wherein all the reason and philosophy of atheism is confuted, and

heChap. IV. rcafonable \ as the Chrijlian. 561up of many members., and contained by one foul, fo do I conceive, that thevjhole world is to be look'd upon as one huge, great animal, ivhich is contained,as it zvere, by one foul, the virtue and renj'on of Gcd. ylnd fo much feems to beintimated by the Scripture in fundry places ; as in that of the Prophet, 'Do notI fill heaven and earth? And again, heaven is my throne and the earth my foot-Jlool. And in that of our Saviour, Swear not at all, neither by heaven, becaufeit is the throne of god, nor by the earth, becaufe it is his foot-flool. Andlaflly,in that of Paul to the Athenians, For in him we live, and move, and have ourbeing. For how can we be faid to live and move, and have our being in God, unlefsbecaufe he, by his virtue and power, does confiringe and coniain the wholeworld ? and how can heaven be the throne of God, and the earth his foot-flool,iinlefs I is virtue andpower fill all things both in heaven and earth ?Neverthelefs,God is here faid by Origen to be but quafi anirna, as it were, the foul of theworld : as if he fhouJd have fiid, that all the peitcclion of a Ibul is to be attributedto God, in refpeft of the world •, quickening and enlivening allthings, as much as if he were the very fou! of it, and all the parts thereofwere his living members. And perhaps the whole Deity ought not to belook'd upon, according to Arifio tie's notion thereof, merely as Jt'xi'vnlof sna;, animmoveable effence ; for then it is not conceiveablc, hov/ it cuuld either acl uponthe world, or be fenfible of any thing therein ; or to what purpofe any devotionaladdrefles (hould be made by us to fuch an iinafff .fliblc,and adamantine Being. Wherefore all the pcrfcdion of a inuudane foul mayperhaps be attributed to God, in fome fenfe, and he called, qua/t anima mundi,inflexible, rockyas it were thefoul thereof : though St. Cyprian would have this properly tobelong to the third hypoflafis, or perfon of the Chriftian Trinity, viz. meHoly Ghoft. But there is fomething of impLTfecTtion alfo plainly cleavingand adhering to this notion of a mundane foul, belides fomething of Faganitylikewife, neceflarily confequent thereupon, which cannot be admitted by us.Wherefore God, or the third divine hypoftafis, cannot be called the foul ofthe world in this fenfe, as if it were fo immerfed thereinto, and fo pafllvefrom it, as our foul is immerfed into, and pafllve from its body; nor as ifthe world, and this foul together, made up one intire animal, each partwhereof were incompleat alone by it felf And that God, or the third hypollafisof the Chriftian Trinity, is not to be accounted, in this fenfe, properlythe foul of the world, according to Origen himfelf, we may learn fromthefe words of his ; Selius Dei, id eji, Patris, & Filii, £5? Spiri/us SanJti, , , , .fiatur^, idproprium efi; ut fine materiali fubftantia, i£ abfque ulla corporete ad-^^^' '^?X^'ije^tionis foelet ate, intelligatur fubfijiere. It ts proper to the nature ofGod alone,.that ij, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft, to fubfift withoutany materialfubftance, or body, vitally united to it. Where Origen affirming,that all created fouls, and fpirits vvhatfoever, have always fome body or other virtally united to them -, and that it is the property only of the three perfons of theHoly Trinity, not to be vitally united to any body, as the foul tliereof; whetherthis aficrtion of his be true or no (which is a thing not here to be difcufled) hedoes plainly hereby declare, that God, or the third hypoftafjs of the Trinity,is not to be accounted, in a true and proper fenfe,the foul of the world.C c c c 2 And