“Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one
LORD.” Deuteronomy 4:4
We know that there is none other God but one.”
1 Corinthians 8:4
Compare:
“But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God.” Jeremiah 10:10
We have, in several preceding discourses, been endeavoring a
little to explain the description of God that is given in our shorter Catechism,
agreeable to the holy scriptures; and although it has been very imperfect,
seeing it is but little of God we can know here; yet I hope what has been said
upon it will tend to your instruction, and establishment in the faith, I now
proceed to the next question, relating to the unity of God; which we have very
clearly and strongly confirmed by the three passages of scripture which I have
read.
In the first of these texts there are two things which we are
taught to believe concerning God. (1.) That he is JEHOVAH, a being infinitely
and eternally perfect, self-existent, and self-sufficient. (2.) That he is the
one [and] only God. Let us therefore have no other, nor desire to have any
other. Some have thought that in this text there is a plain intimation of the
Trinity of Persons in the unity of the Godhead; for here the name of God is
thrice mentioned, and yet all declared to be but one. Happy they who have this
one Lord for their God; for they have but one master to please, and but one
benefactor to seek to.
In the second text the unity of God is
also clearly asserted: There is none other God but
one.
The third text presents us with a very
amiable representation of God.
(1.) As the true God.
He is, not a counterfeit and a mere pretender to
divinity, as idols are; but he is really what he has revealed himself to be. He
is one upon whom we may depend, and in whom and by whom we cannot be deceived.
(2.) As the living God.
He is life itself, has life in himself, and is the fountain
of life to all the creatures. The gods of the heathen are dead things, worthless
and useless; but ours is the living God and hath immortality.
From the three passages of scripture compared together, the
following doctrine natively arises, viz.
Doctrine: “There is but one only, the living and true God.”
In discoursing this point, I shall shew,
I.
Why God is called the living
God.
II.
Why he is called the true God.
III.
That there is but one God.
IV.
Deduce
some inferences.
I. I am to show why God is called
the living God.
1. He is called
the living God, in opposition
to, and to distinguish him from dead idols, (Ps. 115:4, 5, 6; 1 Thess. 1:9).
These were but dead and lifeless things, stocks and stones, silver and gold,
which the heathen nations did worship, neglecting the God that made the heavens
and the earth. In this respect these idols were viler than the matter of which
they were made, as the tree when in the ground had some life, but they had none.
2. Because God is the fountain of life, having all life in
himself, (John 5:26), and giving life to all things else. All life is in him and
from him. (1.) Natural life, (Acts 17:28). “For in him we live.” (1 Tim. 6:13).
“Who quickeneth all things.” (2.) Spiritual life, (Eph. 2:1). “You hath he
quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.” (3.) Eternal life, (Col. 3:4).
“Christ is our life.” His giving of these to the creatures proves that they are
in him, though in a more eminent way; for nothing can give what it has not.
II. I proceed to show why
he is called the true God.
He is so called to distinguish him from all false or
fictitious gods. Hence the apostle speaks of the Thessalonians having “turned to
God from idols, to serve the living and true God,” (1 Thess. 1:9). And says the
prophet, “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall
perish from the earth, and from under these heavens,” (Jer. 10:11). The
heathens, besides their worship of dead idols, worshipped also living creatures;
“They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new
gods that came newly up,” (Deut. 32:17). They were only gods in their blinded
opinion and foolish fancy, not in reality; no more than the picture of a man,
mistaken for a man, is a true man.
There is a twofold truth. (1.) Of fidelity or faithfulness.
Thus God is true, that is, faithful, as was before explained. But that is not
the truth here meant. (2.) A truth of essence, whereby a thing really is, and
does not exist in opinion only. Thus the greatest liar is a true man; that is,
he is really a man. It is in this sense that truth is attributed to God here.
And the meaning is, that there is a true God, and but one true God. That there
is a true God, or that truly and really there is a God, may be clearly
demonstrated against atheists, by the light of nature, seeing they refuse
scripture-testimony.
1. The works of creation and providence
declare that there is a God. The heavens, earth, sea, air, and all that in them
is, evidently proclaim their Maker to be divine. Look to the heaven, and behold
how it is adorned with sun, moon, and stars. How wisely are these heavenly
bodies situated with respect to us! Were they nearer, they would scorch and burn
up the earth; were they placed at a greater distance, the earth would be bound
with a perpetual frost and so be quite barren. How regularly do these heavenly
bodies move, making night and day, summer and winter, in so orderly a manner,
that these revolutions have never once ceased! If we consider the earth, we
shall find it hang as a ball or a globe in the air, yet its foundation
immoveable, though hung upon nothing. How is it adorned with trees, flowers,
corns &c. and all these things necessary for the use of man and beast! And what
an instance of divine wisdom is it, that all things are not found in every
place, that so commerce betwixt man and man may be advanced and correspondence
be established betwixt different and distant nations, in the reciprocal exchange
of the commodities peculiar to each country! Are there not in these the
brightest traces of order and symmetry, that point out a God as the former and
preserver of them all? But let us look to man, that abridgement of the world,
where the prints of a Divine Being appear in the brightest colors. The
composition of his body, and the powers of his soul, may convince you of the
existence of a Deity. For who but a God could unite such different substances,
an immaterial spirit with an earthly body? Who could distinguish so many parts,
assign to them their situation, form, and temperature, with an absolute fitness
for those uses to which they serve? Well may we say with the apostle, “He is not
far from every one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being,”
(Acts 17:27,28). We may find him in the activity of our hands, in the beauty of
our eyes, and in the vivacity of our senses. And to look inward, who hath endued
the soul with such distinct and admirable faculties; the understanding, which
exercises an empire over all things, compounds the most disagreeing and divides
the most intimate, by the lowest effects ascends to the highest cause; the will,
which with such vigor pursues that which we esteem amiable and good, and recoils
with aversion from that which we judge paining and evil; the memory, which
preserves fresh and lively images of those things which are committed to its
charge? Certainly then there is a God who made us.
As these things have a being, it leads us to the being of a God: for these
things cannot be eternal; for then their being would be a necessary being, and
so not capable of alteration or destruction. If they had a beginning, they had
it from another: then that must either have had it from itself, or another, and
so on till we come to the first cause, which is God. For nothing can give itself
a being, because so it should be and not be at one and the same time. And the
order speaks out infinite wisdom that has so ruled and disposed all; or else it
must be attributed to chance; which is far more absurd than to say that a most
beautiful fabric was made by the fortuitous concourse of stones, timber, lime,
&c. which is shocking to common sense.
2. Conscience tells men there is a God. It may be observed
how it stirs up to duty, though the powers of the world would forbid it under
the highest pains; it comforts a man after duty is performed, though he be
persecuted for it. It condemns and stings a man for sin, even for secret sins
unknown to any in the world, and that even where there is no hazard at all from
that quarter. These are terrors that no art can pluck up, nor any force quell;
and when men are going out of the world, are most lively and pungent, even when
their judgment, is most clear, and free from the clouds and the prejudices of
passions. How could these things be, if there were not a God, who by an
omnipotent hand has planted conscience in their bosoms, as his own vicegerent,
that stings them when none sees them? Atheists may, with as much hope of
success, attempt to pull the sun, moon, and stars out of heaven, as to eradicate
these innate impressions of a Supreme Divine Being.
3. The universal and perpetual consent
of all nations in this matter, evinces that there is a God. That must needs be a
natural truth, that in all ages, all nations, however different in all other
things, have yet held that there is a God, so that they would rather worship
anything than not have some God. Go back to ancient times; ask your fathers and
they will tell you, your forefathers and your most ancient ancestors, and they
will declare unto you, both that there is a God, and what he did in their days,
and in the old times before them. Nay, inquire of the nations round about you,
Let not the atheist (if such a creature can possibly exist in
a human form) pretend, that this universal belief of a divine existence which
has obtained in the world, is the product of a successful political device,
contrived by its crafty governors to keep it in awe and subjection to
themselves. For as this is nothing but a cunning insinuation to support the
worst of causes, so it is absolutely unaccountable how this device should be so
prevalent as to gain ground in the consciences of men, and exercise such an
uncontrollable empire over them. Is it possible that a few crafty men should so
impose upon all the world, and they should never be, and, for anything can be
seen, shall never be able to free themselves from the fraud?
Lastly,
Will ye consider the multitude of
miracles which have occurred in the world. If these wonders of nature which we
call miracles be nothing else but a mere lie and forgery, how comes the world to
be so generally imposed on? How comes not only the Jewish but the Christian
religion to be confirmed and ratified in such a firm manner as they have been
amongst men? But if it be true that nature’s bonds are sometimes broken, that
the ordinary methods of things and actions are crossed, and turned quite another
way; if ever the sun stood still, or the angels were seen on an embassy from
heaven; if ever God appeared in a flaming bush, and talked with man from the
clouds; if ever sin was punished with a shower of fire and brimstone from
heaven; in a word, if ever diseases were cured by a touch, and the dead raised
to life by prayer: I say, if all these things be true, then answer me, Who is so
able and so bold thus to transgress all the laws and hands of nature? Certainly
it can be no other than God.
III. I come now to show
that there is but one God.
There are gods many, and lords many, in title and the opinion
of men; but there is only one true God, having no fellow or competitor. This
great and important truth I shall endeavor to confirm, both from scripture and
reason.
1. The scripture is very express and pointed on this head:
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord,” (Deut. 6:4). “I am the first,
and the last, and besides me there is no God,” (Isa. 44:6). “There is one God,
and there is none other but he,” (Mark 12:32). Consult also the following
passages, which clearly establish this article, viz. 1 Samuel 2:2; Psalm 18:31;
Isaiah 46:9; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6.
2. This truth is clear from reason.
(1.) There can be but one First Cause, which hath its being
of itself, and gave being to all other things, and on which all other beings
depend, and that is God: for one such is sufficient for the production,
preservation, and government of all things: and therefore more are superfluous,
for there is no need of them at all. Certainly he that made the world can
preserve, govern, and guide it, without the assistance of any other God; for if
he needed any assistance, he were not God himself, an infinitely perfect and
all-sufficient being. And whatever power, wisdom, or other requisite perfections
can be imagined to be in many gods, for making, preserving, and governing the
world, all these are in one infinitely perfect being. Therefore it is useless to
feign many, seeing one is sufficient.
(2.) There can be but one infinite being, and therefore there
is but one God. Two infinites imply a contradiction. Seeing God fills heaven and
earth with his presence, and is infinite in all the perfections and excellencies
of his nature, there can be no place for another infinite to subsist.
(3.) There can be but one Independent Being, and therefore
but one God. [1.] There can be but one independent in being: for if there were
more gods, either one of them would be the cause and author of being to the
rest, and then that one would be the only God: or none of them would be the
cause and author of being to the rest, and so none of them would be God; because
none of them would be independent, or the fountain of being to all. [2.] There
can be but one independent in working. For if there were more independent
beings, then in those things wherein they will and act freely, they might will
and act contrary things, and so oppose and hinder one another: so that being
equal in power, nothing would be done by either of them. Yea, though we should
suppose a plurality of gods agreeing in all things, yet seeing their mutual
consent and agreement would be necessary to every action, it plainly appears,
that each of them would necessarily depend on the rest in his operations; and so
none of them would be God, because not absolutely independent.
(4.) There can be but one Omnipotent. For if there were two
omnipotent beings, then the one is able to do whatsoever he will, and yet the
other is able to resist and hinder him. And if the one cannot hinder the other,
then that other is not omnipotent. Again, we must conceive two such beings,
either as agreeing, and so the one would be superfluous; or as disagreeing, and
so all would be brought to confusion, or nothing would be done at all; for that
which the one would do, the other would oppose and hinder; just like a ship with
two pilots of equal power, where the one would be ever cross to the other; when
the one would sail, the other would cast anchor. Here would be a continual
confusion, and the ship must needs perish. The order and harmony of the world,
the constant and uniform government of all things, is a plain argument, that
there is but one only Omnipotent being that rules all.
(5.) The supposition of a plurality of gods is destructive to
all true religion. For if there were more than one God, we would be obliged to
worship and serve more than one. But this is impossible for us to do; as will
plainly appear, if ye consider what divine worship and service is. Religious
worship and adoration must be performed with the whole man. This is what the
divine eminence and excellency requires, that we love him with all our heart,
soul and strength, and serve him with all the powers and faculties of our souls,
and members of our bodies; and that our whole man, time, strength, and all we
have, be entirely devoted to him alone. But this cannot be done to a plurality
of gods. For in serving and worshipping a plurality, our hearts and strength,
our time and talents, would be divided among them. To this purpose our Lord
argues, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love
the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot
serve God and mammon,” (Matt. 5:24). Mammon is thought to be an idol, which the
heathens reckoned to be the god of money and riches. Now, says Christ, you
cannot serve them both; if you would have the Lord for your God, and serve him,
you must renounce mammon. We cannot serve two gods or masters: if but one
require our whole time and strength, we cannot serve the other.
(6.) If there might be more gods than one, nothing would
hinder why there might not be one, or two, or three million of them. No argument
can be brought for a plurality of gods, suppose two or three, but what a man
might, by parity of reason, make use of for ever so many. Hence it is, that when
men have once begun to fancy a plurality of gods, they have been endless in such
fancies and imaginations. To this purpose is that charge against the Jews, who
in this conformed themselves very much to the nations round about them,
“According to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah,” (Jer. 2:28).
Varro reckons up three hundred gods whom the heathens worshipped, and Hesiod
reckons about three thousand of them. Indeed, if we once begin to fancy more
gods than one, where shall we make an end? So that the opinion or conception of
a plurality of gods is most ridiculous and irrational.
And this should be observed against those who pretend, that
the Father is the most high God, and that there is no most high God but one, yet
that there is another true God, viz. Christ, who in very deed, as to them, is
but a mere man; yet they pretend he is the true God. Christ is God, and the true
and most high God. But, in opposition to them, consider that to be a man and to
be a God are opposite, and cannot be said of one in respect of one nature, (Jer.
31:3; Acts 14:15; Jer. 10:11).
I shall now shut up this subject with a few inferences.
1. Woe to atheists, then, whether they be such in heart or
life; for their case is dreadful and desperate: and they shall sooner or later
feel the heaviest strokes of the vengeance of that God whom they impiously deny,
whether in opinion or by works. To dissuade from this fearful wickedness,
consider,
(1.) That atheism is most irrational. It is great folly; and
therefore the Psalmist saith, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no
God,” (Ps. 14:1). It is contrary to the stream of universal reason; contrary to
the natural dictates of the atheist’s own soul; and contrary to the testimony of
every creature. The atheist hath as many arguments against him as there are
creatures in heaven and earth. Besides, it is most unreasonable for any man to
hazard himself on this bottom in the denial of a God. May he not reason thus
with himself, what if there be a God, for anything that I know? then what a
dreadful case will I be in when I find it so? If there be a God, and I fear and
serve him, I gain a blessed and glorious eternity; but if there be no God, I
lose nothing but my sordid lusts, by believing that there is one. Now, ought not
reasonable creatures to argue thus with themselves? What a doleful meeting will
there be between the God who is denied, and the atheist that denies him! He will
meet with fearful reproaches on God’s part, and with dreadful terrors on his
own: all that he gains is but a liberty to sin here, and a certainty to suffer
for it hereafter, if he be in an error, as undoubtedly he is.
(2.) Atheism is most impious. What horrid impiety is it for
men to deny their Creator a being, without whose goodness they could have had
none themselves? Nay, every atheist is a Deicide, a killer of God as much as in
him lies. He aims at the destruction of his very being. The atheist says upon
the matter, that God is unworthy of a being, and that it were well if the world
were rid of him.
(3.) Atheism is of pernicious consequence both to others and
to the atheist himself. To others: for (1.) It would root out the foundation of
government, and demolish all order among men. The being of God is the great
guard of the world: for it is the sense of a Deity, upon which all civil order
in cities and kingdoms is founded. Without this, there is no tie upon the
consciences of men to restrain them from the most atrocious impieties and
villainies. A city of atheists would be a heap of confusion. There could be no
traffic nor commerce, if all the sacred bonds of it in the consciences of men
were thus snapped asunder by denying the existence of God. (2.) It is
introductive of all evil into the world. If you take away God, you take away
conscience, and thereby all rules of good and evil. And how could any laws be
made, when the measure and standard of them is removed? for all good laws are
founded upon the dictates of conscience and reason, and upon common sentiments
in human nature, which spring from a sense of God. So that if the foundation be
destroyed, the whole superstructure must needs tumble down. A man might be a
thief, a murderer, and an adulterer, and yet in a strict sense not be an
offender. The worst of actions could not be evil, if a man were a god to
himself. Where there is no sense of God, the bars are removed, and the flood
gates of all impiety rush in upon mankind. The whole earth would be filled with
violence, and all flesh would corrupt their way.
Again, atheism is pernicious to the atheist himself, who
denies the being of God, or endeavors to erase all notions of the Deity out of
his mind. What can he gain by this but a sordid pleasure, unworthy of a
reasonable nature? And suppose there were no God, what can he lose but his
fleshly lusts, by believing there is one? By believing and confessing a God, a
man ventures no loss; but by denying him, he runs the most desperate hazard if
there be one. For this exposes him to the most dreadful wrath and vengeance of
God. If there be a hotter receptacle in hell than another, it will be reserved
for the atheist, who strikes and fights against God’s very being.
(4.) Atheists are worse than heathens:
for they worshipped many gods, but these worship none at all. They preserved
some notion of God in the world, but these would banish him from both heaven and
earth. They degraded him, but these would destroy him. Yea, they are worse than
the very devils: for the devils are under the dread of this truth, That God is.
It is said they “believe and tremble,” (
Inf.
2. Seeing there is one only the living
and true God, we owe the most perfect and unlimited obedience to his will. We
are to obey the will of his command with readiness and alacrity; and submit to
the will of his providence with the utmost cheerfulness, without fretting or
murmuring.
Inf.
3. Is God one? then his children
should live in unity, that they may be one as he is one. They should study to be
one in judgment and opinion, one in affection, and one in practice. We should
all live as the family of one God, carefully avoiding divisions, and whatever
may tend to interrupt the communion of saints.
Inf.
4. Seeing God is one, he should be the
centre of our affections, love, fear, delight, joy, &c. “Hear, O Israel, the
Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might,” (Deut. 6:4,5).
I shall conclude all with a few directions.
1. Beware of such opinions as tend to atheism, and aim at the
undermining of this supreme truth, that God is. There are many opinions which
have a woeful tendency this way. Such is that of denying the immortality of the
soul. This is a stroke at a distance at the very being of God, who is the
Supreme Spirit. There is an order among spirits; first, the souls of men, then
angels, and then God. Now, these degrees of spirits are, as it were, a rail and
fence about the sense we have of the being and majesty of God. And such as deny
the immortality of the soul, strike at a distance at the eternity and existence
of the Deity.
Another opinion is, that men of all
religions shall be saved; so that it is no matter what religion a man be of, if
he walk according to the principles of it, and be of a sober moral life. In
these latter times some are grown weary of the Christian religion, and by an
excess of charity betray their faith, and plead for the salvation of heathens,
Turks, and infidels. But ye should remember, that, as there is but one God, and
one heavenly
Another opinion tending to atheism is, the denying of God’s
providence in the government of the world. Some make him an idle spectator of
what is done here below, asserting that he is contented with his own blessedness
and glory, and that whatever is without him is neither in his thoughts nor care.
Many think that this world is but as a great clock or machine, which was set
agoing at first by God, and afterwards left to its own motion. But if ye exempt
anything from the dominion of providence, then you will soon run into all manner
of libertinism. If Satan and wicked men may do what they will, and God be only a
looker-on, and not concerned with human affairs, then ye may worship the devil,
lest he hurt you, and fear men though God be propitious to you.
2. Beware of indulging sin. When ye take a liberty to sin,
and gratify your vile and sordid lusts, you will hate the law that forbids it;
and this will lead you to a hatred of the Lawgiver; and hatred of God strikes
against his very being. When once you allow yourselves an indulgence to sin, you
will be apt to think, O that there were no God to punish me for my crimes! and
would gladly persuade yourselves that there is none; and will think it your only
game to do what ye can to root out the notions of God in your own minds, for
your own quiet, that so ye may wallow in sin without remorse.
3. Prize and study the holy scriptures, for they show clearly
that there is a God. There are more clear marks and characters of a Deity
stamped upon the holy scriptures than upon all the works of nature. Therefore
converse much with them. By this means was Junius converted from atheism. His
father perceiving him to be so atheistical, caused lay a Bible in every room, so
that in whatsoever room he entered, a Bible haunted him; and he fancied it
upbraided him thus: “Wilt thou not read me, atheist? wilt thou not read me?”
Whereupon he read it, and was thereby converted. I say then, study the holy
scriptures, and in doing so, learn to submit your reason to divine revelation.
For some men, neglecting the scriptures, and going forth in the pride of their
own understandings, have at last disputed themselves into flat atheism.
4. Study God in the creatures as well as
in the scriptures. The creatures were all made to be heralds of the divine
glory, and his glorious being and perfections appear evidently in them. Hence
saith the Psalmist, “The heavens declare the glory of God? and the firmament
sheweth his handy-work, day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night
sheweth knowledge. There is no speech, nor language, where their voice is not
heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end
of the world: in them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,” (Ps. 19:1-4). The
world is sometimes compared to a book, and sometimes to a preacher. The universe
is like a great printed book, wherein God sets forth himself to our view; and
the great diversity of creatures which are in it, are so many letters, out of
which we may spell his name. And they all preach loudly unto us the glorious
being and excellencies of God. And therefore the apostle tells us, “The
invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so
that they are without excuse,” (Rom. 1:20).
In
the book of the creatures God hath written a part of the excellency of his name;
and you should learn to read God wherever he hath made himself legible to you.
5. Lastly,
Ye who are yet sinners, lying in your natural state
of sin and misery, come unto God in Christ, and receive him as your God by
faith, and so ye will be preserved from atheism. And ye who are believers in
Christ, be often viewing God in your own experiences of him. Have you not often
found God in the strengthening, reviving, and refreshing influences of his grace
upon your souls? Have ye not had sweet manifestations of his love? Have you not
had frequent refreshing tastes of his goodness, in pardoning your iniquities,
hearing and answering your prayers, supplying your wants, and feasting your
souls? The reviewing of such experiences will be a mighty preservative against
atheism. Can you doubt of his being, when you have been so often revived,
refreshed, and supported by him? The secret touches of God upon your hearts, and
your inward converses with him, are to you a clearer evidence of the being of
God, than all the works of nature.
 |
Providence
Baptist Ministries ©
copyright_date |