Finite,
weak, and blind creatures, we ought to humble ourselves in his
august presence; and, conscious of our frailties, adore in
silence his infinite perfections, which eye hath not seen, ear
hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to
conceive. They are covered in a deep cloud from human curiosity.
It is profaneness to attempt penetrating through these sacred
obscurities. And, next to the impiety of denying his existence,
is the temerity of prying into his nature and essence, decrees
and attributes.
But lest you should think that my piety has here got the
better of my philosophy, I shall support my opinion, if it needs
any support, by a very great authority. I might cite all the
divines, almost, from the foundation of Christianity, who have
ever treated of this or any other theological subject: But I
shall confine myself, at present, to one equally celebrated for
piety and philosophy. It is Father M/ALEBRANCHE\, who, I
remember, thus expresses himself.16 "One ought not so much," says
he, "to call God a spirit, in order to express positively what he
is, as in order to signify that he is not matter. He is a Being
infinitely perfect: Of this we cannot doubt. But in the same
manner as we ought not to imagine, even supposing him corporeal,
that he is clothed with a human body, as the /ANTHROPOMORPHITES\
asserted, under colour that that figure was the most perfect of
any; so, neither ought we to imagine that the spirit of God has
human ideas, or bears any resemblance to our spirit, under colour
that we know nothing more perfect than a human mind.
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