686 Of God's Omniprefence. poffible that he lhould be excluded out of the moft clofe compacted Being. Bodies cannot thus enter one another, becaufe of their grofs ard material Subfta~ccs; they can only ftand without and knock for admiffion; they cannot enter into the fubfrance one of another: Water, when fuckcd up by a Spungc, doth not p:~fs inttl the fubftantial part of it, but only fills up thofc Caverns and hollow Pores that were before filled with Air. TI1e .Air we breath in cannot enter into the Subftance of of our Bodies, but only into thofe Pores and hollow Receffes that arc by Nature fitted to receive it; fa of all other Corporeal Beings. But SpiritJ arc not tied up to thi~ Law. The Soul of Man, bec~ufc it is. a Spirit, re fides no~ only in the empty void Spaces of the Bod7, but alfo 1n the mtdll of the moll fohd and fuhllantial part of it. A11gels, who are a degree of Spiritual Beings above the Soul, they can. not be excluded from being prcfent in the mofr condenfc:d Bodies;· and we know not how often they arc in us ; we kno\~ not how often they pafs through us, nor how many of them are now prefcnt Wlth us. We re~li of no lefs than a Lcgirm which is Six Thnufand, that quartered themfdves together in one poffefled Perfon, Mark S· 9· Then, certainly God, between whom and tbe Angels there is infinite~ ly more diftancc than between .Angels and Bodies, cannot poffibly be Jhut out of any Being, but diffufeth himfclf to every part of his Creatures. (2.) Secondly, God is uot on!J intimKtely pr4'ent tvith his Creatures, bt~~tu[e dS he is ll Spirit ht paffetiJ through t11t viojt inmoft pa<t of them, but ht iJ inrimatdy prefmr with Jtil hiJ Creaturn at once. And therein is his prefence diftinguilbed from the prcfcnce of .Angels; they indeed pafs from one to another, and be one in another; they may poffibly ftretcb and dilate thcmfelves to a great compafs, but they cannot ftretch themfelves to an Vbiquitaritufs, to be in all Beings at once. If an Angel fuddenly dart himfelf from one Point of the Heav~ms, through the Centcr of the Earth, to an oppofite Point of the Heavens, and by a motion of infinuation, without impelling or driving the Air before him, yet he is not in Heaven and Earth at once, but when he i~ in one place he ceafcth to he in another;. but it is not fo with God, for he is every-where and in all thirigs a~ once for ever, therefore God tells us, Do not I flit Hc.wtn and E(trth, Jer. 23. 24- He is fa in them, as that he doth aot leave any one place void or empty of himfelf, for were there any places where God were not, then .it could not be properly fa id to be .filled with him. (~.) Thirdly, This Omniprefence of God is fimply necclfary, not only for the preferving and upholdinioJ his Creatures in their Beings and Operations, but necefi'ary to our very Betngs; for his own Efi'ence is fimple, and he cannot withdraw from, nor forfake any place, or any thing \vith which his prefencc now is. God cannot contrat\: and le!fen himfelf, nor gather up his Ejfmce into a narrow room and compafs; but as he is here in this very place which we now take up, fo he muft and will be here to all Eternity. Nor is this any imperfection, as if God were not an Infinite Pcrfetl:ion and Excellence, for this flows from the immutability of his Nature and EJfence; for fhould God remove himfelf, he were not altogether unchangeable, but with h;'" the-1e iJ neither change nor /hadow of turning, 'Jam, 1. What the Heathens thought of this lmmenjiey and Omniprcfmce of God, it is fomewhat obfcure; fame of them confined him to Heaven, and were fo far from affirming him prefent in all things, that they thought he took no care of ·any thing below, as being too mean and too unworthy for God to regard. This was the Opinion of the Epicuream, ACfJ 17· tS. Others thought indeed, that the Care and Providence of God reached to thefe ordinary things., but not his Effc:ncc; and the ground of their Errour .was, becaufe they thought it moft befitting the· Majcfiy of God, to fit only in Heaven, a glorious wd a becoming ph1ce, and not to make himfelf fa cheap and fo common, as to be prcfent with Men and the Vile Things of the World: But this is a weak Reafon, as l Jball fhew anon. Some others among the HcJtthms had righter Apprehenfions of this Divine Attribute; one of thew, being to give a Defcription what God was, tells us maft admirably, God WaJ a Sphere, tvhofe Cmter was everypwhere, and whofe (ircumferencc tVPJ no where. A raifed apprehenfion of the Divine Nature in an Heathen. And anothctr, be~ ing demanded what God was, made anfwer, That God iS an Infinite Point, than which nothing can be faid more (almoft) or truer, to declare this Omnipre{ence. of God. It is reported of HerAclirus the Philofopher, when his Friend came to Yifit bim, being in an old rotten Hovel, Come in come ir~, (faith he) for God is htre. God ii in the meaneft CouAge ai well is in the ftatelielt P11lace; the poorelt Beggar cohabits
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