dergone one great change by a flood, and will undergo another by fire; when that, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up; and the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved; and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; and new heavens, and a new earth, shall succeed, 2 Pet. ii. 10-13. to which changeableness in them the unchangeableness of God is opposed: All of them shall wax old like a garment, as à vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end, Psal. cii. 25-27. The sun in the firmament, that great luminary, and fountain of light and heat, in allu sion to which, God is called the Father of lights, has its parallaxes, or various appearances, at morning, noon, and evening; it has its risings and settings; and never tises and sets at the same point in the heavens one day in the year, but always varies a little; it is sometimes under clouds, and in an eclipse; but with God is no variableness, πpaxxayn or a parallax; the sun, at certain seasons of the year, passes from one tropic, and enters into another, as well as casts shades on the earth; but with God there is no shadow of turning, porns or a trope, or tropic; there is no mutation nor turning in him, nor shadow of any, James i. 17. see Job xxiii. 13. the inhabitants of heaven and earth are changeable, even the most excellent of them, angels and men: angels in their original nature and state, were subject to change, as the apostacy of many of them have shewn; who have changed both state and place; they kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, being obliged to the latter, because of the former; for sinning against God, they were hurled out of heaven, and cast down to hell, and delivered into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment, Jude 6. 2 Pet. ii. 4. the angels which stood when the rest fell, are now indeed become impeccable, and are firmly settled in their state of integrity; but then this is owing not to their own nature, but to the electing grace of God, in Christ, and to the confirming grace of Christ, their head, who is the head of all principality and power, 1 Tim. v. 21. Col. ii. 10. Man, at his best estate, his estate of innocence, and integrity, was altogether vanity: for though not sinful, yet being mutable, and left to the mutability of his will, which was his vanity, when tempted, fell into sin; and though made upright, lost the rectitude of his nature; though made after the image of God, soon came short of that glory; and though he had dominion over the creatures, being in honour, he abode not long, but became like those he had the power over; and though placed in the most delightful and fruitful spot in all the globe, yet rebelling against his Maker and Benefactor, was driven out from thence by him; and is now a creature subject to innumerable changes in life; diseases of various sorts sieze his body, and change his beauty and his strength, and death at last turns him to corruption and dust; he is like the changeable grass of the field; flourishes a while, is then cut down, and whithers away; but God and his word endure for ever the same, 1 Pet. i. 24, 25. good men are very mutable, both in their inward and outward estate: in spiritual affairs; in the frames of their minds, in the affections of their souls, in the exercise of grace, in their devotion and obedience to God,

and worship of him: in temporal affairs; what an instance of mutability was Job, in his estate, in his family, and in his health and friends? well might he say, changes and war are against me, Job x. 17. and at length came to his great and last change, death; as all men must, even the best of men: indeed, in the future state, good men will be no more subject to change; their spirits will be made perfect, and sin no more, nor sorrow any more; and their bodies, when raised, will remain immortal, incorruptible, spiritual, powerful, and glorious; but this will be owing, not to themselves, but to the unchangeable grace and power of God: God only is in and of himself immutable; and he is unchangeable in his nature, perfections, and purposes, and in his love and affections to his people, and in his covenant, and the blessings and promises of it; and even in his threatenings.

1. In his nature and essence, being simple, and devoid of all composition, ast has been proved: the more simple and free from mixture and composition any thing is, the less subject to change. Gold and silver, being the purest and freest of all metals from composition, are not so alterable as others: spirits, being uncompounded, and not consisting of parts, are not so changeable as bodies; and God, being an infinite and uncreated Spirit, and free from composition in every sense, is intirely and perfectly immutable: and since he is eternal, there can be no change of time with him; time doth not belong to him, only to a creature, which is the measure of its duration; and began when a creature began to be, and not before; but God is before all creatures; they being made by him, and so before time; he was the same before the day was as now, and now as he was before; "even the same to-day, yesterday, and for ever:" though he is the ancient of days, he does not become older and older; he is no older now than he was millions of ages ago, nor will be millions of ages to come; his eternity is an everlasting and unchangeable now; He is the same, and his years shall have no end, Psal. cii, 27. see Heb. xiii. 8. and seeing he is infinite, immense, and omnipresent; there can be no change of place with him, for he fills heaven and earth with his presence; he is every where, and cannot change or move from place to place; when therefore he is said to come down on earth, or to depart from men, it is not to be understood of local motion, or change of place; but of some uncommon exertion of his power, and demonstration of his presence, or of the withdrawment of some benefit from them: but this will be considered more largely under the attribute of omnipresence, in its proper place. God is the most perfect Being, and therefore can admit of no change in his nature, neither of increase nor decrease, of addition nor diminution; if he changes, it must be either for the better or the worse; if for the better, then he was imperfect before, and so not God: if for the worse, then he becomes imperfect; and the same follows; a like reasoning is used by Plato', and by another ancient philosopher2, who asserts that God is good, impassible and unchangeable; for whatsoever is changed, says he, is either for the better or the worse; if for ? De Republica, I. à. p. 606. 2 Sallustius de Diis & Mundo, c. 1.

the worse, it becomes bad; and if for the better, it was bad at first. Or if he changes from an infinitely perfect state, to another equally so, then there must be more infinites than one, which is a contradiction. Again, if any change is made in him, it must be either from somewhat within him, or from somewhat without him; if from within, he must consist of parts; there must be another and another in him; he must consist of act and power; there must be not only something active in him, to work upon him, but a passive power to be wrought upon; which is contrary to his simplicity, already established; for, as a Jew well argues, what necessarily exists of itself, has no other cause by which it can be changed; nor that which changes, and that which is changed, cannot be together; for so there would be in it two, one which changes, and another which is changed, and so would be compound; which is inconsistent with the simplicity of God: if from somewhat without him, then there must be a superior to him, able to move and change him; but he is the most high God; there is none in heaven nor in earth above him; he is "God over all, blessed for ever."

Nor is the immutability of the divine nature to be disproved from the creation of the world, and all things in it; as when it is suggested, God, from a nonagent, became an agent, and acquired a new relation, that of a Creator, from whence mutability is argued: but it should be observed, that God had from all eternity the same creative power, and would have had, if he had never created any thing; and when be put it forth in time, it was according to his unchangeable will in eternity, and produced no change in him; the change was in the creatures made, not in him the Maker; and though a relation results from hence, and which is real in creatures, is only nominal in the Creator, and makes no change in his nature.

Nor the unchangeableness of the divine nature to be disproved by the incarnation of Christ; for though he, a divine Person, possessed of the divine nature, was made flesh, or became man; the divine nature in him was not changed into the human nature, nor the human nature into the divine, nor a third nature made out of them both; was this the case, the divine nature would have been changeable; but so it was not; for as it has been commonly said, "Christ remained what he was, and assumed what he was not;" and what he assumed added nothing to his divine person; he was only manifest in the flesh; he neither received any perfection, nor imperfection, from the human nature; though that received dignity and honour by its union to him, and was adorned with the gifts and graces of the Spirit without measure, and is now advanced at the right hand of God. Nor was any change made in the divine nature by the sufferings of Christ; the divine nature is impassible, and is one reason why Christ assum→ ed the human nature, that he might be capable of suffering and dying in the room and stead of his people; and though the Lord of life and glory was cruci fied, and God purchased the church with his own blood, and the blood of Christ is called the blood of the Son of God; yet he was crucified in the human na

R. Joseph Albo in Sepher Ikkarim, l. 2. c. 5.

ture only, and his blood was shed in that, to which the divine person gave virtue and efficacy, through its union to it; but received no change by all this.

II. God is unchangeable in his perfections or attributes; which, though they are the same with himself, his nature and essence, as has been observed; yet, considering them separately, they are helps to our better understanding of it, and serve particularly to illustrate the unchangeableness of it: thus, for instance, he is the same in his power as ever; though that has been displayed in various instances, in creation, providence, &c. it is not exhausted, nor in the least diminished; his hand is not shortened, his strength is everlasting, his power eternal, invariably the same: his knowledge is the same; his understanding his infinite, it can neither be increased nor lessened; the knowledge of angels and men increases gradually; but not so the knowledge of God, he knows no more now than he did from all eternity, he knew as much then as he does now; for he knows and sees all things together, and at once, in his vast eternal mind, and not one thing after another, as they appear in time; things past, present, and to come, are all beheld by him in one view; that is, which are so with respect to creatures, for with him there is no such consideration: his goodness, grace, and mercy, are immutable; though there has been such a profusion of his goodness to his creatures, and so many good and perfect gifts have been bestowed on them, it is still the same in him, without any abatement; he is abundant in it, and it endures continually the same: and so is his grace, which has been exceedingly abundant; he is as gracious and merciful as ever; "his mercy is from everlasting to everlasting, to them that fear him;" and his faithfulness he never suffers to fail; even though men believe not, he abides faithful; and the unbelief of men cannot make the faith or faithfulness of God without effect. And as he is glorious in holiness, that perfection never receives any tarnish, can never be sullied, but is always illustriously the same; there is no unrighteousness in God, he cannot change from holiness to unholiness, from righteousness to unrighteousness; he is the just one, that neither can nor will do iniquity; and so he is unchangeably good, and unchangeably happy, and immutable in every perfection.

III. God is unchangeable in his purposes and decrees, there is a purpose for every thing, and a time for that purpose; God has determined all that ever was, is, or shall be; all come to pass according to the counsel of his will, and all his decrees are unchangeable; they are like the laws of the Medes and Persians, and more unalterable than they were; they are the mountains of brass Zechariah saw in a vision, from whence proceed the providences of God, and the executioners of them, Zech. vi. 1. called mountains because of their immoveableness, and mountains of brass to denote their greater firmness and stability: immutability is expressly spoken of the counsel of God, Heb. vi. 17. the purposes of God are always carried into execution, they are never frustrated; it is not in the power of men and devils to disannul them; whatever devices and counter-workings to them may be framed and formed, they are of no avail; "the counsel of the Lord

stands for ever." Psal. xxxiii. 11. Prov. xix. 21. and xxi. 30. Isai. xiv. 24, 27 and xlvi. 10. the purposes of God are within himself, Eph. i. 9. and what is in himself, is himself, and he can as soon cease to be as to alter his mind, or change his counsels; and they are eternal, Eph. iii. 11. no new thoughts arise in his mind, no new resolutions are formed in his breast, no new decrces are made by him; his counsels are of old; and his purposes are called counsels, because designs wisely formed by men, are with consultation, and upon mature deliberation: and such are the decrees of God, they are made with the highest wisdom by him, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working, and so are unchangeable: and besides, being all-knowing, he sees and declares the end from the beginning, and nothing unforeseen ever can appear to hinder the execution of his intentions and determinations; which is sometimes the case with men: and he is able to perform whatever he resolves upon; there is no lack of wisdom, nor of power in him, as often is in men; and he is faithful to himself, his purposes and decrees; his counsels of old are faithfulness and truth; or are truly and faithfully performed.

Nor is the immutability of the decrees of God to be disproved by his providences, which are many and various, unsearchable and past finding out, and which may seem to differ from, and clash with one another; for all the changes in providence, whether with respect to the world in general, or with respect to individuals, are according to his unchangeable will. Job was a remarkable instance of changes in providence, and yet he was fully persuaded of the unchange. able will of God in them, and which he strongly expresses; He is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doth; for he performeth the thing that is appointed for me; and many such things are with him, Job. xxiii. 13, 14. Nor is it to be disproved by the different declarations of the will of God, what he would have observed and done, in the different dispensations of law and gospel. God, by Moses, ordered the children of Israel, to observe certain laws, rites, and ceremonies, until the time of reformation, and then there was a disanulling of them; the heavens and earth were shaken, that is, the whole Mosaic œconomy and dispensation, whereby these were removed and laid aside as useless, and other ordinances were fixed, to remain till Christ's second coming; but then the delivery of the one, and the time of their continuance, and the abolition of them, and the settling of the other gospel-ordinances to remain to the end of the world, were all according to the unchangeable will of God.

Nor is prayer any objection to the immutability of the divine will, which is not to be altered by it; for when the mind of God is not towards a people to do them good, it cannot be turned to them by the most fervent and importunate prayers of those who have the greatest interest in him, Jer. xv. 1. and when he bestows blessings on a praying people, it is not for the sake of their prayers, as if he was inclined and turned by them: but for his own sake, and of his own sovereign will and pleasure. Should it be said, to what purpose then is prayer? it is answered, this is the way and means God has appointed, for the communica