Deut. xxxii. 39. See now, that I, even I, am he, and there is no strange god with me : I kill, and I make alive ; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
THE Jews, from the time that they became a na- tion, turned aside from the living God to the worship
of idols : on which account, God, in righteous indig- nation, refused them, on some occasions, the aid which he alone could bestow ; and referred them to their idols, in whom they trusted, that they might obtain from them those things of which they stood in need : " Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink-offerings ? Let them rise up and help you, and be your protection." But to us is the same reproach most justly due : for though we do not, like them, bow down to stocks and stones, we are far from realizing in our minds the exclusive agency of Jehovah. To us, therefore, no less than to them, may be addressed the solemn ad- monition before us ; " See now, that I, even I, am he, and there is no strange god with me : I kill, and I make alive ; I wound, and I heal ; neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand."
Let me now entreat your attention to, I. God's own description of his own character- Agreeably to what is here spoken, we see, that,
1. His agency is universal —
[There is not any thing done, whether it be good or evil, but he is the doer of it. " I am the Lord," says he ; " and there is none else ; there is no God besides me. I am the Lord; and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness : I make peace, and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things a." There is nothing so great, or so small, but it must be traced to him as its proper source and author, even to the falling of a sparrow, or the falling of a hair from our heads b. And God is desirous that this should be known and duly considered by us. To discover this to Iris ancient people, was one great reason for Ins marvellous interpositions for them0, and of the no less marvellous forbearance which he exercised towards themd. And we, also, must bear in mind, that " whether he kill or make alive, whether he wound or heal, it is He alone that does it, and there is no strange god with him."]
2. His appointments are sovereign —
a Isai. xlv. 5 — 7. with Amos iii. 6. b Matt. x. 29, 30.
c Deut. iv. 34, 35. d ver. 27.