Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

Thou art the same. The Essence of God with all the perfections of his nature are pronounced the same, without any variation from Eternity to Eternity: So that the Text doth not only assert the eternal duration of God, but his Immutability in that duration: his Eternity is signified in that expression thou shalt endure; his Immutability ⟨image 110⟩in this, thou art the same. ¹To endure, argues indeed his Immutability as well as Eternity; For what endures, is not changed, and what is changed, doth not endure: But thou art the same ²doth more fully signify it: He could not be the same if he could be changed into any other thing than what he is; The Psalmist therefore puts, not thou hast been or shalt be, but thou art the same without any alteration; thou art the same, that is, the same God, the same in Essence and Nature, the same in Will and Purpose: Thou dost change all other things as thou pleasest; but thou art immutable in every respect, and receivest no shadow of change, though never so light and small.^* The Psalmist here alludes to the name Jehovah, I am; and doth not only ascribe Immutability to God, but exclude every thing else from partaking in that perfection: All things else are tottering; God sees all other things in continual motion under his feet, like Water passing away and no more seen, while he remains fixed and immovable: His Wisdom and Power, his Knowledge and Will are alway the same. His Essence can receive no alteration, neither by it self nor by any external Cause; whereas other things either naturally decline to destruction, pass from one term to another till they come to their period; or shall at the last day be wrapped up, after God hath completed his Will in them and by them; as a man doth a Garment he intends to repair and transform to another use.

Thou art the same. The Essence of God with all the perfections of his nature are pronounced the same, without any variation from Eternity to Eternity: So that the Text doth not only assert the eternal duration of God, but his Immutability in that duration: his Eternity is signified in that expression thou shalt endure; his Immutability ⟨image 110⟩