Question 5: Are there more Gods than one?
Answer: There is but one only, the living and true God.
That there is a God has been proved; and those who will not believe the unity of his essence, shall feel the severity of his wrath. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.” He is “the only God.” “Know therefore this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath, there is none else.” “A just God and a Savior; there is none beside me.” There are many ceremonialgods. Kings represent God; their regal scepter is an emblem of his power and authority. Judges are called gods. “I have said, You are gods,” Psalm 82:6, namely,” set in God’s place to do justice; but these are dying gods. “But in death you are mere men. You will fall as any prince, for all must die.” Verse 7. “There are those who are called gods—but to us there is but one God.”
I. There is but one First Cause that has its Being of itself, and on which all other beings depend. As in the heavens, the primum mobile moves all the other orbs; so God gives life and motion to everything that exists. There can be but one God, because there is but one First Cause.
II. There is but one infinite Being, therefore there is but one God. There cannot be two infinites. “Do not I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord?” Jer 23:34. If there is one infinite, filling all places at once—how can there be any room for another infinite to subsist?
III. There is but one Omnipotent Power. If there be two Omnipotents, then we must always suppose a contest between these two: that which one would do, the other power, being equal, would oppose, and so all things would be brought into confusion. If a ship should have two pilots of equal power, one would be ever crossing the other; when one would sail, the other would cast anchor; there would be confusion, and the ship must perish. The order and harmony in the world, or the constant and uniform government of all things—is a clear argument that there is but one Omnipotent, one God who rules all. “I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no God.”
Use one: INFORMATION.
(1.) If there be but one God, then it excludes all other gods. Some have imagined that there were two gods; others, that there were many gods; as the Polytheists. The Persians worshiped the sun; the Egyptians the lion and elephant; the Grecians worshiped Jupiter. These “are in error, not knowing the Scriptures.” Their faith is a fable. “God has given them up to strong delusions, to believe a lie, that they may be damned.”
(2.) If there be but one God, then there can be but one true true religion in the world. “One Lord, one faith.” If there were many gods, then there might be many religions, and every God would be worshiped in his way; but if there is but one God, there is but one true religion; one Lord, one faith. Some say, we may be saved in any religion; but it is absurd to imagine that God who is One in essence, should appoint many different religions in which he will be worshiped. It is as dangerous to set up a false religion, as to set up a false God. There are many ways to hell; men may go there whichever way their fancy leads them; but there is only one true road to heaven, namely, faith and holiness. There is no way to be saved, but this. As there is but one God, so there is but one true religion.
(3.) If there be but one God, then there is but One whom you need chiefly to study to please—and that is God. If there were many gods, we would be hard put to it to please them all. One would command one thing, another the contrary; and to please two contrary masters is impossible; but there is only one God. Therefore you have but One to please. As in a kingdom there is but one king, therefore everyone seeks to ingratiate himself into his favor. Just so, there is but one true God; therefore our main work is to please him. Be sure to please God, whoever else you displease. This was Enoch’s wisdom. He had this testimony before he died, that “he pleased God.”
What does this pleasing God imply?
(1.) We please God when we comply with his will. It was Christ’s food and drink to do his Father’s will, John 4:44, and so he pleased him, A voice came from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” “It is the will of God that we should be holy.” Now, when we are bespangled with holiness, our lives are walking Bibles. This is according to God’s will, and it pleases him.
(2.) We please God when we do the work that he sets us about. “I have finished the work which you gave me to do,” namely, my mediatorial work. Many finish their lives—but do not finish their work. The work God has cut out for us is, to observe the first and second tables of the law. In the first is set down our duty towards God; in thesecond our duty towards man. Such as make morality the chief and sole part of true religion, set the second table above the first; nay, they take away the first table; for, if prudence, justice, temperance, is enough to save, then what need do we have for the first table? Thus our worship towards God will be quite left out; but those two tables which God has joined together, let no man put asunder.
(3.) We please God when we dedicate our hearts to give him the best of everything. Abel gave God the fat of the offering. Gen 4:4. Domitian would not have his image carved in wood, or iron—but ingold. We please God when we serve him with love, fervency, and alacrity. These are golden services. There is but one God, therefore there is but One whom we have chiefly to please, namely, God.
(4.) If there is but one God, then we must pray to none but God. The Papists pray to saints and angels.
(a.) The Papists pray to saints. A Popish writer says, “when we pray to the departed saints, they being touched with compassion, say the same prayer to God for us. The saints above know not our needs; even if they did, we have no warrant to pray to them. “Abraham is ignorant of us.” Prayer is a part of divine worship, which must be given to God alone.
(b.) The Papists pray to angels. Angel-worship is forbidden. Col 2:18, 19. That we may not pray to angels is clear from Rom 10:14. “How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?” We may not pray to any, but whom we may believe in; but we may not believe in any angel, therefore we may not pray to him. There is but one God, and it is a sin to invoke any but God.
(5.) If there be but one God, who is “above all,” then he must be loved above all. We must love him with a love ofappreciation. This is to set the highest estimate on him, who is the only fountain of being and bliss. We must love him with a love of delight. “The lover’s effort to please the beloved, this is love.” Aquinas. Our love to other things must be more indifferent. Some drops of love may run to the creature—but the full stream must run towards God. The creature may have the milk of our love—but we must keep the cream for God. He who is above all, must be loved above all. “Whom do I have in heaven but You? And I desire nothing on earth but You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.” Psalms 73:25-26.
Use two: CAUTION. If there be but one God, then let us take heed of setting up more gods than one. “Those who chase after other gods will be filled with sorrow. I will not take part in their sacrifices or even speak the names of their gods.” Psalm 16:4. God is a jealous God, and he will not endure that we should have other gods. It is easy to commit idolatry with the creature.
(1.) Some make a god of pleasure. “Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” Whatever we love more than God we make a God.
(2.) Others make money their god. The covetous man worships the image of gold, therefore he is called an idolater. Eph 5:5. That which a man trusts to, he makes his God; but he makes the wedge of gold his hope; he makes money his creator, redeemer, and comforter. Money is his creator; if he has money, he thinks he is made. Money is hisredeemer; if he be in danger, he trusts in his money to redeem him. Money is his comforter; if at any time he is sad, the golden harp drives away the evil spirit. It is clear that money is his God. God made man out of the dust of the earth; and man makes a god out of the dust of the earth.
(3.) Another makes a god of his child, sets his child in God’s place, and so provokes God to take it away. If you lean too hard upon glass it will break, so many break their children by leaning too hard upon them.
(4.) Others make a god of their belly. “Whose god is their belly.” Phil 3:19. Clement of Alexandria writes of a fish that has its heart in its belly; this is a fit emblem of epicures—their heart is in their belly; they mind nothing but indulging the sensual appetite; their belly is their God, and to this they pour drink-offerings.
Thus men make many gods. The apostle names the wicked man’s trinity, “The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life,” 1 John 2:16. The lust of the flesh is pleasure; the lust of the eye is money; the pride of life is honor. Oh take heed of this! Whatever you deify beside God, will prove a bramble—and fire will come out of it and devour you! Judg 9:15.
Use three: REPROOF. If the Lord Jehovah is the only true God, it reproves those who renounce the true God, I mean such as seek to familiar spirits, which is too much practiced among those who call themselves Christians. It is a sin condemned by the law of God. “And do not let your people practice fortune-telling or sorcery, or allow them to interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. Anyone who does these things is an object of horror and disgust to the Lord.” Deuteronomy 18:10-12. How common is this! If people have lost any of their goods, they send to wizards to know how they may obtain them again. What is this but consulting with the devil! What! because you have lost your goods, will you lose your souls too? “Thus says the Lord, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that you send to enquire of Beelzebub?” So, is it not because you think there is not a God in heaven, that you ask counsel of the devil? If any here are guilty, be deeply humbled, you have renounced the true God. Better be without the goods you have lost, than have the devil help you to them again!
Use four: EXHORTATION.
(1.) If there be but one God, as God is one, so let those who serve him be one. This is what Christ prayed so heartily for. “That they all may be one.” Christians should be—
(a.) One in judgment. The apostle exhorts to be all of one mind. “Now, dear brothers and sisters, I appeal to you by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ to stop arguing among yourselves. Let there be real harmony so there won’t be divisions in the church. I plead with you to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.” 1 Corinthians 1:10. How sad is it to see true religion wearing a coat of many colors; to see Christians of so many opinions, and going so many different ways! It is Satan who has sown these tares of division. “The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the Devil” Matthew 13:39. He first divided men from God, and then one man from another.
(b.) One in affection. They should have one heart. “The multitude of those who believed were of one heart, and of one soul.” As in music, though there are several strings of a violin—yet all make one sweet harmony; so, though there are several Christians—yet there should be one sweet harmony of affection among them. There is but one God, and those who serve him should be one. There is nothing that would render the true true religion more lovely, or make more proselytes to it, than to see its professors tied together with the heart-strings of love. “Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is, to see brethren live together in unity!” It is as the sweet dew on Hermon, and the fragrant ointment poured on Aaron’s head. If God is one, let all who profess him be of one mind, and one heart—and thus fulfill Christ’s prayer, “that they all may be one.”
(2.) If there be but one God, let us labor to make clear the title that this God is ours. “This God is our God.” What comfort can it be to hear that there is a God, and that he is the onlyGod—unless he is our God? What is Deity—without property in him? Oh let us labor to make clear the title! Beg the Holy Spirit. The Spirit works by faith. By faith we are one with Christ, and through Christ we come to have God for our God, and thus all his glorious fullness is made over to us by a deed of gift.
Use five: GRATITUDE. What cause have we to be thankful—that we have the knowledge of the only true God! How many are brought up in blindness! Some worship Mahomet. Many of the Indians worship the devil; they light a candle to him, that he may not hurt them. Such as know not the true God—must needs stumble into hell in the dark! Oh let us be thankful that we are born in such a land, where the light of the gospel has shone. To have the knowledge of the true God is more than if we had mines of gold, rocks of diamonds, islands of spices; especially if God has savingly revealed himself to us; if he has given us eyes to see the light; if we so know God as to be known of him, to love him, and believe in him. “Blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.” Matthew 13:16. We can never be thankful enough to God—that he has hidden the knowledge of himself from the wise and prudent of the world, and has revealed it unto us! “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.” Matthew 11:25-26.
12. The TRINITY.
Question 6. How many Persons are there in the Godhead?
Answer: Three persons—yet but one God.
“There are three who bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.”
God is but one—yet are there three distinct persons subsisting in one Godhead. This is a sacred mystery, which the light within man could never have discovered. As the two natures in Christ—yet but one person, is a wonder; so there are three persons—yet but one Godhead. Here is a great deep—the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God—yet not three Gods, but one God. The three persons in the blessed Trinity are distinguished—but not divided; three substances—but one essence. This is a divine riddle where one makes three, and three make one. Our narrow thoughts can no more comprehend the Trinity in Unity, than a nut-shell will hold all the water in the sea. Let me shadow it out by a similitude.
In the body of the sun, there are— the substance of the sun, the beams, and the heat.
The beams are begotten by the sun, the heat proceeds both from the sun and the beams; but these three, though different, are not divided; they all three make but one sun. Just so in the blessed Trinity—the Son is begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit proceeds from both; yet though they are three distinct persons, they are but one God. First, let me speak of the Unity in Trinity; then of the Trinity in Unity.
I. Of the Unity in Trinity. The Unity of the persons in the Godhead consists of two things.
[1] The identity of essence. In the Trinity there is a oneness in essence. The three persons are of the same divine nature and substance; so that there are no degrees in the Godhead; one person is not God more than another.
[2] The Unity of the persons in the Godhead consists in the mutual inbeing of them, or their being in one together. The three persons are so united that one person is in another, and with another. “You, Father, are in me, and I in you.”
II. Let me speak of the Trinity in Unity.
[1] The first person in the Trinity is God theFather. He is called the first person, in respect of order, not dignity: for God the Father has no essential perfection which the other persons have not; he is not more wise, more holy, more powerful than the other persons are. There is a priority—not a superiority.
[2] The second person in the Trinity is Jesus Christ, who is begotten of the Father before all time. “I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before ever the earth was. When there were no depths I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, was I brought forth.” This Scripture declares the eternal generation of the Son of God. This second person in the Trinity, who is Jehovah, has become our Jesus. The Scripture calls him the branch of David, and I may call him the flower of our nature. “By him all that believe are justified.”
[3] The third person in the Trinity is the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, whose work is to illuminate the mind, and enkindle sacred motions. The essence of the Spirit is in heaven, and everywhere; but his influence is in the hearts of believers. This is that blessed Spirit who gives us the holy unction. “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.” 1 John 2:20. Though Christ merits grace for us, it is the Holy Spirit who works it in us. Though Christ makes the purchase, it is the Holy Spirit that makes the assurance, and seals us to the day of redemption.
Thus I have spoken of all the three persons. The Trinity of persons may be proved, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:16-17. Here are three names given to the three persons. He who spoke with a voice from heaven was God the Father; he who was baptized in Jordan was God the Son; he who descended in the likeness of a dove was God the Holy Spirit. Thus I have shown you the Unity of essence, and the Trinity of persons.
Use one: For confutation.
(1.) This confutes the Jews and Turks, who believe only the first person in the Godhead. Take away the distinction of the persons in the Trinity, and you overthrow man’s redemption; for God the Father being offended with man for sin, how shall he be pacified without a mediator? This mediator is Christ, who makes our peace. Christ having died, and shed his blood, how shall this blood be applied, but by the Holy Spirit? Therefore, if there are not three persons in the Godhead, man’s salvation cannot be wrought out; if there is no second person in the Trinity, there is no redeemer; if no third person, there is no comforter. Thus the plank is taken away by which we get to heaven.
(2.) It confutes the execrable opinion of the Socinians, who deny the Divinity of the Lord Jesus, and make him to be a creature only—but of a higher rank. As the Papists blot out the second commandment, so the Socinians blot out the second person in the Trinity. If to oppose Christ’s members is a sin, what is it to oppose Christ himself? Jesus Christ is co-equal with God the Father. He thought it no robbery to be equal with God. He is co-eternal with God the Father: “I was from the beginning,” if not, there was a time when God was without a Son, and so he would be no Father; nay, there was a time when God was without his glory, for Christ is “the brightness of his Father’s glory.” Jesus is co-essential with God the Father. The Godhead subsists in Christ. “In whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” It is said, not only that Christ was with God before the beginning—but that he was God. John 1:1, and 1 Tim 3:16. “God manifest in the flesh.” The title of Lord, so often given to Christ, in the New Testament, answers to the title of Jehovah in the Old. Christ has a co-eternity, and co-substantiality with his Father. “I and my Father are one.” It were blasphemy for a mere angel to speak thus. Yet further to prove Christ’s Godhead, consider:
(a.) The glorious incommunicable attributes belonging to God the Father, are ascribed to Christ. Is God the Father omnipotent? So is Jesus Christ. He is the almighty, Rev 1:1, and he creates, Col 1:16. Is God the Father infinitely immense, filling all places? So is Jesus Christ. While Christ was on the earth by his bodily presence, he was at the same time in the bosom of the Father by his divine presence.
(b.) The same royal prerogatives, which belong to God the Father, belong also to Christ. Does God the Father seal pardons? This is a flower of Christ’s crown. “Your sins are forgiven.” Nor does Christ remit sin as ministers do, by virtue of a power delegated to them from God; but he does it by his own power and authority. Is God the Father the adequate object of faith? Is he to be believed in? So is his Son. “Trust in God; trust also in me.” John 14:1 Does adoration belong to God the Father? So it does to the Son. “Let all the angels of God worship him.” How sacrilegious therefore is the Socinian, who would rob Christ of his Godhead, the best flower of his crown. They who deny Christ to be God, must greatly twist, or else deny the Scripture to be the Word of God.
(3.) It confutes the Arians, who deny the Holy Spirit to be God. The eternal Godhead subsists in the Holy Spirit. “He shall guide you into all truth.” Christ speaks not there of an attribute—but of a person. That the Godhead subsists in the person of the Holy Spirit appears in this; that the Spirit, who gives diversity of gifts, is said to be the same Lord, and the same God. The black and unpardonable sin is said, in a special manner, to be committed against the Godhead subsisting in the Holy Spirit. “And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” Matthew 12:31-32.
The mighty power of God is made manifest by the Holy Spirit; for he changes the hearts of men. The devil would have Christ prove himself to be God, by turning stones into bread; but the Holy Spirit shows his Godhead by turning stones into flesh. “I will take away the stony heart; and give you a heart of flesh.” Yet further, the power and Godhead of the Holy Spirit appeared in effecting the glorious conception of our Lord Jesus Christ. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:35.
The Holy Spirit works miracles, which transcend the sphere of nature; such as raising the dead. To him belongs divine worship; our souls and bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, in which temples he is to be worshiped. We are baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit; therefore we must believe his Godhead, or renounce our baptism in his name. Methinks it were better for such men not to have so much as heard whether there is any Holy Spirit, than to deny his Deity. They who would wittingly and willingly blot out the third person—shall have their names blotted out of the book of life!
Use two: For exhortation.
(1.) Believe this doctrine of the Trinity of persons in the unity of essence. The Trinity is solely an object of faith; the plumbline of reason is too short to fathom this mystery. Butwhere reason cannot wade—there faith may swim! There are some truths in religion that may be demonstrated by reason; as that there is a God. But the Trinity of persons in the Unity of essence, is wholly supernatural, and must be believed by faith. This sacred doctrine is not against reason—but above it. Those illuminated philosophers, who could find out the causes of things, and discourse of the magnitude and influence of the stars, the nature of minerals; could never, by their deepest search, find out the mystery of the Trinity. This is of divine revelation, and must be adored with humble faith. We cannot be good Christians, without the firm belief of the Trinity. How can we pray to God the Father but in the name of Christ, and through the help of the Spirit?
How are the Quakers to be abhorred, who go under the name of Christians, and yet undervalue and renounce Jesus Christ! I have read of some Quakers who speak thus: “We deny the person of him whom you call Christ, and affirm, That they who expect to be saved by that Christ without works, will be damned in that faith!” Could the devil himself speak worse blasphemy? They would pull up all true religion by the roots, and take away that corner stone, on which the hope of our salvation is built.
(2.) If there be one God subsisting in three persons, then let us give equal reverence to all the persons in the Trinity. There is not one who is more or less in the Trinity; the Father is not more God than the Son and Holy Spirit. There is an order in the Godhead—but no degrees; one person has not a majority or supereminence above another; therefore we must give equal worship to all the persons. “That all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father.” Adore Unity in Trinity.
(3.) Obey all the persons in the blessed Trinity; for all of them are God. Obey God the FATHER. Christ himself, as man, obeyed God the Father, much more must we.
Obey God the SON. “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry.” Kiss him with a kiss of obedience. Christ’s commands are not grievous. Whatever he commands, is for our interest and benefit. Oh then kiss the Son! Why do the elders throw down their crowns at the feet of Christ, and fall down before the Lamb? To testify their subjection, and to profess their readiness to serve and obey him.
Obey God the HOLY SPIRIT. Our souls are breathed into us by the glorious Spirit. “The Spirit of God has made me.” Our souls are adorned by the blessed Spirit. Every grace is a divine spark lighted in the soul, by the Holy Spirit. Nay, more, the Spirit sanctified Christ’s human nature; he united it with the divine, and fitted the man Christ to be our Mediator. Well then does this third person in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, deserve to be obeyed; for he is God, and this tribute of homage and obedience is due to him from us.