Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

3. If God were not eternal, he were not immutable in his nature. 'Tis contrary to the nature of immutability to be without eternity; for whatsoever begins, is changed in its passing from not being to being: It began to be what it was not, and if it ends, it ceaseth to be what it was; It cannot therefore be said to be God, If there were either beginning or ending, or succession in it, Mal. 3.6. I am the Lord, I change not, Job. 37.23. (Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out.) God argues here saith Calvin, from his unchangeable nature as Jehovah, to his immutability ⟨p. 189⟩in his purpose: Had he not been eternal, there had been the greatest change from nothing to something: A change of Essence, is greater than a change of purpose. God is a Sun glittering always in the same glory; No growing up in Youth; no passing on to Age: If he were not without succession, standing in one point of Eternity, there would be a change from past to present, from present to future. The Eternity of God is a Shield against all kind of mutability. If any thing sprang up in the Essence of God that was not there before, he could not be said to be either an eternal, or an unchanged Substance.

4. God could not be an infinitely perfect Being, if he were not eternal. A finite duration is inconsistent with infinite perfection. Whatsoever is contracted within the limits of time, cannot swallow up all perfections in it self. God hath an unsearchable perfection.^* Canst thou by searching find out God; canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? He cannot be found out, He is infinite, because he is incomprehensible: Incomprehensibility ariseth from an infinite perfection, which cannot be fathomed by the short line of Man's Understanding: His Essence in regard of its diffusion, and in regard of its duration, is incomprehensible as well as his action: If God therefore had beginning, he could not be infinite; if not infinite, he did not possess the highest perfection, because a perfection might be conceived beyond it; If his Being could fail, he were not perfect: Can that deserve the name of the highest perfection, which is capable of corruption and dissolution? To be finite and limited, is the greatest imperfection, for it consists in a denial of being. He could not be the most blessed Being, if he were not always so, and should not for ever remain to be so; and whatsoever perfections he had, would be soured by the thoughts, that in time they would cease; and so could not be pure perfections, because not permanent; But He is blessed from everlasting to everlasting.