SERMON XVII.

THE SELF-EXISTENCE, THE ETERNITY, AND THE

IMMUTABILITY OF GOD.

EXODUS, iii. 14.

And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

THE great legislator of the Jews, having been trained up in all the learning, and in all the prejudices of the Egyptians, had been taught to believe that the Supreme Being had an appropriate name, and that the use of this name would be a sufficient warrant to demand the release of his countrymen from their cruel bondage. He asks, therefore, by what name he should designate the being whose commission he bore. God, in condescension to the infirmity of his servant, assumed to himself a name expressive of the immutability of his nature, of his

counsels, of his purposes, and of his

pro

mises. I AM THAT I AM; or, as the words might more literally be rendered, I WILL BE WHAT I WIll be. The Septuagint version renders it the ESSENCE, or HE WHO IS. Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, The being WHO IS, WHO WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE. He who claims existence as his sole prerogative, and in comparison with whom all other beings are less than nothing, and vanity, I AM hath sent me unto you. In other words, Declare to thine afflicted brethren, that it is 1, the Lord of existence, the faithful, unchangeable God, the God of their fathers, the God whose promises are always accomplished to their utmost extent, who hath sent thee to announce that the season of their deliverance is fully come.

Without any further preface, I now proceed to the subject upon which I propose more immediately to treat in the present discourse, the SELF-EXISTENCE, the ETERNITY, and the IMMUTABILITY of God.

The first question which the inquisitive and serious mind anxiously desires to solve,

is this, Whether there be a God. The second is of equal importance, and equally interesting, If there be a God, what is he? What are his attributes, and what his character? Is he a limited, or an unlimited being? Is he an all-benevolent governor, or an arbitrary and malignant tyrant?

The ATTRIBUTES of God are distinguished into natural and moral. The natural attributes of God are those which he possesses independently on his will. His moral attributes are the tendencies, of his will to the production of good or evil, of happiness or misery.

Of the natural attributes of God, the primary and fundamental is self-existence. GOD IS A SELF-EXISTENT BEING.

Self-Existence does not imply that God derived existence from himself, or that he is in any degree dependent upon his own will and power for the continuance of his being. This would be a contradiction in terms. Self-production is an effect absolutely inconceivable and impossible. When, therefore, it is affirmed that God is self-existent,

the meaning is, that he is absolutely independent, that he derived his existence from none, and that he depends upon no being whatever either as his cause or support.

It has been observed by some intelligent writers, that every being which exists has either a cause, or a reason for its existence. Of derived beings God is the proper and efficient cause, and the continual support. But of an ORIGINAL and independent being there can be no cause, and there needs no support. The reason why he exists is absolute necessity: so that it is a contradiction in nature that he should not exist. It is impossible for him not to be: or to be any other than what he is.

Great use has been made of this principle to prove the absolute perfection of God. God exists, it is said, by necessity. But necessity is unlimited. It is every where, and at all times the same. Therefore God is unlimited.

he

possesses,

Again, Whatever attribute God possesses in an unlimited degree, because he possesses it by necessity. But power is an

attribute of God, and therefore his power is unlimited, that is, God is omnipotent. By parity of reason, God being proved to be possessed of knowledge in a certain degree, and possessing it by necessity of nature, must therefore possess it in the highest possible degree: that is, God is omniscient. Also, if it be the attribute of God to occupy space and time, he must, by the necessity of his nature, occupy all space, and exist through all du

ration.

It has also been argued, that if God possesses any one attribute, in any imaginable degree, he must therefore possess every possible attribute in the highest possible degree : because necessity, being the reason of the divine existence, and being unlimited, there can be no reason why the Divine Being possesses any one attribute, in any one degree, which does not extend to the possession of every other perfection in its highest possible degree. Therefore, God is by necessity possessed of every possible perfection in the highest possible degree. That is, God is infinite.