Attributes of God - Charnock - XXXIV - Chapter 10 (God's power) concluded

Required reading
Attributes of God by Charnock (Available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) - Conclude Chapter 10 (A discourse upon the power of God).

My summary
Now Charnock gives us uses (applications) for the doctrine of God's power.

Firstly God's power is helpful for information and instruction.  If God is all powerful then:
(i) Jesus Christ hath a divine nature, because the acts of power proper to God are ascribed to him;
(ii) the deity of the Holy Ghost is inferred;
(iii) the blessedness of God is hence evidenced;
(iv) there is a ground for the immutability of God;
(v) hence is inferred the providence of God and his government of the world;
(vi) here is a ground for the worship of God;
(vii) from this we have a ground for the belief of the resurrection;
(viii) how strange is it, that God's power should be contemned and abused by the creatures as it is;
(ix) how miserable will all wicked rebels be under this power of God.

A second use of the doctrine of God's power is that it gives comfort:
(i) in all afflictions and distresses;
(ii) in all strong and stirring corruptions and mighty temptations;
(iii) that all promises shall be performed;
(iv) because it is a ground of assurance for perseverance.

The third use is for exhortation.  Charnock encourages us to:
(i) meditate on this power of God, and press it often upon our minds;
(ii) be induced to trust God upon the account of his power.

What grabbed me
I liked the encouragement to worship God because of his power: 'Here is a ground for the worship of God. Wisdom and power are the grounds of the respect we give to men; they being both infinite in God, are the foundation of a solemn honour to be returned to him by his creatures. If a man make a curious engine, we honour him for his skill; if another vanquish a vigorous enemy, we admire him for his strength: and shall not the efficacy of God's power in creation, government, redemption, enflame us with a sense of the honour of his name and perfections? We admire those princes that have vast empires, numerous armies, that have a power to conquer their enemies, and preserve their own people in peace. How much more ground have we to pay a mighty reverence to God, who, without trouble and weariness, made and manages this vast empire of the world by a word and beck! What sensible thoughts have we of the noise of thunder, the power of the sun, the storms of the sea! These things that have no understanding have struck men with such a reverence, that many have adored them as gods. What reverence and adoration doth this mighty power, joined with an infinite wisdom in God, demand at our hands!'

If we revere men for their power, how much more should we revere God!

Next week's reading
Commence Chapter 11 (A discourse upon the holiness of God) by reading up to the paragraph beginning, 'II. The second thing. The next inquiry is, the proof that God is holy, or the manifestation of it.'

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.