The rule of faith, or, An exposition of the Apostles Creed so handled as…

For the first: of all knowledges it is the hardest to attain the true knowledge of God, and there are many things that hinder and hide God from us: as,

For the first: of all knowledges it is the hardest to attaine the true knowledge of God, and there are many things that hinder and hide God from vs: as,

1. The transcendent glory of Gods nature, the brightness of which is such, that the eyes of our minds are not able to look upon it, much less can any senses of our bodies attain him, Gen. 32. 29. Judges 13. 18. God is invisible, we cannot see him: he is ineffable, no words can tell us what he is: we may reckon a thousand things and yet none of them ¹is God, whether we look about the earth, seas, air, or heavens, God is that thing which no opinion can reach: He is more then words can tell, or thoughts can think. God is such a thing, as when we name him, he cannot be named; ²when we go about to estimate him, he cannot be estimated; when we go about to compare him, he cannot be ⟨p. 45⟩compared, when we would define him he increaseth bigger then any definition. He is greater then all words, then ³all senses, it is peculiar to God to exceed knowledge: we may admire by silence, but cannot express him by words: ⁴and the Reason is, that which is finite can hold no proportion with that which is infinite. And therefore he that would define God had need to have Gods Logic, for no mans Logic can reach to it: for though nothing be more present every where then God yet nothing is more incomprehensible. God is immense, and therefore who can tell (as one saith) the length of his Eternity, or the breadth