by Thomas Ridgley, D.D
in ePub, .mobi & .pdf formats
BEFORE we proceed to consider the divine perfections, as stated in this answer, let it be premised, that it is impossible for any one to give a perfect description of God; since he is incomprehensible. No words can fully express, or set forth, his perfections. When the wisest men on earth speak of him, they soon betray their own weakness, or discover, as Elihu says, that they 'cannot order their speech by reason of darkness,' or that 'they are but of yesterday, and know,' comparatively, 'nothing.'l When we speak of the infinite perfections of the divine nature, we are but like children, talking of matters above them, which their tender age can take in but little of. 'This knowledge is too wonderful for us; it is high, we cannot attain to it.' 'How little a portion is heard of him?'n
But though God cannot be perfectly described, yet there is something of him which we may know, and ought to make the matter of our study and diligent inquiries. When his glory is set forth in scripture, we are not to look upon the expressions made use of, as words without any ideas affixed to them,—for it is one thing to have adequate ideas of an infinitely perfect being, and another thing to have no ideas at all of him; neither are our ideas of God, though imperfect, to be for this reason reckoned altogether false,—for it is one thing to think of him in an unbecoming way, not agreeable to his perfections, or to attribute the weakness and imperfection to him which do not belong to his nature, and another thing to think of him, with the highest and best conceptions we are able to entertain of his infinite perfections, while, at the same time, we have a due sense of our own weakness and the shallowness of our capacities. When we thus order our thoughts concerning the great God, though we are far from comprehending his infinite perfections, yet our conceptions are not to be concluded erroneous, when directed by his word.
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Table of Contents
The Attributes of God
General view of the Divine Attributes
The Spirituality of God
The Self-Existence of God
The Infinitude of God
The All-Sufficiency of God
The Eternity of God
The Immutability of God
The Incomprehensibility of God
The Omnipresence of God
The Omnipotence of God
The Omniscience of God
The Wisdom of God
The Holiness of God
The Justice of God
The Beniguity of God
The Goodness of God
The Mercy of God
The Grace of God
The Patience of God
The Faithfulness of God
NOTES.—The Communicable and the Incommunicable perfections of God
The Supremacy of God
The Unity of God
NOTES.—Proofs of the Unity of God from reason
Knowledge of the Unity of God among the heathen
The Simplicity of God