John Trapp on Job 9:11

Verſe 11. Lo he goeth by me. and I ſee him not] As he is powerful in his deeds, ſo he is ſecret in his deſingns, paſſing, and not repaſſing daily, but yet unſeen: he is every where preſent, and not ſo farre from any one of us, as the bark is from the tree; for in him we live, move, and have our being; and therefore we had need take heed what we ſay or think of him in any extremity or miſery, for he over-heareth us; yea he knoweth our thoughts long before, Pſalm 139.2. As a circumſpect judg that goeth obſcured under ſome diſguiſe, to hear and ſee what is ſaid and done by thoſe that are to be judged by him. Or as the Great Turk ſtanding behind the Arras, at the dangerous door, to hear all the debates and decrees of his Senate, and to call them to a ſtrict account of all afterwards: God, as he is inviſible, too ſubtile for ſinew or ſight to ſeize upon; ſo he is [non-Latin text not transcribed], All-eye, to ſurvey and look round about us; yea, to ſee through us: The Lord is in his holy-Temple, the Lords throne is in heaven: Howbeit, he is not ſo confined or ſhut up there (as the Epicures dreamt) but that his eyes behold, his eye-lids try the children of men, Pſalm 11.4. The one points out his knowledge, the other his judgment; or his critical deſcant: he prieth into the very entrals of the ſoul, the heart of the heart; the reins, thoſe ſeats of luſt, and moſt abſtruſe parts of the body. No man needs a window in his breſt (as the Heathen Momus wiſht) for God to look in at: every man before God is all window, and he like the Optike vertue in the eye, ſeeth all, and is ſeen of none. Look to it therefore, and walk exactly. Cave, ſpectat Cato, Take heed, Cato ſeeth you, was an ancient watchword among the Romans, and a great retentive from vice: how much more ſhould this amongſt all men, Take heed, the Lord looks on? What though he be inviſible, and we ſee him not; he paſſeth on alſo, and we perceive him not; ſhall we, like the fooliſh Buſtard, thruſt our heads in an hole, and then think that becauſe we ſee none, we are therefore ſeen of none? The whole world is to God as a ſea of glaſſe, clear and tranſparent, Rev. 4.6. and his eyes are as a flaming fire, Rev. 1.14. that need no outward light, but can ſee by ſending out a ray. God, that fills and ſees all (ſaith Nazianzen) though he lighten the mind, yet flies before the beams thereof,In carm. ſtill leaving it as it is able in ſight to follow him; and ſo draws it by degrees to higher things: yet interpoſeth betwixt it and his incomprehenſible Eſſence, as many vails as were over the Tabernacle.