2. God hath Life in himself, John 5.26. The Father hath Life in himself; He is the living God, therefore steadfast for ever: *He hath Life by his Essence, not by Participation; He is a Sun to give Light and Life to all Creatures, but receives not Light or Life from any thing; and therefore he hath an unlimited Life, not a drop of life but a fountain, not a spark of a limited life but a life transcending all bounds: He hath life in himself: All Creatures have their life in him and from him. He that hath life in himself doth necessarily exist, and could never be made to exist; for then he had not life in himself, but in that which made him to exist, and gave him life; What doth necessarily exist therefore, exists from Eternity; what hath being of it self, could never be produced in time, could not want being one moment, because it hath being from its Essence without influence of any efficient cause.* When God pronounced his Name, I am that I am, Angels and Men were in being; the world had been created above two thousand four hundred years; Moses to whom he then speaks, was in being; yet, God only is, because he only hath the fountain of being in himself, but all that they were, was a rivulet from him; He hath from nothing else, that he doth subsist; every thing else hath its subsistence from him as their root, as the Beam from the Sun, as the Rivers and Fountains from the Sea. All life is seated in God, as in its proper Throne; in its most perfect Purity. God is Life; 'tis in him originally, radically, therefore eternally: He is a pure act, nothing but vigour and act; He hath by his nature that life, which others have by his grant; whence the Apostle saith,* not only that he is immortal, but he hath immortality in a full possession; see-simple, not depending upon the Will of another, but containing all things within himself. He that hath life in himself, and is from himself, cannot but be: He always was, because he received his being from no other, and none can take away that being which was not given by another.* If there were any space before he did exist, then there was something which made him to exist; Life would not then be in him, but in that which produced him into being; He could not then be God, but that other which gave him being, would be God.
2. God hath Life in himself, John 5.26. The Father hath Life in himself; He is the living God, therefore stedfast for ever: *He hath Life by his Essence, not by Participation; He is a Sun to give Light and Life to all Creatures, but receives not Light or Life from any thing; and therefore he hath an unlimited Life, not a drop of life but a fountain, not a spark of a limited life but a life transcending all bounds: He hath life in himself: All Creatures have their life in him and from him. He that hath life in himself doth necessarily exist, and could never be made to exist; for then he had not life in himself, but in that which made him to exist, and gave him life; What doth necessarily exist therefore, exists from Eternity; what hath being of it self, could never be produced in time, could not want being one moment, because it hath being from its Essence without influence of any efficient cause.* When God pronounced his Name, I am that I am, Angels and Men were in being; the world had been created above two thousand four hundred years; Moses to whom he then speaks, was in being; yet, God only is, because he only hath the fountain of being in himself, but all that they were, was a rivulet from him; He hath from nothing else, that he doth subsist; every thing else hath its subsistence from him as their root, as the Beam from the Sun, as the Rivers and Fountains from the Sea. All life is seated in God, as in its proper Throne; in its most perfect Purity. God is Life; 'tis in him originally, radically, therefore eternally: He is a pure act, nothing but vigor and act; He hath by his nature that life, which others have by his grant; whence the Apostle saith,* not only that he is immortal, but he hath immortality in a full possession; see-simple, not depending upon the Will of another, but containing all things within himself. He that hath life in himself, and is from himself, cannot but be: He always was, because he received his being from no other, and none can take away that being which was not given by another.* If there were any space before he did exist, then there was something which made him to exist; Life would not then be in him, but in that which produced him into being; He could not then be God, but that other which gave him being, would be God.
- *Dan. 6.26.
- *Petav. Theol. Dogm. Tom. 1. lib. 1. c. 6. § 6, 7.
- *1 Tim. 6.16.
- *Amyrald de Trinit. p. 48.
