β. Reason confirms the same: 1. from the Independence of God. For whatever is limited by something in some way, even with respect to its Where, depends upon that which is responsible for why it is limited, and enjoys so much Where, but no more. If therefore a Where is to be assigned to the Independent God, that is to be attributed to Him, which is altogether Independent; and so confined within no limits, or defined by no bounds. But He is comprehended, neither by the whole circuit of Heaven, nor by the finite spaces of this World; but He infinitely exceeds all these. 2. From the infinite Perfection of God. For, since nothing falls to the altogether perfect Being, except what is Perfection, even the Where, what it attributed to the divine Essence will be Perfection. Now, whatever Perfection is attributed to God, the same is altogether Infine. Therefore, the Where, that is agreeable to the divine Essence must be Infinite. 3. With respect to Essence, God is either finite or Infinite. If Infinite, He must be Infinite, not in one way only, but in every respect; and so His Essential Presence is not able to be shut up within any bounds, either of Heaven, or of the entire created World. It involves saying that God is Finite in some way. But if His Essential Presence under the pretext of impossibility be called finite, neither are infinite Knowledge and Power able to be attributed to Him. 4. He that is not so in the Heavens that He is not also beyond them, is not contained in the location of Heaven. But, that God is not so in the Heavens that He is not also beyond them, is able to be proven from this, a. that God was even before Heaven was founded, when He was not able to be in Heaven: of this you read in Dionysius Carthusianus:[1]
Say where He was then, when there was nothing besides Him.
Then, where is He now; for He is sufficient for Himself.[2]
b. God is also able to create more Heavens: would not God also be, or be able to be, in the same? 5. Finally, the divine Essence either occupies the whole region of Heaven, or inhabits only a modest part. If they assign only a part of Heaven to God as His domicile, unless they will the Deity fixed to it, one may think of Him moving from it from time to time and changing His seat, after the likeness of Baal, 1 Kings 18:27. If they prefer the Essence of God present to the whole Heaven, one may ask, why would He, to whom this whole massive machine is as nothing, enclose Himself only in those spaces of the world? Or what would be those causes, whereby the supreme Deity might be secluded from the rest of the regions of the world? compare VRIESIUS, Exercitatione Rationali IX, § 4.
The Fathers of the Church going before us in this opinion concerning the Essential Immensity and Omnipresence of God, HOORNBEECK commends, Socinianismo confutato, book II, chapter II, section II, tome I, pages 304-308, section III, page 319.
[1] Denis the Carthusian (1402-1471) was a Carthusian monk, theologian, and mystic, considered by some to be the last of the Schoolmen. He commented on the entire Bible.
[2] Sententiæ I, distinction 7, question 1.
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