Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1881-01-27
The Omnipotenee Of God.

The OmnipOtenee Of God.
God is omnipotent because he has
all power from himself, and the power
of all other beings is derived from him.
His power and will are one, and since
he wills nothing but what is good,
therefore he can do nothing but what
is good. God also is good itself, and
therefore while he does good he is in
himself, and to go out Of himself is i'm
possible. Hence it is manifest that his
omnipotence proceeds and operates
within the sphere of the extension OF
good, which is infinite; for this sphere
fills the universe, from its inmost cen
tire, and all and everything therein.
and from that inmost centre governs
the things that are without, so far as
they enter into conjunction with it, ac-
cording to their respective orders. 1t
is very evident from the Word that
the Divine Omnipotence cannot so go
out of itself as to enter into contact
with anything that is evil, or in the
least promote evil from itself. n
From these few considerations may
be seen the great folly of those 'sho
imagine, and more Of those who be-
lieve. but still more Of those who teach
that God can condemn, curse, or cast IN
to hell; that he can predestinate the
soul of any person to eternal death, or
can 'avenge INJURIES, be angry and pun
ish. But, belt remembered my friends,
he cannot even turn his face away from
any one, or regard him with the least
severity Of countenance. These and
the like acts being contrary to his es.
sence ana consequently contrary to
himself. Il ls the prevailing opinion
at the present day that the omnipo-
tence of God is like the absolute power
of an earthly monarch, who can exc
cute his own will as he chooses; can
absolve and condemn whomsoever he
pleases, and under the slightest pre-
lenses deprive his subjects OF their es.
tates, and condemn to death, with
many. other acts of the same arbitrary
nature. f
Supposing the Divine Omnipotence
extended alike to do evil and to do
good, what difference would there be
between God and the devil, but like
that subsisting between two lnonarchs,
one of whom is a king, and at,the same
time a tyrant; and the other a tyrant
whose power is controlled SO that he
cannot be called king.
Who cannot discover that good and
evil are opposites, and that supposing
God bv virtue of his omnipotence to be
capable of willing and doing both the
one and the other, he would in fact be
able to will and to do nothing at all,
consequently would have no power
much less omnipotence. If the omnipo-
tence of God according to the prevail
ing belief Of the times be allowed to be
absolute and equally capable of effect
ing good and evil, would it not be pos
s:ble, yea, would it not be easy for God
to exalt the whole kingdom Of hell in
to heaven, to change devils and satani-
cal spirits into angels, and to purge evt
cry sinner upon earth in moment
from his sins; to renew, to sanctlfy
and regenerate him, and make him
child of grace insteadsof q child OF
wrath; in other words, to justify him
merely by the application and imputa
ton Of the righteousness Of His son.
But be it known my friendsthat God,
by virtue of his omnipotenca, cannot
effect such things; because they are
contrary to the laws of his own @order
established in the universe, and at the
same time contrary 10 the laws otsor-
der prescribed to every particular man,
which require a mutual tendency TO
conjunction on both sides, before God
and man can be conjoined together /
From this infatuated opinion and be-
lief respecting the omnipotence of God,
it would follow that God has the pow
or to change the nature of a goat in
any person into the nature of sheep
or that he could, at his will, transmute
lu6sSplElLS VI Vic uidSooA INV oHSOlo VI
Michael, or in short, make a man
dove, who was before like an owl,
Such things are out Of Gods power to
effect, since they are contrary to the
laws Of his own order.
If the power of God were thus abso
lutte, he would never have permitted
Adam to obey the serpent and eat the
fruit of the tree Of knowledge of good
and evil, neither would he have suf-
fered Cain to murder his brother, or
David to number the people, or Solo
mon to erect temples to idols, or the
kings Of Judah and Israel to profane
the temple as they SO often did; yea,
had his power been able to effect it he
would certainly have saved the whole
race Of mankind without exception,
through the redemption wrought by
his son, and would have rooted out all
the powers of darkness in hell
The Gentiles of old ascribed such
ahsoiute omninotellce to their gods and