will stand good against him seeing all the wisdom of others is but folly with him and he taketh the wise in their own craftiness and confoundeth the counsels and policy of the Subtle and returneth them upon themselves at his own pleasure This will be a farther ground of our trust and confidence that we are to repose and put in him In trusting in him we trust not in a foolish and unadvised Person that undertakes such a Charge that he does not well understand and is not wise enough to manage and protect But in trusting in the Lord Jehovah we trust in a God that is infinitely wise in all respects and knows how to manage all the Charges and Cares of an universal Patron and Protector and is such a God for wisdom to whom we may well commit the care of our Souls and Lives and all that is pretious and dear to us Thirdly He is a God that is Omnipotent and Almighty and can do every thing and therefore we have the greater reason to trust and confide in him He is no weak and and impotent creature but a God that is armed with all the Might and Power that can be and therefore we may well account him the Rock of our Salvation I am the Almighty God saith he to Abraham Gen. 17.1 walk before me and be thou perfect And in these two respects especially may God be said to be Almighty 1 Because all Rule and all Dominion and Power of Governing all things doth in a most absolute manner belong to him He is the great and only Monarch of all the World and all the Armies and Hosts of Heaven and Earth are under his Authority and Power and at his absolute command He is the Supreme Lord of all and all the Angels above and the Powers of Darkness and all Earthly Kings and Princes are but his Ministers and Servants and must all observe his Orders and obey his word and command For the Lord your God saith Moses Deut. 10.17 is God of Gods and Lord of Lords a great God a mighty and a terrible which regardeth not persons nor taketh reward And saith St. Paul 1 Tim. 6.15 Who is the blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords He is the Supreme King over all the Kings and Emperors of the Earth and as he sees fit he exerciseth his Authority and Power in all the Kingdoms of the Earth and placeth and displaceth all Kings and Princes as he sees good This the Prophet Daniel sheweth Dan. 4.17 To the intent saith he that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and setteth up over it the basest of men And ver 25 saith he to Nebuchadnezzar They shall drive thee from men and thy Dwelling shall be with the Beasts of the Field till thou know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will And saith he Dan. 2.20 Blessed be the Name of God for ever and ever for wisdom and might are his And he changeth the times and the Seasons he removeth Kings and he setteth up Kings And so saith the Psalmist Ps 75.6 For promotion cometh neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South But G d is the Judge he putteth down one and setteth up another He disposeth of the Kingdoms of the World and ordereth whom he pleaseth to rule therein and there is no man can have any Power therein except it be given or some ways granted and allowed him from above as our blessed Lord told Pilate Joh. 19.11 Jesus answered Thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above No Man can have any Authority except it be some way allowed him by Almighty God who is the Supreme King and Disposer of all Power and Authority And he is an everlasting King and his Dominion is without end and endureth to all Eternity Jer. 10.10 saith the Prophet there But the Lord is the true God he is the living God and an everlasting King at his wrath the earth shall tremble and the Nations shall not be able to abide his indignation And saith the Psalmist Psal 145.13 Thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and thy Dominion endureth throughout all generations There is no end of his Kingdom and his supreme Power endureth for ever 2 God is Almighty in regard of his infinite Power whereby he is able to effect and bring all things to pass He is Almighty in Operation and there is nothing too hard for him which he cannot do and therefore he may be said to be Omnipotent He hath all power of doing whatsoever he pleaseth and all the Power and Strength that is in all Creatures is derived from him and hath continual dependance upon him and in this respect he may well be said to be Almighty It is in him that we all live and move and have our being as the Apostle affirmeth Acts 17.28 And there is no resisting and withstanding of his Power and nothing can hinder him from doing any thing that he pleaseth to do For the Lord of Hosts hath purposed saith the Prophet Isaiah 14.27 and who shall disanul it and his hand is stretched out and who shall turn it back And saith God by him Is 43.13 Before the day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of mine hand I will work and who shall let it There is no resisting and withstanding of him but all must truckle and give way to his Omnipotent Power And saith God to Abraham Gen. 18.14 Is any thing too hard for the Lord hereby declaring that all things are possible and feasible to him And this doth Job acknowledg Job 42 2 I know that thou canst do every thing and that no thought can be withholden from thee And saith the Prophet Jeremiah 32.17 Ah Lord God behold thou hast made the Heaven and the Earth by thy great Power and stretched out Arm and there is nothing too hard for thee And the Angel declared this to the blessed Virgin Luc. 1.37 For with God nothing shall be unpossible saith he And this our Lord sheweth Matth. 19.26 But Jesus beheld them and said unto them with men this is unpossible but with God all things are possible He can turn and change every thing at his own will and pleasure He can create and form things that are not out of nothing and annihilate those that be and let them return to nothing again All things that thwart not his justice goodness and truth he can do And his power is an eternal power and will never fail nor decay He is an everliving God and his Arm and Power will never be shortened nor diminished Rom. 1.20 saith St. Paul For 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 But we shall the better
thou art there If I make my bed in hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me And saith the Prophet Hanani 2 Chr. 16.9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro thorowout the whole earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him His eyes are employed every where and no place escapes them and with this design too to see what is needful and wanting to all such as have a perfect heart towards him that he may succour and help them And saith Solomon Prov. 15.3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good All places tho' never so far distant and remote from one another ly plain and open before his all-seeing eyes and are never absent from them His eyes and knowledge penetrate thro' all dark and hidden places where secret works are often a hammering out which are concealed from the eyes of the World but are there as visible to him as if they were doing in the open light Psal 139.11 If I say surely the darkness shall cover me saith the Psalmist even the night shall be light about me Yea the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darkness and the light are both alike to thee Darkness it self will not secure any from his sight and knowledg He by his unconceivable Deity and Godhead fills all places and is every where present and there is no place where any one can hide himself from his knowledg as he himself affirms by the Prophet Jer. 23.24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord Do not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord There is no place that can be excluded from his eye and knowledg because there is no place whatsoever but he is there And as God's knowledg is extended to all places so is it also extended to all Creatures and to all their works and actions and especially to all the works of mankind There is not one of all his Creatures whereof there are numberless Hosts and Armies that is ever without the sight of his eyes nor is there one action that is done by any of them all that escapes his cognizance but he takes knowledg of it Is 40.25 To whom then will ye liken me or shall I be equal saith the holy One Lift up your eyes on high and behold who hath created these things that bringeth out their host by number he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might for that he is strong in power not one faileth This perfect knowledg hath he of all the Armies of his Creatures And he is privy to all the actions that are done by them all and to all the secret transactions and contrivances that are done or a doing any where through-out the whole earth and to all the secret counsels and retired thoughts and imaginations of mens hearts His eyes are upon the ways of man and he seeth all his goings as Elihu saith Job 34.21 And saith the Psalmist Psal 94.10 He that teacheth man knowledge shall not he know Hereby shewing that it is impossible that he should be ignorant And saith Solomon Prov. 5.21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings And what the son of Sirach saith to this purpose is very remarkable Ecclus. 23.18 A man that breaketh wedlock saying thus in his heart who seeth me I am compassed about with darkness the walls cover me and no body seeth me what need I to fear The most High will not remember my sins Such a man only feareth the eyes of man and knoweth not that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the Sun beholding all the ways of men and considering the most secret parts So quick-sighted is he to behold and observe whatsoever is done every where in the most secret and retired corners and all the hidden practices and machinations of men And all men's hearts and private thoughts are all plain and open to his All-seeing eyes It is his prerogative to be the searcher of all men's hearts and to know all that is therein Deut. 31.21 saith God concerning the Israelites For I know their imagination which they go about even now before I have brought them into the land which I swâ—re All things whether past present or to come are perfectly known to Almighty God He is an everliving and eternal God and with his eternity does his knowledg bear proportion He who was and is and is to come knows all things that may be comprehended in these terms There is no such thing as forgetfulness with him and the things that are past cannot be razed and expunged out of his memory but all things that have been done from the very Creation of the World are as fresh and present with him as they were in the very day and moment when they were done For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past and as a watch in the night saith the Psalmist Psal 90.4 And saith St. Peter 2 Pet. 3.8 But beloved be not ignorant of this one thing that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day And saith St. James Acts 15.18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world All that has been done from the very Creation of the World remains clear and undefaced before him And all that is to come is clearly seen and known by him Things future are unknown to us and we cannot tell what shall come to pass hereafter except it be some way revealed to us But it is not so with God for he hath all things that are future and to come plain before his eyes This is his peculiar prerogative to have a perfect knowledge of what is to come as the Prophet sheweth Is 41.23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are Gods It is God and God alone that knoweth all things future and all that shall be done hereafter even to the end of the World is perfectly seen and known by him And the things too that men would do but shall be prevented and stopt from the doing of them are all within the reach of his sight He knows what they would do if he did not restrain them by his grace and power or prevent them by death He knows all things that can be known and his knowledge is perfect and complete in every respect And this as it ought to make us the more careful what we do because it is done before the All-seeing eyes of God so also will it be a very great ground of our trust and confidence in him For in trusting in the Lord Jehovah we do not
Lord make this valley full of ditches For thus saith the Lord ye shall not see wind neither shall ye see rain yet that valley shall be filled with water that ye may drink both ye and your cattle and your beasts And ver 20. And it came to pass in the morning when the meat-offring was offered that behold there came water by the way of Edom and the country was filled with water And we may see in the Gospels that our blessed Saviour did often feed many thousands with a few loaves and a little quantity of fish when he saw it needful to work such a miracle for them By these and such Instances we see how God hath in an extraordinary manner relieved his People and Servants in their great necessities and supplyed them with food and such things as they stood in great need of 2 We may see also that Almighty God hath often delivered his People and Servants in an extraordinary and miraculous manner from great and eminent Dangers and from such Judgments and Calamities as have befallen others God preserved Noah from that prodigious Flood that swept away the Inhabitants of the old World in his time and drowned all Mankind beside him and his Family Gen. 7.1 He protected Abraham in all his travels and delivered him from all his fears He preserved him from being hurt by the Egytians Gen. 12 And from the hands of the four Kings that took Lot captive against whom he warred Gen. 14 And out of all other straits that he came into did he deliver him He preserved Lot from that dreadful judgment of fire that destroyed the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah c. Gen. 19. He kept Jacob from being hurt by his Brother Esau when he came out with an Host of 400 men against him and turned his heart so that he did him no harm but embraced him in love Gen. 33.4 He protected Moses from being hurt by Pharaoh King of Egypt when he came to deliver the Israelites out of his hand and armed him with such power of doing wonders that he made him like a God to Pharaoh as he saith Exod. 7.1 And he preserved him all along afterwards in all those dangers that he underwent and from the hands of those Kings with whom he warred over whom he gave him victory And preserved his People Israel from all the dangers that they met with He protected Joshua and his People afterwards from all the Kings of Canaan and gave him victory over them and their Armies as we may see in the book of Joshua The Lord preserved David from all the attempts of King Saul to take away his life and at the last set him upon the Throne of Israel And hereby we may see how vain a thing it is to seek to take away his life whom the God of Heaven will preserve and how those that set upon such enterprizes like Saul and Pharaoh do most miserably fret and gall themselves and that disappointment and grief are the fruits of such sinful attempts In a miraculous manner did the Lord deliver the Prophet Elijah from the two Captains and their men that were sent from the King of Israel to take him and sent down fire from Heaven to consume them 2 Kings 1.9 And from Jezebel and all dangers else did God deliver him The Lord delivered the Prophet Elisha from the Bands of the Syrians and garded him with Horses and Chariots of fire 2 Kings 6.15 And from the King of Israel when he sent to take away his head and from all dangers else did God deliver him The Lord in a remarkable manner delivered Samaria and the Israelites from the Host of Syria 2 Kings 7.6 and frighted the whole Host away and made them to overrun their Tents and Horses through fear The Lord preserved and delivered King Hezekiah and Jerusalem in a miraculous manner from Sennacherib the King of Assyria and sent his Angel to destroy his whole Army 2 Kings 19.35 And it came to pass that night that the Angel of the Lord went out and smote in the Camp of the Assyrians an hundred and fourscore and five thousand and when they arose early in the morning behold they were all dead corpses In a wonderful manner were the three Children preserved and kept from harm even in the midst of the fiery Furnace by the Omnipotent power of God Dan. 3.26 Then Shadrach Meshach and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire And the Princes Governors and Captains and the King's Counsellors being gathered together saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power nor was an hair of their head singed neither were their coats changed nor the smell of fire had passed on them In this extreme danger and hopeless condition to all humane appearance were they thus miraculously delivered and had not the least degree of harm The Prophet Daniel was protected and defended by an Angel in the Lyon's den from being torn in pieces or hurt by them Dan. 6.21 Then said Daniel unto the King O King live for ever My God hath sent his Angel and hath shut the lyons mouthes that they have not hurt me for as much as before him innocency was found in me and also before thee O King have I done no hurt The Lord by an Angel delivered St. Peter out of prison and out of the hands of Herod who was minded to put him to death Acts 12.7 And behold the Angel of the Lord came upon him saith St. Luke and a light shined in the prison and he smote Peter on the side and raised him up saying Arise up quickly And his chains fell off from his hands And the Angel said unto him gird thy self and bind on thy sandals And so he did And he saith unto him cast thy garments about thee and follow me And he went out and followed him By these and such like examples we may see That God hath delivered and protected his People and Servants from very great and eminent dangers in a wonderful and miraculous manner when they have had no power and might to help and defend themselves And from hence we may be the more encouraged to put our trust and confidence in him and hope that he will have pity and mercy upon us and send us help and relief in all our straits and needs and helpless conditions if we have recourse to him and depend upon him for help and protection and relief at all times as we ought We have all the assurance that well can be that God will no ways fail us in the day of trouble And we have as great encouragement as we can well desire to trust in the Lord Jehovah at all times of the greatest Dangers And if we can but believe his sacred and sure Word and rely upon his faithful Promises we need not much to fear in the darkest and blackest Times that can come upon us such as this is like to be If we are not wanting to our selves but will repent