upheld by the word of his power, live, and move, and have their beings in him; but he stands in need of none of them, being self-sufficient.

And as he does not stand in need of the creation in general, so not of men and angels in particular; not of men, nor of any services of theirs, which can add nothing to his perfection and happiness; not of their worship, for he is not worshipped with mens hands, as though he needed any thing, no not their worship. Acts xvii. 25. he is and ought to be the sole object of their worship; it is their duty to worship him, and that in a spiritual manner, suitable to his nature as a Spirit; but then not he, but they are the gainers by it; the ordinances of divine service under the former dispensation were, and those under the present are, for the instruction edification, comfort and peace of the worshippers, who are hereby led into communion with God, and the enjoyment of his gracious presence; and so find it is good for them to wait upon him in them. But what benefit does he receive thereby? he stands in no need of their prayers; it is both their duty and privilege to pray to him, the God of their life, for the mercies of it, temporal and spiritual; and he is pleased to express his approbation of it, and to resent a contrary behaviour: but who has the advantage of it? not he, but they; for whose sake is the throne of grace set up? not for his own sake, but for the sake of his people, that they may come to it and find grace and mercy to help them in their time of need: nor does he want their praises, nor is he benefited by them; they are his due, and it becomes men to give them to him; and he condescends to accept of them, and express his well-pleasedness in them: but then the celebration of his praises adds nothing to his perfection and happiness, but to the perfection and happiness of men, who are made better thereby: nor is the obedience and righteousness of men of any profit to God; obedience to his commands ought to be yielded, and works of righteousness enjoined by him ought to be performed: but then when we have done all we can, we are but unprofitable servants to him; if thou be righteous what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand? such works and such righteousness may be profitable to men, and is a reason why they are to be done; but can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable to himself, or others? is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him that thos makest thy ways perfect? Job xxii. 2, 3. and xxxv. 7, 8. Luke xvii. 10. Tit. iii. 8. Should it be said, that God is glorified by men in the worship of him, by prayer to him, and praising of him; by obedience to his will, and by living soberly, righteously and godly, John xv. 9. Matt. v. 16. it is very true, these make for the manifestation and display of his glory among men, but make no addition to his essential glory and happiness: the same may be said of the worship and services of angels, of the imperfection and unprofitableness of which to God they are sensible themselves, and blush and cover their faces whilst performing them,

It is a notion of the heathens themselves, that God stands in no need of any thing; aure μεν γαρ το θείον ανενδεις, Sallust. de Diis, c. 15. θεων μεν ίδιον είναι μηδενος δείθαι, Diogenes αμαξ Laert. I. 6. in Vita Menedem.

Isai. vi. 2, 3, and though they are indeed made use of as instruments in providence (but not in creation) in the preservation of God's people, and in the destruction of their enemies, and in. other affairs of this world, yet not of necessity, but of choice; it is not because God needs them, and cannot do without them, but because it is his will and pleasure; just as he makes use of the ministry, and ministers of the word, for the conversion of sinners and comfort of saints; not that he needs them, nor could not convert the one and comfort the other without them; for it is certain he can, and often does, but because these are the means and instruments he chooses to make use of, 1 Cor. iii. 5—7.

There is a very remarkable expression in Psal. xvi. 2, 3. My goodness extendeth not to thee, but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight: which if spoken by David of himself only, indeed confirms what has been before asserted, that the goodness of men, even of the best of men, is of no advantage to God himself, but to others. The goodness of David in preparing for the building of the temple, and providing for the worship of God in it, in composing hymns and psalms to be sung by men, and in the whole of his life and conversation, was of no avail to the essential happiness of God; but was of use to the saints, both for their proft and by way of example to them: but if spoken by him in the person of Christ, as it is clear the words are, then they carry in them an higher sense still; as, that the holiness of Christ, as man, added nothing to the perfection of God and his nature; that the obedience he yielded in it was for the sake of men, who had the advantage of it, and not God; that the satisfaction he made to divine justice for his people, God stood in no need of; he could have glorified his justice in the destruction of them, as well as in the apostate angels, the old world, and Sodom and Gomorrah: though the debt of obedience paid to the law, and the debt of punishment paid to justice in their room, has magnified the law and made it honourable; the benefit of this redounds to men only; who hereby have their debts paid, their scores cleared, and they stand free and discharged in open court. Though the glory of God is greatly displayed in salvation by Christ, the good will is to men; and all the good things he is come an high priest of, and that come thereby, come not to God, but to men; as peace, pardon, righ teousness, and eternal life. God is then a self-sufficient being, and needs nothing from without himself; nor does he receive any thing.

II. God is an all-sufficient Being, and has enough within himself to commu nicate to his creatures. He is able to do whatsoever he pleases, to fulfil all his engagements and promises, and to do exceeding abundantly above all that men ask or think. And so communicative and diffusive is his goodness, that it ex tends to all his creatures, and every good and perfect gift comes from him; which is a proof of his all-sufficiency: and which appears,

1. In his gifts of nature and providence; for he gives life and breath, and all things to his creatures, Acts xvii. 25. A painter may paint as near to life as can be, and a sculptor may give a statue its just features, and frame its limbs in

proper symmetry and proportion, but neither of them can give life and breath; but God is sufficient to do this, and has done it: he breathed into Adam the breath of life; and gives life to all his posterity; and is, with great propriety, called the God of their life, Psal. xlii. 8. and he is sufficient to support, maintain, and preserve the life he has given, and does, as long as he pleases, Job x. 12. and xii. 10. Psal. Ixvi. 9. and to provide for men all the necessaries of life, as food and raiment ; which Jacob was fully satisfied of, and therefore covenanted with God for them, Gen. xxviii. 20. and to take care of all the creatures; the fowls of heaven, and of the mountains; the beasts of the field and forest; and "the cattle on a thousand hills;" which, as they are his property, they are his care; and a large family they be to provide for every day, and food suitable to them; and yet this he is sufficient to do, and does; all wait upon him, and he gives them their portion of meat in due season, Psal. I. 10, 11. and civ. 27, 28. and cxlv. 15. and cxlvii. 9. yea, he is sufficient to govern the whole world; nor does he need any wisdom, counsel, advice, and assistance in it, from any of his creatures, Isai. xl. 13, 14. he disposes and over-rules all things as he pleases; and not only influences, directs, and manages, in matters of the greatest importance, which concern kings and governors, kingdoms and states, but even those of the lowest consideration and use; and so in all things intervening, or of a class between the one and the other, Psal, xxii. 28, Prov. viii. 15, 16. Matt. x. 29, 30. in a view of which it may well be said, O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! &c. What an all-sufficiency must he be possessed of! Rom. xi. 33.

11. God appears to be all-sufficient in the communications of his grace; he is the God of all grace, and is able to cause all grace to abound towards his people, and to supply all their wants out of that rich and glorious plenitude, and all-sufficiency in himself, by Jesus Christ; he has stored the covenant with all the blessings of grace; he has prevented Christ, the head and mediator of it with all the blessings of goodness; he has blessed his people in him with all spiritual blessings, and given them grace in him before the world began; and caused the fulness of it to dwell in him, which is always sufficient for them, sufficient for them in all ages and periods of time; for them of all nations and kingdoms throughout the world; for them in every state and condition of life; for all believers, weak or strong: and he has a sufficiency of it for all saving purposes; for their acceptance withGod, and justification before him; for the remission of their sins, and the cleansing of their souls, and for the supply of all their wants whilst they are in this state of imperfection; and he has a sufficiency of it to communicate to them at all times, when they are called to service, ordinary or extraordinary, to do or suffer for his name's sake: in times of affliction, temptation, desertion, and in the hour of death, to bear up under, and carry them through all, and bring them safe to his kingdom and glory, John i. 14, 16. 2 Cor. xii. 9. Phil. iv. 19. III. God is a perfect Being; entirely perfect, and wanting nothing; Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect, Matt. v. 48. his nature is

perfect: the more simple and uncompounded any being is, the more perfect it is. God is a Spirit, actus simplicissimus, the most pure, spiritual, simple, and uncompounded Being, and therefore the most perfect. No perfection of Deity is wanting in him; as appears from what has been under consideration. There is a fulness of the Godhead which dwells in Christ, and the same therefore must be in each divine person, and especially in God, essentially considered; and every attribute of his is perfect; he is perfectly immutable; there is no variableness in him, nor shadow of turning, James i. 17. he is perfect in knowledge, knows himself, and all creatures and things perfectly, Job xxxvii. 16. and there is a depth in his wisdom, as well as in his knowledge, which are unfathomable, Rom. xi. 33. and as for his power, nothing is too hard for him; nor is his hand shortened that it cannot save, Isai. xl. 26, 28. and lix. 1. and his holiness is without the least tarnish; in him are light, purity, and holiness, and no darkness of sin at all, 1 John i. 5. all the perfections and excellencies that are in creatures, angels, and men, are, in the most perfect manner, in him, agreeable to his nature; as they must, since they all come from him, James i. 17. and though there are some things which are excellencies in creatures, as the reasoning faculty in men, and faith in the christian, which properly speaking, cannot be said to be in God; yet these are such as would be imperfections in him; since the former supposes some want of knowledge, which the reasoning power is employed to find out, and the latter is but an obscure knowledge, and proceeds upon the authority of another; neither of which can be supposed in God, whose knowledge is clear and perfect, and to whom no authority is superior; and therefore the want of them does not infer any imperfection in him, but, on the contrary, the highest perfection. Once more, he is a rock, and his work is perfect, Deut. xxxiii. 4. his work of creation is finished, and so is the work of redemption, and, ere long, the mystery of providence will be finished, and the work of grace on the heart of every one of his elect; and as for God is way is perfect, Psal. xviii. 30. his ways of providence are without any just blame; every path of mercy and truth he pursues, he never leaves till he has finished it; and the way he prescribes to his people to walk in, is perfect; and the scriptures, which are of him, are able to make the man of God perfect, Rev. xv. 4. Psal. xxv. 10. and xix. 7. 2 Tim. i. 16, 17.

OF THE BLESSEDNESS OF GOD.

THAT the nature of God is most blessed, as well as eternal Epicurus himself asserted; and Velleius, an Epicurean, in Cicero, is say, that nothing can be thought of more blessed than the life of God, nor more abounding with all good things; he rejoices in his own wisdom and virtue, and assuredly knows that he ever shall be in the highest and eternal pleasures: this God, says he, we

De Natura Deorum, 1. 1.

fightly call blessed; though he wrongly represents him as neither doing nor designing any thing. Euryphamus, a Pythagorean philosopher, more clearly expresses himself; God, says he, needs no external cause; for he is quot, by nature good, and pure, by nature blessed, and is of himself perfect. From this attribute of blessedness the scriptures often stile God the blessed One, and the blessed God; Christ is called, the Son of the Blessed, Mark xiv. 61, 62. the Creator of all things is said to be, God blessed for ever, Rom. i. 25. 2 Cor. xi. 31. 1 Tim. i. II. and Christ, as a divine person, is so called, Rom. ix. 5. and nothing is more common with the Jews, in their writings and prayers, than to speak of God as the holy and blessed God. This attribute may be strongly concluded from the last treated of; for if God is a sufficient, and self-sufficient, and an all-sufficient Being, he must be happy; as well as from all the perfections of God put together, before discoursed of; his simplicity, immutability, infinity, eternity, omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, justice, holiness, truth, and faithfulness, all-sufficiency and perfection: he that is possessed of all these, and and in whom no perfection is wanting, must needs be completely blessed. It might be argued from his sovereign, extensive, and endless power and dominion: and from that light, glory, and majesty with which he is arrayed; by all which he is described, 1 Tim. vi. 15, 16. who is the blessed and only potentate, &c. he is a potentate, has power over others, but is not under the power of any; he is higher than the highest, the most high God; he is over angels and men; he rules in his own right, in right of creation; not by a delegated power; who hath given him charge over the earth? or who hath disposed the whole world? Job xxxiv. 13. he has the charge of the earth, and disposes of the whole world, and all persons and things in it; but has his authority for it of himself, and not` another; he has no rival, competitor, nor partner with him in his throne; he is not accountable to any, nor to be controuled by any; he is King of kings, and Lord of lords; and so most blessed and happy as a potentate; and as such will always continue. Who only hath immortality of himself, and gives it to others: and what mars the happiness of the greatest potentates on earth is, that they must and do die, like other men, Psal. lxxxii. 6, 7. and such is his light and splendor he is clothed with, so striking and dazzling, that none can bear to come unto it, and gaze upon it; dwelling in the light of his own essence; for he is light itself; and such is his glory and terrible majesty, as, that no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see; and which glory arises not from any single perfection of his, as his holiness, or any other, but from an assemblage of them all; see Exod. xxxiii. 18, 19. and xxxiv. 6, 7. In which glory lies his compleat and perfect happiness; and which he gives not to another. The blessedness of God may be considered,

I. As it is in himself; and lies chiefly in these two things, in a freedom from all evils, and in the possession of all good things.

Fragment. ad Calcem, Laert.