Son, and Holy Ghost; who have but one and the same nature and essence: There are three that give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. 1 John v. 7. The persons are three, and the nature or essence but one; so there is no contradiction in this mystery; because they are not three in the same sense they are one; for they are three in persons, and one in essence, in divinity, in wisdom, in goodness, in will, in power, and in work. There is an image of the Trinity in the soul of man, which, being one, has yet three powers, will, memory, and understanding; though all comparison here is defective, because there can be no exact likeness or proportion between any thing created, and the blessed Trinity.

To believe in God, imports three things: 1. That there is a God. 2. That all he has revealed is true, and to be believed with divine faith. 3. That we are to place all our hope in him, and to love and seek him, as our chief and only essential good.

EXHOR.-The fool said in his heart, there is no God; hence they are become corrupt and abominable. Psalm xiii. 1. The belief of a God leads to virtue, religion, and all good: the want of it (as in Atheists) is the origin of all wickedness and sin; as in a kingdom, if people are made to understand that there is no king, no judge, no justice, they will set no bounds to their crimes. But you, O Christian, who believe there is a God, the Supreme Lord over you and all things, bow down and adore him, and make him Lord over your heart, by loving, fearing, and obeying him. Make him Lord over your life and actions, by doing all for his glory. Submit to all things he has revealed and delivered to you, whether by his prophets, or his apostles, or his Church. Under all the events of life, still hope in him love him as your first beginning, and last end: renounce all false gods, all those idols which your passions adore; the idol of pride, covetousness, lust. Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Deut. vi. 13. Give all honour and glory to the most blessed Trinity, one in essence, and three in persons: give glory to God the Father, for your creation; to God the Son, for your redemption; to God the Holy Ghost, for your sanctification; three persons really distinct, but one and the same God. He is your first beginning, make him also your last end, by glorifying him now and for all eternity: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of Sabaoth.

SECT. II.

Of the divine Attributes.

Q. WHAT are the perfections or attributes of God? A. As God is infinite, his perfections also are infinite.

INSTRUC.-God is an infinite being, who has infinite perfections, from whom all things have their being and perfections.

2. God is eternal for as he is self-existent, that is, has no cause of his existence, but exists because it is his nature and essence to exist always; as he has no beginning, so he can have no end; and this his eternity extends to all parts of time, with whom the past and the future is at present; for in him nothing is past, nothing future, but is present.

3. God is incomprehensible: he is so great, that none but himself can fully comprehend what he is. The blessed, indeed, see him as he is; they have the clear sight and enjoyment of him too; yet their understanding is limited, and he is infinite, still above their comprehension; whatever they contemplate of his greatness, there will still be more to be seen and known without end; and in this they rejoice exceedingly, that God is still greater than all they conceive.

4. God is immense: it is impossible to imagine any place, or point, but where he is, with his whole essence, presence and power. He is in all places with his essence, to give being to all things that are; to give life to all that live, and motion to all that move: In him we live, move, and are. Acts xvii. 28. He is every where by his presence, to contemplate all that is done by the good and the bad. He is present every where by his power, inasmuch as all things are subject to it, and all beings are the effect of it. Thus God, by his immensity, fills heaven and earth, and all places; Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I fly from thy face? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there, and if I descend into hell, thou art present. Psalm cxxxviii. 7.

5. God is unchangeable: all things created are by nature changeable; he alone is eternally the same; ever wise, ever good, ever just, ever holy. It is impossible he should ever change to any thing inferior to himself, for then he would not be God: or to any thing equal to himself, because there is none equal to him: or to any thing above himself, because he is above all: Thou art always the same, and thy years shall not fail. Psalm ci. 28.

6. God is omnipotent; he is all power: this he manifested in the creation of heaven and earth; yet he can create still more in number, and greater in perfection, without end, than he has

already made; and this by his own power alone, without the help of any second cause: We have seen but few of his works, (Eccl. xliii. 36.) that is, but little in comparison of what he can do as he made all things by his power, by the same he can make what changes and alterations he pleases in the works which he has made, for the Almighty himself is above all his works. Eccl. xliii. 30. By this power he made the sun to stop his course, in the time of Joshua; and to move back in the reign of Ezekias: he does what he pleases in the heavens, the earth, and the seas, as he did by Moses; and in all creatures, as by our Saviour; hence we ought to have no doubt of what he has revealed of his miracles and prodigies. But though God is omnipotent, and can do all things, we may safely say, he cannot do evil or sin; for this implies imperfection; and God is infinite in all perfections.

7. God is omniscient: he knows all things: he knows himself, by a full comprehension of his infinite being, and all that the whole extent of omnipotent power can do: and as he made all things that are, by his own power, he has the perfect idea of every nature, and of every individual he has made, and comprehends them more perfectly, than the artist knows the texture of the works which he produces by his own invention. The knowledge of men and angels is limited; the knowledge of God is unbounded. He is the fountain of all knowledge; all we know is from God, and through God: from his wisdom, originally, came all good and excellent inventions and sciences that ever have been: God is the Lord of all sciences. 1 Kings ii. 3. What he knows, he cannot forget; he knows all that is past, the good and evil done by every one, and remembers the evil to punish it, and the good to reward it. He knows all that is doing by every one at present, from one end of the world to the other; all the intrigues that are in the hearts of all, and what will be the event of them: he foresees every thing to come, what every one will choose, good or evil, and what will be the end of all, and this his knowledge extends, not only through time but eternity: Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off. Psalm cxxxviii. 2.

8. God is good and beneficent: goodness is a will to communicate the good we have to others, and this he has done to every creature he has made: but the good he has given to man is of the most excellent kind; for as he loves man, in order to his true good and eternal happiness, to this end he has bestowed upon us most eminent gifts, both in the order of nature, and in the order of grace. Thus his goodness, in respect to man, is charity or friendship: God is charity. 1 John iv. 8. For as one friend wishes another life and being, and all the

good he can give him; so God gives us life and being, and in the end will give us himself, and with himself all the good he has; and his will is, we should enjoy it for ever; moreover, he extends this his goodness to all, offering his grace to every one, and drawing good from the evil that is intended them by others, through the depth of his wisdom and power.

9. God is merciful. As he beholds the miseries that men are liable to in this life, and much greater in the next, so contrary to the good and happiness he intended for us, he either prevents these evils, or delivers us out of those we are fallen into, through our own fault, or others' malice; and this is mercy. This he has manifested to man, in the most immense manner, in all that he has done for him; by creating him in grace, with a power to arrive to life everlasting; in redeeming him, by the incarnation and death of his only Son, from hell, after he had, by sin, forfeited heaven: by delivering him out of the wretched state of sin by the sanctifying grace of the Holy Ghost, when he least deserved it. What we are, what we have, and what we hope to be, is the effect of his mercy; so that we have great reason to say, his mercy is above all his works: this his mercy is extended both to body and soul, but chiefly to the latter, in sparing us under our many transgressions; in soliciting us to repent, as soon as we have sinned; expecting with patience, and never refusing to forgive under true repentance: relieving us in our wants, when we ask him; inspiring us to ask, when we are unmindful of it; and often giving us without asking. The very evils of this life are the blessed effects of his mercy, intending thereby to draw us from sin to the pure love of himself: I will sing the mercies of our Lord to eternity. Psalm lxxxviii. 1.

10. God is just: he is just and holy in all his works: holy in heaven, holy upon earth, and holy in hell itself. He is just both to the good and the bad; rewarding one, and punishing the other, according to their merit, without exception of per sons. His vindictive justice against the wicked, he has already shown in part, in this world, in many events: in the rebel angels above, in sinful Adam below, in the deluge, and in the fire of Sodom, and in all the evils of plague, famine, and war, which have ravaged the world from the beginning. Yet the works of his mercy are above the works of his justice, for we may observe that his mercy goes before his justice, and has pardoned sinners many times, and warned them to amend, before his justice strikes; it goes along with his justice, and mitigates the punishment, which is ever less than the fault; and it also follows after his justice, which commonly strikes the sinner for some merciful end. In the next life, indeed, sinful

souls will be punished for ever and ever; because the crimes of men have made such a punishment necessary, as there is no other that can restrain the worser part of men: but even this is a mercy to the living, and might have prevented all, who are in that place, from falling into it, if they had sufficiently a tended to it.

11. God has an universal providence over all he has made, especially over man, to whose salvation the course of providence is chiefly ordained. As he created the world, who should have the care of it but himself? What other hath he appointed over the earth, or whom hath he set over the world which he hath made? Job xxxiv. 13. As by his omnipotence he gave us being, so by his providence he preserves all beings. For, as he knows what all beings require, according to their nature, the means to bring them to their end, the hinderances to those means, and how to prevent them; the miseries that may befall each one, and the means to deliver them from the evil, and to give them the good; and as he has a will to communicate that good, which he intended all beings in their creation; and a power to put it in execution; it is thus he provides sufficiently for all creatures, and has care of individuals, as well as of the whole. The same providence that reigns over the angels above, reaches to the least insect below: Thy providence, O Father, even from the beginning, governeth all things. Wisdom xiv. 3. But as none but such as are endowed with reason, are properly capable of happiness, hence we conceive providence chiefly intent upon man; and this providence extends both to body and soul, to procure for us temporal, but chiefly eternal good; hence are derived all spiritual blessings for the soul, and, also, those temporal blessings too, which assist us to pass this life with comfort: and by the same care of divine providence, we are either preserved from the contrary evils, or delivered out of those we are fallen into. Thus all may rest securely, that on the part of God, nothing can be wanting to them under such a providence, which provides abundantly for all such as are not themselves negligent of their own temporal and eternal good. EXHOR.-Adore God, O Christian, in all his divine perfections. As you believe in one God, Creator of all, learn hence to do good to your fellow creatures, as being made by the same God as yourself, as servants of the same Lord, as sons of the same Father, and ordained to the same end. As you believe in the blessed Trinity, three persons and one God, stand firm in this faith, amidst the blindness of this age; pretend not to dive into this mystery, which is far above the comprehension of man if God is incomprehensible in his judgments and unsearchable in his ways, (Rom. i. 33,) how much more incompre