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SECTION I.

On the Being and Unity of God.-His Being muft be matter of Faith.-His Unity demonftrated, from Creation;—from his wonderful Works, for the deliverance of his People ;-from the Judgments executed on the gods of the Heathen ;from the Accomplishment of Prophecy-from the Anfwer of Prayer-from his Faithfulnefs to his Church; from the whole work of Redemption; —from his Operation on the

Heart.

"THE Sacred History," as one juftly obferves, "is the hiftory of God himself." It is defigned as a permanent teftimony to his being. This is made known by the light of nature. But it is the will of God, that we fhould be perfuaded of this doctrine, fundamental to all religion, not merely by reafon, but by faith; and that our faith, with respect to this doctrine, fhould have the fame foundation that it has with refpect to any other contained in his word. Therefore, it is alfo given as matter of revelation. Nor, in the volume of infpiration, is it merely taught as a doctrine. It is demonftrated as a fact. We learn it not from God's word only, but also from his works. How often, in this refpect, does he appeal to the

works

works of creation?" The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament fheweth his "handiwork a." "Afk now the beafts, and they "fhall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and

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they fhall tell thee: or fpeak to the earth, and "it fhall teach thee; and the fishes of the fea "fhall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in "all thefe, that the hand of the LORD hath wrought "this? In whofe hand is the foul of every living "thing, and the breath of all mankind b." In the account given of the creation, we have an exhibition of the Creator himself; "GOD created." In the very first words of the facred volume, the existence of God is contrafted with that of all other beings. He "created in the beginning," that is, "the beginning of the creature" or creation. This declares that he existed before all things, and that he gave being, not only to all the creatures, but to time itself.

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A fimilar appeal is frequently made to the works of providence. "The LORD is known by the judgment which he executethe." It is thus that he replies to thofe fools who fay in their hearts, "No God;" who, if they do not difbelieve the doctrine of his existence, wish that it were not true, and act as if affured that it were false, especially in perfecuting his Church. God "fcattereth the bones of him that encampeth againft" her. He enables her to " put thei "to shame, because God hath despised them f."

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When he executes upon them the judgments
written in his book, men are made to fay;
"rily there is a reward for the righteous, verily
"he is a God that judgeth in the earth ." They
find it neceffary to acknowledge, not only that
"he is," but that he is the " rewarder of all them
"that diligently feek him." Of this, the hif-
tory of the church is one continued proof; as
appears from the beautiful compend given of it
in the chapter of which these words are a part.
All that they did or fuffered was "by faith;"
and their fuccefs clearly fhows, that their faith was
not placed on a nonentity.

Next to the doctrine of the existence of God, none claims a more diftinguished place than that of his unity. To deny the unity of the Supreme Being, is in effect to deny his exiftence: and this may be one reafon why the heathen are called "atheifts in the world." Hence there is no doctrine, that God hath been at more pains to inculcate and confirm. He feparated one nation from all the rest of the world, as a peculiar people, for the prefervation of this important truth. He employed them in exhibiting it to others, and by means of them he confirmed it in the fight of the heathen. "Ye are my witneffes, faith JEHOVAH, "and my fervant whom I have chofen, that ye

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may know and believe me, and understand that "I am he before me there was no God formed, "neither fhall there be after me k."

The

1

g Pfal. lviii. 11. h Heb. xi. 6.

i Eph. ii. 12.

k Ifa, xliii. 10.

The Sacred Hiftory uniformly attefts that there is but one God, and that this is JEHOVAH the God of Ifrael, The proof that JEHOVAH is God, and that this God is one, is indeed the fame. In many paffages of Scripture, these two are infeparably conjoined. But even where the unity of God is not exprefsly declared, the revelation of himfelf as JEHOVAH implies the doctrine of his abfolute unity. This name itfelf excludes every idea of an equal. He will not give the glory of it to another for it denotes his independence and felfexistence, and therefore the unity of his effence. Hence, all thofe operations by which he manifefts that he is JEHOVAH, equally declare him to be the One God.

The law, given to God's peculiar people, is a key to their history, and their history is a practical commentary on their law, and a continued proof of its divine origin. As feveral of the precepts of the moral law, and many of the pofitive injunctions, teach or guard the doctrine of the unity; when God would commit this law to the church, he infolds it in an hiftorical narrative, which throws the greatest light on this fundamental doctrine.

1. He would not have the fons of Jacob to confider him merely as their Father, who had "made "them, and established" them, as a people for, like other nations, they might have believed this, however inconfiftently, without acknowledging that he was the one true God. He therefore re

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veals himself as JEHOVAH, the creator of the "ends of the earth;" and addreffes his peculiar people in this language: "Thus faith JE"HOVAH thy redeemer, and he that formed thee "from the womb, I am JEHOVAH that maketh all things, and stretcheth forth the heavens alone, "that spreadeth abroad the earth by myfelf m." He accordingly prefaces the volume of revelation with a particular account of the work of creation, which none but himfelf could give: and from this account, as well as from a great many other paffages, it is most evident that this was wholly the work of One Being. The idolatry of the Gentiles confifted in worshipping the creatures inftead of God. To prevent the imitation of this idolatry, and to illuftrate its abfurdity, he enumerates the various parts of creation, and fhews that they were all the works of his hands. The most of the heathen nations worfhipped the hoft of heaven, either exprefsly, or under the disguise of different proper names or peculiar fymbols. But, in the hiftory of creation, the church is taught that the fun, moon, and ftars were all the workmanfhip of her God. For he who "created the "heaven and the earth "," "finifhed all the host "of them." On this fubject, Boffuet has an obfervation, which merits our attention. "It plea"fed the great Artificer," he fays, " to create the

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light, even before he reduced it to the form he gave it in the fun and ftars: because he meant "to teach us, that thofe great and glorious lumi

"naries,

1 Ifa. xl. 28.

m Ifa. xliv. 24.

n Gen. i. 1.

o Gen. ii. 2.

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