Sean. C. The Spirituality of the Divine Nature,, and Knowledge, and Liberty, and Goodnefs and you diveft him of his Glory you takeaway his moft effential Perfections: So that thefe great abfurdities fol- lowing from.the fuppofingof God to be mere Matter or Body, we are to conceive of him as another kind of fubftance, that is, a Spirit. So that I wonder that the Author of the Leviathan, who doth more than once exprefly affirm, that there can be nothing in the World, but what is material andcorporeal, did not fee that the neceffary confequence of this Pofition, is to banifh God out of the World. I would not be uncharitable, but I doubt, he did fee it, and was con- tent with the confequence, and willing the World fhould entertain it ; for it is fo evident, that by fuppofing the Divine Effence to confift of Matter, the im- menfity of the Divine Nature is taken away ; and it is elfo fo utterlyunimagi- nable how mere Matter Ihould underftand, andbe endowed with liberty, and con- fequently with goodnefs, that I cannot but vehemently fufpeá the Man who de- nies God to be a Spirit, either to have a grofs and faulty underftanding, or a very ill-will againft God, and an evil defign to root out of the Minds of Men the belief of a God. I come in the III. Place, to confider the Objeáions. x. Obj. Why then is God reprefented to us fo often in Scripture by the Parts and Members of Men's Bodies ? Anf. I fhall only fay at prefent, that all thefe defcriptions and reprefentatìons of God, are plainly made to comply with our weaknefs, by way of condefcention and accommodation to our capacities. z. Obj. How is it faid that Man was made after the Image of God, if God be a Spirit, of which there can be no likenefs nor refemblance ? Anf. Man is not faid to be made after the Image of God, in refpeá of the outward Shape and Fea- tures of his Body ; but in refpeá of the Qualities of his Mind, as Holinefs and Righteoufnefs ; or of his Faculties, as Underftanding and Will ; or which the Text feems moft to favour, in refpeá of his Dominion and Sovereignty over the Creatures ; for in the two former refpeás the Angels are made after the Imageof God. Now this feems to be fpoken peculiarlyof Men; Gen. z. 2.4. Let us make man in our own image, after our own likeneß, and let them have dominion over theftfh of thefea, and the fowls of the air, &c. IV. I come now to draw fome Inferences or Corollaries from hence, and they {hall be partly fpeculative, partly prallical. Firjl, Speculative Inferences. a. That God is invifible. The proper Objeá of fight is Colour, and that ari- feth from the various difpofition of the parts of Matter which caufe feveral re- fleáions of Light ; now a Spirit hath no Parts nor Matter, and therefore is invi- fible; a Tim. x.17. Unto the eternal, immortal, invifhle, the only wife God. Heb. z t. 27. He endured, as feting him who is inviffile ; as feting him by an Eye of Faith, who is invifble by an Eye of Senfe. z Tim. 6. z6. Whom no manbath feen, nor can fee. , When Mofes and the Elders ofIfrael arePaid tohave feen God, and ygcob to have feen him face to face, Exod. z. 9. Gen. 3z. 30. it is meant of an Angel covered with Divine Glory and,Majefty, as we fhall fee if we compare chele withother Texts. When Mofes is faid to havefpoken to him face to face, that is familiarly; and fo Micaiah, x Kings zz. x9. is faid to have feen God upon his throne, and all. Ifrael fcattered up and down ; this was in a Vifion. And it is promifed, that in Heaven we (hall fee God, that is, have a more perfeá knowledge of him and full enjoyment ; as to fee gooddays, is to enjoy them. Thole Texts where it is laid, No man canfee God and live, Exod. 33. zo. and John I. x8. No man bath feen God at any time, do not intimate that God is vifible, tho' we cannot fee him ; but fee- ing is metaphorically ufed for knowing, and the meaning is, that in this Life we are not capable of a perfeá knowledge ofGod. A clear difcovery of God to our underftanding would let in joys into our Souls, and create defires in us to great for frail Mortality to bear. z. That he is the living God. Spirit and Life are often put together in Scri- pture. 751 3. That
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