The profession of faith in Christ, as sitting on the right hand of God, is necessary; First, To mind us of our duty, which must needs consist in subjection and obedience. The majesty of a King claimeth the loyalty of a subject; and if we acknowledge his authority, we must submit unto his power. Nor can there be a greater incitation to obedience, than the consideration of the nature of his government. Subject we must be, whether we will or no: but if willingly, then is our service perfect freedom; if unwillingly, then is our averseness everlasting misery. Enemies we all have been;* under his feet we shall be, either adopted or subdued. A double kingdom there is of Christ; one of power, in which all are under him; another of propriety, in those which belong unto him: none of us can be excepted from the first; and happy are we, if by our obedience we shew ourselves to have an interest in the second, for then that kingdom is not only Christ's but ours.

Secondly, It is necessary to believe in Christ sitting on the right hand of God, that we might be assured of an auspicious protection under his gracious dominion. For God by his exaltation hath given our Saviour "to be the head over all things to the church;" (Eph. i. 22.) and therefore from him we may expect direction and preservation. There can be no illegality, where Christ is the lawgiver; there can be no danger from hostility, where the Son of God is the defender. The very name of head hath the signification not only of dominion but of union; and therefore while we look upon him at the right hand of God, we see ourselves in heaven. This is the special promise which he hath made us, since he sat down there; "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne." (Rev. iii. 21.) How should we rejoice, yea rather how should we fear and tremble, at so great an honour!§

Thirdly, The belief of Christ's glorious session is most necessary in respect of the immediate consequence, which is his most gracious intercession. Our Saviour is ascended as the true Melchisedech, not only as the "king of Salem, the king * Inimicus eras; eris sub pedibus μέγα, καὶ αὐτὴν ἐκάθισεν εἰς ἐκεῖνον τὸν cjus aut adoptatus, aut victus.' S. Ipóvov'evda yàp ǹ kepadŋ, ¿kɛĩ xai tò August. in Psal. cix. §. 9. σῶμα. οὐδενὶ γὰρ μέσῳ διείργεται ἡ κεφαλὴ καὶ τὸ σῶμα· εἰ γὰρ διείργεται, οὐκ ἂν εἴη σῶμα, οὐκ ἂν εἴη κεφαλή. Hom. 3. in Epist. ad Ephes.

† Βασιλείας τοῦ Θεοῦ δύο οἶδεν ἡ γραφὴ, τὴν μὲν κατ' οἰκείωσιν, τὴν δὲ κατὰ δημιουργίαν· βασιλεύει μὲν γὰρ ἁπάντων καὶ Ἑλλήνων καὶ Ἰουδαίων καὶ δαιμόνων καὶ τῶν ἀντιτεταγμένων, κατὰ τὸν τῆς δημιουργίας λόγον βασιλεύει δὲ τῶν πιστῶν καὶ ἑκόντων καὶ ὑποτεταγμένων, κατὰ τὸν τῆς οἰκειώσεως. S. Chrysost. Hom. 39. in 1. ad Corinth.

† This is the exclamation of St. Chrysostom upon those words of St. Paul: Βαβαί! ποῦ πάλιν καὶ τὴν ̓Εκκλησίαν ἀνήγαγεν ; ὥσπερ διά τινος ἕλκων μηχανῆς, εἰς ὕψος αὐτὴν ἀνήγαγε

§ Εννόει τὸν θρόνον τὸν βασιλικόν, ἐννόει τῆς τιμῆς τὴν ὑπερβολήν· τοῦτο καὶ γεέννης, εἴγε βουλοίμεθα, μᾶλλον ἡμᾶς φοβῆσαι δυνήσεται. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ γέεννα ἦν, τὸ τιμηθέντας τοσαύτην τι μὴν ἀναξίους εὑρεθῆναι καὶ κακοὺς, τίνα οὐκ ἂν ἔχοι κόλασιν; τίνα τιμωρίαν ; ἐννόησον τίνος ἐγγὺς ἡ κεφαλή σου κάθηται (τοῦτο μόνον καὶ ἀπόχρη πρὸς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν), τίνος ἐν δεξιᾷ ἵδρυται, Idem, ibidem.

of peace," but also as the "priest of the most high God;" (Heb. vii. 1, 2.) and whereas "every priest," according to the Law of Moses, "stood daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which could never take away sins; this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God." (Heb. x. 11, 12.) And now Christ being set down in that power and majesty, though the sacrifice be but once offered, yet the virtue of it is perpetually advanced by his session, which was founded on his passion: for he is "entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." (Heb. ix. 24.) Thus, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." (1 John ii. 1.) And "he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."(Heb. vii. 25.) What then remaineth to all true believers but that triumphant exclamation of the apostle, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." (Rom. viii. 33, 34.) For he which was accepted in his oblation, and therefore sat down on God's right hand, to improve this acceptation continues his intercession; and having obtained all power by virtue of his humiliation, representeth them both in a most sweet commixtion; by an humble omnipotency, or omnipotent humility, appearing in the presence, and presenting his postulations at the throne of God.*

Having thus explicated the session of our Saviour, we are next to consider the description of him at whose right hand he is set down; which seems to be delivered in the same terms with which the CREED did first begin, I believe in God the Father Almighty: and indeed, as to the expression of his essence, it

* St. Augustin, discoursing upon that place of St. Paul, 1 Tim. ii. 1. "I exhort that first of all, supplications, prayers, and intercessions, be made for all men," observeth what is the nature of intercession: 'Pro interpellationibus autem quod nostri habent, secundum codices credo vestros postulationes posuisti. Hæc interim duo, id est, quod alii postulationes, alii interpellationes interpretati sunt, unum verbum transferre voluerunt, quod Græcus habet VTEUSES. Et profecto advertis: sed nosti aliud esse interpellare, aliud postulare. Non enim solemus dicere, postulant interpellaturi, sed interpelJant postulaturi. Veruntamen ex vicinitate verbum usurpatum, cui propinquitas ipsa impetrat intellectum, non est velut censoria notatione culpandum. Nam et de ipso Domino

Jesu Christo dictum est, quod interpellat pro nobis. Numquid interpellat, et non etiam postulat? Imo vero quia postulat, pro eo positum est, interpellat. Evidenter quippe alibi de eo dicitur, Si quis peccaverit, Advocatum habemus apud Patrem, Jesum Christum justum, ipse est exoratio pro peccatis nostris, Quanquam fortassis codices apud vos etiam in eo loco de Domino Jesu Christo non habent interpellat pro nobis, sed postulat pro nobis. In Græco enim, quo verbo hic posita sunt interpellationes, quas ipse posuisti postulationes, ipsum et illic verbum est, ubi scriptum est, interpellat pro nobis. Cum igitur et qui precatur oret, et qui orat precetur, et qui interpellat Deum, ad hoc interpellet, ut oret et precetur, &c.' Epist. lix. ad Paulinum, Quæst. 5. §. 14.

is the same name of God; as to the setting forth his relation, it is the same name of Father: but as to the adjoining attribute, though it be the same word, it is not the same notion of Almighty. What therefore we have spoken of the nature of God, and the person of the Father, is not here to be repeated, but supposed; for Christ is set down at the right hand of that God and of that Father, which we understand when we say, I believe in God the Father. But because there is a difference in the language of the Greeks between that word which is rendered Almighty* in the first Article, and that which is so rendered in the sixth, because that peculiarly signified authority of dominion, this more properly power in operation; therefore we have reserved this notion of omnipotency now to be explained.

In which, two things are observable; the propriety, and the universality; the propriety in the potency, the universality in the omnipotency; first, That he is a God of power; secondly, That he is a God of infinite power. The potency consisteth in a proper, innate, and natural force or activity, by which we are assured that God is able to act, work, and produce true and real effects, which do require a true and real power to their production: and in respect of this he is often described unto us under the notion of a mighty God. The omnipotency or infinity of this power consisteth in an ability to act, perform, and produce, whatsoever can be acted or produced, without any possibility of impediment or resistance: and in this respect he is represented to us as an Almighty God. And therefore such an omnipotency we ascribe unto him: which is sufficiently delivered in the Scriptures, first by the testimony of an angel," for with God nothing shall be impossible;" (Lukei. 37.) secondly, by the testimony of Christ himself, who said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible." (Mark x. 27.) Now he, to whom all things are possible and to whom nothing is impossible, is truly and properly omnipotent. Thus whatsoever doth not in itself imply a repugnancy of being or subsisting, hath in reference to the power of God a possibility of production; and whatsoever in

* In the first Article it is Παντο· ἐνιδρύουσαν καὶ θεμελιοῦσαν καὶ περι κράτωρ, in the sixth Παντοδύναμος. σφίγγουσαν, καὶ ἀῤῥαγὲς ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸ πᾶν Page 88, 89. And this distinction is ἀποτελοῦσαν, καὶ ἐξ ἑαυτῆς τὰ ὅλα και very material, and much observed by θάπερ ἐκ ρίζης παντοκρατορικῆς προά the Greeks ; as Dionysius Areopagita γουσαν, καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὴν τὰ πάντα καθά(whosoever that is in his book De περ εἰς πυθμένα παντοκρατορικὸν ἐπιDivinis Nominibus, in the 8th chapter, στρέφουσαν, καὶ συνέχουσαν αὐτὰ, ὡς explicates the δυναμωνυμίαν, oι παν- πάντων ἕδραν παγκρατῆ, τὰ συνεχόμενα τοδύναμον, and in the 10th chapter πάντα κατὰ μίαν ὑπερέχουσαν πάντα παντοκράτωρ, as two distinct names συνοχὴν ἀσφαλιζομένην, καὶ οὐκ ἐῶσαν with different notions of God. Οἱ αὐτὰ διεκπεσόντα ἑαυτῆς, ὡς ἐκ παντε the Παντοκράτωρ, which we have al- λοῖς ἑστίας κινούμενα, παραπολέσθαι. ready considered, he gives this ac- c. x. §. 1. But of the duvaμwvvμía count: Tò μèv yàp λéyerαi, dià tò Táv- he gives another account, as we shall των αὐτὸν εἶναι παντοκρατορικὴν ἕδραν, see hereafter. συνέχουσαν καὶ περιέχουσαν τὰ ὅλα, καὶ

respect of the power of God hath an impossibility of production, must involve in itself a repugnancy or contradiction.

This truth, though confessed by the heathens, hath yet been denied by some of them; but with poor and insufficient arguments,* that we shall need no more than an explication of the doctrine to refute their objections.

First, then, we must say God is omnipotent, because all power, whatsoever is in any creature, is derived from him; and well may he be termed Almighty, who is the fountain of all might. There is no activity in any agent, no influence of any cause, but what dependeth and proceedeth from the principal agent or the first of causes. There is nothing in the whole circumference of the Universe but hath some kind of activity, and consequently some power to act† (for nothing can be done without a power to do it): and as all their enti ties flow from the first of beings, so all their several and various powers flow from the first of powers: and as all their beings cannot be conceived to depend on any but an infinite essence, so all those powers cannot proceed from any but an infinite power.

Secondly, God may be called omnipotent, because there can be no resistance made to his power, no opposition to his will, no rescue from his hands. "The Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?" (Isa. xiv. 27.) "He doth according to his will, in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand, or say unto him,

* The arguments which the heathen used, are briefly touched by Plutarch, but were more largely delivered by Pliny. ̓Ανηρήσθω γὰρ (φησὶν) ὁ ποιητικὸς λῆρος, σὺν Καλλιμάχῳ τῷ λέγοντι, - Εἰ Θεὸν οἶσθα,

Ισθ ̓ ὅτι καὶ ῥέξαι Δαίμονι πᾶν δυνατόν. (so it must be read) οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς δύναται πᾶν ποιεῖν. Επείτοιγε, εἰ θεός ἐστι, ποιεῖτω τὴν χιόνα μέλαιναν, τὸ δὲ πῦρ ψυχρὸν, τὸ δὲ καθήμενον ὀρθὸν, καὶ τὸ ivavríov. Plutarch. de Plac. Philos.l.i. c. 7. Imperfectæ vero in homine naturæ præcipua solatia, ne Deum quidem posse omnia. Namque nec sibi potest mortem consciscere, si velit, quod homini dedit optimum in tantis vitæ poenis; nec mortales æternitate donare, aut revocare defunctos ; nec facere ut qui vixit non vixerit, qui honores gessit non gesserit, nullumque habere in præterita jus præterquam oblivionis: atque (ut facetis quoque argumentis societas hæc cum Deo copuletur) ut bis dena viginti non sint, ac multa similiter efficere non posse, per quæ declaratur haud

dubie naturæ potentia, idque esse quod Deum vocamus.' Plin. Nat. Hist. l. ii. c. 7. Add unto these that objection of Elymas the sorcerer, recorded by Dionysius Areopagita: Καίτοι φησὶν 'Ελύμας ὁ μάγος, Εἰ παντοδύναμός ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς, πῶς λέγεταί τι μὴ δύνασθαι πρὸς τοῦ καθ' ὑμᾶς θεολόγου; Λοιδορεῖται δὲ τῷ θείῳ Παύλῳ φήσαντι, μὴ δύνασθαι τὸν Θεὸν ἑαυτὸν ἀρνήσασθαι. De Divinis Nominibus, c. 8.

† Ἡ ἀπειροδύναμος τοῦ Θεοῦ διάδοσις εἰς πάντα τὰ ὄντα χωρεῖ, καὶ οὐδέν ἐστι τῶν ὄντων ὃ παντελῶς ἀφῄρηται τὸ ἔχειν τινὰ δύναμιν, ἀλλ ̓ ἢ νοερὰν, ἢ λογικὴν, ἢ αἰσθητικὴν, ἢ ζωτικὴν, ἢ οὐσιώδη δύναμιν, ἔχει· Καὶ αὐτὸ δὲ, εἰ θέμις εἰπεῖν, τὸ εἶναι δύναμιν, εἰς τὸ εἶναι ἔχει παρὰ rs repovoíov dvváμews. Dionys. Areopag. De Divin. Nom. c. 8. §. 3.

Neque enim veraciter ob aliud vocatur omnipotens, nisi quia quicquid vult potest; nec voluntate cujuspiam creaturæ voluntatis omnipotentis impeditur effectus.' S. August. Enchir. ad Laur. c. 96.

What dost thou?" (Dan. iv. 85.) According to the degrees of power in the agent and the resistent, is an action performed or hindered: if there be more degrees of power in the resistent than the agent, the action is prevented; if fewer, it may be retarded or debilitated, not wholly hindered or suppressed. But if there be no degree of power in the resistent in reference to the agent, then is the action totally vigorous; and if in all the powers, beside that of God, there be not the least degree of any resistance, we must acknowledge that power of his being above all opposition, to be infinite. As Jehosaphat said, "In thine hand, O God, is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?" (2 Chron. xx. 6.) From hence there is no difficulty with God to perform any thing: no greater endeavour or activity to produce the greatest than the least of creatures; but an equal facility in reference unto all things: which cannot be imagined but by an infinite excess of power, above and beyond all resistance.*

Thirdly, God is yet more properly called omnipotent, because his own active power extendeth itself to all things;+ neither is there any thing imaginably possible, which he cannot do. Thus when God several ways had declared his power unto Job," Job answered the Lord, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing." (Job xlii. 1, 2.) Now that must needs be infinite activity, which answereth to all kinds of possibility. Thus the power of God is infinite extensively, in respect of its object, which is all things; for whatsoever effects there be of his power, yet still there can be more produced: intensively, in respect of the action, or perfection of the effect produced; for whatsoever addition of perfection is possible, is within the sphere of God's omnipotency. The object then of the power of God is whatsoever is simply and absolutely possible, whatsoever is in itself such as that it may be; and so possible every thing is, which doth not imply a contradiction. Again, whatsoever implieth a contradiction is impossible, and therefore is not within the object of the power of God, because impossibility is the contradiction of all power. For that is said to imply a contradiction, which if it were, it would necessarily follow, that the same thing would be and not be. But it is impossible for the same thing both to be and not to be, at the same time and in the same respect; and therefore whatsoever implieth a contradiction, is impossible. From whence it followeth, that it may be truly said, God cannot effect that which involveth a contradiction, but with no derogation from his power: and it may be as truly said, God can effect whatsoever involveth not a contradiction, which is the expression of an infinite power.