Joyce McPherson

“that he is supreme, or most perfect. He is eternal and infinite, omnipotent and omniscient; that is, his duration reaches from eternity to eternity; his presence from infinity to infinity; he governs all things, and knows all things that are or can be done.” A student raised his hand and Isaac acknowledged him. “Professor, what about the people who worshipped the sun and other things?” “Such people suppose the sun, moon, and stars, the souls of men, and other parts of the world, to be parts of the Supreme God, and therefore to be worshipped; but erroneously. It is allowed by all that the Supreme God exists necessarily; and by the same necessity he exists always and everywhere. As a blind man has no idea of colors, so have we no idea of the manner by which the all-wise God perceives and understands all things. Another student interrupted, “I do not understand. How do we know that God exists?” “We know him by his most wise and excellent contrivances of things, and final causes. We admire him for his perfections. We reverence and adore him on account of his dominion, for we adore him as his servants; and a god without dominion, providence, and final causes, is nothing else but Fate and Nature.” The students forgot that the lecture was running long. Several young men were taking notes on Isaac’s words in such haste that they wrote in the margins of other pages of notes. One student asked, “Why couldn’t God be Fate or Nature?” Professor”
― Joyce McPherson, The Ocean of Truth: The Story of Sir Isaac Newton