A Praflical Expo.Jition the _effeaingof f?~ewhat th_at was not, or the annulling ~nd delhoying of that whtch was: Thts IS the Nouon of Power, whethet ~r be afcrib~d to God or Man. an~ ~n both i~ is either . .Abfolute or Ordinate. Alifolure I Power refpet\s the fimpl~ Abtltty of aEhng, O~dznate Power refpeUs alfo the Will and Determination ro att : !\nd therefore mGod, whofe Po~er ~e are now treating at; his ilbfolute Power 1s ofa much larger Extent than bts Ordmare, for the one relates ro all Things poffible that is, wall Things whofe Exi!tence. doth .not imply a Comradi£Hon) the othe: relates only to Things future, and this likewife fuch as !hall exift according to the common Courfe and Method of God's Ordint1ry Providence; for Miraculous Efleas .although they are produced according to the Will and Ordination of God, yet they appertain notto his Ordinal~, but to his .Jtb[Cllt:tie, Power. So then the · Objtils of God's .Ab{olute Power are Things meerly poifible, or Things future, which art: without the Compafs and Sphere of Sel:6nd Caofes to' produce. But the Ohje[/s of God's Ordinate Por.vcr are Things future, produced,..according to the Laws of'Narll'ral Agents and tha Virtue of Second Caufes. .Yet both thefe Powers in God are infinite, rheon~ ObjeUively, the other Formally. · . Firft, God's .Abfolute Pewer is Obje[/ively infinite, that is, the Objdl ofi\ is infinite; for all Things poffible are theObje[/ofthisPower, and all Things are in •themfelves poffible which do not imply a ComradiElion: And Oh how vaft and incompre· benfible .is the Sum ofrhefe! God mighr have Erea[ed more Worlds, more Angels, and. Men, than he bath done ; more Sons of Creatures, and more of every Sort, ifhe had fo pleafed; yea, and he might have been Creating' and AUing from all Eternity to all Eternity ; and in his infinite Duration be ftill producing New, and therefore [nfinire,Effe8s; for with God nothing is impo!fible, Luke 1. 37· And the only Reafon why God bath pioduced fuch EffeCts, and no other, fo many, and not more, is not from want of Power, bur meerly from the free Determination oft his own Will and Counfel. He might have hindred the Fall of Man, reftored tht fallen .Angels, raifed the Stones ro be Children unto ilhrabam, brought more Dd'uges and general Plagues upon the World, if he had fo pleafed: Yea, and though our Fancy and lmaginaticn bath a large Empire, and ft:ems boundlefs in tbefe Fi8ions and Pourtraitures of Things which we Paim and Limn there, yet God can reall'y Create more than we can only imaginarily Create) for we: can only patch together thoii:: Things which we have feeo, or have otherwife been the Ohje{/s of our Senfes, and by purting together feveral pieces of Things really exifting, make an Idea of that which never was. But God can aCtually caufe rhofe Species and Kinds of Beings in the World which never were, nor ever was there a former Refemblam;e of them, and fo can infinitely exceed the largeft Scope of what in us feems mofi unlimined, even our Thoughts .and Fancies, for he is able to do above ~hat we are able to think. Secondly, God's Ordinate Power is in6nire formally ; that is, thofe Things which be works according to the Counfel of his own Will, they are all efl:~iled by infinite Power; for though the Ohjdlt rhemfelves are finite, borh for Nature and Number, yet the Power that produce rh them is infinite; for fince the Eifcnce of God is infinite, 2nd each of his Attributes is his Effence) it follows likewife that his Power isinfi· nire, even in the Produaion of Things that are finite. Now it appears that rhe Power of God is infinite, Firft, By the Works of Creation ; for though the Things that. are created arc finite, and but a few in Companfon w.nh thofe that are poffihle, y<;t Jt IS no .lefs than the infinite Power of God that can tmpregnate the vafl Womb of Nothmg, and make it bring forth a Being. It muft needs be an Almighty Word that can call forth a Creature our of Non·exiftence, and make it ftan up imo the Rank of Thingsthatare: And therefore we. find God often afcribing it · to himfelf as a Glorious Demonftration of his Almtghty Power, that he ipreads fonh the Cut· rains of the Heavens, that he laid the Beams of the Earth, that he hung out thofe Glorious Lights of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, that be breathed forth all the various Scrts of the Creatures which People the Uoiverfe,. and by the. corn· manding Word of his Mouth they were made: His Power and his Hand formed allthofe Beautiful Creatures we behold out of a rude and confufed Chaos, and that Cbaos itfelf out of the greater Confufionof Nothing: And altho: Second Caufes br thetr fowc.r
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