A Cure for the Cankering Error of the New Eutychians, Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. Queſtions and Anſwers about God.
Queſt. WHat things are we to know concerning God?
Anſw. 1. What God is. 2. What a God he is, or how he is affected towards us.
Queſt. What is God?
A. God is an Eſſence, Spiritual, Incomprehenſible, Almighty, Immortal, Infinite, Love it ſelf. Mercy it ſelf, Juſtice it ſelf, Holineſs it ſelf, Purity it ſelf, Goodneſs it ſelf, Wiſdom it ſelf, Long-ſuffering it ſelf, Bountifulneſs it ſelf; which is the Father who from all Eternity begat the Son, Coeternal with himſelf, and of the ſame ſubſtance with the Father: and the Son not made nor created, but begotten of the Father from all Eternity:Joh 4.24. 1 Tim. 1 17 Jam. 1.17. Acts 1.8. Jer. 23.24. 1 Joh. 4.8, 16. Exod. 34.6, 7. Mat. 5▪ 44. and the Holy Ghoſt proceeding from them both, the Father and the Son, the Creator and Conſerver of all things, the Redeemer and Sanctifier of the Elect. Which is no definition, (for he that is ſuper-ſubſtantial, and incomprehenſible, cannot be defined) but ſuch a deſcription as ſufficiently containeth all ſuch things as in this life are neceſſary for us to know, for the ſervice of God and our Salvation.
Q. Is there one God only, or whether be there more?
A. One only, Deut. 6.4. Hear, O Iſrael, the Lord thy God is One Lord. 1 Sam. 2 2 Iſa. 41.4. & 44.6. Mat. 12.32And ſo, 1 Cor. 8.4. We know that an Idol is nothing in the World, and that there is no other God but One. And ſeeing the true God is moſt high,Eph. 4.6. 1 Tim … 5. and moſt infinite actually, therefore there can be no more but One God; becauſe there can be no more but one that is above all, neither any more but one infinite. And this one God is manifeſted to us by ſuch teſtimonies as cannot deceive, to wit, by Miracles, Propheſies, and other things which by his Omnipotence may be done.
Q. How is God ſaid to be One?
A. Neither by a genus nor ſpecies, but in Eſſence and in Number, or in regard of his Nature: becauſe there is one only Eſſence of God, and that indiviſible.
Q. Why doth the Scripture make mention of Elohim (or) Gods, joyning that word as well with the plural as ſingular number?
A. Not to the end that it ſhould make a multitude of Gods, or divide the Eſſence, but to diſtinguiſh the Perſons: becauſe, though there be one Perſon of the Father, another Perſon of the Son, and another of the holy Ghoſt: yet the Father is not another thing, or another God diſtinct from the Son and the holy Ghoſt; the Son is not another thing, or another God diſtinct from the Father and the holy Ghoſh: neither is the holy Ghoſt another thing, or another God diſtinct from the Father and the Son: becauſe the Nature of God is but one and indiviſible, although the Father be one, the Son another, and the holy Ghoſt another. And therefore they are not of divers Natures, of another and divers Subſtance, not conjoyned or knit together in one Subſtance, (as men which have one common eſſence); not only of the like ſubſtance, but of one and the ſame ſubſtance, have the ſame Eſſence, the ſame Eternity, the ſame Will, the ſame Operation, the ſame Power, and the ſame Glory, Phil. 2.6.
Q. How many wayes is the Name of God taken in Scriptures?
A. Two wayes; properly for the Subſtance, Eſſence, and Nature: and improperly. Now it is taken properly, or for the Eſſence, when it is taken without the diſtinction of any one of the Perſons, as Joh. 4.24. God is a Spirit; where God is taken for the whole Eſſence of the Deity, as is alſo the Name Jehovah. Or elſe perſonally, when there is joyned unto the Name of God the name of the Perſon: as God the Father, God the Son, God the holy Ghoſt. Or, when the Father is oppoſed to the Son, who is very God, and the ſecond Perſon in the Trinity, as Rom. 7.25. I thank God by Jeſus Chriſt. So Rom. 8.3. the Father is called God; the word Father being uſed perſonally, becauſe the Perſon ſending, is oppoſed to the Perſon ſent.Exod. 22.28. Pſal. 82.6. Improperly, when it is attributed to Angels or Men: and truly, either in regard of their Office, or elſe in reſpect of the revealing of the Will of God, and of their Reverence: Falſly, either by Error, or elſe by Uſurpation and Cuſtom, as 1 Cor. 8.5. Or elſe by worſhipping them, 2 Cor. 4.4. Phil. 3.19. Exod. 7.20.
Q. Be there any parts or kinds of God?
A. None at all, becauſe he is a moſt ſimple Eſſence, which doth admit no compoſition or diviſion; and ſimply, and in every reſpect of unity, one, and in act moſt infinite.
Q. Are there any Cauſes of God?
A. Not any, for he is the Cauſe of all Cauſes.
Q. Is there any accident in God?
A. No, in regard of God himſelf; for whatſoever is in God is his Eſſence.
Q. Seeing the Eſſence of God is moſt ſimple, in what reſpect doth Power, Goodneſs, Juſtice, Wiſdom, and Mercy differ in God?
A. Not in Eſſence; for all theſe Attributes in Eſſence, are but one very thing indeed, but in our weak capacity and manner of knowing▪ in regard of us; and by the effects, in reſpect of the Creatures.
Q. How many ſorts are there of God's Attributes?
A. Two: the firſt whereof is incommunicable, ſo that there appeareth not the leaſt impreſſion thereof in any of his Creatures. This kind we may call abſolute, ſuch is his Simplicity, and, which depend upon it, his Immutability, Eternity, and Immenſity. The ſecond ſort is ſome way communicable, which you may call fitly a Relative Property, in that it hath relation to the Creatures; ſuch are his Power, Wiſdom, Will, Goodneſs, Juſtice, and Mercy.
Q. Be there any effects of God?
A. There be infinite effects of his Grace, Juſtice, Power, and Mercy.
Q. How are the Gentiles ſaid to be without God, (Eph. 2.12.) ſeeing they adore ſo many Gods?
A. Becauſe none of their Gods was the true God.
Q. But yet they acknowledged God the Creator of Heaven and Earth.
Anſw. Nor the Name of God, but even God himſelf was altogether unknown unto them: becauſe no man knoweth God, but ſuch as confeſs the Father and the Son. 1 Joh. 2.23. Whoſoever denieth the Son, the ſame hath not the Father: but he that acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father alſo.
Q. What uſe make you of the knowledge of God?
A. Surely this, that he alone may be rightly worſhipped, to which purpoſe man was created: and that we being guided by this knowledge, may pray to him, and acknowledge that from him we have every good thing.
Q. What things are repugnant to the Doctrine concerning God?
A. Atheiſm, Epicuriſm, the mad worſhipping of Idols, the Gentiles making of many Gods: the Hereſie of Manicheus, making two beginnings, one good, another evil: blaſphemies againſt God: falſe Opinions concerning God, as that of the Anthropomorphites, who make God like unto a man; all doubting of God, &c.