potent,” Rev. xix. 6. This himself sets forth in general, Isa. xl. 28. And to convince Job hereof, he treats with him in particular in- stances about some few of his fellow-creatures here below, in the earth and in the waters, chap. xxxviil—xli. And if the power of God in making this or that creature which we see and behold be so admirable, declaring his sovereignty, and the infinite distance of man from him in his best condition, how glorious is it in the whole universe, and in the creation of all things visible and invisible, and that by a secret emanation of omnipotency in a word of command ! The art of man will go far in the framing, fashioning, and ordering of things; but there are two things in the least of the creatures of God that make the creating energy that is seen in them infi- nitely to differ from all limited and finite power:—1. That they are brought out of nothing. Now, let all creatures combine their strength and wisdom together, unless they have some pre-existent matter to work upon, they can produce nothing, effect nothing. 2. To many of his creatures, of the least of them, God hath given life and spon- taneous motion; to all of them an especial inclination and ope- ration, following inseparably the principles of their nature. But as all created power can give neither life, nor spontaneous motion, nor growth to any thing, no more can it plant in any thing a new natu- ral principle, that should incline it unto a new kind of operation which was not originally connatural unto it. There is a peculiar impress of omnipotency upon all the works of God, as he declares at large in that discourse with Job, chap. xxxviii—xli. And this power is no less effectual nor less evident in his sustentation and preservation of all things than in his creation of them. Things do no more subsist by themselves than they were made by themselves. He “upholdeth all things by the word of his power,” Heb. i. 3; and “by him all things consist,” Col. i.17. He hath not made the world, and then turned it off his hand, to stand on its own bottom and shift for itself; but there is continually, every moment, an ema- nation of power from God unto every creature, the greatest, the least, the meanest, to preserve them in their being and order; which if it were suspended but for one moment, they would all lose their station and being, and by confusion be reduced into nothing. “In him we live, and move, and have our being,” Acts xvii. 28; and he “giveth to all life, and breath, and all things,” verse 25. God needs not to put forth any act of his power to destroy the creation; the very suspension of that constant emanation of omnipotency which is necessary unto its subsistence would be sufficient for that end and purpose. And who can admire as he ought this power of God, which is greater in every particular grass of the field than we. are able to search into or comprehend? And what is man, that he should be mindful of him ?
VER. 5-9.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 349
Fourthly, His wisdom also shines forth in these works of his hands. “In wisdom hath he made them all,” Ps. civ. 24. So also Ps. cxxxvi. 5. His power was that which gave all things their being, but his wisdom gave them their order, beauty, and use. How ad- mirable this is, how incomprehensible it is unto us, Zophar declares to Job, chap. xi. 6-9, “The secrets of this wisdom are double unto what may be known of it,”’—infinitely more than we can attain to the knowledge of. Searching will not do it; it is absolutely incom- prehensible. He that can take but a little, weak, faint considera- tion of the glorious disposition of the heavenly bodies,—their order, course, respect to each other, their usefulness and influences, their disposition and connection of causes and effects here below, the orderly concurrence and subserviency of every thing in its place and operation, to the consistency, use, and beauty of the universe,—will be forced to-cry out with the psalmist, “O Lorp, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches” But, alas! what can the best and wisest of men attain unto in the investigation of the wisdom of God? There is not the least creature, but, considered apart by itself, hath somewhat be- longing unto it that will bring them unto wonder and astonishment. And what shall we say concerning the most glorious, concerning the order of them all unto one another and the whole? There must all men’s considerations end, and among them this of ours.
Fifthly, His goodness is in like manner manifest in these things. There is in the whole and every part of God’s creation a fourfold goodness:—1. A goodness of being and subsistence. That which
is, so far forth as it is, is good. So God saw all things, as he made them, that they were good. The very being of every thing is its first goodness, on which all other concernments of it depend. And this ariseth from hence, because thereby and therein it participates of the first absolute goodness, which is being; whereunto a nothingness, if I may so speak, is negatively opposed “ad infinitum.” 2. A goodness of order. This gives them their beauty, which is the first principle properly of goodness, and convertible with it. Every thing that is good is beautiful, and every thing that is beautiful is good. Now, the pulchritude or beauty of the whole creation, and of every part of it, consists in the order that is given unto it by the wisdom of God, whereof we spake before. This is that r) xardy xdyaddv of all things, which of old, by the light of nature, was so much admired, —beautiful goodness, or goodly beauty, whereby every thing be- comes comely and desirable, both in itself and its own parts and in that respect which it hath unto all other things. 3. A goodness of usefulness. Nothing is made in vain. Every thing hath its work, service, and operation allotted unto it. If the whole creation had been uniform, if it had been only one thing, it would have wanted