teaches nothing contrary to the unity of God; and so far as she sheds any light on the subject, it is altogether in favour of the doctrine.

Let us then attend to the clear, unequivocal declarations of the Bible. "Hear O Israel, the Lord thy Deut. vi. 4. "The LORD He is

God is one LORD."

God, there is none else beside Him." iv. 5.

"Thou

art the God, even thou alone of all the kingdoms of

"Thou, even Thou

"Thus saith the Lord

the earth." 2 Kings xix. 15. art Lord alone." Neh. ix. 6. the King of Israel, and his Redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God." Is. xliv. 6. "Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no God, I know not any." 8. "And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God." John xvii. 3. "But to us there is but one God." 1 Cor. viii. 6. "God is one." Gal. "Thou believest that there is one God; thou

iii. 20.

doest well." James ii. 19.

It would be easy to multiply texts in confirmation of this doctrine, but these are sufficient. Indeed, no one who admits the Bible as authority, can doubt on this subject; and consequently, the fact is, that Jews and Christians have received the Unity of God as a fundamental truth.

CHAPTER V.

SPIRITUALITY AND SIMPLICITY OF THE DIVINE

NATURE.

THAT God is a pure Spirit, reason as well as Scripture requires us to believe. As God is an intelligent being, and the source of all intelligence, he must be a spirit; and as he is a voluntary agent, he must be an intelligent person. Matter is inert, unconscious, and cannot be the subject of thought or volition. Matter is also divisible to an indefinite extent, and the parts of bodies are separate from each other, so that each particle is a separate existence; but unity belongs to mind, therefore the mind cannot be material. Again, all matter is solid and extended, and necessarily excludes all other bodies from occupying the same space: if then God were a material being, as he is omnipresent, he would exclude all other bodies from the universe: or if not everywhere present, there would be some places where there was no God; and if limited to a certain locality, however extended it might be, there would be infinite space, in which God does not exist.

But if the materialist denies that inactivity, solidity, divisibility and extension, are the natural properties of matter, and maintains that all matter consists of monads, which are in their nature active, indivisible, unextended, and that some of these, if not the whole, are endued with consciousness, and are susceptible of all

the actions which we ascribe to mind, then there is no such thing as matter in the universe; but every thing that exists must fall under the class of spiritual being; for that substance which is active, indivisible, unextended, and capable of consciousness and other mental acts, is mind or spirit, and we cannot give a better definition of spirit than to deny to it those properties commonly ascribed to matter, and allowing to it the capacity of thought.

Materialists, therefore, in attempting to overthrow the belief of spiritual being, do in fact subvert the doctrine of the existence of matter, by affirming that it does not possess the properties commonly attributed to it, and does possess the powers and capabilities of spiritual existence. And on this theory, the materialist becomes an immaterialist; and when men agree in the properties which belong to any substance, it matters little what name they give it. We leave the atheistical materialist to settle his account with natural philosophers, as to the properties of matter; and according to his own theory, all our arguments derived from the immateriality of the soul, for its incorruptibility or continued existence, stand in full force.

As God is a pure intelligence, and everywhere present, and everywhere active, he is a SPIRIT.

Some, however, while they admitted this, held that God was the soul of the world, and that the world was to him what our bodies are to us. This is one form of the doctrine of pantheism, which has been revived in our day. It is a monstrous notion to consider all bodies a part of the Supreme Being. It destroys all individuality and all accountableness, and therefore, contradicts some of the clearest intuitions of our minds. Every man is conscious that he

is a person, distinct from all other persons; and every man feels that he is capable of acting freely, and of doing good or evil, as a moral agent; and that he is accountable for his actions. All theories and reasonings which contradict self-evident principles of truth, must be false, and deserve no further consideration.

The Holy Scriptures, everywhere, represent God as a being of infinite intelligence, as a being of will and affection; as omnipotent, and ever active; for all things are not only created, but upheld in being by his sustaining hand. Even active beings require his conservative energy to support them in being, and to continue their faculties in existence. Therefore, it is not only said, that he upholdeth all things by his power, but that it is "in him we live, and move, and have our being."

The Holy Scriptures enter into no nice disquisitions respecting matter and spirit, their properties, and differences; but assume as true, those first truths which are known without philosophy, to every man of common sense.

That man is a free and accountable agent, is everywhere, in the Bible, not proved, but assumed as true, and as being as well known as it can be. And the same is the fact in regard to our nature consisting of soul and body; of which every man, who has his reason, is as well convinced as he could be by any revelation.

And, as soon as we know that there is a God, we feel constrained to admit, that he must possess all excellence and every possible perfection, as before stated. And, therefore, as spirit is the most excellent kind of substance, and as God is made known to us as wise and powerful, by the creation, we can

not but believe, that he is a pure spirit, uncompounded, and free from bodily parts and members. And when God is spoken of as having head, hands, face, arms, feet, &c., it is necessary to consider this mode of speech as figurative, and intended to represent those things in the divine character or actions, which bear some distant resemblance to what is found in man. Indeed, when God is said to be a SPIRIT, it is not to be understood that his essence, which is eternal and immutable, is of the same nature with created spirits; but only, that there is a resemblance. If there were any substance known to us of a nobler nature than spirit, we should of course ascribe that to God; but still with the qualification, that the essence of God is infinitely superior to all creatures. We need not be surprised, therefore, to find, that there is but one text which positively asserts that God is a Spirit, excepting those which relate to the third person of the adorable Trinity; for this truth is every where assumed as known, and as implied in all his attributes. The text referred to is in John iv. 24. "GOD IS A SPIRIT; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

CHAPTER VI.

CHARACTER OF GOD.

GOD is the maker of all things. He is therefore almighty. He is also wise. Of this our own frame is evidence enough. We are fearfully and wonderfully.