Sermons Volume 4, Sermons on Mark 1 · Sermon 15
SERMON XV. ON MARK X. v. 27.
— With God all things are possible.
3 Doct. I Come to the General Truth upon which this is grounded, That God is Omnipotent, and can do all things. This I shall prove, Explain, Apply.
First, I shall prove by Scripture and by Reason.
(1.) By Scripture, because it is an Article of Faith, and the Scriptures that concern this Point may be ranked thus. You will find the Question propounded, Gen. 18.14. Is any thing too hard for the Lord? And this answered, Ier. 32.17. There is nothing too hard for God. The Affirmative is in the Text: And Matth. 19.26. With God all things are possible: And the Negative, which binds it the more strongly, is in Luke 1.37. With God nothing shall be impossible. The General is in the Text, All things are possible with God; and the Particular is in Iob 42.2. I know that thou canst do every thing. So that the Power of God is not only propounded in the Lump, but particularly parcelled out. Certainly God is Almighty.
(2.) I shall prove it by Reason.
First, The Creation of the World shews it. The Apostle tells us, Rom. 1.20. That the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his Eternal Power and Godhead. If you will know what God is, look upon his Creatures. Every Creature that hath past his hand, hath some prints, and some stamp upon it that may discover God, his Godhead, and his Power, that is the most visible thing seen in the Creation: His Wisdom and Goodness is seen in the Creation, but his Power lyes upward, and the most Natural Notion that we have of God, is God Almighty. God made all the things that are seen, and more than are seen. He that made all things, is Omnipotent, and can do whatever is possible to be done. Creatures only can do what is possible to be done in their own kind: A Man is one kind of Creature, an Angel is another, both have their Essence limited; Man can do things belonging to a Man, an Angel can do all things belonging to an Angel; but God made all things, and therefore he can do all things. In short: He that stretcheth out the Heavens as a Curtain: Isa. 40.22. He that handles the great Ocean as a Child newly come out of the Womb; he that appointed the Clouds a garment thereof, and thick darkness a sw…ing-band for it: Job 38.8, 9. He that hangs the Earth upon nothing: Job 26.7. What cannot he do? The Earth, that vast and ponderous Body, has nothing to support it but the fluid Air, that will not so much as support a Pin, or Feather. It hangs like a Ball in the midst of the Heavens; where are the Pillars and Props that su…tai… this mighty Mass? It is upheld by nothing but the Power of God. And for the manner of making; How did he make all things? By his Word. This great Builder needed no Instruments and Tools, Heb. 11.10. Whose Builder and Maker is God. He commanded, and they were created, Psal. 48.5. What more easie than a word? One asks what is become of the Tools and Engines wherewith God made the World? Tully brings in a Philosopher disputing against the Creation of the World: with what Spade did God dig the Sea? where was the Trowel wherewith he arched the Heavens? and the Line and Plummer by which he laid forth the Foundations of the Earth? There was nothing but his … that brought all things out of the Womb of nothing. This is the Omnipo…, the Glorious God, that can do all things. And then Ex parte termini, he brought all things out of nothing, which Philosophers could not so much as conceive how it should be done: What a large stride and gap is there between Being and Not being: He that out of meer nothing brought forth all this World, certainly nothing can be too hard for him. A Man cannot work without Materials, and preparations to his work, but God works when he hath nothing to work upon. As long as the Creatures endure; as long as Heaven and Earth stands, which is a Monument of God's Power, we need not doubt of his Alsufficiency, and therefore in difficult and hazardous Case, the Scripture referrs us to God as a Creator, 1 Pet. 4.19. Wherefore let them that suffer according to the … of God, commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. Why as unto a Creator? At that time they carried their Lives in their hands, they had nothing to subsist upon, no visible Interests to defend them: Well, go on chearfully in well-doing, and commit your selves to him that can work all things out of nothing; your Souls, that is your Lives: put your Lives into the Creator's hands. There may be something of Love in the Expression, he that Created you will take care of you; and there is also something of Power implyed, they had but only from day to day, and then he bids them …rust in God as a Creator: So Psal. 124.8. Our help is in the … of the Lord, who made Heaven and Earth. Whilst you see Heaven and Earth, doubt not of God; he hath no… lost nor spent his Power▪ He that made Heaven and Earth, is as ready, and as able to work, as he did at first. Thô a Potter (it is Basil's S…mi…de) make a thousand Vessels, his Art is not lessened by the making, but encreased rather: So whatever God doth, he doth not spend by giving, his Power is the same, and his Word is as mighty as ever: He spoke, and it was …, he commanded, and it stood fast, Psal. 33.9. and that when there was nothing to work on. The Will and the Word of God, what mighty things can they do? He can do the greatest things without any visible Means; things are done in the World, and no Body can tell how, or by what. So the Apostle tells us, that he still acts according to his mighty Power, which he wrought in the Creation, 1 Cor. 1.28. God hath chosen, foreign, things that are not, to bring to nought things that are. God will ever Triumph over humane Improbabilities, and will have no Flesh to despair, because of the smallness of the means, or to glory in his sight because of the greatness of them; for he doth all things, and that by his mighty Power: Rom. 4.17. His Creating Power is there again alluded to, He calleth those things that are not, as thô they were. As when God created the World, he spoke Light out of Darkness; and so still when he finds nothing to work upon, he calls things that are not, as thô they were; speaking of fulfilling his Promises to Abraham. So he works Grace in the Hearts of his People according to his Creating Power, 2 Cor. 4.6. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give us the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ. So that Nature well considered, is a great help to Grace, when we consider the Creation, and busie our Thoughts therein, it helps us more to enlarge the Power of God in our Apprehensions.
Secondly, As Creation, so Providence shews it: Take it either for God's External, or Internal Providence.
(1.) His External Providence, preserving all things in their proper Place, and for their proper Use; Heb. 1.3. He upholdeth all things by the word of his Power. All things that are in the World, are held up by God's hand: They do not subsist by their own Nature, so much as by Divine Manutenency: He upholds all things. It is an allusion to a weighty Body that is held up by the hand of Man, which if loosned, it falls to the ground; so the Creature would fall to nothing, if not kept up by God: Now what an Almighty grasp hath he that holds up all things? He that feedeth so many mouths with the opening the hand of his Bounty, Psal. 145.15, 16. The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season: Thou openest thy hands, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. He that sustains and guides so many Creatures, that preserves the Confederacies of Nature, that sets bounds to the Sea, and makes Decrees for the waves to obey, beyond which they shall not pass: Ier. 5.22. — Which have placed the sand for the bounds of the Sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it; and thô the Waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; thô they roar, yet can they not pass over it: He that holds the Winds in his Fist, is not not he mighty and strong? And therefore if God should but loosen his hand, the World would soon fall into Confusion and nothing. Thus his sustaining and preserving all things, speaks him an All-powerful God.
(2.) His Internal Providence. The Providence of God is chiefly seen in his Power over the Spirits of men that are voluntary Agents: He hath such a Power over them, that they are not Masters of their own Affections and Dispositions, but act contrary many times to their intended purposes: Prov. 21.1. The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of waters, he turneth it whither soever he will. Look as a Man by cutting a Channel, draws the water this way, or that way, hither and thither, so doth God move the Hearts of all men in the World, nay even of Kings and Princes. Prov. 16.7. When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his Enemies to be at peace with him. Strange thing! that God can put a Bridle upon the Spirits of men, and they shall be at peace with him whom they hated; their Hearts are turned many times to what formerly they resolved against. Esau is an Instance, he had vowed Iacob's Death, and meets him with purpose to destroy him, but when God brings them together, Esau falls embracing of Iacob, Gen. 33.4. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. Egypt dismissed Israel with Jewels: Balaam comes to curse, and he falls a blessing Israel. This bridling, turning, changing the hearts of men, it is a notable discovery of God's Omnipotency. Look as there is more Power seen in governing a skittish Horse, than in rolling a Stone; so in ruling those Beings which have a Principle of Resistance, doth the Lord shew forth his Power. Angels, Men, and Devils can do nothing but as God will, and as God gives them leave. The Devils are fain to ask Christ's leave to enter into the herd of Swine, Mat. 8.31. and therefore how may the flock of Christ's Sheep rest secure under the Power of his Providence, when those damned Spirits are held in by the irresistible Providence of God, that they can do nothing but what God will. As Tertullian said, If the Bristles of Swine be numbred, much more are the Hairs of the Saints. God hath such a mighty Power, that not a Creature can be troubled without his leave, even by those Spirits that are most opposite to him: so that his Power over the Affections and Hearts of men, shews he is a great and mighty God.
3. That God is Almighty, appears by the strength that is in Creatures, which is an effect and shadow of the Power of God: All the Power that is in Creatures, is from God, and he wastes not by giving as we do. That expression suits to this Case, God took from the Spirit of Moses, and put it upon the Elders, and yet Moses had not the less because of their participation. We cannot communicate to others, but we lessen our selves, but God remaineth in an Infinite fullness; and therefore if he hath given Power to Creatures, he hath more power himself. Now there is great Power in Creatures: Iob 41.8. Iob tells us of great Whales that have Bones as Brass, and strong as pieces of Iron: And David tells us of Angels that excell in strength, Psal. …33.20. so that one of them slew a hund…ed fourscore and five thousand in one night in Senacherib's Host: And if there be such strength in Creatures, what is there in God from whom they have it? For nothing is in the Effect, but what was first in the Cause.
Secondly, Let me come to Explain this Power of God by three Distinctions.
(1.) God's Power is twofold, either Absolute, or Actual. 1. His Absolute Power is, by which he can do that which he never will do: This is spoken of, Mat. 26.53. Thinkest thou not that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of Angels? Mark 3.9. God is able of these stones to raise up Children to Abraham, he can do more than ever he did, or will do: He can do not only what Men and Angels conceive can be done, but what he himself conceiveth can be done. 2. His Actual Power is that by which he doth whatever he will. Psal. 115.3. Our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he pleaseth: And Psal. 135.6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he, in Heaven and in Earth, in the Seas, and all deep places. Never shall any thing be done, but what God wills; and what God wills shall surely come to pass, which is a notable support in all accidents.
(2) Distinction: God's Power is Ordinary and Extraordinary. 1. Ordinary is that which is according to the Course of second Causes, and Law of Nature, when he preserves the Creatures, and works by them according to the Order which he himself hath established, Psal. 119.91. They continue this day according to thine Ordinance, for all are thy Servants. All the Creatures, Sun, Moon, and Stars, do keep the Track and Path which God hath set unto them, and God preserves the Beings of all things, and keeps the Covenant of night and day, as it is called in the Prophet. 2. There is God's Extraordinary Power, by which he can suspend the whole Course of Nature, as he hath done sometimes upon eminent Occasions; as when the Sun stood still in the Valley of Ajalom; Iosh. 10.12, 13. or when the Sun went back ten degrees on the Dyal of Ahaz: 2 Kings 20.11. His interdicting the Red Sea, that it should not flow: Exod. 14.21, 22. His causing Iron, which is a heavy Body, to swim upon the top of the water at the Prayer of Elisha: 2 Kings 6.6. His suspending the burning of the Fire, when the three Children were in the Furnace: Dan. 3.27. His shutting the mouths of the hungry Lyons, when Daniel was in the Den with them: Dan. 6.22. His making the Ravens, which are by Nature Birds of prey, to be Caterers to Elijah, 1 Kin. 17.6.
(3.) Distinction: There are Impossibilia Naturae, and Impossibilia Naturâ; things impossible to Nature, and things impossible by Nature. Things impossible to Nature God can do, but not things impossible by Nature; he will do things above Nature, and besides it, but nothing against it. Things impossible by Nature, are such as either respect the Agent, or the Object. (1.) With respect to the Agent, that which is repugnant to his own Essential Perfection: Thus God cannot lye, Tit. 1.2. Which God that cannot lye hath promised. Heb. 6.18. That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lye, we may have strong consolation. God cannot deny himself, 2 Tim. 2.13. If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself; for these things imply weakness, and not Power, God cannot dye, God cannot sleep. It is no discredit to a wise man, that he cannot play the Fool, or to a valiant Man, that he cannot be a Coward. God can do all things, so as that he is still God: Those things that are repugnant to the Perfection of his Nature he cannot do. (2.) With respect to the Object, such things as imply a Contradiction; as that a thing should be; and not be, to make a Creature finite and Infinite, dependant and Independant at the same time, and in the same respect; limited to a place, and yet in every place; to make the Sun shine, and not to shine at the same time; these are against the Nature of the things themselves. These Distinctions have their use in many Controversies that are about Religion.
VSE. For Exhortation: To press you to Believe that God is Almighty, and to Improve it.
(1.) Believe it: Need we press men to that? It is a piece of Natural Divinity, a Truth held forth to us, not only in the Book of Scripture, but of Nature. That Light which finds out a Deity, will discover him to be Almighty; and therefore need we any great ado to perswade men to believe it? Yes certainly: for this is the great thing that we question in Cases of difficulty; we doubt more of the Power of God, than of his Will. Our seeming doubts of his Will, are but pretences to cover our shameful and Atheistical Doubts of his Power; that which works subtilly, and underground in us, and weakens our Con…idence in God, and hinders the rejoycing of our Faith, is a doubt of his Power. Surely God knows us better than we do our selves, and the Scripture shews all along, that our Doubts are about God's Power, When there was a Promise brought from God, that Sarah should conceive with Child, she did not believe the Promise, Gen. 18.13, 14. And the Lord faid unto Abraham, wherefore did Sarah laugh, sa…ing, Shall I of a surety bear a Child, which am old? Is any thing too hard for the Lord? There was her Doubt and difficulty: So Moses the Man of God, the Lord had told him Face to Face, that he would feed his People, and give them Flesh to eat, and he doubted of God's Power, Numbers 11.21, 22, 23. The people among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen, and thou hast said, I will give them Flesh, that they may eat a whole month; shall the flocks and herds be slain for them to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the Sea be gathered together for them to suffice thim? And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lords hand waxed short? So when the Prophet foretold there should be such Plenty in Samaria, where there was great Scarcity, saith the Noble-man, 2 Kings 7.2. Behold if the Lord should make windows in Heaven, might this thing be? There was his Doubt: So the Virgin Mary, when the Angel comes with the Message of the great Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God, that he should be Born of her, Luk. 1.34. Then said Mary unto the Angel, How can this be, seeing I know not a Man? At this rate still doth Unbelief speak in the Wilderness, as the Children of Israel, Psal. 78.19, 20. Can God furnish a Table in the Wilderness? Behold he smote the Rock, that the Waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give Bread also? can he provide Flesh for his People? Certainly the Scripture knows what is the special Language of our Hearts, better than we our selves. Now Unbelief is still represented as doubting of God's Power: Besides, Doubts haunt us only in times of difficulty, and when Mercies expected are hard to come by. If we did doubt of God's Will because of our Unworthiness, why do we not doubt at other times, when things are easie? but these doubts surprize us only when the things we expect from God according to his Promises, are difficult and hard to come by. And the reason why we are so apt to doubt of God's Power, is the imperfection of our Thoughts about God's being. We are inured to Principles of Sense, and Converse with limited Beings, and therefore confine God to a Circle of our own making, Psal. 78.41. They turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy one of Israel: We confine God to the Course of second Causes, with which we wholly Converse, and when there is difficulty, there our Hearts fail, therefore there is need to press you to believe God's Power.
(2.) Improve it to strengthen our Faith, and encourage our Obedience.
1. To strengthen our Faith, either in Prayer or in Waiting. In Prayer: O when you come to God, remember he is able to do abundantly above all that we ask or think, Eph. 3.20. How hard and difficult soever the thing be that we ask of God, he is able to do it. When our Lord taught us to Pray, what are the Encouragements he gives us? see the Conclusion of the Lord's Prayer, Mat. 6.13. Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory. As God hath a Kingdom and Authority to dispose of all things for his Glory and our good, so he hath a Power to back it, it is not an empty Title. Pray for help with such cheerfulness and confidence as if it were the easiest thing in the World to be done: All those things that are so difficult to be obtained, either the Sanctification of our Souls, or the Promotion of Christ's Kingdom, or any of those things, Thine is the Power; there is that which holds up our Hands in Prayer, and gives us confidence towards God. So to strengthen our Faith in Waiting, touching the performane of all God's Promises for our selves and others. Abraham believed above Hope, and against Hope; why? being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform, Rom. 4.21. This is the great Security of the Soul, that confirms us in waiting upon God; when the Accomplishment of his Promises is unlikely to Reason, God is able. If you expect of God preservation in the midst of Difficulties, such a fickle and such a changeable Creature as Man is, how can that be? 1 Pet. 1. Who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation: The Power of God is engaged for our Defence. So for Temporal Difficulties, when we see no means, no likelihood to escape, yet we are not thoughtful of this matter, for our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O King! Dan. 3.17. In Death, when we go to the Grave, to moulder into dust and rottenness, then to look upon the Morsels of Worms as parcels of the Resurrection; what shall uphold and support our Hearts in waiting upon God for this? Phil. 3.21. Who shall change our vile Body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body, according to the working whereby he is able to subàne all things unto himself: The Scripture still referrs us to the mighty Power of God, whereby he can subdue, and cause all to fall under him. The Destruction of Antichrist and Enemies of the Church, who are supported by great and strongly combined Interests, how can that ever be hoped for? Rev. 18.8. Her plagues shall come in one day, death and mourning, and famine, and she shall be utterly burnt with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her; and that is the greatest Cordial of the Soul. The Life of Faith lyes in the Belief of God's Power and All-sufficiency. He can raise up the Church from her low Condition, and all without any means; when all is dry Bones, then God can put Life into his People.
2. To encourage us in Obedience, it is good to believe and improve the Power of God.
(1.) That we may carry it more humbly and more dutifully, 1 Pet. 5.6. Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God: This is that which begets a deep awe and reverence of his Majesty: Shall we not submit to that God that is able to crush us? O therefore let us Study to please him in all things. When you sin, you bid de…iance to the Almighty, and enter into the Lists with God, and provoke him to jealousie, 1 Cor. 10.22. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousie? are we stronger than he? Do you know what it is to dash against God, and Contest with God? He that is Almighty is the most desirable Friend, or the most dreadful Adversary, and therefore humble your selves, and carry it dutifully towards him. Every one would be in with the Almighty: Be sure to keep in with the Lord, Deut. 10.17. For the Lord our God is a God of Gods, and Lord of Lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: Will you provoke him and dare him to his Face?
(2.) To keep us upright in Obedience, without Warping and using any Carnal shifts, Gen. 17.1. I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect: God alone is enough to you. The Reason why we so often step out of the way, is, because we do not believe God to be Almighty, that he is more able to defend than Man to hurt. Even God's own Children may warp for want of a sound belief of this. Abraham saved himself by a Lye, because he would not trust God with his Preservation, Gen. 20.11. Moses was backward to do the Lord's Message, Exod. 4.13. as if God could not bear him out before Pharaoh, and before the Egyptians. There was a Promise Iacob should have the Blessing, but Rebecka puts him upon using indirect means to obtain it, because she could not trust God's Al… sufficiency to bring it about. He that will not trust God, and rest upon his Power, cannot be long faithful to him; because they think there is not enough in God, they will seek elsewhere. All sincerity ariseth from these two things, (and until you get your Hearts into this Frame, you never will be sincere) submitting all things to God's Will, and resting upon God's Power. How desperate soever the Case be, this will relieve you and keep you sincere, and comfortable, the Lord is a powerful God, and knows how to provide for his Glory, and for your sustentation.
Now to quicken you thus to believe, and improve the Power of God, I will offer these Considerations:
(1.) Consider the Amplitude of God's Power, which is not to be measured by our scantling and model; we can do something, but God can do all things; we must have Matter prepar'd, but God works out of nothing; we do things difficultly, and must have time, but God can do all things in a moment; he needs no Instruments or Tools, no Pattern or Copy, but worketh all things according to the Counsel of his Will. We rust with Age, and our strength is dryed up, but the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, Isa. 59.1. His strength is never wasted or dryed up▪ When any thing is to be done, or expected from God, is it greater than making the World? and God is where he was at first. Our knowledge of things is by Effects, but God never had an Effect adequate to his Power; he hath done great things, but he hath Power to do greater, Mal. 2.15. And did not he make one? yet had he the residue of the Spirit: When he Created the World, he had the residue of the Spirit, he could have made more Worlds. All Created Effects are finite, and therefore not fully answerable to the force of the Cause: Let us be still enlarging in our Thoughts of God's Power. This is a Power that needeth not the Concurrence of visible means, but can work without them; yea, opposite Power is no hinderance to God; Rubbs are plain Ground to him, Isa. 27.4. Who would set the bryars and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together: What can Bryers and Thorns do against a devouring Flame? they are fit Fuel to encrease the Fire, but cannot hinder the burning. God works through all Opposition, Isa. 43.13. I will work, and who shall lett it.
(2.) Consider, this Power is ready to be employed for our Use, so far as it shall make for God's glory and our good. God is ours if we be in Covenant with him; and if so, all that is in God is ours also, Quantus, quantus est; as great as he is▪ God makes over himself in Covenant: I am yours, therefore Almightiness is yours, to be set a work for you: And as Aristotle said, foreign, All things are common between Friends and Confederates: 1 Kings 22.4. Iehoshaphat said unto the King of Israel, I am as thou art, my People as thy People, my Horses as thy Horses: Surely being in Covenant with God, it is a Relation of Friendship, and whatever is God's is ours; and that is the reason of this Expression, Eph. 6.10. Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. In all our Faintings and Fears we should look upon God's Almighty Power as a Guardian for our good. All that God hath is forth coming for our use; as all other things, so his Almighty Power and Strength.
(3.) Whatever his Will is, or whatever God hath determined to do concerning us, yet he would have us magnifie his Power, and with Comfort cast our selves upon it, Isa. 8.12, 13. Fear not their fear, nor be afraid, sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread: You should set Power against Power, that you may not be dismay'd, Isa. 50.10. It is not meant Spiritually only, but also in Temporal Cases, Let him trust in the Name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. You should Comfort your selves in the Power and All-sufficiency of God.
(4.) Consider how angry God hath been with his Children for not resting upon his Power. Nothing hath hindered the discovery of God's Power, and the Manifestation of his Love to them, so much as distrust of his Power, Mark 6.5. He could there do no mighty work: It is not said, he would not, but he could not do any mighty works there, because of their Unbelief. Unbelief doth put a Barr and Rubb in the way of God's Omnipotency: And Ioh. 11.40. If thou wouldst beleive, thou shouldst see the glory of God. God doth not put forth himself because we do no more rest upon him and his Alsufficiency to help us. See how angry God hath been on this account with his own Children and People, with Moses and Aaron, Mat. 20.12. Because ye believed me not, to sanctifie me in the eyes of the Children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this Congregation into the land which I have given them. The believing of God's Power is not determining the Success, but when we encourage our selves to Pray, and Wait, and to be Sincere, and Faithfull, upon the account of God's Power, that God is able. Many Troubles and Perplexities have befallen God's Children for not believing his Power: Zacharias, Iohn's Father, was struck Dumb for not believing, Luk. 1.20. Behold thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season: And God let the Nobleman live to see himself confuted, and then he was crushed to Death, 2 Kings 7.2. Then a Lord on whose hand the King leaned answered the Man of God, and said, Behold, if the Lord should make Windows in Heaven might this thing be? And he said, Behold! thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not eat thereof:
(3.) Consider, it is a notable Argument in Prayer to conjure the Lord by his Power. As the Leper comes to Christ, Mat. 8.2. Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clearn: Do what thou wilt, but this I know, that thou canst, thou hast Power enough: See how Moses insinuates, Numbers 14.15, 16. Now if thou shalt kill all this People as one Man, then the Nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this People into the Land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the Wilderness: As if he should say, Lord, thou wouldest have the glory of thy Power seen in the Eyes of the Nations, that they may know thee as a mighty powerful God; now they will say, the Lord was not able to bring them into Canaan.
(6.) All our Courage, and all the strength of our Comfort and Obedience, and all the Blessings of Obedience, depends upon the Belief and the Improvement of God's Power. Look into the Book of God, and you shall see all the generous Acts that worthy Men have performed, came from hence. Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, offered up his Son, his only Son, the Son of the Promise, and that freely; and why? Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure, Heb. 11.19. In such a Tryal, what would support and bear us out? So when the fiery Furnace was heated seven times hotter than ordinary, burning and flaming exceedingly, the three Children ventured into it upon this Principle; Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery Furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O King! Dan. 3.17. What is the reason we are so Cowardly and Dastardly? we look to things sensible, and visible, and cannot set the Power of God against it, or above them, and consider how he can bring good out of evil, and so Carnal Fears and Hopes draw us aside: Why are we discouraged, and turn from God in difficult Cases, rather than in easie Cases, but that we do not believe that he can do all things? Paul believed, therefore in the Face of Opposition he goes on in his Work unweariedly, 1 Tim 4.10. Therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all Men, …specially of them th…t believe: This made him in the midst of Reproaches and all manner of Difficulties, to go on with Courage.
(7.) When we run to Carnal Shifts, because we cannot trust this Power of God, then we engage his strength that should be for us against us, and it is just with God to blast us. Ionah runs from his Work, and God sends a Storm after him: Ionah was afraid of the Ninevites, but mischief will sooner or later overtake them that run from their Duty, and they have worse Inconveniencies by their own Shifts. Iacob would get the Blessing by a Wile, but that cost him dear, he was Banished from his Father's House upon it, lest Esau should kill him. Indirect Courses will certainly prove a loss; though you may obtain your Purpose, yet you plunge your selves into greater difficulties afterward, and Obtain your Desires with more Trouble than if you had waited upon God.
(8.) If the thing be not done for us which we need and desire, when we trust upon the Power of God, it is because it is not best for us. He that trusts upon the Power of God cannot miscarry: A Cross is best, and a low Estate is best, and Troubles are best. It is not for want of Power and Love that we are afflicted of God, he will deliver us and support us, and turn it to the best, Psal. 84.11. For the Lord God is a sun and a shield, he will give Grace and Glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly: Psal. 34.9. The young Lyons do lack, and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord, shall not want any good thing: If we want any thing we would have, certainly it is not good for us.
(9.) The less Power we have in our selves, the more Experience we have of God's Power, Isa. 40.29. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength: So Deut. 32.36. The Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his Servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left: When humane help begins to fail, and is spent, then God's Power is seen. The lean Cheeks, and the faint Voice, and the pale Colour of a hunger-starved Beggar moves more than all the Canting Entreaties of a sturdy one. When we are sufficiently humbled in the sense of our own Unworthiness, and can entirely cast our selves upon God, out of a Confidence of his Power, help will not be far off, for he really pities those that are indeed miserable, and have a sense of it, and sets his Power on work for their relief.
(10.) We can never expect to be free from biting Cares and Perplexities about the various Occurrences of this Life, until we can entirely cast our selves upon God's Alsufficiency and Power: O but when you are once got upon the Rock, then you will not be tost with the uncertain Waves, Isa. 26.3, 4. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in th…e: Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Iehovah is everlasting strength. In the ebbings and flowings of the Creature a Man is safe and fixed, for he hath that which answers all things. A Man that hath no Lands, yet if he hath Money, the wise Man tells us, that answereth all things, and he may do well enough: So if a Man hath nothing in the Creature, yet if he hath the Power of God, that answereth all things; he can rejoyce in God when Creatures fail, Heb. 3.17, 18. As having nothing, yet possessing all things, 2 Cor. 6.10. The Almighty God carryeth the Purse, we have all things in God, and he will supply us as he seeth it to be best, with respect to his own Glory, and their Eternal Condition: And therefore if you would be freed from all these floating Uncertainties, and those tempestuous Agitations of Spirit by which you are tost too and fro, you will never come to this 'till you encourage your selves in the sense of God's Power and Alsufficiency.