Chapter 2. Of God, and the nature of God.
WILLIAM PERKINS
Chapter 2. Of God, and the nature of God.
It is evident that there is a God:
1. by the course of nature; 2. by the nature of the soul of man; 3. by the distinction of honest and dishonest things;
4. by the terror of the conscience; 5. by the regimentation (or rule) of civil societies;
6. by the order of all causes ever having recourse to some former beginning;
7. by the determination of all things to their several ends; 8. by the consent of all men of sound mind.
God is Jehovah Elohim. Exo 6.2, 3, And Elohim spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am Jehovah and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob by the name of God almighty, but I was not known to them by my name Jehovah. Exo 3.13-15, If they say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? And God answered Moses, I AM that I am; He also said, thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you. And God spoke further to Moses: Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, Jehovah Elohim, etc. has sent me to you. In these words, the first title of God declares his Nature, the second his Persons.
A GOLDEN CHAIN
The Nature of God is his most lively and most perfect essence.
The perfection of the nature of God is his absolute constitution, by which he is wholly complete within himself. Exo 3.13, I am that I am. Act 17.24, 25, God who made the world, and all things that are in it, seeing that he is the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing that he gives to all life and breath and all things.
The perfection of His Nature is either Simpleness, or the Infiniteness of it.
The Simpleness of his nature is that by which he is void of all Logical relation. He does not have in him, subject or adjunct. Joh 5.26, As He has life in himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in himself – compare with Joh 14.6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 1Joh 1.7, But if we walk in light as He is in light – compared with verse 5, God is light, and in him is no darkness. Hence, it is manifest that to have Life, and to be Life: to be in Light, and to be Light, are all one in God. Nor is God subject to generality, or specialty: whole or parts; matter or what is made of matter. For if so, there would be diverse things, and one more perfect than another. Therefore, whatever is in God, is his essence, and all that He is, He is by essence. The saying of Augustine in his 6th book, chapter 4, about the Trinity, is fit to prove this: "In God," he says, "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 be a mind."
WILLIAM PERKINS
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. Jas 1.17,
With God there no variableness nor shadow of changing. Mal 3.6, I am the Lord and am not changed.
Where it is said that God repents, etc. Gen. 6.6, the meaning is that God changes the action, as men do who repent. Therefore, repentance does not signify any mutation in God, but rather in His actions, and those things which are made and changed by him.
God's Nature is spiritual in that it is incorporeal, and therefore invisible. Joh 4.24, God is a spirit. 2Cor
3.17, The Lord is spirit. 1Tim 1.17, To the King eternal, immortal, invisible, only wise God, be glory and honour for ever and ever. Col 1.15, Who is the image of the invisible God.
The infiniteness of God is twofold: his Eternity, and his Exceeding greatness.
God's eternity is that by which he is without beginning and ending. Psa 90.2, Before the mountains were made, and before You had formed the earth and the round world, even from everlasting to everlasting,
You are our God. Rev 1.8, I am Alpha and Omega, that is, the beginning and ending, says the Lord, Which is,
Which was, and Which is to come.
God's exceeding greatness is that by which his incomprehensible nature is present everywhere, both within and without the world. Psa 145.3, Great is the Lord, and worthy to be praised, and his greatness is incomprehensible. 1Kng 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 you; how much less is this house that I have built? Jer 23.24, Do I not fill the heaven and earth, says the Lord? Hence it is plain:
A GOLDEN CHAIN
First, that he is only one, and that is indivisible, not many. Eph 4.5,6, One Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one
God and Father of all. Deu 4.35, To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God, and that there is no other God but one. And there can be but one thing that is 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, 1Chr
28.9, The Lord searches all hearts, and understands every work of the mind. Psa 139.2, You know my sitting down, and my rising up; you understand my cogitation
[thinking or thoughts] afar off.