SERMON IX.

Of the OMNIPOTENCE of

GOD.

PSAL. cxlvii. 5.

Great is our Lord, and Great is his Power.

T

HIS Pfalm is an eloquent SER M. comparison of the Greatnefs IX.

of the Power of God fhown

forth in the works of Crea

tion, with the Greatnefs of the fame Power shown forth in the works of Providence towards his Church and People. The works of Creation are fet forth, ver. 4, 8, 16. He telleth the number

IX.

SERM. of the Stars, and calleth them all by their Names; he covereth the Heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the Earth; he giveth fnow like wool, and fcattereth the boar-froft like Afbes. The works of Providence are fet forth, ver. 3, 6, 19, The Lord doth build up Jerufalem, and gather together the cutcafts of Ifrael; The Lord fetteth up the meek, and bringeth the ungodly down to the ground; He fheweth his word unto Jacob, his ftatutes and ordinances unto Ifrael. The conclufion drawn from Both, is ver. 7. and in the words of the Text, O fing unto the Lord with thanksgiving, fing praises upon the harp unto our God; For Great is our Lord, and Great is his Power. In difcourfing upon which words, I fhall firft endeavour to show briefly, that God must of neceffity be All-powerful. 2dly, I will give fome faint and imperfect reprefentations, fome general and inadequate Idea, wherein the Perfection of this Power confifts. 3dly, I fhall confider what particulars are not included in the true notion even of Omnipotence itself. And 4thly, I fhall draw some practical Inferences from the whole.

I. THAT

I. THAT God must of neceffity be SER M. All-powerful, is felf-evident.

For fince

IX.

all things in the Universe were made by him, and depend upon Him for their very Beings; and all the Powers of all things are derived from him, and must confequently be entirely fubject to him; 'tis manifeft that nothing can make any difficulty or refiftence to the execution of his Will, and therefore his Power muft be abfolutely infinite. Where there is no Being, 'tis plain there can be no Power : Now all things that are in the World, have no other Being than what depends on His pleasure: There is therefore, and can be, in the Universe, no Power against Certainl This precarious Being, which all his prive

His.

things derive from the mere Will of God, de

་

the Apostle elegantly defcribes, Rom, iv.

17, by his calling those things which be

not, as tho' they were: And the unlimi- art & tedness of his Power over them, may on

the contrary as truly be defcribed, by his a 4 looking on all things that Are, as tho' they c

were not.

But the truth of this Attri

bute of the divine Omnipotence, (that mighty working, whereby he is able to fub

0 4

due

SER M. due all things to himself, ) is so evident to IX. the common reafon of mankind, that we

need not fo much feek for Arguments to prove and demonftrate its reality, as we ought to endeavour to give lively and affecting descriptions of it, such as may be proper to fill mens minds with a just fense of the fupreme Majefty of God, and to excite in them accordingly refolutions of Obedience to him. Such descriptions as thefe, the Scripture frequently affords us; great and moving defcriptions of the Power of God, and fuch as are naturally apt to produce in us the profoundest Humility and Reverence towards him. Thus Job ix. 4. He is wife in heart, and mighty in ftrength; Who has hardened himself. against him, and has profpered? which removeth the mountains, and they know not; which overturneth them in his anger: which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble: Which commandeth the Sun and it rifeth not, and Sealeth up the Stars: Which alone Spreadeth out the Heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the Sea: Which doth great things past finding out, yea and wonders without number.