'God is as present and operative in the world as He can be, without denying His absolute goodness, and without interfering with the freedom of the creature, which is the fundamental condition of all development of good in the world. The world is . . . His work and workshop. If the Judaism of the time separated God and the world from each other almost deistically, . . . Jesus, on the other hand, conceives the relation of His Father to the world as one instinct with life. God has by no means withdrawn Himself from the world He once created' (NT Theol. i. 95 f.).
'Presence' and 'activity' are equivalent with God, and therefore He ' who is in secret ' must also 'see in secret' (Mt G'S). He is actively present witli tliose who 'give alms' in secret (6''), who ' pray ' in secnt (Q^), and who ' fast ' in secret (6i8). The omnipresent activity of God is evidenced al.so in His unceasing care and fatherly solicitude over His creatures. His children are encouraged to rely on His care from the fact that the Heavenly Father feeds the fowls of heaven (S^"), and clothes tlie grass of the field and the beautiful lilies (e^") ; notices the fall of every sparrow, and numbers the very hairs of our heads (lO^s'-). Wherever God's children may be. He knows what things they have need of (G^-sa)^ gives good things to them that
ask Him (7"), and reveals the truth to earnest souls (16''). We learn from these passages that wherever God's children are, there God is, without any need of moving from place to place. All the activities of God are available everywhere at the same time. ' Whatever God can do, whether by way of knowing, loving, creating, or controlling. He can do anywhere, and everywhere at once' (W. N. Clarke, Outline of Chr. Theol. 79).
5. We turn now to the profound and really in- exhaustible words which Jesus let fall in His con- versation with the woman of Samaria : ' God is Spirit' (Jn 4'^^), not '« sjjirit,' which might mean that God belongs to the class of spiritual beings. Jesus wished simply to describe what the essential nature of God is ; it is spiritual. This declaration of Christ, which, as Westcott says, is ' unique in its majestic simplicity,' has many implications. It certainly implies omnipresence. This is the veiy fact which the words wei-e employed by our Lord to teach — that God's presence is not confined to any temple, Judtean or Samaritan ; and that therefore in the new dispensation His presence is everywhere operative, and equally real and near to men wheresoever they may be.
Taking in our hand this clue that ' God is Spirit,' we shall find it useful to guide us in regions which lie beyond the immediate purview of our Lord in His conversation with the woman of Samaria. For instance, it is a disputed point whether we ought to say that ' God Jills all space.' Martensen expresses himself thus : ' All is filled with God. The omnipresent God is the inmost fundamental being of everything that exists, — the life of all that lives — the Spirit of all spirits ' (Chr. horjmatics, 93). Dr. Strong says: ' By omnipresence we mean that God in the totality of His essence, without diffusion or expansion, penetrates and fills the universe in all its parts. Like birds in the air, like fish in the sea, we are surrounded still with God ' (Man. Theol. 182). Whereas, on the other hand, W. N. Clarke teaches : ' By omnipresence we do not mean a presence of God that fills all space in the manner in which we think of matter as filling certain parts of space. It is not a universal diffusion of the essence of God, like diffusion of the atmosphere ' (Outline, 79). Following the analog} of ' spirit,' we learn that we must be very careful lest we fall into any statements that are strictly applicable to matter only. Spirit is in every respect the antithesis of matter. Everj' quality which belongs to matter is, ipso facto, to be excluded from spirit. Matter fills space, and on that very account we may not say that 'spirit fills space,' or that 'God fills all things.' To introduce the idea of God's filling space is at once inevitably to suggest materialist analogies, as air fills the atmosphere, or the luminiferous ether fills all space ; and all such analogies are misleading. The saving clause introduced by Dr. Strong and others, that God fills the universe ' without diffusion or expansion,' does not help us ; it merely makes the definition self-contradictor}'. It is well that we should avoid all metaphors which suggest that which is extended and materialistic, and adhere closely to dynamical analogies. It is not a substantial, but an operative presence of God in creation which is suggested to us by the word 'spirit.' It is God's almighty energy that is present everywhere. If we could penetrate into the realm of ontology, doubtless God is somewhat which infinitely transcends our thought, but ivhat that is we lack the capacity even to imagine.
While thus maintaining the Divine omnipresence, we must try to find room for those numerous passages which speak of God as divelling in heaven. In the First Gospel we have the frequently re- curring plirase ' Your Father which is in heaven ' (51G. 45 gi. 9 711. 21 1032 1250 igi4. i9)_ In the prohibition