II. From Scripture and Divine Revelation.

III. From the incovenience of the contrary.

I. From the natural Notions and Dictates of our Minds. We find that the Heathen, by the Light of Nature, did attribute this Perfection to God. Tully tells us, De Nat. deor. That Pythagoras thought, Deum effe animam per naturam rerum omnem intentum & commeantem,That God is as it were a Soul paffing through and infpiring all Nature. And in 1. 2. de leg. that this was Thales his Opinion which he commends, Homines exiftimare oportere deos omnia cernere, deorum omnia effe plena, That Men ought to believe, that the Gods fee all things, that all things are full of them. So Sen. Epift. 95. Vbique & omnibus præfto eft; He is every where prefent and at hand. & de Benef. L. 4. Quocunque te flexeris, ibi illum videbis occurrentem tibi, nihil ab illo vacat, opus fuum ipfe implet; Which way foever thou turneft thy self, thou shalt find him meeting thee, nothing

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is without him, he fills his own work. Vol. VII. Not much differing from the Expresfion of the Pfalmift here.

If. From Scripture and Divine Revelation. I fhall inftance in fome remarkable places; 1 Kings 8. 27. Behold, the heaven, and heaven of beawens cannot contain thee. Job. 11. 7, 8, 9. Can't thou by fearching find out God? canft thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? Ifa. 66. 1. Thus faith the Lord,behold,heaven is my throne, and the earth is my foot-ftool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? Jer. 23. 23, 24. Am I a God at hand, faith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in fecret places that I fhall not fee him, faith the Lord? do not 1 fill heaven and earth, faith the Lord? Amos 9. 2, 3. Tho' they dig into hell, thence hall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will fearch and take them out thence: and tho' they be hid from my fight in the bottom of the fea, thence will I command

the

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he ferpent and he shall bite them. Acts w 17. 27, 28. Tho he be not far from every one of us. For in him we live, and move, and have our being, as certain alfo of your own Poets have faid, For we are alfo his off-fpring.

III. From the inconveniences of the contrary. And this is the most proper way of proving any of God's Perfections; for as I have told you formerly, there being nothing before God, nor any caufe of his being, his Perfections cannot be proved by way of demonftration, but of conviction, by fhewing the abfurdity of the contrary. The first and most eafie Notion that we have of God, is, that he is a Being which hath all Perfection, and is free from all Imperfection; now if I prove that the Immenfity of God's Effence is a Perfection, or which is the same, that the contrary is an Imperfection, I do fufficiently prove the thing intended.

Now to fuppofe the Divine Effence to be limited, or confined, and his prefence to be any where excluded, Z

doth

doth contradict both this neceffary Vol. VII. Perfection of God, his univerfal Providence; and this neceffary Duty of Creatures, to worship and truft in him; and the voluntary manifeftation and appearance of God, in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.

1. It contradicts the univerfal Providence of God. The univerfal Providence of God fuppofeth many Perfections, viz. infinite Knowledge, and infinite Power, his Omniscience and Omnipotence, neither of which can be imagined without Omniprefence. We find that all finite Beings, have a finite Knowledge, and a, finite Power; and it cannot be conceived how infinite Understanding and Power can be founded any where elfe than in an infinite Effence. To have an infinite Knowledge of all things, even those things which are moft fecret and hidden, to be able to do all things, to fteer and govern the Actions of all Creatures, and to have a perfect care of them, feems to all the Reason of Mankind to require immediate Prefence.

2. It contradicts the neceffary Duty of the Creature, which is to worship God, to depend upon him for every thing, and in every thing to acknowledge him. Now all Worfhip of God is rendred vain, or at leaft uncertain, if God be not prefent to us to hear our Prayers, to take notice of our Wants, and receive our Acknowledgments; it will much abate our Confidence in God,. and our Fear to offend him, if we be uncertain whether he be present to us or not, whether he fees our AЄtions or not.

3. It contradicts a voluntary Manifeftation and Appearance of God in the Incarnation of Chrift. He that fuppofeth God not to be every where prefent by his Effence, must in all reafon confine his Prefence to Heaven, and fuppofe him to be prefent elsewhere only by his Virtue and Power: but if this were fo, how could the Divinity be effentially united to the Humane Nature of Chrift, which was here upon Earth? Z 2 How

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