05.26. There is, and can be, but one God...
THERE IS, AND CAN BE
BUT ONE GOD
1. The scripture is very express and pointed on this head: Deuteronomy 6:4 ’Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.’ Isaiah 44:6 ’ I am the first, and the last, and besides me there is no God. Mark 12:32 ’There is one God, and there is none other but he.’ Consult also the following passages, which clearly establish this article, viz. 1 Samuel 2:2 ’There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none besides thee; neither is there any rock like our God.’ Psalms 18:31. ’For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God?’ Isaiah 46:9 ’Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me; 1 Corinthians 8:4. 1 Corinthians 8:6. ’As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.’
2. This truth is clear from reason.
(1.) There can be but one First Cause, which hath its being of itself, and gave being to all other things, and on which all other things depend, and that is God: for one such is sufficient for the production, preservation, and government of all things : and therefore more are superfluous, for there is no need of them at all. Certainly he that made the world can preserve, govern, and guide it, without the assistance of any other God. For if he needed any assistance, he were not God himself, an infinitely perfect and all-sufficient Being. And whatever power, wisdom, or other requisite perfections can he imagined to be in many gods, for making, preserving, and governing the world, all these are in one infinitely-perfect Being. Therefore it is useless to feign many, seeing one is sufficient.
(2.) There can be but one Infinite Being, and therefore there is but one God. Two infinites imply a contradiction. Seeing God fills heaven and earth with his presence, and is infinite in all the perfections and excellencies of his nature; there can be no place for another infinite to subsist.
(3.) There can be but one Independent Being, and therefore but one God. Ist, There can be but one independent in being: for if there were more gods, either one of them would be the cause and author of being to the rest, and then that one would be the only God : or none of them would be the cause and author of being to the rest, and so none of them would be God; because none of them would be independent, or the fountain of being to all. 2d, There can be but one independent in working. For if there were more independent beings, then in those things wherein they will and act freely, they might will and act contrary things, and so oppose and hinder one another: so that being equal in power, nothing would be done by either of them. Yea, though we should suppose a plurality of gods agreeing in all things, yet seeing their mutual consent and agreement would be necessary to every action, it plainly appears, that each of them would necessarily depend on the rest in his operations ; and so none of them would be God, because not absolutely independent.
(4.) There can be but one Omnipotent. For if there were two omnipotent beings, then the one is able to do whatsoever he will, and yet the other is able to resist and hinder him. And if the one cannot hinder the other, then that other is not omnipotent. Again, we must conceive two such beings, either as agreeing, and so the one would be superfluous; or as disagreeing, and so all would be brought to confusion, or nothing would be done at all; for that which the one would do, the other would oppose and hinder; just like a ship with two pilots of equal power, where the one would be ever cross to the other? when the one would sail, the other would cast anchor. Here would be a continual confusion, and the ship must needs perish. The order and harmony of the world, the constant and uniform government of all things, is a plain argument, that there is but one only Omnipotent Being that rules all.
(5.) The supposition of a plurality of gods is destructive to all true religion. For if there were more than one God, we would be obliged to worship and serve more than one. But this it is impossible for us to do ; as will plainly appear, if ye consider what divine worship and service is. Religious worship and adoration must be performed with the whole man. This is what the divine eminence and excellency requires, that we love him with all our heart, soul, and strength, and serve him with all the powers and faculties of our souls, and members of our bodies ; and that our whole man, time, strength, and all we have, be entirely devoted to him alone. But this cannot be done to a plurality of gods. For in serving and worshipping a plurality, our hearts and strength, our time and talents, would be divided among them. To this purpose our Lord argues, Matthew 6:24. ’No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.’ Mammon is thought to be an idol, which the heathens reckoned to be the god of money and riches. Now, says Christ you cannot serve them both; if you would have the Lord for your God, and serve him, you must renounce mammon. We cannot serve two gods or masters: if but one require our whole time and strength, we cannot serve the other.
6. If there might be more gods than one, nothing would hinder why there might not be one, or two, or three millions of them. No argument can be brought for a plurality of gods, suppose two or three, but what a man might, by parity of reason, make use of for ever so many. Hence it is, that when men have once begun to fancy a plurality of gods, they have been endless in such fancies and imaginations. To this purpose is that charge against the Jews, who in this conformed themselves very much to the nations round about them,’ According to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah,’ Jeremiah 2:28. Varro reckons up three hundred gods whom the heathens worshipped, and Hesiod reckons about three thousand of them. Indeed, if we once begin to fancy more gods than one, where shall we make an end? So that the opinion or conception of a plurality of gods is most ridiculous and irrational. And this should be observed against those who pretend, that the Father is the Most High God, and that there is no Most High God but one, yet that there is another true God, viz. Christ, who in very deed, as to them, is but a mere man; yet they pretend he is the true God. Christ is God, and the True and Most High God. But, in opposition to them, consider that to be a man, and to be a God are opposite, and cannot be said of one in respect of one nature, Jeremiah 31:3; Acts 14:15; Jeremiah 10:11.