Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_000.lzh/D_040.TXT

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40                                         OF THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD.                                                          Book I.

entitle him to omnipotence, that he has done, and does,
whatsoever he pleases, and that whatsoever is made, is
made by him, and nothing without him; which is what
may be called, his ordinate and actual power; or what
he has willed and determined, is actually done; and of
this there is abundant proof, as will appear by the fol-
lowing instances.
1. In creation; the heaven, earth, and sea, and all
that in them are, were created by God, is certain; and
these visible works of creation are proofs of the invisible
attributes of God, and particularly, of his eternal power,
Acts iv. 24. Rom. i. 20. Creation is making something
out of nothing; which none but omnipotence can effect;
see Heb. xi. 3. no artificer, though ever so expert, can
work without materials, whether he works in gold, silver,
orass, iron, wooo, stone, or in any thing else: the potter
can cast his clay into what form and figure he pleases,
according .to his art, and make one vessel for one use,
and another for another; but he cannot make the least
portion of clay: but God created the first matter out of
which all things are made; and which were made out
of things not before existing by the omnipotent Being;
whom the good woman animating her son to martyrdom,
exhorted to acknowledge, 2 Maccab. vii. 28. Nor can
any artificer work without tools; and the more curious
his work, the more curious must his tools be: but God
can Work without instruments, as he did in creation; it
was only by his all-commanding word that every thing
sprung into being, Gen. i. 3, &c. Psalm xxxvi. 9. and
every thing created was done at once; creation is an
instantaneous act, is without succession, and requires no
length of time to do it in; every thing on the sevenl
days of creation were done immediately: on the first day
God said, "Let there be light;" and it immediately
sprung out of darkness: on the second day he said, "Let
there be a firmament," an expanse; and at once the airy
heaven was stretched out like a curtain around our earth:
on the third day he said, "Let the earth bring forth grass,
herbs, and fruit-trees ;" and they arose directly out .of it,
in all their verdure and fruitfulness: on the fourth day
he said, "Let there be lights in the heavens;" and no
sooner was it said, but the sun, moon, and stars, blazed
forth in alI their lustre and splendor: on the fifth and
sixth days orders were given for the waters to bring forth
fish, and fowl, and beasts, and cattle of every kind; and
they accordingly brought them forth in full perfection
immediately; and last of all, man was at onc3e made,
complete and perfect, out of the dust of the earth, and
the breath of life was breathed into him: and though
there were six days appointed, one for each of these
works, yet they were instantaneously performed on those
days; and this time was allotted not on account of God,
who could have done .them all in a .moment; but for
the sake of men, who, when they read the history of the
creation, .there is a stop and pause at each work, that
they .may stand still and meditate upon it, and wonder at
it. Whereas the works of men require time; and those
that are most curious, longer still. Add to all this, that
the works of creation were done without weariness; no
labour of men is free from it: if it be the work of the
brain, the fruit of .close reasoning, reading, meditation,
and study; much study, the wise man says, is a wea-
riness of the flesh, Eccles. xii. 19. or if it be manual ope-

ration, it is labour and fatigue; but the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth, though he has
wrought such stupendous works, fainteth not, neither is
weary, Isa. xl. 28. and though he is said to rest on the
seventh day, yet not on account of fatigue; but to denote
he had finished his work, brought it to perfection, and
ceased from it. And now, to what can all this be as-
cribed but to omnipotence ? Which,
2. Appears in the sustentation and support of all crea-
tures, in the provision made for them, with other won-
derful works done in providence: all creatures -live, move,
and have their being in God; as they are made by him,
they consist by him; " he upholds all things by the word
of his power ;" the heavens, the earth, and the pillars
thereof, Acts xvii. 28. Col. i. 16, 17. Heb. i. 3. Psalm
lxxv. 3. which none but an almighty arm can do: and
the manner in which the world, and all things in it, are
preserved, and continue, is amazing and surprising, and
cannot be accounted for, no other way than by the at-
tribute of omnipotence; for he stretcheth out the north
over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon no-
thing; he bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, and
the cloud is not rent under him; though these are no
other than condensed air, which carry such burdens in
them, and yet are not burst by them--he has shut up the
sea with doors; with clifts and rocks, and even with so
weak a thing as sand; and said, hitherto shalt thou come.,
and no further, and here shall th3t proud waves be staid
--and has caused the dayspring to know its place--di-
vided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, and
a way for the lightning of thunder, to cause it to rain
on the earth; which none of the vanities of the Gentiles
can do; he gives that and fruitful seasons., filling mens'
hearts with food and gladness, and provides for all the
fowls of the air, and "the cattle on a thousand hills ;"
see Job xxvi. 7, 8. and x'xxviii. 10, 11, 12, 25, 26. Acts
xiv. 17. But what hand can do all these but an almighty
one ? To which may be added, those wonderful events
in providence, which can only be accounted for by re-
curring to omnipotence, and to supernatural power and
aid; as the drowning of the whole world; the burning
of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain; the
strange exploits of some particular persons, as Jonathan
and David; the amazing victories obtained by a few over
a multitude, sometimes by unarmed men, sometimes
without fighting, and always by him that helps, whether
with many, or with them that have no power, as the cases
of Gideon, Jehoshaphat, and Asa shew; with various
other thinng.S too numerous to mention, as the removing
of moiretams, shaking the earth, and the pillars of it,
commanding the sun not to rise, and sealing up the stars,
Job ix.
3. The omnipotence of God may be seen in the re-
demption of men by Christ, in things lead. ing to it, and
in the completion of it: in the inearnauon of Christ,
and his birth of a virgin, which the angel ascribes to
thep. ower of the Highest, the most high God, with whom
notMng is impossible, Luke i. 35, 37. and which was an
expedient found out by infinite wisdom, to remove a dif-
ficulty which none but omnipotence could surmount,
namely, to bring a clean thing out of an unclean; for it
was necessary that the Saviour of men should be man,
that the salvation should be wrought out in human ha-