ceffary; fo in all things elfe: fo that the reason of multiplication, is because one will not ferve the turne. Therefore God being all-fufficient, it is not needfull, yea it cannot be,that a breaking into two should be admitted in him; and confequently, he must be moft fimple,without all compofition, a pure and entire effence, full of himfelfe, and nothing befides.

If GOD fhould have Love in him,or lustice,or wifedome, or Life, or any other qualitie different from his effence, as the creatures have them, hee fhould be what hee is,not originally of himfelfe, but derivatively, and by a participation, and fo imperfectly: as to be fired, is more imperfect than to be fire it felfe; to be gilded, is more imperfe&t than to be Gold it felfe: So to be wife, loving,boly, that is,to be endued with the quali ties of wisdome, Love, Holineffe, is more imperfe&t, than to be wifdome,and Love,and Holineffe it felfe. Therefore there is not a fubftance and a qualitie in GoD, as in the creature, but hee is Love,and Light, and wisdome, and Truth: and so the Scripture expreffeth him.

Reafon 3. God is love, and originally, not derivatively.

wifedomc, &c.

Wherefoever there is any compofition,there muft Reafon 4. be two or three things,fo that there may be a divi- God without fion; they are feparable,though not feparated, but compofition. where divifion may be, there may be a diffolution, and fo deftruction,though it never be: But of God, we cannot fay, that this may be; and confequently, there cannot be two things in him, but what he is, he is one moft fimple,moft pure, and moft entire, being without all compofition and multiplication.

Reafon 5.
God without

parts.

I

2

3.

Reafon 6. God the firft being,

D

If God be not fimple, there must be parts of which hee is compounded: But in GoD, blessed for ever, there are no parts, becaufe then there fhould be imperfection, for every part is imperfe&t.

Againe, Parts are in order of nature before the whole; but in GoD there is nothing first or fecond, because he is fimply firft.

Againe, Parts cannot be united and knit, and compounded together,without caufes to doe it; but here is no caufe to knit and unite any part together,because he is without all caufe,as bath beene fhewed before.

M

I will conclude this with a reafon out of the Text, Hee is a being: I Am hath sent me unto you. If hee be a being, then either the firft or fecond being. A fecond being hee cannot be; for then there should be fomething before him,and above him,upon which he should be dependent: but this cannot be; therefore hee is abfolutely the first being. Adam indeed was the first man, but GoD onely the firft abfolute being. Now the first being,was never in poffibilitie to be; and therefore he is a pure act, in regard of his effence. Againe, there are no qualities fpringing from him for if there were, they should have had fometimes no being; and fo in poffibilitie to be, and confequently have a beginning,and be a creature: Therefore there is neither Potentia fubftantialis, nor accidentalis in him; and fo hee must be purus actus,as the Schoole-men fay; and therefore. hee is moft fimple, without all compofition.

fition. This I fpeake to Schollers; for it is a mixt Auditorie: and therefore you must give me a little libertie.

Now I come to thofe Confectaries which flow from hence; and they are thefe three:

ftable founda

If God be fuch a fimple, first, pure, and abfo- Confeft. x. lute being; then hence you may fee, what a See what a ftable foundation our Faith hath to rest upon:tion faith hath wee are built upon the loweft foundation in all to reft upon, the World, that is, upon the first, moft abfolute, and fimple, and pure, and entire being; which I fay is the loweft foundation, because it depends upon no other, but all upon it: and this is an happie condition of all Chriftians, and of them alone. Angels, Men, Heaven and Earth are foundations to fuch things as are built upon them; but they themselves are all built upon this, and therefore dependent; fo that if this foundation shake it felfe, (for fo he hath power to doe) they all muft needes fall to ruine: But GOD is the first, fimple, and loweft foundation, being the first, abfolute, and fimple being; therefore hee that is built upon him, hath the greatest ftabilitie; which is the tranfcendent happineffe of Chriftians, above all men in the World, And this great and excellent priviledge of theirs, you fhall finde, upon this ground, magnified and fet forth in Pfal. 46. 1, 2. GOD is our hope and ftrength; therefore will wee not feare, though the Earth bee removed, and though the Mountaine's bee carried into the midst of the Sea, &c. As if hee fhould fay, Though there were a fubverfion of Dd 2

King

Confelt. z.
God cannot

be hindered in

any worke hee goes about.

Kingdomes, and an overthrow of all the Churches, yea, a confufion of Heaven and Earth, (as there fhall be at the last day;) though the Mountaines were rent from their foundations, and cast into the middle of the Sea; yet Chriftians should be fure all the while: because Go D, who is the first, abfolute, and fimple being, and fo the lowest foundation,is their hope,and ftrength; that is,he is a foundation lower than all these: that when all these things fhall come to ruine, yet God on whom we truft, fhall be a fure helpe and comfort to all fuch as ground themselves upon him. Beloved,this is to be confidered, that you may know what your comfort is,and upon what foundation you are built.

If God be most fimple,without all composition; then this will follow, that he cannot be hindered in any thing that hee goes about to doc, but is most independent, as in being, fo in working,by reafon of his fimplicitie. There is no creature but may be hindered; for in the best of the creatures, to wit,the Angels, there is an effence,and an executive power by which they worke: Even as you fee it in the fire; there is the fubstance of fire, which heateth not by it felfe, and the qualitie of heat, by which it workes: Now, where there are two things, an effence and a facultie by which it workes, fomething may come betweene, and hinder the working and operation. As in the Babylonifh Furnace, God feparated betweene the fire and the heat, that it could not burne the men that were caft into it, Dan. 3. So hee doth

with the Angels, hee comes betweene the fubftance and the executive power,and often hinders them from doing what they would: But in God, feeing hee is moft fimple, and entire, there is neither effence,nor executive power, (as the Schoolmen call it) therefore there can nothing come betweene,to be an impediment; there is not any action that he intends,but he workes it abfolutely, and of himfelfe. Hence wee are to confider, that with that GOD which wee have to worship and ferve, there is nothing can come betweene, and hinder him in working, but what he will doe, he doth: and therefore we should learne to feare before him, and to trust in him, and to acknowledge the greatneffe of his power, and to know the grounds of it.

Hence likewife it followes, that all the Attributes of God are equall among themfelves, not one higher than another, or larger than another, for if he be fimple, and there are not two things in him, then his Attributes, and his effence, and himfelfe are the fame, and if fo,one cannot exceed another; his mercie is not beyond his justice, nor his justice beyond his wifedome. Therefore though he doth put forth one Attribute now, another then, yet wee must not thinke that his mercie is greater than all his Attri butes: therefore that place in the Pfalmift, His mercie is above all his workes, is commonly mif understood. The meaning is not, that his mersie exceedes all his other Attributes, but that his mercie is over, and upon all his workes. As

Dd 3

the

Confett. 3. That the Attributes of God his juftice, and his mercy,&c.

are equall, in