Likewise the heathens, who termed God vouv, and -^i^hy^MSiv and' 'TTViufMa, and dvm/j.oToiov or bmafiiv, had the same apprehensions of him. Thus discourses Mercurius ad Tatium, in Stobaeus, serm. 78 : Qth fiiv voriGai yju.'ki'xhv, fpaSai hi advvaroV rh yap affufxarov gdo/u-aTi e^/MriVCii aBvvarov' xat to tsXhov tui arsXsT naraXaCsffOai ov dvvaroV xai rh dtdiov 7u> oXiyo^povluj avyyiviffdai, dvexoXov' 6 ,asv yap ui! effri, to ds Trapsp- •/iTui' x,ai TO f/,'iv aXfjhtd soti, ti) di iivo (pavTaeiag g/Ciu^sTui' to ds dadsvs- OTspov Tov iS'/ypoTspo'j^ xai Th 'iXarTOV rot; xpsiTTOvog hnCTrixs to^outov, odov to
J OvTMs LfjLai ulov ui ©sou TTfotrui-roy. — Sozom. Hist. Eccles. lib. viii. cap. xi. 'Minut. Felix, in Octav. Lactan. de Vera Sap. Mutius Pansa Pianensis de Osculo Etlinicje ct Cliristianse Theol. c. 25 ; Origen. in Gen. Horn. 3 ; Aug. 1. 83, quaest. 22.
OF THE SHAPE AND BODILY FIGURE OF GOD. 107
^vrjTov rou 3s/ou' T/dB /J,sffr) rohroiv didsraffig, d/jjaupoT tyjv tov JcaXotJ 3sai/* o^Oa'k/ji.oTs /Ji>sv ydp roc ffufiara ^iard, ykurrri ds to, opard XsxTa, rb ds deu/xarov xai d(pavsg, xai aff^rj/j^driSrov, xai fjbrjTS s^ vXrjg liroKiifLivov, VTb Tuv ri/MTspuv aiad/jdicuv xaTaXri^pdyivai oh hhvarai. ' E]ivoovfj,ai w rdr svvoov- /j.ai, 0 s^BiirsTv ou duvarov, tovto s6tiv o Qiog. And Calicratides apud Stob., Serm. 83 : Th b\ h istiv dpiarov aiirhg, oTsp sgti xarrai/ hvoiav, ^uov ovpdviov, d<p6ap7ov, dpyji ri xai aJria rag ruv oXuv diaxoff//,dffiog.
Of the like import is that distich of Xenophanes in Clemens Alexan., Strom. 5: —
Eij 0£oj IV Ti 3^ii>ia'i xcci av^cikiToitn //.iyiffro; @t/Ti oi/jLtt.; ^vnro7(riv o/aoiio;, ovol vonu,a.
" There is one great God among gods and men, Who is like to mortals neither as to body nor mind."
Whereunto answers that in Cato: —
" Si Deus est animus nobis ut carmina dicunt," etc. And ^schylus, in the same place of Clemens, Strom. 5 : —
XuptTn 9-vriTav tov &iov Ka) fit) ^ixei Ofioiov avToi aaj^KiKov KctSiffTavai.
" Separate God from mortals, and think not thyself, of flesh, like him."
And Posidonius plainly in Stobseus as above : 'O Qs6g Uri 'jrvBu/xa voiphv xai 'TT-opcodig, oh% 'iyov fXiopcpriv' — " God is an intelligent fiery spirit, not having any shape." And the same apprehension is evident in that of Seneca, " Quid est Deus ? Mens universi. Quid est Deus ? Quod vides totum, et quod non vides totum. Sic demum magni- tude sua illi redditur, qua nihil majus excogitari potest, si solus est omnia, opus suum et extra et intra tenet. Quid ergo interest inter naturam Dei et nostram ? Nostri melior pars animus est, in illo nulla pars extra animum." Natural. Qusest. lib. i. Pra3fat. It would be burdensome, if not endless, to insist on the testimonies that to this purpose might be produced out of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Epictetus, Julius Firmicus, and others of the same order. I shall close with one of Alcinous, de Doctrina Platon. cap. x. : " Atottov Kt tov Qiov i^ CXjjj iivat xai I'ibovg' ov ydp iffrai a-rXoL/g ov6s dpyjxog' — " It is absurd to say that God is of matter and form ; for if so, he could neither be simple, nor the principal cause."
The thing is so clear, and the contrary, even by the heathen philosophers, accounted so absurd, that I shall not stand to pursue the arguments flowing from the other attributes of God, but proceed to what follows.
108 VINDICIiE EVANGELIC^.
CHAPTER lY.
Of the attribution of passions and affections, anger, fear, repentance, unto God — In what sense it is done in tlie Scripture.
His next inquiry about the nature of God respects tlie attribution of several affections and passions unto him in the Scriptures, of whose sense and meaning he thus expresseth his apprehension : —
Ques. Are there not, according to the perpetual tenor of the Scriptures, affec- tions and passions in God, as anger, fury, zeal, wrath, love, hatred, mercy, grace, jealousy, repentance, grief, joy, fear f
Concerning whicli he labours to make the Scriptures determine in the affirmative.
1. The main of Mr Biddle's design, in his questions about the nature of God, being to deprive the Deity of its distinct persons, its omnipresence, prescience, and therein all other infinite perfections, he endeavours to make him some recompense for all that loss by as- cribing to him in the foregoing query a hutnan visible shape, and in this, human, turbulent affections and passions. Commonly, where men will not ascribe to the Lord that which is his due, he gives them up to assign that unto him which he doth abhor, Jer. xliv. 15-17. Neither is it easily determinable whether be the greater abomina- tion. By the first, the dependence of men upon the true God is taken off; by the latter, their hope is fixed on a false. This, on both sides, at present is Mr B.'s sad employment. The Lord lay it not to his charge, but deliver him from the snare of Satan, wherein he is " taken alive at his pleasure" ! 2 Tim. ii. 26.
2. The things here assigned to God are ill associated, if to be un- derstood after the same manner. Mercy and grace we acknowledge to be attributes of God ; the rest mentioned are by none of Mr B.'s companions esteemed any other than acts of his will, and those meta- phorically assigned to him.^
3. To the whole I ask, whetlwr these things are in the Scriptures ascribed properly unto God, denoting such affections and passions in him as those in us are which are so termed? or whether they are assigned to him and spoken of him metaphorically only, in reference to his outward works and dispensations, correspondent and answering to the actings of men in whom such affections are, and under the power whereof they are in those actings? If the latter be affirmed, then as such an attribution of them unto God is eminently consistent with all his infinite perfections and blessedness, so there can be no difference about this question and the answers given thereunto, all men readily acknowledging that in this sense the Scripture doth ascribe all the affections mentioned unto God, of which we say as he