As every thing in the World was Created by God, so every thing in the World is preserved by God; and since Preservation is not wholly distinct from Creation, 'tis necessary God should be present with every thing while he preserves it, as well as present with it when he Created it.* Thou preservest man and Beast. †He upholds all things by the word of his Power. There is a virtue sustaining every Creature, that it may not fall back into that nothing from whence it was elevated by the Power of God. All those natural Virtues we call the Principles of Operation, are Fountains springing from his Goodness and Power; all things are acted and managed by him, as well as preserved by him; and in this sense God is present with all Creatures; for whatsoever acts another, is present with that which it acts, by sending forth some virtue and influence, whereby it acts: If free Agents do not only live, but move in him, and by him*, much more are the motions of other natural Agents, by a virtue communicated to them, and upheld in them in the time of their acting: This virtual presence of God, is evident to our sense, a presence we feel; his essential presence is evident in our Reason: This influential presence may be compared to that of the Sun, which though at so great a distance from the Earth, is present in the Air and Earth by its Light, and within the Earth by its influence in concocting those Metals which are in the Bowels of it, without being substantially either of them. God is thus so intimate with every Creature, that there is not the least particle of any Creature, but the marks of his Power and Goodness are seen in it, and his Goodness ⟨p. 246⟩doth attend them, and is more swift in its effluxes, than the breakings out of Light from the Sun, which yet are more swift than can be declared; but to say he is in the World only by his Virtue, is to acknowledge only the effects of his Power and Wisdom in the World, That his Eye sees all, his Arm supports all, his Goodness nourisheth all, but Himself and his Essence at a distance from them*; and so the Soul of man according to its measure would have in some kind a more excellent manner of Presence in the body, than God according to the Infiniteness of his Being with his Creatures;
As every thing in the World was Created by God, so every thing in the World is preserved by God; and since Preservation is not wholly distinct from Creation, 'tis necessary God should be present with every thing while he preserves it, as well as present with it when he Created it.* Thou preservest man and Beast. †He upholds all things by the word of his Power. There is a vertue sustaining every Creature, that it may not fall back into that nothing from whence it was elevated by the Power of God. All those natural Vertues we call the Principles of Operation, are Fountains springing from his Goodness and Power; all things are acted and managed by him, as well as preserved by him; and in this sense God is present with all Creatures; for whatsoever acts another, is present with that which it acts, by sending forth some vertue and influence, whereby it acts: If free Agents do not only live, but move in him, and by him*, much more are the motions of other natural Agents, by a vertue communicated to them, and upheld in them in the time of their acting: This vertual presence of God, is evident to our sense, a presence we feel; his essential presence is evident in our Reason: This influential presence may be compar'd to that of the Sun, which though at so great a distance from the Earth, is present in the Air and Earth by its Light, and within the Earth by its influence in concocting those Metals which are in the Bowels of it, without being substantially either of them. God is thus so intimate with every Creature, that there is not the least particle of any Creature, but the marks of his Power and Goodness are seen in it, and his Goodness ⟨p. 246⟩doth attend them, and is more swift in its effluxes, than the breakings out of Light from the Sun, which yet are more swift than can be declar'd; but to say he is in the World only by his Vertue, is to acknowledge only the effects of his Power and Wisdom in the World, That his Eye sees all, his Arm supports all, his Goodness nourisheth all, but Himself and his Essence at a distance from them*; and so the Soul of man according to its measure would have in some kind a more excellent manner of Presence in the body, than God according to the Infiniteness of his Being with his Creatures;
- *Psal. 36.6.
- †Heb. 1.3.
- *Acts 17.28.
- *Zanch.
