umphs of Alexander; we might describe the fall of Jerusalem"; we might dwell on all the numerous prophecies which preceded the coming of our Saviour; for they are many and wonderful. But even one example of a prophecy, clearly fulfilled in all its parts, is sufficient for our purpose; viz. to prove the existence of a Being of knowledge and power, incomprehensible and infinite, which is God.

Further, every day's experience convinces us, that there is a superintending and controlling Providence, which directs the affairs of men; visible enough in its operations, though inscrutable in its designs. We see the mighty cast down'; the humble exalted; the wisest plans to fail; the most deserving men to suffer, in such a way as cannot satisfactorily be accounted for on any merely human principles. It may be difficult indeed in any particular instance to separate the free will of man, and the operation of natural causes, from the Divine will, and the effects of a particular providence; but immediately when

Also the notes on Isaiah xiv. 23. and xliv. and xlv, by Bishop Lowth.

Daniel viii. 5. 7.

Luke xix. 41. 44. Matt. xxiv. 2. Micah iii. 12. Jeremiah xxvi. 18.

Vide p. 96-102. of this work.

f Barrow, vol. ii. Serm. IX. part 2. Rom. xi. 33, 34.

we look into the world at large, its complicated movements, all tending on the whole, and in the long run, to the happiness of man, force us to confess, that the hand of a Superior Intelligence guides the course of events. Such a Being is the object of the Christian's faith, and hope, and joy in believing: such a Being is our God.

Q. What passages from Scripture attest the unity of God?

A. "God spake unto the children of Israel, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me, (or besides me ".)" He spake also unto them by the mouth of his servant Moses; "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord"." In the book of the prophet Isaiah it is written, "Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein. I am the Lord; and my glory will I not give to another." Again he saith, "I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is no God beside me." And again, "Is there a God be

Exod. xx. 1. 3.

i Isaiah xlii. 5-8.

h Deut. vi. 4. iv. 35.

* Isaiah xlv. 5.

side me? Yea, there is no God. I know not any'." Jesus said unto the tempter, "Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve"," Jesus said again unto the scribe, "The first of all the commandments is, the Lord our God is one God; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment "." St. Paul declared, "there is none other God but one; for though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth; but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him °." To us" there is one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all P."

Q. You said that God was a spiritual essence, pervading all space. How does that appear?

A. 1st. Scripture declares that "God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit "."

That He is a spirit, may also be proved thus. If He be not a spirit, he is material. But matter is passive; and as it cannot commence or

regulate its own motions, requires to be acted upon by an exterior agency, on which it entirely depends, and which consequently is superior to itself. God, however, is all perfect, and all powerful, absolutely independant of any foreign agency, and the source and centre of motion to all things else. To suppose the Supreme Being passive, would be a defect; to suppose the first cause acted upon, would be absurd. "If he is corporeal," says the learned author of the Religion of Nature, "wherever there is a vacuum, he must be excluded, and so becomes a being bounded and finite "," i. e. he would cease to be God.

2dly. God is, with peculiar propriety, termed Essence, both as descriptive of his essential being and godhead, and as he called all things else into existence, and endowed them with their respective natures and qualities.

3dly. That he pervades all space, follows as a natural consequence, from the proof of his omnipotence and omniscience'; for nothing less than infinite power and wisdom, every where present at all times, could support, and actuate, and

" Barrow's works, vol. ii. Serm. VII. § 1, 2. Human Understanding, book iv. ch. x. § 10. 13.

• Wollaston's Religion of Nature, sect. v. § xi.

Locke on the

See pages 43 and 71 of this article. Also Grotius, lib. 1. 6; and Clarke on the Attributes, prop. viii. p. 51-63.

govern the universal frame of nature". As is finely described in the Psalms, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness. shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me; yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee *."

f

Q. Do any texts of Scripture prove the being of God?

A. The passages of Scripture which contain

""The creation, and every part of it, is full of God. There is nothing he has made, that is either so distant, so little, or so inconsiderable, which he does not essentially inhabit. His substance is within the substance of every being, whether material or immaterial; and as intimately present to it, as that being is to itself. It would be an imperfection in him, were he able to remove out of one place into another, or to withdraw himself from any thing he has created, or from any part of that space which is diffused and spread abroad to infinity. In short, to speak of him in the language of the old philosopher, he is a being, whose centre is every where, and his circumference no where." Addison's Evidences on the Attributes, sect. 1. p. 98.

* Psalm cxxxix. 7. 12.