number. And ch. xxvi. 6, Hell is naked SER M. before him, and destruction hath no cover

ing: He ftretcheth out the north over the

量

empty place, and bangeth the earth upon nothing: He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them: The Pillars of Heaven tremble, and are aftonished at his reproof: He divideth the Sea with his Power, and by his Understanding he fmiteth through the Proud: Lo, these are part of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his Power who can understand? So likewife the eloquent prophet Ifaiah, ch. xiv. 27, The Lord of Hofts hath purpofed, and who fhall difannul it? his hand is ftretched out, and who fhall turn it back? And ch. xl. 12, Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? and meted out Heaven with the fpan? and comprehended the duft of the Earth in a meaSure? and weighed the mountains in fcales, and the bills in a balance? Who hath di

rected the Spirit of the Lord; or, being his Counsellor, has taught him? Behold, the Nations are as a drop of the bucket, and are counted as the fmall duft of the balance; bebold,

IX.

SERM.behold, he taketh up the Iles as a very
IX. little thing: All Nations before him are as

nothing, and they are counted to him lefs
than nothing and vanity: To whom then
will ye liken God, or what likeness will ye
compare unto him? To mention but One
paffage more; Dan. iv. 34, He that liveth
for ever, whofe dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and his kingdom from generation
to generation; And all the inhabitants of
the earth are reputed as nothing; and he
doth according to his Will in the Army.
of Heaven, and among the inhabitants
of the Earth; and none can stay his
hand, or fay unto him, what doft thou?
These are lively descriptions of arbitrary
Power indeed; arbitrary, not in the Senfe
that the Tyrants of This World have oc-
cafioned that word to be used, when it
fignifies a Power of doing unreasonable
and unjust things, a Power of Violence
and unrighteous oppreffion, a Power of
acting according to mere Will and Plea-
fure without Right or Reason but in
God, arbitrary or irrefiftible Power, though
it is indeed a Power of doing all things
abfolutely without controul, yet it is fo a
Power

;

༡

Power of doing them, as that at the fame SE RM.
time there is always with the notion of IX.
That Power, neceffarily and infeparably
connected, an Idea of infinite Reason,
Wisdom, and Goodnefs. And the reason
why these notions are always infeparably
connected, when we think rightly of
God; is because, in Him, Acting accord-
ing to his fupreme Will and Pleasure,
does not fignify, as it does among corrupt
men, acting according to Will and Incli-
nation without reafon, but on the con-
trary it fignifies always, acting according
to That Will, which is influenced by no-
thing but the most perfect Reason only;
which is the fame thing, as if Will and
Pleasure could be fuppofed to have no
place at all, and the Universe were go-
verned by mere abstract Reason and the
Right of Things. For in God, Will and
Reafon are one and the fame thing; or at
leaft go always fo together, as if they
were but one thing; whereas in the Ru-
lers of this world, they too often fignify
things contrary to each other: Governing
according to Law or Reafon, and govern-
ing according to abfolute Will or Pleasure,

SER M. being on Earth the two most oppofite IX. forms of Government; while in Heaven

they are nothing but two different Names of one and the fame Thing.

IF it be asked, whence this difference arifes; the reafon of it will appear, by confidering what we mean, when we affirm that whatever God does, we are fure is Right, because He does it. Which is too often fo understood, as if the Power and Will of God made that to be Right, which is fo; and as if it might as easily have made the contrary to become Right. The Confequence of which is, that there is really no difference between good and evil in the Nature of Things, but that Will and Power makes all the diftinction: From whence tyrannical Men, who have Power to do what they will, think that They alfo confequently have a Right to do fo. But now This is not only not true with regard to Men, but even with regard to God himself also it is plainly a Miftake: For not Power or Will, but the Reason of Things only, is the Foundation of Right: And though 'tis indeed certainly true, that whatever God does,

we

it

IX.

n

we are fure 'tis Right, because he does SER M.
; yet the meaning of This, is not, that
God's doing or willing a thing, makes it
to be Right; but that his Wisdom and
Goodness is such, that we may depend
upon it, even without understanding it,
that whatever he wills, was in itself
Right, antecedent to his willing it; and
that he therefore willed it, because it was
Right. Wherefore though among Men,
whose Wills are not always righteous,
abfolute or arbitrary Power is the thing
in the world the most to be detefted,
dreaded, and abhorred, as being the Sum
total of the greatest Calamities that God
ever inflicted upon finful men in This
World; yet the Notion of irresistible and
uncontroulable Power in God, where 'tis
in conjunction with a perfect Understand-
ing and with a righteous Will, justly ex-
cites in us nothing but fuch a Veneration
and Awe, fuch a Senfe of adorable and
incomprehenfible Majefty, as naturally
leads us to that Adoration and Fear, that
Honour, Duty, and Obedience towards him,
which is the great Principle and Founda-
tion of all Religion,