Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

^*Of a Creature it may be said, he was, or he is, or he shall be; Of God it cannot be said, but only he is; He is what he always was, and he is what he always will be; whereas a Creature is what he was not, and will be what he is not now; As it may be said of the flame of a Candle, 'tis flame; but it is not the same individual flame as was before, nor is it the same that will be presently after; there is a continual dissolution of it into Air, and a continual supply for the generation of more; While it continues, it may be said there is a flame; yet not entirely one, but in a succession of parts: So, of a Man it may be said, he is in a succession of parts; but he is not the same that he was, and will not be the same that he is: But God is the same without any succession of parts and of time; of him it may be said, He is; He is no more now than he was, and he shall be no more hereafter than he is.^* God possesses a firm and absolute Being, always constant to himself; He sees all things sliding under him in a continual variation; He beholds the revolutions in the world without any change of his most glorious and immovable nature: All other things pass from one state to another; from their Original, to their Eclipse and destruction: But God possesses his Being in one indivisible point, having neither beginning, end nor middle,

^*Of a Creature it may be said, he was, or he is, or he shall be; Of God it cannot be said, but only he is; He is what he always was, and he is what he always will be; whereas a Creature is what he was not, and will be what he is not now; As it may be said of the flame of a Candle, 'tis flame; but it is not the same individual flame as was before, nor is it the same that will be presently after; there is a continual dissolution of it into Air, and a continual supply for the generation of more; While it continues, it may be said there is a flame; yet not intirely one, but in a succession of parts: So, of a Man it may be said, he is in a succession of parts; but he is not the same that he was, and will not be the same that he is: But God is the same without any succession of parts and of time; of him it may be said, He is; He is no more now than he was, and he shall be no more hereafter than he is.^* God possesses a firm and absolute Being, always constant to himself; He sees all things sliding under him in a continual variation; He beholds the revolutions in the world without any change of his most glorious and immoveable nature: All other things pass from one state to another; from their Original, to their Eclipse and destruction: But God possesses his Being in one indivisible point, having neither beginning, end nor middle,