16 Of the Creaturer, and the Condition W arefuch : For 'to fay , a mans time in this World is luch, or fuch, connotates BooK I. his Exiilence and Being in the World: And to fay a lhadow, is all one as to fay LrV'"'to.J it is but a Being in {hew, and not in reality: And that we find abundantly faid .'lofn4. 2, and CfJ<Zp. 8. 9· and P{at. I 22. I i. and '44• 5· and make the belt you can of it, a !hadow is but a Middle between Non-entity, and true Being. The Ptatonifls faid, God only in truth [ is, land Pt~·~;;;-, r;;~t:."~:.trrn~~(:rtnv:~~v~:~~fi~~~ticu~ all things elfe [ ieem Qut to be J which an(wen Dr. ]aci.;JOll on the Amiburei , who dikourfeth unto :pavid's, cxpreffion., in a fhe w: And trulY. this c:quivocal being of Creatures at large, objelh God htmfeif fpeaks of all the whole Creation~ . ~~~t\'he~~~1?~~1~i~ur~1i! ~~~~~u!~~~rt~~u,.~~~o~~~ at no other rate : And his valuation and judg-. fhadows , and che bell of chem the image of God, m'ent is a righteous judgment, ljai. 40, I 5', Be· yctftillwithalthat rhcy -arc vm mia , Truly Be.. botd, the Natio11s art as adropof a B11cku, and i~ri; ~rl,1 ;~~1 Yr~ 1:av~0:0~01t~~1~~i~~~~,c ~:d aYe cotmted( Namely byGod) as the jmi~tPlJujt Thing, proper to him alone, i!S [hC Scriptures of the BatJmtee: He firfi, in the ballance where.. ~e:k~a~~."n~~::~~f~~~:ca!~~~vi!;i~ ;~; t~ab~r~ in he weighs them, leiTens them, and compares true Pi8ure; fo the Creatures arc DOt true Bein' : them to things that are of no valew or regard Lutbarely thdhadotvof ir: And it is not enough 'kith Men; things neither here nor there, as we :~~;,.;hbi.:~~n~~'~o,~;Y~~~i~~~~~eGfi!,~~w~":ir fay. The drop of aBuclm, when it falls from Being. the Bucket upon the Earth , the matter thereof is fo {wallowed up into the Earth and the Dufi of it, as it is not fo much as feen any more, but vanifl1eth away as it were 10 no– thing: The (mall dull of the Ballance hathno fway at all on the Beam, to fiir it one way or other; it make$ it neither lighter, nor heavier : And if they be fevered ti·om the Bucket, and the Ballance, they are not miffed; they make na Vacuttm,no emptinefs in either, But yet you will fay, that however thefe fpeak fome entity or beiog,though lout fmall , and though of no moment or confequence, yet of entity they par• take fomth ing. He goeth on Verf. '7· cafiing them yet lower; Att Nations 6efore him are t1! 1Jothi1tg , ~c. And yet fiill you will fay, that Particle [Ar) Noth'mg, is but a diminitive; rhat though in efieem and regard they are ·as nothing, yet fiiU in fome fmaller k ind of reality they are fomthing; though compared with a greater, they are as Nothing. But I anfwer, That that kind of Speech fpeaks what a thing is in deed, and in truth : As in that Speech, John r 4· Theglory [ t1! J of the only 6egotltn Son of God; the illilport of that [ .u] is not a diminution , as if it were not in reality , what is faid of it, the excelling glory of the Son of God in truth; but that it was truly and indeed fuch a glory as was proper to him, and proportionable to him that was the Son of God. And that he might here yet fpeak the_reality of their N<ithingnefs more plainly, he adds, they arecounted to him le{s than 1zothing] Plu[quam 11ihit, as the Hebrews hath it: Concerning which, if it be again faid , That they were but nothing at the wQTfi, but why lefs than Not,hing? The account tome is this, that now when he made them, and had been at the expence and power to make them and uphold them, yet they had for any thing he acquires by them, been as good have been Nothing fiill; and fo are lefs then Nothing, by rea(oo of the cofi he hath been at, and'expe&ation (as fpeaking after the manner of men ) he might look from them , they were not worth his produ· cing outof Nothing; yea, it had been better they had been nothing flill, A· nother account is, That this being a comparative of what the Creatures are unto the great God , there is, now that they are made, a lefs difiance and dif– proportion between the Creatures and nothing, than is between God and the whole Creation, For if you meafure the diilance between the Creatures , now they are made , and Nothing, if God fhould return them unto ir, it were but afinite difiance privatively conitdered; for their annihilation would be but privatio finiti, the depriving them of a finite good aod Being; but the dif– tance between Gods Being, and theirs, is infinite, yea, and in excellency and tranfcendency, more diilant than was betwixt Nothing, and the Crea– tures before they were made, Though Philofophers would afcribe an infinite diilance negatively confidered, yet no fuch as that wherein God is above us; and fo they are lefs every way to God, than nothing is to themfelves : And therefore to conclude this, if there could have been fuppofed a greater di!lance any
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