The divine history of the genesis of the world explicated & illustrated

SECTION II. (Book 2)

God, &c.

EXPLICATION.

The Infinite Creator of Heaven and Earth.

ILLUSTRATION.

1. That God is Infinite. 2. Of Infinite. 3. That Abso∣lute Nothing is Not finite. 4. Of Proper and Improper Infinite. 5, Of Proper and Improper Not finite.

I. WE have proved that Heaven and Earth, and Con∣sequently the whole World, had a Begining of Being from Absolute Not being, or was Created; becaus it is Finite. Wherefore the Creator of all Finites must necessarily be Infinite: for if he were Finite, he must also be Created by another, and so Infinitely. But there can be no such Process Infinite, becaus it is Successive from one to another, and therefore must be finite, as I have already proved.

II. But becaus our Understanding also is Finite, and not Infi∣nite; therefore the proper Object thereof must be Finite, and not Infinite: and all the knowledg we can have of Infinite is only from and by Finite. Now we have discovered Finite to be Partial; that is, either a Part or a Whole having Parts. And so indeed not on∣ly all Quantity, and Quantitative things, wherof we have dis∣c••ursed••, but also all Qualitys, and Qualitative things, are Fi∣nite, becaus they have certein Degrees of themselvs, which are their Respective Parts, or Proportions. And also all Substances or Created Entitys whatsoever either have Parts, or are them∣selvs Parts of the Univers. And the Univers it self is only the

Whole of all those Parts whatsoever; and Consequently Finite· Wherefore Infinite must neither be any Part, or Degree, nor a∣ny Whole having Parts, or Degrees; otherwise it should not be Infinite, but Finite. Also Infinite, becaus it hath no Parts, or Degrees, in it self, is not Partialy, or Gradualy, what it is; but Infinitely without any Parts, or Degrees, One, and All, in i•• self, and Infinitely comprehending all Finites: for if it were more then One, or less then All, it should be Partial, or Gra∣dual; becaus More, or Less, are Partial, or Gradual, and con∣sequently Finite. Thus Infinite doth Transcend Finite, not Fi∣nitely, by any Parts, or Degrees whatsoever; but Infinitely, according to its own Nature, which is Infinite. Wherefore also Finite cannot be any the least Part, or Degree of Infinite; for then the Whole also should be Finite. And Infinite doth not on∣ly Infinitely Transcend Finite; but is also Infinitely Different from it, without any Part, or Degree of Difference. And so though it doth Comprehend all Finites (as we say, Infinite Be∣ing doth Comprehend all Finite Beings, Infinite Immensity all Finite Bodys, Infinite Eternity all Finite Time, and Infinite Uni∣ty all Finite Numbers) Yet it doth also Comprehend them Infi∣nitely, according to its own Infinite Nature, that is, Incompre∣hensibly as to our Finite Understanding; and Inconfusedly as to the Finite Nature of the Things themselvs: and so God is the only true Transcendent and Eminent Caus neither Confounded, nor Compounded with them; nor such as doth Contradict, Alter, or Interfere with them, in any kind or maner whatsoever. And wheras Infinite and Finite do thus Consist together, and yet In∣finitely Differ, we must alway reserv the Notions therof under most Different and Distinct Considerations, and not Confound them one with another in our Understandings, which are not Confounded in themselves; otherwise we shall thereby also Con∣found our own Understandings, and disturb any right Apprehen∣sion, either of Infinite, or Finite. Thus is Infinite both the In∣finite Affirmation of all Being, and Welbeing; and the Infinite Negation of all Notbeing, and Ilbeing: which Negation being double, is only the Infinite Affirmation of it self.

III. As Infinite is Infinitely Affirmative, so Absolute Nothing is Not-finitely Negative, or the Notfinite Negation of all that

is Affirmative. And any Affirmation of it self, as that Nonentity is Nonentity, and the like, is only the Notfinite Negation of it self. Wherefore Absolute Nothing is so purely Null, that as Plato rightly saith, it is altogether Ineffable, and Incomprehen∣sible, and not capable of any Name or Notion, but what is bor∣rowed from thing, or Being, wherof it is the Notfinite Negati∣on: and therefore I rather chuse to term it Notfinite, to restrain it to the Negative Signification of it self, which purely is not; then Infinite, which hath also an Affirmative Signification of what it is in it self Infinitely, and wherof Notfinite is the adequate Ne∣gation, and ••s Notfinitely Notfinite as Infinite is Infinitely Infi∣nite.

IV. But Infinite is either Proper, or Improper. Properly Infinite is only God; who as he is Infinitely One admitts only ••n Iden∣tical Predication of Himself, or That God is God, for Quicquid est in Deo est Deus. And yet as he is Infinitely All, and the Transcendency of all Finite Perfections which are many and se∣veral; so there is Improperly Infinite, which may Improperly be Predicated of him severally according to our Finite Understan∣ding, and his Infinite Condescension thereunto. And such are all those Partial and Distinguishing Notions which we frame of him. As that he is Entity, Immensity, Eternity, Unity, and the like: Whereby we render that which is Infinite, and Infinitely One in Himself, and with Himself, Partial, and Several, and Con∣sequently Improperly Infinite; but not Properly Finite: for though thereby we render that which is Infinitely One in Himself, Many in our Understanding; Yet we also acknowledg him to be Infinite Entity, Infinite Immensity, Infinite Eternity, and Infinite Unity, and not More, or Less. Again more Improperly Infinite is that which is Properly Finite in it self, but Improperly Infinite in re∣spect of God who is Infinite; as Sin (which is committed against him) is therefore by Divines said to be Infinite: and so indeed is every Creature in respect of him, who is the Infinite Crea∣ting Caus, and Being of the Being therof. But most Impro∣perly Infinite are such things as are only Indefinite unto us, or exceed our Finite Understanding. So we say that the Globe of Heaven and Earth which is Finite in it self, is Immens, and the World Eternal, and the Dust of the Earth Innumerable, and the

like: And so we term a Circle Figuratively and Hieroglyphi∣••aly Infinite, and the like.

V. Also Notfinite is either Proper or Improper. Properly Notfinite is only Absolute Nothing, wherof there can be no o∣ther Proper Predication then that it is not; or Nothing is No∣thing. Improperly Notfinite is either that in it self, wherof we frame some Partial and Distinguishing Notions; as Nonentity, Vacuity, Nontime, Nullity, and the like; which are only Par∣ticular and Respective Negations of that wherof Absolute No∣thing is the Absolute Negation. Also there are other more Im∣proper Notfinites, answerable to such Improper Infinites, which we have before Specified.