Of God, and the Nature of God.

That there is a God, it is evident:

  1. By the course of nature;
  2. By the nature of the soul of man;
  3. By the distinction of things honest and dishonest;
  4. By the terror of conscience;
  5. By the regiment of civil societies;
  6. The order of all causes having ever recourse to some former beginning;
  7. The determination of all things to their several ends;
  8. The consent of all men well in their wits.

God is Jehovah Elohim:

Exodus 6:2-3
And Elohim spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah: and I appeared unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah, was I not known unto them.

Exodus 3:13-15 1
If they say unto me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God answered Moses, I am that I am: Also he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. And God spake further to Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah Elohim... hath sent me unto you.

In these words, the first title of God declareth his Nature, the second his Persons.

The nature of God, is his most lively and most perfect essence.

The perfection of the nature of God, is the absolute constitution thereof, whereby it is wholly complete within itself:

Exodus 3:14 2
I am that I am,

Acts 17:24-25 3
God that made the world, and all things that are therein, seeing that he is the Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with mens' hands, as though he needed any thing; seeing he giveth to all life and breath, and all things.

The perfection of his nature, is either simpleness, or the infiniteness thereof.

The simpleness of his nature, is that by which he is void of all logical relation in arguments. He hath not in him subject or adjunct.

John 5:26
As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself...

John 14:6
I am the way, the truth, and the life.

1 John 1:5,7 God is light, and in him is no darkness... But if we walk in the light, as he is light...

Hence it is manifest that to have life, and to be life: to be in light, and to be light, in God are all one. Neither is God subject to generality, or speciality; whole, or parts; matter or that which is made of matter: for so there should be in God divers things, and one more perfect than another. Therefore, whatsoever is in God, is his essence, and all that he is, he is by essence. The saying of Augustine in his 6th book and 4th chapter of the Trinity, is fit to prove this: "In God," saith he, "to be, and to be just or mighty, are all one: but in the mind of man, it is not all one to be, and to be mighty, or just: for the mind may be destitute of these virtues, and yet a mind."

Hence it is manifest that the nature of God is immutable and spiritual.

God's immutability of nature, is that by which he is void of all composition, division, and change:

James 1:17
With God there is no variableness nor shadow of changing.

Malachi 3:6
I am the Lord, and am not changed.

Where it is said that God repenteth, &c. (Genesis 6:6) the meaning is, that God changeth the action, as men do that repent: therefore repentance signifieth not any mutation in God, but in his actions, and such things as are made and changed by him.

God's nature is spiritual, in that it is incorporeal, and therefore invisible.

John 4:24
God is a Spirit

2 Corinthians 3:17
The Lord is the spirit.

1 Timothy 1:17
To the King eternal, immortal, invisible only wise God, be glory and honor for ever and ever.

Colossians 1:15
Who is the image of the invisible God.

The infiniteness of God is twofold: his eternity, and exceeding greatness.

God's eternity, is that by which he is without beginning and ending.

Psalm 90:2
Before the mountains were made, and before thou hadst formed the earth and the round world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art our God.

Revelation 1:8
I am Alpha and Omega, that is, the beginning and ending, saith the Lord: Which is, Which was, and Which is to come.

God's exceeding greatness, is that by which his incomprehensible nature is everywhere present, both within and without the world.

Psalm 145:3
Great is the Lord and worthy to be praised and his greatness is incomprehensible.

1 Kings 8:27
Is it true indeed that God will dwell on the earth? Behold the heavens, and the heavens of heavens are not able to contain thee: how much less is this house that I have built?

Jeremiah 23:24
Do not I fill the heaven and earth, saith the Lord?

Hence it is plain.

First, that he is only one, and that indivisible, not many:

Ephesians 4:5
One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all

Deuteronomy 4:35
Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God, and that there is none but he alone.

1 Corinthians 8:4 We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one

And there can be but one thing infinite in nature.

Secondly, that God is the knower of the heart. For nothing is hidden from that nature, which is within all things, and without all things, which is included in nothing, nor excluded from anything. Because:

1 Kings 8:39
The Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth every work of the mind.

Psalm 139:2 4
Thou knowest my sitting down, and my rising up, thou understandest my cogitation afar off.

1

Transcriber's note: All three verses were quoted, but original reference only cited verse 13.

2

Transcriber's note: Original reference was Exodus 3:13.

3

Transcriber's note: Both verses were quoted, but original reference only cited verse 24.

4

Transcriber's note: Original reference included verse 1, but only verse 2 was quoted.