[October 7th, 1860.]
Wrong views of the nature of God and of our relation to him lie at the foundation of all false theories of religion. Wrong views of the nature of God are—
I. That he is a limited being, dwelling in temples, receiving gifts from man. Such was the popular notion of the ancient Greeks to whom Paul spoke.
II. That he is an infinite being, the creator of all things, but a God removed from us, not watching over us and ordering the events of his providence, and not a moral governor.
III. That he is an infinite being, and in fact the only being, all that is being merely phenomena of God; so that there is no individual separate existence, no self-activity, no sin, no holiness, no responsibility, no hereafter.
IV. The true doctrine here taught by the Apostle is—
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That God is a personal being distinct from the world; its creator and preserver.
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That he is not far from any one of us, but is everywhere present beholding, directing and controlling all things; a being on whom we are dependent, and to whom we are responsible.
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That our dependence upon him is absolute for being, for life, for activity, but at the same time it is consistent with separate personal existence, with liberty, with accountability.
These are the fixed points in Paul’s Theism. How are these points to be understood? Or, in other words, how is our relation to God to be apprehended by us? There are two ways of determining these points.
First, by the reason, or the understanding.
Second, by the intuitions of our moral and religious nature as enlightened by the Scriptures.
First. The intellectual method, or the way of speculation. The problem to be solved is, how the omnipresent, universal, omnipotent agency of the first cause—God—stands related to the phenomenal world.
The most natural solution of this problem is the Pantheistic. 1. Because it is the simplest and most intelligible. 2. Because as an historical fact, it has been the solution most generally received. Brahm of the East was the universal substance of which all things are the manifestation. This principle underlay the nature worship of the Egyptians. It was the Esoteric faith of the higher Greek philosophers. It passed over into the Alexandrian school and the doctrine of the New Platonists. It reappears among the schoolmen, and has become the popular faith of the philosophers of modern times.
But this doctrine does such violence to the moral and religious nature of man, that it never can be the real faith of any class of men any more than Idealism can.
The rebound from this extreme is Deism, i.e., a God, indeed extramundane, but indifferent and unconcerned as to any efficiency of his in the events and changes of the world.
Second. What the Scriptures teach is congenial to our whole nature, intellectual and moral.
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That all existence is from God and in God.
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That all life is from him, and in him.
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That all activity is from and in him, so far as that unsustained by him no second cause could act.
From all this it follows:
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That we are always most near to God. This presence includes a presence of knowledge, of power, of approbation or disapprobation.
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That we are thus dependent for natural, for intellectual, and for spiritual life.
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That this concursus of the divine and human is according to fixed laws; laws, which concern our natural, intellectual and spiritual life; laws, however, under the control of a personal God, who can suspend, counteract or ignore them, at will. If we recognize these laws, and act according to them, we experience their normal working, we become more and more the recipients of the life of God. If we ignore them, or transgress them, the opposite result is unavoidable.
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That as the whole being and blessedness of the soul, thus depends on keeping the true relation between God and ourselves, we should be ever on our guard never to violate his laws; in all things to act in accordance with his will, feeling our dependence, our obligation, rendering him trust, gratitude and love.
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Under all circumstances we are ever in contact with the infinite source of knowledge, being, blessedness, holiness and life.
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The wicked are always in contact with him as a consuming fire.
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