57° Concerning the Perfectionof Cod, voL L But whatever Perfetiion is conceivable or poffibie, and argues no Imperfeílion, nor is repugnant to any other neceffary Perfeftion, is to be afcribed to God ; for this is the molt natural and eafe conception that we can have of God, that he is the molt perfect Being. This natural Light doth firft fuggeft and offer to the Minds of Men, and we cannot conceive of God as meer Power and Will with- out Wifdom and Goodnefs. Hence it is that the Greeks call God very often, ad Kps TVv, the bell of Beings ; and the Latin, Optimus Maximus, the BeII and the . Greatefl beatima Ú perfetilma natura, conflans eff perfecta Ratio, the happiefl and mofl prfecl Nature, immutable and abfobtte Reafon ; and many other filch exprefì- ons which we meet with in the Writings of the Heathen Philofophers. I readily grant, that the firft and moil obvious thought which Men have of God, is that of his Greatnefs and Majefly but this neceflarily involves or infers his Good- nes ; as Seneca excellently reafons, Primus Deorum cultus ell Deos credere, dein red- dere i/lis majeflatem foam, reddere bonitatem, fine qu:î nulla Ma+efias, " The firft " Worfhip of the Gods, is to believe their Being ; next to afcribe to themGreat- " nefs and Majefly, to afcribe to them Goodnefs, without N3 hich there can be " no Majefly. And we (hall find all along in Plato, and Tully, and the heft and wife(t Writers among the Heathen, that they everywhere attribute the higheft Excellencies and Perfelions to the Divine Nature, and do (leer and govern all their Difcourfes of God by this Principle, that Perfelion is to be afcribed to him : And whenever any thing is faid of God, they examine whether it be a Perfection or not ; if it be, they give it him as his due ; if it be not, they lay it afide, as a thing not fit to be fpoken of him. And in the Scripture we do every where find Perfelion afcribed to the Nature, and Works, and Laws of God, to every. thing that belongs to him, or proceeds from him : yob 37. r6. Do/I thou know the wondrous works of him that is perfetl in knowledge ? And again, Canfl thou by fearching findOut God? Canfl thou findout the Almighty toperfetlion Pf:.r8. 3o. As for God his way is perfe6t. PC 59. 7. The Law of the Lordisperfetl. I (hall not need to confider particularly the fevers! Perfelions of the Divine Nature, I (hall only give you a brief Scheme and Draught of them. Whatever Perfetlion can be imagined either in the manner ofBeing or Aclingis to be afcri- bed to God ; therefore as to his Nature we fay that he is a Spirit, that is, that he is not meer Body or Matter, becaufe that would exclude feveral other Perfetti- uns ; for meer Matter is incapable both of Knowledge and Liberty, being de- termined by necefTary Laws of Motion ; and yet without Knowledge and Liber- ty, there can be no Wifdom. nor Goodnefs. We fay of God, that he is of"him- felf; and without Caufe, and does not owe his Being to any other ; and confe- quently that he is necefrarily, and that he cannot but be, and cannot be other- wife than he is .; for that which is of its felf did not chufe whether it would be or not, nor whether it would be thus or otherwife ; for to fuppofe any thing to deliberate or confult about its own Being, is to fuppofe it tobe before it is. We mull fay of God likewife that he is immenfe, and every where prefent, becaufe to be limited is an Imperfetlion ; and that he is eternal, that is, ever was, and (hall be.;., for to ceafe to be, is a greater Imperfection than fometime not to have been. And then we are to fay of God, that he is the caufe of all other Beings, that they are made by him and depend upon him ; that he knows all things, and can do all things in the mod puled manner, by a glance of his Mind, and. by the meer beck and nod of his Will, without long Rudy or deliberation, without la- borious pains and endeavours, and confequently That nothing is exempted from his Knowledge, and Power, and Providence, and that he adminiffers all things in a way ofGoodnefs and Wifdom, of Jullice and Truth ; and therefore all things are ro be referred to him, as their fait end. All there Perfections, and all other that are pof(ible, we are to look upon the Divine Nature as fully and immutably poffeft of, and that in an higher and more excellent degree, than our finite Under- ftandings are able to conceive or comprehend. a. As
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