3. 16. Twp, who was, and is, and art to be, is that heavenly hymn there refounded to God.) But not dealing fo ftrictly, but taking the word navтоxpáтup in its common latitude, for ὁ πάντων κρατῶν, (or ὁ πάντων κράτος ἔχων,) it may import, either right and authority over all, (omnipoteftas ;) or power and ability to do all things, (omnipotentia ;) or actual exercife of fuch authority and power, in ruling and difpofing all things, (omnipotentatus ;) alfo the poffeffion or holding all things, (omnitenentia;) and the prefervation or upholding all things, (omnicontinentia:) for xparty hath in propriety and ordinary ufe all these fignifications; and according to them all God is truly πavτoxpάTwp. He hath, first, a just right and authority over all things; he is naturally the fovereign Lord and King of the world; The Lord of lords, and King of kings; "the Pf. cxxxvi. fpring and original of all right and authority. Whatever Deut. x. 17. imaginable reason or ground there is of authority, it doth 1 Tim. vi. in respect of all things agree to God. Ariftotle in his Rev. xix. Politics difcourfeth thus: Government doth aim at and 16. tend to the mutual benefit of the governor and governed ; 4. that therefore which is most able and best disposed to pro-divių vide for and procure the common benefit in natural reason ogv, üg and juftice deferves to be, and is fitly the governor; whence the foul hath a right to govern the body, and púr.... i. 1. men naturally do rule over beasts; and were there any fuch men as did fo eminently exceed others in wisdom and goodness, to them, according to natural congruity, the government of others fhould appertain. If then fuch excellency of nature be a foundation of authority, God, who in wisdom and goodness doth incomparably exceed all things, hath a right to govern all he is only wife, Rom. xvi. (and thence able,) only good, (and thence willing to manage all for the general welfare and benefit of the Luke xviii. world.) If eminency of power do qualify for dominion, (as furely it doth, for what cannot be withstood, must in reafon be fubmitted unto; it is vain to queftion that authority which by force altogether irresistible can maintain itself,) God hath the only right; nothing in the world being able to difpute his title; For who in the heaven can Pf.lxxxix. : Pol. i. 1, 3, Τὸ δυνάμενον χον φύσει, 27. 19. 7. be compared unto the Lord? who among the fons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? O Lord God of hofts, who is a firong Lord like unto thee? All things are weak and feeble in comparison; are in his hand; lie under his Jer. x. 10. feet; are wholly at his difcretion and difpofal; The Lord is the true God, faith the Prophet, and the everlasting king; at his wrath the earth fhall tremble, and the nations shall Pf. lxvi. 3, not be able to abide his indignation. How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power Shall thine enemies fubmit themselves unto thee: He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. If to have made all things and to preserve them, do create a right of governing, (as it muft needs for what can we challenge juftly a dominion over, if not over our own works; over that which we feed and nourish continually; over that which depends altogether upon us, and which fubfifts but at our pleaRev. iv. 11. fure?) then well may the elders acknowledge, Worthy art thou, O Lord, to receive the glory and the honour and the power; (that is, the royal majefty and dominion over the world :) for thou haft made all things, and for thy will they are and were made. Well might every creature that is in the heaven, and in the earth, and under the earth, and those things which are in the fea, and all Rev. v. 13. things in them, cry out; To him that fitteth upon the throne (and to the Lamb) be the bleffing, and the honour, *Tò xgáros. and the glory, and the dominion for ever and ever: and Neh. ix. 6. Nehemiah; Thou, even thou, art the Lord alone; thou haft made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their hofts, the earth, and all things that are therein, the fea, and all that is therein, and thou preferveft them all; and the hoft Ifa. xxxvii. of heaven worshippeth thee: and king Hezekiah; O Lord of hofts-thou art the God, thou alone of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou haft made heaven and earth. 16. Virg. 10. Thus is God Tavтоxpáтwg, the rightful fovereign (upon all accounts) of all things; Divúmque hominumque æterna poteftas, (as the wife heathen Poet could acknowledge and call him:) he is alfo fo in regard of his infinite power, (omnipotent :) natural light affords us pregnant 14. arguments and experiments of the greatness of his power, demonftrated in the conftitution and confervation of the world; (difpofing fo ftupendously vast, so innumerably various creatures into fo comely and ftable a posture: by them his eternal power and divinity are difcerned, as St. Rom. i. 20. Paul tells us :) he that could effect fo much, his power muft needs be greater than we can imagine or comprehend: but holy Scripture declares more fully and clearly the extent of his power; that it reaches unto the utmost poffibility of things; that whatever is not repugnant to his nature, (to his effential perfections, his wisdom, and goodness,) doth not mifbecome him to do, or to the nature of things to be done, (that doth not imply a contradiction, and thereby is impoffible, and no object of any power,) he can eafily achieve: there is nothing fo difficult, but he can perform it; nothing fo ftrong or stubborn, but he can fubdue it; Is any thing too hard for the Gen. xviii. Lord faith God to Abraham, when Sarah doubted or admired concerning God's promife, that she in fo extreme an age should become fruitful. Behold, (faith the Prophet Jer. xxxii. Jeremiah in his prayer to God,) thou haft made the heaven 17, 27. and the earth by thy great power, and thy fretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: Oux áduvatýσ& wapà Osi wär iñua Nothing (that can be said, or con- Luke i. 37. ceived, or done) shall be impoffible to God, (if he pleases to undertake it,) faid the angel to the Bleffed Virgin, when he delivered so strange a meffage to her, concerning an event fo wonderful and fupernatural. That a rich Job xlii. 2. man should be induced to part with all, and fubmit to God's will, our Saviour affirmed exceedingly difficult, (harder than for a camel to pass through the eye of a Matt. xix. needle:) but to fatisfy his disciples' fcruple thence arifing, 24, 26. he fubjoins; With men this is impoffible; but with God all things are poffible. In thine hand, faith Jehoshaphat, 2Chron.xx. there is power and might, so that none is able to withstand' thee. He doth according to his will in the army of heaven, Dan. iv. 35. and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can fay his hand, or fay unto him, What doeft thou? Nebuchadnezzar (having felt an experiment of his power, and being 6. 6, 8, 9. καὶ δαίμονι νατόν. Cal Ifa. xiv. 27. returned to a right understanding) did fo confefs; The Lord of hofts hath purpofed, and who fhall 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 first with a word; Pf. xxxiii. (By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, faith the Pfalmift; and all the host 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 Ei sòv dig breath, they die, and return to their duft :) for even in 9a, 9 this refpect is God all-powerful, for that all power is depiara 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 spiritual Acts xvii. matters, but in all others: He gives, as St. Paul preached Padia Távra at Athens, life, (or being with all vital faculties,) and irixir breath, (all natural powers,) and all things unto all: In ἢ ἀδύνατον 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 also so, by reason that he doth actually exercise all dominion, and exerts his power, according to his pleasure; he hath not only a just title to govern all things, and ability to fway, 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 1 Chron. 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 John xv. 5. 25, 28. οὐδέν. xlvii. 5, 6. honour come of thee, and thou reigneft over all: in thine hand 15. John xix. 11. 17. is power and might, &c. He is indeed the only governor, abfolutely and directly fo, (μóvos duvάorns, 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 po-. tentates receive them; and in his behalf, by virtue of his commiffion and command, as his delegates and officers, they administer any dominion or power: it was Nebuchadnezzar's doom to be driven from men until he did know this truth, (fo neceffary 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 serve and obey him. Promotion cometh neither from the eaft, nor Pf. lxxv. 6, from the west, 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 God: The judgment is God's, (faid Moses in his charge,) Deut. i. exercised in his behalf, and according to his appointment. Thus is God wavтoxpárap; the only direct fovereign commander; the author and fountain of all authority, the 1 Tim. vi. Lord of lords, and King of kings. He alfo is wavтongáτap, as the true proprietary and juft poffeffor of all things; (Omnitenens ;) Bleffed be Abram of the moft high God, Gen. xiv. poffeffor of heaven and earth, faith Melchizedek: The pr. xxiv. 1. earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and l. 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 Pfalmift again; The heavens are thine, the earth alfo is thine: as Pf. lxxxix. for the world and the fulness thereof; (that is, all which 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 ufe he pleaseth. He is alfo Omnitenens, (it is St. Auftin's 15. 19. 11. 1 Chron. Pf. xcv. 5. |