The sum of sacred divinity briefly & methodically propoundedThe summe of sacred diuinitie briefly & methodically propounded

The second thing to be obserued^{1 2}is, ex quo, whereof they were made, viz. of nothing, only by his mighty powerful Word. So as the things we see, were not made of things that do appear, as the ⁱApostle saith to the Hebrews, that is, were made of nothing. By ^kthe Word of JEHOVAH, as it is in the Psalms, the Heavens were made, and by the breath of his Mouth all the host of them. So it is in the 148. ^lPsalm, He commanded, and they were created. This appeareth evidently in the History of the Creation, throughout all the parts: God ^msaid, Let there be Light, and there was Light: And so in the rest. God therefore needed not (as silly men do) stuff or matter to work upon; he needed not tools or other instruments, neither used he the aid or help of any Assistant; as the ⁿProphet teacheth us, when he crieth out, Who helped the Spirit of JEHOVAH? or as a man of his counsel gave him Knowledge? And this being against the course of nature, and contrary to the beaten axiom of all Philosophy, that of nothing it is impossible any thing should come, is worthily made a fruit of Faith for men to believe; the ^oApostle bearing witness, that by faith only we understand it: for howsoever many of the Heathen who knew not God, especially the wiser sort, have in a kind acknowledged a Creation: Neither in truth can any be so blockish, as not to see it, if he look but up to Heaven, and the frame of this World, which have the name of their Workman and Creator written in their fore-head: yet never was there any, not so much ⟨p. 73⟩as the wisest of them, that could attain to this, How the World should be made of nothing. Here therefore all reason of man must stoop, and be content to learn of him, in whose School it is better to be Scholars, then Teachers and Professors any where besides; who not only maketh men wiser then the beasts of the field, as it is in the