Page 13 - Absolute Predestination With Observations On The Divine Attributes

entirely from all dependence whether on themselves or any creature whatever;
to make them renounce their own righteousness, no less than their sins, in point
of reliance, and to acquiesce sweetly and safely in the certain perpetuity of His
rich favour. (3) To excite them, from a trust of His goodwill toward them, to

love that God who hath given such great and numberless proofs of His love to
men, and, in all their thoughts, words and works, to aim, as much as possible, at

His honour and glory.

We were to consider—

THE UNCHANGEABLENESS OF GOD AND HIS DECREES.

III.—THE UNCHANGEABLENESS, WHICH IS ESSENTIAL TO HIMSELF AND HIS

DECREES.

POSITION 1.—God is essentially unchangeable in Himself. Were He otherwise,
He would be confessedly imperfect, since whoever changes must change either
for the better or for the worse; whatever alteration any being undergoes, that

being must, ipso facto, either become more excellent than it was or lose some of
the excellency which it had. But neither of these can be the case with the Deity:

He cannot change for the better, for that would necessarily imply that He was
not perfectly good before; He cannot change for the worse, for then He could
not be perfectly good after that change. Ergo, God is unchangeable. And this is
the uniform voice of Scripture. "I am the Lord, I change not" (Mal. 3.6). "With

Him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1.17). "Thou art the
same, and Thy years shall have no end" (Psalm 102.27).

POSITION 2.—God is likewise absolutely unchangeable with regard to His
purposes and promises. "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of
man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or, hath He

spoken, and shall He not make it good?" (Numb. 23.19). "The Strength of Israel
will not lie, nor repent; for He is not a man, that He should repent" (1 Sam.
15.29). "He is in one mind, and who can turn Him?" (Job 23.13). "I, the Lord,

have spoken it, it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither
will I spare, neither will I repent" (Ezek. 24.14). "The gifts and calling of God
are without repentance" (Rom. 11.29). "He abideth faithful, and cannot deny

Himself" (2 Tim. 2.13).