Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

^*Thou hast always been God, and no time can be assigned as the beginning of thy Being: The mountains are not of so long a standing as thy self; they are the effects of thy power, and therefore cannot be equal to thy duration; since they are effects, they suppose a precedency of their cause. If we would look back, we can reach no further than the beginning of the Creation, and account the years from the first foundation of the world; but after that we must lose our selves in the Abyss of Eternity; we have no Cue to guide our thoughts; we can see no bounds in thy Eternity: But as for Man he traverseth the world a few days, and by thy order pronounced concerning all men, returns to the Dust, and moulders into the Grave.

1. *Amyrald in loc.

By Mountains, some understand Angels, as being Creatures of a more elevated Nature: By Earth, they understand humane Nature, the Earth being the habitation of Men. There is no need to divert in this place, from the Letter to such a sense. ⟨p. 181⟩The description seems to be Poetical, and amounts to this; He neither began with the beginning of Time, nor will expire with the End of it:^* He did not begin when he made himself known to our Fathers; but his Being did precede the Creation of the World; before any created Being was formed, and any time settled.

By Mountains, some understand Angels, as being Creatures of a more elevated Nature: By Earth, they understand humane Nature, the Earth being the habitation of Men. There is no need to divert in this place, from the Letter to such a sense. ⟨p. 181⟩The description seems to be Poetical, and amounts to this; He neither began with the beginning of Time, nor will expire with the End of it: