"in working;" and in 1 Tim. i. 17. he is called "the only wife God," and alfo in Rom. xvi. 27. and Jude 25. But in If. xl. 12. &c. we have a moft magnificent defcription of the power, wisdom, and univerfal fupremacy of the one true God, as oppofed to the objects of worship in the heathen world. "Who hath measured the "waters in the hollow of his hand? and "meted out heaven with the fpan, and comprehended the duft of the earth in a "measure, and weighed the mountains in

fcales, and the hills in a balance? Who "hath directed the fpirit of the Lord, or

being his counsellor, hath taught him? "With whom he took counfel, and who "instructed him, and taught him knowledge, and fhewed him the way of un

derstanding? Behold, the nations are as "a drop of a bucket, and are counted as "the fmall duft of the balance: behold, he "taketh up the ifles as a very little thing. "All nations before him are as nothing, "and they are counted to him less than "nothing, and vanity. To whom then will "ye liken God? or what likeness will ye 66 compare

compare unto him? Have ye not known? "have ye not heard? hath it not been told

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you from the beginning? have ye not underftood from the foundations of the

"earth? It is he that fitteth upon the "circle of the earth, and the inhabitants "thereof are as grafshoppers; that stretch"eth out the heavens as a curtain, and

fpreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in : "That bringeth the princes to nothing; he "maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold "who hath created thefe things, that bring"eth out their hoft by number: he calleth "them all by names, by the greatness of "his might, for that he is ftrong in power,

not one faileth. Why fayeft thou, O

Jacob, and speakest, O Ifracl, My way is "hid from the Lord, and my judgment is paffed over from my God? Haft thou

not known? haft thou not heard, that the everlafting God, the Lord, the creator of "the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither "is weary? there is no fearching of his unHe giveth power to the

derftanding.

faint; and to them that have no might, he increaseth ftrength."

The Gentile nations imagined that fome gods had power over one country, and others over another; and even that fome had power in the hills, and others in the valleys only. There are, however, two remarkable pieces of hiftory in the Old Teftament, in which we find that, for the inftruction of the Ifraelites, the divine being particularly attended to, and by the moft fignal difplays of his own power, refuted thofe abfurd opi

nions.

Senacherib, king of Affyria, imagining that the God of Ifrael was no other than the God of that particular country, and of no greater power than the gods of other countries, infulted Hezekiah, king of Judah, which he was then about to invade, with a detail of the other kingdoms which he had lately conquered, faying, If. xxxvii. 10. &c. "Thus fhall ye fpeak to Heze

kiah, king of Judah, faying, Let not thy

"God in whom thou trufteft deceive thee, faying, Jerufalem fhall not be given into "the hand of the king of Affyria. Behold, “thou hast heard what the kings of Affyria "have done to all lands, by deftroying them utterly, and fhalt thou be delivered? "Have the gods of the nations delivered "them which my fathers have deftroyed, "as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and "the children of Eden which were in Te"lafar? Where is the king of Hamath, "and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Henah and Ivah?" Hezekiah, in his prayer to God upon upon this occafion, avows very different fentiments, acknowledging the fupremacy of the one true God, and putting his truft in him only; for laying open the letter which he received from Senacherib before the Lord, he prayed, faying, If. xxxvii. 16. "O Lord of hofts, God "of Ifrael, that dwelleft between the cheru

bims, thou art the God, even thou alone, "of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou haft "made heaven and earth. Incline thine ear,

O Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O Lord, "and fee: and hear all the words of Se

VOL. II.

O

nacherib,

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nacherib, who hath fent to reproach the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings "of Affyria have laid waste all the nations "and their countries, and have caft their

gods into the fire: for they were no gods, "but the work of mens hands, wood and "ftone: therefore they have deftroyed them.

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Now, therefore, O Lord our God, fave "us from his hand, that all the kingdoms "of the earth may know, that thou art the Lord, even thou only." Upon this prayer, the prophet Ifaiah was fent to encourage Hezekiah, with a promife of the utter deftruction of the army of Senacherib, which was presently after accomplished, in a fudden and miraculous manner.

The Syrians having been worfted in the hilly country, during their war with the Ifraelites, imagined that the God of Ifrael had power there, but not in the valleys; and, therefore, endeavoured to bring the Ifraelites to an engagement in the flat country. But there came a man of God, and fpake unto the King of Ifrael, and faid, 1 Kings xx. 28. "Thus faith the Lord, Because the Syrians