1. That he is the most suitable good to the nature of our souls, which are spirits; he can communicate himself, and apply those things to them, which tend to make them happy, as the God and Father of spirits.
2. He is to be worshipped in a spiritual manner, John iv. 24. that is, with our whole souls, and in a way becoming his spiritual nature; therefore,
3. We are to frame no similitude or resemblance of him in our thoughts, as though he were a corporeal or material being; neither are we to make any pictures of him. This God forbids Israel to do, Deut. iv. 12, 15, 16. and tells them, that they had not the least pretence for so doing, inasmuch as they saw no similitude of him, when he spake to them in Horeb; and to make an image of him would be to corrupt themselves.
II. God is said to be in, and of, himself, not as though he gave being to, or was the cause of himself, for that implies a contradiction; therefore divines generally say, that God is in, and of himself, not positively, but negatively, that is, his being and perfections are underived, and not communicated to him, as all finite perfections are, by him, to the creature; therefore he is self-existent, or independent, which is one of the highest glories of the divine nature, by which he is distinguished from all creatures, who live, move, and have their being in and from him.
This attribute of independency belongs to all his perfections; thus his wisdom, power, goodness, holiness, &c. are all independent. And,
1. With respect to his knowledge or wisdom, he doth not receive ideas from any object out of himself, as all intelligent creatures do, and, in that respect, are said to depend on the object; so that if there were not such objects, they could not have the knowledge or idea of them in their minds; therefore the object known must first exist, before we can apprehend what it is. But this must not be said of God’s knowledge, for that would be to suppose the things that he knows antecedent to his knowing them. The independency of his knowledge is elegantly described in scripture; Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or, being his counsellor, has taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? Isa. xl. 13, 14.
2. He is independent in power, therefore as he receives strength from no one, so he doth not act dependently on the will of the creature; Who hath enjoined him his way; Job xxxvi. 23. and accordingly, as he received the power of acting from no one, so none can hinder, turn aside, or controul his power, or put a stop to his methods of acting.
3. He is independent as to his holiness, hating sin necessarily, and not barely depending on some reasons out of himself, which induce him thereunto; for it is essential to the divine nature to be infinitely opposite to all sin, and therefore to be independently holy.
4. He is independent as to his bounty and goodness, and so he communicates blessings not by constraint, but according to his sovereign will. Thus he gave being to the world, and all things therein, which was the first instance of bounty and goodness, and a very great one it was, not by constraint, but by his free will, for his pleasure they are and were created. In like manner, whatever instances of mercy he extends to miserable creatures, he still acts independently, in the display thereof; nothing out of himself moves or lays a constraint upon him, but he shews mercy because it is his pleasure so to do.
But, to evince the truth of this doctrine, that God is independent as to his being, and all his perfections, let it be farther considered,