Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

4. If God were not a Spirit, he could not be infinite. All bodies are of a finite nature: Every body is material, and every material thing is terminated. The Sun, a vast body, hath a bounded greatness: The Heavens of a mighty bulk, yet have their limits. If God had a body he must consist of parts, those parts would be bounded and limited, and whatsoever is limited is of a finite virtue, and therefore below an infinite nature. Reason therefore tells us, that the most excellent nature, as God is, cannot be of a Corporeal condition; because of the limitation and other actions which belong to every body. God is infinite, for the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him, 2 Chron. 2.6. The largest Heavens, and those imaginary spaces beyond the world, are no bounds to him. He hath an essence beyond the bounds of the world, and cannot be included in the vastness of the Heavens. If God be infinite, then he can have no parts in him; if he had, they must be finite, or infinite: Finite parts can never make up an infinite being. A vessel of Gold of a pound weight cannot be made of the quantity of an ounce. Infinite parts they cannot be, because then every part would be equal to the whole, as infinite as the whole, which is contradictory. We see in all things every part is less than the whole bulk that is composed of it: As every Member of a Man is less than the whole body of Man: If all the parts were finite, then God in his Essence were finite; and a finite God is not more excellent than a Creature: So that if God were not a Spirit, he could not be infinite.

4. If God were not a Spirit, he could not be infinite. All bodies are of a finite nature: Every body is material, and every material thing is terminated. The Sun, a vast body, hath a bounded greatness: The Heavens of a mighty bulk, yet have their limits. If God had a body he must consist of parts, those parts would be bounded and limited, and whatsoever is limited is of a finite vertue, and therefore below an infinite nature. Reason therefore tells us, that the most excellent nature, as God is, cannot be of a Corporeal condition; because of the limitation and other actions which belong to every body. God is infinite, for the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him, 2 Chron. 2.6. The largest Heavens, and those imaginary spaces beyond the world, are no bounds to him. He hath an essence beyond the bounds of the world, and cannot be included in the vastness of the Heavens. If God be infinite, then he can have no parts in him; if he had, they must be finite, or infinite: Finite parts can never make up an infinite being. A vessel of Gold of a pound weight cannot be made of the quantity of an ounce. Infinite parts they cannot be, because then every part would be equal to the whole, as infinite as the whole, which is contradictory. We see in all things every part is less than the whole bulk that is composed of it: As every Member of a Man is less than the whole body of Man: If all the parts were finite, then God in his Essence were finite; and a finite God is not more excellent than a Creature: So that if God were not a Spirit, he could not be infinite.