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God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will,
restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any
more than if nothing else but God's mere will had in the least degree,
or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men
one moment. -- The truth of this observation may appear by the following
considerations. There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into
hell at any moment. Men's hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The
strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his
hands. -- He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can
most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal
of difficulty to subdue a rebel, who has found means to fortify himself,
and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is
not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defence from the power
of God. Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of God's enemies
combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces. They
are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind; or large
quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames. We find it easy to
tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so it is
easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by:
thus easy is it for God, when he pleases, to cast his enemies down to
hell. What are we, that we should think to stand before him, at whose
rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down?
They deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never stands
in the way, it makes no objection against God's usin
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