Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
Ver. 6. Which shaketh the earth out of her place] By mighty earthquakes, dislocating the earth, some part of it; for the whole was never removed, though God can take up the whole globe as a man would do a ball, tossing the very centre itself whereon it is established, 2 Samuel 22:8, &c. There is a twofold power of God; 1. Absolute. 2. Actual. By the former he can do more than he doth: by the latter, whatsoever he willeth, that without impediment he effecteth. As for the earth, as God upholdeth it by the word of his power, Hebrews 1:3, so he hath poised it merely by its own weight, that it should not be removed for ever, Psalms 104:5. For if you imagine that the earth could be removed out of its natural place, which way soever it be removed, it shall move towards heaven, and so shall naturally ascend; but to do so is utterly repugnant to the nature of the earth, which is to bear downward. All which, notwithstanding, the God of nature, as he is in the heaven, so he doth whatsoever he will in heaven and earth.