right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee."

In a text less abundant in riches, we might make some remarks on the terms spirit, and presence; but we will content ourselves at present with indicating what ideas we affix to them, by observing, that by the spirit and presence of God, we understand God himself. I know, some divines discover great mysteries in these terms, and tell us that there are some passages in scripture where the word presence means the second person in the most Holy Trinity, and where the term spirit is certainly to be understood of the third. But as there are some passages where these terms have not this signification, it is beyond all doubt, that this, which we are explaining, is precisely of the latter kind. But however, if any dispute our comment, we shall leave them to dispute it; for it would be unjust to consume that time which is dedicated to the edification of a whole congregation, in refuting a particular opinion. The other expressions in our text, heaven, hell; the wings of the morning, a figurative expression denoting the rapidity of the light in communicating itself from one end of the world to the other; these expressions, I say, need no comment. The presence of God, the spirit of God, signify then the divine essence: and this assemblage of ideas, "whither shall I go from thy spirit? whither shall

I flee from thy presence?" means, that God is immense, and that he is present in every place.

But wherein consists this immensity and omnipresence? If ever a question required developing, this certainly does; not only because it presents to the mind an abstract subject, which does not fall under the observation of the senses, but because many who have treated this matter (pardon an opinion which does not proceed from a desire of opposing any individual, but only from a love to the truth) many who have handled the subject, have contributed more to perplex than to explain it. We may observe in general, that unless we be wholly unacquainted with the history of the sciences, it is impossible not to acknowledge, that all questions about the nature of spirits, all that are any way related to metaphysics, were very little understood before the time of that celebrated philosopher, whom God seems to have bestowed on the world to purify reason, as he had some time before raised up others to purify religion.*

What heaps of crude and indigested notions do we find among the schoolmen of the immensity of God? One said that God was a point, indivisible indeed, but a point however, that had the peculiar property of occupying every part of the universe. Another, that God was the place of all beings, the immense extent in which his power had placed them. Another, that his essence was really in heaven, but yet, repletively, as they express it, in every

* The philosopher intended by Mr. S. I suppose, is his country-man Descartes, born in 1596. Vie de Desc. par Baillet.

part of the universe. In short, this truth hath been obscured by the grossest ignorance. Whatever aversion we have to the decisive tone, we will venture to affirm, that people who talked in this man-ner of God, had no ideas themselves of what they advanced.

Do not be afraid of our conducting you into these wild mazes; do not imagine that we will busy ourselves in exposing all these notions for the sake of labouring to refute them. We will content our

selves with giving you some light into the omnipresence of God:

I. By removing those false ideas, which at first seem to present themselves to the imagination ; II. By assigning the true.

I. Let us remove the false ideas, which at first present themselves to the imagination; as if, when we say that God is present in any place, we mean that he is actually contained there; as if, when we say that God is in every place, we mean to assign to him a real and proper extension. Neither of these is designed; and to remove these ideas, my brethren, two reflections are sufficient.

God is a Spirit. A spirit cannot be in a place, at least in the manner in which we conceive of place.

1. God is a Spirit. What relation can ye find between wisdom, power, mercy, and all the other attributes which enter into your notion of the divinity, and the nature of bodies? Pulverise matter, give it all the different forms of which it is susceptible, elevate it to its highest degree of attainment, make it vast, and immense; moderate, or small; 18

VOL. I.

luminous, or obscure; opake, or transparent; there will never result any thing but figures, and never will ye be able, by all these combinations, or divisions, to produce one single sentiment, one single thought, like that of the meanest and most contracted of all mankind. If matter then cannot be the subject of one single operation of the soul of a mechanic, how should it be the subject of those attributes which make the essence of God himself?

But perhaps God, who is spiritual in one part of his essence, may be corporeal in another part, like man, who, although he hath a spiritual soul, is yet united to a portion of matter? No; for, however admirable in man that union of spiritual and sensible may be, and those laws which unite his soul to his body, nothing more fully marks his weakness and dependence, and consequently nothing can less agree with the divine essence. Is it not a mark of the dependence of an immortal and intelligent soul, to be enveloped in a little flesh and blood, which, according to their different motions, determine his joy or sorrow, his happiness or misery? Is it not a mark of the weakness of our spirits to have the power of acting only on that little matter, to which we are united, and to have no power over more? Who can imagine that God hath such limits? He hath no body; he is united to none; yet he is united to all. That celebrated philosopher, shall I call him? or atheist,* who said that the assemblage

* Mr. S. means, I should suppose, Spinoza: whose system of atheism, says a sensible writer, is more gross, and therefore less dangerous than others; his poison carrying its antidote with it.

of all existence constituted the divine essence, who would have us consider all corporeal beings as the body of the divinity, published a great extravagance, if he meant that the divine essence consisted of this assemblage. But there is a very just sense, in which it may be said that the whole universe is the body of the Deity. In effect, as I call this portion of matter my body, which I move, act and direct as 1 please, so God actuates by his will every part of the universe: he obscures the sun, he calms the winds, he commands the sea. But this very notion excludes all corporiety from God, and proves that God is a spirit. If God sometimes represents himself with feet, with hands, with eyes, he means in these portraits, rather to give us emblems of his attributes, than images (properly speaking) of any parts which he possesseth. Therefore, when he attributes these to himself, he gives them so vast an extent, that we easily perceive, they are not to be grossly understood. Hath he hands? they are hands which "weigh the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance, which measure the waters in the hollow of his hand, and mete out the heavens with a span," Isa. xl. 12. Hath he eyes? they are eyes that penetrate the most unmeasurable distances. Hath he feet? they are feet which reach from heaven to earth, for the "heaven is his throne, and the earth is his footstool," Isa. lxvi. 1. Hath he a voice? it is as "the sound of many waters, breaking the cedars of Lebanon, making Mount Sirion skip like an unicorn, and the hinds to calve," Ps. xxix. 3, 5, 6, 9.