Scram LXXIX: 7'hc Lnchangeahlenef ofGod. r9 ?. CPZr.4 ,vnAPG1 eici Z` T. ; ;6777 ,, s u..opç , "That being the goodliefl and bell. Being that is po:iible healways continues limply the fame. Senora likewife (peaking ofthe immu- tability of God's Counfels (1.6.Benef Statuerunt (lays he) qu.v non mutarent,neque unquam priori concilli Leos pcenitet, The Gods make unchangeable decrees and never repent them of their Mil counfel. z. This will yet more clearly appear from the Divine Revelation of the Holy Scriptures, which tell us that God is unchangeable in hisNature and in his PerfeEti- ons, in all his Decrees and Purpofes and Promifes.In his EJfence and Being, Exod. 3. t4. I am that Iam, this in his Name, whereby he made known himfelf to the comfort of his People, and to the terror of the Egyptians theirOppreffors: 1Ta4 9z. t. From everlaJling to everlafling thou art God. Plat. roz. z7. Thou art thefamë, and thy yearsfail not. Mal. 3. 6. I am the Lord andchange not. Hence it is that the Title of the living God is fo frequently attributed to him; and he fwears by this,asdenoting not only his eternity, but his uiechangeablenefs; As Ilivefaith the Leri.. Hither likewife we may refer thofe Texts wherehe is call'd the Incorruptible Cod,Rom. t. 23. The immortal King, i Tim. i. 17. and is faid only to have immor- tality, I. Tim. I. 16. And he is immutable likewife in his perfeelion; hençç it is fo often faid in the Pfalms, thathis goodnefs and his mercy endure for ever; his righteoufnefs is likewifefaid to endure for ever. Pfal. 1 t 1. 3. and Pfal. 36. 6. To de like the great Mountains, not only vifble and confpicuous,butfirm and immovable; and she fame likewife is faid of his truth and faithfulnefs, Pfal. I r. 7z. His truth enda- reth for ever ; and of hispower, Ifa. z6.4.15 theLord °ehovah is everlaflingelrength. And fo likewife in his Decrees and Purpofes, Pfal. 33. I. The counfelof the Lord ,flandethfor ever, and the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Ifa. 14. ? 4. Surely as I have thought, fo (hall it come to pafs, andas I havepurpofed, fo (hall it Band. Numb. z3. 19. God is not a Man that he fhould lie, or as theSon of man that he [hould repent; bath he fpoken , and (hall not he ell it i hathhefaidit, and fhall not he bring it to pafs? If he hath made any promife, or etitred into drip Covenant with us, it is firm and immutable, Pfal. 89. 33. He will notfuller hisfaith- fulsaes(s to fail, hiscovenant will he not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of his ,lips., His Covenant and his Promife are in themfelves immutable; but for our .furtheraffurance, God hash given us his Oath, the higheft fign ofImmutability; fo the Apoftle to the Hebrews tells us, chap. 6. 18. That by two immutable things, (viz: his Promife and his Oath) in which it is impoffiblefor God to lie,we might have ,Jlrong confolation, who arefledfor refuge to the hope which isjet beforeus. I proceed to the III. Thing I propofed, which, is to anfwer an Objeétion, which may Teem to lie againft what hath been, faid, from the mention fo often made in Scripture of, God's repenting himfelf; as Gen. 6. 6. where is it faid that it repentedGodthat hehad made Man. 1 Sam. z S. r r. That he repented that he hadmade Saul King; and a. Sam. 24. 16. When the Angel had /lretchedout his hand over 7erufalem todeflráV it it is faid that the Lord repented himof the evil; and Pfal. 135. 14. the Lord faith there that he will repent himfelfconcerning his fervants. To all which I anfwer, That this expreffon ofGod's. Repenting we are tounder- Stand (as many others in Scripture) after the manner of Men, and as fpoken by way of Condefcention'and Accommodation to our Weaknefs and Capacity, and not as calling any imputation of Mutability and Inconftancy upon God, as ifout of levity or for want offorefight he did alter. his Mind ; but when God is faid td repent that he made Man, or that he made Saul. King, the change was, not in him, but them; and it lignifies not that God was abfolutely deceived in his expectation, s but that things had fallen out contrary to all reafonable expeéation ; and there- fore the Scripture cloaths God with the Human Pail on of repenting andgrieving for what he had done, as Men ufe to do when they are greatly difappointed and fall fhort of their expectation. Andas for the other infances, wherein God is laid to repent him ofevils threat- sed, the expredion only lignifies thus much, that God doth not execute that which Teemed to us to have been' his peremptory purpofe and refolutiori; that is, he is pleáfèd to do otherwife than his threatning feemed openly to Ggggz etpptefsg
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