Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

all, and in you all.' Our thoughts of the omnipresence of God, whatever may be the nature of the attribute, should be such as appear most suitable to the reverence due to the Deity.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

VIII. Omnipotence. 2 Chron. xx. 6. 'in thine hand is there not power and might?' Job xlii. 2. 'I know that thou canst do every thing.' Psal. xxxiii. 9. he spake, and it was done.' cxv. 3. he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.' See also cxxxv. 6. Matt. xix. 26. with God all things are possible.' Luke i. 37. with God nothing shall be impossible.' Hence the name of El Shaddai, applied to the Deity, Gen. xvii. 1. I am the Almighty* God,' literally 'sufficient.' Ruth i. 21. the Almighty hath afflicted me.' Jer. xxxii. 18. the Great, the Mighty God, the Lord of Hosts.' Gen. xiv. 22. Jehovah, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth.' Thus also the name frequently occurs. In the New Testament, the Lord Almighty,' 2 Cor. vi. 18, and Rev. i. 8. the only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords,' i. Tim. vi. 15. There seems, therefore, an impropriety in the term of actus purus, or the active principle, which Aristotlet applies to God, for thus the Deity would have no choice of act, but what he did he would do of necessity, and could do in no other way, which would be inconsistent with his omnipotence and free agency. But it must be observed, that the power of God is not exerted in things which imply a contradiction. 2 Tim. ii. 13.

* Fortis omnipotens. Tremellius. Shaddai. Hebr. qui sum sufficiens. See Aristot. Metaph. lib. 1. cap. ix. &c. lib. 14. cap. vi. Cudworth's Intellectual System, Vol. II. p. 322. Birch's Edit.

Can he make deathless death? That were to make
Strange contradiction, which to God himself

[ocr errors]

'he cannot deny himself.' Tit. i. 2. God, that cannot lie.' Heb. vi. 18. in which it was impossible for God to lie.'

6

6

[ocr errors]

IX. All the preceding attributes may be regarded as necessary causes of the ninth attribute, the Unity of God; of which, however, other proofs are not wanting. Deut. iv. 35. Jehovah he is God, there is none also beside him.' v. 39. Jehovah he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath there is none else.' vi. 4. hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.' xxxii. 39. I, even I, am he, and there is no God with me.' 1 Kings viii. 60. that all the people of the earth may know that Jehovah is God, and that there is none else.' 2 Kings xix. 15. 'thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth.' Isai. xliv. 6. beside me there is no God.' v. 8. is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.' xlv. 5. 'I am Jehovah, and there is none else; there is no God beside me.' v. 21. there is no God else beside me .....there is none beside me.' v. 22. I am God, and there is none else'-that is, no spirit, no person, no being beside him is God; for none is an universal negative. xlvi. 9. ' I am God, and there is none else : I am God, and there is none like me.' What can be plainer, what more distinct, what more suitable to general comprehension and the ordinary forms of speech, in order that the people of God might under

[ocr errors]

Impossible is held; as argument

Of weakness, not of power.

Paradise Lost, X. 798.

• Cum autem dico potentiæ Dei objectum omne esse possibile, per possibile intelligo illud quod non implicat contradictionem ut fiat. Nam quod contradictionem implicat, ne Deus quidem ipse potest.' Curcellæi Institutio II. 2.

stand that there was numerically one God and one Spirit, in the common acceptation of numerical unity?

For it was fitting and highly agreeable to reason, that what was the first and consequently the greatest commandment, scrupulous obedience to which was required by God even from the lowest of all the people, should be delivered in so plain a manner, that nothing ambiguous or obscure in its terms could lead his worshippers into error, or keep them in suspense or doubt. And thus the Israelites under the law and the prophets always understood it to mean, that God was numerically one God, that beside him there was none other, much less any equal. For those disputants of the schools had not yet appeared, who, depending on their own sagacity, or rather on arguments of a purely contradictory tendency, cast a doubt upon that very unity of God, which they pretended to asBut as with regard to the omnipotence of the Deity, it is universally allowed, as has been stated before, that he can do nothing which involves a contradiction; so must it also be remembered in this place, that nothing can be said of the one God, which is inconsistent with his unity, and which implies at the same time the unity and plurality of the Godhead.

sert.

[ocr errors]

Proceeding to the evidence of the New Testament, we find it equally clear, in so far as it goes over the former ground, and in one respect even clearer, inasmuch as it testifies that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is that one God. Mark xii. 28, Christ having been asked, which was the first commandment of all, answers, v. 29. from Deut. vi. 4.—a passage quoted

God.' Rom. iii. 30.

before, and evidently understood by our Lord in the same sense which had always been applied to it'hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.' To which answer the scribe assented, v. 32. well, Master, thou hast said the truth; for there is one God, and there is none other but he.' John xvii. 3. this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true seeing it is one God.' 1 Cor. viii. 4. we know....that there is none other God but one.' v. 6. to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things.' Gal. iii. 20. not a mediator of one; but God is one. one God and father of all.' 1 Tim. ii. one God.' So, too, though D' Hebrew, it is used notwithstanding for the one God, Gen. i. 1. 87 ' Psal. vii. 10. and lxxxvi. 10.

a mediator is

Eph. iv 6. 5. there is be plural in the

is also used אֱלֹהַ and elsewhere. But ; אֱלֹהִים בַּדִּים*

[ocr errors]

in the singular, Psal. xviii. 31. who is God save Jehovah, or who is a rock save our God? which verse is sufficient to show that the singular and plural of this word both mean the same thing. More will be found on this subject in the fifth chapter.

Hitherto those attributes only have been mentioned which describe the nature of God, partly in an affirmative sense, partly negatively, as where they deny` the existence of those imperfections in the Deity, which belong to created things,-as, for instance, when we speak of his immensity, his infinity, his incorruptibility. The succeeding attributes are such as show his divine power and excellence under the ideas of vitality, intelligence and will.

*Cab Dubs nan, Psalm lxxxvi. 10. ]

VOL. I.

אֱלֹהִים
אַתָּה

5

I. Vitality. Deut. xxxii. 40. 'I live for ever,' whence he is called the living God.' Psal. xlii. 2. and in many other passages. John v. 26. the Father hath life in himself."

[ocr errors]

II. The attribute of omniscience refers to the intelligence of God. Gen. vi. 5. God saw.....every imagination of the thoughts of his heart.' Gen. xviii. 14. is any thing too hard for Jehovah ?'

1 Chron.

Jehovah searcheth all hearts.' 2 Chron.

xxviii. 9. vi. 30. thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men.' Psal. xxxiii. 15. he fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.' cxxxix. 2. 'thou understandest my thought afar off.' v. 4. for there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether.' cxlvii. 5. his understanding is infinite.' Job xi. 7-9.

6

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

canst thou by

hell is naked

searching find out God?' &c. xxvi. 6. before him.' Prov. xv. 11. hell and destruction are before Jehovah; how much more then the hearts of the children of men.' xvi. 2. Jehovah weigheth the spirits.' xvii. 3. Jehovah trieth the hearts.' Isai. xl. 28. there is no searching of his understanding.' Jer. xvii. 10. I Jehovah search the heart, I try the reins,' whence, Acts i. 24. he is called the Lord which knoweth the hearts of all men.' Jer. xxiii. 23, 24. am I a God at hand, saith Jehovah, and not a God afar off? can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?' Heb. iv. 13. all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him,' whence he is called the only wise,' Dan. ii. 10. Rom. xvi. 27. 1 Tim. i. 17. So extensive is the prescience of God, that he knows beforehand the thoughts and actions of free agents as yet unborn, and many ages before those

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
« AnteriorContinuar »