Existence and Attributes of God, Discourse 6

Existence and Attributes of God · Discourse 6

p. 203A DISCOURSE UPON THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD.

Pſalm 102.26, 27.

They ſhall periſh, but thou ſhalt endure; yea, all of them ſhall wax old as a Garment; as a Veſture ſhalt thou change them, and they ſhall be changed: But thou art the ſame, and thy years ſhall have no end.

THIS Pſalm contains a Complaint of a People preſſed with a great Calamity; ſome think of the Jewiſh Church in Babylon, others think the Pſalmiſt doth here perſonate Mankind lying under a ſtate of corruption, becauſe he wiſhes for the coming of the Meſſiah, to accompliſh that Redemption promiſed by God and needed by them. Indeed the title of the Pſalm is a Prayer of the Afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and pours out his complaint before the Lord: Whether afflicted with the ſenſe of corruption, or with the ſenſe of oppreſſion. And the Redemption by the Meſſiah, which the ancient Church looked upon as the fountain of their Deliverance from a ſinful or a ſervile Bondage, is in this Pſalm ſpoken of: A ſet time appointed for the diſcovery of his mercy to Sion, v. 13. An appearance in glory to build up Sion, v. 16. The looſing of the Priſoner by Redemption, and them that are appointed to Death, v. 20. The calling of the Gentiles, v. 22. And the latter part of the Pſalm, wherein are the verſe I have read, are applied to Chriſt, Heb. 1. Whatſoever the deſign of the Pſalm might be, many things are intermingled that concern the Kingdom of the Meſſiah, and Redemption by Chriſt.

Some make three parts of the Pſalm,

1. A Petition plainly delivered, v. 1.2. Hear my Prayer oh Lord, and let my cry come unto thee, &c.

2. The Petition ſtrongly and argumentatively enforced and pleaded, v. 3. from the miſery of the Petitioner in himſelf, and his reproach from his Enemies.

3. An acting of Faith in the expectation of an Anſwer in the general Redemption promiſed, v. 12, 13. But thou oh Lord ſhalt endure for ever; thou ſhalt ariſe and have mercy upon Sion; The Heathen ſhall fear thy Name.

p. 204The firſt part is the Petition pleaded; the ſecond part is the Petition anſwered in an aſſurance, that there ſhould in time be a full deliverance.**Pareus. The deſign of the Pen-man, is to confirm the Church in the truth of the Divine Promiſes; that though the foundations of the World ſhould be ript up, and the Heavens clatter together, and the whole Fabrick of them be unpinn'd and fall to pieces, the firmeſt parts of it diſſolved; yet the Church ſhould continue in its ſtability, becauſe it ſtands not upon the changeableneſs of Creatures, but is built upon the immutable Rock of the truth God, which is as little ſubject to change as his Eſſence:

They ſhall periſh, thou ſhalt change them. As he had before aſcribed to God the foundation of Heaven and Earth **verſe 25., ſo he aſcribes to God here the deſtruction of them: Both the beginning and end of the World are here aſcertained. There is nothing indeed from the preſent appearance of things that can demonſtrate the ceſſation of the world; The Heaven and Earth ſtand firm; the motions of the heavenly Bodies are the ſame, their beautie is not decayed: Individuals corrupt, but the Species and Kinds remain: The Succeſſions of the Year obſerve their due order; but the Sin of Man renders the change of the preſent appearance of the world neceſſary, to accompliſh the deſign of God for the glory of his Elect. The Heavens do not naturally periſh, as ſome fancied an old age of the world, wherein it muſt neceſſarily decay as the Bodies of Animals do; or that the parts of the Heavens are broken off by their rubbing one againſt another in their motion, and falling to the Earth, are the Seeds of thoſe things that grow among us.**Plin. Hiſt. lib. 2. cap. 3.

The Earth and Heavens. He names here the moſt ſtable parts of the world, and the moſt beautiful parts of the Creation; thoſe that are freeſt from corruptibility and change, to illuſtrate thereby the Immutability of God; that though the Heavens and Earth have a Prerogative of fixedneſs above other parts of the world, and the Creatures that reſide below; the Heavens remain the ſame as they were created, and the Center of the Earth retains its fixedneſs, and are as beautiful and freſh in their age as they were in their youth many years ago, notwithſtanding the change of the Elements; Fire and Water being often turned into Air, ſo that there may remain but little of that Air which was firſt created by reaſon of the continual tranſmutation; yet this firmneſs of the Earth and Heavens, is not to be regarded in compariſon of the unmoveableneſs and fixedneſs of the Being of God: As their beauty comes ſhort of the glory of his Being, ſo doth their firmneſs come ſhort of his ſtability.

Some by Heavens and Earth, underſtand the Creatures which reſide in the Earth, and thoſe which are in the Air, which is called Heaven often in Scripture; but the ruin and fall of theſe being ſeen every day, had been no fit illuſtration of the unchangeableneſs of God.

They ſhall periſh, they ſhall be changed.

1. They may periſh, ſay ſome; they have it not from themſelves that they do not periſh, but from thee, who didſt endue them with an incorruptible nature; They ſhall periſh if thou ſpeakeſt the word; Thou canſt with as much eaſe deſtroy them as thou didſt create them: But the Pſalmiſt ſpeaks not of their poſſibility, but the certainty of their periſhing.

2. They ſhall periſh in their qualities and motion, not in their ſubſtance, ſay others: They ſhall ceaſe from that motion which is deſigned properly for the generation and corruption of things in the Earth; but in regard of their ſubſtance and beauty they ſhall remain: As when the ſtrings or Wheels of a Clock or Watch are taken off, the material parts remain; though the motion of it, and the uſe for diſcovering the time of the day ceaſeth.**Coccei. in loc. To periſh, doth not ſignify alway a falling into nothing, an annihilation, by which both the matter and the form are deſtroyed; but a ceaſing of the preſent apearance of them; a ceaſing to be what they now are, as a man is ſaid to periſh when he dies, whereas the better part of man doth not ceaſe to be: The figure of the Body moulders away, and the matter of it returns to Duſt; but the Soul being immortal ceaſeth not to act, when the Body by reaſon of the abſence of the Soul is uncapable of acting. So the Heavens ſhall periſh; the appearance they now have ſhall vaniſh, and a more glorious and incorruptible frame be erected by the power and goodneſs of God. The diſſolution of Heaven and Earth is meant by the word [periſh]; the raiſing a new frame is ſignified by the word p. 205[changed]; as if the Spirit of God would prevent any wrong meaning of the word [periſh] by alleviating the ſenſe of that, by another which ſignifies only a mutation and change; as when we change a Habit and Garment, we quit the old to receive the new.

[As a Garment, as a Veſture.] Thou ſhalt change them**Septuag., foreign Thou ſhalt fold them up. The Heavens are compared to a Curtain**Pſal. 104.2.Ps 104:2, and ſhall in due time be folded up as Clothes and Curtains are. As a Garment encompaſſeth the whole body, ſo do the Heavens encircle the Earth.**Eſtius in Heb. 1.Heb 1 Some ſay, as a Garment is folded up to be laid aſide, that when there is need it may be taken again for uſe; ſo ſhalt thou fold up the Heavens like a Garment, that when they are repaired, thou mayeſt again ſtretch them out about the Earth; Thou ſhalt fold them up, ſo that what did appear ſhall not now appear. It may be illuſtrated by the metaphor of a Scrole or Book, which the Spirit of God uſeth, Iſa. 34.4. Rev. 6.14. The Heavens departed as a Scrole when it is rouled together. When a Book is rouled up or ſhut, nothing can be read in it till it be opened again; ſo the Face of the Heavens, wherein the Stars are as Letters declaring the Glory of God, ſhall be ſhut or rouled together, ſo that nothing ſhall appear, till by its renovation it be opened again: As a Garment it ſhall be changed, not to be uſed in the ſame faſhion and for the ſame uſe again. It ſeems indeed to be for the worſe; an old Garment is not changed but into raggs, to be put to other uſes, and afterwards thrown upon the Dung-hill: But Similitudes are not to be preſſed too far; and this will not agree with the new Heavens and new Earth, phyſically ſo, as well as metaphorically ſo. 'Tis not likely the Heavens will be put to a worſe uſe than God deſigned them for in Creation: However a change as a Garment, ſpeaks not a total corruption, but an alteration of qualities; as a Garment not to be uſed in the ſame faſhion, as before. We may obſerve,

1. That … probable, the world ſhall not be annihilated but refin'd. It ſhall loſe its preſent form and faſhion, but not its foundation: Indeed as God raiſed it from nothing, ſo he can reduce it into nothing; yet it doth not appear that God will annihilate it, and utterly deſtroy both the matter and form of it; part ſhall be conſumed, and part purified, 2 Pet. 3.12, 13. The Heavens ſhall be on fire and diſſolved, nevertheleſs we according to his promiſe look for a new Heaven and a new Earth. They ſhall be melted down as Gold by the Artificer, to be refined from its Droſs, and wrought into a more beautiful faſhion, that they may ſerve the deſign of God for thoſe that ſhall reſide therein; a new world wherein Righteouſneſs ſhall dwell: The Apoſtle oppoſing it thereby, to the old world wherein wickedneſs did reſide. The Heavens are to be purged, as the Veſſels that held the Sin-offering were to be purified by the fire of the Sanctuary.

God indeed will take down this Scaffold which he hath built to publiſh his Glory. As every Individual hath a certain term of its duration; ſo an end is appointed for th… univerſal nature of Heaven and Earth, Iſa. 51.6. The Heavens ſhall vaniſh like Smoke, which diſappears. As Smoke is reſolved and attenuated into Air, not annihilated; So ſhall the world aſſume a new face, and have a greater clearneſs and ſplendor: As the Bodies of Men diſſolved into Duſt, ſhall have more glorious qualities at their Reſurrection: As a Veſſel of Gold is melted down to remove the batterings in it, and receive a more comely Form by the Skill of the Workman.

(1.) The world was not deſtroyed by the Deluge: It was rather waſhed by water, than conſumed; So it ſhall be rather refined by the laſt fire, than lie under an irrecoverable ruin.

(2.) 'Tis not likely God would liken the everlaſtingneſs of his Covenant, and the perpetuity of his ſpiritual Iſrael, to the duration of the ordinances of the Heavens, (as he doth in Jer. 21.35, 36.) if they were wholly to depart from before him*. Though that place may only tend to an aſſurance of a Church in the world while the world endures; yet it would be but ſmall comfort, if the happineſs of Believers ſhould endure no longer than the Heavens and Earth, if they were to have a total period.

(3.) Beſides, the Bodies of the Saints muſt have place for their ſupport to move in, and glorious objects ſuted to theſe glorious ſenſes which ſhall be reſtored to them; Not in any carnal way, which our Saviour rejects, when he ſaith there is no eating, or drinking, or marrying, &c. in the other world; but whereby they may glorify God; though how or in what manner their ſenſes ſhall be uſed, would be raſhneſs to determine; p. 206only ſomething is neceſſary for the corporeal ſtate of men, that there may be an employment for their Senſes as well as their Souls.

(4.) Again, How could the Creature, the world or any part of it be ſaid to be delivered from the bondage of Corruption, **Rom. 8.21.Rom 8:21into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God; if the whole Frame of Heaven and Earth were to be annihilated, Rom. 8.21? The Apoſtle ſaith alſo that the Creature waits with an earneſt expectation for this manifeſtation of the Sons of God, v. 19. which would have no foundation, if the whole frame ſhould be reduced to nothing. What joyful expectation can there be in any of a total ruin? How ſhould the Creature be capable of partaking in this glorious liberty of the Sons of God?**H…per. in Heb. 1.Heb 1 As the World for the ſin of man loſt its firſt dignity, and was curſed after the fall, and the beauty beſtowed upon it by creation defaced; So it ſhall recover that ancient glory, when he ſhall be fully reſtored by the Reſurrection to that dignity he loſt by his firſt ſin. As Man ſhall be freed from his corruptibility to receive that glory which is prepared for him; ſo ſhall the Creatures be freed from that imperfection or corruptibility, thoſe ſtains and ſpots upon the face of them, to receive a new glory ſuted to their nature and anſwerable to the deſign of God, when the glorious liberty of the Saints ſhall be accompliſht.**Meſtraezat ſur. Heb. 1.Heb 1 As when a Princes Nuptials are ſolemnized, the whole Country eccho's with joy; So the inanimate Creatures, when the time of the Marriage of the Lamb is come, ſhall have a delight and pleaſure from that renovation. The Apoſtle ſets forth the whole world as a perſon groaning, and the Scripture is frequent in ſuch Metaphors; as when the Creatures are ſaid to wait upon God, and to be troubled **Pſal. 104.27, 29.Ps 104:27Ps 104:29; the Hills are ſaid to leap, and the Mountains to rejoyce: The Creature is ſaid to groan, as the Heavens are ſaid to declare the glory of God, paſſively, naturally, not rationally. 'Tis not likely Angels are here meant, though they cannot but deſire it; ſince they are affected with the diſhonour and reproach God hath in the world, they cannot but long for the reſtoration of his honour in the reſtoration of the Creature to its true end: And indeed the Angels are employed to ſerve man in this ſinful ſtate, and cannot but in holineſs wiſh the Creature freed from his corruption: Nor is it meant of the new Creatures which have the firſt fruits of the Spirit, thoſe he brings in afterwards, groaning and waiting for the Adoption **Verſe 23.; where he diſtinguiſheth the rational Creature from the Creature he had ſpoken of before: If he had meant the believing Creature by that Creature that deſired the liberty of the Sons of God; what need had there been of that additional diſtinction, and not only they, but we alſo who have the firſt fruits of the Spirit, groan within our ſelves? Whereby it ſeems he means ſome Creatures below rational Creatures, ſince neither Angels nor bleſſed Souls can be ſaid to travail in pain, with that diſtreſs as a Woman in travail hath, as the word ſignifies, who perform the work joyfully which God ſets them upon**Meſtraezat fur. Heb. 1.Heb 1. If the Creatures be ſubject to vanity by the ſin of man, they ſhall alſo partake of a happineſs by the reſtoration of man. The E…h hath born Thorns and Thiſtles, and venemous Beaſts; The Air hath had its Tempeſts and infectious Qualities; The Water hath cauſed its Flouds and Deluges. The Creature hath been abuſed to luxury and intemperance, and been tyranniz'd over by Man, contrary to the end of its creation: 'Tis convenient that ſome time ſhould be allotted for the Creature's attaining its true end, and that it may partake of the peace of Man, as it hath done of the fruits of his ſin; otherwiſe it would ſeem that ſin had prevailed more than grace, and would have had more power to deface than grace to reſtore and things into their due order.

5. Again, upon what account ſhould the Pſalmiſt exhort the Heavens to rejoyce, and the Earth to be glad, when God comes to judge the world with Righteouſneſs **Pſal. 96.11, 12, 13.Ps 96:11Ps 96:12Ps 96:13; if they ſhould be annihilated and ſunk for ever into nothing? It would ſeem, ſaith Daille, to be an impertinent figure, if the Judge of the world brought to them a total deſtruction; an entire ruin could not be matter of triumph to Creatures, who naturally have that inſtinct or inclination put into them by their Creator to preſerve themſelves, and to affect their own preſervation.

6. Again, The Lord is to rejoyce in his works, Pſal. 104.31. The Glory of the Lord ſhall endure for ever; the Lord ſhall rejoyce in his works; not hath, but ſhall rejoyce in his works: In the works of Creation; which the Pſalmiſt had enumerated, and which is the whole ſcope of the Pſalm: And he intimates that it is part of the glory of the Lord which endures for ever, that is, his manifeſtative glory, to rejoyce in his p. 207works: The Glory of the Lord muſt be underſtood with reference to the Creation he had ſpoken of before. How ſhort was that joy God had in his works after he had ſent them beautified out of his hand? How ſoon did he repent, not only that he had made Man, but was grieved at the heart alſo, that he made the other Creatures which Man's ſin had diſordered? What joy can God have in them,**Gen. 6.7.Gen 6:7 ſince the Curſe upon the entrance of ſin into the world remains upon them? If they are to be annihilated upon the full reſtoration of his Holineſs, what time will God have to rejoyce in the other works of Creation? 'Tis the joy of God to ſee all his works in their due order; every one pointing to their true end; marching together in their excellency, according to his firſt intendment in their Creation. Did God create the World to perform its end only for one day; ſcarce ſo much, if Adam fell the very firſt day of his Creation? What would have been their end, if Adam had been confirm'd in a ſtate of happineſs as the Angels were; 'Tis likely will be anſwered and performed upon the compleat reſtoration of Man to that happy ſtate from whence he fell. What Artificer compiles a work by his skill, but to rejoyce in it? And ſhall God have no joy from the works of his hands. Since God can only rejoyce in goodneſs, the Creatures muſt have that goodneſs reſtored to them which God pronounced them to have at the firſt Creation, and which he ordained them for, before he can again rejoyce in his works: The goodneſs of the Creatures is the glory and joy of God.

Inference 1. We may infer from hence, what a baſe and vile thing Sin is, which lays the foundation of the worlds change. Sin brings it to a decrepit age: Sin overturned the whole work of God**Gen. 3.17.Gen 3:17; ſo that to render it uſeful to its proper end, there is a neceſſity of a kind of a new creating it: This cauſes God to fire the Earth for a purification of it from that infection and contagion brought upon it by the apoſtacy and corruption of Man: It hath ſerved ſinful man, and therefore muſt undergo a purging Flame to be fit to ſerve the holy and righteous Creator. As Sin is ſo riveted in the body of man, that there is need of a change by death to raſe it out; ſo hath the Curſe for ſin got ſo deep into the bowels of the world, that there is need of a change by fire to refine it for its Maſters uſe. Let us look upon Sin with no other notion than as the Object of Gods hatred, the cauſe of his grief in the Creatures, and the Spring of the pain and ruin of the World.

2. How fooliſh a thing is it to ſet our hearts upon that which ſhall periſh, and be no more what it is now? The Heavens and Earth, the ſolideſt and firmeſt parts of the Creation ſhall not continue in the poſture they are; they muſt periſh and undergo a refining change: How feeble and weak are the other parts of the Creation, the little Creatures walking upon and fluttering about the world, that are periſhing and dying every day; and we ſcarce ſee them clothed with life and beauty this day, but they wither and are deſpoyl'd of all the next; and are ſuch frail things fit Objects for our everlaſting Spirits and Affections? Though the daily employment of the Heavens is the declaration of the glory of God**Pſal. 19.1.Ps 19:1, yet neither this, nor their harmony, order, beauty, amazing greatneſs and glory of them, ſhall preſerve them from a diſſolution and melting at the preſence of the Lord: Though they have remained in the ſame poſture from the Creation till this day, and are of ſo great antiquity; yet they muſt bow down to a change before the Will and Word of their Creator; and ſhall we reſt upon that which ſhall vaniſh like Smoke? Shall we take any Creature for our ſupport like Ice, that will crack under our feet, and muſt by the order of their Lord Creator deceive our hopes? Periſhing things can be no ſupport to the Soul; If we would have reſt, we muſt run to God and reſt in God. How contemptible ſhould that be to us, whoſe faſhion ſhall paſs away, which ſhall not endure long in its preſent form and appearance; contemptible as a reſt, not contemptible as the work of God; contemptible as an end, not contemptible as a means to attain our end? If theſe muſt be changed, how unworthy are other things to be the Center of our Souls, that change in our very uſing of them, and ſlide away in our very enjoyment of them?

Thou art the ſame. The Eſſence of God with all the perfections of his nature are pronounced the ſame, without any variation from Eternity to Eternity: So that the Text doth not only aſſert the eternal duration of God, but his Immutability in that duration: his Eternity is ſignified in that expreſſion thou ſhalt endure; his Immutability in this, thou art the ſame. … …ebTo endure, argues indeed his Immutability as well as Eternity; For what endures, is not changed, and what is changed, doth not endure: But thou art the ſame … …om foreigndoth more fully ſignifie it: He could not be the ſame if he could be changed into any other thing than what he is; The Pſalmiſt therefore puts, not thou haſt been or ſhalt be, but thou art the ſame without any alteration; thou art the ſame, that is, the ſame God, the ſame in Eſſence and Nature, the ſame in Will and Purpoſe: Thou doſt change all other things as thou pleaſeſt; but thou art immutable in every reſpect, and receiveſt no ſhadow of change, though never ſo light and ſmall.**foreign, above all change Theodor. The Pſalmiſt here alludes to the name Jehovah, I am; and doth not only aſcribe Immutability to God, but exclude every thing elſe from partaking in that perfection: All things elſe are tottering; God ſees all other things in continual motion under his feet, like Water paſſing away and no more ſeen, while he remains fixed and immoveable: His Wiſdom and Power, his Knowledge and Will are alway the ſame. His Eſſence can receive no alteration, neither by it ſelf nor by any external Cauſe; whereas other things either naturally decline to deſtruction, paſs from one term to another till they come to their period; or ſhall at the laſt day be wrapped up, after God hath compleated his Will in them and by them; as a man doth a Garment he intends to repair and transform to another uſe.

So that in the Text God as immutable, is oppoſed to all Creatures as periſhing and changeable.

Doct. God is unchangeable in his Eſſence, Nature and Perfections. Immutability and Eternity are linkt together; and indeed true Eternity is true Immutability, whence Eternity is defin'd the Poſſeſſion of an immutable Life. Yet Immutability differs from Eternity in our conception: Immutability reſpects the Eſſence or Exiſtence of a thing, Eternity reſpects the duration of a Being in that State; or rather,**Gamacheus. Immutability is the State it ſelf, Eternity is the meaſure of that State. A thing is ſaid to be changed, when it is otherwiſe now in regard of Nature, State, Will, or any Quality than it was before; when either ſomething is added to it or taken from it; when it either loſes or acquires: But now it is the eſſential property of God, not to have any acceſſion to, or diminution of his Eſſence or Attributes, but to remain entirely the ſame: He wants nothing; He loſes nothing, but doth uniformly exiſt by himſelf, without any new nature, new thoughts, new will, new purpoſe or new place.

**Amyraut ſur Heb. 9. p. 153.Heb 9This unchangeableneſs of God was anciently repreſented by the figure of a Cube, a piece of Metal or Wood framed four-ſquare; when every ſide is exactly of the ſame equality, caſt it which way you will, it will always be in the ſame poſture, becauſe it is equal to it ſelf in all its dimenſions: He was therefore ſaid to be the Center of all things, and other things the Circumference; the Center is never moved while the Circumference is; it remains immoveable in the midſt of the Circle: There is no variableneſs nor ſhadow of turning with him. **James 1.17.Jas 1:17The Moon hath her Spots, ſo hath the Sun; there is a mixture of Light and Darkneſs; it hath its changes; ſometimes it is in the increaſe, ſometimes in the wane; it is always either gaining or loſing, and by the turnings and motions, either of the Heavenly-bodies or of the Earth, 'tis in its Eclipſe, by the interpoſition of the Earth between that and the Sun. The Sun alſo hath its diurnal and annual motion; it riſeth and ſets, and puts on a different Face: It doth not alway ſhine with a noon-day light; 'tis ſometimes vail'd with Clouds and Vapours; it is always going from one Tropick to another, whereby it makes various ſhadows on the Earth, and produceth the various ſeaſons of the year; 'tis not always in our Hemiſphere, nor doth it always ſhine with an equal force and brightneſs in it: Such ſhadows and variations have no place in the eternal Father of Lights; He hath not the leaſt ſpot or diminution of Brightneſs; nothing can cloud him or eclipſe him. For the better underſtanding this Perfection of God,

I ſhall Premiſe three things.

1. The Immutability of God is a Perfection. Immutability conſidered in it ſelf without relation to other things, is not a Perfection. 'Tis the greateſt miſery and imperfection of the evil Angels, that they are immutable in malice againſt God: But as God is infinite in Eſſence, infinitely good, wiſe, holy; ſo it is a Perfection neceſſary to his Nature, that he ſhould be immutably all this; all excellency, goodneſs, wiſdom, immutably all that heis; without this he would be an imperfect Being. p. 209Are not the Angels in Heaven, who are confirmed in a holy and happy ſtate, more perfect than when they were in a poſſibility of committing evil and becoming miſerable? Are not the Saints in Heaven, whoſe Wills by Grace do unalterably cleave to God and goodneſs, more perfect than if they were as Adam in Paradiſe, capable of loſing their Felicity as well as preſerving it? We count a Rock in regard of its ſtability, more excellent than the Duſt of the Ground, or a Feather that is toſſed about with every Wind; Is it not alſo the perfection of the Body to have a conſtant tenor of health, and the glory of a man not to warp aſide from what is juſt and right, by the perſwaſions of any temptations?

2. Immutability is a Glory belonging to all the Attributes of God. 'Tis not a ſingle perfection of the Divine Nature, nor is it limited to particular Objects thus and thus diſpoſed. Mercy and Juſtice have their diſtinct objects, and diſtinct acts; Mercy is converſant about a Penitent, Juſtice converſant about an obſtinate Sinner. In our notion and conception of the Divine Perfections, his Perfections are different; The Wiſdom of God is not his Power, nor his Power his Holineſs; but Immutability is the Center wherein they all unite: There is not one Perfection but may be ſaid to be, and truly is immutable; none of them will appear ſo glorious without this Beam, this Sun of Immutability, which renders them highly excellent without the leaſt ſhadow of imperfection: How cloudy would his Bleſſedneſs be, if it were changeable? How dim his Wiſdom, if it might be obſcur'd? How feeble his Power, if it were capable to be ſickly and languiſh? How would Mercy loſe much of its luſtre, if it could change into wrath; and Juſtice much of its dread, if it could be turned into Mercy, while the object of Juſtice remains unfit for Mercy, and one that hath need of Mercy continues only fit for the Divine Fury? But unchangeableneſs is a Thread that runs through the whole Web; 'Tis the enamel of all the reſt; none of them without it could look with a triumphant aſpect: His Power is unchangeable;**Iſa. 26.4.Isa 26:4 In the Lord Jehovah is everlaſting ſtrength; his Mercy and his Holineſs endure for ever; He never could, nor ever can look upon iniquity **Hab. 1.13.Hab 1:13: He is a Rock in the righteouſneſs of his ways, the truth of his word, the holineſs of his proceedings and the rectitude of his nature: All are expreſt, Deut. 32.4. He is a Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are Judgment; A God of Truth and without Iniquity, juſt and right is he. All that we conſider in God is unchangeable; for his Eſſence and his Properties are the ſame, and therefore what is neceſſarily belonging to the Eſſence of God, belongs alſo to every perfection of the nature of God; none of them can receive any addition or diminution: From the unchangeableneſs of his nature, the Apoſtle, James 1.17. infers the unchangeableneſs of his Holineſs; and himſelf in Mal. 3.6. the unchangeableneſs of his Counſel.

3. Ʋnchangeableneſs doth neceſſarily pertain to the Nature of God. 'Tis of the ſame neceſſity with the rectitude of his Nature; He can no more be changeable in his Eſſence, than he can be unrighteous in his Actions. God is a neceſſary Being; He is neceſſarily what he is, and therefore is unchangeably what he is. Mutability belongs to contingency. If any perfection of his nature could be ſeparated from him, he would ceaſe to be God: What did not poſſeſs the whole Nature of God, could not have the Eſſence of God; 'Tis reciprocated with the Nature of God. Whatſoever is immutable by Nature, is God, whatſoever is God, is immutable by Nature. Some Creatures are immutable by his Grace and Power:**Archbol… Serm. God is holy, happy, wiſe, good by his Eſſence; Angels and Men are made holy, wiſe, happy, ſtrong and good by Qualities and Graces: The Holineſs, Happineſs and Wiſdom of Saints and Angels, as they had a beginning, ſo they are capable of increaſe and diminution, and of an end alſo; for their ſtanding is not from themſelves, or from the nature of created ſtrength, holineſs or wiſdom, which in themſelves are apt to fail and finally to decay; but from the ſtability and confirmation they have by the Gift and Grace of God: The Heaven and Earth ſhall be changed, and after that renewal and reparation, they ſhall not be changed. Our Bodies after the Reſurrection ſhall not be changed, but for ever be made conformable to the glorious Body of Chriſt **Phil. 3.21.Phil 3:21; but this is by the powerful Grace of God: So that indeed thoſe things may be ſaid afterwards rather to be unchanged than unchangeable, becauſe they are not ſo by nature, but by ſoveraign diſpenſation. As Creatures have not neceſſary Beings, ſo they have not neceſſary Immutability. Neceſſity of being, and therefore Immutability of being p. 210belongs by nature only to God; otherwiſe if there were any change in God, he would be ſometimes what he was not, and would ceaſe to be what he was; which is againſt the nature, and indeed againſt the natural notion of a Deity. Let us ſee then,

1. In what regards God is immutable.

2. Prove that God is immutable.

3. That this is proper to God, and incommunicable to any Creature.

4. Some propoſitions to clear the unchangeableneſs of God from any thing that ſeems contrary to it.

5. The Uſe.

Firſt in what reſpects God is unchangeable.

1. God is unchangeable in his Eſſence. He is unalterably fixed in his Being, that not a Particle of it can be loſt from it, not a Mite added to it. If a Man continue in being as long as Methuſelah, Nine hundred and Sixty nine years; yet there is not a day, nay an hour, wherein there is not ſome alteration in his ſubſtance; though no ſubſtantial part is wanting, yet there is an addition to him by his Food, a diminution of ſomething by his Labour; He is always making ſome acquiſition, or ſuffering ſome loſs: But in God there can be no alteration, by the acceſſion of any thing to make his ſubſtance greater or better, or by diminution to make it leſs or worſe. He who hath no being from another, cannot but be always what he is: God is the firſt Being, an independent Being; He was not produced of himſelf, or of any other, but by nature always hath been; and therefore cannot by himſelf, or by any other bechanged from what he is in his own nature. That which is not, may as well aſſume to it ſelf a Being, as he who hath and is all Being, have the leaſt change from what he is. Again, becauſe he is a Spirit, he is not ſubject to thoſe mutations which are found incorporeal and bodily Natures; Becauſe he is an abſolutely ſimple Spirit, not having the leaſt particle of compoſition; he is not capable of thoſe changes which may be in created Spirits.

1. If his Eſſence were mutable. God would not truly be; It could not be truly ſaid by himſelf, I am that I am, **Exod. 3.14.Exod 3:14if he were ſuch a Thing or Being at this time, and a different Being at another time. Whatſoever is changed, properly is not, becauſe it doth not remain to be what it was: That which is changed was ſomething, is ſomething, and will be ſomething; a Being remains to that thing which is changed; yet though it may be ſaid ſuch a thing is, yet it may be alſo ſaid ſuch a thing is not, becauſe it is not what it was in its firſt being; 'tis not now what it was, 'tis now what it was not; 'tis another thing than it was, it was another thing than it is; it will be another thing than what it is or was: 'Tis indeed a Being, but a different Being from what it was before. But if God were changed, it could not be ſaid of him that he is, but it might alſo be ſaid of him that he is not; or if he were changeable or could be changed, it might be ſaid of him he is, but he will not be what he is; or he may not be what he is, but there will be or may be ſome difference in his Being, and ſo God would not be I am that I am; for though he would not ceaſe utterly to be, yet he would ceaſe to be what he was before.

2. Again, If his Eſſence were mutable, he could not be perfectly bleſſed, and fully rejoyce in himſelf. If he changed for the better, he could not have an infinite pleaſure in what he was before the change, becauſe he was not infinitely bleſſed; and the pleaſure of that ſtate could not be of a higher kind than the ſtate it ſelf, or at leaſt the apprehenſion of a happineſs in it: If he changed for the worſe, he could not have a pleaſure in it after the change; for according to the diminution of his ſtate, would be the decreaſe of his pleaſure: His pleaſure could not be infinite before the change, if he changed for the better; it could not be infinite after the change, if he changed for the worſe: If he changed for the better, he would not have had an infinite Goodneſs of being before; and not having an infinite Goodneſs of Being, he would have a finite Goodneſs of Being; for there is no medium between finite and infinite: Then though the change were for the better, yet being finite before, ſomething would be ſtill wanting to make him infinitely bleſſed; becauſe being finite, he could not change to that which is infinite; for finite and infinite are extreams ſo diſtant, that they can never paſs into one another; that is, that that which is finite ſhould become infinite, or that which is infinite ſhould become finite: So that ſuppoſing him mutable, his Eſſence in no ſtate of change, could furniſh him with an infinite peace and bleſſedneſs.

p. 2113. Again, If Gods Eſſence be changed, he either encreaſeth or diminiſheth **Hugo Victorin. in Petavio.: Whatſoever is changed, doth either gain by receiving ſome thing larger and greater than it had in it ſelf before, or gains nothing by being changed. If the former, then it receives more than it ſelf, more than it had in it ſelf before. The Divine Nature cannot be encreaſed; for whatſoever receives any thing than what it had in it ſelf before, muſt neceſſarily receive it from another, becauſe nothing can give to it ſelf that which it hath not: But God cannot receive from another what he hath not already, becauſe whatſoever other things poſſeſs, is derived from him, and therefore contained in him, as the Fountain contains the Vertue in it ſelf which it conveys to the Streams; ſo that God cannot gain any thing: If a thing that is changed gain nothing by that change, it loſeth ſomething of what it had before in it ſelf; and this loſs muſt be by it ſelf or ſome other. God cannot receive any loſs from any thing in himſelf; he cannot will his own diminution; that is repugnant to every Nature: He may as well will his own deſtruction as his own decreaſe; Every decreaſe is a partial deſtruction: But it is impoſſible for God to dye any kind of Death, to have any reſemblance of death, for he is immortal, and only hath Immortality **1 Tim. 6.16.1 Tim 6:16, therefore impoſſible to be diminiſht in any particle of his Eſſence; nor can he be diminiſht by any thing in his own Nature, becauſe his infinite ſimplicity admits of nothing diſtinct from himſelf, or contrary to himſelf. All decreaſes come from ſomething contrary to the nature of that thing which doth decreaſe: Whatſoever is made leſs than it ſelf, was not truly unum, one and ſimple, becauſe that which divides it ſelf in ſeparation was not the ſame in conjunction. Nor can he be diminiſht by any other without himſelf; becauſe nothing is ſuperior to God, nothing ſtronger than God which can oppreſs him: But whatſoever is changed, is weaker than that which changeth it,**Victorinus in Petavio. and ſinks under a Power it cannot ſucceſfully reſiſt; Weakneſs belongs not to the Deity. Nor laſtly, can God change from a State wherein he is, to another State equal to the former, as men in ſome caſes may do; for in paſſing from one ſtate to another equal to it, ſomething muſt be parted with which he had before, that ſome other thing may accrue to him as a recompenſe for that loſs, to make him equal to what he was: This recompenſe then he had not before, though he had ſomething equal to it: And in this caſe it could not be ſaid by God I am that I am, but I am equal to what I was; for in this caſe there would be a diminution and increaſe which (as was ſhewed) can not be in God.

4. Again, God is of himſelf, from no other **Auſtin. Fulgen in Petavio.: Natures, which are made by God, may increaſe, becauſe they began to be; they may decreaſe, becauſe they were made of nothing, and ſo tend to nothing; the condition of their original leads them to defect, and the Power of their Creator brings them to increaſe. But God hath no original, he hath no defect, becauſe he was not made of nothing; He hath no increaſe, becauſe he had no beginning: He was before all things, and therefore depends upon no other thing which by its own change can bring any change upon him.**Petav. Tom. 1. p. 173. That which is from it ſelf cannot be changed, becauſe it hath nothing before it, nothing more excellent than it ſelf; But that which is from another as its firſt cauſe and chief good, may be changed by that which was its efficient cauſe and laſt end.

2. God is immutable in regard of Knowledge. God hath known from all Eternity all that which he can know, ſo that nothing is hid from him; He knows not at preſent any more than he hath known from Eternity, and that which he knows now, he always knows; All things are open and naked before him, Heb. 4.13. A man is ſaid to be changed in regard of knowledge, when he knows that now which he did not know before, or knows that to be falſe now which he thought true before, or hath ſomething for the Object of his Underſtanding now, which he had not before: But

1. This would be repugnant to the Wiſdom and Omniſcience which belongs to the Notion of a Deity. That cannot be God, that is not infinitely wiſe; that cannot be infinitely wiſe, that is either ignorant of, or miſtaken in his apprehenſion of any one thing. If God be changed in knowledge, it muſt be for want of wiſdom; all change of this nature in Creatures, implies this defect preceding or accompanying it: Such a thought of God, would have been unworthy of him that is only wiſe; that hath no Mate for Wiſdom**1 Tim. 1.17.1 Tim 1:17; none wiſe beſides himſelf: If he knew that thing this day which**1 Tim. 1.17.1 Tim 1:17 he knew not before, he would not be an only wiſe Being; for a Being that did know every thing at once, might be conceived, and ſo a wiſer Being be apprehended by the p. 212mind of man. If God underſtood a thing at one time, which he did not at another, he would be changed from Ignorance to Knowledge; As if he could not do that this day which he could do to morrow, he would be changed from Impotence to Power: He could not be always Omniſcient, becauſe there might be yet ſomething ſtill to come which he yet knows not, though he may know all things that are paſt. What way ſoever you ſuppoſe a change, you muſt ſuppoſe a preſent or a paſt Ignorance; If he be changed in his knowledge for the perfection of his underſtanding, he was ignorant before; If his underſtanding be impaired by the change, he is ignorant after it.

2. If God were changeable in his Knowledge, it would make him unfit to be an Object of Truſt to any rational Creature. His Revelations would want the due ground for entertainment, if his Underſtanding were changeable; for that might be revealed as truth now which might prove falſe heareafter, and that as falſe now which hereafter might prove true; and ſo God would be an unfit Object of Obedience in regard of his Precepts, and an unfit Object of confidence in regard of his Promiſes: For if he be changeable in Knowledge, he is defective in Knowledge, and might promiſe that now which he would know afterwards was unfit to be promiſed, and therefore unfit to be performed: It would make him an incompetent Object of dread, in regard of his threatnings; for he might threaten that now, which he might know hereafter were not fit or juſt to be inflicted. A changeable mind and underſtanding cannot make a due and right judgment of things to be done, and things to be avoided. No wiſe man would judge it reaſonable to truſt a weak and flitting perſon.

God muſt needs be unchangeable in his Knowledge: But, as the Schoolmen ſay, that as the Sun always ſhines, ſo God always knows; as the Sun never ceaſeth to ſhine, ſo God never ceaſeth to know: Nothing can be hid from the vaſt compaſs of his Underſtanding, no more than any thing can ſhelter it ſelf without the Verge of his Power. This farther appears in that

1. God knows by his own Eſſence. He doth not know as we do, by habits, qualities, ſpecies, whereby we may be miſtaken at one time and rectified at another: He hath not an Underſtanding diſtinct from his Eſſence as we have; but being the moſt ſimple Being, his Underſtanding is his Eſſence; and as from the infiniteneſs of his Eſſence we conclude the infiniteneſs of his Underſtanding, ſo from the unchangeableneſs of his Eſſence, we may juſtly conclude the unchangeableneſs of his Knowledge. Since therefore God is without all compoſition, and his Underſtanding is not diſtinct from his Eſſence; what he knows, he knows by his Eſſence; and there can then be no more mutability in his Knowledge, than there can be in his Eſſence; and if there were any in that, he could not be God, becauſe he would have the property of a Creature: If his Underſtanding then be his Eſſence, his Knowledge is as neceſſary, as unchangeable as his Eſſence: As his Eſſence eminently contains all perfections in it ſelf, ſo his Underſtanding comprehends all things paſt, preſent and future, in it ſelf: If his Underſtanding and his Eſſence were not one and the ſame, he were not ſimple but compounded; if compounded, he would conſiſt of parts; if he conſiſted of parts, he would not be an independent Being, and ſo would not be God.

2. God knows all things by one intuitive act. As there is no ſucceſſion in his Being, ſo that he is one thing now and another thing hereafter; ſo there is no ſucceſſion in his Knowledge: He knows things that are ſucceſſive, before their exiſtence and ſucceſſion, by one ſingle act of intuition; by one caſt of his eye all things future are preſent to him in regard of his Eternity and Omnipreſence: So that though there is a change and variation in the things known, yet his Knowledge of them and their ſeveral changes in nature, is invariable and unalterable. As imagin a Creature that could ſee with his eye at one glance the whole compaſs of the Heavens, by ſending out beams from his eye without receiving any ſpecies from them, he would ſee the whole Heavens uniformly; this part now in the Eaſt, then in the Weſt, without any change in his eye; for he ſees every part and every motion together; and though that great Body varies and whirls about, and is in continual agitation; his eye remains ſtedfaſt, ſuffers no change, beholds all their motions at once and by one glance.**Suarez. vol. 1. pa. 137. God knows all things from Eternity, and therefore perpetually knows them; the reaſon is becauſe the Divine Knowledge is infinite**Pſal. 145.5. His underſtanding is infinite.Ps 145:5 and therefore p. 213comprehends all knowable Truths at once. An eternal Knowledge comprehends in it ſelf all Time, and beholds paſt and preſent in the ſame manner, and therefore his Knowledge is immutable: By one ſimple Knowledge he conſiders the infinite ſpaces of paſt and future.

3. Gods knowledge and Will is the cauſe of all things and their ſucceſſions. **Auſtin. Bradwardine.There can be no pretence of any changeableneſs of knowledge in God, but in this caſe, before things come to paſs, he knows that they will come to paſs; after they are come to paſs, he knows that they are paſt and ſlide away. This would be ſomething if the ſucceſſion of things were the cauſe of the divine Knowledg, as it is of our knowledge; but on the contrary, the divine Knowledge and Will is the cauſe of the ſucceſſion of them: God doth not know Creatures becauſe they are, but they are becauſe he knows them. All his works were known to him from the beginnig of the world. **Acts 15.18.Acts 15:18All his works were not known to him, if the events of all thoſe works were not alſo known to him; If they were not known to him how ſhould he make them? he could not do any thing ignorantly: He made them then after he knew them, and did not know them after he made them: His Knowledge of them made a change in them, their exiſtence made no change in his Knowledg: He knew them when they were to be Created, in the ſame manner that he knew them after they were Created; before they were brought into act, as well as after they were brought into act; before they were made, they were, and were not; they were in the Knowledge of God, when they were not in their own nature: God did not receive his knowledge from their exiſtence, but his Knowledge and Will acted upon them to bring them into being.

4. Therefore the diſtinction of paſt and future makes no change in the Knowledge of God. When a thing is paſt, God hath no more diſtinct knowledg of it after it is paſt, than he had when it was to come; all things were all in their Circumſtances of paſt, preſent and to come, ſeen by his Underſtanding, as they were determined by his Will.**Gamch 1. pa. Aquin. Qu. 9. cap. 1. Pa. 73. Beſides, to know a day to be paſt or future, is only to know the ſtate of that day in it ſelf, and to know its relation, to that which follows and that which went before: This day wherein we are, if we conſider it in the ſtate wherein it was yeſterday, it was to come, it was future; but if we conſider it in that ſtate wherein it will be to morrow, we underſtand it as paſt. This in man cannot be ſaid to be a different knowledge of the thing it ſelf, but only of the circumſtance attending a thing, and the different relation of it. As I ſee the Sun this day, I know it was up yeſterday, I know it will be up to morrow; my knowledge of the Sun is the ſame; if there be any change it is in the Sun not in my knowledge, only I apply my knowledge to ſuch particular circumſtances. How much more muſt the knowledge of thoſe things in God be unchangeable, who knows all thoſe ſtates, conditions and circumſtances moſt perfectly from Eternity, wherein there is no ſucceſſion, no paſt or future, and therefore will know them for ever? He always beholds the ſame thing; he ſees indeed ſucceſſion in things, and he ſees a thing to be paſt which before was future: As from Eternity he ſaw Adam as exiſting in ſuch a time; In the firſt time he ſaw that he would be, in the following time he ſaw that he had been: But this he knew from Eternity, this he knew in the ſame manner; tho there was a variation in Adam, yet there was no variation in Gods knowledge of him in all his ſtates; though Adam was not preſent to himſelf, yet in all his ſtates he was preſent to Gods Eternity.

5. Conſider, that the knowledge of God, in regard of the manner of it as well as the objects, is incomprehenſible to a finite Creature. So that tho we cannot arrive to a full underſtanding of the manner of Gods Knowledge, yet we muſt conceive ſo of it, as to remove all imperfection from him in it: And ſince it is an imperfection to be changeable, we muſt remove that from God; the Knowledge of God about things paſt, preſent, and future, muſt be unconceivably above ours: His underſtanding is infinite, Pſal. 147.5. There is no number of it; it can no more be calculated or drawn into an account by us, than infinite ſpaces which have no bounds and limits can be meaſured by us. We can no more arrive, even in Heaven, to a comprehenſive underſtanding of the manner of his Knowledge, than of the infinite glory of his Eſſence; we may as well comprehend one as the other. This we muſt conclude, that God being not a Body, doth not ſee one thing with eyes and another thing with mind, as p. 214we do; but being a Spirit, he ſees and knows only with Mind, and his Mind is himſelf, and is as unchangeable as himſelf; and therefore as he is not now another thing than what he was, ſo he knows not any thing now in another manner than as he knew it from Eternity: He ſees all things in the Glaſs of his own Eſſence; as therefore the Glaſs doth not vary, ſo neither doth his Viſion.

3. God is unchangeable in regard of his Will and Purpoſe. A change in Purpoſe is, when a man determins to do that now which before he determined not to do, or to do the contrary; when a man hates that thing which he loved, or begins to love that which he before hated: When the Will is changed, a man begins to will that which he willed not before, and ceaſeth to will that which he willed before: But whatſoever God hath decreed, is immutable; whatſoever God hath promiſed, ſhall be accompliſht; The Word that goes forth of his Mouth ſhall not return to him void, but it ſhall accompliſh that which he pleaſeth **Iſa. 55.11. Iſa. 46.11.Isa 55:11Isa 46:11; whatſoever he purpoſeth, he will do **Numb. 23.19.Num 23:19; His Decrees are therefore called Mountains of Braſs **Zach. 6.1.Zech 6:1; Braſs, as having ſubſtance and ſolidity; Mountains, as being immoveable, not only by any Creature but by himſelf, becauſe they ſtand upon the Baſis of infallible Wiſdom, and are ſupported by uncontroulable Power. From this Immutability of his Will publiſht to Man, there could be no releaſe from the ſeverity of the Law, without ſatisfaction made by the death of a Mediator, ſince it was the unalterable Will of God that death ſhould be the wages of Sin; and from this immutable Will it was, that the length of Time from the firſt promiſe of the Redeemer to his miſſion, and the daily provocations of men altered not his purpoſe for the accompliſhment of it in the fullneſs of that time he had reſolved upon; Nor did the wickedneſs of former Ages hinder the addition of ſeveral promiſes as Buttreſſes to the firſt.

To make this out, conſider,

1. The Will of God is the ſame with his Eſſence. If God had a Will diſtinct from his Eſſence, he would not be the moſt ſimple Being. God hath not a faculty of Will diſtinct from himſelf: As his Underſtanding is nothing elſe but Deus intelligens, God underſtanding; ſo his Will is nothing elſe but Deus volens, God willing; being therefore the Eſſence of God, though it is conſidered according to our weakneſs as a faculty, 'tis as his Underſtanding and Wiſdom, eternal and immutable, and can no more be changed than his Eſſence; The Immutability of the Divine Counſel depends upon that of his Eſſence: He is the Lord Jehovah, therefore he is true to his Word, Mal. 3.6. Iſa. 43.13. Yea, before the Day I am He, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. He is the ſame, immutable in his Eſſence, therefore irreſiſtible in his Power.

2. There is a concurrence of Gods Will and Ʋnderſtanding in every thing. As his Knowledge is eternal, ſo is his Purpoſe. Things created had not been known to be, had not God reſolved them to be the act of his Will; the exiſtence of any thing ſuppoſeth an Act of his Will. Again, as God knows all things by one ſimple viſion of his Underſtanding, ſo he wills all things by one act of volition; therefore the Purpoſe of God in the Scripture is not expreſt by Counſels in the Plural Number, but Counſel, ſhewing that all the purpoſes of God are not various, but as one Will, branching it ſelf out into may acts towards the Creature; but all knit in one Root, all links of one Chain. Whatſoever is eternal, is immutable: As his Knowledge is eternal, and therefore immutable, ſo is his Will; He wills or nills nothing to be in Time, but what he willed and nilled from Eternity; if he willed in Time that to be, that he willed not from Eternity, then he would know that in Time which he knew not from Eternity: For God knows nothing future, but as his Will orders it to be future and in time to be brought into being.

3. There can be no Reaſon for any change in the Will of God. When men change in their minds, it muſt be for want of foreſight, becauſe they could not foreſee all the Rubbs and Barrs which might ſuddenly offer themſelves; which if they had foreſeen, they would not have taken ſuch meaſures; hence men often will that which they afterwards wiſh they had not willed, when they come to underſtand it clearer, and ſee that to be injurious to them which they thought to be good for them; or elſe the change proceeds from a natural inſtability without any juſt cauſe, and an eaſineſs to be drawn into that which is unrighteous; or elſe it proceeds from a want of power, when men take new Counſels, becauſe they are invincibly hindred from executing the old. But none of thoſe can be in God.

p. 2151. It cannot be for want of foreſight. What can be wanting to an infinite Underſtanding? How can any unknown event defeat his Purpoſe; ſince nothing happens in the world but what he wills to effect, or wills to permit; and therefore all future events are preſent with him? Beſides, it doth not conſiſt with Gods Wiſdom to reſolve any thing, but upon the higheſt reaſon; and what is the higheſt and infinite reaſon, cannot but be unalterable in it ſelf; for there can be no Reaſon and Wiſdom higher than the higheſt. All Gods purpoſes are not bare acts of Will, but acts of Counſel, Eph. 1.11. He works all things according to the Counſel of his own Will; and he doth not ſay ſo much that his Will, as that his Counſel ſhall ſtand Iſa. 46.10. It ſtands becauſe it is Counſel: And the Immutability of a Promiſe is called the Immutability of his Counſel, Heb 6.17. as being introduced and ſetled by the moſt perfect Wiſdom, and therefore to be carried on to a full and compleat execution: His Purpoſe then cannot be changed for want of foreſight; for this would be a charge of weakneſs.

2. Nor can it proceed from a natural Inſtability of his Will, or an eaſineſs to be drawn to that which is unrighteous: If his Will ſhould not adhere to his Counſel, 'tis becauſe it is not fit to be followed, or becauſe it will not follow it; If not fit to be followed, 'tis a reflection upon his Wiſdom; if it be eſtabliſht and he will not follow it, there is a contrariety in God, as there is in a fallen Creature, Will againſt Wiſdom: That cannot be in God, which he hates in a Creature, viz. the diſorder of faculties, and being out of their due place. The Righteouſneſs of God is like a great Mountain, Pſal. 36.6. The rectitude of his Nature is as immoveable in it ſelf, as all the great Mountains in the World are by the ſtrength of Man. He is not as a Man, that he ſhould repent or lye, Numb. 23.19. who often changes, out of a perverſity of Will, as well as want of wiſdom to foreſee, or want of ability to perform. His eternal Purpoſe muſt either be righteous or unrighteous; if righteous and holy, he would become unholy by the change; if not righteous nor holy, then he was unrighteous before the change; which way ſoever it falls, it would reflect upon the Righteouſneſs of God, which is a blaſphemous imagination.**Maxim. Tyrius diſſert. 3.30. If God did change his Purpoſe, it muſt be either for the better, then the Counſel of God was bad before; or for the worſe, then he was not wiſe and good before.

3. Nor can it be for want of ſtrength. Who hath power to controul him? Not all the combin'd devices and endeavours of men can make the Counſel of God to totter, Prov. 19.21. There are many devices in a mans heart, nevertheleſs the Counſel of the Lord, that ſhall ſtand; that, and that only ſhall ſtand: Man hath a power to deviſe and imagin, but no power to effect and execute of himſelf. God wants no more Power to effect what he will, than he wants Underſtanding to know what is fit.

Well then, ſince God wanted not Wiſdom to frame his Decrees, nor Holineſs to regulate them, nor Power to effect them; what ſhould make him change them? Since there can be no reaſon ſuperior to His; no event unforeſeen by him; no Holineſs comparable to His; no Unrighteouſneſs found in Him; no Power equal to His to put a rub in his way.

4. Though the Will of God be immutable, yet it is not to be underſtood ſo, as that the things themſelves ſo willed, are immutable; Nor will the immutability of the things willed by him, follow upon the unchangeableneſs of his Will in willing them; though God be firm in willing them, yet he doth not will that they ſhould alway be. God did not perpetually will the doing thoſe things which he once decreed to be done: He decreed that Chriſt ſhould ſuffer, but he did not decree that Chriſt ſhould alway ſuffer; ſo he willed the Moſaical Rites for a time, but he did not will that they ſhould alway continue; He willed that they ſhould endure only for a time, and when the time came for their ceaſing, God had been mutable if he had not put an end to them, becauſe his Will had fixed ſuch a Period: So that the changing of thoſe things which he had once appointed to be practiſed, is ſo far from charging God with changeablneſs, that God would be mutable if he did not take them away, ſince he decreed as well their abolition at ſuch a time, as their continuance till ſuch a time; ſo that the removal of them was purſuant to his unchangeable Will and Decree. If God had decreed that ſuch Laws ſhould alway continue, and afterwards p. 216changed that Decree, and reſolved the abrogation of them; then indeed God had been mutable; He had reſcinded one Decree by another; He had then ſeen an error in his firſt reſolve, and there muſt be ſome weakneſs in the reaſon and wiſdom whereon it was grounded:**Turretin. de ſatisfac. p. 266. But it was not ſo here; for the change of thoſe Laws is ſo far from ſlurring God with any mutability, that the very change of them is no other than the Iſſue of his eternal Decree; for from Eternity he purpoſed in himſelf to change this or that diſpenſation, though he did decree to bring ſuch a diſpenſation into the world: The Decree it ſelf was eternal and immutable, but the thing decreed was temporary and mutable. As a Decree from Eternity doth not make the thing decreed to be eternal; ſo neither doth the immutability of the Decree, render the thing ſo decreed to be immutable: As for Example, God decreed from all Eternity to create the World; the Eternity of this Decree did not make the world to be in being and actually created from Eternity; ſo God decreed immutably that the world ſo created ſhould continue for ſuch a time; The Decree is immutable if the world periſh at that time, and would not be immutable if the world did endure beyond that time that God hath fixed for the duration of it: As when a Prince orders a mans remaining in Priſon for ſo many days; if he be prevailed with to give him a Delivery before thoſe days, or to continue him in cuſtody for the ſame Crime after thoſe days, his Order is changed; But if he orders the delivery of him juſt at that time, till which he had before decreed that he ſhould continue in Priſon, the Purpoſe and Order of the Prince remains firm, and the change in the ſtate of the Priſoner, is the fruit of that firm and fixed reſolution: So that we muſt diſtinguiſh between the Perſon decreeing, the Decree it ſelf, and the Thing decreed. The Perſon decreeing, viz. God is in himſelf immutable, and the Decree is immutable; but the Thing decreed may be mutable; and if it were not changed according to the firſt purpoſe, it would argue the Decree it ſelf to be changed; For whiles a Man wills that this may be done now, and another thing done afterwards; the ſame Will remains, and though there be a change in the Effects, there is no change in the Will.

5. The Immutability of Gods Will doth not infringe the Liberty of it. The Liberty of Gods Will conſiſts with the neceſſity of continuing his Purpoſe. God is neceſſarily good, immutably good; yet he is freely ſo, and would not be otherwiſe than what he is. God was free in his firſt Purpoſe; and purpoſing this or that by an infallible and unerring Wiſdom, it would be a weakneſs to change the Purpoſe: But indeed the Liberty of Gods Will doth not ſeem ſo much to conſiſt in an indifferency to this or that, as in an independency on any thing without himſelf: His Will was free, becauſe it did not depend upon the Objects about which his Will was converſant. To be immutably good, is no point of Imperfection, but the height of Perfection.

4. As God is unchangeable in regard of Eſſence, Knowledge, Purpoſe; ſo he is unchangeable in regard of Place. He cannot be changed in Time, becauſe he is Eternity; ſo he cannot be changed in Place, becauſe he hath Ʋbiquity: He is eternal, therefore cannot be changed in time; He is omnipreſent, therefore cannot be changed in Place: He doth not begin to be in one Place wherein he was not before, or ceaſe to be in a Place wherein he was before. He that fills every place in Heaven and Earth, cannot change Place; He cannot leave one to poſſeſs another, that is equally in regard of his Eſſence in all; He fills Heaven and Earth, Jer. 23.24. The Heavens that are not ſubject to thoſe changes to which ſublunary Bodies are ſubject, that are not diminiſht in quantity or quality; yet they are alway changing place in regard of their motion; no part of them doth alway continue in the ſame point: But God hath no change of his Nature, becauſe he is moſt inward in every thing; He is ſubſtantially in all Spaces, real and imaginary; There is no part of the world which he doth not fill; no place can be imagined wherein he doth not exiſt. Suppoſe a Million of worlds above and about this, encircling one another; his Eſſence would be in every part and point of thoſe Worlds; Becauſe it is indiviſible, it cannot be divided; nor can it be contained within thoſe created limits of Millions of worlds, when the moſt ſoaring and beſt coyning fancy hath run through all Creatures, to the higheſt Sphear of the Heavens, and imagined one world after another, till it can fancy no more: None of theſe, nor all of theſe can contain God; for the Heaven of Heavens p. 217cannot contain him, 1 Kings 8.27. He is higher than Heaven, deeper than Hell, **Job. 11.8.Job 11:8and poſſeſſes infinite imaginary ſpaces beyond created limits. He who hath no cauſe of being, can have no limits of being:**Gamache…. ut ſupra And though by Creation he began to be in the world; yet he did not begin to be where the world is, but was in the ſame imaginary ſpace from all Eternity; for he was alway in himſelf by his own eternal Ʋbi.

Therefore obſerve, that when God is ſaid to draw near to us, when we draw near to him**James 4.8.Jas 4:8; 'tis not by local motion or change of place, but by ſpecial and ſpiritual influences, by exciting and ſupporting grace. As we ordinarily ſay, the Sun is come into the Houſe when yet it remains in its place and order in the Heavens, becauſe the Beams pierce through the Windows and enlighten the Room: So when God is ſaid to come down or deſcend**Gen. 11.5. Exod. 34.5.Gen 11:5Exod 34:5; 'tis not by a change of place, but a change of outward acts, when he puts forth himſelf in ways of freſh Mercy or new Judgments, in the effluxes of his Love or the flames of his Wrath. When good men feel the warm Beams of his Grace refreſhing them, or wicked men feel the hot Coals of his Anger ſcorching them. Gods drawing near to us, is not ſo much his coming to us, but his drawing us to him:**The Ancients as Dionyſius, expreſt it by this ſimilitude. As when Water-men pull a Rope that is in one end faſtened to the Shore, and the other end to the Veſſel; the Shore is immoveable, yet it ſeems to the eye to come to them, but they really move to the Shore. God is an immoveable Rock; we are floating and uncertain Creatures; while he ſeems to approach to us, he doth really make us to approach to him: He comes not to us by any change of place himſelf, but draws us to him by a change of Mind, Will and Affections in us.

2. The ſecond thing propounded, is the reaſons to prove God immutable. **Plato calls God foreign lib. 1. de Be.The Heathens acknowledged God to be ſo; Plato and the Pythagorians called God, or the Stable good Principle, foreign, Idem: The evil Principle, foreign, another thing, changeable; one thing one time, and another thing another time.

Daniel 6.26. He is the living God and ſtedfaſt for ever.**Stabiliſ que manens dat cuncta moveri. Boet. Conſolat. lib. 3.

1. The Name Jehovah ſignifies this Attribute, Exod. 3.14. I am that I am, I am hath ſent me to you. It ſignifies his Immutability as well as Eternity. I am ſignifies his Eternity; that or the ſame that I am, his Immutability:**Trap. on Exod. As it reſpects the Eſſence of God, it ſignifies his unchangeable Being from Eternity to Eternity;**Amyrald. de Trinitat. p. 433. As it reſpects the Creature, it ſignifies his conſtancy in his Counſels and Promiſes, which ſpring from no other cauſe but the unchangeableneſs of his Nature. The reaſon why Men ſtand not to their Covenant, is becauſe they are not always the ſame: I am, that is, I am the ſame, before the Creation of the World, and ſince the creation of the World; before the entrance of Sin, and ſince the entrance of Sin; before their going into Egypt, and whiles they remain in Egypt. **Spanhe. Synta. part. 1. p. 39.The very Name Jehovah, bears according to the Grammatical Order, a mark of Gods Unchangeableneſs; It never hath any thing added to it, nor any thing taken from it; It hath no Plural Number, no Affixes, a Cuſtom peculiar to the Eaſtern Languages; It never changes its letters as other words do.**Petav. Theol. Dogmat. Tom. 1. cap 6. § 6.7, 8. That only is a true being, which hath not only an eternal Exiſtence, but ſtability in it: That is not truly a Being that never remains in the ſame ſtate. All things that are changed, ceaſe to be what they were, and begin to be what they were not, and therefore cannot have the title truly applied to them they are; they are indeed, but like a River in a continual Flux, that no man ever ſees the ſame; let his eye be fixed upon one place of it, the water he ſees, ſlides away, and that which he ſaw not, ſucceeds in its place; let him take his eye off but for the leaſt moment, and fix it there again, and he ſees not the ſame that he ſaw before. All ſenſible things are in a perpetual ſtream; that which is ſometimes this and ſometimes that, is not, becauſe it is not always the ſame; whatſoever is changed, is ſomething now which it was not alway: But of God it is ſaid I am, which could not be if he were changeable; for it may be ſaid of him he is not, as well he is, becauſe he is not what he was; If we ſay not of him, he was, nor he will be, but only he is; whence ſhould any change arrive? He muſt invincibly remain the ſame, of whoſe Nature, Perfections, Knowledge and Will, it cannot be ſaid it was, as if it were not now in him; or it ſhall be, as if it were not yet in him; But he is, becauſe he doth not only exiſt, but doth alway exiſt the ſame. I am, that is, I receive from no other what I am in my ſelf: He depends upon no other in his Eſſence, Knowledge, Purpoſes, and therefore hath no changing Power over him.

p. 2182. If God were changeable, He could not be the moſt perfect Being. God is the moſt perfect Being, and poſſeſſes in himſelf infinite and eſſential Goodneſs, Mat. 5.48. Your heavenly Father is perfect: If he could change from that Perfection, he were not the higheſt Exemplar and Copy for us to write after. If God doth change, it muſt be either to a greater Perfection than he had before, or to a leſs, mutatio perfectiva vel amiſſiva; If he changes to acquire a Perfection he had not, then he was not before the moſt excellent Being neceſſarily; He was not what he might be; there was a defect in him, and a privation of that which is better than what he had and was; and then he was not alway the beſt, and ſo was not alway God; and being not alway God, could never be God; for to begin to be God is againſt the Notion of God: Not to a leſs perfection than he had; that were to change to imperfection, and to loſe a perfection which he poſſeſſed before, and ceaſe to be the beſt Being; for he would loſe ſome good which he had, and acquire ſome evil which he was free from before: So that the ſoveraign Perfection of God, is an invincible Bar to any change in him; For which way ſoever you caſt it for a change, his ſupream Excellency is impaired and nulled by it: For in all change, there is ſomething from which a thing is changed, and ſomething to which it is changed; ſo that on the one part there is a loſs of what it had, and on the other part there is an acquiſition of what it had not: If to the better, he was not perfect, and ſo was not God; if to the worſe, he will not be perfect, and ſo be no longer God after that change.

If God be changed, his change muſt be voluntary or neceſſary; if voluntary, he then intends the change for the better, and choſe it to acquire a Perfection by it: The Will muſt be carried out to any thing under the notion of ſome Goodneſs in that which it deſires. Since Good is the Object of the deſire and will of the Creature, Evil cannot be the Object of the deſire and will of the Creator. And if he ſhould be changed for the worſe when he did really intend the better, it would ſpeak a defect of Wiſdom, and a miſtake of that for good which was evil and imperfect in it ſelf; and if it be for the better, it muſt be a motion or change for ſomething without himſelf; that which he deſireth is not poſſeſſed by himſelf but by ſome other: There is then ſome good without him and above him, which is the end in this change; for nothing acts but for ſome end, and that end is within it ſelf or without it ſelf; If the end for which God changes be without himſelf, then there is ſomething better than himſelf: Beſides, if he were voluntarily changed for the better, why did he not change before? If it were for want of Power, he had the imperfection of weakneſs; If for want of knowledge of what was the beſt Good, he had the imperfection of Wiſdom, he was ignorant of his own Happineſs; If he had both Wiſdom to know it and Power to effect it, it muſt be for want of Will; He then wanted that love to himſelf and his own Glory, which is neceſſary in the ſupream Being: Voluntarily he could not be changed for the worſe, he could not be ſuch an Enemy to his own Glory, there is nothing but would hinder its own Imperfection and becoming worſe: Neceſſarily he could not be changed, for that neceſſity muſt ariſe from himſelf, and then the difficulties ſpoken of before will recurr; or it muſt ariſe from another; He cannot be bettered by another, becauſe nothing hath any good but what it hath received from the hands of his bounty, and that without loſs to himſelf; nor made worſe; if any thing made him worſe, it would be Sin, but that cannot touch his Eſſence or obſcure his Glory, but in the deſign and nature of the Sin it ſelf, Job. 35.6, 7. If thou ſinneſt, what doſt thou againſt him? Or if thy Tranſgreſſions be multiplyed, what doſt thou unto him? If thou be righteous what giveſt thou him; or what receives he at thy hand? He hath no addition by the Service of Man, no more than the Sun hath of Light by a multitude of Torches kindled on the Earth; nor any more impair by the Sins of Men, than the Light of the Sun hath by mens ſhooting Arrows againſt it.

**Gamach. in prim. part. Aquin. queſt. 9. cap. 1. part. 72.3. God were not the moſt ſimple Being, if he were not immutable. There is in every thing that is mutable, a Compoſition, either eſſential or accidental; and in all changes, ſomething of the thing changed remains, and ſomething of it ceaſeth and is done away; as for example, in an accidental change, If a white Wall be made black, it loſes its white Colour; but the Wall it ſelf which was the Subject of that Colour, remains and loſes nothing of its ſubſtance: Likewiſe in a ſubſtantial change, as when p. 219Wood is burnt, the ſubſtantial part of Wood is loſt, the earthy part is changed into Aſhes, the airy part aſcends in Smoke, the watery part is changed into Air by the Fire: There is not an annihilation of it, but a reſolution of it into thoſe parts whereof it was compounded; and this change doth evidence, that it was compounded of ſeveral parts diſtinct from one another. If there were any change in God, 'tis by ſeparating ſomething from him or adding ſomething to him; if by ſeparating ſomething from him, then he was compounded of ſomething diſtinct from himſelf; for if it were not diſtinct from himſelf, it could not be ſeparated from him without loſs of his Being; if by adding any thing to him, then it is a compounding of him, either ſubſtantially or accidentally.

Mutability is abſolutely inconſiſtent with Simplicity, whether the change come from an internal or external Principle. If a change be wrought by ſomething without, it ſuppoſeth either contrary or various parts in the thing ſo changed, whereof it doth conſiſt; If it be wrought by any thing within, it ſuppoſeth that the thing ſo changed doth conſiſt of one part that doth change it, and another part that is changed, and ſo it would not be a ſimple Being. If God could be changed by any thing within himſelf, all in God would not be God; his Eſſence would depend upon ſome parts, whereof ſome would be ſuperior to others: If one part were able to change or deſtroy another, that which doth change would be God, that which is changed would not be God; ſo God would be made up of a Deity and a non-Deity, and part of God would depend upon God; part would be dependent, and part would be independent; part would be mutable part, immutable: So that Mutability is againſt the notion of Gods Independency as well as his Simplicity.**Ficinus Zachar. mitylen in Peta. Tom. 1 p. 169. God is the moſt ſimple Being; for that which is firſt in Nature, having nothing beyond it, cannot by any means be thought to be compounded; for whatſoever is ſo, depends upon the parts whereof it is compounded, and ſo is not the firſt Being: Now God being infinitely ſimple, hath nothing in himſelf which is not himſelf, and therefore cannot will any change in himſelf, he being his own Eſſence and Exiſtence.

4. God were not eternal if he were mutable. In all change there is ſomething that periſhes, either ſubſtantially or accidentally. All change is a kind of death, or imitation of death; that which was, dies, and begins to be what it was not. The Soul of Man, though it ceaſeth not to be and exiſt; yet when it ceaſeth to be in quality what it was, is ſaid to die. Adam died when he changed from Integrity to Corruption, though both his Soul and Body were in being**Gen. 2.17.Gen 2:17; and the Soul of a regenerate Man is ſaid to die to Sin, when it is changed from Sin to Grace**Rom. 6.1….Rom 6:1. In all change there is a reſemblance of death: So the Notion of Mutability is againſt the Eternity of God. If any thing be acquired by a change, then that which is acquired was not from Eternity, and ſo he was not wholly eternal; If any thing be loſt which was from Eternity, he is not wholly everlaſting: If he did decreaſe by the change, ſomething in him which had no beginning would have an end; if he did increaſe by that change, ſomething in him would have a beginning that might have no end.**Auſtin in Pet. Tom. 1. p. 201. What is changed doth not remain, and what doth not remain is not eternal. Though God alway remains in regard of Exiſtence, he would be immortal and live alway; yet if he ſhould ſuffer any change, he could not properly be eternal, becauſe he would not alway be the ſame, and would not in every part be eternal; For all change is finiſhed in Time, one moment preceding, another moment following; but that which is before Time cannot be changed by Time. God cannot be eternally what he was, that is, he cannot have a true Eternity, if he had a new Knowledge, a new Purpoſe, a new Eſſence; if he were ſometimes this and ſometimes that, ſometimes know this and ſometimes know that, ſometimes purpoſe this and afterwards hath a new purpoſe; he would be partly temporary and partly eternal, not truly and univerſally eternal: He that hath any thing of newneſs, hath not properly and truly an intire Eternity. Again, by the ſame reaſon that God could in the leaſt ceaſe to be what he was, he might alſo ceaſe wholly to be; and no reaſon can be rendred, why God might not ceaſe wholly to be, as well as ceaſe to be intirely and uniformly what he was: All changeableneſs implies a corruptibility.

5. If God were changeable, He were not Infinite and Almighty. All change ends p. 220in addition or diminution; if any thing be added, he was not infinite before; if any thing be diminiſht, he is not infinite after. All change implies bounds and limits to that which is changed; but God is infinite, His Greatneſs is unſearcheable **Pſal. 145.3. foreign … end, …term.Ps 145:3: We can add Number to Number without any end, and can conceive an infinite Number; Yet the Greatneſs of God is beyond all our Conceptions: But if there could be any change in his Greatneſs for the better, it would not be unſearchable before that change; if for the worſe, it would not be unſearchable after that change: Whatſoever hath limits and is changeable, is conceivable and ſearchable; But God is not only not known, but impoſſible in his own Nature to be known and ſearched out, and therefore impoſſible to have any diminution in his Nature. All that which is changed arrives to ſomething which it was not before, or ceaſeth in part to be what it was before.

He would not alſo be Almighty. What is Omnipotent cannot be made worſe; for to be made worſe, is in part to be corrupted: If he be made better, he was not Almighty before, ſomething of Power was wanting to him: If there ſhould be any change, it muſt proceed from himſelf or from another; if from himſelf, it would be an inability to preſerve himſelf in the perfection of his Nature; if from another, he would be inferior in Strength, Knowledge and Power to that which changes him, either in his Nature, Knowledge or Will; in both an inability; an inability in him to continue the ſame, or an inability in him to reſiſt the Power of another.

6. The World could not be ordered and governed, but by ſome Principle or Being which were immutable. Principles are alway more fixed and ſtable, than things which proceed from thoſe Principles; and this is true both in Morals and Naturals. Principles in Conſcience, whereby men are governed, remain firmly engraven in their Minds. The Root lies firmly in the Earth, while Branches are ſhaken with the Wind. The Heavens, the cauſe of Generation, are more firm and ſtable than thoſe things which are wrought by their influence. All things in the world are moved by ſome Power and Vertue which is ſtable; and unleſs it were ſo, no Order would be obſerved in motion, no Motion could be regularly continued. He could not be a full ſatisfaction to the infinite deſire of the Souls of his People. Nothing can truly ſatisfie the Soul of Man but Reſt; and nothing can give it reſt, but that which is perfect and immutably perfect; for elſe it would be ſubject to thoſe agitations and variations, which the Being it depends upon is ſubject to.

The Principle of all things muſt be immutable**…herby Ath…maſux. p. 3.8. Ger…d. loc. com.; which is deſcribed by ſome by a Unity, the Principle of Number, wherein there is a reſemblance of Gods Unchangeableneſs. A Unite is not variable, it continues in its own Nature immutably an Unite; It never varies from it ſelf, it cannot be changed from it ſelf, but is as it were ſo omnipotent towards others, that it changes all Numbers: If you add any Number, it is the beginning of that Number, but the Unite is not encreaſed by it; a new Number ariſeth from that Addition, but the Unite ſtil remains the ſame, and adds value to other Figures, but receives none from them.

3. The third thing to ſpeak to is,

That Immutability is proper to God, and incommunicable to any Creature. Mutability is natural to every Creature as a Creature, and Immutability is the ſole perfection of God: He only is infinite Wiſdom, able to fore-know future Events; He only is infinitely powerful, able to call forth all means to effect; So that wanting neither Wiſdom to contrive, nor Strength to execute, he cannot alter his Counſel: None being above him, nothing in him contrary to him, and being defective in no Bleſſedneſs and Perfection, he cannot vary in his Eſſence and Nature. Had not Immutability as well as Eternity been a Property folely pertaining to the Divine Nature, as well as creative Power and eternal Duration; the Apoſtles Argument to prove Chriſt to be God from this perpetual ſameneſs, had come ſhort of any convincing ſtrength. Theſe words of the Text he applies to Chriſt, Heb 1.10, 11, 12. They ſhall be changed, but thou art the ſame. There had been no ſtrength in the reaſon, if Immutability by Nature did belong to any Creature.

The changeablneſs of all Creatures is evident;

1. Of corporeal Creatures, it is evident to ſenſe. All Plants and Animals, as they have their duration bounded in certain limits; ſo while they do exiſt, they proceed p. 221from their riſe to their fall; they paſs through many ſenſible alterations, from one degree of growth to another, from buds to bloſſoms, from bloſſoms to flowers and fruits; they come to their pitch that Nature hath ſet them, and return back to the ſtate from whence they ſprung; there is not a day but they make ſome acquiſition, or ſuffer ſome loſs; they dye and ſpring up every day; nothing in them more certain than their inconſtancy: The Creature is ſubject to vanity. **Rom 8.…Rom 8The heavenly Bodies are changing their place; the Sun every day is running his Race, and ſtays not in the ſame Point; and though they are not changed in their Eſſence, yet they are in their Place: Some indeed ſay there is a continual generation of Light in the Sun, as there is a loſs of Light by the caſting out its Beams, as in a Fountain there is a flowing out of the Streams, and a continual generation of ſupply: And though theſe heavenly Bodies have kept their ſtanding and motion from the time of their Creation; yet both the Suns ſtanding ſtill in Joſhuah's time, and its going back in Hezekiah's time, ſhew that they are changeable at the pleaſure of God.

But in Man, the change is perpetually viſible; every day there is a change from Ignorance to Knowledge, from one Will to another, from Paſſion to Paſſion, ſometimes ſad and ſometimes cheerful, ſometimes craving this and preſently nauſeating it; his Body changes from health to ſickneſs, or from weakneſs to ſtrength; ſome alteration there is either in Body or Mind. Man who is the nobleſt Creature, the ſubordinate end of the Creation of other things, cannot aſſure himſelf of a conſiſtency and fixedneſs in any thing the ſhort ſpace of a day, no not of a minute; all his Months are Months of vanity **Job 7.3.Job 7:3; whence the Pſalmiſt calls Man at the beſt eſtate, altogether vanity, a meer heap of vanity:**Pſal. 35.Ps 35 As he contains in his Nature the Nature of all Creatures, ſo he inherits in his Nature the Vanity of all Creatures: A little World, the Center of the World and of the Vanity of the World; yea, lighter than Vanity **Pſal. 62.9.Ps 62:9; more moveable than a Feather; toſt between Paſſion and Paſſion, daily changing his end, and changing the means; An Image of nothing.

2. Spiritual Natures, as Angels, They change not in their Being, but that is from the indulgence of God: They change not in their Goodneſs, but that is not from their Nature, but Divine Grace in their Confirmation; but they change in their Knowledge, they know more by Chriſt than they did by Creation **1 Tim. 3.16.1 Tim 3:16; They have an addition of Knowledge every day, by the providential diſpenſations of God to his Church **Eph. 3.1….Eph 3:1; and the increaſe of their Aſtoniſhment and Love, is according to the increaſe of their Knowledge and Inſight: They cannot have a new diſcovery, without new admirations of what is diſcovered to them; There is a change in their joy, when there is a change in a Sinner **Luke 15.1….Luke 15:1: They were changed in their Eſſence, when they were made ſuch glorious Spirits of nothing; Some of them were changed in their Will, when of holy they became impure: The good Angels were changed in their Underſtandings, when the Glories of God in Chriſt were preſented to their view; and all can be changed in their Eſſence again; and as they were made of nothing, ſo by the Power of God may be reduced to nothing again. So glorified Souls ſhall have an unchanged operation about God, for they ſhall behold his Face without any grief or fear of loſs, without vagrant thoughts; but they can never be unchangeable in their Nature, becauſe they can never paſs from finite to infinite.

No Creature can be unchangeable in its Nature.

1. Becauſe every Creature roſe from nothing. As they roſe from nothing, ſo they tend to nothing, unleſs they are preſerved by God: The Notion of a Creature ſpeaks changeableneſs; becauſe to be a Creature, is to be made ſomething of nothing, and therefore Creation is a change of nothing into ſomething: The Being of a Creature begins from change, and therefore the Eſſence of a Creature is ſubject to change: God only is uncreated, and therefore unchangeable: If he were made, he could not be immutable; for the very making is a change of not Being into Being. All Creatures were made good as they were the fruits of Gods Goodneſs and Power; but muſt needs be mutable, becauſe they were the extracts of nothing.

2. Becauſe every Creature depends purely upon the Will of God. They depend not upon themſelves, but upon another for their Being: As they received their Being from the Word of his Mouth and the Arm of his Power, ſo by the ſame Word they p. 222can be cancel'd into nothing, and return into as little ſignificancy as when they were nothing: He that created them by a Word, can by a Word deſtroy them, Pſalm 104.29. If God ſhould take away their Breath, they dye and return into their Duſt. As it was in the power of the Creator that things might be, before they actually were; ſo it is in the power of the Creator that things after they are, may ceaſe to be what they are; and they are in their own Nature as reducible to nothing, as they were producible by the power of God from nothing; for there needs no more than an Act of Gods Will to null them, as there needed only an Act of Gods Will to make them. Creatures are all ſubject to a higher Cauſe: They are all reputed as nothing: He doth according to his Will in the Armies of Heaven, and among the Inhabitants of the Earth, and none can ſtay his Hand, or ſay unto him what doſt thou? **Dan. 4.35.Dan 4:35But God is unchangeable, becauſe he is the higheſt Good; none above him, all below him; all dependent on him, himſelf upon none.

3. No Creature is abſolutely perfect. No Creature can be ſo perfect or can ever be, but ſomething by the infinite Power of God may be added to it; for whatſoever is finite may receive greater additions, and therefore a change. No Creature you can imagin, but in your thoughts you may fancy him capable of greater perfections than you know he hath, or than really he hath: The perfections of all Creatures are ſearchable; the perfection of God is only unſearchable **Job. 11.6.Job 11:6, and therefore he only immutable.

God only is always the ſame: Time makes no addition to him, nor diminiſheth any thing of him; His Nature and Eſſence, his Wiſdom and Will have always been the ſame from Eternity, and ſhall be the ſame to Eternity without any variation.

4. The fourth thing propounded, is ſome Propoſitions to clear this Ʋnchangeableneſs of God, from any thing that ſeems contrary to it.

Firſt, There was no change in God when he began to create the World in Time. The Creation was a real change, But the change was not ſubjectively in God, but in the Creature; the Creature began to be what it was not before. Creation is conſidered as active or paſſive**Gamach. in part. 1. Aquin. Qu. 9. cap. 1. p. 72.; active Creation is the Will and Power of God to create; this is from Eternity, becauſe God willed from Eternity to create in Time; This never had beginning, for God never began in time to underſtand any thing, to will any thing, or to be able to do any thing; but he alway underſtood, and alway willed thoſe things which he determined from Eternity to produce in Time. The Decree of God may be taken for the Act decreeing, that is eternal and the ſame; or for the Object decreed, that is in Time: So that there may be a change in the Object, but not in the Will whereby the Object doth exſiſt.

1. There was no change in God by the Act of Creation, becauſe there was no new Will in him. There was no new Act of his Will which was not before. The Creation begun in Time, but the Will of creating was from Eternity. The Work was new, but the Decree whence that new work ſprung, was as ancient as the Ancient of days: When the time of creating came, God was not made ex nolente volens, as we are; for whatſoever God willed to be now done, he willed from Eternity to be done; but he willed alſo that it ſhould not be done till ſuch an inſtant of time, and that it ſhould not exiſt before ſuch a time. If God had willed the Creation of the World only at that time when the World was produced and not before, then indeed God had been changeable: But though God ſpake that word, which he had not ſpoke before, whereby the World was brought into act; yet he did not will that Will he willed not before. God did not create by a new Counſel or new Will, but by that which was from Eternity, Eph. 1.9. All things are wrought according to that purpoſe in himſelf, and according to the Counſel of his Will, v 11. and as the holineſs of the Elect is the fruit of his eternal Will before the foundation of the World, v. 4. So likewiſe is the Exiſtence of things, and of thoſe perſons whom he did elect: As when an Artificer frames a houſe or a Temple according to that Model he had in his mind ſome years before, there is no change in the Model in his mind, the Artificer is the ſame, though the work is produced by him ſometime after he had framed that Copy of it in his own mind; but there is a change of the thing produced by him according to that Model. Or when a rich man intends four or five years hence if he lives, to build an Hoſpital, Is there any change in his Will, when after the expiration p. 223of that time he builds and endows it? Though it be after his Will, yet it is the fruit of his precedent Will: So God from all Eternity did will and command that the Creatures ſhould exiſt in ſuch a part of time; and by this eternal Will, all things, whether paſt, preſent or to come, did, do and ſhall exiſt at that point of time which that Will did appoint for them; Not as though God had a new Will when things ſtood up in Being, but only that which was prepared in his immutable Counſel and Will from Eternity, doth then appear. There can be no Inſtant fixed from Eternity, wherein it can be ſaid, God did not will the Creation of the World; For had the Will of God for the ſhorteſt Moment been undetermined to the Creation of the World, and afterwards reſolved upon it, there had been a moral change in God from not willing to willing; But this there was not, for God executes nothing in Time which he had not ordained from Eternity, and appointed all the means and circumſtances whereby it ſhould be brought about. As the Determination of our Saviour to ſuffer was not a new Will, but an eternal Counſel, and wrought no change in God.**Acts 2.23.Acts 2:23

2. There is no change in God by the act of Creation, becauſe there was no new Power in God. Had God had a Will at the time of the Creation which he had not before, there had been a moral change in him; ſo had there been in him a Power only to create then and not before, there had been a phyſical change in him from weakneſs to ability. There can be no more new Power in God, than there can be a new Will in God; for his Will is his Power, and what he willeth to effect, that he doth effect: As he was unchangeably Holy, ſo he was unchangeably Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come **Rev. 4.8.Rev 4:8; which was Almighty, and is Almighty, and ever will be Almighty. The Work therefore makes no change in God, but there is a change in the thing wrought by that Power of God. Suppoſe you had a Seal engraven upon ſome Metal a Hundred years old, or as old as the Creation; and you ſhould this day, ſo many Ages after the engraveing of it, make an impreſſion of that Seal upon Wax; would you ſay the Engravement upon the Seal were changed, becauſe it produced that ſtamp upon the Wax now, which it did not before? No, the change is purely in the Wax, which receives a new figure or form by the impreſſion; not in the Seal, that was capable of imprinting the ſame long before. God was the ſame from Eternity as he was when he made a Signature of himſelf upon the Creatures by Creation, and is no more changed by ſtamping them into ſeveral forms, than the Seal is changed by making impreſſion upon the Wax: As when a houſe is enlightned by the Sun, or that which was cold is heated by it; there is a change in the houſe from darkneſs to light, from coldneſs to heat; but is there any change in the light and heat of the Sun? There is a change in the thing enlightned or warmed by that light and heat which remains fixed and conſtant in the Sun, which was as capable in it ſelf to produce the ſame effects before, as at that inſtant when it works them: So when God is the Author of a new Work, he is not changed; becauſe he works it by an eternal Will and an eternal Power.

3. Nor is there any new relation acquired by God by the Creation of the World. There was a new relation acquired by the Creature; as when a Man ſins, he hath another relation to God than he had before; he hath relation to God, as a Criminal to a Judge; But there is no change in God, but in the Malefactor. The Being of Men makes no more change in God than the Sins of Men. As a Tree is now on our right hand, and by our turning about it is on our left hand, ſometimes before us ſometime behind us, according to our motion neer it or about it, and the turning of the Body; There is no change in the Tree, which remains firm and fixed in the Earth; but the change is wholly in the poſture of the Body, whereby the Tree may be ſaid to be before us or behind us, or on the right hand or on the left hand.**Petav. Theo. Dogmat. Tom. 1. lib. God gained no new relation of Lord or Creator by the Creation; for though he had created nothing to rule over, yet he had the Power to create and rule though he did not create and rule: As a Man may be called a skillful Writer, though he does not write, becauſe he is able to do it when he pleaſes; or a Man skilful in Phyſick is called a Phyſitian, though he doth not practice that Skill, or diſcover his Art in the diſtribution of Medicines; becauſe he may do it when he pleaſes, it depends upon his own will to ſhew his Art when he has a mind to it: So the Name Creator and Lord, belongs to God from Eternity, becauſe he could create and rule, though he did not create and rule: But howſoever, if there were any ſuch change of relation, that p. 224God may be called Creator and Lord, after the Creation and not before; 'tis not a change in Eſſence, nor in Knowledge, nor in Will; God gains no perfection nor diminution by it, his Knowledge is not increaſed by it; He is no more by it than he was, and will be, if all thoſe things ceaſed; and therefore Auſtin illuſtrates it by this ſimilitude; as a piece of Mony when it is given as the price of a thing, or depoſited only as a pledge for the ſecurity of a thing borrowed; the Coyn is the ſame and is not changed, though the relation it had as a pledge and as a price be different from one another: ſo that ſuppoſe any new relation be added, yet there is nothing happens to the Nature of God which may infer any change.

2. The ſecond Propoſition. There was no change in the Divine Nature of the Son, when he aſſumed Human Nature. There was an Union of the two Natures, but no change of the Deity in to the Humanity, or of the Humanity into the Deity; both preſerved their peculiar Properties: The Humanity was changed by a Communication of excellent Gifts from the Divine Nature; not by being brought into an Equality with it, for that was impoſſible that a Creature ſhould become equal to the Creator; He took the Form of a Servant, but he loſt not the Form of God, he deſpoiled not himſelf of the Perfections of the Deity; He was indeed emptied, and became of no reputation **Phil. 2.7.Phil 2:7, but he did not ceaſe to be God, though he was reputed to be only a Man, and a very mean one too: The Glory of his Divinity was not extinguiſht nor diminiſht, though it was obſcur'd and darkned under the vail of our infirmities; but there was no more change in the hiding of it, than there is in the Body of the Sun when it is ſhadowed by the interpoſition of a Cloud; His blood while it was pouring out from his Veins was the blood of God **Acts 20.28.Acts 20:28; and therefore when he was bowing the Head of his Humanity upon the Croſs, he had the Nature and Perfections of God; for had he ceaſed to be God, he had been a meer Creature, and his ſufferings would have been of as little value and ſatisfaction as the ſufferings of a Creature.

He could not have been a ſufficient Mediator, had he ceaſed to be God; and he had ceaſed to be God, had he loſt any one Perfection proper to the Divine Nature; and loſing none, he loſt not this of unchangeableneſs, which is none of the meaneſt belonging to the Deity: Why by his Union with the Human Nature ſhould he loſe this, any more than he loſt his Omniſcience, which he diſcovered by his knowledge of the thoughts of Men; or his Mercy, which he manifeſted to the height in the time of his ſuffering? That is truly a change, when a thing ceaſeth to be what it was before; This was not in Chriſt, He aſſumed our Nature without laying aſide his own.**Zanch. de Immutab. Dei. When the Soul is united to the Body, doth it loſe any of thoſe perfections that are proper to its Nature? Is there any change either in the ſubſtance or qualities of it?**Goulart de Immutab. de Dieu. No, but it makes a change in the Body, and of a dull Lump it makes it a living Maſs, conveys vigor and ſtrength to it; and by its power, quickens it to ſenſe and motion; So did the Divine Nature and Human remain intire; there was no change of the one into the other, as Chriſt by a Miracle changed Water into Wine, or Men by Art change Sand or Aſhes into Glaſs: And when he prays for the Glory he had with God before the World was **John 17.5.John 17:5, he prays that a Glory he had in his Deity, might ſhine forth in his Perſon as Mediator, and be evidenced in that height and ſplendor ſutable to his Dignity which had been ſo lately darkned by his abaſement; that as he had appeared to be the Son of Man in the infirmity of the Fleſh, he might appear to be the Son of God in the glory of his Perſon, that he might appear to be the Son of God and the Son of Man in one Perſon.

**Gamach. in part. 1. Aquin. qu. 9. cap. 1.Again, there could be no change in this Union; for in a real change, ſomething is acquired which was not poſſeſſed before, neither formally nor eminently; But the Divinity had from Eternity before the Incarnation, all the perfections of the Human Nature eminently in a nobler manner than they are in themſelves, and therefore could not be changed by a real Union.

3. The third Propoſition. Repentance and other Affections aſcribed to God in Scripture, argue no change in God. We often read of Gods repenting, repenting of the Good he promiſed**Jer. 18.10.Jer 18:10, and of the Evil he threatned**Exod. 32.14. John 3.10.Exod 32:14John 3:10, or of the Work he hath wrought.**Gen. 6.6.Gen 6:6

We muſt obſerve therefore that

1. Repentance is not properly in God. He is a pure Spirit, and is not capable of p. 225thoſe Paſſions, which are ſigns of weakneſs and impotence, or ſubject to thoſe regrets, we are ſubject to: Where there is a proper repentance, there is a want of foreſight, an ignorance of what would ſucceed, or a defect in the examination of the occurences, which might fall within conſideration: All repentance of a fact, is grounded upon a miſtake in the event which was not foreſeen; or upon an after knowledge of the evil of the thing which was acted by the perſon repenting: But God is ſo wiſe that he cannot err, ſo holy he cannot do evil; and his certain preſcience or foreknowledge, ſecures him againſt any unexpected events: God doth not act but upon clear and infallible reaſon: And a change upon paſſion is accounted by all ſo great a weakneſs in man, that none can entertain ſo unworthy a conceit of God. Where he is ſaid to repent,**Gen. 6.6.Gen 6:6 he is alſo ſaid to grieve; now no proper grief can be imagined to be in God: As repentance is inconſiſtent with infallible foreſight, ſo is grief no leſs inconſiſtent with undefiled bleſſedneſs: God is bleſſed for ever, **Rom. 9.8.Rom 9:8and therefore nothing can befall him that can ſtain that bleſſedneſs; his bleſſednes would be impaired, and interrupted, while he is repenting, tho he did ſoon rectifie that which is the cauſe of his repentance: God is of one mind and who can turn him? what his Soul deſires that he doth.**Job. 23.13.Job 23:13

2. But God accommodates himſelf in the Scripture to our weak capacity. God hath no more of a proper repentance, than he hath of a real body; tho he in accommodation to our weakneſs aſcribes to himſelf the members of our bodies to ſet out to our underſtanding the greatneſs of his perfections, we muſt not conclude him a body like us; ſo becauſe he is ſaid to have anger and repentance, we muſt not conclude him to have paſſions like us: When we cannot fully comprehend him as he is, he cloths himſelf with our nature in his expreſſions that we may apprehend him as we are able, and by an inſpection into our ſelves, learn ſomething of the nature of God; yet thoſe human wayes of ſpeaking ought to be underſtood in a manner agreeable to the infinite excellency and Majeſty of God; and are only deſigned to mark out ſomething in God which hath a reſemblance with ſomething in us: As we cannot ſpeak to God as Gods, but as men; ſo we cannot underſtand him ſpeaking to us as a God, unleſs he condeſcend to ſpeak to us like a man. God therefore frames his language to our dulneſs, not to his own ſtate; and informs us by our own phraſes, what he would have us learn of his nature; as Nurſes talk broken language to young Children. In all ſuch expreſſions, therefore we muſt aſcribe the perfection we conceive in them to God, and lay the imperfection at the door of the Creature.

3. Therefore repentance in God is only a change of his outward conduct, according to his infallible foreſight and immutable Will. He changes the way of his Providential proceeding according to the carriage of the Creature, without changing his Will, which is the Rule of his Providence; when God ſpeaks of his repenting that he had made man; **Gen. 6.6.Gen 6:6tis only his changing his conduct from a way of kindneſs to a way of ſeverity, and is a word ſuted to our capacities to ſignifie his deteſtation of ſin and his reſolution to puniſh it, after man had made himſelf quite another thing, than God had made him; It repents me, that is, I am purpoſed to deſtroy the world; as he that repents of his work throws it away:**Mercer ir. loc. As if a Potter caſt away the veſſel he had framed, it were a teſtimony, that he repented that ever he took pains about it: So the deſtruction of them ſeems to be a repentance in God that ever he made them; tis a change of events, not of Counſels. Repentance in us is a grief for a former fact, and a changing of our courſe in it: Grief is not in God,**Petavius Theol. Dogma…. but his repentance is a willing a thing ſhould not be as it was, which Will was fixed from Eternity; for God foreſeeing Man would fall, and decreeing to permit it, he could not be ſaid to repent in time of what he did not repent from Eternity; and therefore if there were no repentance in God from Eternity, there could be none in time. But God is ſaid to repent, when he changes the diſpoſition of affairs without himſelf; as men when they repent, alter the courſe of their actions, ſo God alters things extra ſe or without himſelf, but changes nothing of his own purpoſe within himſelf. It rather notes the action he is about to do, than any thing in his own nature, or any change in his eternal purpoſe. Gods repenting of his kindneſs is nothing but an inflicting of puniſhment, which the Creature by the change of his carriage hath merited: As his repenting of the evil threatned is the witholding the puniſhment p. 226denounced, when the Creature hath humbly ſubmitted to his Authority and acknowledged his crime.

Or elſe we may underſtand thoſe expreſſions of joy and grief and repentance to ſignifie thus much,**Daille, in Sermon on 2 Pet. 3.9. pa. 60.2 Pet 3:9 that the things declared to be the objects of joy and grief and repentance are of that nature, that if God were capable of our paſſions, he would diſcover himſelf in ſuch caſes as we do: As when the Prophets mention the joys and applaudings of Heaven, Earth and the Sea, they only ſignifie that the things they ſpeak of are ſo good, that if the Heavens, and the Sea had natures capable of joy, they would expreſs it upon that occaſion in ſuch a manner as we do: So would God have joy at the obedience of men, and grief at the unworthy carriage of men, and repent of his kindneſs, when men abuſe it, and repent of his puniſhment, when men reform under his rod, were the Majeſty of his nature capable of ſuch affections.

4. Propoſition. The not fulfilling of ſome predictions in Scripture, which ſeem to imply a changeableneſs of the Divine Will, do not argue any change in it. As when he reprieved Hezekiah from death, after a meſſage ſent by the Prophet Iſaiah, that he ſhould die, **2 Kings 20.1, 5. Iſa. 38.1.5.2 Kgs 20:12 Kgs 20:5Isa 38:1Isa 38:5and when he made an arreſt of that Judgment he had threatned by Jonah againſt Niniveh.**Jon. 3.4, 10.Jonah 3:4Jonah 3:10

There is not indeed the ſame reaſon of promiſes and threatnings altogether, for in promiſing the obligation lies upon God, and the right to demand, is in the party that performs the condition of the promiſe: But in threatnings, the obligation lies upon the ſinner, and God's right to puniſh is declared thereby: So that tho God doth not puniſh, his Will is not changed; becauſe his Will was to declare the demerit of ſin, and his right to puniſh upon the Commiſſion of it; tho he may not puniſh according to the ſtrict letter of the threatning the perſon ſinning, but relax his own law for the honour of his attributes, and transfer the puniſhment from the offender to a perſon ſubſtituted in his room; this was the caſe in the firſt threatning againſt man, and the ſubſtituting a ſurety in the place of the Malefactor.

But the anſwer to theſe caſes is this,**Rivet in Genes. exerci… 51. pa. 213. that where we find predictions in Scripture declared, and yet not executed, we muſt conſider them, not as abſolute but conditional, or as the Civil Law calls it, an interlocutory Sentence. God declared what would follow by natural cauſes, or by the demerit of man, not what he would abſolutely himſelf do: And in many of thoſe predictions, tho the condition be not expreſt, yet it is to be underſtood; ſo the promiſes of God are to be underſtood with the condition of perſeverance in well doing; and threatnings with a clauſe of revocation annext to them, provided that men repent: And this God lays down as a general caſe, alway to be remembred as a rule for the interpreting his threatnings againſt a Nation, and the ſame reaſon will hold in threatnings againſt a particular perſon. Jer. 18.7.8, 9, 10. At what inſtant I ſhall ſpeak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom, to pluck up and pull down and deſtroy it; If that Nation againſt whom I have pronounc'd, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them, and ſo when he ſpeaks of planting a Nation, if they do evil, he will repent of the good, &c. Tis a Ʋniverſal rule by which all particular caſes of this nature are to be tried; ſo that when mans repentance arrives, God remains firm in his firſt Will, always equal to himſelf, and it is not he that changes, but man. For ſince the interpoſition of the Mediator, with an eye to whom God governed the world after the fall, the right of puniſhing was taken off if men repented, and mercy was to flow out, if by a converſion men returned to their duty, Ezek. 18.20, 21. This I ſay is grounded upon Gods entertaining the Mediator; for the Covenant of works diſcovered no ſuch thing as repentance or pardon. Now theſe general rules are to be the interpreters of particular caſes: So that predictions of good are not to be counted abſolute, if men return to evil; nor predictions of evil, if men be thereby reduced to a repentance of their crimes.

So Niniveh ſhall be deſtroyed, that is, according to the general rule, unleſs the inhabitants repent, which they did; they manifeſted a belief of the threatning, and gave glory to God by giving credit to the Prophet: and they had a notion of this rule God lays down in the other Prophets; for they had an apprehenſion that upon their humbling themſelves, they might eſcape the threatned vengeance, and p. 227ſtop the ſhooting thoſe Arrows that were ready in the Bow. **Sanderſ…n's Sermon par. 2. p. 157, 158.Though Jonah proclamed deſtruction, without declaring any hopes of an arreſt of Judgment; yet their natural Notion of God afforded ſome natural hopes of relief, if they did their duty, and ſpurned not againſt the Prophet's meſſage; and therefore ſaith one**Sanderſ…n's Sermon par. 2. p. 157, 158. [God did not always expreſs this condition, becauſe it was needleſs; his own Rule revealed in Scripture was ſufficient to ſome; and the natural Notion all men had of Gods Goodneſs upon their Repentance, made it not abſolutely neceſſary to declare it: And beſides ſaith he, it is bootleſs; The expreſſing it can do but little good; ſecure ones will repent never the ſooner, but rather preſume upon their hopes of Gods forbearance, and linger out their Repentance till it be too late: And to work men to Repentance, whom he hath purpoſed to ſpare, he threatens them with terrible Judgments; which by how much the more terrible and peremptory they are, are likely to be more effectual for that end God in his purpoſe deſignes them, viz. to humble them under a ſenſe of their demerit, and an acknowledgment of his righteous Juſtice; and therefore though they be abſolutely denounced, yet they are to be conditionally interpreted with a reſervation of Repentance: As for that Anſwer which one gives, that by forty days was not meant forty Natural days, but forty Prophetical days, that is, years, a day for a year; and that the City was deſtroyed forty years after by the Medes: The expreſſion of Gods repenting upon their Humiliation, puts a Bar to that Interpretation: God repented, that is, he did not bring the puniſhment upon them according to thoſe days the Prophet had expreſt; and therefore forty natural days are to be underſtood; and if it were meant of forty years, and they were deſtroyed at the end of that term, how could God be ſaid to repent, ſince according to that, the puniſhment threatned was according to the time fixed brought upon them? And the deſtruction of it forty years after, will not be eaſily evinced, if Jonah lived in the time of Jeroboam the ſecond King of Iſrael, as he did**2 Kings 14.2…2 Kgs 14:2; And Niniveh was deſtroyed in the time of Joſiah King of Judah. But the other Anſwer is plain. God did not fulfil what he had threatned, becauſe they reformed what they had committed: When the threatning was made, they were a fit Object for Juſtice; but when they repented, they were a fit Object for a merciful Reſpite. To threaten when ſins are high, is a part of Gods Juſtice; not to execute when ſins are revok'd by Repentance, is a part of Gods Goodneſs. And in the Caſe of Hezekiah **2 Kings 20.1, 5.2 Kgs 20:12 Kgs 20:5, Iſaiah comes with a Meſſage from God, that he ſhould ſet his houſe in order, for he ſhall dye; that is, the Diſeaſe was mortal, and no outward Applications could in their own nature reſiſt the Deſtemper. Behold, **Iſa. 38.1, 5.Isa 38:1Isa 38:5I will add to thy days fifteen years; I will heal thee: It ſeems to me to be one intire Meſſage, becauſe the latter part of it was ſo ſuddenly after the other committed to Iſaiah to be delivered to Hezekiah; for he was not gon out of the Kings houſe, before he was ordered to return with the news of his health, by an extraordinary indulgence of God againſt the power of Nature and force of the Diſeaſe: Behold I will add to thy Life; noting it as an extraordinary thing: He was in the ſecond Court of the Kings Houſe when this word came to him**2 Kings 20.4.2 Kgs 20:4; the Kings Houſe having three Courts, ſo that he was not gon above half way out of the Palace. God might ſend this meſſage of Death, to prevent the Pride Hezekiah might ſwell with for his deliverance from Senacherib: As Paul had a Meſſenger of Satan to buffet him to prevent his lifting up**2 Cor. 12.7.2 Cor 12:7; and this good Man was ſubject to this ſin, as we find afterwards in the Caſe of the Babyloniſh Embaſſadors: And God delayed this other part of the Meſſage to humble him, and draw out his Prayer; and as ſoon as ever he found Hezekiah in this temper, he ſent Iſaiah with a comfortable meſſage of recovery: So that the Will of God was to ſignify to him the mortality of his diſtemper, and afterwards to relieve him by a meſſage of an extraordinary Recovery.

5. Propoſition. God is not changed, when of loving to any Creatures he becomes angry with them, or of angry he becomes appeaſed. The change in theſe caſes is in the Creature; according to the alteration in the Creature, it ſtands in a various relatition to God: an innocent Creature is the Object of his Kindneſs, an offending Creature is the Object of his Anger; there is a change in the diſpenſations of God, as there is a change in the Creature making himſelf capable of ſuch diſpenſations. God always acts according to the immutable nature of his Holineſs, and can no more change in his Affections to good and evil, than he can in his Eſſence. When the p. 228Devils, now fallen, ſtood as glorious Angels, they were the Objects of Gods love, becauſe holy: When they fell, they were the objects of Gods hatred, becauſe impure; the ſame reaſon which made him love them while they were pure, made him hate them, when they were criminal: The reaſon of his various diſpenſations to them was the ſame in both, as conſidered in God, his immutable holineſs; but as reſpecting the Creature, different; the nature of the Creature was changed, but the Divine holy nature of God remain'd the ſame;**Pſal. 18.26.Ps 18:26 With the pure thou wilt ſhew thy ſelf pure, and with the froward thou wilt ſhew thy ſelf froward: He is a refreſhing light to thoſe that obey him, and a conſuming fire to thoſe that reſiſt him. Tho the ſame Angels were not always loved; yet the ſame reaſon that moved him to love them, moved him to hate them. It had argued a change in God, if he had loved them alway, in whatſoever poſture they were towards him: It could not be counted love, but a weakneſs and impotent fondneſs; the change is in the object not in the affection of God: For the object loved before, is not beloved now, becauſe that which was the motive of love, is not now in it: So that the Creature having a different ſtate from what it had, falls under a different affection or diſpenſation.

It had been a mutable affection in God, to love that which was not worthy of love, with the ſame love wherewith he loved that which had the greateſt reſemblance to himſelf: Had God loved the fallen Angels in that ſtate and for that ſtate, he had hated himſelf, becauſe he had loved that which was contrary to himſelf and the image of his own holineſs, which made them appear before, good in his ſight. The Will of God is unchangeably ſet to love righteouſneſs and hate iniquity, and from this hatred to puniſh it: And if a righteous Creature contracts the wrath of God, or a ſinful Creature hath the Communications of Gods love; it muſt be by a change in themſelves. Is the Sun changed when it hardens one thing and ſoftens another, according to the diſpoſition of the ſeveral ſubjects? Or when the Sun makes a flower more fragrant, and a dead carcaſs more noyſome? There are divers effects, but the reaſon of that diverſity is not in the Sun, but in the ſubject; the Sun is the ſame, and produceth thoſe different effects, by the ſame quality of heat: So if an unholy Soul approach to God; God looks angrily upon him; If a holy Soul come before him, the ſame immutable perfection in God draws out his kindneſs towards him: As ſome think, the Sun would rather refreſh than ſcorch us, if our bodies were of the ſame nature and ſubſtance with that Luminary.

As the Will of God for Creating the world, was no new, but an Eternal Will, tho it manifeſted it ſelf in time; ſo the Will of God for the puniſhment of ſin, or the reconciliation of the ſinner, was no new Will: Tho his wrath in time break out in the effects of it upon ſinners, and his love flows out in the effects of it upon penitents. Chriſt by his death reconciling God to man, did not alter the Will of God, but did what was conſonant to his Eternal Will: He came not to change his Will, but to execute his Will. Lo I come to do thy Will, oh God. **Heb. 10.7.Heb 10:7And the grace of God in Chriſt, was not a new grace, but an old grace in a new appearance; the grace of God hath appeared.**Tit. 1.11.Titus 1:11

6. Propoſition, A change of Laws by God argues no change in God, when God abrogates ſome Laws which he had ſetled in the Church and enacts others. I ſpake of this ſomething the laſt day: I ſhall only add this. God commanded one thing to the Jews, when the Church was in an infant ſtate; and removed thoſe Laws, when the Church came to ſome growth. The Elements of the world were ſuted to the ſtate of Children. **Gal. 4.3.Gal 4:3A Mother feeds not the Infant with the ſame diet as ſhe doth, when it is grown up. Our Saviour acquainted not his Diſciples with ſome things at one time which he did at another, becauſe they were not able to bear them; Where was the change, in Chriſts Will, or in their growth from a ſtate of weakneſs to that of ſtrength? A Phyſitian preſcribes not the ſame thing to a perſon in health, as he doth to one conflicting with a diſtemper; nor the ſame thing in the beginning, as he doth in the ſtate or declination of the diſeaſe. The Phyſicians Will and Skill are the ſame, but the capacity and neceſſity of the Patient for this or that Medicine or method of proceeding, are not the ſame.

VVhen God changed the Ceremonial Law, there was no change in the Divine p. 229Will, but an execution of his Will; For when God commanded the obſervance of the Law, he intended not the perpetuity of it; nay, in the Prophets he declares the ceſſation of it; he decreed to command it, but he decreed to command it only for ſuch a time; ſo that the abrogation of it was no leſs an execution of his Decree, than the eſtabliſhment of it for a ſeaſon was; The commanding of it was purſuant to his Decree for the appointing of it, and the nulling of it was purſuant to his Decree of continuing it only for ſuch a ſeaſon. So that in all this there was no change in the Will of God.

The Counſel of God ſtands ſure; what changes ſoever there are in the World, are not in God or his Will, but in the events of things, and the different relations of things to God: 'Tis in the Creature, not in the Creator. The Sun alway remains of the ſame hue, and is not diſcoloured in it ſelf, becauſe it ſhines green through a green Glaſs, and blew through a blew Glaſs; the different colours come from the Glaſs, not from the Sun: The change is alway in the diſpoſition of the Creature, not in the Nature of God or his Will.

5. Ʋſe.

1. For Information.

1. If God be unchangeable in his Nature, and Immutability be a Property of God, Then Chriſt hath a Divine Nature. This in the Pſalm is applyed to Chriſt in the Hebrews, Heb. 1.11. where he joyns the citation out of this Pſalm with that out of Pſalm 45.6, 7. Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever; thou haſt loved Righteouſneſs and hated Iniquity, therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the Oyl of Gladneſs above thy Fellows; and thou Lord in the beginning haſt laid the Foundation of the Earth, &c. As the firſt muſt neceſſarily be meant of Chriſt the Mediator, and therein he his diſtinguiſh'd from God, as one anointed by him; ſo the other muſt be meant of Chriſt, whereby he is made one with God in regard of the Creation and Diſſolution of the World, in regard of Eternity and Immutability. Both the Teſtimonies are linkt together by the Copulative [and] and thou Lord, declaring thereby that they are both to be underſtood of the ſame Perſon the Son of God: The deſign of the Chapter is to prove Chriſt to be God; and ſuch things are ſpoken of him as could not belong to any Creature, no, not to the moſt excellent of the Angels: The ſame Perſon that is ſaid to be anointed above his Fellows, and is ſaid to lay the Foundation of the Earth and Heavens, is ſaid to be the ſame, that is, the ſame in himſelf: The Prerogative of ſameneſs belongs to that Perſon as well as Creation of Heaven and Earth.

The Socinians ſay it is ſpoken of God, and that God ſhall deſtroy the Heavens by Chriſt; If ſo, Chriſt is not a meer Creature, not created when he was incarnate; for the ſame Perſon that ſhall change the World, did create the World; If God ſhall change the world by him, God alſo created the world by him; He was then before the world was; for how could God create the world by one that was not? That was not in Being till after the Creation of the world? The Heavens ſhall be changed, but the Perſon who is to change the Heavens, is ſaid to be the ſame, or unchangeable in the Creation as well as the Diſſolution of of the world. This ſameneſs referrs to the whole Sentence.

**Placeus de deitate Chriſti.The Pſalm wherein the Text is, and whence this in the Hebrews is cited, is properly meant of Chriſt, and Redemption by him, and the compleating of it at the laſt day, and not of the Babyloniſh captivity; That captivity was not ſo deplorable, as the ſtate the Pſalmiſt deſcribes: Daniel and his Companions flouriſhed in that Captivity; It could not reaſonably be ſaid of them, that their days were conſumed like Smoke, their heart withered like Graſs; that they forgot to eat their Bread **as it is V. 3.4.: Beſides, he complains of ſhortneſs of Life **V. 11.; But none had any more reaſon to complain of that in the time of the Captivity, than before and after it, than at any other time: Their Deliverance would contribute nothing to the natural length of their lives. Beſides, when Sion ſhould be built, the Heathen ſhould fear the Name of the Lord, (that is, worſhip God) and all the Kings of the Earth his Glory. **V. 15.The rearing the ſecond Temple after the deliverance, did not proſelyte the Nations; nor did the Kings of the Earth worſhip the Glory of God; nor did God appear in ſuch Glory at the erecting the ſecond Temple: The ſecond Temple was leſs glorious than the firſt, for it wanted ſome of the Ornaments which were the Glory of the firſt; p. 230But it is ſaid of this ſtate,**Ver. 16. that when the Lord ſhould build up Sion, he ſhould appear in his Glory; his proper Glory, and extraordinary Glory. Now that God who ſhall appear in Glory and build up Sion, is the Son of God, the Redeemer of the World; He builds up the Church, he cauſes the Nations to fear the Lord, and the Kings of the Earth his Glory; He broke down the partition Wall, and opened a Door for the entrance of the Gentiles; He ſtruck the Chains from off the Priſoners, and looſed thoſe that were appointed to death by the Curſe of the Law**Ver. 20.: And to this Perſon is aſcribed the Creation of the World; and he is pronounced to remain the ſame in the midſt of an infinite number of changes in inferior things: And it is likely the Pſalmiſt conſiders not only the beginning of Redemption, but the compleating of it at the ſecond coming of Chriſt; for he complains of thoſe evils, which ſhall be removed by his ſecond coming, viz. The ſhortneſs of life, perſecutions and reproaches wherewith the Church is afflicted in this world; and comforts not himſelf with thoſe attributes which are directly oppoſed to ſin, as the mercy of God, the Covenant of God, but with thoſe that are oppoſed to mortality and calamities; as the unchangeableneſs and Eternity of God; and from thence infers a perpetual eſtabliſhment of believers.**Ver. 28. The Children of thy Servants ſhall continue and their ſeed ſhall be eſtabliſhed before thee: So that the Pſalm it ſelf ſeems to aim in the whole diſcourſe at Chriſt, and aſſerts his Divinity, which the Apoſtle as an interpreter doth fully evidence; applying it to him, and manifeſting his Deity by his immutability as well as Eternity.**Daile Melang des Sermons Part 2. Sect. 1. p. 8. 9. 10, &c. While all other things loſe their forms, and paſs through multitudes of variations, he conſtantly remains the ſame, and ſhall be the ſame, when all the Empires of the world ſhall ſlide away, and a Period be put to the preſent motions of the Creation: And as there was no change made in his being by the Creation of things, ſo neither ſhall there be by the final alteration of things; he ſhall ſee them finiſh, as he ſaw them riſe up into being, and be the ſame after their reign, as he was before their original; he is the firſt and the laſt.**Revel. 1.17.Rev 1:17

2. Here is ground and encouragement for Worſhip. An Atheiſt will make another uſe of this: If God be immutable, why ſhould we worſhip him, why ſhould we pray to him; Good will come if he wills it, evil cannot be averted by all our ſupplications, if he hath ordered it to fall upon us?

But certainly ſince unchangeableneſs in knowing, and willing goodneſs is a perfection, An adoration and admiration is due to God, upon the account of this excellence. If he be God he is to be reverenced, and the more highly reverenc'd, becauſe he cannot but be God.

Again what comfort could it be to pray to a God, that like the Chamaeleon changed colours every day, every moment? What encouragement could there be to lift up our eyes to one that were of one mind this day and of another mind to morrow? Who would put up a Petition to an Earthly Prince that were ſo mutable, as to grant a Petition one day, and deny it another, and change his own act? But if a Prince promiſe this or that thing upon ſuch or ſuch a condition, and you know his promiſe to be as unchangeable as the Laws of the Medes and Perſians, would any Man reaſon thus? becauſe it is unchangeable we will not ſeek to him, we will not perform the condition, upon which the fruit of the Proclamation is to be enjoyed. Who would not count ſuch an inference ridiculous? What bleſſings hath not God promiſed upon the condition of ſeeking him? Were he of an unrighteous nature, or changeable in his mind, this would be a bar to our ſeeking him, and fruſtrate our hopes: But ſince it is otherwiſe, is not this excellency of his nature the higheſt encouragement, to ask of him the bleſſings he hath promiſed, and a beam from Heaven to fire our zeal in asking? If you deſire things againſt his Will, which he hath declared he will not grant; Prayer then would be an act of diſobedience and injury to him, as well as an act of folly in it ſelf; his unchangeableneſs then might ſtifle ſuch deſires: But if we ask according to his Will and according to our reaſonable wants, what ground have we to make ſuch a ridiculous argument? He hath Willed every thing that may be for our good, if we perform the condition he hath required; and hath put it upon record, that we may know it and regulate our deſires and ſupplications according to it: If we will not ſeek him, his immutability cannot be a bar, but p. 231our own folly is the cauſe; and by our neglect we deſpoil him of this perfection as to us, and either imply that he is not ſincere, and means not as he ſpeaks; or that he is as changeable as the Wind, ſometimes this thing ſometimes that, and not at all to be confided in. If we ask according to his revealed Will, the unchangeableneſs of his Nature will aſſure us of the Grant; and what a preſumption would it be in a Creature dependent upon his Soveraign, to ask that which he knows he has declared his Will againſt; ſince there is no good we can want, but he hath promiſed to give, upon our ſincere and ardent deſire for it?

God hath decreed to give this or that to Man, but conditionally, and by the means of enquiring after him, and asking for it:**Ezek. 36.37. Mat. 7.7.Ezek 36:37Matt 7:7 Ask and you ſhall receive, as much as to ſay, you ſhall not receive unleſs you ask. When the higheſt promiſes are made, God expects they ſhould be put in ſute: Our Saviour joyns the Promiſe and the Petition together; the Promiſe to encourage the Petition, and the Petition to enjoy the Promiſe: He doth not ſay perhaps it ſhall be given, but it ſhall, that is, it certainly ſhall; your heavenly Father is unchangeably willing to give you thoſe things. We muſt depend upon his Immutability for the thing, and ſubmit to his Wiſdom for the time. Prayer is an acknowledgment of our dependence upon God, which dependence could have no firm foundation without unchangeableneſs. Prayer doth not deſire any change in God, but is offered to God that he would conferr thoſe things which he hath immutably willed to communicate, but he willed them not without Prayer as the means of beſtowing them. The light of the Sun is ordered for our comfort, for the diſcovery of viſible things, for the ripening the fruits of the Earth; but withal tis required that we uſe our faculty of ſeeing, that we employ our induſtry in ſowing and planting, and expoſe our fruits to the view of the Sun, that they may receive the influence of it. If a man ſhuts his eyes, and complains that the Sun is changed into darkneſs, it would be ridiculous; the Sun is not changed, but we alter our ſelves; Nor is God changed in not giving us the bleſſings he hath promiſed, becauſe he hath promiſed in the way of a due addreſs to him, and opening our Souls to receive his influence; and to this, his Immutability is the greateſt encouragement.

3. This ſhews how contrary Man is to God in regard of his inconſtancy. What an infinite diſtance is there between the immutable God and mutable Man, and how ſhould we bewail this flittingneſs in our Nature?

There is a Mutability in us as Creatures, and a Creature cannot but be mutable by Nature, otherwiſe it were not a Creature but God. The eſtabliſhment of any Creature is from Grace and Gift; Naturally we tend to nothing, as we come from nothing: This Creature-mutability is not our ſin, yet it ſhould cauſe us to lye down under a ſenſe of our own nothingneſs, in the preſence of the Creator. The Angels as Creatures, though not corrupt, cover their faces before him: And the Arguments God uſes to humble Job, though a fallen Creature, are not from his Corruption; for I do not remember that he taxed him with that; but from the greatneſs of his Majeſty and excellency of his Nature declared in his Works **Job. 38.39, 40.41.Job 38:39Job 38:40Job 38:41And therefore Men that have no ſenſe of God, and humility before him, forget that they are Creatures as well as corrupt ones.

How great is the diſtance between God and us, in regard of our inconſtancy in good, which is not natural to us by Creation? For the mind and affections were regular, and by the great Artificer were pointed to God as the Object of Knowledge and Love. We have the ſame faculties of Underſtanding, Will and Affection as Adam had in Innocence; but not with the ſame Light, the ſame Bias and the ſame Ballaſt. Man by his fall, wounded his head and heart; the wound in his head made him unſtable in the Truth, and that in his heart unſtedfaſt in his Affections: He changed himſelf from the Image of God to that of the Devil, from Innocence to Corruption; and from an ability to be ſtedfaſt, to a perpetual Inconſtancy: His Silver became Droſs, and his Wine was mixed with Water. **Iſa. 1.22.Isa 1:22He changed,

1. To inconſtancy in Truth, oppoſed to the Immutability of Knowledge in God. How are our Minds floating between Ignorance and Knowledge? Truth in us is like thoſe Ephemera, Creatures of a days continuance, ſprings up in the Morning and expires at Night. How ſoon doth that fly away from us, which we have had, not only ſome weak flaſhes of, but which we have learned and have had ſome reliſh of? The Devil p. 232ſtood not in the Truth, **John 8.44.John 8:44and therefore manages his Engines to make us as unſtable as himſelf: Our Minds reel, and corrupt reaſonings overſway us; like Spunges we ſuck up Water, and a light compreſſion makes us ſpout it out again. Truths are not engraven upon our hearts, but writ as in Duſt, defaced by the next puff of Wind; carried about with every Wind of Doctrin, Eph. 4.14. Like a Ship without a Pilot and Sails, at the courteſy of the next Storm; or like Clouds that are Tenants to the Wind and Sun, moved by the Wind and melted by the Sun. The Galatians were no ſooner called into the Grace of God, but they were removed from it **Gal. 1.6.Gal 1:6; Some have been reported to have menſtruam fidem, kept an Opinion for a Month; and many are like him that believed the Souls Immortality, no longer than he had Plato's Book of that Subject in his hand**Sedgwick Chriſts Counſel p. 230.: One likens ſuch to Children; they play with Truths as Children do with Babies, one while embrace them, and a little after throw them into the Durt. How ſoon do we forget what the Truth is delivered to us, and what it repreſented us to be**James 1.23.24.Jas 1:23Jas 1:24? Is it not a thing to be bewailed, that Man ſhould be ſuch a Weathercock, turned about with every Breath of Wind, and ſhifting Aſpects as the Wind ſhifts Points?

2. Inconſtancy in Will, and Affections oppoſed to the Immutability of Will in God. We waver between God and Baal; and while we are not only reſolving, but upon motion a little way, look back with a hankring after Sodom; Sometimes lifted up with heavenly intentions, and preſently caſt down with earthly cares; like a Ship that by an advancing Wave ſeems to aſpire to Heaven, and the next fall of the Waves makes it ſink down to the Depths. We change Purpoſes oftner than Faſhions; and our Reſolutions are like Letters in water, whereof no mark remains: We will be as John to day to love Chriſt, and as Judas to morrow to betray him, and by an unworthy levity, paſs into the Camp of the Enemies of God; reſolv'd to be as holy as Angels in the Morning, when the Evening beholds us as impure as Devils: How often do we hate what before we loved, and ſhun what before we longed for? And our Reſolutions are like Veſſels of Chriſtal, which break at the firſt knock, are daſht in pieces by the next Temptation. Saul reſolved not to perſecute David any more, but you ſoon find him upon his old game. Pharaoh more than once promiſed, and probably reſolved to let Iſrael go; but at the end of the ſtorm his purpoſes vaniſh.**Exod. 8.27, 32.Exod 8:27Exod 8:32 When an Affliction pincheth Men, they intend to change their courſe; and the next news of eaſe changes their intentions: Like a Bow, not fully bent in their inclinations, they cannot reach the Mark, but live many years between reſolutions of Obedience and affections to Rebellion **Pſal. 78.17.Ps 78:17: And what promiſes men make to God are often the fruit of their Paſſion, their Fear, not of their Will. The Iſraelites were ſtartled at the terrors wherewith the Law was delivered, and promiſed obedience**Exod. 20.19.Exod 20:19, but a Month after forgat them, and make a Golden Calf, and in the ſight of Sinai call for, and dance before their Gods **Exod. 32.Exod 32; Never people more unconſtant. Peter who vowed an Allegiance to his Maſter, and a Courage to ſtick to him, forſwears him almoſt with the ſame breath. Thoſe that cry out with a zeal, the Lord he is God, ſhortly after return to the ſervice of their Idols. **1 Kings. 18.39.1 Kgs 18:39That which ſeems to be our pleaſure this day, is our vexation to morrow: A Fear of a Judgment puts us into a religious pang, and a Love to our Luſts reduceth us to a rebellious inclination; As ſoon as the danger is over, the Saint is forgotten: Salvation and Damnation preſent themſelves to us, touch us and ingender ſome weak wiſhes, which are diſſolved by the next allurements of a carnal intereſt. No hold can be taken of our promiſes; no credit is to be given to our reſolutions.

3. Inconſtancy in practice. How much beginning in the Spirit, and ending in the Fleſh; one day in the Sanctuary, another in the Stews; clear in the morning as the Sun, and clouded before noon; in Heaven by an excellency of Gifts, in Hell by a courſe of prophanneſs? Like a Flower, which ſome mention, that changes its colour three times a day; one part white, then purple, then yellow. The Spirit luſts againſt the Fleſh, and the Fleſh quickly triumphs over the Spirit. In a good man how often is there a Spiritual Lethargy? Tho he doth not openly defame God, yet he doth not alwayes glorifie him: He doth not forſake the truth, but he doth not alwayes make the attainment of it, and ſettlement in it his buſineſs. This levity diſcovers it ſelf in religious duties, when I would do good, evil is preſent with me. **Rom. 7.21.Rom 7:21Never more preſent, than when we have a mind to p. 233do good, and never more preſent than when we have a mind to do the beſt and greateſt good: How hard is it to make our thoughts and affections keep their ſtand? place them upon a good Object, and they will be frisking from it, as a Bird from one bough, one fruit to another. We vary poſtures according to the various objects we meet with. The courſe of the World is a very airy thing, ſuted to the uncertain motions of that Prince of the power of the Air, which works in it.**Eph. 2.2.Eph 2:2

This ought to be bewail'd by us. Tho we may ſtand faſt in the truth, tho we may ſpin our reſolutions into a firm web, tho the Spirit may triumph over the fleſh in our practice, yet we ought to bewail it, becauſe inconſtancy is our nature, and what fixedneſs we have in good is from grace. What we find practiſed by moſt men, is natural to all**Lawrence of Faith p. 262.: As face anſwers to face in a glaſs, ſo doth heart to heart **Pro. 27.19.Prov 27:19; a face in the glaſs is not more like a natural face, whoſe image it is, than one mans heart is naturally like another.

1. 'Tis natural to thoſe out of the Church. Nebuchadnezzar is ſo affected with Daniels prophetick Spirit, that he would have none accounted the true God, but the God of Daniel. **Dan. 2.47.Dan 2:47How ſoon doth this notion ſlip from him, and an image muſt be ſet up for all to worſhip, upon pain of almoſt cruel painful death? Daniels God is quite forgotten: The miraculous deliverance of the three Children for not worſhipping his Image, makes him ſettle a Decree to ſecure the Honour of God from the reproach of his Subjects**Dan. 3.29.Dan 3:29; yet a little while after, you have him ſtrutting in his Palace, as if there were no God but himſelf.

2. 'Tis natural to thoſe in the Church. The Iſraelites were the only Church God had in the World, and a notable Example of inconſtancy. After the Miracles of Aegypt they murmured againſt God, when they ſaw Pharaoh marching with an Army at their Heels. They deſired food, and ſoon nauſeated the Manna, they were before fond of, when they came into Canaan: They ſometimes worſhipped God, and ſometimes Idols, not only the Idols of one Nation, but of all their Neighbours: In which regard God calls this his Heritage a Speckled Bird **Jer. 12.9.Jer 12:9; a Peacock ſaith Hierom, inconſtant, made up of varieties of Idolatrous colours and Ceremonies.

This levity of Spirit is the root of all miſcheif; it ſcatters our thoughts in the Service of God, it is the cauſe of all revolts and Apoſtacies from him, it makes us unfit to receive the communications of God; whatſoever we hear is like words writ in ſand, ruffled out by the next gale; whatſoever is put into us is like precious liquor in a palſie hand ſoon ſpilt: It breeds diſtruſt of God, when we have an uncertain judgment of him, we are not like to confide in him: an uncertain judgment will be followed with a diſtruſtful heart. In fine, where it is prevalent, it is a certain ſign of ungodlineſs; to be driven with the wind like chaffe, and to be ungodly is all one, in the judgment of the Holy Ghoſt, Pſal. 1.4. the ungodly are like the chaff which the wind drives away, which ſignifies not their deſtruction, but their diſpoſition, for their deſtruction is inferred from it, ver. 5. Therefore the ungodly ſhall not ſtand in judgment.

How contrary is this to the unchangeable God, who is alwayes the ſame, and would have us the ſame, in our religious Promiſes and Reſolutions for good?

4. If God be immutable, 'tis ſad news to thoſe that are reſolved in wickedneſs, or careleſs of returning to that duty he requires. Sinners muſt not expect, that God will alter his will, make a breach upon his nature, and violate his own Word to gratifie their luſts: No, 'tis not reaſonable God ſhould diſhonour himſelf to ſecure them, and ceaſe to be God, that they may continue to be wicked, by changing his own nature, that they may be unchanged in their vanity. God is the ſame, goodneſs is as amiable in his ſight, and Sin as abominable in his eyes now, as it was at the beginning of the world: Being the ſame God, he is the ſame Enemy to the Wicked as the ſame Friend to the Righteous; He is the ſame in Knowledge, and cannot forget ſinful acts; He is the ſame in Will, and cannot approve of unrighteous Practices: Goodneſs cannot but be alway the Object of his Love, and Wickedneſs cannot but be alway the Object of his Hatred: And as his averſion to Sin is alway the ſame, ſo as he hath been in his Judgments upon Sinners, the ſame he will be ſtill; for the ſame perfection of Immutability belongs to his Juſtice for the puniſhment of Sin, as to his Holineſs for his diſaffection to Sin. Though the Covenant of Works p. 234was changeable by the crime of man violating it; yet it was unchangeable in regard of Gods juſtice vindicating it, which is inflexible in the puniſhment of the breaches of his Law. The Law had a preceptive part, and a minatory part; When man changed the obſervation of the Precept, the righteous nature of God could not null the execution of the threatning: He could not upon the account of this perfection neglect his juſt word and countenance the unrighteous tranſgreſſion. Tho there were no more rational Creatures in being but Adam and Eve, yet God ſubjected them to that death he had aſſured them of: and from this immutability of his Will, ariſeth the neceſſity of the ſuffering of the Son of God, for the relief of the apoſtate Creature. His Will in the ſecond Covenant is as unc…a…eable, as that in the firſt, only repentance is ſettled as the condition of the ſecond, which was not indulged in the firſt; and without repentance the ſinner muſt i…vo…bly p…riſh or God muſt change his nature: There muſt be a change in man, there can be n…e in God; his bow is bent his, arrows are ready, if the wicked do not turn. **Pſal. 7.11.Ps 7:11There is not an Atheiſt, an hypocrite, a prophane perſon, that ever was upon the Earth, but Gods Soul abhorred him as ſuch, and the like he will abhor for ever: While any therefore continue ſo, they may ſooner expect the Heavens ſhould roul as they pleaſe, the Sun ſtand ſtill at their order, the Stars change their courſe at their beck, than that God ſhould change his nature, which is oppoſite to prophaneſs and vanity: Who hath hardned himſelf againſt him and hath proſpered?**Job 9.4.Job 9:4

Uſe 2. Of comfort.

The immutability of a good God is a ſtrong ground of conſolation. Subjects wiſh a good Prince to live for ever, as being loath to change him; but care not how ſoon they are rid of an Oppreſſor. This unchangeableneſs of Gods Will, ſhews him as ready to accept any that come to him as ever he was; ſo that we may with confidence make our addreſſes to him, ſince he cannot change his affections to goodneſs. The fear of change in a friend hinders a full reliance upon him; An aſſurance of ſtability encourages hope and confidence. This attribute is the ſtrongeſt Prop for faith in all our addreſſes; tis not a ſingle perfection, but the glory of all thoſe, that belong to his nature; for he is unchangeable in his love, Jer. 31.3. in his truth, Pſal. 117.2. The more ſolemn Revelation of himſelf in this name Jehovah, which ſignifies chiefly his Eternity and immutability, was to ſupport the Iſraelites faith, in expectation of a deliverance from Egypt, that he had not retracted his purpoſe, and his promiſe made to Abraham for giving Canaan to his poſterity.**Exod. 3.14, 15, 16, 17.Exod 3:14Exod 3:15Exod 3:16Exod 3:17 Herein is the baſis and ſtrength of all his promiſes; therefore ſaith the Pſalmiſt, thoſe that know thy name, will put their truſt in thee; **Pſal. 9.10.Ps 9:10Thoſe that are Spiritually acquainted with thy name Jehovah, and have a true ſenſe of it upon their hearts, will put their truſt in thee. His goodneſs could not be diſtruſted, if his unchangeableneſs were well apprehended and conſidered: All diſtruſt would fly before it as darkneſs before the Sun; it only gets advantage of us, when we are not well grounded in his name; and if ever we truſted God, we have the ſame reaſon to truſt him for ever. Iſa. 26.4. Truſt in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlaſting ſtrength, or as tis in the Hebrew, a Rock of Ages; that is, perpetually unchangeable. We find the traces of Gods immutability in the Creatures; he has by his peremptory decree ſet bounds to the Sea, hitherto ſhalt thou come but no further, and here ſhall thy proud waves be ſtayed. **Job. 38.11.Job 38:11Do we fear the Sea overflowing us in this Iſland? No, becauſe of his fixt decree: And is not his promiſe in his Word, as unchangeable as his Word concerning inanimate things as good a ground to reſt upon?

1. The Covenant ſtands unchangeable. Mutable Creatures break their Leagues and Covenants, and ſnap them aſunder like Sampſons Cords, when they are not accommodated to their intereſts. But an unchangeable God keeps his; the Mountains ſhall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindneſs ſhall not depart from thee, nor ſhall the Covenant of my peace be removed. **Iſa. 54.10.Isa 54:10The Heaven and Earth ſhall ſooner fall aſunder, and the ſtrongeſt and firmeſt parts of the Creation crumble to duſt ſooner than one Iota of my Covenant ſhall fail. It depends upon the unchangeableneſs of his Will and the unchangeableneſs of his word, and therefore is called the immutability of his Counſel, Heb. 6.17. Tis the fruit of the everlaſting purpoſe of God; whence the Apoſtle links purpoſe and grace together.**2 Tim. 1.9.2 Tim 1:9 A Covenant with a Nation may be changeable, becauſe it may not be built upon the Eternal purpoſe of God, to p. 235put his fear in the heart; but with reſpect to the Creatures obedience. Thus God choſe Jeruſalem, as the place wherein he would dwell for ever, **Pſal. 132.14.Ps 132:14yet he threatens to depart from them, when they had broken Covenant with him, and the glory of the Lord went up from the midſt of the City to the Mountain on the eaſt ſide. **Ezek. 11.33.Ezek 11:33The Covenant of grace doth not run I will be your God, if you will be my people: But I will be their God, and they ſhall be my people. Hoſ. 2.19. &c. I will betroth thee to me for ever, I will ſay thou art my people, and they ſhall ſay, thou art my God. His everlaſting purpoſe, is to write his Laws in the hearts of the elect. He puts a condition to his Covenant of Grace, the condition of faith, and he reſolves to work that condition in the hearts of the Elect; and therefore believers have two immutable pillars for their ſupport, ſtronger than thoſe erected by Solomon at the porch of the Temple, 1 Kings 7.21. called Jakin and Boaz, to note the firmneſs of that building dedicated to God; theſe are Election or the ſtanding Counſel of God, and the Covenant of grace: He will not revoke the Covenant and blot the names of his elect out of the book of life.

2. Perſeverance is aſcertained. It conſiſts not with the Majeſty of God to call a perſon effectually to himſelf to day, to make him ſit for his Eternal love, to give him faith, and take away that faith to morrow; his effectual call is the the fruit of his Eternal Election, and that Counſel hath no other foundation, but his conſtant and unchangeable Will; a foundation that ſtands ſure, and therefore called the foundation of God, and not of the Creature; the foundation of God ſtands ſure, the Lord knows who are his. **2 Tim. 2.19.2 Tim 2:19Tis not founded upon our own natural ſtrength, it may be then ſubject to change, as all the products of nature are: The fallen Angels had Created Grace in their innocency, but loſt it by their fall.**Turretin Ser. p. 322. Were this the foundation of the Creature, it might ſoon be ſhaken; ſince man after his revolt can aſcribe nothing conſtant to himſelf, but his own inconſtancy: But the foundation is not in the infirmity of nature, but the ſtrength of grace, and of the grace of God who is immutable, who wants not vertue to be able nor kindneſs to be willing to preſerve his own foundation. To what purpoſe doth our Saviour tell his Diſciples, their names were written in Heaven, **Luk. 10.20.Luke 10:20but to mark the infallible certainty of their Salvation, by an oppoſition to thoſe things which periſh and have their names written in the Earth; **Jer. 17.23.Jer 17:23or upon the ſand, where they may be defaced? And why ſhould Chriſt order his Diſciples to rejoyce, that their names were written in Heaven, if God were changeable to blot them out again? or why ſhould the Apoſtle aſſure us, that tho God had rejected the greateſt part of the Jews, he had not therefore rejected his people elected according to his purpoſe and immutable Counſel; becauſe there are none of the elect of God but will come to Salvation? For ſaith he, the Election hath obtained it; **Rom. 11.7.Rom 11:7that is, all thoſe that are of the Election have obtained it, and the others are hardned: Where the Seal of Sanctification is ſtampt, it is a teſtimony of Gods Election, and that foundation ſhall ſtand ſure. The foundation of the Lord ſtands ſure having this Seal, the Lord knows who are his, that is the foundation, the naming the name of Chriſt, or believing in Chriſt, and departing from iniquity is the Seal.**Cocceius. As tis impoſſible, when God calls thoſe things that are not, but that they ſhould ſpring up into being and appear before him: So it is impoſſible, but that the ſeed of God by his Eternal purpoſe, ſhould be brought to a Spiritual life; and that calling cannot be retracted; for that gift and calling is without repentance. **Rom. 11.29.Rom 11:29And when repentance is removed from God in regard of ſome works, the immutability of thoſe works is declared: And the reaſon of that immutability is their pure dependance on the Eternal favour and unchangeable grace of God,**Eph. 1.9, 11.Eph 1:9Eph 1:11 [purpos'd in himſelf] and not upon the mutability of the Creature. Hence their happineſs is not as Patents among men, quam diu bene ſe geſſerint, ſo long as they behave themſelves well, but they have a promiſe, that they ſhall behave themſelves ſo as never wholly to depart from God, Jer. 32.40. I will make an everlaſting Covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they ſhall not depart from me. God will not turn from them, to do them good, and promiſeth that they ſhall not turn from him for ever or forſake him: And the bottom of it is the everlaſting Covenant, and therefore believing and ſealing, for ſecurity, are linkt together. Eph. 1.13. And When God doth inwardly teach us his Law, he puts in a Will not depart from it, Pſalm 119.102. I have p. 236not departed from thy Judgments; what is the reaſon? For thou haſt taught me.

3. By this, Eternal Happineſs is enſured. This is the Inference made from the Eternity and Unchangeableneſs of God in the verſe following the Text, verſe 28. The Children of thy Servants ſhall continue, and their Seed ſhall be eſtabliſhed before thee; This is the ſole concluſion drawn from thoſe Perfections of God ſolemnly aſſerted before. The Children which the Prophets and Apoſtles have begotten to thee, ſhall be totally delivered from the reliques of their Apoſtacy and the puniſhment due to them, and rendred partakers of Immortality with thee, as Sons to dwell in their Fathers houſe for ever. The Spirit begins a ſpiritual Life here, to fit for an immutable Life in Glory hereafter; where Believers ſhall be placed upon a Throne that cannot be ſhaken, and poſſeſs a Crown that ſhall not be taken off their heads for ever.

3. Uſe. Of Exhortation.

1. Let a ſenſe of the changeableneſs and uncertainty of all other things beſide God, be upon us. There are as many changes as there are figures in the world. The whole faſhion of the world is a tranſient thing; every man may ſay as Job, **Job. 10.17.Job 10:17Changes and War are againſt me. Lot choſe the Plain of Sodom, becauſe it was the richer Soyl; He was but a little time there before he was taken Priſoner, and his ſubſtance made the Spoyl of his Enemie; That is again reſtored; but a while after, Fire from Heaven devours his Wealth, though his Perſon was ſecur'd from the Judgment by a ſpecial Providence. We burn with a deſire to ſettle our ſelves; but miſtake the way, and build Caſtles in the Air, which vaniſh like bubbles of Sope in water.

And therefore,

1. Let not our thoughts dwell much upon them. Do but conſider thoſe Souls that are in the poſſeſſion of an unchangeable God, that behold his never fading Glory! Would it not be a kind of Hell to them, to have their thoughts ſtarting out to theſe things, or find any deſire in themſelves to the changeable trifles of the Earth? Nay, have we not reaſon to think, that they cover their faces with ſhame, that ever they ſhould have ſuch a weakneſs of Spirit when they were here below, as to ſpend more thoughts upon them than were neceſſary for this preſent Life; much more that they ſhould at any time value and court them above an unchangeable Good? Do they not diſdain themſelves that they ſhould ever debaſe the immutable perfections of God, as to have neglecting thoughts of him at any time, for the entertainment of ſuch a mean and inconſtant Rival?

2. Much leſs ſhould we truſt in them or rejoyce in them. The beſt things are mutable, and things of ſuch a Nature are not fit Objects of confidence. Truſt not in Riches, they have their wanes as well as increaſes; they riſe ſometimes like a Torrent and flow in upon men, but reſemble alſo a Torrent in as ſuddain a fall and departure, and leave nothing but ſlime behind them. Truſt not in Honour, all the Honour and Applauſe in the World, is no better than an Inheritance of Wind, which the Pilot is not ſure of, but ſhifts from one corner to another, and ſtands not perpetually in the ſame point of the Heavens. How in a few Ages did the houſe of David a great Monarch, and a man after Gods own heart, deſcend to a mean condition, and all the glory of that houſe ſhut up in the ſtock of a Carpenter? David's Sheep-hook was turned into a Scepter, and the Scepter by the ſame hand of Providence turned into a Hatchet in Joſeph his Deſcendent.

Rejoyce not immoderately in wiſdom; That and Learning languiſh with Age. A wound in the head may impair that which is the Glory of a Man. If an Organ be out of frame, Folly may ſucceed, and all a mans Prudence be wound up in an irrecoverable Dotage. Nebuchadnezzar was no Fool, yet by a ſuddain hand of God he became not only a Fool or a mad Man, but a kind of Brute. Rejoyce not in ſtrength; that decays, and a mighty Man may live to ſee his ſtrong Arm withered, and a Graſſ-hopper to become a Burthen. **Eccleſ. 12.5.Eccl 12:5The ſtrong men ſhall bow themſelves, and the Grinders ſhall ceaſe becauſe they are few. **V. 3.Nor rejoyce in Children; they are like Birds upon a Tree, that make a little chirping muſick, and preſently fall into the Fowlers Net. Little did Job expect ſuch ſad news as the loſs of all his Progeny at a blow, when the Meſſenger knocked at his Gate: And ſuch changes happen oftentimes, when our expectations of comfort and a contentment in them are at the higheſt. How often doth a ſtring crack when the Muſitian hath wound it up to a juſt height p. 237for a Tune, and all his pains and delight marr'd in a Moment? Nay, all theſe things change while we are uſing them, like Ice that melts between our fingers, and Flowers that wither while we are ſmelling to them: The Apoſtle gave them a good title, when he called them uncertain riches, and thought it a ſtrong argument to diſſwade them from truſting in them. **1 Tim 6.17.1 Tim 6:17The wealth of the Merchant depends upon the Winds and Waves; and the revenue of the Husbandman upon the Clouds; and ſince they depend upon thoſe things which are uſed to expreſs the moſt changeableneſs, they can be no fit Object for truſt. Beſides, God ſometimes kindles a Fire under all a mans Glory, which doth inſenſibly conſume it**Iſa. 10.16.Isa 10:16; and while we have them, the fear of loſing them renders us not very happy in the fruition of them; we can ſcarce tell whether they are contentments or no, becauſe ſorrow follows them ſo cloſe at the heels. 'Tis not an unneceſſary exhortation for good men; the beſt men have been apt to place too much truſt in them. David thought himſelf immutable in his Proſperity; and ſuch thoughts could not be without ſome immoderate outlets of the heart to them, and confidences in them: And Job promiſed himſelf to dye in his Neſt, and multiply his days as the Sand without any interruption**Job. 29.18, 19. &c.Job 29:18Job 29:19; but he was miſtaken and diſappointed.

Let me add this; truſt not in men who are as inconſtant as any thing elſe, and often change their moſt ardent affections into implacable hatred: And though their affections may not be changed, their Power to help you may. Hamans Friends that depended on him one day, were creſt-fallen the next, when their Patron was to exchange his Chariot of State for an ignominious Gallows.

3. Prefer an immutable God before mutable Creatures. Is it not a horrible thing to ſee what we are, and what we poſſeſs, daily crumbling to duſt, and in a continual flux from us; and not ſeek out ſomething that is permanent, and always abides the ſame, for our portion? In God, or Wiſdom which is Chriſt, there is ſubſtance, **Pro. 8.21.Prov 8:21in which reſpect he is oppoſed to all the things in the world, that are but ſhadows, that are ſhorter or longer according to the motion of the Sun; mutable alſo, by every little body that intervenes. God is ſubject to no decay within, to no force without; nothing in his own nature can change him from what he is, and there is no Power above can hinder him from being what he will to the Soul: He is an Ocean of all Perfection; He wants nothing without himſelf to render him bleſſed, which may allure him to a change: His Creatures can want nothing out of him to make them happy, whereby they may be inticed to prefer any thing before him. If we enjoy other things, 'tis by Gods donation, who can as well withdraw them as beſtow them; and it is but a reaſonable as well as a neceſſary thing, to endeavour the enjoyment of the immutable Benefactor, rather than his revocable Gifts.

If the Creatures had a ſufficient vertue in themſelves to raviſh our thoughts and engroſs our Souls; yet when we take a proſpect of a fixed and unchangeable Being, what beauty, what ſtrength have any of thoſe things to vie with him? How can they bear up and maintain their intereſt againſt a lively thought and ſenſe of God? All the Glory of them would fly before him like that of the Stars before the Sun: They were once nothing, they may be nothing again; as their own nature brought them not out of nothing, ſo their Nature ſecures them not from being reduced to nothing. What an unhappineſs is it, to have our affections ſet upon that which retains ſomething of its non eſſe with its eſſe, its not being with its being; that lives indeed, but in a continual Flux, and may loſe that pleaſureableneſs to morrow which charms us to day?

2. This Doctrin will teach us Patience under ſuch Providences as declare his unchangeable Will. The rectitude of our Wills conſiſts in conformity to the Divine, as diſcovered in his Words and manifeſted in his Providence, which are the effluxes of his immutable Will. The time of tryal is appointed by his immutable Will **Dan. 1Dan 1; 'tis not in the Power of the Sufferer's Will to ſhorten it, nor in the Power of the Enemies Will to lengthen it. Whatſoever doth happen, hath been decreed by God, (Eccleſ. 6.10. That which hath been is named already) therefore to murmur or be diſcontented, is to contend with God, who is mightier than we to maintain his own purpoſes. God doth act all things conveniently for that immutable end intended by himſelf, and according to the reaſon of his own Divine Will, in the true point of time moſt proper for it and for us, not too ſoon or too ſlow, becauſe he is unchangeable in p. 238Knowledge and Wiſdom. God doth not act any thing barely by an immutable Will, but by an immutable Wiſdom, and an unchangeable Rule of Goodneſs; and therefore we ſhould not only acquieſce in what he works, but have a complacency in it; and by having our Wills thus knitting themſelves with the immutable Will of God, we attain ſome degree of likeneſs to him in his own Unchangeableneſs; When therefore God hath manifeſted his Will in opening his Decree to the world by his work of Providence, we muſt ceaſe all diſputes againſt it, and with Aaron hold our peace, though the affliction be very ſmart,**Rev. 10.3.Rev 10:3 All Fleſh muſt be ſilent before God **Zach. 2.13.Zech 2:13; For whatſoever is his Counſel, ſhall ſtand and cannot be recall'd; all ſtruggling againſt it, is like a brittle Glaſs contending with a Rock; For if he cut off and ſhut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him? Job. 11.10. Nothing can help us, if he hath determined to afflict us; as nothing can hurt us, if he hath determined to ſecure us. The more clearly God hath evidenced this or that to be his Will, the more ſinful is our ſtruggling againſt it. Pharaoh's ſin was the greater in keeping Iſrael, by how much the more Gods Miracles had been Demonſtrations of his ſetled Will to deliver them. Let nothing ſnatch our hearts to a contradiction to him, but let us fear and give Glory to him, when the hour of Judgment which he hath appointed is come **Revel. 14.7.Rev 14:7; that is, comply with the unchangeable will of his Precept, the more he declares the immutable will of his Providence: We muſt not think, God muſt diſgrace his Nature and change his Proceedings for us: Better the Creature ſhould ſuffer, than God be impair'd in any of his Perfections. If God changed his Purpoſe, he would change his Nature. Patience is the way to perform the immutable Will of God, and a means to attain a gracious Immutability for our ſelves by receiving the Promiſe. Heb. 10.36. Ye have need of Patience, that after ye have done the Will of God, ye might receive the Promiſe.

3. This Doctrine will teach us to imitate God in this perfection by ſtriving to be immoveable in goodneſs. God never goes back from himſelf, he finds nothing better than himſelf for which he ſhould change; and can we find any thing better than God, to allure our hearts to a change from him? The Sun never declines from the Ecliptick line, nor ſhould we from the paths of Holineſs. A ſtedfaſt obedience is encouraged by an unchangeable God to reward it, 1 Cor. 15.58. Be ſtedfaſt and immovable, alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour ſhall not be in vain in the Lord. Unſtedfaſtneſs is the note of an Hypocrite, Pſal. 78.37. ſtedfaſtneſs in that which is good, is the mark of a Saint, 'tis the Character of a righteous perſon to keep the truth, Iſa. 26.2. And it is as poſitively ſaid, that he that abides not in the Doctrine of Chriſt, hath not God, 2 Epiſt. John 9. but he that doth, hath both the Father and the Son. So much of uncertainty, ſo much of nature; ſo much of firmneſs in duty, ſo much of Grace. We can never honour God unleſs we finiſh his work; as Chriſt did not glorifie God but in finiſhing the work God gave him to do. **John 17.4.John 17:4The nearer the world comes to an end, the more is Gods immutability ſeen in his promiſes and predictions, and the more muſt our unchangeableneſs be ſeen in our obedience, Heb. 10.23, 25. Let us hold faſt the profeſſion of our faith without wavering and ſo much the more as you ſee the day approaching. The Chriſtian Jews were to be the more tenacious of their faith, the nearer they ſaw the day approaching, the day of Jeruſalems deſtruction propheſied of by Daniel, **Dan. 9.26.Dan 9:26which accompliſhment muſt be a great argument to eſtabliſh the Chriſtian Jews in the profeſſion of Chriſt to be the Meſſiah; becauſe the deſtruction of the City was not to be, before the cutting off the Meſſiah. Let us be therefore conſtant in our profeſſion and ſervice of God, and not ſuffer our ſelves to be driven from him by the ill uſage, or flatter'd from him by the Careſſes of the world.

1. Tis reaſonable. If God be unchangeable in doing us good, it is reaſon we ſhould be unchangeable in doing him ſervice: If he aſſure us that he is our God, our I am, he would alſo that we ſhould be his people. His we are. If he declare himſelf conſtant in his promiſes, he expects we ſhould be ſo in our obedience: As a ſpouſe, we ſhould be unchangeably faithful to him as a Husband: As ſubjects, have an unchangeable allegiance to him as our Prince. He would not have us faithful to him for an hour or a day, but to the death; **Rev. 2.10.Rev 2:10And it is reaſon we ſhould be his; and if we be his Children, imitate him in his conſtancy of his holy purpoſes.

p. 2392. Tis our glory and intereſt. To be a reed ſhaken with every wind is no commendation among men, and tis leſs a ground of praiſe with God. It was Jobs glory, that he held faſt his integrity;**Job 1.22.Job 1:22 In all this Job ſinned not; In all this, which whole Cities and Kingdoms would have thought ground enough of high exclamations againſt God: And alſo againſt the temptation of his Wife, he retained his integrity, Job. 2.9. Doſt thou ſtill retain thy integrity? The Devil, who by Gods permiſſion ſtript him of his goods and health, yet could not ſtrip him of his grace. As a Traveller, when the wind and ſnow beats in his face, wraps his cloak more cloſely about him to preſerve that and himſelf. Better we had never made profeſſion, than afterwards to abandon it; ſuch a withering profeſſion ſerves for no other uſe than to aggravate the crime, if any of us fly like a coward or revolt like a Traytor: What profit will it be to a Souldier, if he hath withſtood many aſſaults and turn his back at laſt? If we would have God Crown us with an immutable glory, we muſt Crown our beginnings with a happy perſeverance, Rev. 2.10. Be faithful to the Death and I will give thee a Crown of life: Not as tho this were the cauſe to merit it, but a neceſſary condition to poſſeſs it: Conſtancy in good is accompanied with an immutability of Glory.

3. By an unchangeable diſpoſition to good we ſhould begin the happineſs of Heaven upon Earth. This is the perfection of bleſſed Spirits, thoſe that are neareſt to God as Angels and glorified Souls, they are immutable: Not indeed by nature, but by grace; yet not only by a neceſſity of grace, but a liberty of Will: Grace will not let them change; and that grace doth animate their Wills that they would not change; an immutable God fills their underſtandings and affections and gives ſatisfaction to their deſires. The Saints when they were below, tried other things and found them deficient: But now they are ſo fully ſatisfied with the beatifick viſion, that if Satan ſhould have entrance among the Angels and Sons of God, 'tis not likely he ſhould have any influence upon them; he could not preſent to their underſtandings any thing, that could either at the firſt glance or upon a deliberate view be preferrable to what they enjoy and are fixed in.

Well then let us be immoveable in the Knowledge and Love of God. 'Tis the delight of God to ſee his Creatures reſemble him in what they are able. Let not our Affections to him be as Jonah's Goard, growing up in one Night and withering the next. Let us not only fight a good Fight, but do ſo till we have finiſhed our courſe, and imitate God in an unchangeableneſs of holy purpoſes; and to that purpoſe, examin our ſelves daily what fixedneſs we have arrived unto; And to prevent any temptation to a revolt, let us often poſſeſs our minds with thoughts of the immutability of Gods Nature and Will, which like Fire under Water, will keep a good matter boiling up in us, and make it both retain and increaſe its heat.

4. Let this Doctrin teach us to have recourſe to God, and aim at a near conjunction with him. When our Spirits begin to flag, and a cold aguiſh temper is drawing upon us; let us go to him, who can only fix our hearts, and furniſh us with a Ballaſt to render them ſtedfaſt. As he is only immutable in his Nature, ſo he is the only Principle of Immutability as well as Being in the Creature. Without his Grace, we ſhall be as changeable in our appearances as a Chamelion, and in our turnings as the Wind. When Peter truſted in himſelf, he changed to the worſe: It was his Maſters recourſe to God for him that preſerved in him a reducing Principle, which changed him again for the better and fixed him in it.**Luke 22.32.Luke 22:32

It will be our Intereſt to be in conjunction with him, that moves not about with the Heavens, nor is turned by the force of Nature, nor changed by the accidents in the world; but ſits in the Heavens, moving all things by his powerful Arm, according to his infinite Skill: While we have him for our God, we have his Immutability as well as any other Perfection of his Nature for our advantage; The nearer we come to him, the more ſtability we ſhall have in our ſelves; the further from him, the more lyable to change. The Line that is neareſt to the place where it is firſt fixed, is leaſt ſubject to motion; the further it is ſtretched from it, the weaker it is, and more liable to be ſhaken. Let us alſo affect thoſe things which are neareſt to him in this perfection; the righteouſneſs of Chriſt that ſhall never wear out, and the graces of the Spirit that ſhall never burn out; By this means, what God is infinitely by Nature, we ſhall come t… be finitely immutable by Grace, as much as the capacity of a Creature can contain.