In the exercise of God's efficiency, the decree of God comes first. This manner of working is the most perfect of all and notably agrees with the divine nature.

The will of God is eternal because He does not begin to will what He did not will before, nor cease to will what He willed before.

Nothing exists from eternity but God, and God is not the matter or a part of any creature, but only the maker.

This subsistence, or manner of being of God is his one essence so far as it has personal properties.

Therefore, the church is not absolutely necessary as an object of faith, not even for us today, for then Abraham and the other prophets would not have given assent to those things which were revealed to them from God without any intervening help of the church.

In the exercise of God's efficiency, the decree of God comes first. This manner of working is the most perfect of all and notably agrees with the divine nature.

The virtue of contentment is the acquiescence of the mind in the lot God has given