248 
OF THE NATURAL ATTRIBUTES, &.C. 
class of intelligent beings with whom we are acquainted; 
and, which is of the chief importance to us, whatever be its 
compass or extent, which it is evidently impossible that we 
should be able to determine, it must be adequate to the 
conduct of that order of things under which we live. And 
this is enough. It is of very inferior consequence, by what 
terms we express our notion, or rather our admiration, of 
this attribute. The terms, which the piety and the usage 
of language have rendered habitual to us, may be as pro¬ 
per as any other. We can trace this attribute much beyond 
what is necessary for any conclusion to which we have 
occasion to apply it. The degree of knowledge and power, 
requisite fbr the formation of created nature, cannot, with 
respect to us, be distinguished from infinite. 
The divine “ omnipresence” stands, in natural theology, 
upon this foundation:—In every part and place of the uni¬ 
verse, with which we are acquainted, we perceive the exer¬ 
tion of a power, which we believe, mediately or immediate¬ 
ly, to proceed from the Deity. For instance: in what part 
or point of space, that has ever been explored, do we not 
discover attraction ? In what regions do we not find light ? 
In what accessible portion of our globe do we not meet 
with gravity, magnetism, electricity? together with the 
properties also and powers of organized substances, of veg¬ 
etable or of animated nature? Nay, farther, we may ask, 
what kingdom is there of nature, what corner of space, in 
which there is anything that can be examined by us, where 
we do not fall upon contrivance and design? The only re¬ 
flection perhaps which arises in our minds from this view 
of the world around us is, that the laws of nature every¬ 
where prevail; that they are uniform and universal. But 
what do we mean by the laws of nature, or by any law? 
Effects are produced by power, not by laws. A law cannot 
execute itself. A law refers us to an agent. Now an 
agency so general, as that we cannot discover its absence, 
or assign the place in which some effect of its continued 
energy is not found, may, in popular language at least, 
and, perhaps, without much deviation from philosophical 
strictness, be called universal: and, with not quite the 
same, but with no inconsiderable propriety, the person, or 
Being, in whom that power resides, or from whom it is de¬ 
rived, may be taken to be omnipresent. He who upholds 
all things by his power, may be said to be everywhere 
present. 
This is called a virtual presence. There is also what 
metaphysicians denominate an essential ubiquity; and 
