Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

God preserves all, and therefore is in all; the Apostle thought it a good induction¹; He is not far from us: for in him we live. For being as much as because, shows that from his operation he concluded his real presence with all: 'Tis not his virtue is not far from every one of us; but He, his Substance, himself; for none that acknowledge a God, will deny the absence of the virtue of God from any part of the World. He works in every thing, every thing lives and works in him; therefore he is present with all^*: or rather if things live, they are in God, who gives them life. If things live, God is in them, and gives them life: If things move, God is in them, and gives them motion: If things have any Being, God is in them, and gives them Being; if God withdraws himself, they presently lose their Being; and therefore some have compared the Creature to the impression of a Seal upon the water, that cannot be preserved but by the Presence of the Seal. As his Presence was actual with what he Created, so his Presence is actual with what he preserves, since Creation and Preservation do so little differ; if God creates things by his Essential Presence, by the same he supports them; If his substance cannot be disjoined from his preserving Power, his power and wisdom cannot be separated from his Essence; where there are the marks of the one, there is the presence of the other; for it is by his Essence that he is powerful and wise; no man can distinguish the one from the other in a simple Being: God doth not preserve and act things by a virtue diffused from him.³ It may be demanded whether that virtue be distinct from God? if it be not, 'tis then the Essence of God; if it be distinct, 'tis a Creature, and then it may be asked how that virtue which preserves other things, is preserved it self? it must be ultimately resolved into the Essence of God, or else there must be a running in infinitum: or else,^* is that virtue of God a substance or not? Is it endued with understanding or not? If it hath understanding, how doth it differ from God? If it wants understanding, can any imagine that the support of the World, the guidance of all Creatures, the wonders of Nature can be wrought, preserved, managed by a virtue that hath nothing of understanding in it?