6, 8, 9. καὶ δαίμονι varov. Cal Ifa. xiv. 27, returned to a right understanding) did fo confefs; The Lord of hofts hath purposed, and who shall difannul it? his hand is ftretched out, and who shall turn it back? he is El Shaddai, the God all-fufficient; able to do whatever he pleases. He made the world at firft with a word; Pf. xxxiii. (By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, faith the Pfalmift; and all the hoft of them by the breath of his mouth-let the earth fear the Lord :-for he fpake, and it was done; he commanded, and it flood faft ;) and by a Heb. i. 3. word he doth preserve it, (upholding all things, faith the Apoftle, by the word of his power, or by his mighty word;) and by a word he can deftroy all things; yea more eafily, in a manner, by his filence; by withdrawing Pf. civ. 29. that falutary breath, which cherisheth all things; (Thou hideft thy face, they are troubled: thou withholdeft thy Eid breath, they die, and return to their duft :) for even in 9, 9 this refpect is God all-powerful, for that all power is depia du- rived from and depends upon him: he not only can do lim. Plut. all things, but nothing can be done without him; Withde Plac. i. 1. out me you can do nothing, is true not only in fpiritual Acts xvii. matters, but in all others: He gives, as St. Paul preached 25, 28. at Athens, life, (or being with all vital faculties,) and Orixia breath, (all natural powers,) and all things unto all: In him (or rather, by him) we live, and move, and have our being; whatever we have, or can do, proceeds from him: thus is God Almighty. He is alfo fo, by reason that he doth actually exercife all dominion, and exerts his power, according to his pleasure; he hath not only a juft title to govern all things, and ability to sway, but he uses them; Pf. ciii. 19. The Lord hath prepared his throne in heaven, and his kingVid. Pfal. dom ruleth over all: The Lord is high above all nations, Pf. cxiii. 4. and his glory above the heavens: Who is like unto the Lord our God, who humbleth himself, to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth! It is indeed a great condefcenfion in God, that he will vouchfafe the government of things, fo much inferior to him; yet for the general good he doth it; Thine, faith David, is the kingdom, O xxix.11,12. Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all: both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reigneft over all: in thine hand John xv. 5. Ράδια πάντα ἢ ἀδύνατον οὐδέν. xlvii. 5, 6. 15. 11. 17. is power and might, &c. He is indeed the only governor, abfolutely and directly fo, (μóvos duváσrns, the only Poten- 1 Tim. vi. tate ;) all authority and power are imparted by him, are fubordinate to him; by his difpofal and direction all potentates receive them; and in his behalf, by virtue of his commiffion and command, as his delegates and officers, they adminifter any dominion or power: it was Nebuchadnezzar's doom to be driven from men until he did know this truth, (so necessary for all princes to know and confider,) that the Moft High ruleth in the kingdom of Dan. iv. 25. men, and giveth it to whomfoever he will: His kingdom is Dan.vii. 27. an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall ferve and obey him. Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor Pl. lxxv. 6, from the weft, nor from the fouth: but God is the judge; he putteth down one, and fetteth up another: There is no Rom.xiii.1. power but from God; the powers that are, are appointed by John xix. God: The judgment is God's, (faid Mofes in his charge,) Deut. i. exercised in his behalf, and according to his appointment. Thus is God wavтoxpáτwp; the only direct fovereign commander; the author and fountain of all authority, the 1 Tim. vi. Lord of lords, and King of kings. He also is wavrongáτwp, as the true proprietary and just poffeffor of all things; (Omnitenens ;) Blessed be Abram of the most high God, Gen. xiv. possessor of heaven and earth, faith Melchizedek: The pr. xxiv. 1. earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and1. 12. they that dwell therein: for he hath founded it upon the feas, and established it upon the floods: Behold, the heaven Deut. x. 14. and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth alfo, with all that therein is, faith Mofes: and the Pfalmist again; The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as Pf. lxxxix. for the world and the fulness thereof; (that is, all which 1 Chron. the world contains, which it is replenished with :) The xxix. 11. fea is his, and (that is, for) he made it; and his hands formed the dry land. Thou haft founded them: all things are God's goods and poffeffions, (for that he hath made, and by creation purchased them to himself; fo we see the Pfalmift argues,) and fo the disposal of them do belong unto him; he may and doth apply them to what use he pleaseth. He is alfo Omnitenens, (it is St. Auftin's 15. 19. 11. Pf. xcv. 5. word,) as containing all things in his hand, encircling and Pf. cxxxix. comprehending them, as it were, in his arms; Whither "Shall I go from thy Spirit? faith the Pfalmift, or whither 7, 8, 9, 10. Ifa. xl. 12. Ifa. xlviii. 13. fhall I flee from thy prefence? If I afcend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermoft parts of the fea; even there fhall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the pan, and comprehended the duft of the earth in a measure? Mine hand hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my hand hath spanned the heavens. He laftly is wavтoxpáræg, in regard that he sustains and preferves all things; Ouxouv, faith Gregory Nyffen, ötav tûs παντοκράτωρ φωνῆς ἀκούομεν τοῦτο νοοῦμεν τὸ πάντα τὸν Θεὸν ἐν τῷ εἶναι συνέχειν : When we hear the word Almighty, we understand that God doth contain all things in being. Neh. ix. 6. Thou, even thou, fay the Levites in Nehemiah, art Lord alone; thou haft made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their hoft, the earth, and all things that are therein, and thou preferveft them all; and the hoft of heaven worshippeth thee. In all these refpects is God truly Almighty. The belief of God's Gofpel. The belief and confideration of which truths are of power. For great importance and use to us: if God be the fovereign it Abraham Lord of all things, (which is the chief sense of this arjuftified, &c. in the ticle,) and we confequently his fubjects and vaffals; then is all awful reverence, worship, and obedience due from us to him: we are in juftice bound humbly to adore his majefty, and readily to perform his commands, and paOyag-tiently to fubmit to his will. We must not think to guide our actions according to our own will or fancy, as πάρεσμεν, &c. Plut. if we had no Lord over us; but conform them we must ad Apol. P. to the decrees and determinations of our most good and θετήσοντες 193, 194. wife Governor. It is our duty to do thus, and we have reason to do it willingly and cheerfully; for it is also our happiness to be under so just and gracious a government : it is no cruel tyrant, no unjust usurper, but a most gracious and equal King, whom we are in subjection to; of whom it is faid truly, Juftice and judgment are the establishment Pf. lxxxix. of his throne; mercy and truth go before his face; whom 14. we are exceedingly obliged to thank that he will vouchfafe to undertake the tuition and overfight of us: fo that in this confideration the Pfalmift might well excite the world to joy and jubilation; O clap your hands, all ye Pf. xlvii. 1, people; fhout unto God with the voice of triumph: for the Lord moft high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth. All the world hath reason, not only to be content Conf. Soand acquiefce, but to rejoice and triumph in being subject Plato's to fuch a Governor, fo able, fo willing to maintain good Phædo, &c. order, peace, and equity therein. 2. crates in Afchyl. 21. Alfo, if God be omnipotent, able to do all things, and of irresistible power, then have we all reason, 1. To hope in his providence, and rely upon his promises. For that Teaxis nohe is able to fupply us with all we need, and perform νάρχης, οὐδ' whatever he hath promised. It was Abraham's virtue, gari. (fo acceptable to God, and fo richly rewarded by him,) Prom." that he did not stagger at the promife of God through un- Rom.iv.20, belief; but was ftrong in faith, giving glory to God; being fully perfuaded that, what he had promised, he was able to perform. It was the Ifraelites' great offence that so incenfed God, that they spake against God; faying, Can Pf. Ixxviii. God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the fireams overflowed; can he give bread alfo ? can he provide flesh for his people? Our Saviour upon this account took it ill of his Matt. viii. difciples, that in the greatest dangers they fhould be 26. xiv. 31. afraid, or in the leaft manner diftruft. Since nothing is sis riidisuimpoffible, nothing difficult to him, (that can be done, or as; &c. which he will promise,) we should not, in respect of any difficulty or improbability appearing, doubt in the leaft; it is injury to him, it is folly, it is blafphemy to do it." 2. We fhould hence dread God; fear to oppofe his will, or provoke his displeasure. Is it not a madness for impotency (such as ours) to contend with or withstand Omnipotency, that can so easily crush us into mifery, into — οὐ γὰρ ἐμὸν παλινάγρετον, οὐδ ̓ ἀπατηλόν, Hom, ll. a. 526. 19, 20. Ολιγόπιστε, σας; i. 3. nothing? Forafmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? (Jer. x. 6, 7.) Fear you not me? faith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my prefence, which have placed the fand for the bound of the fea, &c. (Jer. v. 22.) It is the argument by which Mofes enforces obedience to the Law, for that the Lord is a great God, a mighty and a terrible, (Deut. x. 17.) Our Saviour admonishes and inculcates earnestly, Fear him, which, after he hath killed, hath power to caft into hell; I fay unto you, fear him. (Luke xii. 5.) Do we provoke the Lord to jealoufy? St. Paul urges; are we ftronger than he? No, let us follow St. Peter's advice, (1 Pet. v. 6.) and humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. But I leave these and other applications, eafily emergent from these points of doctrine, to your further meditation. It may be demanded, why, befide that of Almighty, no other attribute of God is expreffed in our Creed; why, for instance, the perfections of infinite wisdom and goodnefs are therein omitted. I anfwer, 1. That all fuch perfections are included in the notion of a God, whom, when we profess to believe, we consequently do afcribe them to him; for he that should profefs to believe in God, not acknowledging those perfections, would be inconfiftent and contradictious to himfelf; Deum negaret, Adv. Marc. as Tertullian speaks, auferendo quod Dei eft; he would deny God, withdrawing what belongs to God. 2. The title wavτoxpάTwp, as implying God's universal providence in the preservation and government of the world, doth alfo involve or infer all divine perfections displayed therein; all that glorious majesty and excellency, for which he is with highest respect to be honoured and worshipped by us; which added to the name of God doth determine what God we mean, such as doth in all perfection excel, and therewith doth govern the world. I might add, 3. That the doctrine of God's universal providence being not altogether fo evident to natural light, as those attributes difcovered in the world, (more having doubted thereof, and difputed against it with more plaufibility,) it |