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must have no interpretation nor meaning given it, what gross absurdities will follow, viz. that the very palm or hollow of God's hand is so big that it doth hold the great seas, and great rivers of waters in the hollow of his hand. By this rule a man may infer, that God's hand is the vessel or foundation to bear up the waters of the sea; which indeed is nothing but the very earth under the waters, which Penn calls the hollow of God's hand. Likewise Penn doth imagine, that God's hand is so big that he can span from one end of heaven to the other and that God's comprehension and understanding is so big and large a measure, to hold all the dust of the earth in itg and that God is so big, even as a pair of scales or balance in which he hath weighed the great mountains and the hills in.

CHAP. V.

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READER, Suffer me a little to describe the Quaker's imaginary God without a body. Penn saith, God is an infinite, great, vast Spirit, without any form or shape at all, and holdeth the waters in the hollow of his hand. Now the hollow of this imaginary infinite Spirit's hand, is that hollow earth that holdeth the great seas, and waters of the earth, this is the hand of an infinite Spirit that hath no body. 2 The firmament of heaven, the substance of it is the span of an infinite Spirit without a body. 3. That this infinite Spirit without a body can comprehend and understand, and hold all the dust of the earth in its head, yet a Spirit without a body. 4. That this infinite vast Spirit without a body, can weigh the mountains in scales, and the hills in balance, without a head of understanding. Here the Quaker's God is described, he holdeth the waters in the hollow of his hand, yet hath no hand. 2. He spanneth out the heaven with his span, yet hath no fingers nor thumb. 3. He comprehends the dust of the earth in a measure, yet hath no head. 4. He weigheth the hills and mountains in a balance, yet hath no arms nor body. This is the Quaker's God which they do worship, and this is the Quaker's faith, else Penn would never have brought

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this Scripture, to prove that God is not in the form of a man, nor no form at all.

Yet the Scriptures speak of God having all parts as a man hath, as here in this place the prophet speaks of God's hand, and of his comprehension, which must be in the head; Moses tells us of God's face, Thou canst not see my face and live; and heaven is God's throne, and earth is his footstool; and that God hath a nose and breast, and thighs and arms, and fingers, and right hand and left hand; the sheep shall stand on his right hand, and the goats on his left hand; these expressions the Scriptures are full of: therefore it is for certain that Moses and the prophets did believe and know that God was in the form of man when he said, Let us make man in our own image; else the prophets would never have talked so oft of God's face, arms, hands, breast, nose that smelled a sweet savour, legs, and feet, if God had been no form at all, as Penn doth vainly imagine. And if it be granted that God was in any form at all when he created this world, is it not the safest and the best faith to believe he was in the form of a man, seeing he saith he made man in his own image and likeness? Else those words of Moses cannot be true; for an infinite spirit, without body and shape, could never have made man in his own image and likeness, except he had made man an infinite formless spirit, without a body as himself is; as Penn doth affirm that God hath no form nor body, nor likeness at all, but an infinite vast spirit, that fills all places at one time, which in effect is an infinite nothing: for if God had no body nor form of his own at all, then it will follow that he must be an infinite nothing at all; or else he must be the earth, the waters, the air, the firmament, the sun, the moon, the stars, the life of every creature, both rational, and sensitive, and vegetative creatures, even the all in all. To conclude, there is nothing in heaven. above, nor in the earth beneath, nor in the waters, but God himself; for if God cannot be confined to any particular place, as Penn saith, he must partake of the miseries here on earth, as well as the joys of heaven: why? Because he cannot be confined to heaven, which is the throne of glory, but must be here on earth his footstool at the same time;

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so that no place is empty of God's presence, no not so much as hell, but God is present there at one and the same time. This is Penn the Quaker's God, as doth appear by the infer ence he draweth from these Scriptures afore-mentioned.

For the reader's sake, I shall interpret those words of Scripture, how God may be said to have measured the waters in the hollow of his hand. The meaning is, that in the beginning, when God created the heaven and the earth, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Gen i 25 For the waters were over the face of the earth, and did cover the earth; therefore it is said, that darkness was upon the face of the deep waters; and God's Spirit, that is, the Word of his power, moved upon the face of the waters; and by the voice of God entering and moving upon the face of the way ters, he created light out of the substance of water. For the reader must mind, that by the Word of God the worlds were framed. The Word of God may be called the Spirit of God, in that no word can be spoken but it must proceed from a Spirit, and a spirit cannot utter words but from a body; so that there must be Body, Spirit, and Word, and all but one Being; neither can any one of these three be destroyed, but all three are destroyed; and if one of these three do live for ever, all three do live for ever, because they all three are but one entire distinct Being of itself. But let that pass...

So that God, by his Word, moving upon the face of the waters, he created by his word, out of that substance of wa ter, the sun, moon, and stars; by his Word he made themi bodies of light; but before he made the sun, moon and stars, he created by his Word, out of those waters that was over the face of the deep, the firmament of heaven, it was made by the Word of God out of that substance of water that was upon the face of the deep in the beginning; and this firmament is called heaven, which God made of that water that was over the face of the deep; and this firmament which God created out of the substance of water, it doth compose the globe of the earth round, so that the earth stands in the midst of the firmament; so that the firmament is underneath the earth, as it is above the earth, and by the Word of the Lord the earth standeth in the midst of the firmament upon

nothing, but by the Word of God's power when he created it; only this observe, though God maketh the earth to stand upon nothing; yet he did not make the earth itself, the sub stance of earth of nothing, but the substance of earth was an eternal chaos; for God never made any thing of nothing, though he maketh a substance to stand or hang upon nothing; and those bodies of light, the sun, moon, and stars, God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth; and after God had made the firmament of heaven and those lights aforesaid, out of the substance of that waters that was over the face of the earth, then God said to the residue of the waters, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. (As in verse 9.) This one place where the waters were gathered together, was the hollow of God's hand, because God, by his word, caused the waters to gather together into that place he appointed them, even to that one place they now remain; and this was God's handy-work, and in this sense God may be said to have measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, because he prepared a place in the earth by his Word speaking, to hold the waters in a hollow place in the earth both deep and large, to hold these deep waters in this deep place in the earth; and these waters are called sea; so that the deep, that holdeth the waters of the sea, may be called the hollow of God's hand, and that he doth hold the waters of the sea in the hollow of his hand, because he keepeth the waters of the sea in its bounds, in that he hath set a governor, the moon, over the waters, to ebb and flow, and keep them within bounds.

CHAP. VI.

AND as for God's meting out the heaven with a span, that was when God created the heaven in the beginning, Gen i. 1. The heaven is the firmament as I said before, and God hath, by his wisdom and power of his Word, meted out the firma

ment of heaven, to compass the earth, as I said before; and being God's handy work in the creation, at the beginning, it may properly be said, that he hath spanned out the firmament with his span; and whereas he comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, that was when God had, by his Word speaking, caused the waters to be gathered into one place, then the dry land did appear, as in verse 9, and it was so; then God could comprehend the dust of the earth in a measure; Why? Because he could then see the length and breadth of it, and did see that the dust of the earth would be a place fit for all mortal creatures, which he intended to make to live in; and God did measure in his wisdom and understanding, and counsel, the length and breadth of this dry land that did appear; and God knew it would serve for a good use, for mortal creatures to live and inhabit in, to set forth his glory in the creation; and in this sense God may be said to comprehend the dust of the earth in a measure.7

3. God may be said to have weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance; that is, when the waters were gathered into one place by the Word of the Lord in the beginning, then did the mountains and hills appear in sight, and when God saw them, he weighed the great mountains and the lesser in the balance of his mind, and he saw that the mountains and hills of the earth would be very good, and useful for those creatures he did intend to create for thehills and mountains of the earth were covered with water, before the Spirit of God moved upon the waters,' in the be ginning, when God created this visible world, as it was in the days of Noah, when the world was drowned, as may be seen, Gen vii. 19, 20. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and the ark went upon the face of the waters; and the water prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole heavens were covered, fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered. Thus the hills and mountains were covered with water, before God created this world, in the beginning, as Moses doth declare; and in this sense God may be said to have weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance of his own wisdom, counsel and under

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