Definitions

Definitions

Perfections of God–

Moral=those attributes which God exercises as a moral agent, or whereby the heart and will of God, are good, right, infinitely becoming, and lovely such as His righteousness, truth, faithfulness, and goodness or in one word His holiness.

Natural -those attributes wherein His greatness consists; such as his power, knowledge, everlasting to everlasting, omnipresence, and his awful and terrible majesty.

Affections=And wherever there are the exercises of love and joy, there is that sensation of the mind, whether it be in the body, or out; and that inward sensation, or kind of spiritual sense, or feeling, and motion of the soul, is what is called affection; the soul when it thus feels (if I may so say), and is thus moved, is said to be affected, and especially when this inward sensation and motion, are to a very high degree, as they are in the saints in heaven.

Authority- The right God has to act what he pleases. He has a right to command.

Dominion–

is His moral power wherefore it is lawful for him to do what he will. – The sovereignty of God is his ability and authority to do whatever pleases him;
whereby “he doth according to his will in the armies of heaven, and amongst the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what dost thou?” – (1) supreme, universal, and infinite power; whereby he is able to do what he pleases, without control, without any confinement of that power, without any subjection in the least measure to any other power; and so without any hindrance or restraint, that it should be either impossible, or at all difficult, for him to accomplish his will; and without any dependence of his power on any other power, from whence it should be derived, or which it should stand in any need of: so far from this, that all other power is derived from him, and is absolutely dependent on him.
(2) That he has supreme authority; absolute and most perfect right to do what he wills, without subjection to any superior authority, or any derivation of authority from any other, or limitation by any distinct independent authority, either superior, equal, or inferior; he being the head of all dominion, and fountain of all authority; and also without restraint by any obligation, implying either subjection, derivation, or dependence, or proper limitation.
(3) That his will is supreme, underived, and independent on anything without himself; being in everything determined by his own counsel, having no other rule but his own wisdom; his will not being subject to, or restrained by the will of any other, and others’ wills being perfectly subject to his.
(4) That his wisdom, which determines his will, is supreme, perfect, underived, self- sufficient, and independent; so that it may be said as in Isaiah 40:14, “With whom took he counsel? And who instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?”—There is no other divine sovereignty but this: and this is properly absolute sovereignty: no other is desirable; nor would any other be honorable, or happy: and indeed there is no other conceivable or possible. ‘Tis the glory and greatness of the divine sovereignty, that God’s will is determined by his own infinite all-sufficient wisdom in everything; and in nothing at all is either directed by any inferior wisdom, or by no wisdom; whereby it would become senseless arbitrariness, determining and acting without reason, design or end.
Eternity–

a denying of god any measures of time – the duration of His essence – Excluding from God all possibility of beginning, ending, and all flux and change Grace Gods free kindness to His creatures or any free gift. The freeness of G Grace is in its being unmerited and not what can be demanded. Done from mere good will.

GLORY–

A shining forth, an effulgence

Glory of God–

The shining forth or effulgence of his perfections -The communication of His perfections.

Happiness–

is that rest and delight that an intelligent being has in the absence of evil and in the possession of it’s proper (real) good (and not an apparent good).

Happiness, strictly, consists in the perception of these three things: of the consent of being to its own being; of its own consent to being; and of being’s consent to being.

Holiness of God-

Neg. is a perfect and unpolluted freedom from all evil. The nature of God is estranged from all shadow of evil, all imaginable contagion. (Charnock)
Pos. It is the rectitude or integrity of the Divine nature, or that conformity of it, in affection and action, to the divine will, as to his eternal law, whereby he works with a becomingness to his own excellency, and to his will, and an abhorrency of everything contrary to it. charnock

The perfect rectitude of his nature, whereby he is absolutely free from all moral impurity, and, in all that he does, acts like himself, and for the advancement of his own honor; delighting in what accords with, and abhorring what is contrary to, his nature and will. Robert Shaw page 69 “The reformed faith”

The infinite opposition of Godʼs will to sin, naturally and necessarily disposing Him to punish sin.
The moral excellency of the divine nature; comprehending all his moral perfections, his righteousness, faithfulness, and goodness.

tis delight in excellency, ’tis God’s sweet consent to himself, or in other words, his perfect delight in himself; which we have shown to be the Holy Spirit. ED
Gods holiness or hatred of sin is a disposition of the divine nature that necessarily Inclines God to Act of exort himself against it. God is so holy that he Can not look on Iniquity he Cannot behold it.

The holiness of God, which is the infinite opposition of his nature to sin, naturally and necessarily disposes him to punish sin. Indeed, his justice is part of his holiness; but when we spoke of God’s justice inclining of him to punish sin, we had respect only to that exercise of his holiness whereby he loved that holy and beautiful order that consisted in the connection of one thing with another according to their nature, and so between sin and punishment, and his opposition to that which would be so unsuitable as a disconnection of these things. But now I speak of the holiness of God as appearing, not directly and immediately in his hatred of an unsuitable, hateful disconnection between sin itself, and that which is proper for it, but in his hatred of sin, or the opposition of his nature to the odious nature of sin.
If God’s nature be infinitely opposite to sin, then doubtless he has a disposition answerable to oppose it in his acts and works. If he by his nature be an enemy to sin with an infinite enmity, then he is doubtless disposed to act as an enemy to it, or to do the part of an enemy to it; and if he [be] disposed naturally to do the part of an enemy against sin, or, which is the same thing, against the faultiness or blameworthiness of moral agents, then it will follow that he is naturally disposed to act as an enemy to those that are the persons faulty and blameworthy, or are chargeable with the guilt of it, as though they were the persons faulty. Indignation is the proper exercise of hatred of anything as a fault, or thing blamable; and there could be no such thing, either in the Creator or creature, as hatred of a fault, without indignation, unless it be conceived or hoped that the fault is suffered for, and so the indignation be, as it were, satisfied. Whoever finds a hatred to a fault, and at the same [time] imputes the fault to him that committed it, he therein feels an indignation against him for it:

(Christ being both God and Man, I do believe that the definition of Christʼs holiness here on earth in his humiliation would differ from God the fathers) (Me)
Immensity-A denying of God any bounds of place (charnock) -The diffusion of His essence Indignation

is the proper exercises of hatred of anything as a fault or thing blamable.

Indignation= The proper exercise of hatred of any thing as a fault or thing blamable.

Justice is= That perfection of his nature whereby he is disposed to this, is his justice; and therefore, his justice naturally disposes him to punish sin as it deserves.  Justice is God’s constant will of giving to everyone what is according to a regular equality.  When we speak of justice and holiness and a disposition of the nature of God, it is not to be distinguished from the will of God.
God, when he is contemned and injured and his authority and glory trampled in the dust, he will be disposed to repair the injury done to his honor and raise his injured majesty out of the dust again.

Love-   Love of Benevolence, as it respects the creature is that good disposition in Gods nature to communicate of his own fullness in general; such as His knowledge, holiness and happiness.

The love of God is that wherein all virtue and holiness does primarily and chiefly consist, and God’s own holiness must primarily consist in the love of himself

Love of Complacency

Love is commonly distinguished into a love of complacence and love of benevolence. Of these two a love of complacence is first, and is the foundation of the other,–i.e., if by a love of complacence be meant a relishing a sweetness in the qualifications of the beloved, and a being pleased and delighted in his excellency. This, in the order of nature, is before benevolence, because it is the foundation and reason of it. A person must first relish that wherein the amiableness of nature consists, before he can wish well to him on the account of that loveliness, or as being worthy to receive good. Indeed, sometimes love of complacence is explained something differently, even for that joy that the soul has in the presence and possession of the beloved, which is different from the soul’s relish of the beauty of the beloved, and is a fruit of it, as benevolence is. The soul may relish the sweetness and the beauty of a beloved object, whether that object be present or absent, whether in possession or not in possession; and this relish is the foundation of love of benevolence, or desire of the good of the beloved. And it is the foundation of love of affection to the beloved object when absent; and it is the foundation of one’s rejoicing in the object when present; and so it is the foundation of everything else that belongs to Divine Love.

God’s love, or benevolence, as it respects the creature, may be taken either in a larger or stricter sense. In a larger sense it may signify nothing diverse from that good disposition in his nature to communicate of his own fullness in general; as his knowledge, his holiness, and happiness; and to give creatures existence in order to it. This may be called benevolence or love, because it is the same good disposition that is exercised in love: ’tis the very fountain from whence love originally proceeds, when taken in the most proper sense; and it has the same general tendency and effect in the creature’s well-being. But yet this can’t have any particular present or future created existence for its object; because it is prior to any such object, and the very source of the futurition of the existence of it.6 Nor is it really diverse from God’s love to himself, as will more clearly appear afterwards.

But God’s love may be taken more strictly, for this general disposition to communicate good, as directed to particular objects: love in the most strict and proper sense presupposes the existence of the object beloved, at least in idea and expectation, and represented to the mind as future. God did not love angels in the strictest sense, but in consequence of his intending to create them, and so having an idea of future existing angels. Therefore his love to them was not properly what excited him to intend to create them. Love or benevolence strictly taken presupposes an existing object, as much as pity, a miserable suffering object.

Love= Another emanation of divine fulness, is the communication of virtue and holiness to the creature: this is a communication of God’s holiness; so that hereby the creature partakes of God’s own moral excellency; which is properly the beauty of the divine nature. And as God delights in his own beauty, he must necessarily delight in the creature’s holiness; which is a conformity to and participation of it, as truly as a brightness of a jewel, held in the sun’s beams, is a participation or derivation of the sun’s brightness, though immensely less in degree. And then it must be considered wherein this holiness in the creature consists, viz. in love, which is the comprehension of all true virtue; and primarily in love to God, which is exercised in a high esteem of God, admiration of his perfections, complacency in them, and praise of them. All which things are nothing else but the heart exalting, magnifying, or glorifying God; which, as I showed before, God necessarily approves of, and is pleased with, as he loves himself, and values the glory of his own nature.  JE

Majesty -for therein consists much of the majesty of God, viz. in his terribleness. “According to thy fear, so is thy wrath.”
Pity– presupposes a miserable suffering object

Power– strength – That by which God is able to effect all His purposes and all other possible effects solong as they are in accord with his nature.

Power of God= A sufficiency in God to produce great effects.
Providence- God’s use of the world he has made.

–Mental attributes (knowledge, wisdom, veracity) – Truth – 1. metaphysical in the object, meaning that person or object is all that it is supposed
to be. Antonyms Falsehood, spuriousness, fictitiousness, vanity, non-existence. (Bavinck) – 2. ethical meaning the correspondence between a persons being and his relation in word and deed. Whoever expresses himself differently from what he thinks is untrue,
a liar. -God revelation corresponding to His being. (Bavinck) – 3. logical- God knows all things as they are. Correspondence between thought and
reality. Our thoughts are true if they are an exact copy of reality. (Bavinck) – 4. The consistency and agreement of our ideas with the ideas of God. – 5. The perception of the relations there are between ideas – 6. The agreement of our ideas with existence (by running it up God and real
existence are the same) ( I am that I am)

FALSEHOOD-1. The suppositions of relations between ideas that are inconsistent with those ideas themselves; not their disagreement with things without

DIFFERENT NOTES ON THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

as to the Nature of the Righteousness of God it may be thus defined it a necessary & Unchangeable disposition of the divine nature to Render to Every one their own. it is not in strictness different from the divine nature and Essence it self but only in our way of Conception. being, and dispositIon or Inclination bent Different in God in our selves we distinguish between our souls and the disposition or Inclination of our souls the ones is a substance the other an accident or property of that substance but there is no such distinction in God of substance and property this is opposite to the simplicity of Gods nature but all that is in God is God, God is all thought and he is all love and all Joy all that disposition which we Call Justice and all that disposition which we Call mercy which is in deed the same disposition in God. he is an Infinitely Powerful love he is an Infinitely wise Justice he is an all Comprehensive and simple and unchangeable thought or Idea.

CHRISTIAN DOʼS AND DONTʼS and DEFINITIONS

Affections of the mind= 

It may be inquired, what the affections of the mind are?

I answer, the affections are no other, than the more vigorous and sensible exercises of the inclination and will of the soul.

God has indued the soul with two faculties: one is that by which it is capable of perception and speculation, or by which it discerns and views and judges of things; which is called the understanding. The other faculty is that by which the soul does not merely perceive and view things, but is some way inclined with respect to the things it views or considers; either is inclined to ’em, or is discinclined, and averse from ’em; or is the faculty by which the soul don’t behold things, as an indifferent unaffected spectator, but either as liking or disliking, pleased or displeased, approving or rejecting. This faculty is called by various names: it is sometimes called the inclination: and, as it has respect to the actions that are determined and governed by it, is called the will: and the mind, with regard to the exercises of this faculty, is often called the heart.

The exercises of this faculty are of two sorts; either those by which the soul is carried out towards the things that are in view, in approving of them, being pleased with them, and inclined to them; or those in which the soul opposes the things that are in view, in disapproving them, and in being displeased with them, averse from them, and rejecting them.

And as the exercises of the inclination and will of the soul are various in their kinds, so they are much more various in their degrees. There are some exercises of pleasedness or displeasedness, inclination or disinclination, wherein the soul is carried but a little beyond a state of perfect indifference. And there are other degrees above this, wherein the approbation or dislike, pleasedness or aversion, are stronger; wherein we may rise higher and higher, till the soul comes to act vigorously and sensibly, and the actings of the soul are with that strength that (through the laws of the union which the Creator has fixed between soul and body) the motion of the blood and animal spirits begins to be sensibly altered; whence oftentimes arises some bodily sensation, especially about the heart and vitals, that are the fountain of the fluids of the body:

Anger is an affection excited against, or in opposition to, another for something in him that crosses self-love

Communion

-The mutual sharing of those things which delight those in that relationship (John Owen) -The common partaking in union of any good (Edwards)
Courage is the virtue between cowardice (the deficiency of courage) and foolhardiness (the excess of courage). Someone who is too courageous will get himself killed–that’s foolishness. A person who has no courage at all is nothing but a coward. (aristotle)

Faith (The grace of) -a sense and conviction of the truth and goodness of all divine revelation -in general, Godʼs sufficiency and His truth and so the truth and goodness of all revelation.

Faith (The just shall live by) he shall live by his faith on God’s righteousness and grace, and not his own goodness and excellency.

Faith (Justifying) is a sense and conviction of the reality and Excellency of Christ as a savior that entirely inclines and unites the heart to Him John 17:3

Fear of God-herein is the difference between a godly fear, or the fear of a godly man, and the fear of a sinner: the one fears the effects of God’s displeasure, the other fears his displeasure itself.

Gratitude -is an affection one has towards another, for loving or gratifying him.

Generosity -is the virtue between stinginess and wastefulness.
(Aristotle) Gossip/tattler – one who is quick to discuss private matters. the root word in the
Greek comes from boiling up, or bubbling over. (Mac) Happiness -That rest and delight (not rest and pleasure) that an intelligent being has in
the absence of evil and in the possession of its proper good.
Holiness- comprehends all the true moral excellency of intelligent beings. Freedom from all evil.  Consisting in Love to God

Justified-accepted of God as free from guilt, wrath and the punishment of sin, and as now righteous and so the objects of favor, and as properly entitled to the rewards of righteousness

Leading of the Spirit-And the Will of God-And as to a gracious leading of the Spirit, it consists in two things; partly in instructing a person in his duty by the Spirit, and partly in powerfully inducing him to comply with that instruction. But so far as the gracious leading of the Spirit lies in instruction, it consists in a person’s being guided by a spiritual and distinguishing taste of that which has in it true moral beauty. I have shown that spiritual knowledge primarily consists in a taste or relish of the amiableness and beauty of that which is truly good and holy: this holy relish is a thing that discerns and distinguishes between good and evil, between holy and unholy, without being at the trouble of a train of reasoning.

The Apostle seems plainly to have respect to this way of judging of spiritual beauty, in Romans 12:2: “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and perfect, and acceptable will of God.”
Love Is – that disposition or affection whereby one is dear to another. Ed
– a sincere, free, spontaneous, not forced and perfect good-will to another. Ed.
– Divine Love, as it has God for its object, may be thus described. ‘Tis the soul’s relish of the supreme excellency of the Divine nature, inclining the heart to God as the chief good.

• –  a sweet and gentle disposition and affection of the soul
• –  a liking or inclination of the soul to a thing when in a high degree vigorous and lively -(its motive is for holiness sake)
• –  Love seeks a mutual Relation & interest not only delights in having the beloved his ownbut also in being His. Tis the mutual Relation & Interest
• –  The sum of all good principles
• –  the fountain whence proceed all amiable and excellent actions
  -benevolent is that affection or propensity of the heart to any being, which causes it to incline to its well being, or disposes it to desire and take pleasure in its happiness.
  ( beauty in the object is not always the ground of this propensity)
  -complacence is no other than delight in beautyLive- or to have life- ; but it is expressive of a general principle in relation to men, that they shall be defended, preserved, made happy, not by their own merits or strength, but by confidence in God.- to experience God’s blessing by enjoying a life of security, protection, and fullness. LOVE TO GOD the soul’s relish of the supreme excellency of the divine nature, inclining the heart to God as the chief good.

“For love, is not only one of the affections, but it is the first and chief of the affections, and the fountain of all the affections.” joy, zeal , peace etc.

Meekness-a condition of the mind and heart that is the fruit of power. Jesus was meek because he had infinite resources from the father. It is the opposite of self-assertiveness and self- intereest: it is equanimity of spirit that is neither elated nor cast down, simply because it is not occupied with self at allMoral Evil -In order to a thing’s being morally evil, there must be one of these things belonging to it:  1. either it must be a thing unfit and unsuitable in its own nature; 2. or it must have a bad tendency; or it must proceed from an evil disposition, and be done for an evil end But neither of these things can be attributed to God’s ordering and permitting such events, as the immoral acts of creatures, for good ends. (1) It is not unfit in its own nature, that he should do so.

Meekness is the virtue between indifference and a short temper. Aristotle said that the gentle or meek person “is praised for being angry under the right circumstances and with the right people, and also in the right manner, at the right time, and for the right length of time” ([Indianapolis: Bobbs- Merrill, 1962], p. 100). Meekness is indeed power under control. (Aristotle) Moral Good that which is contrary to sin; or, in other words, that good in beings who have will and choice, whereby, as voluntary agents, they are, and act, as it becomes them to be and to act. and , it is obvious, that is becoming, which is most fit, suitable, and lovely.

Merit=  Anything whatsoever in any person or being, or about him or belonging to him, which appearing in the view of another is a recommendation of him to that other’s regard, esteem, or affection.

Prayer Intent of– to bring our souls into a frame in all things answering the mind and will of God. Which can be the same with meditation.

Pride – is that habit or state of a person’s heart whereby he is inordinately disposed to exaltation amongst other beings as to his comparative dignity or worthiness of esteem and value… The immediate object of pride is not… a man’s own excellency considered absolutely. ‘Tis not a disposition in a person to seek his own excellency absolutely, or a disposition to be excellent. A man can’t excessively affect his own excellency… he can’t excessively desire to be excellent

Repentance-signifies a change of mind
-formerly esteeming and approving sin and now utterly disapproving and disliking it. Revenge If after we are offended or injured, we speak reproachfully to our neighbor, or of him to others, with a design to lower or injure them, and that we may gratify the bitter spirit we feel in our hearts for the injury that neighbor has done us.
Sin is no other than disagreeableness, in a moral agent, to the law of God, or rule of our duty.
Self-righteousness: to conceive hopes of some favor of God from a false notion of the relation our own goodness or excellency bears to that favor.

’tis a trusting in their own works. Their works are wholly their own; they are from themselves, and not from God.

Sin- an infinitely uncomely disorder – an infinitely detestable pollution – is no other than disagreeableness, in a moral agent, to the law, or rule of his duty

Sin (The evil of)

-is that it is against the infinite greatness and awful majesty of God, and against so excellent a Savior and His dying love. – consists in the hating of God – what the evil, or iniquity, or hatefulness of sin consists in, is the violating of an obligation, or the being or doing contrary to what we should be or do, or are obliged to

– every sin has an infinite deformity and hatefulness in it, is because what the evil, or iniquity, or hatefulness of sin consists in the violating of an obligation, or the being or doing contrary to what we should be or do, or are obliged to. Therefore by how much the greater the obligation is that is violated, so much the greater is the iniquity and hatefulness of the violation.

Spiritual Understanding-Spiritually to understand the Scripture, is to have the eyes of the mind opened, to behold the wonderful spiritual excellency of the glorious things contained in the true meaning of it, and that always were contained in it, ever since it was written; to behold the amiable and bright manifestations of the divine perfections, and of the excellency and sufficiency of Christ, and the excellency and suitableness of the way of salvation by Christ, and the spiritual glory of the precepts and promises of the Scripture, etc. Which things are, and always were in the Bible, and would have been seen before, if it had not been for blindness, without having any new sense added by the words being sent by God to a particular person, and spoken anew to him, with a new meaning.

Trials– those things that a professor meets with in his course, that especially render his continuance in his duty and faithfulness to God, difficult to nature.
Trusting in God– Respecting God as that portion in which he seeks and looks for satisfaction – an acquiesance of mind in a sense and persuasion of Godʼs sufficiency to do those things we need because we are poor, needy and miserable. – a rest of mind in a dependence upon what he says he will do

Truth=  1 The true doctrines of religion.  2  the knowledge of these doctrines.  3  Veracity or faithfulness.  4  All virtue and holiness, including both the knowledge and reception of all the great truths of the Scriptures, and conformity to these in life and conduct.  ie “Love rejoices in the truth”
Virtue-is the beauty of those qualities and acts of the mind that are of a moral nature, i.e. such as are attended with desert or worthiness of praise or blame.

And so far as a virtuous mind exercises true virtue in benevolence to created beings, it chiefly seeks the good of the creature, consisting in its knowledge or view of God’s glory and beauty, its union with God, and conformity to him, love to him, and joy in him. And that temper or disposition of heart, that consent, union, or propensity of mind to Being in general, which appears chiefly in such exercises, is virtue, truly so called; or in other words, true grace and real holiness.

-the beauty and qualities and exercises of the heart, or those actions that proceed from them which consists in benevolence to being in general -The nature of true virtue is that consent, propensity, and union of heart to being in general, which is immediately exercised in a general good will.-generally consists in love -consists in a disposition to benevolence towards being in general and as objects are presented exercises of love will arise
Worship -a proper response to the attributes and activities of God

Zeal is no other than the Ardour of an Holy flame of divine Love in the Heart. In zeal , there is in it high approbation of some person or thing, together with vigorous opposition to what is conceived to be contrary to it.