The Incomparableness of God, Treatise · Chapter 5
CHAP. V. God incomparable in his Being, as it is eternal, and without compoſition.
GOd is an eternal Being, and none is eternal but he: Time which hath a beginning and end is competible to Men, and other viſible Creatures in this World. Aeriternity which hath a beginning, and no end, is competible to good and evil Angels, and to the Souls of Men; but Eternity which hath no beginning, ſucceſſion or end, belongs onelyonly to God.
1. God hath no beginning: He who in the beginning created the Heavens and the Earth, could have no beginning himſelf, Gen. 1.1. Before the Mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the Earth and the World; from everlasting to everlasting thou art God, Pſal. 90.2. God is eternal, a parte ante, and puzleth the moſt enlarged Underſtanding, to conceive his duration: Behold he is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be ſearched out, Job 36.26. Pſal. 93.2.
2. God hath no ſucceſſion in his Duration: He dwelleth in one indiviſible point of eternity; He is what he is in one infinite moment of being: His duration knoweth nothing of former or latter, paſt or to come: His Eſſence is not bounded by thoſe Hedges, but he enjoyeth his whole eternity every moment. Hence he is ſaid to inhabit eternity, to be fixt alwayes in eternity, Iſa. 57.15. Time is nunc fluens, but eternity is nunc ſtans: One day with him is as a thouſand years, and a thouſand years as one day, 2 Pet. 3.8. He inhabits a million of years in a moment, and each moment to him is as a million of years: He hath not the leaſt added to his duration ſince the World was, though it hath been near 6000 years: It's not proper to ſay of him, He was (for none of his duration is ever paſt with him) or he ſhall be (for none of his duration is ever to come) but he is, his full eternity is alwayes preſent; Hence his Name is I am, Exod. 3.14. Not I was, or ſhall be; and Chriſt tells the Jews, Before Abraham was, I am, John 8.58. It ſeems falſe Grammar, but it's the moſt proper true Divinity. Indeed, had Adam been then alive, it had been proper for him to have ſaid, Before Abraham was, I was; or if an Angel had ſpoken, it had been proper for him to have ſaid, Before Abraham was, I was, becauſe Men and Angels enjoy their Being by piece-meals, now a little and then a little, ſomewhat of their duration is gone, and ſomewhat to come; but it was moſt proper for him that was God to ſay, Before Abraham was, I am, becauſe his duration is without all ſucceſſion, the whole of it is ever preſent: The Pſalmiſt further cleares this, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, Pſal. 2.7. Which words are interpreted of the eternal Generation of the Son of God before all Worlds, and alſo of his Reſurrection in time, which was to be ſome hundreds of years after, as the Apoſtle either expounds it, or alludes to it, Acts 13.33. But it's all one, for both are to day; that which was from eternity, and that which was to be many hundred of years after, are both with him preſent this day.
Paſt or future is all preſent this day; that was not past to God, which never had beginning, his Sons eternal Generation; nor was that to come to God, which was alwayes before him, his Sons Temporal Reſurrection. 'Tis ſtill, this day have I begotten thee, millions of years, yea of Ages, add not the leaſt moment to his duration.
3. God hath no ending: As he is from, ſo he is to everlaſting, Pſal. 90.2. Without beginning or end of days; Pſal. 102.27. But thou art the ſame, and thy years never end. O what an excellent Being is this eternal Being? He onelyonly hath immortality, 1 Tim. 6.16. And he is eternity it ſelf, 1 Sam. 15.29. Aeternitas Iſraelis, Jun. The eternity of Iſrael cannot lye.
But are Men or Angels comparable to God in this? Surely no: As for Man, he is a Bird of Time, here to day, and gone to morrow, Job 14.1. Of few days: As for Man, his days are as Graſs, Pſal. 103.15. Now flouriſhing, but quickly periſhing.
Man hath a beginning, ſucceſſion and ending. There was a Time when Man was not, Man enjoyeth his time by parts and parcels, and Man ere long ſhall be no more. All men in this are alike, high or low, good or bad: There is a vaſt difference between God and all Men in their duration; Are thy dayes as the dayes of Man? are thy years as Mans years? Job 10.5. No, in no reſpect; Man's days begin, ſucceed and end; not ſo God's dayes. Well might David ſay (though he had lived as long as Methuſelah), Mine age is nothing unto thee, Pſal. 39.5. And truly as Men are far from being comparable to God, ſo are Angels: Angels had a beginning, Coloſſ. 1.16. Angels have a ſucceſſion in their duration, they enjoy part to day, part to morrow, part the next day, every moment addeth to their duration; what is paſt they do not enjoy, nor what is to come, but onelyonly what is preſent; and thus it is alſo with Souls of Saints in Heaven.
8. God is a ſimple Being: In this I take ſimplicity, not as oppoſed to Wiſdom (for in him are all the Treaſures of Wiſdom and Knowledge, Coloſſ. 2.9.) but as ſimplicity is oppoſed to mixture and compoſiton. Thus there is a ſimplicity in the Goſpel, 2 Cor. 12.3. So any thing, the more ſimple it is, the more excellent it is. God is a moſt pure ſimple unmixed indiviſible Eſſence; he is uncapable of the leaſt compoſition, and therefore of the leaſt diviſion. He is one moſt pure, one without all parts, members, accidents and qualities: Whatſoever is in him is himſelf, his very Being; therefore that which is a quality in a Man or Angel, is attributed to God in the abſtract: Men and Angels are wiſe, but God is wiſdom, Prov. 9.1. Men and Angels are holy, but God is Holineſs, Iſa. 63.15. God is all Eſſence, all Being, and nothing elſe.
But how unlike are Men or Angels to God in this: Man is a groſly compounded being, he is compounded of a Body and a Soul, Gen. 2.7. His body is compounded of members and parts, his members and parts are compounded of bones and bloud, and fleſh, and skin, and ſinews, Job 10.11. His Soul is compounded, and ſo are the higheſt Angels of ſubſtance and accidents, of eſſence and faculties; the ſubſtance of Man's Soul, and of Angels, and their qualities, are diſtinct things: Their Wiſdome is one thing, their Power another thing, their Holineſs a third thing, and all diſtinct from their Eſſence. An Angel may be an Angel, and a Man may be a true Man, and yet be fooliſh, weak and wicked. Their Underſtanding differeth from their Wills, their Wills differ from their Affections, their Affections differ from both, and all from their beings: But in God all theſe are one indiviſible Eſſence, to will and to underſtand, and to love and to hate, and to be, are all the ſame and one in God.