SERMON IX.

Of the OMNIPOTENCE of
GOD.

Riffs

PSAL. cxlvii. 5.

Great is our Lord, and Great is his Power.

T

HIS Pfalm is an eloquent S ER M.
comparison of the Greatnefs IX.
of the Power of God fhown
forth in the works of Crea-
tion, with the Greatness of

the fame Power fhown forth in the works of Providence towards his Church and People. The works of Creation are set 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 gi veth 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 fhow 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 shall 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.

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I. THAT

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IX.

S

I. THAT God muft of neceffity be SER M. All-powerful, is felf-evident. For fince 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 must 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 Certainlys His. This precarious Being, which all this b

things derive from the mere Will of God, def
the Apostle elegantly defcribes, Rom, iv. 25
17, by his calling those things which be

not, as tho' they were: And the unlimi- et an
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
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

SERM. due all things to himfelf,) is fo evident to IX. the common reason of mankind, that we

need not fo much feek for Arguments to prove and demonstrate its reality, as we ought to endeavour to give lively and affecting descriptions of it, fuch as may be proper to fill mens minds with a just fenfe 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.