him; for his power is such, as no creature can resist. And, as billows do but dash themselves in pieces, by dashing against the rock; so all the united forces of nature, should they make head against God, would but dash themselves in pieces, by dashing against the Rock of Ages, whose counsels and purposes shall stand firm, though all the world dissent from them, and endeavour to oppose them. Yea, the power of God is so absolute and sovereign, that the greatest created powers are but instruments, for God to make use of, to bring about his own designs: and therefore they are compared to axes, and saws, and staves: Is. x. 15. Shall the axe boast itself against him, that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him, that shaketh it? Yea, in verse 5. God is said to take up a great king and a great nation, only as a rod to chastise his people with: 0 Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. And, as a staff, a rod, or an axe cannot move them-selves without the hand and guidance of him that makes use of them; so neither can the mightiest princes nor the most powerful people move themselves, but by the power and direction of God, who applies them, as so many tools or instruments, to whatsoever work he pleaseth.

Now, upon all these accounts, power may be thus eminently ascribed unto God: Thine is the Power.

4. Yet, when we affirm God's Power to be thus Sovereign and Infinite, it doth not therefore follow, that it must take all things whatsoever within its reach and extent; for there are several things, which, as St. Austin speaks, lib. v. de Civitate Dei, cap. 10. God cannot do, because he is Omnipotent: Quædam Deus non potest, quia est Omnipotens.

(1) God cannot do the things, that are contradictory.

He cannot will the same thing to be and not be, at the same time. That there should be a body without quantity, or any other corporeal property belonging to it, as the Papists absurdly dream in their monstrous doctrine of Transubstantiation. For, when they have recourse to the Almighty Power of God, by which, they say that those things, which are naturally impossible, may be effected; as for the same body to be in ten thousand places at once; for the same body to have quantity, as it hath in heaven, and no quantity, as in the sacrament: we truly answer, that the power of God never reacheth to verify contradic

tions; and that it is as great a contradiction, to affirm a body to be in more places than one at once, or to be and not to have quantity, especially to have it and not to have it, as it is to affirm that it is a body and no body.

(2) God cannot do any thing, which may justly bring upon him the imputation of sin.

For sin is not from power, but from weakness; since all impiety consists of defect, and all defect is from impotence. And, therefore, the Apostle tells us, James i. 13. God cannot be tempted with evil. Holiness and purity is an essential attribute of the Divine Essence; and, therefore, God can as soon not be, as be the author of sin: for all sin must arise, either from weakness in the understanding, or perverseness in the will: but the Divine Understanding is infinitely clear, and therefore cannot be dazzled with the false shews and appearances of evil; and the Divine Will is infinitely holy, and conformed to the sovereign rule of his sapience and wisdom. And, therefore, where there is no possibility of ignorance in the one, nor of irregularity in the other, there can be no obliquity in those actions, which proceed from both; but they must all needs be most holy, just, and righteous.

(3) God cannot do any thing that argues him mutable and

He cannot change his purposes, nor break his promises, nor alter the thing that is gone out of his lips. And, though the Scripture makes frequent mention of God's repenting himself of what he hath done: so we read, Gen. vi. 6. It repented the Lord, that he had made man: Exod. xxxii. 14. The Lord repented of the evil, which he thought to do unto his people: 2 Sam. xxiv. 16. And the Lord repented him of the evil. Yet these, and such like expressions, are spoken only by way of accommodation to our capacities, and spoken cuμτadws na ardowniis, " compassionately and after the manner of men;" but must be understood beoer, after such a manner "as is befitting God." For θεοπρεπως, as men, when they repent of what they have made, do again destroy it, and act contrary to their former actings; so, because God doth sometimes act contrary to his former actings, he is said to repent of what he had done: although, in strict propriety of speech, the immutability of his essence is such, that all his purposes and counsels stand firm and fixed for ever: Mal.

i. 6. I am the Lord: I change not: James i. 17. With him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. And, therefore, because of this eternal fixedness of God's purpose, it is said, that he cannot deny himself: 2 Tim. ii. 13. that he cannot lie: Tit. i. 2. and that it is impossible that God should lie: Heb. vi. 18. because these things imply inconstancy and fickleness, which is always an effect of weakness; for, whensoever we alter our counsels and resolutions, it is because we see some inconvenience would follow upon them, which we did not before consider, which to impute to God were the highest blasphemy.

1

Now, these three things only excepted, all other things in the world fall within the compass of God's power. He is able to do all things, as Origen speaks excellently, the doing whereof would not deny him to be God, or to be holy, or to be wise. And, therefore, he cannot bring to pass contradictions, nor can he alter his eternal purposes; for this would derogate from his infinite wisdom. He cannot be the author of sin; for this would be a stain and blot upon his infinite purity and holiness: and both would be impotency rather than power. And, were he weak enough to do those things, he would not be God; for it is essential to God, to be infinitely wise and infinitely holy. 1

1.5. Let us now briefly shew how this consideration of the power of God may be made use of as a prevalent argument for the strengthening of our faith in prayer, and the assuring of us that we shall obtain what we ask for our Saviour hath taught us to subjoin it to all our petitions, as a reason why we should ask, and as a motive why we should speed: For thine is the power.

Now the great strength of this lies here, in that it must needs be a mighty encouragement to our faith, to reflect and consider, that, whatsoever we ask, we ask it of a God that is able to give it us: he is not a weak, impotent deity; but a God, who hath all power in his hands, and therefore can effect whatsoever we desire of him.

Behold what care God hath taken to strengthen our faith when we pray unto him. There are but two things, that can make us doubt of speeding in our requests: the one is whether God will, the other is, whether he can, grant us what we ask. And, that our faith might not boggle at either of these, our Saviour hath, as it were, hedged in and enclosed all our prayers with these two great fences for our faith, God's willingness and his power to help: the Preface to this excellent prayer contains the one; and the Conclusion of this prayer the other. He is our Father;

and, therefore, if earthly parents, whose bowels of mercy are but finite, are yet so tender over their children, and ready to do their utmost to contribute what assistance they can towards them; much more will our Heavenly Father, whose mercies and compassions are infinite and boundless. But, lest our faith should yet stagger and suspect the power and ability of God to relieve and help us, the Conclusion of this prayer puts in a caution against all unbelieving scruples in this case: Thine is the Power, So that we have abundant security for our faith, in whatsoever we desire of God; because he hath declared himself both willing and able to supply our wants, and satisfy our desires. Indeed, the power of God, alone, is not a sufficient plea; for we have before seen, that God is able to effect infinitely more than he will: but then the power of God is a strong and forcible plea, when it is joined with his will. And when we are once assured by the promises of his word, that God is willing to bestow upon us the blessings that we ask; then to bend the force of this plea towards him, that he is likewise able, will most certainly prevail. And that prayer, that iswdirected in faith, and winged with both these motives, shall never return into our bosoms in vain and ineffectual.

+

Thus have I finished the Two First Attributes of God made use of by our Saviour in this prayer, his Sovereignty and his Omnipotency.225

iii. It remains, now, that we speak something to the Third Attribute of God, which our Lord here teacheth us to make use of in praying to him: and that is the GLORY of God: For thine is the Glory.sf.ni od dad to diga

But this is an attribute so bright and dazzling, so surrounded and fringed about with rays of inaccessible light, that the Holy Angels themselves cannot stedfastly behold it; but twinkle and glimmer, yea, vail their faces, at the full beams of that object, the vision of which is yet their eternal joy and happiness. And, therefore, whatsoever weak or vile man can either speak or conceive of the Infinite Glory of the Great God, will, instead of exalting, debase it; and we shall but defame, while we at tempt to celebrate it: so infinitely do the perfections of the Deity surmount our most raised affections, that our very praises thereof are but lessening of it; and whatsoever we ascribe unto God, is but detracting from him. Think with yourselves a little, if two blind men, that never saw the sun, were discoursing together about it, what strange, uncouth, and improper fancies

would they form of its light and splendor! Surely, such, yea vastly more confused and disproportioned, are all our notions and conceptions of the Glory of God: which is a light, that is invisible; obscurity, that is dazzling; and whatsoever else is most inconceivable to human capacities. For the Scripture, sometimes, describes God's dwelling-place to be in that light, unto which no mortal eye can approach; and, sometimes, that his pavilion is dark clouds, which no eye can penetrate: and both to signify, how impossible a thing it is, to search out God, and to find out the Almighty to perfection.

Yet, since he hath been graciously pleased to give us some refracted and allayed rays of himself, such as we are able to bear; both in the works of creation and providence, and likewise in his holy word; let us, with all humble modesty, take notice of those discoveries, which he hath made of his glory: wherein we shall find enough, if not to satisfy our curiosity, yet to excite our veneration; and, by seeing some glimpses of his back-parts, which he causes to pass before us, our desires will be made more earnest after that estate of consummate happiness, where we shall for ever behold his face, where we shall no longer see him darkly through a glass, but shall see him as he is, and know him as twe are knoon by him.

1. Glory, therefore, according to the true and genuine import of the word, signifies any excellency or perfection in a subject, that either is or deserves to be accompanied with fame and

renown.

And, hence, we may well distinguish a twofold glory in God; the one Essential, the other Declarative.

The Essential Glory of God is the collection and system of those Attributes, which eternally and immutably belong unto the Divine Nature.

The Declarative Glory of God is the manifestation of those his Attributes, so that his creatures may take notice of them with praise and veneration.

Both are here intended by our Saviour, when he teacheth us to ascribe the Glory unto God.

(1) God is Essentially Glorious, in all those Attributes, which appertain unto his Infinite Being: for each of them is infinitely perfect in itself; and the complexion and concentering of them altogether, make up a glory infinitely great and incomprehensible.

Thus, his Holiness is glorious: Exod. xv. 11. Glorious in