(Heb. vi. 18); and God cannot deny himself because of his faithfulness
(2 Tim. ii. 13). As he cannot die, because he is life itself; as he
cannot deceive, because he is goodness itself; as he cannot do an
unwise action, because he is wisdom itself, so he cannot speak a false
word, because he is truth itself. If he should speak anything as true,
and not know it, where is his infinite knowledge and comprehensiveness
of understanding? If he should speak anything as true, which he
knows to be false, where is his infinite righteousness? If he should
deceive any creature, there is an end of his perfection of fidelity
and veracity. If he should be deceived himself, there is an end of his
omniscience; we must then fancy him to be a deceitful God, an ignorant
God, that is, no God at all. If he should lie, he would be God and no
God; God upon supposition, and no God, because not the first truth.[838]
All unrighteousness is weakness, not power; it is a defection from
right reason, a deviation from moral principles, and the rule of
perfect action, and ariseth from a defect of goodness and power: it
is a weakness, and not omnipotence, to lose goodness: God is light; it
is the perfection of light not to become darkness, and a want of power
in light, if it should become darkness:[839] his power is infinitely
strong, so is his wisdom infinitely clear, and his will infinitely pure:
would it not be a part of weakness to have a disorder in himself, and
these perfections shock one against another? Since all perfections are
in God, in the most sovereign {b29} height of perfection, nothing can
be done by the infiniteness of one against the infiniteness of the
other. He would then be unstable in his own perfections, and depart
from the infinite rectitude of his own will, if he should do an evil
action. Again,[840] what is an argument of greater strength, than to
be utterly ignorant of infirmity? God is omnipotent because he cannot
do evil, and would not be omnipotent if he could; those things would
be marks of weakness, and not characters of majesty. Would you count
a sweet fountain impotent because it cannot send forth bitter streams?
or the sun weak, because it cannot diffuse darkness as well as light
in the air? There is an inability arising from weakness, and an ability
arising from perfection: it is the perfection of angels and blessed
spirits, that they cannot sin; and it would be the imperfection of God,
if he could do evil.
(2.) Hence it follows, that it is impossible that a thing past should
not be past. If we ascribe a power to God, to make a thing that is past
not to be past, we do not truly ascribe power to him, but a weakness;
for it is to make God to lie, as though God might not have created man,
yet, after he had created Adam, though he should presently have reduced
Adam to his first nothing, yet it would be forever true that Adam was
created, and it would forever be false that Adam never was created: so,
though God may prevent sin, yet when sin hath been committed, it will
alway be true that sin was committed; it will never be true to say
such a creature that did sin, did not sin; his sin cannot be recalled:
though God, by pardon, take off the guilt of Peter’s denying our
Saviour, yet it will be eternally true that Peter did deny him. It is
repugnant to the righteousness and truth of God to make that which was
once true to become false, and not true; that is, to make a truth to
become a lie, and a lie to become a truth. This is well argued from Heb.
vi. 18: “It is impossible for God to lie.” The apostle argues, that
what God had promised and sworn will come to pass, and cannot but come
to pass.[841] Now, if God could make a thing past not to be past, this
consequence would not be good, for then he might make himself not to
have promised, not to have sworn, after he hath promised and sworn; and
so, if there were a power to undo that which is past, there would be no
foundation for faith, no certainty of revelation. It cannot be asserted,
that God hath created the world; that God hath sent his Son to die;
that God hath accepted his death for man. These might not be true, if
it were possible, that that which hath been done, might be said never
to have been done: so that what any may imagine to be a want of power
in God, is the highest perfection of God, and the greatest security to
a believing creature that hath to do with God.
4. Some things are impossible to be done, because of God’s ordination.
Some things are impossible, not in their own nature, but in regard
of the determined will of God: so God might have destroyed the world
after Adam’s fall, but it was impossible; not that God wanted power to
do it, but because he did not only decree from eternity to create the
world, but did also decree to redeem the world {b30} by Jesus Christ,
and erected the world in order to the manifestation of his “glory in
Christ” (Eph. i. 4, 5). The choice of some in Christ was “before the
foundation of the world.” Supposing that there was no hindrance in the
justice of God to pardon the sin of Adam after his fall, and to execute
no punishment on him, yet in regard of God’s threatening, that in the
day he eat of the forbidden fruit he should die, it was impossible:
so, though it was possible that the cup should pass from our blessed
Saviour, that is, possible in its own nature, yet it was not possible
in regard of the determination of God’s will, since he had both decreed
and published his will to redeem man by the passion and blood of his
Son. These things God, by his absolute power, might have done; but
upon the account of his decree, they were impossible, because it is
repugnant to the nature of God to be mutable: it is to deny his own
wisdom which contrived them, and his own will which resolved them, not
to do that which he had decreed to do. This would be a diffidence in
his wisdom, and a change of his will. The impossibility of them is no
result of a want of power, no mark of an imperfection, of feebleness
and impotence; but the perfection of immutability and unchangeableness.
Thus have I endeavored to give you a right notion of this excellent
attribute of the power of God, in as plain terms as I could, which may
serve us for a matter of meditation, admiration, fear of him, trust
in him, which are the proper uses we should make of this doctrine of
Divine power. The want of a right understanding of this doctrine of the
Divine power hath caused many to run into mighty absurdities; I have,
therefore, taken the more pains to explain it.
II. The second thing I proposed, is the reasons to prove God to be
omnipotent. The Scripture describes God by this attribute of power
(Ps. cxv. 3): “He hath done whatsoever he pleased.” It sometimes sets
forth his power in a way of derision of those that seem to doubt of it.
When Sarah doubted of his ability to give her a child in her old age
(Gen. xviii. 14), “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” They deserve
to be scoffed, that will despoil God of his strength, and measure him
by their shallow models. And when Moses uttered something of unbelief
of this attribute, as if God were not able to feed 600,000 Israelites,
besides women and children, which he aggravates by a kind of imperious
scoff; “Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them to suffice
them? Or, shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them?”
&c. (Numb. xi. 22). God takes him up short (ver. 23): “Is the Lord’s
hand waxed short?” What! can any weakness seize upon my hand? Can I
draw out of my own treasures what is needful for a supply? The hand
of God is not at one time strong, and another time feeble. Hence it is
that we read of the hand and arm of God, an outstretched arm; because
the strength of a man is exerted by his hand and arm; the power of God
is called the arm of his power, and the right hand of his strength.
Sometimes, according to the different manifestation of it, it is
expressed by finger, when a less power is evidenced; by hand, when
something greater; by arm, when more mighty than the former. Since God
is eternal, without limits of time, he is also Almighty, {b31} without
limits of strength. As he cannot be said to be more in being now than
he was before, so he is neither more nor less in strength than he was
before: as he cannot cease to be so, so he cannot cease to be powerful,
because he is eternal. His eternity and power are linked together as
equally demonstrable (Rom. i. 20); God is called the God of gods _El
Elohim_ (Dan. xi. 36); the Mighty of mighties, whence all mighty
persons have their activity and vigor: he is called the Lord of Hosts,
as being the Creator and Conductor of the heavenly militia.
_Reason 1._ The power that is in creatures demonstrates a greater and
an unconceivable power in God. Nothing in the world is without a power
of activity according to its nature: no creature but can act something.
The sun warms and enlightens everything: it sends its influences
upon the earth, into the bowels of the earth, into the depths of the
sea: all generations owe themselves to its instrumental virtue. How
powerful is a small seed to rise into a mighty tree with a lofty top,
and extensive branches, and send forth other seeds, which can still
multiply into numberless plants! How wonderful is the power of the
Creator, who hath endowed so small a creature as a seed, with so
fruitful an activity! Yet this is but the virtue of a limited nature.
God is both the producing and preserving cause of all the virtue in any
creature, in every creature. The power of every creature belongs to him
as the Fountain, and is truly his power in the creature. As he is the
first Being, he is the original of all being; as he is the first Good,
he is the spring of all goodness; as he is the first Truth, he is the
source of all truth; so, as he is the first Power, he is the fountain
of all power.
1. He, therefore, that communicates to the creature what power it hath,
contains eminently much more power in himself. (Ps. xciv. 10), “He that
teaches man knowledge, shall not he know?” So he that gives created
beings power, shall not he be powerful? The first Being must have as
much power as he hath given to others: he could not transfer that upon
another, which he did not transcendently possess himself. The sole
cause of created power cannot be destitute of any power in himself.
We see that the power of one creature transcends the power of another.
Beasts can do the things that plants cannot do; besides the power of
growth, they have a power of sense and progressive motion. Men can do
more than beasts; they have rational souls to measure the earth and
heavens, and to be repositories of multitudes of things, notions, and
conclusions. We may well imagine angels to be far superior to man: the
power of the Creator must far surmount the power of the creature, and
must needs be infinite: for if it be limited, it is limited by himself
or by some other; if by some other, he is no longer a Creator, but
a creature; for that which limits him in his nature, did communicate
that nature to him; not by himself, for he would not deny himself any
necessary perfection: we must still conclude a reserve of power in him,
that he that made these can make many more of the same kind.
2. All the power which is distinct in the creatures, must be united in
God. One creature hath a strength to do this, another to do that; every
creature is as a cistern filled with a particular and limited {b32}
power, according to the capacity of its nature, from this fountain;
all are distinct streams from God. But the strength of every creature,
though distinct in the rank of creatures, is united in God the centre,
whence those lines were drawn, the fountain whence those streams
were derived. If the power of one creature be admirable, as the power
of an angel, which the Psalmist saith (Ps. ciii. 20), “excelleth in
strength;” how much greater must the power of a legion of angels be!
How inconceivably superior the power of all those numbers of spiritual
natures, which are the excellent works of God! Now, if all this
particular power, which is in every angel distinct, were compacted
in one angel, how would it exceed our understanding, and be above our
power to form a distinct conception of it! What is thus divided in
every angel, must be thought united in the Creator of angels, and far
more excellent in him. Everything is in a more noble manner in the
fountain, than in the streams which distil and descend from it. He that
is the Original of all those distinct powers, must be the seat of all
power without distinction: in him is the union of all without division;
what is in them as a quality, is in him as his essence. Again, if all
the powers of several creatures, with all their principal qualities and
vigors, both of beasts, plants, and rational creatures, were united in
one subject; as if one lion had the strength of all the lions that ever
were; or, if one elephant had the strength of all the elephants that
ever were; nay, if one bee had all the power of motion and stinging
that all bees ever had, it would have a vast strength; but if the
strength of all those thus gathered into one of every kind should be
lodged in one sole creature, one man, would it not be a strength too
big for our conception? Or, suppose one cannon had all the force of all
the cannons that ever were in the world, what a battery would it make,
and, as it were, shake the whole frame of heaven and earth! All this
strength must be much more incomprehensible in God; all is united in
him. If it were in one individual created nature, it would still be
but a finite power in a finite nature: but in God it is infinite and
immense.
_Reason 2._ If there were not an incomprehensible power in God, he
would not be infinitely perfect. God is the first Being; it can only
be said of him, _Est_, he is. All other things are nothing to him;
“less than nothing and vanity” (Isa. xl. 17), and “reputed as nothing”
(Dan. iv. 35). All the inhabitants of the earth, with all their wit and
strength, are counted as if they were not; just in comparison with Him
and his being, as a little mote in the sun‑beams: God, therefore, is
a pure Being. Any kind of weakness whatsoever is a defect, a degree of
not being; so far as anything wants this or that power, it may be said
not to be. Were there anything of weakness in God, any want of strength
which belonged to the perfection of a nature, it might be said of God,
He is not this or that, he wants this or that perfection of Being, and
so he would not be a pure Being, there would be something of not being
in him. But God being the first Being, the only original Being, he is
infinitely distant from not being, and therefore infinitely distant
from anything of weakness. Again, if God can know whatsoever is
possible to be done by him, and cannot do it, there would be something
more in his knowledge {b33} than in his power.[842] What would then
follow? That the essence of God would be in some regard greater than
itself, and less than itself, because his knowledge and his power
are his essence; his power as much his essence as his knowledge: and
therefore, in regard of his knowledge, his essence would be greater;
in regard of his power, his essence would be less; which is a thing
impossible to be conceived in a most perfect Being. We must understand
this of those things which are properly and in their own nature
subjected to the Divine knowledge; for otherwise God knows more than he
can do, for he knows sin, but he cannot act it, because sin belongs not
to power but weakness; and sin comes under the knowledge of God, not in
itself and its own nature, but as it is a defect from God, and contrary
to good, which is the proper object of Divine knowledge. He knows it
also not as possible to be done by himself, but as possible to be done
by the creature. Again, if God were not omnipotent, we might imagine
something more perfect than God:[843] for if we bar God from any
one thing which in its own nature is possible, we may imagine a being
that can do that thing, one that is able to effect it; and so imagine
an agent greater than God, a being able to do more than God is able
to do, and consequently a being more perfect than God: but no being
more perfect than God can be imagined by any creature. Nothing can be
called most perfect, if anything of activity be wanting to it. Active
power follows the perfection of a thing, and all things are counted
more noble by how much more of efficacy and virtue they possess. We
count those the best and most perfect plants, that have the greatest
medicinal virtue in them, and power of working upon the body for the
cure of distempers. God is perfect of himself, and therefore most
powerful of himself. If his perfection in wisdom and goodness be
unsearchable, his power, which belongs to perfection, and without which
all the other excellencies of his nature were insignificant, and could
not show themselves, (as was before evidenced,) must be unsearchable
also. It is by the title of Almighty he is denominated, when declared
to be unsearchable to perfection (Job xi. 7): “Canst thou by searching
find out God, canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?” This
would be limited and searched out, if he were destitute of an active
ability to do whatsoever he pleased to do, whatsoever was possible to
be done. As he hath not a perfect liberty of will, if he could not will
what he pleased; so he would not have a perfect activity, if he could
not do what he willed.
_Reason 3._ The simplicity of God manifests it. Every substance, the
more spiritual it is, the more powerful it is. All perfections are more
united in a simple, than in a compounded being. Angels, being spirits,
are more powerful than bodies. Where there is the greatest simplicity,
there is the greatest unity; and where there is the greatest unity,
there is the greatest power. Where there is a composition of a faculty
and a member, the member or organ may be weakened and rendered unable
to act, though the power doth still reside in the faculty. As a man,
when his arm or hand is cut off or broke, he hath the faculty of motion
still; but he hath lost {b34} that instrument that part whereby he
did manifest and put forth that motion: but God being a pure spiritual
nature, hath no members, no organs to be defaced or impaired. All
impediments of actions arise either from the nature of the thing that
acts, or from something without it. There can be no hindrance to God to
do whatsoever he pleases; not in himself, because he is the most simple
being, hath no contrariety in himself, is not composed of divers things;
and it cannot be from anything without himself, because nothing is
equal to him, much less superior. He is the greatest, the Supreme: all
things were made by him, depend upon him, nothing can disappoint his
intentions.
_Reason 4._ The miracles that have been in the world evidence the
power of God. Extraordinary productions have awakened men from their
stupidity, to the acknowledgment of the immensity of Divine power.
Miracles are such effects as have been wrought without the assistance
and co‑operation of natural causes, yea, contrary and besides the
ordinary course of nature, above the reach of any created power.
Miracles have been; and saith Bradwardine,[844] to deny that ever
such things were, is uncivil: it is inhuman to deny all the histories
of Jews and Christians; whosoever denies miracles, must deny all
possibility of miracles, and so must imagine himself fully skilled in
the extent of Divine power. How was the sun suspended from its motion
for some hours (Josh. x. 13); “the dead raised from the grave;” those
reduced from the brink of it, that had been brought near to it by
prevailing diseases; and this by a word speaking? How were the famished
lions bridled from exercising their rage upon Daniel, exposed to them
for a prey (Dan. vi. 22)? the activity of the fire curbed for the
preservation of the three children (Dan. iii. 15)? which proves a Deity
more powerful than all creatures. No power upon earth can hinder the
operation of the fire upon combustible matter, when they are united,
unless by quenching the fire, or removing the matter: but no created
power can restrain the fire, so long as it remains so, from acting
according to its nature. This was done by God in the case of the three
children, and that of the burning bush (Exod. iii. 2). It was as much
miraculous that the bush should not consume, as it was natural that
it should burn by the efficacy of the fire upon it. No element is so
obstinate and deaf, but it hears and obeys his voice, and performs
his orders, though contrary to its own nature: all the violence of the
creature is suspended as soon as it receives his command. He that gave
the original to nature, can take away the necessity of nature;[845]
he presides over creatures, but is not confined to those laws he hath
prescribed to creatures. He framed nature, and can turn the channels
of nature according to his own pleasure. Men dig into the bowels of
nature, search into all the treasures of it, to find medicines to cure
a disease, and after all their attempts it may prove labor in vain:
but God, by one act of his will, one word of his mouth, overturns the
victory of death, and rescues from the most desperate diseases.[846]
All the miracles which were wrought by the apostles, either speaking
some words or touching with the hand, {b35} were not effected by any
virtue inherent in their words or in their touches; for such virtue
inherent in any created finite subject would be created and finite
itself, and consequently were incapable to produce effects which
required an infinite virtue, as miracles do which are above the power
of nature. So when our Saviour wrought miracles, it was not by any
quality resident in his human nature, but by the sole power of his
Divinity. The flesh could only do what was proper to the flesh; but the
Deity did what was proper to the Deity. “God alone doth wonders” (Ps.
cxxxvi. 4): excluding every other cause from producing those things. He
only doth those things which are above the power of nature, and cannot
be wrought by any natural causes whatsoever. He doth not hereby put his
omnipotence to any stress: it is as easy with him to turn nature out
of its settled course, as it was to place it in that station it holds,
and appoint it that course it runs. All the works of nature are indeed
miracles and testimonies of the power of God producing them, and
sustaining them: but works above the power of nature, being novelties
and unusual, strike men with a greater admiration upon their appearance,
because they are not the products of nature, but the convulsions of
it. I might also add as an argument, the power of the mind of man to
conceive more than hath been wrought by God in the world. And God can
work whatsoever perfection the mind of man can conceive: otherwise
the reaches of a created imagination and fancy would be more extensive
than the power of God. His power, therefore, is far greater than the
conception of any intellectual creature; else the creature would be
of a greater capacity to conceive than God is to effect. The creature
would have a power of conception above God’s power of activity; and
consequently a creature, in some respect greater than himself. Now
whatsoever a creature can conceive possible to be done, is but finite
in its own nature; and if God could not produce what being a created
understanding can conceive possible to be done, he would be less than
infinite in power, nay, he could not go to the extent of what is finite.
But I have touched this before; that God can create more than he hath
created, and in a more perfect way of being, as considered simply in
themselves.
III. The third general thing is to declare, how the power of God
appears in Creation, in Government, in Redemption.