A Beam of Divine Glory, Part 1 · Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
Which containes a general proof of the unchangeableneſs of God.
THe Creatures, yea, the beſt of Creatures in themſelves are ſubject to change; but God is every way, and in all reſpects unchangeable; God himſelf expreſly here (you ſee) aſſerts his own unchangeableneſs. I am the Lord, I change not; and 'tis frequently aſſerted alſo elſewhere. Jam. 1.17. Every good and perfect Gift (ſayes the Apoſtle) cometh down from Above, from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableneſs or ſhadow of change. God is here called the Father of Lights. He is ſometimes called Light it ſelf, 1 John 1.5. God is Light. Quo Majeſtas, Sanctitas, Perfectio et Beatitudo ejus notatur. Glaſſ. Rhet. Sac.By which (as a learned Man obſerves) is noted to us, the Majeſty, Holineſs, and perfect Bleſſedneſs of God; and here he is called the Father of Lights. To note that all Light, all Glory, all Holineſs and Bleſſedneſs is originally in him, and that whatever of theſe Creatures do partake of, does come from him as its proper Spring and Fountain. Now with this Father of Lights there is (ſayes the Apoſtle) no variableneſs, no mutation; the word is foreign, which is an Aſtronomical term taken from the Heavenly Bodies, which ſuffer many Declinations and Revolutious; the Heavenly Lights have their Viciſitude and Eclipſis, their Decreaſes and Increaſes; but with God, the Father of Lights, there is no ſuch thing, he alwayes ſhines with a like Brightneſs, Luſtre, and Glory, with whom is no variableneſs, nor ſhaddow of turning; that is, he is without the leaſt ſhew or reſemblance of change; nothing that looks like a change is found in him: God is a Son which doth not Set and Riſe, that can never be Overcaſt or Eclipſed. So alſo, Pſal. 102.24, 25, 26, 27. I ſaid, O my God, take me not away in the midſt of my days; thy years are throughout all Generations: Of old haſt thou laid the Foundations of the Earth; and the Heavens are the work of thy hands; They all periſh, but thou ſhalt endure, all of them ſhall wax old like a Garment; as a veſture ſhalt thou change them, and they ſhall be changed. But thou art the ſame, At tu idem es, id eſt nihil eſt firmum et perpetuum niſi tu nullis enim alterationibus et mutationibus es obnoxius, Mol.and thy years ſhall have no end. Pray obſerve, the Heavens are the pureſt part of the Creation, yet they, the Pſalmiſt tells us, ſhall wax old, and be changed; but ſayes he to God, thou art the ſame, and thy years ſhall have no end; thou changeſt not, but what thou wert thou art, and wilt be ſo for ever. The Heavens, and ſo all the Creatures, do not only wax old and change; but obſerve, they change and wax old like a Garment. Cloth by degrees will rot and be eaten out by Moths, but a Garment or Veſture is worn and waſted every day; every day brings changes upon the Creatures more or leſs, but God changes not, he remains the ſame for ever; from everlaſting to everlaſting he is God, as you have it Pſal 90.2. that is, he is unchangeably one and the ſame infinitely Holy and Bleſſed One.Deus eſt immutabilis, mutans omnia, nunquam novus, nunquam vetus. Aug. God (ſayes one of the Ancients) who changes all things, who works all the changes are in the world, is himſelf unchangeable, never new, never old. Thus you ſee that God is unchangeable. Now if you ask me what this unchangeableneſs of God is? I anſwer, that 'tis that Attribute of God, whereby he is free from all corruption and alteration, is alwayes like himſelf; ſo as that he can neither ceaſe to be what he is, nor begin to be what he is not; and hereby he is infinitely diſtinguiſhed from all the Creatures in Perfection and Glory: they are all ſubject to corruption and alteration, at leaſt in their own nature they are ſo, if not in their condition; they may ceaſe to be what they are, and may begin to be what they are not; they may loſe what they had, and may attain ſomewhat which before they had not; even the very Angels themſelves are in themſelves thus mutable; As may be more fully hereafter ſhewn. But now with God their is no ſuch thing, he is free from all poſſibility of corruption or alteration; he is alwayes the ſame, nor can he ceaſe to be what he is, or begin to be what he is not. But that God is unchangeable and alſo what his unchangeableneſs is, will further appear by what next falls under conſideration.