Page images
PDF
EPUB

sections and compartments, yet the whole is manifestly the draft of one architect, the work of one artificer. Nature, as a machine, is wondrously complicated, with wheels within wheels, yet the whole is obviously the invention of one intellect, the arrangement of one mind. On the front of the grand fabric of the universe there appears, in bold, clear, imperishable characters, the declaration, "there is but ONE God." The declaration in the text is

Secondly: In direct antagonism to certain prevalent opinions. It is opposed to atheism, which declares there is no God; that whatever is, has either always been, or else was produced by chance-to feticism, the worship of any material object that a capricious superstition may select to polytheism, which holds the plurality of gods-and to pantheism, which regards nature as identical with deity, and thus destroys a divine personality. The text gives the lie to all such miserable theories and inventions. The declaration in the text is,

Thirdly Accepted as a fundamental truth in all evangelical churches. There is a class of men professing faith in the Bible, who call themselves Unitarians. They have no more right to assume that name than have evangelical believers. No orthodox church believes in a plurality of deities. They believe in one God, and in one Lord Jesus Christ. Monotheism is the religion of Christendom. But our object in this discourse is briefly to consider the practical uses of Biblical monotheism.

I. IT REVEALS THE GREATNESS OF THE CREATOR. Survey this wondrous universe. Gaze upon the vast, and examine the minute in the clearest and broadest light of modern science, and what do you see-wisdom? Yes, manifold wisdom-in every blade and insect, as well as in every intellect, world, and system. All this wisdom is the product of one mind. The archetypes of all you see existed once in one intelligence. He had no "counsellor to instruct Him." Do you see goodness? Yes, like an ever-flowing tide, overflowing

all, streaming in every ray of light-breathing in all life, beating in all pulsations, giving a happy glow and a beauteous form to all things. All this goodness is an emanation from one heart, the eternal fountain of all life. Do you see power? In rearing the stupendous fabrics, building up the mountains, pouring out the oceans, stretching out the heavens, moulding, adjusting, burnishing, propelling the worlds and systems that fill immensity. The hand of one being did the whole. It was God Himself formed the earth, and made it; He hath established it. Do you see wealth in all this? If you attach value to one acre of earth, what is the value of the globe? But what is the earth to the universe? A leaf to the forest. A sand grain to the shores, over which all oceans roll. There is but one proprietor of all this wealth. He can say, "all is mine; the sea is mine; the earth is mine; the heavens are mine; all souls are mine; the souls of the father and son are mine." Oh, if there be but one God, how great must he be! All nations are nothing to Him, and less than nothing, and vanity. "Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee!" Another practical use of this glorious fact is,

II. IT REVEALS THE DEFINITENESS OF MORAL OBLIGATION. Deep in the souls of all men is the sense of duty. It may be deadened, but it can never be killed, never be eradicated. Hence, thoughtful men in every age have earnestly inquired into the principles of moral obligation, and very numerous, and often conflicting theories have come forth as the result. Some have propounded one standard of virtue, and some another. My definition of virtue is this-"following a right rule from a right motive." From this the question starts; what is the rule? Clearly, if there be but one God, the will of that one God must be the rule. What is the motive? Clearly, if there be but one God, supreme love to that one

God must be the motive. Were there a plurality of gods, there would be a difficulty to find out what virtue is; we should have to determine whose will to obey-the will of each, or some, or all. And we should also have to find out who of all the Gods we should love the most. But as there is but one God, our duty becomes definite, and clear as day. His will alone is supreme law. He alone demands supreme regard. The Bible urges this argument. "Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Know therefore, this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is none else. Thou shalt keep, therefore, his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for ever." Another practical use of this glorious fact is,—

III. IT REVEALS THE FITNESS OF RELIGION TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SOUL. There are three psychological facts that scarcely admit of disputation, and that every preacher of the Gospel should ever practically recognise in his discourses (1.) The human heart has a centralizing tendency. Deep in our emotional nature is a craving for some one object on which to place entire confidence, and centre the deepest love. The soul, like the planet, is made for a centre; it requires some thing on which to hang as its chief support-something to circle round as its glory-something to serve by reflecting its attributes and transmitting its influence. There is not a soul whose love does not point to some one object, as the needle to the pole. (2.) The moral character of the soul depends upon its central object. By a law of our nature we become like that we most love. Love is a transfiguring force. It moulds us to the character of its object. He who loves the character of the devil becomes like him. He who loves God becomes a partaker of the divine nature. (3.) The soul's happiness is

determined by the character of the object most loved. All

experience shows that most of our happiness and misery comes out of our supreme love. He that loves supremely a faithless, worthless, suffering, dying object, must inevitably suffer sooner or later. Elsewhere we have shown that the object of supreme love, to make us happy, must be supremely excellent, always blessed, ever reciprocating our affection, and continuing with us without end. These are the eternal conditions of human happiness, and this one God is necessary to the fulfilment. Thus it is that all in every age who have loved the one God supremely, have felt with the Psalmist who said, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever." Another practical use of this glorious fact is

IV. IT REVEALS THE UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD OF SOULS. To us, says Paul, "There is but one God, the Father of all things, and we in him." It seems to me that spirits stand in a different relation to God to what material existences do. God is the Creator of matter, God is the Father of souls. "We are his offspring "the highest seraph in eternity as well as the poorest child on earth. Between souls and God there is an essential resemblance and a voluntary reciprocity. Those of his offspring who have always been obedient, feel and recognise their brotherhood and are banded together with the tenderest feelings of love. They look on each other through their love for their one Father, and feel the vast universe their Father's house. Men, alas! have proved wayward and rebellious children. Humanity is the lost sheep that has gone away from the ninety and nine in the great fold, the prodigal that has left the Father's house. Because they have proved disobedient to their Father, they have lost the true spirit of brotherhood among themselves, and discords, contentions, and battlings are the result. What a moral anomaly in the universe is war! Children of the same father burning with mutual malice, and earnest in

mutual murder. What shall end this? What shall annihilate all the unkind feelings of men towards their race, what shall generate the loving spirit of brotherhood? Nothing but a common love for the one Father can do it. He who loves not God as his Father, will never love his fellow-men as brethren. Piety is the parent of philanthropy. Religion is the inspirer of human brotherhood. Another practical use of this glorious fact is—

"God so

V. IT REVEALS THE WONDERFUL IN MEDIATION. loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Here is love passing knowledge. First: What a disparity between Him who loves and they who are loved! What a disparity in natures! God, the Almighty, the Allwise, the Eternal. Man, the feeble, the ignorant, and the dying. What a disparity in character! God the Essence and Fountain of all holiness. Man, vile and polluted with sin. Secondly: What a manifestation of the greatness of his love. He so loved the world that He gave what? A world the system, the universe? No, all this is nothing compared to what He gave-He gave his only begotten Son. "Herein is love." I see divine love everywhere. "It rises high and drowns the hills." It floods the universe. But all I see elsewhere is nothing compared with what is here. "HEREIN IS LOVE." Love free, unbounded and unconquerable.

Brothers, is this one God our one God? Have we no idols? Is there nothing greater in our hearts than He, nothing that engrosses more of our sympathies, and engages more of our thoughts and powers? Let us look well to this. Let Him be the all and

Away with all idols of the heart.

in all of our souls. For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things.

« PreviousContinue »