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of men for it, to inure them to ideas of it, to raise their expectation of it, and strengthen their faith in it; and the rather since these attributions were more fre quent before the coming of Christ in the flesh, and very rarely used afterwards. Nor will the formation of man in the image, and after the likeness of God, afford a sufficient argument to prove that there is something corporeal in God, seeing man has a soul or spirit, in which this image and likeness chiefly and principally lay; and which was originally created in righteousness and holiness, in wisdom and knowledge: and though he has a body also; yet, inasmuch as a body was prepared in the council and covenant of grace, from eternity, for the Son of God to assume in time; and in the book of God's eternal purposes, all the members of it were written; which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them, Heb. x. 5. Psal. cxxxix. 16. God might, according to the idea of it in his eternal mind, form the body of the first man.

II. The description of God, as a Spirit, teaches us to ascribe to God all the excellencies to be found in spirits in a more eminent manner, and to consider them as transcendent and infinite in him. By spirits, I understand not subtilized bodies, extracted out of various things; nor the wind and air, so called because invisible, and very piercing and penetrating, though bodies, and very ponderous ones; nor the spirits of animals, which are material, die, and go downwards to the earth: but rational spirits, angels, and the souls of men; the former are called spirits, Zech. vi. 5. Heb. i. 13. and so are the latter, Job xxxii. 8. Heb. xii. 23. they are indeed created spirits, Psal. civ. 4. Zech. xii. 1. but God an uncreated one, and is the Creator of these, and therefore said to be, "the Father of spirits," Heb. xii. 9. these are creatures of time, and finite beings; made since the world was, and are not every where: but God is an eternal infinite, and immense Spirit, from everlasting to everlasting; and whom "the heaven of heavens cannot contain;" yet there are some excellencies in spirits, which may lead more easily to conceive somewhat of God, and of his divine nature.

Spirits are immaterial, have no corporal parts, as flesh, blood, and bones, Luke xxiv. 39. and though eyes, hands, &c. are ascribed to God, yet not of flesh, Job x. 4. but such as express what is suitable to spiritual beings in the most exalted sense. Spirits are incorruptible; for having no matter about them, they are not liable to corruption; they are, indeed, capable of moral corruption, as appears from the angels that sinned, and from the depravity of the souls of men by the fall; but not of natural corruption: but God is not subject to corruption in any sense, and is therefore called the incorruptible God, Rom. i. 23. Spirits are immortal; angels die not, Luke xx. 36. the souls of men cannot be killed, Matt, x. 28. not consisting of parts, that are capable of being divided and separated, they cannot be brought to destruction. It is one of the characters of God, that he is immortal, yea, only hath immortality; and so more transcendently, and in a more eminent manner immortal than angels, and the souls of men; he has it of himself, and underivatively, and is the giver of it to others, 1 Tim. i. 17. and vi. 16. Spirits are invisible; it is a vulgar mistake that they

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are to be seen; who ever saw the soul of a man? or an angel, in its pure whenever they have made themselves visible, it has been by assuming another form, and human one. "God is invisible and dwells in light, which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see," 1 Tim. i. 17. and vi. 16. and therefore as no likeness and similitude of a spirit can be formed and taken, so none of God: who can tell of what colour, form and figure, shape and size, the soul of a man is? nor can any describe the form and figure of an angel: as for the pictures, paintings, and sculptures of them, they are the fruit of mere fancy and imagination, and at most but emblematical: because angels have appeared in an human form, therefore they are painted as young men; and because of their quick dispatch, and swiftness, in doing the errands and messages they have been sent upon, wings are given them; but never was such a creature in real being, or ever seen in the whole world, in any age, as a young man with wings at his shoulders. So no likeness can be formed of God: no similitude was ever seen of him, and to whom can be likened and compared? Deut. iv. 12. Isai. xl. 18. and xlvi. 5. Some of the Heathens' have acknowledged the invisibility of God, as a Spirit; and Aristotle' argues the invisibility of God, from the invisibility of the soul of man.

But besides these properties, there are others still more excellent in spirits, by which they approach nearer to God, and bear a greater resemblance to him, and serve to give us clearer ideas of his nature; they are living, active, endowed with understanding, will, and affections; they are lively, have a principle of life; angels are commonly thought to be the living creatures in Ezekiel's vision; however, they are such, and so the souls of men: the body of Adam, when first made, was a lifeless lump of clay; but when God breathed into him the breath of life, "he became a living soul," Gen. ii. 7. God is the living God, has life in and of himself, and gives life to all creatures that have it. Spirits are active, and can operate upon others, as the souls of men on their bodies; God is all act, actus simplicissimus, as he is sometimes stiled, the most simple act; there is nothing passive in him, as matter, to be wrought upon; he works, and always works; and "all creatures live and move, and have their being in him," John v. 17. Acts xvii. 28. Spirits, angels, and the souls of men, are intelligent beings, have a faculty of understanding things natural and spiritual; the understanding of God is infinite, there is no searching of it, he understands himself, and all created beings, and their natures, Psal. cxlvii. 6. Isai. xl. 28. Spirits have the power of willing, they are voluntary agents; and God wills whatever he does, and does whatever he wills; his will is boundless, uncontroulable, and sovereign, Psal. cxv. 3. Dan. iv. 35. Spirits have the affections of love, mercy, pity, &c. God not only loves his creatures, but "is love itself," 1 John iv. 16. "His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting, on them that fear him;" and he pities them as a father pities his children, Psal. ciii. 13, 17.

Philemon & Orpheus apud Juftin, de Monarch. p. 104, 105. nutius Felix, in octavio, p. 35, 36.

De Mundo, c. 6. so Mi

III. God being a Spirit, we learn that he is a simple and uncompounded Being, and does not consist of parts, as a body does; his spirituality involves his simplicity; some indeed consider this as an attribute of God; and his spirituality also; and, indeed, every attribute of God, is God himself, is his nature, and are only so many ways of considering it, or are so many displays of it. However, it is certain God is not composed of parts, in any sense; not in a physical sense, of essential parts, as matter and form, of which bodies consist: nor of integral parts, as soul and body, of which men consist: nor in a metaphy sical sense, as of essence and existence, of act and power: nor in a logical sense, as of kind and difference, substance and accident; all which would argue im perfection, weakness, and mutability. If God was composed of parts he would not be eternal, and absolutely the first Being, since the composing parts, would, at least, co-exist with him; besides, the composing parts, in our conception of them, would be prior to the compositum; as the body and soul of man, of which he is composed, are prior to his being a man: and, beside, there must be a composer, who puts the parts together, and therefore must be before what is composed of them; all which is inconsistent with the eternity of God: nor would he be infinite and immense; for either these parts are finite, or infinite; if finite they can never compose an infinite Being; and if infinite, there must be more infinites than one, which implies a contradiction: nor would he be independent; for what is composed of parts, depends upon those parts, and the union of them, by which it is preserved: nor would he be immutable, unalterable, and immortal; since what consists of parts, and depends upon the union of them, is liable to alteration, and to be resolved into those parts again, and so be dissolved and come to destruction. In short, he would not be the most perfect of Beings; for as the more spiritual a being is, the more perfect it is; and so it is, the more simple and uncompounded it is; as even all things in nature are more noble, and more pure, the more free they are from composition and mixture.

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Nor is the simplicity of God to be disproved by the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead; for though there are three distinct persons, there is but cone nature and essence common to them all, and which is not parted and divided among but is jointly and equally possessed by them; nor do these persons really differ from the divine nature and essence, nor from one another, but by their distinct modes of subsisting; so that they only distinguish and modify, but do neither divide nor compose the divine nature: nor is it to be disproved by the decrees of God; the decrees of God are within himself, and, as it is commonly said, whatever is in God, is God, and so are no other than God himself, as to the act of decreeing, though not with respect to the things decreed; and though they are many and various, as to the objects of them, yet not in God, who, by one eternal act, in his infinite mind, has decreed every thing that has been, is, or shall

* απλων σε είναι, καὶ παντων ήκισα της εαυτώ ίδιας εκθαμεν, is simple, and least of all departs from bis own idea, remains always simply in his own form, Plato de Repub. 1. z. p.

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be; and this is what Plato" means by sv xal moλa one and many in God; one as to his essence; many, as to the ideas and decrees in it, which many are one: nor is it to be disproved by the attributes of God; for they are no other than God himself, and neither differ from one another, but with respect to their objects, and effects, and in our manner of conception of them; nor from the nature and essence of God; they are himself, and his nature; he is not only eternal, wise, good, loving, &c. but he is eternity itself, wisdom itself, goodness itself, love itseif, &c. and these are not parts of his nature, but displays of the same undivided nature, and are different considerations of it, in which we view it; our minds being so weak as not to be able to conceive of God at once and together, and in the gross, but one thing after another, and the same in different lights, that we may better understand it: these several things, called attributes, which are one in God, are predicated of him, and ascribed to him distinctly, for helps to our finite understandings, and for the relief of our minds; and that we, with more facility and ease, might conceive of the nature of God, and take in more of him as we can by parcels and piecemeals, than in the whole; and so, as a learned Jew observes, all those attributes are only intellectual notions; by which are conceived the perfections that are in the essence of Gol, but in reality are nothing but his essence; and which attributes will be next considered.

OF THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD.

THE attributes of God are variously distinguished by divines; some distinguish them into negative and positive, or affirmative: the negative are such as remove from him whatever is imperfect in creatures; such are infinity, immutability, immortality, &c. which deny him to be finite, mutable, and mortal; and, indeed, it is easier to say what God is not, than what he is: the positive, or affirmative, are such as assert some perfection in God, which is in and of himself; and which in the creatures, in any measure, is from him, as wisdom, goodness, justice, holiness, &c. but the distinction is discarded by others; because in all negative attributes some positive excellency is found. Some distribute them into a two-fold order, first and second: Attributes, or essential properties of the first order, declare the essence of God as in himself, such as his simplicity and perfection, infinity and immutability; and attributes, or esential properties of the second order, which though primarily and properly, and naturally, and infinitely, and in a more excellent manner are in God, than in creatures; yet secondarily, and in an analogical sense, are in them, there being some similitude of them in them, of which there is none of the former order in them; these are said to be life and immortality, blessedness and glory. Again, some are said to be absolute, and others relative: absolute ones are such In Philebo, 'p. 372, &c. and in Parmenide, p. 1110, &c. Ikkarim, 1. 2. c. 8.

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as eternally agree with the essence of God, without respect to his creatures, and are expressed by names, Jehovah, Jah, &c. relative ones are such as agree with him in time, with some certain respect to his creatures, and are expressed by his being their Creator, Governor, Preserver, Redeemer, &c. some are called proper, as those before mentioned; and others figurative, signified by the parts of the human body, and the affections of the mind, as observed in the preceding chapter: but the more commonly received distinction of the attributes of God, is into the communicable and incommunicable ones; the incommunicable attributes of God, are such as there is no appearance or shadow of them in creatures; as independence, immutability, immensity, and eternity: communicable ones, are such as are common to God, with men; or, however, of which there is some resemblance in men, as goodness, holiness, justice, and wisdom; yet of these it may be said, that they are incommunicable, as they are in God, in whom they are infinite, and cannot, as such, be communicated to finite creatures: none but God is essentially, originally, underivately, perfectly, and infinitely good, holy, just, and wise. But as God is defined a Spirit in Scripture, as has been observed, I shall endeavour to sort the perfections and attributes of God in agreement with that; and with respect to his nature, as an uncreated Spirit, may be referred, besides his spirituality and simplicity, already considered, his immutability, and infinity, which includes his immensity, or omnipresence, and eternity: and with respect to it as active, and operative, the life of God, and his omnipotence: and with respect to the faculties, as a rational spirit, particularly the understanding, to which may belong, his omniscience, and manifold wisdom; and the will, under which may be considered the acts of that, and the sovereignty of it; and the affections, to which may be reduced, the love, grace, mercy, hatred, anger, patience, and long-suffering of God: and lastly, under the notions of qualities and virtues, may be considered, his goodness, holiness, justice, truth, and faithfulness; and, as the complement of the whole, his perfection or all-sufficiency, glory, and blessedness: and in this order I shall consider them. And begin with,

The Immutability of God; which arises from, and is closely connected with his spirituality and simplicity, or is what agrees with him, and is necessary to him as a spiritual, simple and uncompounded Being*.

Immutability is an attribute which God claims, and challenges as peculiar to himself; I am the Lord, I change not, Mal. iii. 6. Mutability belongs to creatures, immutability to God only; creatures change, but he does not: the heavens and the earth, which he has made, are not always the same; but "he is the same for ever:" the visible heavens are often changing; they are sometimes serene and clear, at other times covered with clouds and darkness, and filled with meteors, snow, rain, hail, &c. the face of the earth appears different at the various seasons of the year, and is particularly renewed every spring: it has un* το θείον αμετάβλητον αναγκαίον είναι, Arlot, de Coclo, l. 1. c. 9. πας θεος αμετάβλητος, Sallust. de Diis, c. 1. 2.

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