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imagine it an inftant. We may as well conceive the Immenfity of God to be a point, as his Eternity to be an inftant; and as according to our manner of conceiving, we must neceffarily fuppofe the Immenfity of God, to be an infinite Expansion of his Effence, a prefence of it to all places, and imaginable space; fo must we fuppofe the Eternity of God to be a perpetual continuance, coexiftent to all imaginable fucceffion of Ages. Now how that can be together, which must neceffarily be imagined to be coexiftent to fucceffions, let them that can conceive.

Secondly, For the proof of this, I fhall attempt it two ways.

I. From the Dictates of Natural Light and Reason.

II. From Scripture and Divine Revelation.

I. From

I. From the Dictates of Natural Reason. This attribute of God is of all other leaft difputed among the Philofophers; indeed all agree that God is a perfect and happy Being, but wherein that happiness and perfection confifts, they differ exceedingly; but all agree that God is Eternal, and are agreed what Eternity is, viz. a boundless duration and however they did attribute a beginning to their Heroes and Demons, whence come the Genealogies of their Gods; yet the Supreme God, they look'd upon as without beginning; and it is a good evidence, that this perfection doth clearly belong to God, that Epicurus, who had the lowest and meaneft conceptions of God, and robbed him of as many Perfections, as his imperfect Reason would let him, yet is forced to attribute this to him. Tully de Nat Deor. 1. 1. faith to the Epicureans, ubi igitur veftrum beatum & æternum quibus duobus

I.

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verbis fignificatis deum? Where then Vol. VII. is your happy and eternal Being, by· which two Epithets you exprefs God? And Lucretius, who hath undertaken to represent to the World the Doctrine of Epicurus, gives this account of the Divine Nature, Omnis enim per fe divûm natura neceffe eft

Immortali avo fumma cum pace fruatur.

Tis abfolutely neceffary to the nature of the Gods, to pass an Eternity in profound peace and quiet.

The Poets who had the wildeft. Notions of God, yet they conftantly give them the title of abaνατοι : the heathen never mention the name of God without this Attribute. Dii immortales! Immor-. tal Gods! was their ordinary exclamation; and they fwear conftantly by this Attribute, deos teftor immortales; and to mention no more, Tully faith exprefly, Nos deum nifi fempiternum intelligere qui poffumus? How can we conceive of God, but as of an Eternal Being?

Now

Now the Reason of this is evi- Vol. VII. dent, because it would be the greateft imperfection we could attribute to his Being; and the more perfect his Being were otherwise, the greater imperfection would it be for fuch a Being, to die; fo excellent a Nature to ceafe to be; it would be an infinite abasement to all his other perfections, his Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness, that these should all be perifhing. Nay, it would hinder feveral of his perfections, and contradict their very Being; his felf-exiftence; had he not always been, he had not been of himself; his neceffary existence; for that is not neceffari-. ly, which may at any time not be,or cease to be what it is; and it would much abate the duty of the Creature; we could not have that affurance of his promife, and that fecurity of the recompence of the next life, if the continuance of his Being, who fhould be the dif penfer of them, were uncertain.

Now

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Now thefe Abfurdities and inconveniences following from the denyal of this Perfection to God, is fufficient evidence that it belongs to him; for I told you the Perfections of God cannot be proved by way of demonftration, but only by way of conviction, by fhewing the Abfurdity of the contrary.

II. From Scripture and Divine Revelation. There are innumerable places to this purpose which fpeak of the Eternity of God Directly, and by Confequence: By Confequence, those words, 2 Peter 3. 8. One day with the Lord is as a thoufand years, and a thousand years as one day, which words, however In terpreters have troubled themselves about them, being afraid of a contradiction in them, yet the plain meaning of them is this, that fuch is the infinite duration of God, that all measures of time bear no proportion to it; for that this is the plain meaning, appears by this 90 Pfalm,