4. "Now if any man inquire the cause whereby he both was once led to create all these things, and is now moved to preserve them; we shall find that his alone goodness was that which moved him to it.". Inst. B. 1. ch. 13. sec. 5. "But we must keep modesty, that we draw not God to yield cause of his doings, but let us so reverence his secret judgments, that his will be unto us a most just cause of all things." Inst. B. 1. ch. 17. sec. 1. 5. There is one divine essence, subsisting in three distinguished, but not divided.persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, to each of which appertains some incommunicable property. 1 OTHERS. 4. "God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, not deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory, in, by, unto, and upon them." Con. P. C. U. S. ch. 2. sec. 2. Say. Plat. ch. 2. sec. 2. Con. C. Scot. ch. 2. sec. 2. "God is all-sufficient in him Con. of Helvetia. self." "By whom we confesse and beleeve all things in heaven and earth, as well visible as invisible, to have been created, to be retained in their being, and to be ruled and guided by his inscrutable providence, to such end, as his eternall wisdome, goodnesse, and justice, hath appointed them, to the manifestation of his glory." Con. C. Scot. A. D. 1581. 5. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one God, in three persons, of incommunicable properties, not divided, nor intermixed, but co-eternal, coessential and co-equal. Con. R. D. C. Art. 8. Con. P. Inst. B. 1. ch. 13. sec. 2 and 6. C. U. S. ch. 2. sec. 3. Con. C. Scot. and Say. Plat. ditto. Not one of the confessions speaks of society in the Godhead, or of friendship between the three; which constitute one mind. HOPKINS, AND OTHERS. 4. God's happiness consists 4. "Consider the source of in his holy exercisés," so that the divine blessedness. it is not strictly true, that creatures add nothing to the enjoyment or happiness of God, even his essential happiness; and that he would have been as completely blessed for ever, as he really is, had there been no creatures." He can be said to be independently happy, in this sense alone, that he has power to do all his pleasure. God is love, and all his happiness flows from the perfect gratification of all his benevolent feelings. But these could never have been completely gratified, without displaying all his perfections in the work of creation. God being from eternity allsufficient and infinitely benevolent, must have had an infinitely strong propensity to exert Syst. Vol. 1. p. 89, 90. his omnipotent power in the 5. The one God exists in three distinct subsistences or persons; and it is highly probable, "that this distinction of three in one, is that in which the most happy and perfect society consists, in which love and friendship is exercised to the highest perfection, and with infinite enjoyment and felicity." System, Vol. 1. p. 97, 104. and Vol 2. p. 244. production of holiness and happiness. Hence it was morally impossible, that he should have been perfectly blessed, without devising and performing the work of creation." Emmons, p. 120. 5. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three distinct agents, or persons: and the divine blessedness arises from the perfect state of society which subsists between the three, and the perfect satisfac- ‚· tion which each feels in the conduct of each, while it is the office of one to create, of the second to redeem, and of the third to sanctify. Emmons, p. 90, 104 and 107. 6. "The Father is of none, the son is of the Father, and the Spirit is of both." B. 1. ch. 13. sec. 18. "We teach that there is but one essential God, and therefore that the essence as well of the Son as of the Holy Ghost is unbegotten. But for so much as the Father is in order first and hath of himself begotten his wisdom, therefore rightfully it is above said that he is counted the original and fountain of all the Godhead." B. 1. ch. 13, sec. 25. 7. "When we give foreknowledge to God, we mean that all things always have been and perpetually do remain under his eyes." OTHERS. 6. "The Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost, eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son." Con. P. C. U. S. p. 16 and 163. Church of England, Art. 2 and 6. Say. Plat. ch. 2. sec. 3. Con. C. Scot. ch. 2. sec. 3. and Con. R. D. C. Art. 8. See also the Nicene creed, and that of St. Athanasius, A. D. 333.* 7.With God, foreknowledge and predestination are simultaneous. Con. P. C.U. S. p. 17, 25, and 166. Con. C. Scot. and Say. Plat. B. 3. ch. 21. sec. 5. ch. 3. sec. 1 and 2. * The 3d chap. of "the latter confession of Helvetia," contains the sum of Calvinistic doctrine upon this subject. "We neverthelesse beleeve and teach, that the same infinite, one, and indivisible God is, in persons, inseparably and without confusion distinguished into the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, so as the Father hath begotten the Son from everlasting, (the Son is begotten in an unspeakable manner) and the Holy Ghost proceedeth from them both, and that from everlasting, and is to be worshipped with them both. So that there be not three Gods, but three persons consubstantiall, coeternall, and coequall, distinct as touching their persons, and in order, one going before another, yet without any inequalitie." The Con. of Basil, Bohemia, France, England, Auspurge and Wirtemberge teach the same. *«To suppose, that the Son, with respect to the divine nature, was begotten of the Father, and that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the concurrence of the Father and the Son, is to suppose, that a Trinity of persons is not founded in the divine nature, but merely in the divine will. For, on this supposition, if the Father had not pleased to beget the Son, and the Father and Son had not pleased to produce the Holy Ghost, there could have been no Trinity of persons in the Godhead. Besides, this opinion sets the Son as far below the Father, as a creature is below the Creator; and sets the Holy Ghost as far below the Son, as he is below the Father; or, rather, it makes the Holy Ghost the creature of the creature." Emmons, p. 103, 104. f. There is an eternal divine determination, which respects all beings, actions and events.* B. 1. ch. 16, and B. 3. ch. 22. 2. "The will of God is so the highest rule of righteousness, that whatsoever he willeth, even for this that he willeth it, it ought to be taken for righteous. When, therefore, it is asked, why the Lord did it, it is to be answered, because he willed it. But if thou go further in asking why he willed it, thou askest some greater and higher thing than the will of God, which cannot be found." Inst. B. 3. ch. 23. sec. 2. 3.Predestination we call the eternal decree of God, OTHERS. 1. "God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass." Con. P. C. U. S. p. 16. Say. Plat. p. 21. Con. C. Scot. ch. 3. sec. 1. 2. According to his decree, God "made heaven, earth, and all other creatures of nothing, when he saw it fit and convenient, and gave to every one his being, forme, and divers offices, that they might serve their Creator: and he doth now cherish, uphold, and governe them all, according to his everlasting providence and infinite power; and that to this end, that they might serve man, and man might serve his God." Con. of Belgia, Art. 12. A. D. 1566. 3. "It is not consistent with the perfection of God to ascribe CALVIN'S PREMONITION. "First, therefore, let this be before our eyes, that to covet any other knowledge of predestination than that which is set forth by the word of God, is a point of no less madness than if a man should have a will to go by an impassable way, or to see in darkness.” "Let us willingly abstain from the searching of that knowledge, whereof the excessive coveting is both foolish and perilous, yea, and deadly." B.3. ch. 21. Sec. 2. |