The Evidences of the Christian Religion Author:Joseph Addison Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ADDITIONAL DISCOURSES. SECTION I. OF GOD, AND HIS ATTRIBUTES. 8UI MARE ET TERRAS, VAR1ISQUE MUNDUM TEMPERAT HORIS : UNDE NIL MAJUS GENERATUR :PSO, N... more »EC VIGET eUICQUAM SIMILE AUT SECUNDUM. HoR. SlMONIDES being alked by Diony- fius the tyrant, what God was, defired a day's time to confider of it, before he made his reply. When the day was expired, he defired two days; and afterwards, inftead of returning his anfwer, demanded ftill double the time to confider of it. This great poet and philofopher, the more he contemplated the nature of the Deity, found that he waded but the more out of his depth; and that he loft himfelf in the thought, inftead of finding an end of it. c 3 If If we confider the idea which wife men, by the light of reafon, have framed of the Divine Being, it amounts to this: That he has in him all the perfection of a fpiritual nature; and fince we have no notion of any kind of fpiritual perfection but what we difcover in our own fouls, we join Infinitude to each kind of thefe perfections, and what is a faculty in an human foul becomes an attribute in God. We exift Jn place and time; the Divine Being fills the immenfity of fpace with his prefence, and inhabits eternity. We are poflefled of a little power, and a little knowledge; the Divine Being is Almighty and Omni- fcient. In fhort, by adding Infinity to any kind of perfection we enjoy, and by joining all thefe different kinds of perfections in one Being, we form our idea of the great Sovereign of nature. Though every one who thinks muft have made this obfervation, I mall produce Mr. Locke's authority to the fame purpofe, out of his Eflay on Human Un- derftanding. ' If we examine the idea we ' have of the incomprehenfible Supreme ' Being,' Being, we fhall find, that we come by it ' the...« less