To his fourth query, about a farther description of God by some of his attributes, I shall not need to subjoin any thing in way of animadversion ; for however the texts he cites come short of deli- vering that of God which the import of the question to which they
' "Significat enim Christus id, quod ratio ipsa dictat, Dcnm, cum spiritus sit, uon iiisi spiiitualibus revera dclcctari." — Crell. de Ueo : sou de Vera Relig. lib. i, cap. xv. p. 108. "Spiritus estDeus: animadverterunt ibi omnes propeS. literarum iuterpretes, Dei nomcn, quod articulo est in Grtcco notatum, subjecti locum tencre : vocem, spiritus, qasc articulo caret, prssedicati : et spiritualem significare substantiam. Ita perinde est ac si dictum fuisset, Ueus est spiritus, seu spiritualis substantia." — Idem ibid, p. 107.
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are annexed doth require, yet being not wrested to give countenance to any perverse apprehension of his nature, I shall not need to insist upon the consideration of them.
Ques. 5, he falls closely to his work, in these words, "Is not God, according to the current of the Scriptures, in a certain place, namely, in heaven 1 " whereunto he answers by many places of Scripture that make mention of God in heaven.
That we may not mistake his mind and intention in this query, some light may be taken from some other passages in his book. In the preface he tells you "That God hath a similitude and shape" (of which afterward), "and hath his place in the heavens" (that " God is in no certain place," he reckons amongst those errors he opposes, in the same preface; of the same kind he asserteth the belief to be of God's "being infinite and incomprehensible);" and. Cat. Less. p. 6, "That God glisteneth with glory, and is resident in a certain place of the heavens, so that one may distinguish between his right and left hand by bodily sight." This is the doctrine of the man with Avhom we have to do concerning the presence of God. " He is," saith he, " in heaven, as in a certain place." That which is in a certain place is finite and limited, as, from the nature of a place and the manner of any thing's being in a place, shall be instantly evinced. God, then, is finite and limited ; be it so (that he is infi- nite and incomprehensible is yet a Scripture expression) : yea, he is so limited as not to be extended to the whole compass and limit of the heavens, but he is in a certain place of the heavens, yea, so cir- cumscribed as that a man may see from his right hand to his left; — wherein Mr B. comes short of Mohammed, who affirms that when he was taken into heaven to the sight of God, he found three days' journey between his eye-brows ; which if so, it will be somewhat hard for any one to see from his right hand to his left, being sup- posed at an answerable distance to that of his eye- brows. Let us see, then, on what testimony, by what authority, Mr B. doth here limit the Almighty and confine him to a certain place, shutting up his essence and being in some certain part of the heavens, cutting him thereby short, as we shall see in the issue, in all those eternal perfections whereby hitherto he hath been known to the sons of men.
The proof of that lies in the places of Scripture which, making mention of God, say, " he is in heaven," and that " he looketh down from heaven," etc.; of which, out of some concordance, some twenty or thirty are by him repeated. Not to make long work of a short business, the Scriptures say, " God is in heaven." Who ever denied it? But do the Scriptures say he is nowhere else? Do the Scriptures say he is confined to heaven, so that he is so there as not to be in all other places ? If Mr B. thinks this any argument, " God is in heaven, therefore his essence is not infinite
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and immense, therefore he is not everywhere," we are not of his mind. He tells you, in his preface, that he "asserts nothing himself." I presume his reason Avas, lest any should call upon him for a proof of his assertions. What he intends to insinuate, and what concep- tions of God he labours to ensnare the minds of unlearned and unstable souls withal, in this question under consideration, hath been, from the evidence of his intendment therein, and the concurrent testimony of other expressions of his to the same purpose, demon- strated. To propose any thing directly in way of proof of the truth of that which he labours insensibly to draw the minds of men unto, he was doubtless conscious to himself of so much disability for its performance as to waive that kind of procedure ; and therefore his whole endeavour is, having filled, animated, and spirited the understandings of men with the notion couched in his question, to cast in some Scripture expressions, that, as they lie, may seem fitted to the fixing of the notion before begotten in them. As to any attempt of direct proof of what he would have confirmed, the man of reason is utterly silent.