![Show Menu](styles/mobile-menu.png)
![Page Background](./../common/page-substrates/page0264.jpg)
144
TIE
'DOCTRINE
OF
THE
TRINITY,
[SEAM.
XLIV.
could not
be self-
sufficient,
nor all
-
sufficient; each
of
¡Item could
not
be
a God,
if
they could
want
any
help
from another:
Thence it
follows,
that
there
cannot
be
two
Gods;
for
since each
of
them must be
self- sufficient,
that
is, suffi-
cient
for
himself,
and
all-
sufficient,
that
is,
sufficient
for
all
other
purpóses whatsoever, one
of
these
two
Gods
would be Utterly
needless
and
useless
:
But
it
is
ab-
surd
tò imagine,
that
a
God
is
an
useless,
or
needless
being
;
therefore there
can
be no
other God but
one.
This
is
the
great and universal dictate of
the
light
of
nature, and this
is
the
constant doctrine of
the
scripture
in
the Old
and
New
Testament
:
And indeed, this unity
of
the
godhead,
is,
a peculiar
glory
of
all
the
religions,.
that
God bath
given to men,
and
whereby they
are
dis-
tinguished, from
the
false
religions
of the heathen nati-
ons,
who
did generally profess more
gods
than
one.
God
bath
always
taken
care to secure
to
himself an unrivalled
dignity and
majesty,
in all his
dispensations. This
is
the
language
of
God
by
Moses, .Near, O
Israel,
the
,Lord
oùr
God
is one
Lord, Dent.
vi.
4.
And
Christ
confirms
this doctrine, most
abundantly,
in
the
New Testament,
trn'd
that
in the
very same words,
Mark
xii.
And
be commends the scribe for
affirming,
There
is one
God,
and there
is none
other
but
he.
This
is
the
foundation
and
basis
of
all
that
can
be
called
true
religion, in every
nation and
in every
age
since the world
began.
And
when
a
multitude
of
nations had lost
this
doctrine
of
the
one
God, and
fell
into the worship
of
many, whom
they
called
gods,
it
was
one
great
design
of
christianity,
to
'destroy
polytheism, or
the doctrine
Of
many
gods,
among
the
nations of
the world,
and
to
reduce
them more uni-
versalIy
to
that
ancient and eternal truth,
which some
of
their,
own
philosophers professed, viz.
that
there
is
but
one true God.
Hence it follows,'
by plain
consequence,
from these
two
propositions,
that
since
God
is
a
Spirit,
eternal,
all -
wise,
and
almighty,
&c:
and since
there
cannot
be
more
gods
than
one,
there cannot
be
more than one eternal,
ail
-wise,
and almighty Spirit there
can
be
but
one
eter-
nal
and almighty
Being.
Latins
then
be fixed
as
an un-
changeable
truth.
Proposition
III.
This one
God
hash
revealed himself
by the
light of nature,
as
well-
as by "scripture,
to be the