ESSAY I. 341 any views or aspects, ever appear to be so thin, so subtle, so empty and unsubstantial a thing as to look like nothing? What surprising shame should seize upon our understandings, our vain and conceited understandings, at such a thought as this, that even philosophers cannot agree and inform us certainly whether space be God or nothing t Though we are ascer- tained by many demonstrations, that the great God has a most substantial and eternal existence, yet we seem at a loss to determine whether this empty thing called space be net this God. Let our reason blush and hide its head, and lie abased for ever at the foot of the divine Majesty, this strange theatre of argument, this endless war of words and ideas, throws a world of confusion and abasement upon the proudest powers of man- kind. It seems to spread a scene of triumph for God over the vain creature man, and all his boasted acquisitions of knowledge, that he hardly knows the highest and the best of beings from in imaginary shadow of being, an empty nothing ; that though in some views he is absolutely certain that God is the supreme sub- stance, and has the highest and strongest title to existence and being ; yet in other views and enquiries he cannot strongly and boldly distinguish theCreator ofall things from a mere non- entity, which in some sense is infinitely below the character or idea of the meanest dust or atom of the creation. Blessed God, forgive all the vanity and conceit of ourreasoning powers, all our foolish and unworthy apprehensions concerning thy majesty; scatter these shadows of thick darkness, lead us out of this labyrinth of gross ignorance and mistake, and help us to make our way through this abyss of night, through this endless circleof per- plexity. Shew us thyself, O God our maker, and teach us what thou art, that we may adore thee better ; nor suffer us to wander in this thick mist, wherein we can scarce distinguish thee from that which has no being. SECT. VII.The Original of our Idea of Space, asid our Danger of a Mistake. COME then, my soul, let us make one effort more, and try to recover ourselves. May we not suppose, that in this im- perfect state wherein the soul is united to a body, it is too ready to be imposed upon thereby many ways ? Under the influence of this union to matter, it is easily persuaded to attribute cor- poreal ideas, such as length and breadth, to a spirit, and even to God the infinite spirit, because the soul is continually con- versant with them ; it is best acquainted with these bodily ideas, and is tempted to imagine that no realbeingcan exist without them. Sometimes the soul dwelling in animal nature, and under v3
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