’s presence. See how carefully and exactly thou dost every thing before him, and how cautious thou art to commit no fault or indecorum in his sight. Yet wouldst thou dare to do in my presence what thou wouldst not dare in a man’s? Dost thou, then, revere the eyes of a man more than of thy God, thy Lord, and thy Judge, who has power to cast both thy body and soul into eternal fire?
Man. Whither shall I go from thy spirit, and whither shall I flee from thy face, who art inwardly present with me, and searchest my heart and reins? But, alas, why do I not live like one who believes thus? Alas for the dulness of our heart? We so live, speak, and act as though thou walkedst about the poles of heaven, and didst not consider the things that relate to us. I fear a man like myself, a worm my fellow-worm, yet my God, the King of the universe, the Judge of all the kings of the earth, I do not fear! Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me! What wish have I but that I may see, — see thee, I say, about me, nay within me? for thou art not far from every one of
