SERM.
III.

SERMON III.

The Unity of GOD.

ISAIAH xlv. 5, 6.

I am the Lord, and there is none elfe, there is no God befides me: I girded thee, though thou haft not known me ¿ That they may know from the Rifing of the Sun, and from the Weft, that there is none befides me, I am the Lord, and there is none else.

T

HIS Chapter is the second Part of that prophetical Difcourfe, which begun with the fortieth Chapter, and foretels that great Revolution, when the Chaldean Monarchy fhould be fubverted by Cyrus, King of the Perfians, and the Jews be brought back into their own Country; and this Prophecy is fo much the more remarkable, because it was fet down in such plain

and

and intelligible Words, and the very SERM. Name of the Prince is foretold who was III. to be the Deliverer of the Jews; and therefore God makes this the Sign that he was the only true God, because he could foretel fo remarkable a Tranfaction, fo exactly, fo long before it was executed: That thou mayeft know, that I the Ifa.xiv.3. Lord, which call thee by thy Name, am the God of Ifrael. This Prophecy was pronounced from the Mouth of Ifaiah, two hundred and ten Years before the Birth of Cyrus, as Jofephus tells us, and was finally compleated and fulfilled by him; who, as the fame Author relates, being fhewed this Prophecy by the Jews, he acknowledged the God of Ifrael; profeffed himself his Instrument and Servant, and fent the Jews home to their own Country, with many Prefents and Gifts, to be bestowed in rebuilding of the Temple, Now, one Reason why God by the Prophet, fo long before and fo punctually, foretold this fignal and wonderful Deliverance, seems to be, that hereby he might keep up their Faith of, and Dependance on the true God, whilst they remained amidst heathenish and idolatrous Nations. For the Jews were a ftiff-necked and a hard-hearted Generation, and were very

many

prone

SERM.prone to Idolatry, though God had made III. the most manifeft Discoveries of himself

unto them, of any People in the World; and therefore the Prophets all along use their utmost Endeavour to fence and guard them from this Sin; and fo God, hav ing first raised their Attention with the Declaration of a wonderful Deliverance, takes Occafion in my Text to tell them, I am the Lord, and there is none elfe there is no God befides me. Thefe Words then are a plain Declaration of the Unity of the Godhead, and lay down to us this fundamental Truth, That there is but one only true God; which I design for the Subject of my following Difcourfe: In order to which I fhall fhew,

I. In what Sense this Propofition is to be understood.

II. I SHALL demonstrate the Truth of it.

III. I SHALL fhew how it coines to pass, that a great Part of Mankind are seduced from the Belief of this Truth. And,

IV. I SHALL draw fome Inferences na

turally arifing from the Confideration of God's Unity.

I. I SHALL

8.

6,7.

I. I SHALL fhew in what Senfe this SERM. Propofition is to be understood, that there III. is but one only true God, that is, there is but one only, who is the first Cause of all Things, who created this visible World, and ftill governs it, and retains the fupreme Dominion of it in his own Hands. We are told that there are Gods 1 Cor. v. many, and Lord's many; and, in Scripture, Kings and great Men are called Gods, IPf. 1xxxii, have faid, ye are Gods, and all of you are Children of the Moft High; but ye shall die like Men, and fall like one of the Princes; i. e. They are invefted with Power and Dominion, God has fubftituted them under him, and given them Power and Opportunity to do Good, and to be beneficial to thofe who are under their Charge; and, in this Sense, every Man may be faid to be a God to his Neighbour, homo homini Deus; i. e. He may supply his Wants, he may advise and affift him, he may help to protect him from Perils and Dangers, and afford him his Help to deliver him out of them. For God is the great Governor and Benefactor of Mankind, and those good Things which he bestows upon us, by the Mediation of inferior Agents, either Men or Angels, ought to be received with a grate

E

SERM. a grateful Heart and a thankful Tongue, III. from their Hands who are only the Inftruments of conveying them to us; tho' the Praise and Glory of them ought ultimately to be terminated into the first Caufe, that God, who is the Author and Giver of every good and perfect Gift, he alone is originally and properly faid to be God; it is he alone is effentially fo; Men and Angels are improperly called Gods, because they are his Vicegerents, and employed by him in the Government of the World, and in doing Good to their Fellow-creatures. And, as that fupreme Being, who is the great Creator and Governor of the World, is alone effentially God, so it is impoffible that any other Being should be fo; the effential Attributes of God are incommunicable, and can be appropriated only to one Divine Being, fo that God is not only one as a Man or Angel is one Man or one Angel; that is, diftinguished by fome effential Difference from all other Men or Angels; but which doth not exclude, but that there may be other Men and Angels in the World: But God has an Unity peculiar to himself, he is fo one, as to exclude all others of the fame Nature he is not only one, but fo one, as there

is