Part 25
others, but of a pittance, something of superfluity, which will turn more to our account, that what is vainly and unprofitably consumed on our backs and bellies. If he hath given much to any of us, it is rather to lay aside part for the income of his service, else we would monopolise divine good ness to ourselves, and seem to distrust, under our present experiments, his future kindness, as though the last thing he gave us was attended with this language, Hoard up this, and expect no more from me ; use it only to the glutting your avarice and feeding your ambition ; which would be against the whole scope of divine goodness. If we do not endeavour to write after the comely copy he hath set us, we may provoke him to harden himself
against us, and in wrath bestow that on the fire, or on our enemies, which his goodness hath imparted to us for his glory, and the supplying the neces sities of poor creatures ; and, on the contrary, he is so delighted with this kind of imitation of him, that a cup of cold water, when there is no more to be done, shall not be unrewarded.
(2.) Imitate God in his goodness, in a kindness to our worst enemies. The best man is more unworthy to receive anything from God than the worst can be to receive from us. How kind is God to those that blaspheme
him, and gives them the same sun and the same showers" that he doth to the best men in the world ! Is it not more our glory to imitate God in doing good to those that hate us, than to imitate the men of the world iu requiting evil, by a return of a sevenfold mischief? This would be a goodness which would vanquish the hearts of men, and render us greater than Alexanders and Caesars, who did only triumph over miserable carcases ; yea, it is to triumph over ourselves in being good against the sentiments of corrupt nature. Revenge makes us slaves to our passions as much as the offenders, and good returns render us victorious over our adversaries : ' Be no.t overcome of
evil, but overcome evil with good,' Rom. xii. 21. When we took up arms against God, his goodness contrived not our ruin, but our recovery. This is such a goodness of God as could not be discovered in an innocent state. While man had continued in his duty, he could not have been guilty of an enmity, and God could not but affect him unless he had denied himself ; so this, of being good to our enemies, could never have been practised in a state of rectitude, since where was a perfect innocence there could be no spark of
enmity to one another. It can be no disparagement to any man's dignity to cast his influences on his greatest opposers, since God, who acts for his own glory, thinks not himself disparaged by sending forth the streams of his bounty on the wickedest persons, who are far meaner to him than those of the same blood can be to us. Who hath the worse thoughts of the sun for
shining upon the earth, that sends up vapours to cloud it ? It can be no disgrace to resemble God ; if his hand and bowels be open to us, let not ours be shut to any.
A DISCOURSE UPON GOD'S DOMINION.
The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens ; and his kingdom ruleth
over all. — PSALM CHI. 19.
THE psalm begins with the praise of God, wherein the penman excites his
soul to a right and elevated management of so great a duty : ver. 1, ' Bless the Lord, 0 my soul ; and all that is within me, bless his holy name ; ' and because himself and all men were insufficient to offer up a praise to God, answerable to the greatness of his benefits, he summons in the end of the psalm, the angels and all creatures to join in concert with him.
Observe,
1. As man is too shallow a creature to comprehend the excellency of God, so he is too dull and scanty a creature to ofier up a true praise to God, both in regard of the excellency of his nature, and the multitude and great ness of his benefits.
2. We are apt to forget divine benefits ; our souls must therefore be often
jogged and roused up. ' All that is within me,' every power of my rational, and every affection of my sensitive, part. All his faculties, all his thoughts. Our souls will hang back from God in every duty, much more in this, if we lay not a strict charge upon them. We are so void of a pure and entire love to God, that we have no mind to those duties. Wants will spur us on to prayer, but a pure love to God can only spirit us to praise. We are more ready to reach out a hand to receive his mercies, than to lift up our heart to recognise them after the receipt.
After the psalmist had summoned his own soul to this task, he enumerates the divine blessings received by him, to awaken his soul by a sense of them
to so noble a work. He begins at 'the first and foundation mercy to him
self, the pardon of his sin, and justification of his person, the renewing of
his sickly and languishing nature : ver. 3, ' Who forgives all thy iniquities, and heals all thy diseases ; ' his redemption from death or eternal destruc tion; his expected glorification thereupon, which he speaks of with that
certainty as if it were present: ver. 4, ' Who redeems thy life from destruc tion, who crowns thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies.' He makes his progress to the mercy manifested to the church in protection of it against,
or delivery of it from, oppressors : ver. 6, ' The Lord executeth righteous ness and judgment for all that are oppressed ;' in the discovery of his will and law, and the glory of his merciful name to it : ver. 7, 8, ' He made known his ways unto Moses, and his acts unto the children of Israel.
Ps. CHI. 19.] GOD'S DOMINION. 401
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.' Which latter words may refer also to the free and unmerited spring of the bene fits he had reckoned up, viz., the mercy of God, which he mentions also, ver. 10, ' He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our
iniquities ; ' and then extols the perfection of divine mercy in the pardoning of sin, ver. 11, 12 ; the paternal tenderness of God, ver. 13 ; the eternity of his mercy, ver. 17 ; but restrains it to the proper object, ver. 11-17, to them that fear him, i. e. to them that believe in him ; fear being the word commonly used for faith in the Old Testament, under the legal dispensation,
wherein the spirit of bondage was more eminent than the spirit of adoption, and their fear more than their confidence.
Observe,
1. All the true blessings grow up from the pardon of sin : ver. 8, ' Who forgives all thine iniquities.' That is the first blessing, the top and crown of all other favours, which draws all other blessings after it, and sweetens all other blessings with it. The principal intent of Christ was expiation of sin, redemption from iniquity ; the purchase of other blessings was conse
quent upon it. Pardon of sin is every blessing virtually, and in the root and spring it flows from the favour of God, and is such a gift as cannot be tainted with a curse, as outward things may.
2. Where sin is pardoned the soul is renewed: ver. 8, ' Who heals all thy diseases.' Where guilt is remitted, the deformity and sickness of the soul is cured. Forgiveness is a teeming mercy, it never grows single ; when we have an interest in Christ, as bearing the chastisement of our peace, we receive also a balsam from his blood to heal the wounds we feel in our nature.
Isa. liii. 5, ' The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.' As there is a guilt in sin, which binds us over to punishment, so there is a contagion in sin, which fills us with pestilent diseases ; when the one is removed, the other is cured. We should not know how to love the one without the other. The renewing the soul is necessary for a delightful relish of the other blessings of God. A condemned malefactor infected with a leprosy, or any other loathsome distemper, if pardoned, could take little comfort in his freedom from the gibbet without a cure of his plague.
3. God is the sole and sovereign author of all spiritual blessings : ' Who forgives all thy iniquities, and heals all thy diseases.' He refers all to God, nothing to himself in his own merit and strength. All ; not the pardon of one sin merited by me, not the cure of one disease can I owe to my own power, and the strength of my free will, and the operations of nature ; he, and he alone, is the prince of pardon, the physician that restores me, the redeemer that delivers me ; it is a sacrilege to divide the praise between God and ourselves. God only can knock off our fetters, expel our distem pers, and restore a deformed soul to its decayed beauty.
4. Gracious souls will bless God as much for sanctification as for justifi cation. The initials of sanctification (and there are no more in this life) are worthy of solemn acknowledgment. It is a sign of growth in grace when our hymns are made up of acknowledgments of God's sanctifying as well [as] pardoning grace. In blessing God for the one, we rather shew a love to ourselves ; in blessing God for the other, we cast out a pure beam of love to God : because by purifying grace we are fitted to the service of our Maker, prepared to every good work which is delightful to him ; by the other, we are eased in ourselves. Pardon fills us with inward peace, but sanctification fills us with an activity for God. Nothing is so capable of setting the soul in a heavenly tune as the consideration of God as a pardoner and as a healer.
VOL. n. c c
402 CHAKNOCK'S WORKS. [Ps. CIII. 19.
5. Where sin is pardoned, the punishment is remitted : ver. 3, 4, ' Who forgives all thy iniquities, and redeems thy life from destruction.' A male factor's pardon puts an end to his chains, frees him from the stench of the dungeon and fear of the gibbet. Pardon is nothing else but the remitting of guilt, and guilt is nothing else but an obligation to punishment, as a
penal debt for sin. A creditor's tearing a bond, frees the debtor from pay ment and rigour.
6. Growth in grace is always annexed to true sanctification : ver. 3, ' So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.' Interpreters trouble themselves
much about the manner of the eagle's renewing its youth and regaining its vigour. He speaks best that saith the psalmist speaks only according to
the opinion of the vulgar, and his design was not to write a natural history.* Growth always accompanies grace, as well as it doth nature in the body; not that it is without its qualms and languishing fits, as children are not, but still their distempers make them grow; grace is not an idle, but an active, principle. It is not like the psalmist means it of the strength of the body, or the prosperity and stability of his government, but the vigour of his grace and comfort, since they are spiritual blessings here that are the matter of his song. The healing the disease conduceth to the sprouting
up and flourishing of the body. It is the nature of grace to go ' from strength
to strength.'
7. When sin is pardoned, it is perfectly pardoned : ver. 11, 12, 'As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from
us.' The east and west are the greatest distance in the world, the terms can never meet together. When sin is pardoned, it is never charged again; the guilt of it can no more return than east can become west, or west become east.
8. Obedience is necessary to an interest in the mercy of God : ver. 17,
' The mercy of the Lord is to them that fear him, to them that remember his commandments to do them.' Commands are to be remembered in order to practice ; a vain speculation is not the intent of the publication of them.
After the psalmist had enumerated the benefits of God, he reflects upon the greatness of God, and considers him on his throne, encompassed with
the angels, the ministers of his providence : ver. 19, ' The Lord hath pre pared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.' He brings in this of his dominion, just after he had largely treated of his mercy; either,
1. To signify that God is not only to be praised for his mercy, but for his majesty, both for the height and extent of his authority.
2. To extol the greatness of his mercy and pity. What I have said now, 0 my soul, of the mercy of God, and his paternal pity, is commended by his majesty ; his grandeur hinders not his clemency ; though his throne be high, his bowels are tender; he looks down upon his meanest servants from the height of his glory. Since his majesty is infinite, his mercy must be as great as his majesty. It must be a greater pity lodging in his breast than what is in any creature, since it is not damped by the greatness of his sovereignty.
8. To render his mercy more comfortable. The mercy I have spoken of, 0 my soul, is not the mercy of a subject, but of a sovereign. An execu tioner may torture a criminal, and strip him of his life, and a vulgar pity cannot relieve him, but the clemency of the prince can perfectly pardon him. It is that God who hath none above him to control him, none below him to resist him, that hath performed all the acts of grace to thee. If God by his
* Amyrald in loc.
Ps. CIII. 19.] GOD'S DOMINION. 403
supreme authority pardons us, who can reverse it ? If all the subjects of God in the world should pardon us, and God withhold his grant, what will it profit us ? Take comfort, 0 my soul, since God from his throne in the highest, and that God who rules over every particular of the creation, hath granted and sealed thy pardon to thee. What would his grace signify if he were not a monarch, extending his royal empire over everything, and sway ing all by his sceptre ?
4. To render the psalmist's confidence more firm in any pressures ; ver. 15, 16. He had considered the misery of man in the shortness of his life, his place should know him no more, he should never return to his authority, employments, opportunities that death would take from him ; but howsoever, the mercy and majesty of God were the ground of his confidence. He draws himself from poring upon any calamities which may assault him, to heaven, the place where God orders all things that are done on the earth. He is able to protect us from our dangers, and to deliver us from our distresses ; whatsoever miseries thou mayest lie under, 0 my soul, cast thy eye up to heaven, and see a pitying God in a majestic authority ; a God who can perform what he hath promised to them that fear him, since he hath a throne above the heaven, and bears sway over all that envy thy happiness and would stain thy felicity ; a God whose authority cannot be curtailed and dismembered by any. When the prophet solicits the sounding of the divine
bowels, he urgeth him 'by his dwelling in heaven, the habitation of his holi ness : Isa. kiii. 15, ' His kingdom ruleth over all.' There is none therefore hath any authority to make him break his covenant or violate his promise.
5. As an incentive to obedience. The Lord is merciful, saith he, ' to them
that remember his commandments to do them,' ver. 17, 18; and then brings in the text as an encouragement to observe his precepts. He hath a majesty that deserves it from us, and an authority to protect us in it. If a king in a small spot of earth is to be obeyed by his subjects, how much more is God, who is more majestic than all the angels in heaven and monarchs on earth ; who hath a majesty to exact our obedience, and a mercy to allure it ! We should not set upon the performance of any duty without an eye lifted up to God as a great king. It would make us willing to serve him ; the more noble the person, the more honourable and powerful the prince, the more glorious is his service. A view of God upon his throne will make us think his service our privilege, his preceps our ornaments, and obedience to him the greatest honour and nobility. It will make us weighty and serious in our performances ; it would stake us down to any duty. The reason we are so loose and unmannerly in the carriage of our souls before God, is because we consider him not as a great King, Mai. i. 14. Our Father which art in heaven, in regard of his majesty, is the preface to prayer.
Let us now consider the words in themselves, ' The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.'
The Lord hath prepared. The word signifies established as well as pre pared, and might so be rendered. Due preparation is a natural way to the establishment of a thing ; hasty resolves break and moulder. This notes,
1. The peculiarity of his authority. He prepares it, none else for him. It is a dominion that originally resides in his nature, not derived from any by birth or commission ; he alone prepared it. He is the sole cause of his own kingdom ; his authority therefore is unbounded, as infinite as his nature. None can set laws to him, because none but himself prepared his throne for him. As he will not impair his own happiness, so he will not abridge him self of his own authority.
2. Readiness to exercise it upon due occasions. He hath prepared his
404 CHAKNOCK'S WORKS. [Ps. CUT. 19.
throne, he is not at a loss, he needs not stay for a commission or instruc tions from any how to act. He hath all things ready for the assistance of his people, he hath rewards and punishments; his treasures and axes, the great marks of authority lying by him, the one for the good, the other for the wicked. His mercy he keeps by him for thousands, Exod. xxxiv. 7 ; his
arrows he hath prepared by him for rebels, Ps. vii. 13.
3. Wise management of it. It is prepared ; preparations imply prudence ; the government of God is not a rash and heady authority. A prince upon his throne, a judge upon the bench, manages things with the greatest discre tion, or should be supposed so to do.
4. Successfulness and duration of it. He hath prepared or established it. It is fixed, not tottering ; it is an immoveable dominion ; all the stragglings of men and devils cannot overturn it, nor so much as shake it. It is esta blished above the reach of obstinate rebels ; he cannot be deposed from it, he cannot be mated in it. His dominion, as himself, abides for ever. And
as his counsel, so his authority, shall stand ; and ' he will do all his plea sure,' Isa. xlvi. 10.
His throne in the heavens. This is an expression to signify the authority of God ; for as God hath no member properly, though he be so represented to us, so he hath properly no throne. It signifies his power of reigning and judging. A throne is proper to royalty, the seat of majesty in its excellency,
and the place where the deepest respect and homage of subjects is paid, and their petitions presented. That the throne of God is in the heavens, that there he sits as a sovereign, is the opinion of all that acknowledge a God. When they stand in need of his authority to assist them, their eyes are lifted up, and their heads stretched out to heaven; so his Son Christ
prayed, ' he lifted up his eyes to heaven,' as the place where his Father sat in majesty as the most adorable object, Johnxvii. 1. Heaven hath the title of his throne, as the earth hath that of his footstool, Isa. Ixvi. 1 ; and there
fore heaven is sometimes put for the authority of God : Dan. iv. 26, ' After that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule,' i.e. that God, who hath his throne in the heavens, orders earthly princes and sceptres as he pleases, and rules over the kingdoms of the world.
His throne in the heavens notes, 1. The glory of his dominion. The heavens are the most stately and comely pieces of the creation ; his majesty is there most visible, his glory most splendid, Ps. xix. 1 ; the heavens speak out with a full mouth his
glory. It is therefore called 'the habitation of his holiness and of his glory,' Isa. Ixiii. 15; there is the greater glister and brightness of his glory. The whole earth indeed is full of his glory, full of the beams of it ; the heaven is full of the body of it, as the rays of the sun reach the earth, but the full glory of it is in the firmament. In heaven his dominion is more acknowledged by the angels, standing at his beck, and by their readiness and swiftness obeying his commands, going and returning as a flash of light ning, Ezek. i. 14. His throne may well be said to be in the heavens, since his dominion is not disputed there by the angels that attend him, as it is on earth by the rebels that arm themselves against him.
2. The supremacy of his empire. The heavens are the loftiest part of the creation, and the only fit palace for him. It is in the heavens his majesty and dignity are so sublime, that they are elevated above all earthly empires.
3. Peculiarity of this dominion. He rules in the heavens alone ; there is some shadow of empire in the world ; royalty is communicated to men as his substitutes. He hath disposed a vicarious dominion to men in his foot stool the earth, he gives them some share of his authority ; and therefore
Ps. CIII. 19.] GOD'S DOMINION. 405
the title of his name: Ps. Ixxxii. 6, 'I have said, Ye are gods;' but in heaven he reigns alone, without any substitutes. His throne is there ; he gives out his orders to the angels himself ; the marks of his immediate sove reignty are there most visible. He hath no vicars-general of that empire. His authority is not delegated to any creature, he rules the blessed spirits by himself; but he rules men that are on his footstool by others of the same kind, men of their own nature.
4. The vastness of his empire. The earth is but a spot to the heavens. What is England in a map to the whole earth, but a spot you may cover with your finger; much less must the whole earth be to the extended heavens. It is but a little point or atom to what is visible; the sun is vastly bigger than it, and several stars are supposed to be of a greater bulk than the earth ; and how many and what heavens are beyond, the ignorance of man cannot understand. If the throne of God be there, it is a larger circuit he rules in than can well be conceived. You cannot conceive the many millions of little particles there are in the earth ; and if all put together be but as one point to that place where the throne of God is seated, how vast must his empire be ! He rules there over the angels, which excel in strength, those hosts of his which do his pleasure, in comparison of whom all the men in the world, and the power of the greatest potentates, is no more than the strength of an ant or fly. Multitudes of them encircle his throne, and listen to his orders without roving, and execute them without disputing. And since his throne is in the heavens, it will follow that all things under the heaven are parts of his dominion ; his throne being in the highest place, the inferior things of earth cannot but be subject to him; and it necessarily includes his influence on all things below, because the heavens are the cause of all the motion in the world, the immediate thing the earth doth naturally address to for corn, and wine, and oil, above which there is no superior but the Lord : Hosea ii. 21, 22, ' The earth hears the corn, wine, and oil ; the heavens hear the earth, and the Lord hears the heavens.'
5. The easiness of managing this government. His throne being placed on high, he cannot but behold all things that are done below ; the height of a place gives advantage to a pure and clear eye to behold things below it. Had the sun an eye, nothing could be done in the open air out of its ken. The throne of God being in heaven, he easily looks from thence upon all the children of men : Ps. xiv. 2, ' The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand.' He looks not down from heaven as if he were in regard of his presence confined there, but he looks down majestically, and by way of authority ; not as the look of a bare spectator, but the look of a governor, to pass a sentence upon them
as a judge. His being in the heavens, renders him capable of ' doing what soever he pleases,' Ps. cxv. 8. His throne being there, he can by a word, in stopping the motions of the heavens, turn the whole earth into confusion.
In this respect it is said ' he rides upon the heaven in thy help,' Deut. xxxiii. 26 ; discharges his thunders upon men, and makes the influences of
it serve his people's interest. By one turn of a cock, as you see in grottoes, he can cause streams from several parts of the heavens to refresh or ruin the world.
6. Duration of it. The heavens are incorruptible, his throne is placed there in an incorruptible state. Earthly empires have their decays and dis solutions. The throne of God outlives the dissolution of the world.
His kingdom rules over all. He hath an absolute right over all things within the circuit of heaven and earth. Though his throne be in heaven,
406 CHAENOCK'S WORKS. [Ps. GUI. 19.
as the place where his glory is most eminent and visible, his authority most exactly obeyed, yet his kingdom extends itself to the lower parts of the earth. He doth not muffle and cloud up himself in heaven, or confine his sovereignty to that place ; his royal power extends to all visible as well as
invisible things, he is proprietor and possessor of all : Deut. x. 14, ' The heaven, and the heaven of heavens, is the Lord's thy God, the earth also, with all that is there.' He hath right to dispose of all as he pleases. He doth not say his kingdom rules all that fear him, but ' over all ;' so that it is not the kingdom of grace he here speaks of, but his natural and universal king
dom. Over angels and men, Jews and Gentiles, animate and inanimate things.
The psalmist considers God here as a great monarch and general, and all creatures as his hosts and regiments under him, and takes notice principally of two things.
1. The establishment of his throne, together with the seat of it : ' He hath prepared his throne in the heavens.'
2. The extent of his empire : ' His kingdom rules over all.' This text, in all the parts of it, is a fit basis for a discourse upon the dominion of God ; and the observation will be this,
Doct. God is sovereign Lord and King, and exerciseth a dominion over the whole world, both heaven and earth.
This is so clear, that nothing is more spoken of in Scripture. The very name Lord imports it; a name originally belonging to gods, and from them
translated to others. And he is frequently called ' the Lord of hosts,' because all the troops and armies of spiritual and corporeal creatures are in his hands and at his service. This is one of his principal titles,
and the angels are called ' his hosts,' verse 21, following the text, his camp and militia. But more plainly, 1 Kings xxii. 19, God is presented upon his throne, encompassed with all the hosts of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left, which can be understood of no other than of the
angels that wait for the commands of their sovereign, and stand about, not to counsel him, but to receive his orders. The sun, moon, and stars are
called his hosts, Deut. iv. 19, appointed by him for the -government of in ferior things. He hath an absolute authority over the greatest and the least
creatures, over those that are most dreadful and those that are most bene ficial, over the good angels that willingly obey him, over the evil angels that seem most incapable of government ; and as he is thus Lord of hosts, he is
the ' King of glory,' or a glorious king, Ps. xxiv. 10. You find him called ' a great King,' the ' Most High,' Ps. xcii. 1, the supreme Monarch, there being no dignity in heaven or earth but what is dim before him, and infinitely in
ferior to him, yea, he hath the title of ' only king,' 1 Tim. vi. 15. The title of royalty truly and properly only belongs to him. You may see it described very magnificently by David at the free-will offering for the building of the temple : 1 Chron. xxix. 11, 12, ' Thine, 0 Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty : thine is the king dom, 0 God, and tbou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and hon our come of thee, and thou reignest over all ; and in thy hand is power and
might, and in thy hand it is to make great, and to give strength to all.' He hath an eminency of power or authority above all. All earthly princes re ceived their diadems from him, yea, even those that will not acknowledge him, and he hath a more absolute power over them than they can challenge over their meanest vassals. As God hath a knowledge infinitely above our know ledge, so he hath a dominion incomprehensibly above any dominion of man, and by all the shadows drawn from the authority of one man over another, we can have but weak glimmerings of the authority and dominion of God. .
Ps. CIII. 19.] GOD'S DOMINION. 407
There is a threefold dominion of God : 1. Natural ; which is absolute over all creatures, and is founded in the nature of God as Creator.
2. Spiritual or gracious, which is a dominion over his church as redeemed, and founded in the covenant of grace.
8. A glorious kingdom at the winding up of all, wherein he shall reign over l&ll, either in the glory of his mercy, as over the glorified saints, or in the glory of his justice in the condemned devils and men. The first
dominion is founded in nature ; the second, in grace ; the third, in regard of the blessed, in grace, in regard of the damned, in demerit in them, and justice in him.
He is Lord of all things, and always in regard of propriety : Ps. xxiv. 1,
' The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof ; the world, and all that dwell therein.' The earth, with the riches and treasures in the bowels of it ; the habitable world, with everything that moves upon it, are his. He hath the sole right, and what right soever any others have is derived from him. In regard also of possession : Gen. xiv. 22, ' The most high God, pos sessor of heaven and earth ;' in respect of whom, man is not the proprietary nor possessor, but usufructuary at the will of this grand Lord.
In the prosecution of this, I. I shall lay down some general propositions for the clearing and con firming it.
II. I shall shew wherein this right of dominion is founded. III. What the nature of it is. IV. Wherein it consists, and how it is manifested.
I. Some general propositions for the clearing and confirming of it.
1. We must know the difference between the might and power of God and his authority. We commonly mean by the power of God, the strength of God, whereby he is able to effect all his purposes ; by the authority of God, we mean the right he hath to act what he pleases. Omnipotence is his physi cal power, whereby he is able to do what he will ; dominion is his moral power, whereby it is lawful for him to do what he will. Among men, strength and
authority are two distinct things. A subject may be' a giant, and stronger than his prince, but he hath not the same authority as his prince. Worldly dominion may be seated, not in a brawny arm, but a sickly and infirm body, as knowledge and wisdom are distinguished. Knowledge respects the mat ter, being, and nature of a thing ; wisdom respects the harmony, order, and actual usefulness of a thing ; knowledge searcheth the nature of a thing, and wisdom employs that thing to its proper use. A man may have much know ledge and little wisdom, so a man may have much strength, and little or no authority. A greater strength may be settled in the servant, but a greater authority resides in the master ; strength is the natural vigour of a man. God hath an infinite strength, he hath a strength to bring to pass whatso ever he decrees ; he acts without fainting and weakness, Isa. xl. 28, and impairs not his strength by the exercise of it. As God is Lord, he hath a right to enact ; as he is almighty, he hath a power to execute. His strength is the executive power belonging to his dominion. In regard of his sove reignty, he hath a right to command all creatures ; in regard of his almightiness, he hath power to make his commands be obeyed, or to punish men for the violation of them. His power is that whereby he subdues all creatures under him, his dominion is that whereby he hath a right to subdue all crea tures under him.
This dominion is a right of making what he pleases, of possessing what
408 CHAENOCK'S WOKKS. [Ps. GUI. 19.
he made, of disposing of what he doth possess ; whereas his power is an ability to make what he hath a right to create, to hold what he doth possess, and to execute the manner wherein he resolves to dispose of his creatures.
2. All the other attributes of God refer to the perfection of dominion. They all bespeak him fit for it, and are discovered in the exercise of it (which hath been manifested in the discourses of those attributes we have passed through hitherto). His goodness fits him for it, because he can never use his authority but for the good of the creatures, and conducting them to their true end. His wisdom can never be mistaken in the exercise of it, his power can accomplish the decrees that flow from his absolute authority. What can be more rightful than the placing authority in such an infinite goodness, that hath bowels to pity as well as a sceptre to sway his subjects ! that hath a mind to contrive, and a will to regulate his contrivances for his own
glory and his creatures' good, and an arm of power to bring to pass what he orders. Without this dominion some perfections, as justice and mercy, would lie in obscurity, and much of his wisdom would be shrouded from our sight and knowledge.
3. This of dominion, as well as that of power, hath been acknowledged by all. The high priest was to wave the offering, or shake it to and fro, Exod. xxix. 24, which the Jews say was customarily from east to west, and from
north to south, the four quarters of the world, to signify God's sovereignty over all the parts of the world ; and some of the heathens, in their adorations, turned their bodies to all quarters, to signify the extensive dominion of God throughout the whole earth. That dominion did of right pertain to the Deity, was confessed by the heathen in the name of Baal, given to their idols, which signifies Lord, and was not a name of one idol adored for a God, but common to all the eastern idols. God hath interwoven the notion of his sovereignty in the nature and constitution of man, in the noblest and most inward acts of his soul, in that faculty which is most necessary for him in his converse in this world, either with God or man. It is stamped upon the conscience of man, and flashes in his face in every act of self -judgment con science passes upon a man. Every reflection of conscience implies an ob ligation of man to some law written in his heart, Rom. ii. 15. This law cannot be without a legislator, nor this legislator without a sovereign dominion ; these are but natural, and easy consequences in the mind of man from every act of conscience. The indelible authority of conscience in man, in the whole exercise of it, bears a respect to the sovereignty of God, clearly proclaims, not only a supreme being, but a supreme governor, and points man directly to it, that a man may as soon deny his having such a reflecting
principle within him, as deny God's dominion over him, and consequently over the whole world of rational creatures.
4. This notion of sovereignty is inseparable from the notion of a God. To acknowledge the existence of a God, and to acknowledge him a rewarder, are linked together, Heb. xi. 6. To acknowledge him a rewarder, is to acknowledge him a governor, rewards being the marks of dominion. The very name of a God includes in it a supremacy, and an actual rule. He cannot be conceived as God, but he must be considered as the highest authority in the world. It is as possible for him not to be God, as not to be supreme. Wherein can the exercise of his excellencies be apparent, but in his sovereign rule ? To fancy an infinite power without a supreme domi nion, is to fancy a mighty senseless statue fit to be beheld, but not fit to be obeyed, as not being able, or having no right, to give out orders, or not caring for the Exercise of it. God cannot be supposed to be the chief being, but he must be supposed to give laws to all, and receive laws from none ; and if
: Ps. GUI. 19.] GOD'S DOMINION. 409
; we suppose him with a perfection of justice and righteousness (which we .must do, unless we would make a lame and imperfect God), we must sup
pose him to have an entire dominion, without which he could never be able i to manifest his justice ; and without a supreme dominion, he could not mani
fest the supremacy and infiniteness of his righteousness.
(1.) We cannot suppose God as creator, without supposing a sovereign ! dominion in him. No creature can be made without some law in its nature ;
if it had not law, it would be created to no purpose, to no regular end. It
' would be utterly unbecoming an infinite wisdom to create a lawless creature, i a creature wholly vain, much less can a rational creature be made without a ! law. If it had no law, it were not rational ; for, the very notion of a rational
creature implies reason to be a law to it, and implies an acting by rule.* If you could suppose rational creatures without a law, you might suppose that they might blaspheme their Creator and murder their fellowcreatures, and commit the most abominable villanies destructive to human society without
sin ; for ' where there is no law, there is no transgression.' But those things are accounted sins by all mankind, and sins against the supreme being, so that a dominion and the exercise of it is so fast linked to God, so entirely in him, so intrinsic in his nature, that it cannot be imagined that a rational creature can be made by him without a stamp and mark of that dominion in his very nature and frame, it is so inseparable from God in his very act of creation.
(2.) It is such a dominion as cannot be renounced by God himself. It is so intrinsic and connatural to him, so inlaid in the nature of God, that he cannot strip himself of it, nor of the exercise of it, while any creature remains. It is preserved by him, for it could not subsist of itself ; it is governed by him, it could not else answer its end. It is impossible there can be a creature which hath not God for its Lord. Christ himself, though in regard of his Deity equal with God, yet in regard of his created state, and assuming
our nature, was God's servant, was governed by him in the whole of his office, acted according to his command and directions ; God calls him his servant, Isa. xlii. 1. And Christ, in that prophetic psalm of him, calls God
his Lord : Ps. xvi. 2, ' 0 my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord.' It was impossible it should be otherwise. Justice had been so far from being satisfied, that it had been highly incensed, if the order of things in the due subjection to God had been broke, and his terms had not
': been complied with. It would be a judgment upon the world, if God should
give up the government to any else, as it is when he gives ' children to be princes,' Isa. iii. 4, i. e. children in understanding. (8.) It is so inseparable that it cannot be communicated to any creature.
1 No creature is able to exercise it, every creature is unable to perform all the offices that belong to his dominion. No creature can impose laws upon the consciences of men ; man knows not the inlets into the soul, his pen cannot reach the inwards of man. What laws he hath power to propose to con science, he cannot see executed ; because every creature wants omniscience, he is not able to perceive all those breaches of the law, which may be com mitted at the same time in so many cities, so many chambers. Or suppose an angel, in regard of the height of his standing, and the insufficiency of
walls, and darkness, and distance to obstruct his view, can behold men's actions, yet he cannot know the internal acts of men's minds and wills with out some outward eruption and appearance of them. And if he be ignorant of them, how can he execute his laws ? If he only understand the outward fact without the inward thought, how can he dispense a justice proportionable
* Maccov. Colleg Theolog. x. DiBjut. xviii. p. 6, 7, or thereabout.
410 CHARNOCK'S WORKS. [Ps. CIII. 19.
to the crime ? He must needs be ignorant of that, which adds the greatest
aggravation sometimes to a sin, and inflict a lighter punishment upon that which receives a deeper tincture from the inward posture of the mind, than another fact may do, which in the outward act may appear more base and unjust ; and so, while he intends righteousness, may act a degree of injustice. Besides, no creature can inflict a due punishment for sin ;* that which is due to sin, is a loss of the vision and sight of God ; but none can deprive any of that but God himself ; nor can a creature reward another with eternal life, which consists in communion with God, which none but God can bestow.
II. Wherein the dominion of God is founded.
1. On the excellency of his nature. Indeed, a bare excellency of nature bespeaks a fitness for government, but doth not properly convey a right of government. Excellency speaks aptitude, not title ; a subject may have more wisdom than the prince, and be fitter to hold the reins of government, but he hath not a title to royalty. A man of large capacity, and strong virtue, is fit to serve his country in parliament, but the election of the people conveys a title to him. Yet a strain of intellectual and moral abilities beyond others, is a foundation for dominion. And it is commonly seen that such eminences in men, though they do not invest them with a civil autho rity, or an authority of jurisdiction, yet they create a veneration in the minds of men ; their virtue attracts reverence, and their advice is regarded as
an oracle. Old men by their age, when stored with more wisdom and know ledge by reason of their long experience, acquire a kind of power over the younger in the dictates and counsels, so that they gain by the strength of that excellency a real authority in the minds of those men they converse with, and possess themselves of a deep respect from them. God therefore, being an incomprehensible ocean of all perfection, and possessing infinitely all those virtues that may lay a claim to dominion, hath the first foundation of it in his own nature. His incomparable and unparalleled excellency, as well as the greatness of his work, attracts the voluntary worship of him as a sovereign Lord. Ps. Ixxxvi. 8, ' Among the gods there is none like unto thee ; neither are there any works like unto thy work. All nations shall
come and worship before thee.' Though his benefits are great engagements to our obedience and affection, yet his infinite majesty and perfection re quires the first place in our acknowledgment and adorations. Upon this account God claims it : Isa. xlvi. 9, ' I am God, and there is none like me;
I will do all my pleasure.' And the prophet Jeremiah, upon the same account, acknowledged it : chap. x. 6, 7, ' Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, 0 Lord ; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear thee, 0 King of nations ? for to thee doth it appertain : forasmuch
as there is none like unto thee.' And this is a more noble title of dominion, it being an uncreated title, and more eminent than that of creation or pre
servation. t This is the natural order God hath placed in his creatures, that the more excellent should rule the inferior. He committed not the govern ment of lower creatures to lions and tigers, that have a delight in blood, but no knowledge of virtue ; but to man, who had an eminence in his nature above other creatures, and was formed with a perfect rectitude, and a height of reason to guide the reins over them. In man the soul, being of a more sublime nature, is set of right to rule over the body ; the mind, the most excel lent faculty of the soul, to rule over the other powers of it ; and wisdom, the most excellent habit of the mind, to guide and regulate that in its determina tions ; and when the body and sensitive appetite control the soul and mind, it is * Macovii Colleg. Theolog. Disp. xviii. p. 12, 13. t Raynaud, Theolog. Nat. p. 757.
i?s. CIII. 19.] GOD'S DOMINION. 411
im usurpation against nature, not a rule according to nature ; the excellency therefore of the divine nature is the natural foundation for his dominion. He hath wisdom to know what is fit for him to do, and an immutable right eousness whereby he cannot do anything base and unworthy. He hath a foreknowledge whereby he is able to order all things to answer his own Iglorious designs, and the end of his government, that nothing can go awry, iaothing put him to a stand, and constrain him to meditate new counsels. i3o that if it could be supposed, that the world had not been created by him,
that the parts of it had met together by chance, and been compacted into such a body, none but God, the supreme and most excellent being in the world, could have merited and deservedly challenged the government of it ; because nothing had an excellency of nature to capacitate it for it as he hath, or to enter into a contest with him for a sufficiency to govern.*
2. It is founded in his act of creation. He is the sovereign Lord, as he is the almighty Creator. The relation of an entire Creator induceth the relation of an absolute Lord ; he that gives being, life, motion, that is the sole cause of the being of a thing which was before nothing, that had nothing Ito concur with him, nothing to assist him, but by his sole power commands it
to stand up into being, is the unquestionable lord and proprietor of that thing that hath no dependence but upon him. And by this act of creation, iwhich extended to all things, he became universal Sovereign over all things. lAnd those that waive the excellency of his nature as the foundation of his 'government, easily acknowledge the sufficiency of it upon his actual crea tion. His dominion of jurisdiction results from creation. When God him self makes an oration in defence of his sovereignty, Job xxxviii., his chief 'arguments are drawn from creation ; and Ps. xcv. 8, 5, 'The Lord is a great
King above all gods. The sea is his, and he made it.' And so the apostle in his sermon to the Athenians. As he 'made the world, and all things Itherein,' he is styled 'Lord of heaven and earth,' Acts xvii. 24. His (dominion also of property stands upon this basis : Ps. Ixxxix. 11, ' The hea vens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness
; thereof, thou hast founded them.' Upon this title of forming Israel as a
', creature, or rather as a church, he demands their services to him as their
Sovereign. '0 Jacob and Israel, thou art my servant: I have formed thee; 'thou art my servant, 0 Israel,' Isa. xliv. 21. The sovereignty of God natu- : rally ariseth from the relation of all things to himself as their entire creator,
: and their natural and inseparable dependence upon him in regard of their
I being and well-being. It depends not upon the election of men ; God hath a natural dominion over us as creatures, before he hath a dominion by con sent over us as converts. As soon as ever anything began to be a creature, ut was a vassal to God as a lord. Every man is acknowledged to have a
right of possessing what he hath made, and a power of dominion over what be hath framed. He may either cherish his own work or dash it in pieces ; i he may either add a greater comeliness to it, or deface what he hath already
imparted. He hath a right of property in it; no other man can without injury pilfer his own work from him. The work hath no propriety in itself, the right must lie in the immediate framer, or in the person that employed him. The first cause of everything hath an unquestionable dominion of propriety in it upon the score of justice. By the law of nations, the first finder of a country is esteemed the rightful possessor and lord of that coun try, and the first inventor of an art hath a right of exercising it. If a man hath a just claim of dominion over that thing whose materials were not of his framing, but from only the addition of a new figure from his skill, as a
* Camero. p. 871, Amyrald, Dissert, p. 72, 78.
412 CHARNOCK'S WORKS. [Ps. GUI. 19.
limner over his picture, the cloth whereof he never made, nor the colours wherewith he draws it were ever endued by him with their distinct qualities, but only he applies them by his art to compose such a figure, much more hath God a rightful claim of dominion over his creatures, whose entire being, both in matter and form, and every particle of their excellency, was breathed out by the word of his mouth. He did not only give the matter a form, but bestowed upon the matter itself a being; it was formed by none to his hand, as the matter is on which an artist works. He had the being of all things in his own power, and it was at his choice whether he would impart it or no ; there can be no juster and stronger ground of a claim than this. A man hath a right to a piece of brass or gold by his purchase, but when by his engraving he hath formed it into an excellent statue, there results an in
crease of his right upon the account of his artifice. God's creation of the matter of man gave him a right over man ; but his creation of him in so eminent an excellency, with reason to guide him, a clear eye of understand ing to discern light from darkness, and truth from falsehood, a freedom of will to act accordingly, and an original righteousness as the varnish and beauty of all, here is the strongest foundation for a claim of authority over man, and the strongest obligation on man for subjection to God. If all those things had been passed over to God by another hand, he could not be the supreme Lord, nor could have an absolute right to dispose of them at
his pleasure. That would have been the invasion of another's right. Be sides, creation is the only first discovery of his dominion. Before the world was framed, there was nothing but God himself, and properly nothing is said to have dominion over itself; this is a relative attribute, reflecting on the works of God.* He had a right of dominion in his nature from eternity, but before creation he was actually Lord only of a nullity. Where there is nothing, it can have no relation ; nothing is not the subject of possession nor of dominion. There could be no exercise of this dominion without creation. What exercise can a sovereign have without subjects ? Sove reignty speaks a relation to subjects ; and none is properly a sovereign with
out subjects. To conclude ; from hence doth result God's universal do minion ; for being maker of all, he is the ruler of all. And his pei-petual dominion ; for as long as God continues in the relation of Creator, the right of his sovereignty as Creator cannot be abolished.
8. As God is the final cause or end of all, ho is Lord of all. The end hath a greater sovereignty in actions than the actor itself, f The actor hath a sovereignty over others in action, but the end for which any one works hath a sovereignty over the agent himself. A limner hath a sove reignty over the picture he is framing or hath framed, but the end for which he framed it, either his profit he designed from it, or the honour and credit of skill he aimed at in it, hath a dominion over the limner himself. The end moves and excites the artist to work, it spirits him in it, conducts him in his whole business, possesses his mind, and sits triumphant in him in all the progress of his work ; it is the first cause for which the whole work is wrought. Now God, in his actual creation of all, is the sovereign end of
all : ' For thy pleasure they are and were created,' Rev. iv. 11; 'The Lord hath made all things for himself,' Prov. xvi. 4. Man indeed is the subordi nate and immediate end of the lower creation, and therefore had the do minion over other creatures granted to him ; but God being the ultimate and principal end, hath the sovereign and principal dominion ; all things as much refer to him as the last end, as they flow from him as the first cause. So
* Stoughton, Righteous Man's Plea, Serin, vi. p. 28. t Yid. Lessium de perfect, divin. p. 77, 78.
s. GUI. 19.J GOD'S DOMINION. 413
that, as I said before, if the world had been compacted together by a jumjbling chance, without a wise hand, as some have foolishly imagined, none
could have been an antagonist with God for the government of the world, but God, in regard of the excellency of his nature, would have been the rector of it, unless those atoms that had composed the world had had an
ability to govern it. Since there could be no universal end of all things but God, God only can claim an entire right to the government of it ; for though man be the end of the lower creation, yet man is not the end of himself and his own being, he is not the end of the creation of the supreme heavens, he is not able to govern them, they are out of his ken, and out of his reach. None fit in regard of the excellency of nature to be the chief end of the whole world but God, and therefore none can have a right to the dominion
of it but God. In this regard, God's dominion differs from the dominion of all earthly potentates. All the subjects in creation were made for God as their end ; so are not people for rulers, but rulers made for people, for their protection, and the preservation of order in societies.
4. The dominion of God is founded upon his preservation of things.
Ps. xcv. 3, 4, ' The Lord is a great King above all gods.' Why? ' In his hand are all the deep places of the earth.' While his hand holds things, his hand hath a dominion over them. He that holds a stone in the air exerciseth a dominion over its natural inclination in hindering it from falling. The creature depends wholly upon God in its preservation ; as soon as that divine hand which sustains everything were withdrawn, a languishment and swooning would be the next turn in the creature. He is called Lord, Adonai, in regard of his sustentation of all things by his continual influx, the word coming of ]7tf, which signifies a basis or pillar that supports a building. God is the Lord of all, as he is the sustainer of all by his power,
j as well as the creator of all by his word. The sun hath a sovereign doi minion over its own beams, which depend upon it, so that if he withdraws
himself, they all attend him, and the world is left in darkness. God main tains the vigour of all things, conducts them in their operations, so that nothing that they are, nothing that they have, but is owing to this preserv ing power. The Master of this great family may as well be called the Lord of it, since every member of it depends upon him for the support of that being he first gave them, and holds of his empire. As the right to govern resulted from creation, so it is perpetuated by the preservation of things.
5. The dominion of God is strengthened by the innumerable benefits he bestows upon his creatures. The benefits he confers upon us after creation are not the original ground of his dominion. A man hath not authority over his servant from the kindness he shews to him, but his authority commenceth before any act of kindness, and is founded upon a right of purchase, conquest, or compact. Dominion doth not depend upon mere benefits ; then inferiors might have dominion over superiors. A peasant may save the life of a prince to whom he was not subject ; he hath not therefore a right to step up into his throne and give laws to him. And children that maintain their parents in their poverty might then acquire an authority over them, which they can never climb to ; because the benefits they confer can not parallel the benefits they have received from the authors of their lives. The bounties of God to us add nothing to the intrinsic right of his natural dominion, they being the effects of that sovereignty, as he is a rewarder and governor. As the benefits a prince bestows upon his favourite increases not that right of authority, which is inherent in the crown, but strengthens that dominion as it stands in relation to the receiver, by increasing the obligation of the favourite to an observance of him, not only as his natural prince, but
414 CHABNOCK'S WORKS. [Ps. GUI. 19
his gracious benefactor. The beneficence of God adds, though not ai original right of power, yet a foundation of a stronger upbraiding the crea ture if he walks in a violation and forgetfuluess of those benefits, and pul in pieces the links of that ingenuous duty they call for ; and an occasion o exercising of justice in punishing the delinquent, which is a part of his empire : Isa. i. 2, ' Hear, 0 heavens ; and give ear, 0 earth : the Lore hath spoken, I have nourished children, and they have rebelled against me. Thus the fundamental right as creator is made more indisputable by hi* relation as a benefactor, and more as being so after a forfeiture of what was enjoyed by creation. The benefits of God are innumerable, and so magni ficent, that they cannot meet with any compensation from the creature ; am therefore do necessarily require a submission from the creature, and ar acknowledgment of divine authority. But that benefit of redemption do add a stronger right of dominion to God, since he hath not only as a crea given them being, and life as his creatures, but paid a price, the price of Son's blood, for their rescue from captivity, so that he hath a sovereign of grace as well as nature ; and the ransomed ones belong to him redeemer as well as creator : 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20, ' Ye are not your own,
ye are bought with a price,' therefore your body and your spirits are God' By this he acquired a right of another kind, and brought us from that uncoil trollable lordship we affected over ourselves by the sin of Adam, that he mi^ use us as his own peculiar for his own glory and service ; by this redem tion there results to God a right over our bodies, over our spirits, over services, as well as by creation ; and to shew the strength of this right
apostle repeats it, ' you are bought,' — a purchase cannot be without a pri paid, — but he adds price also, ' bought with a price.' To strengthen title, purchase gave him a new right ; and the greatness of the price estab lished that right. The more a man pays for a thing, the more us we say he deserves to have it, he hath paid enough for it. It was ind price enough, and too much for such vile creatures as we are.
III. The third thing is, the nature of this dominion. 1. This dominion is independent. His throne is in the heavens ; the heavens depend not upon the earth, nor God upon his creatures. Since he > is independent in regard of his essence, he is so in his dominion, which flows from the excellency and fulness of his essence. As he receives his essence from none, so he derives his dominion from none ; all other dominion, except paternal authority, is rooted originally in the wills of men. The first title was the consent of the people, or the conquest of others by the help of those
people tbat first consented ; * and, in the exercise of it, earthly dominion depends upon assistance of the subjects, and the members being joined with the head carry on the work of government, and prevent civil dissensions ; in
the support of it, it depends upon the subjects' contributions and taxes. The subjects in their strength are the arms, and in their purses the sinews of government. But God depends upon none in the foundation of his govern ment > he is not a Lord by the votes of his vassals. Nor is it successively handed to him by any predecessor, nor constituted by the power of a superior; nor forced he his way by war and conquest, nor precariously attained it by suit or flattery, or bribing promises. He holds not the right of his empire from any other ; he hath no superior to hand him to his throne, and settle him by commission. He is therefore called ' King of kings, and Lord of lords,' having none above him. ' A great King above all gods,' Ps. xcv. 3 ; needing no license from any when to act, nor direction how to act, or assist-
* Eaynand. Theolog. Natural, p. 760-762.
Ts. CIII. 19.] GOD'S DOMINION. 415
ance in his action. He owes not any of those to any person ; he was not
i ordered by any other to create, and therefore receives not orders from any
other to rule over what he hath created. He received not his power and wisdom from another, and therefore is not subject to any for the rule of his
• government. He only made his own subjects, and from himself hath the i sole authority ; his own will was the cause of their beings, and his own will i is the director of their actions. He is not determined by his creatures in
I any of his motions, but determines the creatures in all. His actions are not i regulated by any law without him, but by a law within him, the law of his I own nature. It is impossible he can have any rule without himself, because j there is nothing superior to himself. Nor doth he depend upon any in the i exercise of his government ; he needs no servants in it ; when he uses crea tures, it is not out of want of their help, but for the manifestation of his wisdom and power. What he doth by his subjects, he can do by himself :
' The government is upon his shoulder,' Isa. ix. 6, to shew that he needs not any supporters. All other governments flow from him, all other authorities depend upon him ; Dei gratia, or Dei providentid, is in the stj'le of^princes. As their being is derived from his power, so their authority is but a branch of his dominion. They are governors by divine providence ; God is gover nor by his sole nature. All motions depend upon the first heaven, which moves all; but that depends upon nothing. The government of Christ
depends upon God's uncreated dominion, and is by commission from him ; Christ assumed not this honour to himself, ' but he that said unto him, Thou
art my Son,' bestowed it upon him. ' He put all things under his feet,' but not himself, 1 Cor. xv. 27. 'When he saith all things are put under him, he is excepted which did put all things under him.' He sits still as an independent governor upon his throne.
2. This dominion is absolute. If his throne be in the heavens, there is nothing to control him. If he be independent, he must needs be absolute, since he hath no cause in conjunction with him as Creator, that can share with him in his right, or retain him in the disposal of his creature. His authority is unlimited : in this regard the title of lord becomes not any but God properly. Tiberius, thought none of the best, though one of the subtilest princes, accounted the title of lord a reproach to him, since he was not absolute.*
(1.) Absolute in regard of freedom and liberty. [1.] Thus creation is a work of his mere sovereignty. He created because it was his pleasure to create, Rev. iv. 11. He is not necessitated to do this or that. He might have chosen whether he would have framed an earth, and heavens, and laid the foundations of his chambers in the waters. He was under no obligation to reduce things from nullity to existence.
[2.] Preservation is the fruit of his sovereignty. When he had called the world to stand out, he might have ordered it to return into its dark den of noth ingness, ripped up every part of its foundation, or have given being to many I more creatures than he did. If you consider his absolute sovereignty, why