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God efpecially to one, in their ufual expreffions; being SERM. wont to fay, If God grant; and, What pleafes God; and, I VIII. commend it to God. And if the vulgar had in fome meafure this conceit, the wifer fort appear to have had more clear and full apprehenfions and perfuafions concerning it: Plato refers the making of the world to one whom he In Tim. calls πατέρα καὶ ποιητήν (the Father and Maker of the univerfe.) Ariftotle, when he hath occafion to speak of God, doth usually speak in the fingular; fo do other philosophers, as the Stoics, in their famous precept Deum fequi, (to follow God, that is, to acquiefce in, or submit to, Divine providence,) fometime they do exprefsly fignify this to be their opinion: There are many popular Gods, faid An- Cic. 1. de tifthenes, but one natural one: els dè v TOXUYUμós 151; N.D. Being really one, faith the author de Mundo, he hath Arift. de many names; according to the feveral affections he dif- Mund. cap. covers, and the operations he exerts: with whom Seneca. thus agrees: So often as you pleafe, you may diverfely name the Author of things: there may be fo many appellations of him, as there be gifts or offices and operations; him our people fancy to be father Bacchus, and Hercules, and Mercury; call him alfo Nature, Fate, Fortune: all thefe are but names of the fame God, variously using his power a. If they ever fpeak of Gods plurally, they are to be understood to fpeak with the like opinion of them, as we of angels, that is, of invifible, intelligent powers, created by the fupreme God, dependent of him, fubject to him; b Marf. Ficinus's caution concerning Plato being

7.

z Major popularitas generis humani-etiam tanta idololatria dominationem obumbrante, feorfum tamen illum, quafi proprio nomine Deum perhibent; et Deum Deorum; et fi Deus dederit; et quod Deo placet; et Deo commendo. Tertull. adv. Marc. i. 10.

■ Quoties voles, tibi licet aliter hunc auctorem rerum noftrarum compellare: tot appellationes ejus effe poffunt, quot munera; hunc et Liberum patrem, et Herculem, ac Mercurium noftri putant; fic hunc Naturam voca, Fatum, Fortunam; omnia ejufdem Dei nomina funt varie utentis fua potefSen. de Benef. iv. 7.

tate.

b See that moft remarkable saying of Sophocles, (apud Grot. in Excerpt, pag. 149.) és raïs ååndáxiowy, éis y Dios, &c. Marf. Fic. in Arg. lib. x,

de Leg.

SERM. applicable to the reft:fed ne turbet quæfo Deorum VIII. numerus, quem non turbat numerus angelorum. Nihil enim plus apud Platonem tot poffunt Dii, quam apud nos tot angeli, totque beati. So much for God's unity.

As to his eternity: if God made all things, he could not receive being from another; and he who made this world, what reafon can there be to fuppofe him to be from another? Nor can any thing receive a being from itself, or from mere nothing spring up into being; therefore the Maker of the world must be eternal. Something of neceffity must be eternal, otherwise nothing could have been at all; other things fhew themselves to have proceeded from the wifdom, power, and goodness of One; whence that One is eternal; and fo all nations have confented that God is.

That he is immortal and immutable doth also follow plainly for he not depending for his being, or any thing thereto belonging, upon any other thing, neither can he depend for his continuance or conservation; having power fuperior to all things, as having conferred on them whatever of power they have, nothing can oppose him, or make any prevalent impreffion upon him, so as to destroy or alter any thing in him.

Alfo, from his making, his upholding, his governing all things, is confequent, that he was ever and is every where: where his power is, there his hand is; for every action with effect requires a conjunction of the agent and patient; nothing can act upon what is diftant. That with his prefence and power he doth penetrate all things, operating infenfibly and imperceptibly, doth argue the fpirituality of his being; and that he doth not confift of fuch matter (so extended, so divifible) as those things do, which we by fenfe perceive.

His overreaching wisdom implies him uncapable of being deceived; and his overbearing power fignifies that he doth not need to deceive; and his tranfcendent goodnefs proves him unwilling to deceive: the like we may say of doing wrong; whence are confequent his perfect veracity and justice.

Laftly, the excellency of his nature, the eminency of SERM. his wifdom and power, the abundance of his goodness; VIII. as also, his having given being, then preserving it to all things, do infer his rightful title to fupreme dominion; and accordingly, that all love, all obedience, all praise and veneration are due to him; according to the devout acknowledgment of those bleffed elders: Thou art wor- Rev. iv. 11. thy, O Lord, to receive the glory and honour and power, (or authority,) because thou haft made all things; and for thy will they are and were created.

I Believe in God,

SERMON IX.

THE BEING OF GOD PROVED FROM SUPER-
NATURAL EFFECTS.

JOHN V. 17.

But Jefus anfwered them, My Father hitherto worketh, and I work.

SERM. WHEN at firft by the Divine power this visible system IX. of things was confummated and fettled in that course Gen. ii. 2. wherein it now ftands, it is faid that God refted from all his work which he had made: the plain meaning of which faying is, that God had fo framed all the parts of nature, and feveral kinds of things, and difpofed them into fuch an order, and inserted into them fuch principles of action, that thereafter (without more than an ordinary conservation or concourse from him) things generally fhould continue in their being, station, and course, without any great change, for ever; that is, for fo long as God had deterPfal.cxlviii. mined, or till their due period was run through: a (He established them, as the Pfalmist speaks, for ever and ever ; Pfal. cxix. he made a decree, that shall not pafs: His word was fet tled in the heavens, and his faithfulness unto all generations: : they continue this day according to his ordinances :

6.

89, &c.

Jer. v. 22.

ο Ἔστιν δ ̓ οὖν καταπεπαυκέναι τὸ τὴν τάξιν τῶν γενομένων εἰς πάντα χρόνον ἀπα ραβάτως φυλάσσεσθαι τετάχεται, καὶ τῆς παλαῖας ἀταξίας ἕκαστον τῶν κτισμάτων ZaTaxixauxíval. Clem. Alex. Strom. vi. (pag. 4923.)

The Being of God proved from fupernatural Effects. 207

36.

IX.

ὢν εἰ παύσε

ται πότε

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Ta. Clem.

91. cxlviii.

Pfal. civ. 9,

He made a covenant with day and night, and appointed the SERM. ordinances of heaven and earth :) thus God refted and ceafed from his work of creation. But it is not faid, nor Jer. xxxiii. intended, that God did abfolutely give over or forbear 25. xxxi. working; that he withdrew his care, and tied up, as it were, his own hands by a refolution not to intermeddle more with any thing, but to enjoy a kind of Epicurean cafe and ἀπραξία. No: his wifdom hath fo ordered Ayadis yag things, that there fhould be need and reafon of his acting as continually; that there should be frequent occafion of y variously displaying his glorious attributes; of exercising siva his power, of demonftrating his goodness. Indeed, as to Alex. ibid. beings merely natural and unintelligent, there were no Pfal. cxix. need of his doing more; for they are all thoroughly his 8. obedient servants, and exactly fulfil his word; never ftrag- Ifa. xl. 26. gling from the ftation in which he placed them; never 19. tranfgreffing the rule that he prefcribed them but he hath also made other beings, by nature uncapable of fuch uniformity and fettlement; very free, and therefore very mutable; to the well governing of whom therefore a continual intention and activity is requifite. For the use and benefit of which beings, as a great part of nature was defigned and made by God, so it was not unmeet, that for their fake he should fometime alter the courfe of nature, and cross or check the stream of things. The fuller and John ix. 3. clearer illustration of his glory, the fhewing that all things Deut.iv.35. do not pafs on in a fatal track; the confirming that he Dan. iv. 25. made nature, because he can command and control it; the demonstration of his efpecial care over and love toward men, in fufpending or thwarting his own established laws and decrees, as it were, for their fake; the exciting men the more to mind God, and impreffing on them a refpect toward him; the begetting faith in him, and hope in his providence, are fair accounts, for which God fometimes should perform (even in a manner notorious and remarkable to us) actions extraordinary. And that God doeth fo, we learn in the words I read from the mouth of truth itfelf; whose affirmation (for perfuading the incredulous) I intend to fecond with particular instances, at

Exod. vii. 5.

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