Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

And there are some resemblances of this in the World, though no Creature can fully resemble God in any one perfection; for then it would not be a Creature, but God. But Air and Light are some weak resemblances of it: Air is in all the spaces of the World, in the Pores of all Bodies, in the Bowels of the Earth, and extends it self from the lowest Earth, to the highest Regions; and the Heavens themselves are probably nothing else but a refined kind of Air; and Light diffuseth it self through the whole Air, and every part of it is truly Light, as every part of the Air is truly Air; and though they seem to be mingled together, yet they are distinct things, and not of the same Essence; so is the Essence of God in the whole World, not by diffusion as Air or Light; not mixed with any Creature; but remaining distinct from the Essence of any Created Being. Now when this hath been owned by men instructed only in the School of Nature, 'tis a greater shame to any acquainted with the Scripture to deny it. For the understanding of this, there shall be some Propositions premised in general.

And there are some resemblances of this in the World, though no Creature can fully resemble God in any one perfection; for then it would not be a Creature, but God. But Air and Light are some weak resemblances of it: Air is in all the spaces of the World, in the Pores of all Bodies, in the Bowels of the Earth, and extends it self from the lowest Earth, to the highest Regions; and the Heavens themselves are probably nothing else but a refin'd kind of Air; and Light diffuseth it self through the whole Air, and every part of it is truly Light, as every part of the Air is truly Air; and though they seem to be mingled together, yet they are distinct things, and not of the same Essence; so is the Essence of God in the whole World, not by diffusion as Air or Light; not mixed with any Creature; but remaining distinct from the Essence of any Created Being. Now when this hath been own'd by men instructed only in the School of Nature, 'tis a greater shame to any acquainted with the Scripture to deny it. For the understanding of this, there shall be some Propositions premis'd in general.

1. This is Negatively to be understood. Our Knowledge of God is most by withdrawing from him, or denying to him in our conceptions any weaknesses or imperfections in the Creature. As the infiniteness of God, is a denial of limitation of Being, so Immensity or Omnipresence is a denial of limitation of place: And when we say, God is totus in every place, we must understand it thus, That he is not every where by parts, as Bodies are, as Air and Light are; He is every where, i. e. his Nature hath no bounds, he is not tied to any place, as the Creature is, who when he is present in one place, is absent from another. As no place can be without God, so no place can compass and contain him.