Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

1. God is unchangeable in his Essence. He is unalterably fixed in his Being, that not a Particle of it can be lost from it, not a Mite added to it. If a Man continue in being as long as Methuselah, Nine hundred and Sixty nine years; yet there is not a day, nay an hour, wherein there is not some alteration in his substance; though no substantial part is wanting, yet there is an addition to him by his Food, a diminution of something by his Labour; He is always making some acquisition, or suffering some loss: But in God there can be no alteration, by the accession of any thing to make his substance greater or better, or by diminution to make it less or worse. He who hath no being from another, cannot but be always what he is: God is the first Being, an independent Being; He was not produced of himself, or of any other, but by nature always hath been; and therefore cannot by himself, or by any other be changed from what he is in his own nature. That which is not, may as well assume to it self a Being, as he who hath and is all Being, have the least change from what he is. Again, because he is a Spirit, he is not subject to those mutations which are found incorporeal and bodily Natures; Because he is an absolutely simple Spirit, not having the least particle of composition; he is not capable of those changes which may be in created Spirits.

1. God is unchangeable in his Essence. He is unalterably fixed in his Being, that not a Particle of it can be lost from it, not a Mite added to it. If a Man continue in being as long as Methuselah, Nine hundred and Sixty nine years; yet there is not a day, nay an hour, wherein there is not some alteration in his substance; though no substantial part is wanting, yet there is an addition to him by his Food, a diminution of something by his Labour; He is always making some acquisition, or suffering some loss: But in God there can be no alteration, by the accession of any thing to make his substance greater or better, or by diminution to make it less or worse. He who hath no being from another, cannot but be always what he is: God is the first Being, an independent Being; He was not produced of himself, or of any other, but by nature always hath been; and therefore cannot by himself, or by any other bechanged from what he is in his own nature. That which is not, may as well assume to it self a Being, as he who hath and is all Being, have the least change from what he is. Again, because he is a Spirit, he is not subject to those mutations which are found incorporeal and bodily Natures; Because he is an absolutely simple Spirit, not having the least particle of composition; he is not capable of those changes which may be in created Spirits.