Watts - BX5200 .W3 1813 v.8

336 AN ENQUIRY CONCERNING SPACE. a wicked giant, have more of the essence or presence and good- ness of God with them, than the holiestor best man in the world, unless he be of equal size. 2. If space were God, then the divine being, though in its whole it be unmeasurable, yet bath millions of parts of itself, really distinct from each other, measurable by feet, inches, yards, and miles, even as the bodies are which are contained in it : And according to this notion it may be most properly said, that one part of God is longer than another part of him, and that twenty- five inches of the divinenature, long, broad, and deep, will con- tain above.two feet of solid hotly, &c. which predications seem at least very harsh, they grate with pain upon the ear, and are even offensive to the understanding, if they be not absolutely absurd and impossible in the natureof things. Nor is it to any purpose for an objector to say, that space or infinite extension has properly no parts ; for we have as clear au idea, and indeed much clearer, of the several parts of space near us and round about us, than we have or can have of the whole positively infinite space, if I may so express it, of which we finite creatures have no proper idea : Our idea of infinite space, such as it is, is made of finite spaces, or parts of space in a perpetual addition. Nor can it be denied that space has parts, on a pretence that these parts arenot actually separable ; for even in a body we conceive clearly of the several distinct parts of it, without considering whether they be separable or no. Suppose body to be infinite, and suppose it to be perfectly solid, and as uniform as space is, yet it is very evident that the can conceive distinct parts in it, without conceiving them separated or separa- ble. The ideas of separation or separability are not necessary to the idea of the parts of space, which are conceived as several lesser spaces or extensions coexistent in time, but really distinct from each other, whether adjacent or distant. 3. Another hard consequence of supposing space to be God, is this. Then every part of this divine space will contain divine perfections in it complete, or only some part of each of them ;' if only some part of each of them, then each part of the space, whether aq inch or a mile square, has a degree or share of wis- dom and power, holiness and goodness, in proportion to its di- mensions ; which position is too absurd to be allowed. We must be forced to allow then, that every part of space contains all these divine attributes or perfections in it completely; and if it be so, then not only every mile, but every yard and ell, and every inch of space, is all'-wise and all -holy, almighty arid gra- cious ; for every inch of space is a part of the substance or es- sence of God, if space be God himself. Besides, if every inch of space contain completely these divine perfections, then there seem to beso many complete wisdoms and powers, i. e. in reality

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