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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