express, so is reason clear in attributing this property unto God. For, first, eternity is a perfection; such a perfection without which sometimes he would not have been, or sometime will not be, and, therefore, can never be absolutely perfect, and if so, no God. And, therefore, also all the arguments that prove the existence, as they prove the unity, so likewise the eternity of God: for what argument is an infallible proof of any truth, ever was, and ever will be, an infallible proof of the same truth. Now if God ever was not, nor ever would not be, that is, if he be not eternal, at such a time there is no God; and, therefore, all the arguments brought to prove the existence of a deity would then signify nothing and so it is as certain a truth that God is eternal, as that he is.

Again; if God be not eternal, he is temporal; that is, his essence and actions are measured by the motions and successions of time, which, being granted, would quite take away his divinity: for then he would not be the first cause, and so not God; having time before him, whereby he is measured; the thing measured always presupposing the thing it is measured by. And again, if God should thus have one part succeeding after another according to the motions of time, whereof some are past, some present, some to come, then every day, every hour, yea, every minute, he would lose some part of his divine essence, in whose place still some other part would be coming, and so the divine essence would be subject to changes and alterations, and he that is God to-day, would not be in every thing the same that he was yesterday, which is blasphemy to say.

And these arguments serve to prove his eternity in general, that he both was from eternity, and will be to eternity. I shall now prove them distinctly; and first, that he was from eternity; that is, he ever was, or it never could be said, God is not, or there is no God. For if ever God was not, then he had a beginning; if he had a beginning, he must needs have it from himself, or from some other person. From himself he could not have it, for before he was, he could not act any thing, much less give a being or beginning to himself: yea, it is a contradiction to say, a thing is not, and yet it is, which, notwithstanding, must be a real truth, if God ever was not, and yet was the Author of

life to himself: and that he did not receive his being from another is as clear, for then he would not be the first cause, and so not God; there being another before who gave his being to him, and so was the cause of him. And that he shall be too, is as clear as that he hath been from eternity; that he ever shall be, as that he ever was: for as, if he was not from eternity, he must have his beginning, so, if he be not to eternity, he must have his end from himself or from some other: from other any he person cannot, for all other persons and beings depend upon him, both for their existences and actions, and so can do nothing without his pleasure and concurrence, much less destroy his essence who preserves theirs: from himself he cannot have an end, lose his existence, or fall to nothing; for if so, it must be either because he is not able or not willing to uphold himself in his being that he is not unable is manifest, for there is no more power required to uphold himself to eternity, than there was to uphold himself from eternity, which that he did we before have proved: that he is not unwilling, is as evident as that he is not unable to uphold himself in his being to eternity; for otherwise, besides that all beings naturally are averse from their own destruction, and desire to be as long as they can, if God should not be willing to support himself, he would not will, nor so prefer his own Being before nothing, but would will and choose a nonentity before the existence of the chiefest good; and so must needs prefer the worse before the better: yea, the worst of things; nay, that that is worse than any thing, even nothing itself, before himself, the Being of all beings: by which means, to say God had rather not be than be, had rather fall away to nothing than continue in his being, is as much as to say, he is not God; he being one whose understanding is either not so perfect as to discern the worse from the better; or else one whose will is not so perfect But seeing all as to choose the better before the worse. imperfections are necessarily excluded from the notion of a deity, we cannot but believe God both perfectly to know the worse from the better, and perfectly to choose the better before the worse; and seeing it cannot but be acknowledged, that to be is better than not to be, we must needs acknowledge God to be as willing as able to support himself in his

being and existence to eternity. And therefore seeing that eternity is a perfection; seeing that the arguments that prove the existence, prove also the eternity of God; and seeing he could never receive his beginning, nor can ever have an end, either from himself or from any other person; we conclude, that as there is one living and true God, so this one God is everlasting.

3. As Scripture and reason, so do the ancient FATHERS frequently ascribe this perfection to the great God. Tertullian', according to his custom, most elegantly [saith]: 'There is no time in eternity, itself being all time. That which acts cannot suffer: that never grows old which could not be born. God, if he be old, there will be a time when he will not be ; if young, there was a time when he was not. Novelty testifies a beginning, and age threatens an end: but God is as much a stranger to beginning and ending as he is to time, the arbiter and measurer of beginning and ending.' And again, for it belongs to the divine nature, whatsoever it hath decreed, to account as perfect; for with it there is no difference of time, with whom the uniform state of time is directed by eternity itself." And Justin Martyr saith, that Plato gathered as much from these words, " I "I am what I am:" for Plato,' saith he, being much taken with that saying of God to Moses," I am what I am ;" and receiving (or understanding) by much contemplation the short sentence expressed by a participle, perceived how God, willing to manifest his eternity to Moses, said, “I am

y Non habet tempus æternitas. Omne enim tempus ipsa est. Quod facit, pati non potest; caret ætate, quod non licet nasci. Deus, si est vetus, non erit: si est novus, non fuit. Novitas initium testificatur, vetustas finem comminatur. Deus autem tam alienus ab initio et fine est, quàm à tempore, arbitro et metatore initii et finis.-Tertul. Par. 1634. adv. Marcion. lib. i. cap. 8.

z Nam et divinitati competit, quæcunque decreverit ut perfecta reputare, quia non sit apud illam differentia temporis, apud quam uniformem statum temporum dirigit æternitas ipsa.-Id. Par. 1634. adv. Marcion. lib. iii. cap. 5. p. 479. D.

* Αρεσθεὶς γὰς [ὁ Πλάτων] τῷ ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς τὸν Μωσέα εἰ εἰρημένω, ἐγὼ εἰμι ὁ ἂν, καὶ τὴν βραχεῖαν δία τῆς μετοχῆς εἰρημένην ῥῆσιν μετα πολλῆς θεωρίας δεξάμενος, ἔγνω ὅτι τὴν ἀϊδιότητα αὐτοῦ ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Μωσῇ σημήναι θέλων, ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὢν, ἔφη, τῆς ὢν συλλαβῆς, οὐχ ̓ ἕνα μόνον δηλούσης, ἀλλὰ τοὺς τρεῖς τον τε παρεληλυθότα καὶ τὸν ἐνεστῶτα nai ròv peλhorta.—Justin. Martyr. Par. 1656. p. 25. E. & 24. A.

what I am;" the syllable am signifying not one, but three times, past, present, and to come.' And so Minutius Felix ". 'Dost thou believe that the Supreme Power in heaven is divided, and all the power of that true and divine power is parted? When it is manifest, that the Maker of all things, God, hath neither beginning, nor end; who bestows nativity upon all things else, but perpetuity upon himself: who was before the world, being a world unto himself.' And Augustin, God only is immutable: because nothing, that is past, is passed from him, neither will any thing that is to come, be added to him; but whatsoever is, was, or is to come, is wholly present unto him. And as we can think of nothing in him that had a beginning, so neither can we think of any thing in him that shall ever have an end.' And again, that reverend father in his heavenly meditations and confessions speaks thus to God: But if there was no time before heaven and earth, why should any one ask, what thọụ then didst? for there was no then, where there was no time: neither wast thou before time in time; for so thou wouldst not have been before all time: but thou art before all time

Tu in cœlo summam potestatem dividi credis, scindi veri illius ac divini imperii totam potestatem? cum palam sit parentem omnium Deum, nec principium habere nec terininum ; qui nativitatem omnibus præstet, sibi perpetuitatem: qui ante mundum fuerit sibi ipse pro mundo, &c.- - Minut. Fel. Octav. Lug. Bat. 1652. p. 18.

c Deus solus est immutabilis, quia nihil præteriti ei decedit, nihil futuri accedit, sed quicquid est vel fuit vel erit, totum sibi semper præsens adest: et sicut non potest cogitari quod aliquando initium habuerit, ita quoque non potest cogitari quod unquam finiri possit.— Aug. de Cognit. Vera Vita, ed. Ben. Par. 1689. cap. 31.

d Si autem ante cœlum et terram nullum erat tempus, cur quæritur quid tunc faciebas? Non enim erat tunc, ubi non erat tempus. Nec tu tempore tempora præcedis, alioquin non omnia tempora præcederes. Sed præcedis omnia præterita celsitudine semper præsentis æternitatis; et superas omnia futura, quia illa futura sunt, et cùm venerint, præterita erunt. Tu autem idem ipse es, et anni tui non deficiunt. Anni tui nec eunt nec veniunt: isti autem nostri et eunt et veniunt, ut omnes veniant. Anni tui omnes simul stant, quoniam stant; nec euntes à venientibus excluduntur, quia non transeunt: isti autem nostri omnes erunt, cùm omnes non erunt. Anni tui dies unus; et dies tuus, non quotidiè, sed hodiè: quia hodiernus tuus non cedit crastino, neque enim succedit hesterno: hodiernus tuus æternitas ; ideo coæternum genuisti cui dixisti, Ego hodiè genui te.' Aug. Confess. lib. xi. cap. 13. Ed. Ben. Par. 1689.

past, in the height of eternity always present, and art above all futures, because they are futures, and when they are come, will be past: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end; thy years do not go nor come, but ours go and come, that they may all come. Thy years stand all together, because they always stand: neither are they that go excluded by them that come, because they do not pass away but ours will be all, when they will not all be. Thy years are but one day, and thy day is not every day, but to-day. For thy to-day doth not give place to to-morrow, for neither did it come into the place of yesterday. Thy to-day is eternity; therefore didst thou beget one co-eternal with thyself to whom thou saidst, "This day I have begotten thee:" therefore (throwing other testimonies into the margin), we conclude from Scripture, reason, and fathers, that this one God is everlasting.

WITHOUT BODY, PARTS, OR PASSIONS.

When we poor finite creatures set ourselves to consider of our infinite Creator, though we may apprehend something of him by ascribing to him all perfections; yet we apprehend still more by removing all imperfections from him. We cannot so well know or tell what he is, as what he is not. We can say, indeed, he is infinitely good, infinitely wise in and of himself, eternal and all-sufficient, but, alas! when we speak such words, we cannot apprehend the thing that is signified by them. Our understandings, being finite, are not able to apprehend what it is to be infinite, and as they are imperfect, cannot conceive of any perfection whatsoever,

To these we might add that of Lactantius. Nam profectò in hominibus cæterisque animantibus diversitas sexâs et coitio et generatio nullam habet aliam rationem, nisi ut omnia genera viventium, quando sunt conditione mortalitatis obitura, mutuâ possint successione servări. Deo autem, qui est sempiternus, neque alter sexus, neque successio necessaria est.-Lact. de Falsa Relig. lib. i. cap. 8. p. 33. Oxon. 1684. And the Sibyls, Orac. P. 215. 1. 2. Par. 1670.

̓Αλλ' αὐτὸς ἀνέδειξεν αἰῶνος αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν,

Οντα τε, καὶ πρὶν ἔοντα, ἀτὰρ παλι καὶ μετέπειτα.

And therefore I conclude this with that fourth article of the Jewish faith,

i. e. I perfectly believe that he אני מאמין באמונה שלמה שיש הוא ראשון והוא אחרון

is the first and the last.'-V. Maim. in Sanh. cap. 10.