Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

The third thing is, Eternity is only proper to God, and not communicable. ^*'Tis as great a madness to ascribe Eternity to the Creature, as to deprive the Lord of the Creature of Eternity. 'Tis so proper to God, that when the Apostle would prove the Deity of Christ, he proves it by his immutability and eternity, as well as his creating power:^* Thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. The Argument had not strength, if Eternity belonged essentially to any but God; and therefore he is said only to have Immortality^*: All other things receive their being from him, and can be deprived of their being by him: All things depend on him, he of none: All other things are like Clothes, which would consume if God preserved them not. Immortality is appropriated to God, i. e. an independent Immortality. Angels and Souls have an Immortality, but by donation from God, not by their own Essence; dependent upon their Creator, not necessary in their own nature: God might have annihilated them after he had created them; so that their duration cannot properly be called an Eternity, it being extrinsical to them, and depending upon the will of their Creator, by whom they may be extinguished: It is not an absolute and necessary, but a precarious Immortality. Whatsoever is not God, is temporary: Whatsoever is eternal, is God.

The third thing is, Eternity is only proper to God, and not communicable. ^*'Tis as great a madness to ascribe Eternity to the Creature, as to deprive the Lord of the Creature of Eternity. 'Tis so proper to God, that when the Apostle would prove the Deity of Christ, he proves it by his immutability and eternity, as well as his creating power:^* Thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. The Argument had not strength, if Eternity belonged essentially to any but God; and therefore he is said only to have Immortality^*: All other things receive their being from him, and can be deprived of their being by him: All things depend on him, he of none: All other things are like Clothes, which would consume if God preserved them not. Immortality is appropriated to God, i. e. an independent Immortality. Angels and Souls have an Immortality, but by donation from God, not by their own Essence; dependent upon their Creator, not necessary in their own nature: God might have annihilated them after he had created them; so that their duration cannot properly be called an Eternity, it being extrinsical to them, and depending upon the will of their Creator, by whom they may be extinguisht: It is not an absolute and necessary, but a precarious Immortality. Whatsoever is not God, is temporary: Whatsoever is eternal, is God.