Of the Creatures ,and the Condition ~ which is calied by the Creation, is but a Turquoifing of God,. or God Tranlh – ~ red, as you do a great and Iorge whole Cloth, when )'Oli cur tt forth into Car- - ments of feveral fafiuons, as fome ot them have fpol<en; whereas it is the Creatures, that are the Garmmt that wM:eth old, Heb,t. But God is without fo much as a Shadow of turning : if in his love to us, ( whereof that place fpeaks) much more in his Elfence, which is the ground of ttle Unchangablenefs of his love. They fay, the vif1ble appearance is indeed, as ol Creatures, ~ut teally,mat.erially,.and fub{\antiall y, they are all but God; fo as! may rightly cxprefs thts Optmqn ofthem; They would make a Tranfubllant!atwn of the Great God, fuch as the Pap;:rls, (though they in a contrary way to this} make a Tranfubllan11ated Cimft. For, what fay they, but that the Creatures or Elements of Bread, and Wi11e, are changed into the fubllance of the Bodj, aud Blood of Chrijl fubflantially, yea, intoChrijl himfel, Soul, and Body pre– fent, and lying vailed under the tppearance of Bread, and Wine. But thefe .men would have the Divine Effence ofGod Tranfubflantiated into the outward 1 appearance offcverallhapes of Cre>tures, the fubf\ ance of which is C3od; lying as they would have it, hidden under that outward viubility. Thus they cnr– fedly crumble the indt~ifible f1mpl<; Nature of God, into little fragments, and parcels; whereas that mfimte vaft dtflance between htm and us, "'That we are the Ctay, tmd he the Potter. They would have God to turn part ofhim– felfinto Clay, and become that Clay; and then the re{\ ofhimfelr; to become the Potter over bimfelf, and to Metamorphofe himfelf into !11apes, as the Heathens did their Gods : And to pleafe himfelf in mahing bimfelf( as Chil– dren do their day) into clay Pies,. or the lhapes of Dogs, or Lambs, and the like, as their fancies lead them : And yet forfooth, tiJCy would fee mro allow him the main Bulk of his God-head, to live abflraCled from the Crea– tures, and feparate from their Creature-exif\ehce, and appearance. For I do not find, that they affirm the whole of God, robe no other than what is lhrowded under the appearance oftbe Creature, and adequate to it: Yet they do make up fome part of him, difperfed into Creature appearance, ( as bath been faid ) and fo as both make up together bur one God, partly vif1ble, and partly invif1ble; even like as Pettr fays of the Earth that now is, That it partly {\nods out of the Water, and partly in the Water. 2 Pet. ~· 5· and botl1 making but one Globe, fo here they frame One G 0 'D: Whereas the Scriptures fer him forth, as a Bei11g Eter11al, Immortal, I11vijibte, the only Wife God, 1Tim.t, 17: Who dwelletb i11light i11accej]ibte, whom 1wman bath[m1, or can fu, 1 Tim. 6. 16. At'ld again, l{aiab 42. 8. I am Jebovab, and my Glory I wilt 11otgi'Ele to a11other; Now, that other is not, nor can be any other but the Creature; for it is only God,and the Creature that have aoy Being, or pretence thereto; when therefore God fays, He will11ot give hu Glory to mJOther; the meaning is, He will not, in any fort allow, or endure the Glory that is proper unto l1im as God, to be given unto his Creatures, a– ny of them, in any refpeCl; much lefs bath be bimfelf given that glory to rhem, that they fhould be God with himfelf, who are a different,yea, infinite• ly different fort of Being from him:. Amd again, in ljai,lh 40, '$· Having faid, Tbat aft 1he Natio11s before htm, art M 11othi11g, iJud are comzted to him, te{s thannotbi11g, a11d vtmity; the Prophets Inference from thence is this; To whom thm wilt ye likmme ? His next and immediate Scope is to confound their imaginations and outward lineaments made of him in Gr;ven Images : But then, his Argument forthis runs higher, and reacheth deeper; My Being is f(tch, and fo Tranfcendent, that you can~ot match me with all Nations, or the Souls of men; much lef; therefore, draw any outward fhape in Graven Images; for, Wbo hathfem hid jhapt at mzy timt ? Therefore alfo His Bei11g, W;fdom, Power, Holi1ufs, is of another kind than ours : The Souls ofMen made Wife, ~ird Holy, cannot march him. As therefore, God is called the only Good, and o11ly Wi{e, and 011ly Immortal; fo by the fame reafon, [ o11ly Is J or bath [a Bei11g ]. And therefore the Glory of his Nature is, That ·•ris Incommunicable; take his Effence, we cannot attain to dwell in it, as he dwells inhimfelf, that InhabitethEternity. 1 Tim., . J6. Wl;c
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