As the Supream Omniscient Mind
Is by no Boundaries confin'd,
So Reason must acknowledge him to be
From possible Mutation free;
For what He is, he was from all Eternity.
Change, whether the Effect of Force, or Will,
Must argue Imperfection still.
But Imperfection in a Deity
That's absolutely perfect, cannot be:
Who can compel, without his own consent,
A God to Change, that is Omnipotent?
And ev'ry Alteration without Force,
Is for the better, or the worse:
He that is infinitely Wise,
To alter for the worse will never chuse,
That, a Depravity of Nature shews;
And he, in whom all true Perfection lies,
Cannot by Change to greater Excellencies rise.
If God be mutable; which way, or how
Shall we demonstrate, that will please him now,
Which did a thousand Years ago?
And 'tis impossible to know
What he forbids, or what he will allow.
Murder, Inchantment, Lust, and Perjury,
Did in the foremost Rank of Vices stand,
Prohibited by an express Command;
But whether such they still remain to be,
No Argument will positively prove,
Without immediate Notice from above;
If the Almighty Legislator can
Be chang'd, like his inconstant Subject, Man
Uncertain thus what to perform, or shun,
We all intolerable Hazards run,
When an eternal Stake is to be lost, or won.