lowing passages separately, but as a plain deduction from the several texts when compared together. Job xxxvi. 26. neither can the number of his years be searched out." Gen. xxi. 33. 'the everlasting God,' literally, the God of old time or ages. Psal. xc. 2. 'from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God, or from age to age.' cii. 12. but thou, O Jehovah, shalt endure for ever.' v. 24. thy years are through all generations.' v. 27. but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.' Psal. cxlv. 13. 'thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.' Isai. xliii. 10. before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.' xliv. 6. 'I am the first, and I am the last.' Habak. i. 12. art thou not from everlasting,' literally 'from old time.'

The evidence of the New Testament is still clearer, because the Greek word signifies to exist for ever.* Rom. vi. 26. according to the commandment of the everlasting God.' 1 Tim. i. 17. unto the King eternal.' Rev. i. 4. from him which is, and which was, and which is to come.'

But all the words used in Scripture to denote eternity, often signify only of old time, or antiquity. Gen. vi. 4. mighty men which were of old.' Job xx. 4. 'knowest thou not this of old, or from eternity, since man was placed upon earth?' Isai. xlii. 14. I have long time holden my peace.' to have understood that the term mated a great while to come. 2 Sam. vii. 13. 'I

David also seems for ever only inti

♦ Sic etiam Deus dicitur qui est, qui erat, et qui futurus est, Apoc. i. 8. et Iv. 8. Deo tamen ævum sive æternitas, non tempus, attribui solet: quid autem est ævum proprie, nisi duratio perpetua, Græce, air, quasi ¿sì âv, semper existens.' Arlis Logica plenior Institutio, &c. Prose Works, VI. 224.

will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever,' compared with v. 19. thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come.' See also 1 Chron. xvii. 12, 14, 17. John ix. 32. since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.' Acts iii. 21. 'which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.' 2 Tim. i. 9. and Tit. i. 2. before the world began:' and in

Heb. xi. 3. the word is also used to signify this world, where the Syriac version translates it,' before the worlds were framed.' From these and many similar texts it appears that the idea of eternity, properly so called, is conveyed in the Hebrew language rather by comparison and deduction than in express words.

V. The Immutability of God has an immediate connection with the last attribute. Psal. cii. 27. but thou art the same.' Mal. iii. 6. 'I am Jehovah, I change not.' James i. 17. with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.'

VI. His Incorruptibility is also derived from the fourth attribute. Psal. cii. 26. thou shalt endure.' Rom. i. 23. the uncorruptible God. 1 Tim. i. 17. 'unto the King immortal.'*

VII. The next attribute of God, his Omnipresence, arises from his infinity. Psal. cxxxix. 8, 9. if I ascend up into heaven, thou art there,' &c. &c. Prov. xv. 3. the eyes of Jehovah are in every place.' Jer. xxiii. 24. do not I fill heaven and earth?' Eph. iv. 6. ' who is above all, and through

aptagr incorruptibili. Tremellius. qui non corrumpitur. Beza.

all, and in you all.' Our thoughts of the omnipresence of God, whatever may be the nature of the attribute, should be such as appear most suitable to the reverence due to the Deity.

*

VIII. Omnipotence. 2 Chron. xx. 6. in thine hand is there not power and might?' Job xlii. 2. I know that thou canst do every thing.' Psal. xxxiii. 9. he spake, and it was done.' cxv. 3. he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.' See also cxxxv. 6. Matt. xix. 26. with God all things are possible.' Luke i. 37. with God nothing shall be impossible.' Hence the name of El Shaddai, applied to the Deity, Gen. xvii. 1. I am the Almighty God,' literally 'sufficient.' Ruth i. 21. the Almighty hath afflicted me.' Jer. xxxii. 18. the Great, the Mighty God, the Lord of Hosts.' Gen. xiv. 22. Jehovah, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth.' Thus also the name frequently occurs. In the New Testament, the Lord Almighty,' 2 Cor. vi. 18, and Rev. i. 8. the only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords,' i. Tim. vi. 15. There seems, therefore, an impropriety in the term of actus purus, or the active principle, which Aristotlef applies to God, for thus the Deity would have no choice of act, but what he did he would do of necessity, and could do in no other way, which would be inconsistent with his omnipotence and free agency. But it must be observed, that the power of God is not exerted in things which imply a contradiction.‡ 2 Tim. ii. 13.

* Fortis omnipotens. Tremellius. Shaddai. Hebr. qui sum sufficiens. + See Aristot. Metaph. lib. 1. cap. ix. &c. lib. 14. cap. vi. Cudworth's Intellectual System, Vol. II. p. 322. Birch's Edit.

Can he make deathless death? That were to make
Strange contradiction, which to God himself

'he cannot deny himself.' Tit. i. 2. God, that cannot lie.' Heb. vi. 18. in which it was impossible for God to lie.'

IX. All the preceding attributes may be regarded as necessary causes of the ninth attribute, the Unity of God; of which, however, other proofs are not wanting. Deut. iv. 35. Jehovah he is God, there is none also beside him.' v. 39. Jehovah he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.' vi. 4. 'hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.' xxxii. 39. I, even I, am he, and there is no God with me.' 1 Kings viii. 60. that all the people of the earth may know that Jehovah is God, and that there is none else.' 2 Kings xix. 15. 'thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth.' Isai. xliv. 6. beside me there is no God.' v. 8. is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.' xlv. 5. ' I am Jehovah, and there is none else; there is no God beside me.' v. 21. there is no God else beside me .....there is none beside me.' v. 22. I am God, and there is none else'—that is, no spirit, no person, no being beside him is God; for none is an universal negative. xlvi. 9. I am God, and there is none else : I am God, and there is none like me.' What can be plainer, what more distinct, what more suitable to general comprehension and the ordinary forms of speech, in order that the people of God might under

Impossible is held; as argument
Of weakness, not of power.

Paradise Lost, X. 798.

'Cum autem dico potentiæ Dei objectum omne esse possibile, per possibile intelligo illud quod non implicat contradictionem ut fiat. Nam quod contradictionem implicat, ne Deus quidem ipse potest.' Curcellæi Institutio II. 2.

stand that there was numerically one God and one Spirit, in the common acceptation of numerical unity?

For it was fitting and highly agreeable to reason, that what was the first and consequently the greatest commandment, scrupulous obedience to which was required by God even from the lowest of all the people, should be delivered in so plain a manner, that nothing ambiguous or obscure in its terms could lead his worshippers into error, or keep them in suspense or doubt. And thus the Israelites under the law and the prophets always understood it to mean, that God was numerically one God, that beside him there was none other, much less any equal. For those disputants of the schools had not yet appeared, who, depending on their own sagacity, or rather on arguments of a purely contradictory tendency, cast a doubt upon that very unity of God, which they pretended to assert. But as with regard to the omnipotence of the Deity, it is universally allowed, as has been stated before, that he can do nothing which involves a contradiction; so must it also be remembered in this place, that nothing can be said of the one God, which is inconsistent with his unity, and which implies at the same time the unity and plurality of the Godhead.

Proceeding to the evidence of the New Testament, we find it equally clear, in so far as it goes over the former ground, and in one respect even clearer, inasmuch as it testifies that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is that one God. Mark xii. 28, Christ having been asked, which was the first commandment of all, answers, v. 29. from Deut. vi. 4.-a passage quoted