VI.

at the fame Inftant of Time can attend SERM. to many different Employments, and exert its Operations in many different Places; it can fee in one Place, hear in another, and move in a third; and, at the fame Time, can judge and reafon within itfelf.

3. A SPIRIT has a Power to reflect on its own Actions. The utmost Perfection of a Body is Motion, this is all which can poffibly refult from the Figure and Pofition of its Parts; but to compare the different Images of Things, to abstract from them, and to frame general Propofitions; to compound them, and then to fit and judge on its own Compofition, and reflect upon it; these are Operations which exceed the Power of any Agent purely material.

Let a

Man fit down and confider the Operations which are performed within his own Mind, let him but reflect on the Actings of his own Soul, and thefe very Reflections will teach him, that there is a Being within him, whofe Actings are far more powerful than those which proceed from any material Agent; and therefore must be produced by a fpiritual Being.

THE Sum of what I have faid is this, that the Way to frame a Notion of a

SERM.fpiritual Being is firft to abstract from VI. all thofe Properties which are effential

to a Body, and then to confider what thofe Operations are, which transcend the Power and Efficacy of all material Agents; and hence we conclude, that a Spirit is a Being not compofed of Parts, nor capable of being divided or circumfcribed, but is endowed with a Power of moving itself, and reflecting on its own Motions; I proceed to fhew,

II. How this Notion of a Spirit may be applied to God, or in what Senfe God may be faid to be a Spirit. And,

1. GOD is therefore said to be a Spirit, because he is not compofed of Parts, he has no bodily Subftance, nor outward Frame or Shape, nor Figure, nor Colour, as Men have, but is wholly infenfible and invifible. Quem colimus Deum, nec oftendimus, nec videmus: Immo ex hoc Deum credimus, quod eum fentire poffumus, videre non pofumus, fays Minutius Fælix. We cannot behold with our bodily Eyes the God whom we worship, neither can we fhew him to others; but we believe that there is such a Being, who doth really exist, because we fee the Workmanfhip of his Hands, we feel his Influence, we take Notice of fuch Effects wrought,

wrought, which cannot be performed by SERM, any material Being or any bodily Sub- VI. ftance; and therefore we believe that there is an incorporeal Being, who performs these Operations. And tho' there are fome Texts

Scripture which seem to denote to us, that God has Eyes, or Hands, or Feet, or Paffions, and Affections, which depend upon the different Motion of the Blood and Animal Spirits, fuch as Anger, Compaffion, Sorrow, and the like; yet thefe Places must not be understood in a literal Senfe, but have a figurative and allegorical Meaning; and do denote to us, that God doth perform those Actions, by the Efficacy of his Divine Power, which Men perform, by the Members of their Body; and that fuch Effects are wrought by this Power of God, as we Men exprefs by thofe Refentments of our Soul which we call Paffions or Affections.

2. WHEN We fay that God is a Spirit, we mean that this Defcription of a Spirit agrees to God by Way of Comparison; because this is the most fublime and perfect Notion that we can frame of any Being, therefore we apply it to God; and because we apprehend fome Perfections to be in fpiritual Beings, which furpass all those which Bodies are vefted withal, therefore

we

SERM. we make use of these Perfections, to deVI. fcribe and fhadow out to us the fupreme and most perfect Being; for, fince God endowed our Souls with all those Perfe&ions which dignify their Beings, we may be affured, that thefe Rays of the Divine Goodness were originally in God in their highest Splendor and Perfection; he must needs fee, that made the Eye, and hear, that formed the Ear, and understand, that taught Man Knowledge; for if our Soul, which is but the faint Image or Tranfcript of fome few of God's Perfections, is fo noble and exalted a Being; how much more glorious muft that Effence be, from whence it derived its Original :. And therefore,

3. WHEN We fay God is a Spirit, wẹ must attribute to him thofe Perfections which belong to a spiritual Being, tranfcendently. God is, indeed, a spiritual Being, but his Perfections are exalted above, and infinitely furpafs all fuch fpiritual Natures as we are acquainted withal; and therefore, if we think to frame an adequate Notion of God, by the Contemplation of those Perfections, which we apprehend to be in other fpiritual Beings, we fhall but deceive ourselves, and become guilty of the most stupid Folly, and grof

feft

feft Impiety. For, to know an infinite SERM. Being, an infinite Knowledge is required; VI. and therefore, after all our Difquifitions and Inquiries after the Nature of God, we must be content to fall as far fhort of comprehending his Being, as Finite doth of Infinite. Let a Man but confider how little he knows of the Nature and Operations of his own Soul, of its Faculties, of its Union and Connection with the Body: How much more unknown to him the Nature of Angels is, and how uncertain his Conjectures are about them; and then he will find Reafon to conclude, that his moft refined and abftracted Ideas come infinitely short, and are unworthy of that glorious Being, who inhabits Light inacceffible. The Excellency of God's Nature is beyond all that we can express or conceive, which the Jews denoted, by making the Name of God ineffable; and therefore, though the Holy Scriptures have discovered to us the whole Council of God (at least fo much as is abfolutely neceffary to our Salvation) yet the Nature of God ftill remains incomprehenfible.

WHAT Discoveries will be made to us in a future Life, when our Faculties will be enlarged; and what is meant by that Vifion of God, which will be the Porti

on