Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

It hath been already proved, that he had a beginning, and could not be from Eternity. Why then did he not make himself before? Not because he would not. For having no being, he could have no will; he could neither be willing nor not willing. If he could not then, how could he afterwards? if it were in his own power he could have done it, he would have done it; if it were not in his own power, then it was in the power of some other cause, and that is God. How came he by that power to produce himself? If the power of producing himself were communicated by another, then Man could not be the cause of himself. That is the cause of it which communicated that power to it. But if the power of being was in and ⟨p. 20⟩from himself and in no other, nor communicated to him, man would always have been in act, and always have Existed; no hinderance can be conceived. For that which had the power of being in it self was invincible by any thing that should stand in the way of its own being.

We may conclude from hence, the excellency of the Scripture; that it is a Word not to be refused credit. It gives us the most rational account of things in the 1. and 2. of Genesis, which nothing in the world else is able to do.

Thirdly, III. Proposition, no Creature could make the world. No Creature can create another. If it creates of nothing, tis then Omnipotent and so not a Creature. If it makes something of matter unfit for that which is produced out of it, then the inquiry will be, who was the cause of the matter? and so we must arrive to some uncreated being, the cause of all. Whatsoever gives being to any other must be the highest being and must possess all the perfections of that which it gives being to. what visible Creature is there which possesses the perfections of the whole world? If therefore an invisible Creature made the world, the same enquiries will return whence that Creature had its being? for he could not make himself. If any Creature did Create the World, he must do it by the strength and virtue of another, which first gave him being; and this is God. For whatsoever hath its Existence and virtue of acting from another, is not God. If it hath its virtue from another tis then a second cause, and so supposeth a first cause. It must have some cause of it self, or be Eternally Existent. If Eternally Existent, tis not a second cause, but God; if not Eternally Existent, we must come to something at length which was the cause of it, or else be bewildered without being able to give an account of any thing. We must come at last to an Infinite Eternal Independent Being, that was the first cause of this Structure and Fabric wherein we and all Creatures dwell. The Scripture proclaims this aloud,