A treatise of the incomparableness of God in his being, attributes, works and word…

1. Creation, Herein he is incomparable: Creatura non potest creare, The Creature cannot create; Ex nihilo nihil fit with them: Man may do something towards the emendation of the form, but he cannot produce matter, no nor mend it when 'tis before him. A Goldsmith may make a sparkling Jewel, but then you must give him Gold and precious Stones to make it of; he can put the matter into a better form, but he is so far from making matter where there is none, that he cannot mend the matter which ⟨p. 109⟩you give him: He cannot make Gold of Silver, nor Diamonds of common Stones. Man's work may exceed the matter, but man's work cannot make the matter, exceed it self. But God can not only make the matter to exceed it self, (as in man, who is formed of the Dust of the Earth, he hath such curious Parts, Veins, Sinews, Arteries, &c. such Members, Eyes, Cheeks, Ears, &c. Such Characters of Beauty in the whole, that he looks nothing like his Parent Earth, the matter of which he was made,) but also make matter: He hath brought something, nay all things out of nothing. All the Angels and Men cannot create one grain of Corn, one pile of Grass, one mote of Dust; but the great God hath erected the stately Fabric of Heaven and the Earth, with the curious steps and stories thereof, and the various Creatures and Furniture therein, of nothing. Hereby he proves himself the true God, The living God that made Heaven and Earth, & all things therein, Act. 14.15. He proves his Deity hereby, Jer. 10.10, 11, 12. The gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth, shall perish from the Earth, and ⟨p. 110⟩from under the Heavens: He hath made the Earth by his Power, He hath established the World by his Wisdom, and stretched out the Heavens by his discretion; i. e. Can you be so foolish and sottish, as to imagine that blind, dumb, deaf, dead Idols can compare with him, who created you, and all things beside. When God would proclaim his Sovereignty, and incomparable Excellency, he challengeth Job, Where wast thou, when I laid the Foundations of the Earth? declare, if thou hast understanding: Who hath laid the measures thereof, or stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the Foundations thereof set? or who laid the corner-stone thereof?