A89737:70
The orthodox evangelist. Or A treatise wherein many great evangelical truths (not a few…
The orthodox evangelist. Or A treatise wherein many great evangelical truths (not a few whereof are much opposed and eclipsed in this perilous hour of the passion of the Gospel) are briefly discussed, cleared, and confirmed: as a further help, for the begetting, and establishing of the faith which is in Jesus. As also the state of the blessed, where; of the condition of their souls from the instant of their dissolution: and of their persons after their resurrection. By John Norton, teacher of the church at Ipswich in New England.The orthodox evangelist. Or A treatise wherein many great evangelical truths (not a few whereof are much opposed and eclipsed in this perillous hour of the passion of the Gospel) are briefly discussed, cleared, and confirmed: as a further help, for the begeting, and establishing of the faith which is in Jesus. As also the state of the blessed, where; of the condition of their souls from the instant of their dissolution: and of their persons after their resurrection. By John Norton, teacher of the church at Ipswich in New England.
London: printed by John Macock for Henry Cripps, 1654
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Because God is a Being of absolute necessity:1 Composition implieth either that there must be more Beings of absolute necessity, or that there is something in God that may not be. Composition supposeth Succession, i. e. something past or to come in God; contrary to his Name, I am. Nay it supposeth that not-being is not repugnant to the Nature of God: Where there is Composition, there may be Dissolution; Dissolution is the way to not-being. It much helps us in the contemplation of the Simplicity of God, to look upon it as opposed to Composition, all the ways whereof the Learned have referred to these seven Heads.
Because God is a Being of absolute necessity:1 Composition implyeth either that there must be more Beings of absolute necessity, or that there is something in God that may not be. Composition supposeth Succession, i. e. something past or to come in God; contrary to his Name, I am. Nay it supposeth that not-being is not repugnant to the Nature of God: Where there is Composition, there may be Dissolution; Dissolution is the way to not-being. It much helps us in the contemplation of the Simplicity of God, to look upon it as opposed to Composition, all the ways whereof the Learned have referred to these seven Heads.
- 1Deus est ens necesse esse. Smising de Deo uno. tr. 2. disp. 2. n. 49.
Composition is either of 1. Parts, which are bounded by quantity; as a body having one part upon another. 2. Matter and Form; as a man of body and soul: these two compositions are only found in corporeal things. 3. General and special Nature: as every species, whose common nature is to be found, in some other thing, where the special nature is not; as a living creature and a man. 4.1 A Subject and an Accident; as every created substance: There are no accidents in God, he is wise, holy, just, essentially: there is not a substance and a quality in him. When God is said only to have Immortality,