All natural perfections are essential to him as an infinite being, such as eternity, omnipotence, immensity, omniscience, spirituality, and immutability; and all moral perfections belong to him as a good Being, such as wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, faithfulness. These latter are communicable, because there are some rays of them in his creatures, but none of them in that transcendent degree that are in him, nor ever can be. The former we call his natural and incommunicable perfections, for the sake of distinction; though it is certain the latter are equally as natural to him, and incommunicable, in that infinite degree possessed by himself.
God being unchangeable in his essence, must also be so in all his perfections, because they are no other than his essence, and are not distinguished in him, either from his essence, or from one another; but are one and the same Being, revealed and manifested to us, under various notions, which we call attributes, to help us the better to conceive of him, who are not able to apprehend what may be known of him, under any one name, or by any one act of our understanding.
The combination of all his perfections renders him a glorious Being; and that fixed and invariable state of contentment and satisfaction, complacency and delight, which result from the secure possession and enjoyment of all that is good and desirable, or, in other words, of all possible excellencies and perfections in the highest degree, constitutes him infinitely blessed.
Moses was favored with another remarkable and interesting manifestation of the Divine Being; for perceiving God’s merciful condescension in answer to his prayers offered up for his people, he persevered in the holy exercise, and even asked him for a manifestation of his glory: “Show me,” said he, “I beseech thee, thy glory,” or, according to the original, “make me see it.” He could not mean an open view of the unclouded majesty of God, but only such a display of the Divine glory as a mortal is capable of beholding. God answered, “I will make all my goodness to pass before thee:” intimating, that his goodness is his glory, and that he could not bear the infinite splendor of his holiness and justice. Goodness is the true and genuine character of God, and the glory of all his other perfections, and by it they are all rendered engaging. Without this they would be terrible: for wisdom without goodness degenerates into insidious cunning; and power without it is the character of a tyrant. Were God destitute of this amiable perfection, he would have such a defect in his nature, as infinite perfection itself, in every other attribute, could not sufficiently compensate.
All nations have acknowledged this perfection of the Divine Being. Plato calls him the ιδεα του αγαθου, the idea or essence of goodness. In the three principles of the Platonic Trinity—το αγαθον goodness, νους intelligence, and ψυχη vitality.—The first place is assigned to the το αγαθον goodness, which the Platonists conceive to be like an immense and most pure light, continually diffusing and communicating its invigorating beams. To this the Platonist Boctius alludes, in that celebrated description of God, where he calls him Fons Boni Lucidus, the lucid fountain of goodness.—There is an ancient cabalistical table, supposed to be borrowed from the Pythagoreans, which represents, in a visible scheme, the order of the Divine perfections: wherein it is observable that goodness presides over, and gives laws and measures to all the other attributes of God.
Philo says, God is the name of goodness; and our English word, adds a late author, seems to be a contraction of the word good; or, however, is the same with the German Got, or Godt, which came, as is thought, from the Arabic word Gada, of the same signification. So that the German and the English name of the Supreme Being, in common use, is taken from the attribute of his goodness. “The word itself is pure Anglo-saxon,” says Dr. Adam Clarke, “and, among our ancestors, signified not only the Divine Being, now commonly designated by the word, but also good; as in their apprehension it appears, that God and Good were correlative terms; and when they thought or spoke of him, they were ever led from the word itself to consider him as the good Being a fountain of infinite benevolence and beneficence towards his creatures.” The word God, expressed in the old Saxon, is bona res, a good thing.
That God is good, is the constant language of Divine revelation; for this attribute is every where celebrated, both in the Old and New Testament. It may be distinguished as natural, moral, and communicative. The first of these is the absolute perfection of his nature, which is goodness itself in its very essence. He is originally good, and that of himself; which is a property peculiar to no other creature, for all the goodness of the creature is derived from God. He is infinitely and therefore incomprehensively good to men and angels; hence his goodness knows no limits. We read of the “riches of his goodness,” which are as “unsearchable,” as is his “greatness.” He is immutably good, for “the goodness of God endureth continually.” And as his dependence on no one admits not of his being changed by others, so neither does his immutability admit of it by himself; for if he alter for the better he was not God before, and if for the worse, he then would not be God. Thus he is essentially, originally, infinitely, incomprehensibly, and unchangeably good.
The moral goodness of God is his perfect purity or holiness; therefore his goodness and holiness are united—“good and upright is the Lord.” According to any rational opinion we can form of him, he is a Being possessed, not only of every natural power and perfection, but of every moral excellence. The holiness of his nature removes him to the greatest possible distance from all moral evil, and makes him necessarily approve of moral good. All his designs are pure and upright, and worthy of himself: he always acts according to the perfect rectitude of his own nature. Though he is not under the direction of any superior, yet his own rectitude always determines him to pursue what is right to be done towards his creatures. This property of the Divine Being greatly heightens our idea of his excellence, and naturally points him out as the Governor of mankind. And as he adheres to it in his own conduct and administration, and likewise approves and loves it in his rational creatures, whom he governs; so he disapproves and hates the reverse in them, and will most certainly animadvert upon the temper and behavior of those who act contrary to his divine admonitions, and make them most sensibly feel the effects of their wickedness.
The communicative, or relative goodness of God, or his goodness to his creatures, is his inclination or self-propension to deal well and bountifully with them. As the notion of God includes goodness, so the idea of goodness implies holy diffusiveness. Therefore, says the Psalmist, “Thou art good, and doest good.” All that we are, have, or hope for, that is good, proceeds from God as its fountain; hence he is called, “the fountain of living waters.” This communicative goodness implies, that, from his all-sufficiency, he is ready to impart to his creatures whatever their necessities require. This attribute is universal: “he is good to all” his creatures from the highest angel to the meanest reptile; especially, to his people, “Truly,” says the Psalmist, “God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.” But, though God is good to all his creatures, yet he is not equally so in the same kind and degree of blessings. His munificence is regulated by his wisdom, and the different capacities with which he has formed his creatures makes this inequality necessary.
[There is one vast and awful question which must occur to every reflecting mind—What is God?
As it regards his Nature, the Scriptures say, He is a Spirit. We must therefore, conceive the Creator to be, a Living, Rational, Benevolent, and Spiritual Essence; absolutely, necessarily, and naturally perfect, and, therefore, immaterial, uncompounded, indivisible, and eternal.
It is necessarily understood that this essence is peculiar: that there is nothing in its nature which has any resemblance to created substances, whether material or spiritual; and that it is underived, and consequently, independent.
This Divine Essence being immaterial, impalpable, simple and indivisible, cannot have body or parts: nor can it be said to be a whole, for this would imply an aggregation of parts: but is itself a perfect, absolute, single, and eternal Individuality, incapable of self-multiplication, or increase; or of diminishing itself, or endangering its existence.
This essence is a living essence; and, therefore, has inherently the power and principles of action: It is a rational essence, and therefore, must act according to the eternal principles of reason and right: It is a benevolent essence, and therefore, all its actions must be infinitely good and kind. Absolute perfection, infinitude, and sovereignty in all these respects, constitute the Being we call God.
As God is a single, indivisible, independent, and eternal Unit, we cannot ascribe different perfections, or attributes to him, so as to suppose one attribute separate from, and independent of another, capable of acting per se, or participating conjunctively with other attributes as an integer. Nor can we suppose this eternal, and independent Unit to act by being operated upon in any degree, by other agents, nor can he operate on himself. All his actions, therefore, spring from himself, and are performed without excitement, effort, means, or previous ratiocination.
It will follow from the preceding reasoning, that every action of the Divine Being, in regard to himself, is precisely the same in nature: so that we cannot say of one act it is an effort of his power to the exclusion of his wisdom: nor of his wisdom to the exclusion of his goodness: nor of his goodness to the exclusion of his holiness: and so of the rest. Strictly speaking we cannot say the power of God; the wisdom of God; the goodness of God, &c.; because the power of God is God; the wisdom of God is God; the goodness of God is God.
In contemplating this awful subject abstractly, we should say there are no such things as attributes in the Divine Being, as they are commonly understood. What we call his attributes, are only different modes of the operations of the same eternal, undivided, and independent Unit. Indeed, God is one entire perfection which exerts itself in different ways and actions.
But as we cannot comprehend this single entire perfection; nor understand how it exerts the whole of itself, as a single indivisible agent, in each particular act, as it really does, mankind have always been in the habit of assisting their contemplations by regarding the nature of the acts of this single, indivisible, and eternal agent, and thus infering the nature of the Divine Being. And as these acts appear to differ in quality, we infer a quality in the agent, corresponding with the quality of the actions which we see: we call this quality by a name, and thus derive the doctrine of attributes.
For example: When we see this single, indivisible agent manifesting himself in such a manner as to give us the idea of unlimited power, we ascribe omnipotence to him, as an attribute. When we see a manifestation indicating infinite wisdom, we ascribe omniscience to him as an attribute. In the same manner in reference to the manifestations which indicate justice, goodness, mercy, truth, holiness, faithfulness, righteousness, kindness, &c., all of which we ascribe to him upon such indications.
Although this rationale, in contemplating the Divine Being, is necessary to creatures, yet it is calculated to lead the mind into error. We am insensibly inclined to ascribe the divine actions to those attributes exclusively which we suppose they indicate. This, probably, has been the most fatal error of mankind, and, doubtless, laid the foundation of darkness and idolatry. We must never conceive that any act of the Divine Being proceeds from one or more attributes to the exclusion of others; or that one attribute participates more in one act than another. This is the fatal mistake. Hence theologians have become blind and foolish, bewildering the multitude by building up theories on the consideration of a single attribute; thus making the Divine Being to consist of parts, and these parts independent too. Instances of this awful mistake might be given, but it scarcely comes within the design of this paper. It is sufficient to say; if we conceive correctly of the divine acts, we will ascribe each equally to all the Divine Attributes.
As we conceive this single, indivisible, underived, independent, and eternal agent, or perfection to be absolutely infinite, and illimitable in all possible ways, or manner, of exerting Himself, we, of course, conceive all the qualities, indicated by the divine acts, which we call attributes, to be absolutely infinite, perfect, and eternal: and thus we derive the doctrine of the absolute perfection, and infinitude of all, and each of the Divine Attributes.
From the foregoing reflections, the reader will readily conceive of the Divine Being, as a Living, Rational, Benevolent, and Spiritual Essence, existing as a single, underived, independent, Unit: a Unit, not in reality consisting of attributes, or perfections, but itself one single, entire perfection: exerting itself not by attributes, but as an individual Unit or Agent, in such a manner that each action is the action of the Divine Being, and not of one or more of his attributes: that the existence of this single, underived, independent, and eternal Agent, was, and is necessary, and, therefore, he could not but have existed, and cannot cease to be; that He is absolute, and infinite in all possible ways and manner of acting, and consequently we conceive Him possessed of all possible perfections in an infinite degree.]