120 THE CHRISTIAN. DOCTRMNE:OFTILE TRINITY. of it in opposition to the common usage :of the.word in all:lan- guages, ages And nations, wherein the unity of God has been professed ; they divert it from the common meaning of it in the lips of Jews, heathens, and, christiaos. And they would do well to consider, whether this is not done merely to serve some particular schemes of their own, and to, support some hypothesis or opinion of theirs, which otherwise - could never be obtained. I confess, the word' God is used sometimes in the ina figurative, and in a limited or imperfect sense. i 1.:'Itis used in a figurative br improper esense, to signify somecharacter among creatures --that.bath a: likeness or resein, blanco to any part of this description of God,,- So. Moses the prophet is called a god to Pharaoh ; Exod. vii. 1. Becausehe carried divine authority with him in his message to Pharaoh, and wrought divine works before him; which were representations of God's government and his power. So angels are called gods ; Ps. xcvii. 7. and in many other placet, for the same reason. So prophets, judgesand magistrates are called gods ; Ps. lxxxii. 1. He judgeth among the gods. Verse 6. I said ye are gods. Joim x. 35. He called them gods . to whom the word of God came ; because they spoke and acted under divine influence, or in the name and authority.of God. 2. This word God is used also in . many scriptures in a limited or imperfect sense, to.signify the object of worship, which is onepart of- the description of the true God. .So Isa. xliv. 15. yea, he maketh a gcd, and-worshippeth it. Isa. xxxvi. 18. Hath any of the gods of the. nations delivered his. land. Verse 19. Where are the gods of Hamoth and Arphadl that is, their idols whom they worshipped. Micah. iv. 5. Thepeo- ple will walk every one in the :nameof his god, .that is, that being, either real or imaginary, whom they. worshipped. And probably, in this sense, the devil is called the godof this world = 2 Cdr. iv. 4. because he was worshipped by the heathens under various names, as well as because he seems to have great power in this sinful world, by the permission of God. But after all, there is, and there most be, such a distinction between the word God, when it is applied peculiarly to the true God,the Creator, and when it is applied to creatures, or to idols, -as that the creature may not be mistaken for the Creator; ner an idol for the living and the true God. Wheresoever, 'there- fore, theword God is used in scripture, and it does not evidently appear to be used in any of these figurative, diminutive, and imperfect senses, we are naturally and reasonably' led to un- derstand it concerning the All-wise and Almighty Creator and Governor of all things, the greatest, the wisest, 'and the best of Beings.
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